Easter Nails - Pastel Stripes

Happy Easter! For today I did a fun pastel rainbow using some colours I rarely even look at any other time of the year. I didn't bother using tape to make these lines perfect, handmade Easter eggs rarely are! Well, mine aren't anyway.

Pink: Revlon Peach Petal
Yellow: China Glaze Lemon Fizz
Green: OPI Gargantuan Green Grape
Blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away
Purple: OPI Planks A Lot

Because these shades are so light I needed three coats of each (except the Blue, but I did it anyway), which was simple enough but fairly time consuming. When looked at in the shade they really POP, it's fabulous! There's definitely a part of me that has a soft spot for rainbows. Don't tell anyone.

xox

Halloween Stripe Madness

I just got my order of striping tape in the mail today and luckily enough I was already wearing glitter polish. I wanted my first slim striped manicure to be a sparkly one so it was super easy to just throw some black on top of my current nails.

I didn't want to do anything symmetrical or the same pattern, I wanted to go wild with it.

Glitter: Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice, Love & Beauty Rust.

Black is by Rimmel London, Black Satin.

Okay so there's a few things I didn't like about this. First of all, the striping tape is VERY thin and flimsy. That would be great if I was keeping it on the nail but it was difficult to work with. Secondly, the base of Pumpkin Spice  is a very dark brown so it makes the lines contrast less with the black coat on top. Thirdly, my black nail polish is not very opaque. I'm going to have to pick up a new bottle of WnW Black Creme, I need a one coater.

Oh, another thing, it was MESSY. I didn't cut the strips long enough so when I was removing them I got my fingers covered in polish -_-.

Sigh, what a mess.

Another thing I found tricky with this, it was super hard to photograph! I'm assuming it's because the lines weren't crisp because of the glittery base. Any feed back on that, photog people?

So all in all was the mess and effort worth it??

Wooo, striping tape! $6 for ten rolls on ebay.

Stay tuned over the next 2 weeks for a 3-part Halloween series I'm working on!

Autumn Acid Wash

Hello ladies (and the occasional gent), I'm bringing you another fall/autumn manicure inspired by (obviously) the changing leaves at this glorious time of year. I used a technique that I saw on Pinterest that was called "acid washing." It's a very fun, grungy approach to fall manicures.

Basically you layer multiple colours, using whatever your heart desires - but the more contrast the better, and it's recommended to use a dark colour either on the bottom, on the top or both. You then dip a paint brush in acetone and drag it down your nail, exposing some of the colours beneath the surface. 

This is the tutorial I used. I had a hard time the first few attempts, I ended up taking off way too much polish and exposing the bare nail underneath. It definitely took some time to get a handle on this one.

Polish used: Joe Fresh Pumpkin, China Glaze Hey Sailor, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, American Apparel MacArthur Park  and American Apparel Raccoon.

Hm! Almost the same colours as my Autumn Water Marble!

I'm kind of on a posting roll here, excellent! A shout out to Dominique, my co-worker's sister - thanks for sharing my blog on your facebook page. She's an excellent photographer, you should check out her website - www.3stems.com.

Autumn Manicures

Hello lovelies! I have a batch of manicures to show you. I've been a little sidetracked since I started my new job (which is going fabulously, by the way), but it means that I don't have a ton of daylight to photograph my nails with, nor do I have the time to do anything exciting very often. I don't want to bore you with regular ol' nail polish so I've gathered three of my more creative numbers as of late.

Voici my "Retro Stripe" mani, inspired by striped gym shorts from the 1970s. This was after two days of camping, forgive the tip wear.

Like these.

I used American Apparel Raccoon as the base because it dries really fast so it was easy to put the tape over it. From there I used Konad White, an orange from Aldo (I'm having a brainfart on the name, I'll get it ASAP ** EDIT - It's called Juicy Gossip) and Double Decker Red from OPI.

I wanted to use OPI Heeere's Tawny but it wasn't drying fast enough and I was pulling it off with the tape! Ugh.

This is what I like to call "Harvest," lame. It's a gradient of OPI The "It" Colour, China Glaze Lemon Fizz and Sally Hansen White On. I was inspired by a photo of wheat - so sue me, I love this season!

Finally - my current manicure. The colours were chosen by my boyfriend, believe it or not. He got all excited about it so I figured I would give him the credit.

Natural light

With flash

Right hand, with flash

Water marble! This is a fabulous blend of - Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow as the base, Joe Fresh Pumpkin, China Glaze Hey Sailor, OPI Heeere's Tawny, and the elusive Aldo orange previously mentioned (** EDIT - It's called Juicy Gossip). I'm in love with this one, it reminds me of the changing leaves.

So - who's still with me? Sorry for the hiatus guys! I'll try to keep things up, I swear. Take care everyone.

Valentine's Day Water Marble

The original intention was to take better photos of this mani before posting it, I don't like the fact that I'm just holding my phone, but it ended up getting pretty chipped with all the baking and crafting I've been doing for Valentine's Day so alas, if you want to see the mani this will have to do. I took these photos while waiting for the cupcakes to cool and haven't had a moment since to do anything a little more suitable.

Ultimately, I'm not normally a fan of Valentine's Day but I can't help but get into the excitement over just about any holiday. For this water marble I used Sally Hansen White On as the base and marbled with the same, along with OPI Charged Up Cherry and OPI Flower-to-Flower.

Oooh look, a little while later with the cupcake!

*gobbles*

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovers out there! ^-^

NOTD: Santa Baby Dotticure

Another Christmas mani for you! I've been even more into vintage lately than I normally am, so naturally red nails and polka dots have been very appealing to me.

The base colour was Sally Hansen Red Carpet (which I'm going to need a back up of, I'm running low) and for the dots I used Sally Hansen Green With Envy and Rimmel  110 French White Tip Pro. If you've never done a dotticure before you don't have to go out and buy a dotting tool, all I used was the tip of a bobby pin and it worked out great.

I hate posing with polish bottles

One of my mom's Christmas presents

I'm basically in love with this look. I didn't use any base coat (shhh!!) so I hope it doesn't chip soon, I want this to last until at least mid-week. That will give me time to think up something to hopefully top this one, but that might prove to be tricky. 

Hopefully you're not sick of Christmas music yet. This is my favourite, classic version of Santa Baby by Madonna.

Think of all the fun I've missed

Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed

NOTD: Rusty Pumpkin

Last night I got a little layer happy, and I'm now currently wearing probably the most coats of polish I've probably every worn. Ever.

So it started with the Joe Fresh Pumpkin that I had on in my last post, then I applied 3 coats of Sally Hansen's Pumpkin Spice (still going with the fall theme, if you didn't notice) and then I topped it off with a layer of Love & Beauty Rust. Love & Beauty is Forever 21's make up and nail polish line, and since the store opened in Ottawa these past few weeks I was really excited to get out there. Rust is acting as sort of a surrogate until I get a polish I really want. I've been lemming Sephora by OPI's Traffic Stopper Copper for some time now, but considering it's $12 and Rust was only $3.80 I went for it. My biggest problem with this one is the density of the glitter, and the amount of the small glitter vs the larger hex glitter. There's way too much little glitter, it looked messy and overrun the first time I swatched it.

So let's see - American Classics Bridge the Ridge, 2 coats of JF Pumpkin, SH Mega Shine, 3 coats of SH Pumpkin Spice, Gelous, SH Mega Shine, 1 coat of L&B Rust, Gelous, SH Mega Shine.

Did I just count 13 layers of polish?

>_>


<_<


Good luck to me taking this off. At least it was worth it, I'm in love with this. I have a really hard time capturing
glitters in all their glory so bear with me. Trust me when I say it's beautiful.

As you can obviously tell, I experienced a great deal of shrinkage due to all the layering and the thickness of the Gelous/glitter. In regular lighting (ie: not direct sunlight) the base colour looks like a darker brown giving it a more Halloween-y kind of feel, and boy is it ever shiny. I can't help but grin when I look down at my nails!

NOTD: Dorky Cow Print!

I'm going to start trying my hand at nail art more and more often, since apparently practice makes perfect? After this mani Lord knows I need it. I used Sally Hansen's White On, Rimmel's Black Satin and American Apparel Raccoon to make this cow print. I don't really like using polish to make my designs, I find it's really hard to work with, so from here on end I think I'm going to go back to using acrylic paint (like I used to do in high school).

..... MOOOOOO!

NOTD: Dexter's Ice Truck Killer Nails

I've been watching Dexter with DBF (dear boyfriend) and I am hooked. In the first season the team finds a severed hand in a block of ice with each nail painted a different colour. Naturally I had to give it a shot! *edit* I realize now that I mixed up the middle finger with the ring finger colour. D'oh.

I love skittle manis (ie: multicoloured), they're so much fun!

NOTD: Beach Ball!

I wanted to do some multicoloured nails again, I'm just not getting enough oomph with a single shade these days, and I don't really have time to do anything exciting, so I went with a summery beach ball theme for this mani. I was also inspired by season 1 of Dexter for this!

 

Is that fun or what?? On my right hand the order is reversed.

From thumb to pinky: Joe Fresh Tomato, Joe Fresh Cobalt, Sally Hansen White On, China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow.

NOTD: Royal Jewels

I'm attending a gala tomorrow for an organization I volunteer for, and the event colours are red, purple and gold. Yesterday I'd applied China Glaze I Love Hue, my bottle is actually pretty old.

Black Label, ooooh.

Then I added Sally Hansen Crushed Velvet, and Orly Luxe.

They'll match perfectly!

NOTD: Easter Egg Nails!

Easter is tomorrow, what a better time to whop out some pastels? I had originally done this mani last weekend for an Easter party we had at work but I accidentally deleted the photo so - here it is again! I made it a bit different this time though, I threw on a matte top coat for an "eggshell" finish (full credit for this idea goes to dear bf).

Without the matte topcoat (pretty, but.. just wait)

 

This is my right hand, a bit shakier than the left eh?

Yay! The matte top coat actually made the polka dots more defined, they're a lot easier to see now without the glossiness reflecting back at you. They look like Cadbury's Mini Eggs, I wanna nom them.
Happy Easter everyone!

NOTD: SH Xtreme Wear Red Carpet + Polka Dot Accent Nail

This is another mani partially inspired by Nailside, she's so talented and creative!

For the polka dots I used the tip of a bobby pin (with the rubber bit still in tact, obviously) and it worked like a charm. I practiced a bit on my nail wheel first to see what techniques yielded different sized dots. It works really well. To think I was about to go out and buy a dotting tool!

The bow was tricky, I used a paint brush dipped in polish and had to redo it a couple of times, but it still turned out decently. I didn't even bother trying the bow on my right hand, but the dots are there on the ring finger.

This one is really appealing to the vintage lover in me.

NOTD: China Glaze Black Mesh over Double Fade

If nothing else, I love the crackle/shatter polishes for spicing up a mani next day. It changes the look completely and makes for an extra day or two between having to switch things up (or going crazy from staring at the same polish for an eternity).

So just a recap, this was the mani I currently had:

 

And when you add some crack!

Oooh! So cool! I really love this one. It's my first time using the black crackle too, which surprises me seeing as it's the most popular. Hooray!

*Achoo*

I think I'm getting sick. :(

NOTD: Double Fading Effect

So I attempted this nail polish effect called double fading, where you pull the colour into the one below it to create a gradient. I really don't like how this turned out, but I'll post it anyway.
I don't mind the way the green mixed into the yellow, but the blue remained too opaque on its own. Except on my pinky nail... it looks awesome on that one.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, Green with Envy and Blue Me Away.

NOTD: Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

I got impatient with the scent of the Raspberry Rapture, and I really, really want spring! So yellow it is! I've never worn yellow polish before, this is awesome. I love this shade. It's much brighter than my camera captured though.

I had an iced green tea latte this morning, home made. It was delicious! Thought I'd share :)

NOTD: Sally Hansen Blue Me Away

I'm getting so unbelievably impatient for spring. Naturally I need to reflect that in my nail colour. I didn't want  to go too overboard with a pastel or anything, so I settled on a bright cheerful blue. Sally Hansen is a favourite of mine, simply because I'm still a student and it's affordable. It applies well and wears wonderfully, so why the heck not?

 

There we have it!

I also hauled a few polishes today, again, in hopes of spring's (hasty) arrival. Revlon Peach Petal, Revlone Raspberry Rapture - which apparently is scented of raspberries when dry?! I'll let you know about that one next week, and Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow. That one will be nice when I get my China Glaze Crushed Candy to layer on top!

Speaking of which, I realized the error of my ways not picking up Crushed Candy and Fault Line, so I called my Sally's and of course - they're out. The lady did take down my name, number, and which ones I wanted though! Hooray. I love my Sally's <3

I might get impatient and try out Raspberry Rapture tomorrow. We'll see!