O Tannenbaum! O Christmas Tree!

I am not having much success with using PVA as a base coat ever since I had a manicure done. I suspect that the buffing they did on my nails made the surface so smooth that the glue does not have the type of surface it needs to adhere well. Every time I have worn a manicure since the manicure I have used PVA and the polish just pops off.

For this Christmas I had planned to do a few different manicures and life got in the way. We have come to the holidays now and I get to post my Christmas Tree. Someone had mentioned in a post on a blog that Darling Diva's Mitochondrial Eve looked like a Christmas Tree complete with ornaments. There and then I decided that I would get Mitochondrial Eve and I would do a Christmas Tree manicure.

But... I left off buying Mitochondrial Eve. I was trying to be financially wise and then when I was able to buy, the polish was not listed any longer. Oh no! I messed Darling Diva and asked if it was possible to get Mitochondrial Eve. Joy of Joys an affirmative response was received.

The base colour for this manicure is Ozotic 502 that reminds me of Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms Golden Cinnbar when worn. This polish is lovely by itself and I did not take pictures to capture the different colour shifts.

To create the Christmas Tree I simply used tape and applied two dabbling coats onto the nail. Simple, done. If I had longer nails I would have added a star at the top but I do not believe I had the space to make it look good.

You only get three fingers in this picture as I hurt my poor index finger. You can also tell that I did not clean up afterwards with the top coat. Not too long after these pictures were taken when POP! off they came.

Awesome Aussie August: Farewell Winter - Ozotic 509

Today is officially the last day of Winter here in the Southern Hemisphere. How I wish that this means that the first of September would be magically warm to usher in Spring. It will most likely continue being chilly on and off for a while yet.

For my base I used three coats of Ozotic 509. Of course the sun hid for the day since I used a holographic polish. I had to resort to taking my pictures in the house.

So I took a picture in the kitchen with the flash...

In the bathroom directly under the heat light.

I had always planned on using Ozotic 509 for the base of a Winter manicure. Originally I was going to stamp with my spectraflaired blue holographic franken. I decided against it because I thought that might be too holographic. Is there any such thing? Konad Dark Blue was used to provide a contrast between the holographic awesomeness and the stamping.

The snowflake design is from Bundle Monster's image plate BM-323. This seems to be one of my favourite plates because it has so many good designs. I did try stamping with a contrast of a dark silver. With the light hitting the holographic goodness on my nails you can not notice the mess that I made on my thumb. I stamped with Nails Inc. Cleopatra's Kiss over the top of my Konad Dark Blue. On my ring finger I stamped first with Cleopatra's Kiss and then with Konad Dark Blue. You can not see it unless you look hard and up very close on my ring finger.

Last of all I took a picture in the shade so you can see the design and some of the mess I made on my thumb with my over-stamping. Excuse the shoddy clean up. I did not intend on keeping this manicure on when I had finished because of the thumb nail and the chipping on my right hand.

Goodbye Winter and hello Spring. Sorry Winter, I am not sad to see you go!

Awesome Aussie August: Duck Feathers aka Ozotic 505

Some time ago when it was much warmer than it is now, I was at the park with my Strumpet and our children. There is a creek that runs through this park and some ducks inhabit the creek. It is not difficult to get me started on nail polish since I am obsessed with it. My Strumpet said that she thought it would be great to have a nail polish that flashes the different colours of a duck's feather.

I finally have something to offer here that I think resembles the flash from green to blue to purple. Just like a duck's feather. Yes, it is Ozotic 505 and it will always be Duck Feathers to me. Sadly it is discontinued. Each time I look at it I am always mesmerised. I catch a glimpse of emerald green or the elusive pink and gold shift. Sometimes it is purple and teal. How many pictures you could take of this and still not capture the beauty.

Just out of the water - the pink and gold shift.

My manicure is two coats of Duck Feathers over the Fantasy Maker's Wet N Wild Black. It would take too much to try to build it up to opacity. Sadly, I don't have pictures of the emerald green shift because my camera will not co-operate with the awesomeness of the multichromatic pigments in this polish.

To complete the theme, I stamped some feathers with China Glaze 2030. Both images are from Bundle Monster. The single feather is from BM15 and the other is from BM-214.

I think I need more moisturiser with this harsh Winter weather.

Again and again I try to get the colours and emerald green is there on my nail but not on the camera. I did capture this glorious purple.

To my Strumpet,

I hope you love Duck Feathers as much as I do.

<3 ME xoxoxox