Aussie Nails Monday - Fishtail

Happy Monday! Yesterday my boyfriend and I made some cash at the markets so we splurged by going to see The Hobbit in 3D and high frame rate. It was incredibly realistic - the high frame rate and 3D really suited the action scenes but during some of the more slow moving scenes I suddenly felt like it was too realistic, and it was just a bunch of actors with prosthetics. But I still thought it was a fantastic movie. The major downside was that the movie tickets were $24! Now that's insane.

Today's Aussie Nails Monday theme is Fishtail. I've gone with a fishtail braid pattern. A fishtail braid is one of my favourite ever hairstyles, mainly because I can't do my own hair in a french braid, and a fishtail is the best style for a side plait. I had this plan to do a fishtail braid with my own hair and use it has the prop for these mani photos, because it looks amazing with the red and black streaks intertwined. But I had to dye my hair brown to get a job so that was the end of that idea.

I used China Glaze Dorothy Who? as a base colour. I don't care what anyone else says, it is definitely not a substitute for OPI Absolutely Alice. They're completely different. Dorothy Who? is a blue jelly with silver glitter. I love how the jelly gives it a layered effect. I used three coats to achieve the most opacity and depth.

For the fishtail accent, I used Essie Bikini So Teeny, China Glaze Frostbite and Ulta3 Metal. The trick is to use contrasting colours. The colours were too similar in my first attempt, plus I was super messy so it was a massive fail. I'm very happy with this version! It could be neater but I reckon it's not bad for a second attempt.

Here are the other girls participating in Aussie Nails Monday:

Lissa's Polish Addiction - Nail Gun XS - Marie's Manicure Madhouse - Shatter Me Claire

 A Polished Prance - Shades of Phoenix - The Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams

 Nananais Nails - Enamoured with Enamel - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors

Polished Peripherals - Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - Erinzi

Lovessweetas - Jas' Blingtastic Nails - Mckfresh - DamoJess - Lili_Bete

The Reluctant Femme - Jibber Jabber - Messy Mansion - Nailovelogy

Essie Bikini So Teeny Swatch & Review

I recently purchased my first Essie creme polishes from Ozsale. Essie are well known for their universally flattering, fairly boring and soft shades, but I was on a "work-appropriate" kick so I bought a bunch of taupes and greens. Luckily I came to my senses before I checked out and bought Bikini So Teeny as well.

Essie Bikini So Teeny is a cornflower blue creme. There's a very sparse silver shimmer running through it in the bottle but it's virtually unnoticeable on the nail. The formula is pretty good, it dries quickly and is easy to apply, but it's a little streaky. It took 3 coats to get it completely opaque and streak-free.

It's a pretty colour, but I don't have much else to say about it. It's a good staple to have in your stash.

Essie nail polishes are available at Myer but they're ridiculously expensive and have hardly any shades. I'd recommend ebay or waiting for them to come up on Ozsale/BrandsExclusive etc.