Disney Princess Challenge: Belle

This week's Disney Princess theme is Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. Did you know that Beauty and the Beast was one of the first Disney movies to use CGI extensively? It's particularly noticeable in the ballroom scene, where the entire ballroom is a 3D environment instead of the beautiful hand painted backgrounds that appear throughout the rest of the film.

Did you also know that the animators ran out time during production, so they traced over the dance from the end of Sleeping Beauty? Here's a video showing the two side by side:

I was inspired by Belle's gorgeous yellow dress and the enchanted rose. I haven't tried roses before so I just did a basic one. It was surprisingly easy so I might attempt this again sometime with a proper magical rose.

I'm a day late with this so I had a chance to peek at the other girls' designs before posting this. If you only take a look at one other design, it has to be Lab Muffin's. How amazing is that stained glass rose? Also, her commentary is hilarious.

Check out the other girls who are taking part in the Disney Princess Challenge: 

Strawbrie 

LabMuffin

It's All About The Polish

ErinZi's Nails

WalkInMyEyeshadow

Lissa's Polish Addiction

Nailed Obsession

For the Love of Lacquer

Nailoveology

Maeday Nails

LacquerDreams

Aussie Nails Monday: Polka Dots

Today's Aussie Nails Monday theme is Polka Dots. Okay, I messed up a bit here because I thought it was just "Dots" until I actually went and checked. So I did a good old reliable dotting gradient, which isn't strictly polka dots. Sorry!

I used OPI Berlin There, Done That as the base, and Butter London Macbeth for the dots. The combination ended up looking a bit like chicken pox, so I added a sparkly layer of Winmax Light Colour No. 147. These Winmax nail polishes can be found at Daiso for $2.80, bargain!

Delicious, delicious macro

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

 

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Disney Princess Challenge: Snow White

This week's theme for the Disney Princess Challenge is Snow White. I was never really into Snow White unfortunately... And I struggled to be really inspired for this theme, so my attempt is a bit half-hearted. On the other hand I've been wanting to try this style of dotting for ages so this was the perfect opportunity.

I used Pretty Serious BSOD, OPI Red and Rimmel Lemon Drop. I'm still obsessed with the OPI Matte Top Coat so I couldn't resist mattifying this. I love the smooth look!

Check out the other girls who are taking part in the Disney Princess Challenge: 

Strawbrie 

LabMuffin

It's All About The Polish

ErinZi's Nails

WalkInMyEyeshadow

Lissa's Polish Addiction

Nailed Obsession

For the Love of Lacquer

Nailoveology

Maeday Nails

LacquerDreams

Aussie Nails Monday: Ombre & Lotsatuplet Nails

Good morning! Today's Aussie Nails Monday theme is Ombre. After doing my Bestie Twin Nails with Labmuffin, a bunch of us decided to do mass matching nails. We call them "Lotsatuplet Nails"!

It was tricky to figure out how we were going to co-ordinate a theme amongst so many of us, so we decided to go with bouncing ombre dots as an overall theme (as most of us were doing Aussie Nails Monday anyway), and then we'd pair up to match colours on contrasting undies. I chose blue, and my colour twin was Bec from Nail Gun XS. Aren't her nails just perfect??

This was actually really time consuming to do, especially with the ombre dots going in the opposite direction on the accent nail. I used Ulta3 Spring Shower and China Glaze Man Hunt, and mixed them together in varying amounts to create all the in between shades. The most time consuming thing was waiting for each row of dots to dry before applying the next shade.

I really like this effect. It reminds me of blue patterned china:

(Source: www.123rf.com)

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

Bestie Twin Nails with Labmuffin

Bestie Twin Nails is a theme that's been fairly popular on Instagram lately. Basically you pair up with your "bestie" and do matching nails. There have been some really inspirational twin nails created, and it looked like  fun, so I paired up with Michelle from Labmuffin to do our own! Luckily we're both control freaks so we tried to co-ordinate as much as possible.

For the dotted gradients, we used a base of Ulta3 Blue Marlin and dots of Ulta3 Lily White and Gold Rush Fever. The glitter gradient is Essence Make It Golden.

I really enjoyed doing these and I think they turned out great! It took a while for us to figure out which polishes we had in common, and then figure out what colour combination and nail art we both liked. Doing this also makes me grateful for the friends I've made and people I've met through nail polish. The Aussie Nails facebook group is one of the friendliest groups of people I've ever met, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.

Ok, end mushy stuff. Check out #bestietwinnails on Instagram to see all the other cool matching manis!

Aussie Nails Monday - Skittles

Today's Aussie Nails Monday theme is Skittles. I've wanted to do a dotted gradient for ages. It's not perfect but I'm happy with how it turned out! In keeping with the Aussie week theme, I've used Australian nail polishes for this mani. The base is Ulta3 Black Satin, the best one coater black I've ever used, and the Face of Australia pastels. Left to right is Have Your Cupcake & Eat It Too, Once In A Blue Moon, Would You Like Some Orange Sherbert?, and Boys 'n' Berries.

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

Interview Mani

I hope all you Aussies are doing ok! We had a 43°C heatwave yesterday. The Bureau of Meteorology even had to add new colours to the temperature range chart going up to 54°C (that's 129°F for you Americans)! There's some pretty huge bushfires sweeping the country as well so I hope you're all staying safe.

We don't have air conditioning at home so I lay on the floor all day long trying to keep cool. You know when you open the oven door and a blast of hot air cooks your face? Walking outside was like that. Unfortunately I had a job interview in the afternoon so I had to squeeze myself into long pants and closed flats without passing out from the heat.

For my nails, I went with Butter London Posh Bird, a sophisticated taupey mushroom colour with a silver shimmer. It's like a toned down silver, which worked well for the outfit I was wearing. It has a great formula, easy to apply and is opaque in 2 coats.

The interview was for a small beauty e-commerce business so I decided to get a little creative with my mani by doing a dotted accent nail using China Glaze First Mate. I didn't wait long enough before applying top coat so it smudged, but it's only obvious really close up.

It must have worked, because I got the job! I celebrated by lying on the couch all night with a pack of frozen peas on my forehead.