Neon Splatter

I don't what went through my mind when I decided to do a splatter mani. I think I've done it once before, or maybe just attempted to. It was such.a.big.mess! Although, the result looks kind of fun, if you don't mind a messy look. 
I wanted to use a strong holo as the base, I was debating between Color Club Harp on It or Beyond, and went with the silver one. I used 5 different neon shades for the splatter, Models Own Sun Hat, Flip Flop, Color Club East Austin, OPI Juice Bar Hopping and Push & Pur-pull.

I thought this would be a fun mani for my weekend, but now I'm not so sure if I want to keep this. What's your weekend mani? 

XO
Novi

Romantic Double Stamping with Born Pretty Store BP-L015

Hi guys! On this lovely Saturday, I'm showing you a nail art look done with a combination of stamping and the use of chevron vinyls. The plate I'm using for this manicure is provided by Born Pretty Store. I'm using 2 designs from plate BP-L015, which you can find in this link. Don't forget, you can use my code NVG10 and take 10% off your purchase!
I usually include a picture of the plate I'm reviewing, but I'm out of pure acetone and unable to clean the plate thoroughly for it to look nice in the pic. But all the designs are shown really clear on the link I provided. The full size designs are 20mmx15mm, there are 14 of them plus 9 smaller designs at the bottom.

The polishes I used are Romantically Involved, Dark Side of The Mood, and My Silk Tie, all from OPI 50 Shades of Grey collection. Plus Mundo de Unas black for the rose stamping over red. 
I used mini chevron vinyls to separate the top and bottom part of my nails, paint the red polish on top and the grey on the other half. I peeled the vinyls right away, and created a negative space between the colors. I applied top coat before I stamp over them. 
Since I'm using 2 different designs, prior to stamping, I placed a chevron vinyls over the negative space and a piece of tape to cover the half part I won't be working on. You want to be sure that the stamping polish is completely dry before you move on to the other half, or you'll risk on pulling the design off your nail with the tape, especially when you use MdU to stamp with. 

I'm quite satisfied with the finished look of this mani. Took a little longer to do than I expected, but worth it. I think it would make my life much easier had I chosen to use regular striping tape instead of chevron for the negative space. It's an option for you guys if you decided to give this a try! :)

XO
Novi

Neon Leopard Half-Moon Stripes

Heeyyyyy! Remember me? It's been a week! No reason whatsoever, I just suddenly didn't feel like painting my nails, at all. Not even a base coat for a whole week. Yeah.. I've been bad.
Anyway, I've had the idea to do this mani since last week, and finally did it today. I use the shades from last year's OPI Neon for this mani. It's super bright in person and kind of remind me of clowns for some reason....

My hand was so shaky painting these lines.. I couldn't believe one week off has so much impact on me. I guess I better keep on painting!

XO
Novi

Green Dotticure

I'm starting a new month with last month's manicure, haha. If you're following me on Instagram, maybe you remember I posted a beach mani a few days ago? Well, this is the one. It's so simple and yet I loved it so much I wore it for 4 full days! That's definitely a record. And when I removed them, they hadn't chipped at all and there's only very little tip wear. I was amazed, and then I remembered why I love OPI in the first place. They are so good on me.

My base is Damone Roberts 1968, the prettiest OPI green! Every time I wear this I regret not buying 2 bottles when they were on sale. I love this so much I want to wear it all the time! But at the same time I don't want to bottle to have noticeable fill line... You get that, right? Lol! I used OPI Christmas Gone Plaid for the dots and topped with HK Girl top coat. 

What is your favorite color that you have backups for your backup? :)

XO
Novi

OPI DS Couture

Hi guys! Today I'm just sharing a simple mani using one of my most treasured polishes, OPI DS Couture. I still remember back when indie brands were practically non existent, and seeing these DS Polishes was like looking at magic in a bottle. 

As much as I want to show you the gorgeous holo effect, my lightbox setup can only let me captured so much of its beauty, and I don't like to use flash for my swatch pics. 
So here's DS Couture in 3 thin coats and top coat..

Do you own any of these old holographic DS? 
I was choosing between DS Vintage and Couture to wear today, and Couture won. I'll show you DS Vintage another day :)

XO
Novi

Peacock Feathers w/ Born Pretty BP-L007 & Glam Polish

Hi guys! Today I have a stamping decal featuring a plate from Born Pretty Store and Glam Polish shades I reviewed on the last post. It's a rather vampy, yet sparkly, manicure. Not sure yet if I'll be keeping this for my weekend mani, but at this moment, I just can't stop staring at them!

For my base, I used a thin layer of Glam Polish Death Defying Acts over OPI First Class Desires. I made my decals on a ziploc bag, using Mundo de Unas black and peacock feathers design from plate BP-L007 (you can find it in this link). Then I filled in the feathers with 2 Glam Polish shades, Now You See Me, Deceptive Practice, and Death Defying Acts. For the accent nails (pinkie and index), I used mini chevron vinyls and use the same Glam Polish shades. I sealed off the design with HK Girl top coat.

Happy weekend guys!! :)

**products used on this post were provided for my honest review.

XO
Novi

Cotton Candy Nails

Happy Monday! I think I'm having monday blues with this gloomy weather we have here today. And the cure for that, other than a cup of hot rolo, is to have pretty colours on my nails! 

The sponged base really reminds me of cotton candy, I just love it! The base I mean, though I also like cotton candy. The colours I used for the base are OPI Do You Lilac It?, OPI Mermaid's Tears, OPI What's With The Cattitude, China Glaze Feel The Breeze, China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin, and Color CLub East Austin, done over Cirque Carpe Diem.

I can't stop staring at my nails! Love these so much, all that clean up was so worth it! Lol!
Hope you guys enjoyed it too :)

XO
Novi

Four Seasons Owls

Happy Monday! Today I have four adorable owls on my nails, each representing a season. I just finished an owl amigurumi yesterday, that's probably why I still have owls on my mind. I know there are people who obsessed with everything owl, if that's you, I hope you like this mani! :)

I used around 20 different shades for this mani, and silly me, I've put them all back in the drawers and forgot to write down all the names. Doh! The 2 bottles I'm holding in my pics here are OPI My Vampire is Buff and Zoya Micky. I used a bunch of shades from OPI, Zoya, and Picture Polish.

Did you notice anything missing? I've only realized it as I'm writing this post that I forgot to give them feet! Poor owls, forgive me.. Lol!

XO
Novi

Spring Wavy & Floral

Spring is here, and I'm so happy to be wearing bright pastel shades again! Even though the weather is so gloomy today, but at least I'm not dealing with layers of snow. Always a silver lining :) 

I consider today's mani is a 75% success, cause I kinda hate the leadlighting I did over the stamping, but I love everything else. 

My background is a gradient using OPI Where Did Suzi Man-Go?, China Glaze Feel The Breeze, and China Glaze Metro Pollen-Tin, topped with INM Northern Lights. I use Beyond The Nail wavy vinyls on my middle and ring nail (love it!)

The floral stamping is from MoYou Pro 15. I definitely could've done something better with that. But I'm just gonna leave these for now.

Have you ever done a mani that you love and hate at the same time? Did you redo them? 

XO

Novi

St. Patrick's Day Nails

After taking a long weekend break from my blog, which was unplanned.. I had a nail art post planned out, that I've been wanted to do. Like a series type of post. But just as I sat down and about to start painting, I realized that I'm running really really low on thinner. I use thinner to clean my brush during and after painting. It keeps my brush in a good condition than when using acetone. 

And today I'm back with a St. Patrick's Day mani! I didn't do anything too fancy, just a skitlelette and a mix of stamping, gradient, and some quick free hand.

I did a vertical gradient on 2 nails with OPI Christmas Gone Plaid, Zoya Josie, and Picture Polish Tiffany, then painted stack of gold on the tips with OPI Goldeneye and L.A.M.B. 

On my ring finger, I wear Girly Bits Selfie Bomb, stamped with a four leaf clover image from BM-H05 (Thanks Nail Polish Canada!). Free hand vertical rainbow stripes on my pinkie with gold frame. 

My favorite I think is my thumb. I use Glam Polish Elixir, and painted four leaf clover design using Winstonia Kolinsky brush #0000 and OPI Christmas Gone Plaid. 

What's your favorite greens to wear on St. Patrick'd Day? I posted mine on instagram :)

XO

Novi

Despicable Me Nail Art

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I'm sure when you saw the post title, it's obvious that you'll be seeing cute little minions on my nails. That's correct! But I also wanted to include Gru in it. I watched (half of) Despicable Me 2 on Netflix this weekend, and he was so adorable and sweet dressing as a fairy for Agnes' birthday. 
I have seen a lot of great minions manicures, but I don't think I've seen Gru in any of them, but I could be wrong. Anyhow, here's Gru with his minions.

This is my first time painting a face, it's not easy to get the shading right (even though it's just a cartoon face). I used Zoya Chantal, OPI Dulce de Leche, and OPI Bubble Bath for Gru's face. His striped scarf is using KBShimmer Eclipse and Julep Meryl, the same goes for my thumb and pinkie. 
Minions and the bananas are painted with OPI Good Grief! The green apron and orange wig are OPI You Are So Outta Lime! and OPI Call Me Gwen-ever, and OPI Dining Al Frisco is on the other minion. All the white is with Cirque Carpe Diem. Everything is sealed with HK Girl top coat.

XO
Novi

Lucky Stripes

Ok, so it's not really 'lucky'. I call it that because yesterday I had this thought that I need to wear a lucky polish for a meeting I went to. Since I don't have anything specific, I just chose a polish that has a word lucky in its name, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender. 
Today I decided to pretty it up a bit. I sponge some glitters at the tips, Cirque Chainmail and Stella. Then I did a sort of gradient lines using three shades of purple, OPI I Carol About You, Planks A Lot, and Rumple's Wiggin', with a little bit of white thrown in the mix. It was a good practice of free-handing lines. 

Although I don't see it in person, these pics make me feel like I could've used another coat of top coat. 
How about you? Do you have a lucky polish? :)

XO
Novi

HPB Presents: Abstract Zebra Print & Heart

Happy Valentine's Day! Ok, I swear this is my last heart-themed mani for the year. I'm not even celebrating the day, the bf is working the whole weekend and I have my own things to do. But that doesn't mean my nails can't celebrate it :p I don't think I'm making much sense right now. I meant to write this post last night, but that didn't happen. So now I'm barely awake writing this.. I'll keep the rambling to minimum.

I start the mani with a white base using Cirque Carpe Diem, then after it completely dried, using a flat end brush, I did a short wavy stroke using several different colours. I just placed the brush strokes randomly and make sure they cover up all the white area.
Then on my middle and ring nails, I made a half heart shape on each nail and block outside the heart area white. I placed the glitter around the heart using the glitter from OPI Polka.com. For the rest of the nails, I did a zebra print pattern with the white polish and sealed everything with 1 coat of HK Girl top coat.
The colours I used for those wavy strokes are, Cirque Doyers, Cirque Midnight Cowboy, OPI Hey Baby!, OPI Do You Lilac It?, OPI What's With The Cattitude?

I really like this look! Do you wear a special mani today? I hope you guys are having a wonderful time today, whether you're celebrating with your loved one or not, it's weekend after all! 

XO
Novi

An InLinkz Link-up

Purple Hearts

Hi guys! I'm back! Sorry for the sudden disappearance. The bf had the entire week off, so I was a bit occupied, spending more quality time with him :). I had the same polish on for almost a week and just changed them yesterday for my day out on Sunday. I told a friend to pick a colour to get me started, and she picked lilac. I took out a bunch of my lilac/purple polish and ended up with this..

Although it doesn't really show, I used 4 shades of purple/lilac for the gradient, OPI Do You Lilac It?, KBShimmer Hugs and Wishes, piCture pOlish Twinkle, and OPI Rumple's Wiggin which I also used for the gradient base. 
I painted little hearts using piCture pOlish Violet Femme and a detail brush on my index and pinkie, and stamped the knitted heart image from Bundle Monster plate H01 using Color Club Eternal Beauty. I sealed everything with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

I think this is cute enough to wear for Valentine's Day if you're already pink overload with a million other V-day nails floating around online :)


XO
Novi

Heart Season

First Valentine's Day themed mani of the year! Well..sort of. I did plan on doing some V-Day themed nail art, but I don't feel like wearing pink or red. So I did this instead. It has plenty of hearts to fit the theme, but not dominated with pink or red. I also painted a cartoon version of lovebirds on my thumb. 

I used Cirque Carpe Diem for the white base, and Memento Mori to paint the tree silhouette. I used various shades of OPI for the hearts. 

I feel like I need to do more free hand nail art, which I haven't done much lately. Even the bf commented 'what happened? you used to spend 16 hours a day painting your nails'. He obviously exaggerated the fact, but yeah I got lazy :p
Hopefully I can push myself back to do more free hand nail art! In the meantime, hope you enjoyed this :)

XO
Novi

OPI Damone Roberts 1968

After dreaming about it and drooling over so many swatches, I finally got my hands on OPI Damone Roberts 1968! One of my US buddy helped me to get it during black friday sale and it made its way to me yesterday. It did not disappoint! Creamy formula that's opaque in 2 coats, and a gorgeous shade of mint green. I should have bought 2, 1 to wear and 1 to hoard, lol.

OPI Damone Roberts 1968

OPI Damone Roberts 1968

I could wear this on its own, but I wanted to try out my new Winstonia Kolinsky #0000 brush. I have to say that I finally found *the* brush! Hands down the best detail brush I have ever used. Plus, I found this article on how to clean nail art brush posted on WInstonia FB page. I personally prefer to paint with polish than acrylic paint, so I find this article really helpful. I used OPI Christmas Gone Plaid to paint the design.

If you're still looking for a fine detail brush, I highly recommend this Kolinsky #0000 by Winstonia. I might need a few back up myself!

XO

Novi