Effie Trinket - Nail Polish Queen!

China Glaze Strawberry Fields, Barry M 289 Gold, Essence Make It Golden (and a tiny hint on the very edge of the tips of Ulta3 Gold Rush Fever)

Like every other person on the planet I've seen the Hunger Games at the movies in the past week and read the books. And like every other nail polish addict on the planet, I've done a HG manicure! Hooray! 

Because I am not all that skilled with painting intricate designs like Mockingjay birds, or tiny bows and arrows, I did something different. When I saw the movies I loved Effie's nails. I love Elizabeth Banks (they need to bust Avery out of North Korea on 30 Rock so she can be a regular again on the show!) and honestly, Effie was my favourite part of the movie! These nails are inspired by the awesome gradient mani she rocked in the reaping scene:

(hardest thing to find a photo of on the interwebs. They were much more impressive in the movie but you get the idea)

Anyway. They were awesome so obviously I had to have them too! 

Pale Glittery Pink Jelly Mani

OPI Panda-Monium Pink, China Glaze Nova, Ulta3 French Pink

This was my attempt to be slightly creative while I was sick with a cold earlier in the week (the cold is also responsible for me posting today instead of on Monday or Tuesday like normal). I've been seeing a few of the old jelly sandwich manis over the past few weeks and was in the mood for a subtle, pink kind of manicure so this was what I ended up with! 

I bought Ulta3 French Pink a while back during my search for the perfect pink, but it's just too sheer for my liking. It sure came in handy for this mani though! 

Beauty Department Bows

China Glaze Kinetic Candy, OPI Alpine Snow, BYS Black Nail Striper, two dots of glitter from Milani Gold

I was quite keen to try this tutorial from The Beauty Department because I love bows, and bows on nails? Well, just how could you get any cuter? Initially I was all set to do the bows on every nail, but as I do with most nail art, I started on my ring finger (my favourite accent nail) just in case I decided to only do one. 

Man, am I glad I started there. There was no way I was ever going to do this on all my nails. It was tricky! I like to think that I'm pretty decent with the nail striper after my obsession with tribal nails a while back, but I seem to have overestimated my skills. The curves completely threw me off. So much concentration went into those two bows! 

They did look super cute in the end though! 

Monochromatic Ladders

China Glaze Recycle, China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, BYS Black Nail Striper

I was in the mood for a bit of a grey stripy manicure and this was what I ended up with! I haven't used a nail art striper in so long and now I'm addicted again! I want to use it all the time! 

Nail Art Competition at More Nail Polish

Cathy from the amazing blog More Nail Polish just had a nail art competition to celebrate two years of blogging. And, it has the greatest prize - Lynnderellas! Nothing less than awesome would be acceptable for a such worthy prizes, and man did everyone who entered deliver! You can check out all the entries here, here and here.

The competition was for manicures which were inspired by something. It could be anything! I ended up using the little illustration thing on the tag on my candle that sits on my desk as my inspiration.

They're some weird looking flowers, but I really liked the colours and thought it would be a good mani to do with my handy dotter.

OPI Mermaid's Tears, China Glaze For Audrey, China Glaze Electric Beat, OPI Planks A Lot, OPI Sparrow Me The Drama, OPI Who The Shrek Are You, OPI The 'It' Colour (I think that's all!)

It ended up looking more like some kind of fancy microscopic bacteria or cells rather than cool looking flowers, but I still liked it!

Netty Rainbows

OPI William Tell Me About OPI, Ozotic 534, Face Of Australia White Gold, China Glaze Devotion, Bundle Monster BM-208

After a weekend away (wearing William Tell Me About OPI), a 5.30am start to catch a flight back to Sydney, then a full day of work I was feeling a little bit lazy by the time I made it home. I couldn't be bothered to take off William Tell Me About OPI, even though there was tip wear and it was looking a bit shabby, so I added a coat of Ozotic 534. Instant rainbow magic! Then I thought, why not add some stamping over the top, so I did with White Gold. Then I thought, why stop at one netty looking stamp? Trap those rainbows! I'll add another layer of stamping! And that was how this bizarre lazy manicure was born! It was actually a lot cooler looking in real life than in these photos.

Please ignore the chunks taken out of my left hand. I had a slight altercation with the grater while cooking last night. Luckily it just got the polish and not my fingernail! 

Aquadelic Disco

China Glaze Aquadelic, Kleancolor Disco Ball

I cannot wait until the next week or two are over! It's been so busy lately that I've been wearing the same nail polish for multiple days in a row and I never do that! The horror! Glitter is my lazy form of nail art but I'm actually quite happy with this combination and I received lots of comments on it today, which is good because I'll be rocking this mani for a few more days yet! Perhaps I'll mattify it!

Zoom-Zoomy Lasers

OPI Skull & Glossbones, China Glaze Electric Beat, China Glaze Aquadelic, China Glaze Peachy Keen

After an extremely busy week I was in the mood for some easy yet awesome nails. This mani was created using Jane from Nailside's laser mani tutorial, and a few extra colours. Apart from Peachy Keen, all of the colours I've used are polishes I've been obsessed with lately. I actually keep using them over and over because my desk where I paint my nails is very messy at the moment and I haven't put any nail polishes away in quite a while so all these new favourite colours keep staring at me, demanding to be used in every manicure!