Baby blues...and pinks

So last week my latest niece was born. I knew the day she was going to be born, but that was about it - I had no idea if I was getting a niece or nephew. As I was (and still am) excited about this birth, I really wanted to do something special with my nails. I wasn't sure what - I could have gone with fancy designs, or decals or diamantes all over my fingers but what I really wanted to do was use my favourite nail polish - my diamond dust Designer OPI nail polish. I love this stuff because it sparkles - truly sparkles. There are two different types (that I own, anyway); one has a rainbow effect in the sunlight - refracts the light in lots of different colours. The others shimmer with other tones. A purple with a blue shimmer, a pink with a blue shimmer, a pink with a gold shimmer. And as I haven't worn them for well over a year, they were something I wanted to use - and I finally had the special event.

So of course, I was planning out exactly what to do when my Mum pointed out to me that I should do a pink and blue theme. She was perfectly right, of course, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to just do 'pink and blue' or that I would have just the right shades of either. And I really wanted to use my expensive sparkly stuff!

Of course, it took about 5 minutes to realise that as I have a real weakness for blue nail polish I had a blue (or two) in the Designer series. And because pink is just a colour of nail polish that everyone should have - I had some of that as well. The only decision then was whether to go with vibrant bright/dark pink and blue, or whether to go with more restrained shades.

In the end, I went a little more restrained...

 I know this doesn't exactly *look* like a blue, but it is called Sapphire - so I think it counts. Of course, what I went for as a 'pink' is called amethyst - so I'm not sure that argument holds.

 I tried very hard to show the sparkle - but it is hard to get it. I think it's more obvious on the pink/purple than the blue.

New Year's to Australia Day

So I have been super lazy yet again, in keeping this updated. I admit I prefer posting about my nails when they look fabulous, rather than just posting about all the different colours. But it is a good way to keep track.

I have gone out of my pattern twice between New Year and Australia Day - instead of just using whatever colour I came to, I actually selected colours to use. The first time was New Year's Eve. Even though I didn't celebrate (and I rarely do) I like to start any year with sparkly nails.

 So the first colours I used this year were - Mad as a Hatter (from the Alice in Wonderland mini-collection) and Show it and Glow it...from...possibly the Katy Perry collection. I just wanted the colour, I didn't care where it came from.

 Because these polishes are basically glitter and nothing else, I opted to only do the one layer, with only a base coat underneath it. They are so packed with glitter that they don't need anything under them - the main problem is that they are really hard to get off for the same reason! But they look fantastic, and I do love it when my nails sparkled.

 The next week I got back to my polish by polish approach and found these - a nude (Skinny Dip'n in Lake Michig'n) and Ecuadorable Coral - which funnily, is a Coral.

 I probably could have done more exciting things with them, but I wanted to know (and show) exactly what the nude would look like. Some of them are just see through, so you can see the bare nail, but this one ended up a skin tone. Though, not mine. The coral is quite great though - when I'm in the mood for coral. Which isn't always.

 The week after that, we moved onto shades of red. They don't exactly clash, but they don't exactly match. Romeo and Juliet - a sort of sparkly, dark brown/red. And Canadian Maple Leaf, which is a shimmery brown-ish red. Well, it's a bit like what I imagine an autumn leaf to look like.

 To be clear, Romeo and Juliet is on the left, and Canadian Maple Leaf on the right. And that works for my hands, as well as in that --> picture...

 And even MORE red! Honestly, I love the colour, but I had no idea I owned so many.

So we have OPI Love this Colour, on the Left hand, and Never Londone Shopping on the Right.

 And finally, the Australia Day colours - no I didn't just find green and yellow sitting next to the previous colours. I fished these out on purpose. Cabana Banana - a very bright yellow (and perfect for when I'm in a mood where I need yellow nail polish - and it happens) and Jade is the New Black, which is part of my search for the perfect shade of Green nail polish.

 I striped these, in an effort to make it slightly more interesting. I had moments of dreaming about painting kangaroos on my nails before I remembered a very important fact - I can't draw.