The Nail Trail

St Patrick's Day 2013!

2013-03-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Happy St Patrick's Day for Sunday. For the occasion I did some green nail art, check it out:

St Patrick's Day Nail Art

I won't bore you with more apologies for not posting in a while but I will tell you that in my absence, I've been busy preparing lots of nail art posts and a few tutorials so watch this space!

Until next time :)

Australia Day nail Art 2013

2013-02-03T17:31:00.001-08:00

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY for last week everyone! For the day I couldn't help myself but do two designs. Check them out:

Australia Day nail Art 2013

The first was Australian Flags, similar to what I did last year. You can view my post from last year here.

Australian Flag Nail Art

Another photo of the Australia Flags that I sported at a BBQ on the day. Perhaps I should try VB cans for next year..what do you think?!

The second design that I did for the day was one of my favourite nail art designs at the moment; the reverse french manicure. I did this in the official colours of Australia; green and gold.

Green and Gold Reverse French Manicure

Here's also a photo of last year's nail art, Vegemite! These are just too cute not to feature again:

Vegemite Nail Art

For those who don't know what Vegemite is, it's an iconic Australian spread, derived from yeast that is very salty and, personally, very delicious. Although, unless you grow up on Vegemite in Australia, most foreigners aren't very fond of it!

Hope all my Aussie followers had a great day and celebrated hard in true Aussie form. See you all very soon :)

Welcome back to The Nail Trail for 2013!

2013-01-29T18:43:00.002-08:00

Welcome back followers! You may have noticed that I've taken a bit of a break lately over Christmas and New Years. I'm currently in the process of relocating interstate so things have been incredibly hectic around here so I apologise for the lack of posts. I've tried to be active on Instagram at least so I will upload some photos now of what has been happening lately. For those who don't follow me yet on Instagram you can find me at @thenailtrail. Tell your friends to follow me too.

So. First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here's the nail art I was sporting on the night:

OPI Ink with China Glaze silver writing and fireworks

I also went away for a holiday to Vanuatu with my boyfriend earlier this month which was amaaaaaazing. If you haven't ever been there I would highly recommend it! Such a beautiful place and it was so nice just to get away and relax. Here's the nails I was wearing for my holiday:

OPI 'Mod About You' with Kit Cosmetics 'Shine On' feature nail

And, of course, a few photos from my trip....

Some more recent swatches...

Sally Hansen 'Mellow Yellow'

Dotted Swirl Nail Art

OPI 'Black Onyx' with 'Mad As A Hatter' Feature Nail

OPI 'Just Spotted The Lizard'

Kit Cosmetics 'Shine On' with dotted nail art feature in SH 'Mellow Yellow'

OPI 'No Room For The Blues' with Leopard Print Nail Art

Pink/Purple Gradient Nail Art

Reverse Skittle French Mani

I did this recently for a 37 degree Celcius day.

I'll try put up a tutorial for these really soon because I've had quite a few requests for this look:

And to recap if you missed it, here's some pics from the collaboration I did with Wittner <3

To read the full post click here.

The Nail Trail Collaboration with Wittner Shoes Australia

And finally, my favourite nail art of 2012:

The Nail Trail 2012 Nail Art Highlights

Hope everyone is well! I'm also preparing an Australia Day post from the other day so that should be up tonight. I've missed you guys :) see you very soon.

Christmas Day 7: Christmas nail art mix!

2012-12-29T22:36:00.001-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!!

Sorry I'm posting this a little late - as I'm sure you all know, Christmas Day can be very hectic. For the day I was sporting mixed nail art with my favourite designs from this Christmas season. Check them out:

Christmas Day Nail Art

Left Hand

Right Hand

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and arrive safely into the New Year! Stay tuned for some New Year's nail art to come. Lots of love to all my beautiful followers <3 <3

Christmas Nail Art Day 6: Reindeer!

2012-12-24T02:58:00.001-08:00

Happy Christmas Eve all! For this post I have reindeer nail art for you :)

Reindeer Nail Art

How cute are these?! And they were so simple. The colours I used were OPI Alpine Snow (white), OPI Chocolate Moose (light brown), OPI You Don't Know Jacques! (darker brown), OPI Color So Hot It Berns (red) and Sally Hansen Black Out (black).

Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas Eve! See you tomorrow for my final Christmas post! :)

Christmas Nail Art Day 5: Christmas puddings!

2012-12-23T21:09:00.001-08:00

Hey guys! Today I have for you some more festive nails: Christmas puddings! Check them out:

The colours I used for these are OPI Chocolate Moose (brown base), OPI Alpine Snow (white), OPI Jade Is The New Black (green) and OPI Color So Hot It Berns (red). These were very simple to achieve using nail art brushes and dotting tools.

Hope you guys like this post! See you very soon for some more Christmas nails :)

Christmas Nail Art Day 4: Snowmen!

2012-12-22T03:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Today for my Christmas mani I have snowmen nail art :) Check it out:

Snowmen Nail Art

These were really simple and turned out so cute! For the base white I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls - my favourite white at the moment. For the red of the scarves I used OPI The Show Must Go On, for the green OPI Green-wich Village and for the black buttons OPI Black Onyx.

Hope you like these swatches and are having a great day.
See you tomorrow for some more Christmas nails :)

Christmas Nail Art Day 3: Red, Green and Gold Spots!

2012-12-21T21:42:00.001-08:00

Hey guys! Today I have for you a very festive, dotted mani in green, red and gold spots, check it out:

This was so simple to achieve. I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the base white then, using dotting tools, dotted on the red (OPI The Show Must Go On), green (OPI Green-wich Village) and gold (Orly Glitz) randomly and in all different sized dots. I love how this turned out. I actually added a new gold glitter top coat from the Kit Happy Holidays Collection which looked great but I'm afraid I forgot to take some swatches before I removed it...sorry! Hope everyone is having a great day and getting excited and organised for Christmas - not long to go now :) :) see you soon

Christmas Nail Art Day 2: Santa Outfits!

2012-12-20T15:56:00.002-08:00

Hey guys. Today I have for you some cute Santa outfit nail art. Check it out:

These are actually very easy to achieve using dotting tools and nail art brushes. The colours I used here are OPI Vodka and Caviar (red), OPI Black Onyx (black), OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (White) and Orly Golden Jubilee.

I'm afraid this post will have to be super brief as you all know this time of year is very hectic but I hope you enjoy these swatches :) See you very soon!

Christmas Nail Art: Day 1

2012-12-18T02:17:00.002-08:00

Hi all :) As it is only one week left until Christmas I will be doing themed nails each day leading up until the day. Today I have for you my first xmas nail art of the season. These were inspired by a mani from Taylor over at @iloveyou432. She does some really awesome nails!! Check it out.

Left hand:

Right hand:

For those of you on Instagram, you can now follow me at instagram.com/thenailtrail. I post every day with my NOTDs and other random things so please follow me for cute nail designs and inspiration :) :)

Instagram photos:

Hope everyone is having a great day/night. See you tomorrow for some more Christmas nails.

Collaboration with Wittner Shoes Australia!

2012-12-13T23:36:00.002-08:00

Hey guys. Sorry I've been completely M.I.A lately - I've been flat out with graduating from Uni, getting a new job and working on a collaboration with Wittner Shoes Australia for their blog. I hope I can make it up to you though with this post with the designs I've done for the collaboration. The post, published on Wittner's blog this week (click here to view), involved 8 different nail art designs, inspired by 8 of Wittner's hottest styles for the season. Check them out!

DESIGN #1: WHITE WITH SILVER TIPS

For this look I used OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the white base colour and China Glaze's Millennium. My secret weapon for achieving perfect french tips; round band-aids (I will prepare a tutorial for this soon)

DESIGN #2: BLACK & WHITE STRIPES/SPIKES

For this design I used Sally Hansen's White On as a base and Black Out for the black stripes/spikes.

DESIGN #3: BLACK WITH GOLD STUDS

For this design I used Sally Hansen's Black Out as the base colour and added gold micro-beads for the studs. It took aaaaaaages to place them but I love how it turned out!

DESIGN #4: CROCODILE PRINT

For this design I, again, used Sally Hansen's Black Out as a base and with a Konad nail art stamping plate, stamped matte top coat (Essie Matte About You) over the top.

DESIGN #5: RAINBOW FLORAL PRINT

This is probably one of my favourite designs of the lot! For this I simply matched the colours of the shoe's floral pattern and sponged a small amount of each colour on to a white base (OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls) with make-up sponges. I like that the pattern is imperfect and random - I will definitely be trying this technique again.

DESIGN #6: RAINBOW SPOT NAIL ART

For this design I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as the base colour and matched the colours of the shoes for the rainbow spots:

Yellow - OPI Need Sunglasses

Blue - OPI No Room For The Blues

Pink - OPI That's Hot Pink

Green - Sally Hansen Green With Envy

Orange - OPI A Roll In The Hague

DESIGN #7: ROSE GOLD NAILS

For this colour I actually made my own polish (crazy I know!) I don't own a rose gold polish and I had read before how you can make your own polishes using eye-shadow. I crushed a bronze eye-shadow into a clear nail polish, added a small amount of white and pink polish and voilà.

DESIGN #8: BLACK, RED, YELLOW BLOCK PRINT

For this design I used OPI's Big Apple Red, Need Sunglasses and Black Onyx with My Boyfriend Scales Walls as a base and scotch tape.

Hope you enjoy the designs. Again, to view Wittner's blog click here.

I am now also on Instagram as 'thenailtrail' - please follow me for daily nailspiration.

See you all soon :)

Tribal Nail Art

2012-11-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday all! Today I have for you some tribal nail art. These have been trending like crazy lately so I thought I'd have a go myself. Check them out:

Tribal Nail Art

I just LOVE how these turned out. They did take me forever - I won't lie - but I think it was worth it for the end result. The colours I used here are:

White - Sally Hansen White On

Black - Sally Hansen Black Out

Blue - Sally Hansen Blue Me Away

Orange - OPI In My Back Pocket

Lime Green - OPI Did It On 'Em

For the outlines I used a fine nail art brush and for the dots I used a medium-tipped dotting tool.

You may have also noticed my new watermark. Well, I am trialling this for the time being. Let me know what you think. Feel free to leave comments below - I always appreciate your suggestions/ideas. See you all very soon :)

You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest; my username is Hansiweir

HAPPY 1 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY TO THE NAIL TRAIL!! Cupcake Nail Art.

2012-11-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

Dear friends. I have some very exciting news - the other day was my ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!!! Can you believe it? I really cannot get over how quickly this past year has gone and what an amazing experience it has been. To make things even more special, this post is actually my 100th post ever. 100 posts in one year - I never imagined when I started The Nail Trail that I would achieve this goal and I am still completely blown away by the incredible support and feedback I have received.

For the occasion, I thought it only fitting to some cupcakes to celebrate. Check it out:

Cupcake Nail Art

These were actually really simple to achieve. Perhaps I'll have to do a tutorial at some stage... hmmm....

As those who follow my blog may know, for the last four years I have been studying Media and Communications here in Melbourne, which I completed just last week! It's been such a handful managing uni work, my three part-time jobs (three, I know) and finding time to do some nail designs and tutorials to post on here for you. But somehow, despite the stressful times, I have had one of the best years of my life and have been so blessed to meet such wonderful people who share my love for nail polish and nail art. I cannot thank you, my beautiful followers, enough for the support you have shown me and the lovely comments you have left along the way. I look forward to many more exciting times ahead and I am excited for all of the ideas and changes I have planned for the future. THANKS AGAIN! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH <3

Halloween Nail Art Day 7: Spiders (and a recap of the week)

2012-10-31T03:30:00.002-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN Y'ALL!

Well so far my Halloween has been really uneventful. The most exciting part of my day was helping a little girl pick out some make-up and hairspray for her costume at work, but apart from that it's been just a normal day for me. Like I said, we don't really celebrate Halloween here in Australia. But still, it has been gaining a lot of interest over the last few years. For today's design I have some "cute" little spiders.

I actually don't mind spiders all that much. We have a bit of a running joke in my family (I live in a house of three women, mind you) that I'm the one who has to catch all the spiders because my mother and sister are petrified of them. Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy it when they jump out of nowhere and surprise me, but really I find them harmless more than anything. Anyway, now for a recap of the week in Halloween nail art:

Click on the headings to view the full posts

Day 1 - Spider Web Nail Art

Day 2 - Eyes In The Dark

Day 3 - Frankenstein Nail Art

Day 4 - Bloody Nails

Day 5 - Candy Corn Nail Art

Day 6 - Jack-O'-Lantern Nail Art

Day 7 - Spiders

Hope everyone has a great Halloween. I'll see you very soon. Not sure if I'll get a chance to post in the next few days because I'm just gearing up to hand in my last few assignments and sit the last exam of my degree!!! But don't worry, you won't be able to get rid of my after that ;)

Halloween Nail Art Day 6: Jack-O'-Lanterns

2012-10-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday all. For today's Halloween nail art post I have some Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkins! I was very excited about this one because I just love carved pumpkins. I kind of have this fascination with Jack-o'-lanterns - probably because we don't really celebrate Halloween here in Australia so the whole concept of pumpkin carving seems completely foreign to me. I just find them so awesome!

Jack-O'-Lantern Nail Art

Polishes used for this design:

Base white - OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Base orange for pumpkins - OPI In My Back Pocket

Yellow stripes on pumpkins - L'Oreal Resist & Shine Yellow

Black for jack-o'-lantern faces - Sally Hansen Black Out

Green stems - OPI Green-wich Village

Hope you like today's design. Have a great day/night

Here's one of my favourite pumpkin carvings ever... HAHA :)

See you tomorrow

Halloween Nail Art Day 5: Candy Corn (with tutorial)

2012-10-28T03:23:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, hope you're having a great weekend. For today's Halloween post I have something really cute and simple; candy corn! These have been trending like crazy on Pinterest so I wanted to try these out. I've also included a mini tutorial - 'mini' being that they are really that simple, there aren't many steps involved. Check them out:

Candy Corn Nail Art

Step 1 - Apply yellow base colour

Here I used 'Mellow Yellow' by Sally Hansen

Step 2 - Apply Orange, covering approximately 2/3 of the nail

Here I used 'Sun Kissed' by Sally Hansen

Step 3 - Apply white tips for the last third of the nail

Here I used 'White On' by Sally Hansen

Step 4 - Apply a thick top coat

I used Seche Vite - it's great as a top coat for a design like this with many layers because it dries really hard and quickly for a strong seal.

and voilà

Hope you like today's post. See you tomorrow for another Halloween post - not long to go now! :)

Halloween Nail Art Day 4: Bloody Nails

2012-10-26T23:10:00.002-07:00

Today I have some more Halloween nail art, as promised. These bloody nails are inspired by a video by AndreasChoice, my favourite beauty vlogger at the moment (I'm sure you've heard me rave about her before). You can view her video tutorial for these bloody nails here.

For this design I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as the base white and OPI Vodka & Caviar as the red for the blood.

How cool are these?! I'm really happy with how these turned out. It's funny because those who know me well know that I hate, and I mean hate blood!! It freaks me out. But I love this design for Halloween and it was so easy to achieve. Hope you're all having a great weekend. See you tomorrow for some more Halloween nails :)

Halloween Nail Art Day 3: Frankenstein

2012-10-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Sorry I've been a little behind schedule. I've had a really busy few days but here's Day 3 of my Halloween nail art - Frankenstein!

As a base colour I used three coats of Sally Hansen's Green With Envy:

I am loving this colour right now. A gorgeous lime green creme. It's a great formula and is almost entirely opaque with two coats - I did three here to ensure full opacity.

Hope you like the swatches - stay tuned for more Halloween nail art to come!

Halloween Nail Art Day 2: Eyes In The Dark

2012-10-24T03:27:00.000-07:00

For today's Halloween post I've done a very simple, but cute design; eyes in the dark:

First I used Sally Hansen's Black Out as a base. Such an awesome black.

I then added the eyes using dotting tools and Sally Hansen's White Out.

Just a quick post today because I have a Spanish test tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the last day of my undergraduate degree.. ever! Wish me luck :) See you tomorrow for some more Halloween nail art.

Halloween Nail Art Day 1: Spider Webs

2012-10-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! In the lead up to Halloween, I thought I would do themed nails for the next week until the 31st because there are just so many great Halloween nail art ideas I couldn't just pick one!

To kick things off I have spider webs. This design is featured on the back of the OPI Halloween Tattoo Taboo mini collection of 2009 that included the famous Glow-ink In The Dark. I'd seen Leanne's from That Leanne and had to try them myself. Check out her post here. Unfortunately I don't own this collection and I think it's pretty hard to get your hands on now, sadly.

Anyway, I've prepared a mini tutorial on how to achieve this look.

But first, check out the finished product:

Spider Web Nail Art

First I started with my favourite colour at the moment, OPI's In My Back Pocket.

I then added white (freehand) web-like shapes to the bottom left-hand corner of my nails, using OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

I then painted the black webs on with a fine nail art brush, using OPI Black Onyx.

Hope you like the swatches from today.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow for some more spooky themed nail art :)

Spotted Nail Art For Spring

2012-10-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Today I have some swatches of a cute, bright nail art idea for Spring. As the weather is warming up, so too are the nail polish colours I've been seeing. Here I have used one of my favourite colours at the moment, OPI's In My Back Pocket. This is a bright orange cream from the OPI Bright Pair Collection of 2009. This is my go-to colour at the moment because it goes with almost anything I own and is so much fun. I then added white dots with a nail art dotting tool. Very simple but effective nail art idea and so quick to achieve this look. Check it out:

OPI In My Back Pocket with white dots (Alpine Snow)

Hope you like these swatches and that you're having a great day!

Butterfly Nail Art for Mental Health Week

2012-10-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Apologies for being a little M.I.A lately. Our internet has been out because we switched servers and I've been dying to post the nail art that I did last week for Mental Health Week. Mental health awareness is something that is very important to me. You may remember the nail art I did a couple of weeks ago for RUOK?Day. If you missed it, you can check out my post here. Similarly, Mental Health Week (this year it ran from Oct 7-13 in Aus) is a week dedicated to promoting mental health and removing the stigma surrounding mental illness. Beyond Blue is one of Australia's leading not-for-profit organisations that works on addressing issues associated with depression and anxiety. As part of this, I was inspired last week by the Beyond Blue logo (a pink and orange butterfly) to do some nail art to help raise awareness of mental health.

Check out the final product:

Butterfly nail art, inspired by the Beyond Blue logo

Here I used:

Orange - OPI In My Back Pocket

Pink - OPI Pink Flamenco

Black - Sally Hansen Black Out

White - OPI Alpine Snow

Top Coat - Seche Vite

These were actually my second try as the first didn't turn out so well but hopefully you get the idea. I had seen a few other butterfly nail art designs floating around Pinterest so naturally I just had to give it a go.

I hope you like these. And to those out there reading this remember that no matter what, there is always someone you can talk to. It is so important that we not only look out for the well being of those around us, but also know when to ask for help ourselves. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, 1 in 5 people suffer from depression at some point in their lives. It is so important that we eliminate the negative stigma surrounding anxiety and depression so that people aren't afraid to speak up about their problems and seek help. Much love :) See you soon!

Oktoberfest Nail Art

2012-10-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday all! Yesterday (well today in Australia) marked the end of Bavaria's famous beer festival, Oktoberfest. As some may know, I'm a massive fan of all things German so I just had to do some sort of nail art for the occasion. Check out the swatches:

I'm afraid I didn't have time for anything more today but I plan on attempting these again in the future because they are just so cute.

Hope you like today's post. Unfortunately I've never been to Oktoberfest but I'm hoping some time in the (very) near future I will be able to :) Hope you're having a good day, wherever in the world you may be.

Cat Nail Art: Tribute to Tink

2012-10-04T03:44:00.000-07:00

Something very sad happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I lost my pet of 18 years, Tink. We got her when I was only 4 years old and she has been the best pet I could've asked for. I am grateful, however, that she had a long, happy life and that she is now no longer in pain. As a tribute to her I have done a cat nail art design (with tutorial).

Final result:

First I used OPI My Pointe Exactly as a base colour - a lovely sheer-grey jelly.

OPI My Pointe Exactly

I then added grey circles to the tips of my nails, using OPI French Quarter For Your Thoughts.

I then added little grey ears with French Quarter and pink centres, using OPI Pink-ing Of You.

Then, using Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty, I added ovals as eyes. I then added the pupils with OPI Black Onyx.

I then added the mouth and whiskers with Black Onyx and the nose with Pink-ing Of You. I finished with a top coat of Seche Vite.

They turned out really cute but a little sad looking because of the way I painted the mouths :(

Losing a pet is something I had never been through before (apart from the odd fish I haven't managed to keep alive and a puppy we had when I was younger that had to be given away because we didn't have enough time for him). I miss her so much. This post goes out to Tink, may she rest in peace. Much love <3

Tink

OPI Pink Of Hearts 2012 Collection For Breast Cancer Awareness

2012-10-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

Happy 1st of the month all! Can you believe it is already October?! Where has this year gone? As October is breast cancer awareness month I thought I'd kick things off with swatches and a review of OPI's annual, limited edition, Pink of Hearts collection. Each year OPI releases a polish/collection in support of breast cancer awareness by donating profits to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Last year they brought out the Pink of Hearts 2011 Pink Shatter which can be found in my post here. A couple of months ago I also swatched and reviewed the OPI Pink of Hearts from 2009 which you can find here.

OPI Pink of Hearts 2012

I Think In Pink. A light bubblegum pink. Quite sheer with one, and even two coats, but lovely with three. The formula is incredible. Goes on very smoothly and has a high, high gloss finish. No top coat here because it really didn't need it.

Don't you just love the bottle....? So cute!

. . .

You Glitter Be Good To Me. A clear-based silver glitter with larger, hexagonal purple glitter throughout. As always, these glitters are tricky to apply and even harder to remove. But I still love it. The purple glitter is hard to spread evenly across the nail so as you can see here, the glitter appears different on each nail. Still, makes a great pairing over I Think In Pink.

Breast cancer not only affects women diagnosed with the disease but also their friends, family and the wider community. I think it is so great that OPI back this fantastic cause every year. Not only is OPI my favourite nail polish brand (have you noticed?! :P), but it is also an extremely influential part of the nail polish industry and I think it is fantastic that they are raising funds and awareness for breast cancer. Since bringing out their Pink of Hearts collections, OPI have also encouraged other nail polish brands to get behind this great cause.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to recognise a charity that is particularly important to me; The Otis Foundation. Otis provides cost-free retreats for men and women living with breast cancer. They do such an incredible job at providing a space to relax and reconnect with loved ones whilst dealing with breast cancer. You can check out their website here:

www.otisfoundation.org.au

That's all I have for today. I hope you like the swatches...what a fantastic collection! I have plenty of stuff to come I promise (you may have noticed I've been a bit M.I.A lately...don't worry I've still been busy swatching away). Until we meet again :) x