Funky Floral Nail Art Design

Hello lovely people!

Welcome back! I took a break last week (in case you missed it) because, well honestly, why not? Sometimes you just need to mix things up a bit and take a break from routine. Plus, this blog is a hobby, so if I don't get something out each week, I'm not all that fussed.

It is officially Spring here, (even if the weather doesn't know it yet, it's pretty cold right now) which means pastels, floral prints, and all the pretty girly things! I can't wait to do more of this stuff! So many stamps, so little nails, sigh... But, right now I have this fun, funky, floral design to kick things off, along with plenty more ideas up my sleeve!
Let's get into it!

Funky Floral Nail Art

For this nail art, I used these nail polishes:
Go With The Flowy by Essie
Off Tropic by Essie
Lime Zinger by Lilypad Lacquer
Ring in The Bling by Essie
Attitude Attitude by Essie
Black Stamping Polish by Emily De Molly 
Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen
Top & Base Coat by Rimmel

As well as these tools:
Large clear stamper
Scraper
Stamping Plate BP - 98 by Born Pretty
Liquid Latex by LuLaa
Mani Saver
Cotton ball with Acetone

Funky Floral Nail Art with Ring in The Bling

I started this design with Top and Base Coat. Once that was dry, I applied two coats of Go With The Flowy (should have used a peel off base coat, so much glitter!). I then took Attitude Attitude, wiped the excess polish off the brush using the neck of the bottle and gently swiped it across the nail sparingly. I did the same with Ring in The Bling, Off Tropic and Lime Zinger until I was satisfied with the coverage.
I then took my stamping tools and plate BP - 98, applied Black over the image I wanted to use, then scraped, picked up and pressed the design onto the nail. This image is quite large and has a whole bunch of different elements to it, so I decided to use as much as I could by selecting different areas of it. I made sure to clean the stamper and plate between each use with my mani saver and acetone.
All it took then to finish off was some Kwik Dry Top Coat to keep it sealed and shiny.

Funky Floral Nail Art with Lime Zinger

I'm pretty happy with the end result of this nail art. I was going for something more edgy than just a typical floral design, which I'd like to think I achieved. Not exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but still pretty sweet, I think.
What I really should have done was a reverse stamp to get exactly what I wanted, but I'm honestly so nervous about trying it.
I'll do it one day, I promise!

What do you think?

What funky designs have you got lined up for Spring?

Don't forget to check out my social media pages. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Neon Dry Brush Nail Art

Hi there!
I hope you're all well!

I've had a great day doing my nails. I have been having a few struggles with nail art lately, which has been stressing me out and doing no favours for my motivation/inspiration.
BUT, today I was FINALLY able to get past my frustrations and continue without getting disheartened. I must say it felt really good! Hopefully this feeling sticks around because I've missed doing my nails regularly!  

This week I have drawn inspiration from a few lovely little pieces of "art" hanging on my wall. I say "art" with quotation marks because technically they are birthday cards, all with a similar design theme, that I thought looked really cool (see below for pictures).
So, I cut them in half and hung them in the perfectly sized space above my wardrobe. I love waking up and just staring at these cute little animals with all the neon colours surrounding them, and it didn't take long for me to realize that this would be a fabulous look on my nails! Unfortunately I am pretty useless at any kind of REAL art, so I omitted the animals and just went with the colours. As usual, keep reading for the nail polish and tools used in this design. 

Neon Dry Brush Nail Art

I used these polishes:
Blanc by Essie
Lady In Black by OPI
Tahiti by ULTA3
Big Primer Base Coat by Sally Hansen
Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen

Tools I used:
Liquid Latex by LuLaa

Neon Dry Brush Nail Art with Blanc by Essie

I started with Big Primer Base Coat. Once dry, I applied two coats of Blanc; the white base tends to amplify and really bring out the brightness of these neon polishes. Before continuing, I applied liquid latex around each nail. Once visibly dry, I grabbed Lady In Black and wiped a fair bit of excess polish off the brush using the neck of the bottle. I didn't remove too much as I wanted it to still be opaque and dense. I then wiped the polish onto the nail in various locations and directions, making sure not to be too heavy handed with it, as I wanted to keep a relatively even amount of each colour. Once I was satisfied with Lady In Black, I moved onto Tahiti and repeated the process - again, trying not to over power the other colours. I then removed the liquid latex and finished with a coat of Kwik Dry Top Coat to seal it all in. 

Neon Dry Brush with Tahiti

I love this design, and I'm just a little bit obsessed with this awesome bright orange!
It's actually a perfect match to the design I pulled my inspiration from, which makes it even better.
I originally intended to incorporate a few different neon colours into this design - one on each nail or maybe just two different colours - but when I went to grab some colours, I found my collection TERRIBLY lacking in neon polishes and I was quite disappointed... So I DEFINITELY need to improve my neon collection!

All in all though, I think this design would work well with any colour; neon or other wise. Black and white goes with everything, of course! (I should know, half our house is black and white - haha)

As always, I'd love to know your thoughts!
Let me know what colours YOU would use to create this awesome design.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Holographic Aztec Inspired Nail Art

Hello everyone!

I hope you're enjoying the weekend. It has been raining on and off for the last few days here, which is amazing and much needed! I love rainy days; staying inside with cozy clothes and all the internet I can poke a stick at. I spent most of yesterday looking at various nail art to get some new ideas. It didn't turn out as successful as I had hoped, but it's always good to see what everyone else is doing with their amazing nail skills.

Today, I am bringing you this fun, holo-filled, Aztec-inspired nail art. I have these fabulous holographic polishes from Celestial Cosmetics that are dying to see the light of day again! I am always so scared to use holo in nail art, but I think this one has helped break me out of this a bit. Hopefully you'll get to see more of it. 

Holographic Aztec-inspired Nail Art

For this design I used these polishes:
Blanc by Essie
Classy, Sassy & A Little Badassy by Celestial Cosmetics
Hell In High Heels by Celestial Cosmetics
Broken Glass by Celestial Cosmetics
Crystal Ship by Celestial Cosmetics
Black Stamping Polish by Emily de Molly
Big Primer Base Coat by Sally Hansen
Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen

I also used these items:
BP-L048 Stamping Plate by Born Pretty
Large clear stamper
Scarper
Liquid Latex by Lulaa

Holographic Aztec-inspired Nail Art with Hell In High Heels

I started this design with Big Primer base coat. After drying, I applied two coats of Blanc. I then applied liquid latex around each nail. Taking Broken Glass, I wiped the excess polish off the brush using the neck of the bottle, then gently brushed it on to each nail. I continued with Crystal, Hell In High Heels, and Classy, Sassy & A Little Badassy. I did go back in with the polishes that I felt needed a stronger presence. I then took BP-L048 stamping plate, painted Black stamping polish over the design I wanted, scraped off the excess and used my stamper to transfer each design to the nail. I used three different designs, all from the same plate. After allowing the polish ample time to dry, I applied Kwik Dry Top Coat to finish. 

Holographic Aztec-inspired Nail Art with Broken Glass

So that's all for this one!
I love dry brush nail art - with the addition of holo and stamping over top, it's such a fun design! I love the colour combination of this design, the variation of strong bright colours with the soft ones create a nice juxtaposition. 

I decided to use different designs from the same plate. I don't do this too often, and I'm seeing why - I'm not all that pleased with how it turned out.
If I were to do it again, I'd use the diamond on my pinky, and possibly only on two nails, to really let that dry brush holo shine. Either way, it's still a cool design (in my totally biased opinion).

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by!

Hot Pink Aztec Inspired Nail Art

Hi everyone, 

I hope you've all had a good week. Mine seemed to drag and this heat is only making it worse. I almost didn't want to do my nails today! The mugginess is making me pretty lethargic, as I'm sure it does for most people. I'm not a huge fan of winter, but I am more than excited for it this year! I seriously miss the foggy hills and semi consistent rainfall, not to mention the massive amounts of lush greenery surrounding us. Also, the ability to go outside and actually enjoy it is a plus! 

Anyway, enough dreaming of the future, on with the nail art! Lately I've been trying to do more intricate looking designs. Layering and things like that. I think this is a pretty good example of what I'm aiming for. I have this thing for Aztec styled things at the moment, so I bought this awesome stamping plate that is full of Aztec inspired design which I have paired with some dry brushing and bright colours! Keep reading for the polishes, products and how I created this fun nail art.

Hot Pink Aztec Inspired Nail Art

For this design I used these polishes:

Material Girl by Chi Chi Cosmetics

Gold Rush Fever by ulta3

Black Satin by BYS Cosmetics

Black Stamping Polish by Emily de Molly

Big Primer Base Coat by Sally Hansen

Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen

The products I used are:

BP-L048 Stamping Plate by Born Pretty

Large clear stamper

Scraper

Mani saver 

Cotton balls 

Liquid Latex by Lulaa 

Acetone

Hot Pink Aztec Inspired Nail Art with Gold Rush Fever

To create this design, I started with Big Primer Base Coat. Once dry, I applied two coats of Material Girls to all nails except my ring finger. I applied two coats of Black Stain to this nail, as I intended this to be an accent nail. I allowed this to dry while applying liquid latex around each nail. Taking Gold Rush Fever, I wiped the excess polish off the brush using the neck of the bottle and lightly stroked it across each nail, making sure to change directions for a distressed look. Once I was satisfied with the dry brushing, I removed the latex and re-applied. This is to ensure any polish on the latex doesn't dry too quickly and form a 'crust', which, in my experience makes clean up harder, therefore defeating the purpose of liquid latex. I then grabbed my stamping tools and Black Stamping Polish. I chose the design I wanted and applied enough polish to cover it, then taking my scraper, I scraped over the design to remove excess polish. I picked up the image using a large stamper and quickly pressed it onto the nail, then removed the latex. Taking my mani saver and a cotton ball dipped in acetone, I cleaned the stamping plate before proceeding. I repeated the previous steps for my ring finger, except using Material Girl to stamp with.
Lastly, I finished off with a coat of Kwik Dry Top Coat.

Hot Pink Aztec Inspired Nail Art with Material Girl

So a few things on this one.
Firstly, let me talk about this pink polish for a moment. It has to be one of my favorite pink polishes, in my opinion it is the perfect shade of hot pink. It also happens to be a pretty perfect colour for summer. I just adore it!
Now on to the gold. This is the best gold in my collection. I don't have all that many because it's not a preferred colour, but it's a good staple. This one is fabulous. I've said this before, but I am so grateful that I found ulta3 again, I'm really impressed by the polishes I have picked up so far!
These two colours together are an amazing combination, in my opinion.

I had originally intended to do stamping on all nails, but when I saw the pink and gold together I just knew they had to be shown off. Overall, I love this mani and enjoyed wearing it. I'd definitely do this combo again one day.

What do you think?
Are you as in love with these colours as I am? 

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Pastel Grunge Dry Brush Nail Art

Hello everyone.

I hope you're all doing well. It's currently a lovely sunny day here. I am enjoying being able to have my windows open and letting that beautiful breeze in. It's a nice change from the icy winds and grey skies last weekend. 

This week's nail art is one of my all time favorite techniques, dry brush. In fact, you can see me using the same one here & here. This is the beauty of the dry brush, as you can see, each mani is always totally different. You can use as many or as little colours as you like and it always seems to work.

So here's my finished mani. Below I'll list all the products I used and my method to achieve this really cute and grungy dry brush nail art, as well as a some photos.

Pastel Grunge Dry Brush Nail Art

These are the products I used to create this pastel grunge nail art:

Be Happy + Smile by Essence

Funny Face by Essie

Orchid by piCture pOlish

Lady In Black by OPI

Camo Coat by Celestial Cosmetics

Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen

Pastel Grunge Dry Brush Nail Art with Be Happy + Smile

I applied three coats of Be Happy + Smile as my base. This colour is a little sheer so it does require that additional coat for complete opacity. However, you could probably get away with two coats - being that this is a grunge style, it could add a little more depth to the mani. Once dry, I used Camo Coat around each finger for easier clean up. I have a seriously bad habit of making a huge mess with this technique and although the clean up is usually pretty minimal, I still prefer to use latex. Taking Funny Face, I used the bottle neck to wipe off as much excess polish as possible, then began lightly swiping across each nail in different directions. Occasionally I like to re-dip and wipe as the brush tends to get very dry (duh) and awkward to use. Polish tends to dry very fast when doing this as there is only a small amount of polish on the nail. By the time I'd completed all five nails, I was able to move onto the next colour, Orchid, straight away. I did the same thing with this polish, wipe off excess and lightly swipe. I then used Lady In Black in the same way again. I let black dry a little longer as I wanted to avoid any smudging when applying the trusty Kwik Dry Top Coat to finish.

Pastel Grunge Dry Brush Nail Art with Funny Face

I am really pleased with how this turned out. I feel like it suits my personality so well. Light and fun with a little bit of darkness. I was originally going to use white as a base, but I decided that it would be too vibrant and I didn't want that. This pearly, dusty pink is actually perfect. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I made a good choice. Haha. 

These colours seem to go together so well. If I had of used another colour, I think I might have ruined the design. Some times, less really is more.  

Pastel Grunge Dry Brush Nail Art with Orchid

That's all for today! I hope you enjoyed my post this week.
What do you think?
Do you love dry brush as much as I do?
Leave me a comment below, I'd love to get your feedback. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Distressed Sunset

Hello all! 

I hope everyone is doing well! This week has once again flown by! Before I know it, it'll be Christmas again. 


Today I have mixed two of my favorite techniques - dry brush & gradient - together to get this awesome design I call Distressed Sunset. It's edgy and cute at the same time. I love wearing this design.

Distressed Sunset Glossy Top Coat

The photo above is with a glossy top coat, but I ended up using a matte top coat to finish and I love the way it looks, I think it plays well with the pastel tones used and it kind of subdues the black so it's not as harsh. 

Distressed Sunset with glossy top coat & Barbie Boy - Chi Chi

So for this mani I used to the following
Barbie Boy - Chi Chi
Apricot Cockatoo - Essence
Lady In Black - OPI
Big Kwik Dry Top Coat - Sally Hansen
G'Day Matte Top Coat - piCture pOlish
Camo Coat - Celestial.

Distressed Sunset with Matte Top Coat

This was fairly simple. I applied two coats of Apricot Cockatoo & allowed to dry, then applied Kwik Dry top coat. I used Camo coat around my nails for easier clean up from the gradient. Once both were dry, I applied Apricot Cockatoo & Barbie Boy to a cosmetic sponge and dabbed it on all of my nails until a good opacity was reached. I removed the Camo coat once I was happy & cleaned up my cuticle areas with acetone and a clean up brush. Once the gradient was dry I applied Kwik Dry top coat to smooth it out. After drying, I took Lady In Black and wiped off as much excess polish as possible from the brush and applied it sporadically on all but one nail. Finished with G'Day Matte top coat, and voila! Here we have it. 

Distressed Sunset with Matte Top coat & Barbie Boy - Chi Chi

 As you have probably gathered by now, dry brush is my absolute favorite technique, and quite often my go-to. I've done a few others you can see here & here. Be sure to keep an eye out, as you will definitely see more of this. I've not done it like this before as I always thought it looked best over white, but I am slowly and surely expanding my horizons! 

Distressed Sunset with Matte Top Coat & Apricot Cockatoo - Essence

What are your two favorite techniques? Have you crossed them over before? Let me know and leave me links, I'd love to check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Essie Blossom Dandy Spring 2015 Dry Brush

Howdy y'all!

Today I'm gonna share with you the first nail art that spiked my obsession. This is not the first one I've ever done, but the first one that turned into a snow ball effect. Admittedly, I have done this technique so many times because I love it. It's quick, easy, super cute and you can do so much with it! 

It's the dry brush technique. So basically, you choose your base colour, for me, its usually white, because what doesn't go with white? Then you grab your second colour and wipe off as much of the polish as you can, effectively making the brush "dry", and just swipe the brush across your nail in any way you see fit. The results are sort of a distressed abstract look. You can use as many colours as you like, but I just did the one this time. If you check out my last post there's a three toned version that I also love.

For this design I used BYS French White and Essie Blossom Dandy. I think these colours pair well together. At the time it was the middle of winter and we were receiving an unusual amount of rain, so I wanted to do something a to match those winter vibes, whilst still adding a splash of colour. Honestly this is still one of my favorite designs to date. It just wears so well and I could not stop looking at them!

Now I know my gap is HUGE and very uneven and inconsistent, but this was actually the first time I'd done it. I was getting sick of my polish chipping so easily, and only lasting a day or two, so I did some research which lead to the gap (as well as some other really useful tips) This will get slightly better over time, and then slightly worse again haha.

I know it's a little over done, but I totally understand why, its so awesome! I love it. I feel I need to get a little more adventurous with this one. Watch this space!

What are your thoughts on this technique? Have you done it before? Let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!

G'Day y'all & Welcome to the AustraNAILian!

My name's Sophie and as you can probably tell from my blog name, I'm Australian and I love nail art.

I'm forever researching nail related things online, only to find they're either American or Canadian, which makes it bloody hard to get my hands on some of the things I want. So I decided to make my own blog, with products that are available to Australian's that are not going to take 6 weeks in shipping or cost my first born child.

Now, bare with me children, as I have not long been doing nail art, despite always loving it, I've only recently decided to do all the really intricate designs that I've seen before. So to get started, let me chuck in some older nail art that I somehow managed to pull off.

This was my first attempt at the dry brush technique. I actually really loved these nails and got so many compliments. Heaps of women thought they were Frozen inspired. They were not. I just happened to like these colours. (Spoiler alert, these colours will be featured a lot).

These are one my first intricate designs. As you can see, I tried a sponge gradient, but because I used an actual sponge, like the kind you'd do the dishes with, they ended up being very spacey and not opaque enough. Sad face. They also took me 3 day! As you can probably tell from the wear on the tips. But all in all, I loved them!

Now here is one of my favorite techniques so far! This is a wicked splatter technique created by using a straw. I obviously didn't bother cleaning up properly before taking this shot, but I believe it was a lot worse before this. It is a very messy technique, but its very worth it. I loved the results of this and the best part is, they will NEVER look the same!

Unfortunately at this time I didn't know much about nail art. But, there is hope! Looking back on these images, I actually get frustrated with myself because of things I know now. So you've got some nice designs to look forward to. Or at least, I think they're nice.

That's all I've got for you today. I have a few back logged images of my designs, so hang in there my friend, more nail magic coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by!