Confetti Manicure with I Scream Nails

I couldn't pass up the chance for a free nail art manicure with I Scream Nails, so when I saw that my local Westfield had a beauty event on to celebrate Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival I jumped online to secure one of the coveted 15 minute appointments. The area was really well presented and was fitted with copper and Acapulco style chairs, as well as a desk space where I entered a VAMFF competition and received a free copy of Elle magazine (with a free hand cream from L'Occitane, very nice!)

I Scream Nails had 4 designs on a card to choose from when you sat down and I didn't hesitate to choose the confetti style nail art, with the gorgeous Blue Heaven nail polish as my main colour. My manicurist was the lovely Zinta who was happy to have a chat and talk about nails with me, something I miss out on when I usually get my nails done at Westfield.

  

 

 

 

 

Overall the experience was lots of fun and I am enjoying the compliments on my cute nail art since the appointment - all of the polishes used (except the top coat) was from the I Scream Nails brand and they seem to be of a really great quality as well as being in super cute ice cream cone form. I'm planning on trying out this nail art idea at home with some other colours since I own some dotting tools, and will report back on how I go recreating it!

 

What do you think of this confetti nail art?
-Emma x

5 Nail Polish Posts to Inspire You!

I'm slowly but surely getting back into a nail polish obsession - I think I'm being influenced by the gloomy Melbourne days and wanting to spice up my outfits with cool nails and peppy scarves everyday! I've been rotating my green nail polishes (obsession alert!) and have some NOTD's in the pipeline to share, but I thought I'd do something different and showcase a few cool nail looks I've seen on other bloggers in the past couple of weeks. I often assume that all of my readers follow the same lot of beauty blogs that I do but am reminded that that isn't always the case, so here you go - some awesome new blogs to check out!

 

1. My true weakness when it comes to nail shades is deep and dramatic, so it's a surprise I overlooked the recent L'Oreal 50 Shades of Grey style release. Vita (Making Up 4 My Age) didn't though, and boy I'm intrigued by this shade now!

2. You have to admit, holographic nail polishes are pretty awesome, right? I think I only own the one from Colour Club but see them often as I peruse nail blogs. I'm a long-time follower of lovely Anna from Beauty by ShortyLegs and love how she styled this holographic polish in this post!

3. One of the prettiest and most honest blogs I follow is Sleep and Water, and her perfect nails always make me envious with each swatch picture. I'd forgotten all about my 2013 Face of Australia nail obsession, and this 'party popper' nail look has made me dig through my stash for this bottle!

4. When it comes to super pretty nail art, you can't go past Cosmetic Cupcake! As soon as I saw these daisy nails I was impressed, and taken back to my childhood days when I was a sucker for a daisy print!

5. I myself have posted about the gorgeous OPI Hawaii collection and have such love for the place, but it was these swatches from All Lacquered Up that really set my heart racing! I can't wait to wear Aloha from OPI, if only it would look so good on my short unkempt nails!

Cosmetic Cupcake // Sleep and Water

Which nail polish is your favourite from these five?
I'm pretty tempted to do a round-up of my favourite blush posts now, as there have been some seriously lemming-inducing ones lately!
-Emma

*This post was not sponsored, just a simple sharing of some brilliant nail posts. Click away and find some new blogs to follow!

Sugar High

My nails have been bare for a while now and I felt like jazzing them up with some pretty colours in time for Easter. After heading out to buy Easter Eggs for all of my nieces and nephews I was in the mood to indulge in some Easter fun while I had the chance! I didn’t want to go back down the super pastel/easter egg look as I’ve done them in the past (speckled nails and a pastel skittle mani!) so I pulled out some brighter shades for a spotty sugary look!

 

I started with a base of China Glaze ‘Sugar High’ and was mighty tempted to leave it be as the bright pink shade is so stunning by itself, but I couldn’t stop myself heading back in with my dotting tools to play around! I covered each nail in dots with essence ‘Grab This Hype’ from the ‘Yes, We Pop’ nail collection (check out this Cosmetic Cupcake post about that!) and I love how the bright teal looks against the pink! I then made the mistake of placing smaller dots on top of the teal with Hello Kitty ‘Lola Lilas’ which is a pale lavender toned pink shade – I wanted to add pastel into the mix but I think it’s too weak to stand against such a bright clash of shades.

 

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I’m hoping to see some gorgeous Easter nail looks on Instagram this year, and indulge in some more delicious plain Cadbury mini-eggs too - they are the perfect sized treat for a non-chocolate lover like me! I love spending time with family over Easter but will be pretty busy this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing how other families celebrate this occasion on Instagram and Twitter.

What traditions do you have for Easter? What chocolate treat is your favourite for this occasion?

-Emma

An Easy Festive Forest Green Manicure

Around this time of year, one of my favourite things to see is a cheerful festive manicure! Even my sister-in-law is rocking this amazing red glittery snowflake adorned polish that is making me smile every time I see her! When I went to get my nails done after we returned from overseas I spotted the most beautiful green on my manicurist and that is how I ended up with my first festive mani for the season. Green polishes are most certainly my kryptonite at the moment with more than a few coming home with me from the US, and so this seemed a natural choice for a Christmas green!

 

The polish was a brand called Morgan Taylor which I’d not heard of before, but when we went to paint my acrylics we realised another lady in the salon was getting her nails done with the very same shade! I love knowing that 3 women in the one room had the same beautifully festive nails so I was happy to wait to use the shade, which is adorably named Later Alligator…as if I didn’t already love it enough! I topped my ring fingers with two light coats of Sinful Colours Call You Later which I had just purchased on clearance from Target and I like the way the names fit well together and that the gold and green shimmers bring a bit of pizazz to the forest green crème shade.

I’m currently considering my next festive manicure to take me through Christmas day and I’m not sure if I want to go down the red route or not…would another green mani be crazy?! How much glitter is too much?!

-Emma

{The Maid of Honour} Wedding Manicure

{the peonies in my bridesmaid bouquet, the clutch we held on the day and the accessories to match}

 My beautiful best friend Candice got married over the weekend, and I was lucky enough to have the privilege of standing beside her as maid of honour as she made this new step with her man. I'm not sure how much detail she would be happy about me divulging here, so until I've spoken to her about it I thought I'd stick to the small details...I just couldn't help myself from posting the nail shades I chose to wear on the day! The bridesmaids all wore different dresses made in the same turquoise/teal shade, and Candice asked us to wear neutral style polish to set off the look. I think she chose really well, some of us had natural nails (moi) while others had acrylics or gels, but all of us felt really comfortable and I personally loved my choices.

I've loved the essence Nude Glam polish in Café Ole for a really long time now, but I had to repurchase it to wear over the weekend as I didn't want to have to go through the trillions of polishes stored in shoe boxes that we are yet to unpack. It's a gorgeous nude shade that complements my super-pale skin (or translucent as it was touted at the wedding!) but there are also other shades in the range for different skin tones. The brush is nice and wide and the formula is pretty spot on, but I don't find it lasts a super long time on my nails (most polishes don't, my nails are pretty weak)

I decided to create a rough glittered tip to my nails (sort of in an ombre style with it one third of the way up each nail) and I adored the effect! Sadly I was too busy posing for photos to snap a good picture of them, so you're stuck with these shots and your nail lover imagination! I chose OPI Witch is Witch for the glitter, the bar glitter inside looks awesome against the nude and it made me smile every time I looked down at my nails during the day.

 

What sort of polish did you wear to your wedding, or what do you plan on wearing?

I am definitely having a bit of glitter in my wedding mani next year (and we just worked, the wedding is now less than a year away! Countdown is on!)

 

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

 

 

 

Brisbane Lions Nail Art : One To Impress My Man!

The things we do for love, right?

 

Despite not even following the Brisbane Lions AFL team, Chris was excited that they got into the NAB cup final and requested I do a nail art project for the event. I have to say that him requesting anything like that is a first, so I was happy to indulge him despite my lack of nail art skills. I have been playing around with a terrific little set of dotting tools I picked up from eBay, and came up with two different nail looks. Chris loved the one with the dots down the centre, which reminds me (and everyone I’ve shown this to!) of Indigenous Aboriginal art. I will admit I wasn’t a huge fan of the colour scheme -when his rugby team are on I prefer getting festive, as Melbourne Storm are purple! A much easier colour to pretty up! He was chuffed and kept showing them off at the game, and the Lions ended up winning, so now they are my good luck nails.

Colours Used:                                                                    

TBN Very Berry

essence 01 Fortune Cookie (from the Cherry Blossom Girl collection

Ulta3 Blue Marlin

 

What other ideas do you have for a nail design with blue, maroon and yellow?!

Does this remind you of Aboriginal art as well?

Mumma Bovary's Camo Mani

It seems like each time I return home from work or a blog event Mumma Bovary has up and changed her nail colour again! For someone who isn’t into her nails, she sure plays with them a lot (she also says that about Facebook but always knows who is doing what on there!) I recently posted a picture on Instagram (username is @emmabovary) of Mum’s glitter polish haul, and the Savvy Ginger Ale was the first bottle to get a whirl as a manicure rather than a hasty swatch. Mum used essence 65 Camouflage (a shade she nicked from my stash) underneath the sheer glitter, and I am in love with the effect! 

 

I love the way the subtle glitters adds a feminine touch to an otherwise quite masculine colour, and makes it also appear as though it has an interesting texture. I’m very glad I’ve gotten Mumma Bovary hooked on glitter, as it means I will have plenty of shades to snaffle during mani time with her!

 

Does your Mum wear glitter polish? What do you think of adding feminine touches to camo style shades like this one?

Dot to Dot

Fashion season is upon us, with international shows keeping beauty bloggers busy with new trends in hair, makeup and of course nails. A blog I turn to for trend reports (and just a daily dose of swoon-worthy awesomeness) is ViviannaDoesMakeup, and once again she has her finger on the pulse and recent posts are covering beauty trends from London Fashion Week.

As soon as I clapped eyes on the nail trend she sported in a post earlier in the week, I put down my iPad and set to work recreating the look on my own hands.  A pretty nail trend that even I can manage, this screams class with a neutral base shade and a bit of fun with the metallic accent. I prepped my nails lightly using the funky Aztec Nail Shaper* from Manicare (1.95) I used the upcoming L’Oreal Vernis Color Riche shade in 622 Soft Chinchilla*(5.95) which is an absolutely beautiful grey shot through with mushroom that I find really flattering on the nail. I tried to find a pretty and opaque metallic to dot onto the base on the nail with my splayed out bobby pin, and Australis’ Foil Spoil* (7.95, original review here) fit the bill nicely.

 

A nice and simple bit of nail art like this makes me feel classic but on trend at the same time. Now I’m off to scour the fashion week blog posts for another hit of inspiration…

*Marked products were provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Raindrop Nail Art // Bright Purple and Turquoise

 

I was obviously feeling creative the morning I topped my nails with this little raindrop-esque number. I am the first to admit that nail art is not my strong suit, and though I had a dig around in the nail stash my ebay nail dotting tools remain AWOL. I used a humble toothpick to play around with the turquoise BYS Blue N283 atop the stunning Ulta3 Spring Break.

 

 

Ideally this would’ve been a dotty manicure, but when I saw the finished product raindrops came to mind, and I thought it quite ironic considering how toasty it is down in Australia at the moment. I’ve been thinking about how amazing it would be to visit my family in Scotland and experience snow for the first time in my life. I think the next time I’ll be close to managing that will be my honeymoon, but sadly I doubt it will be snowing then. Raining, probably!

 

 

You can buy BYS polishes from Fashion Addict here!

I am sliding right into a purple phase right now, so Spring Break is right on target and will be getting much love in the Bovary residence. What else do you think I should do with it?

 

*The BYS polish was borrowed from my MIL and the Ulta3 shade was purchased by me. Honesty, always.

Strawberry Fizz with Gold Glam

 

I am head over heels for the beautiful bright nail shades from Rimmel, and by topping my middle finger with a layer of Jordana’s Gold Glam I was able to jazz it up a little! I like the way the hexes in the golden glitter stand out, and the shade suits the Barbie-esque pink shade of Strawberry Fizz.

 

I’m not normally one for cocktail jewellery of any sort, as I have my staples which I rarely switch up, but sometimes it is nice to pop on something pretty and blingy! Cue the el cheapo, which I’d say was from Diva but it was bought so long ago that I can’t really remember clearly.

 

I think I’ve made the decision that Rimmel’s Strawberry Fizz is the perfect pink for me! What does your perfect pink look like?

 

*Both polishes were bought by me! Honesty, always.