NOTD: Canada Day!

I did a little patriotic manicure for Canada Day, hooray! The writing is a little bleehh but I LOVE the beaver, so it's okay *nod*

Isn't he a cutie?!

On my right hand I have some shatters and crackles.. China Glaze is the white one and OPI is the red!

Pretty "meh" in comparison wouldn't you say?

NOTD: OPI Gargantuan Green Grape

This is one of my newer polishes, which isn't saying much because I've bought/received a ton these last few weeks (thank you Trade Secret and thank you to my sister Erika). I almost always use new polishes immediately after purchasing them due to sheer excitement, but this little fella got put on the back burner. I'm not too sure why, but hey, we worked through it and now here it is!

This polish is a bright, almost pastel green creme and it's truly beautiful. My camera washes out the vibrancy a little bit and makes it pull a bit more blue, which is really annoying because it's not blue at all. I can't stop staring at my nails. At first it was to figure out whether I actually like the colour or not, but now since I've decided I do it's simply out of infatuation with the green. This is a great summer shade!

NOTD: Freedom Foamer

At work we're doing a campaign that features a very green, glittery, limited edition bubble bar that is just stunning to look at. SO: I whipped up a Freedom Foamer mani in its honour!

Freedom Foamer Bubble Bar - $5.95

 

I used China Glaze Four Leaf Clover as the base, Claire's Glam micro glitter, and Sinful Colors Nail Junkie glitter on top of that. I'll try to get a pic of me holding the bar at work so you see how nicely they match because, once again, my camera isn't portraying how green the polish really is.

Tutorial: Dexter Morgan - Blood Spatter Analyst

EDIT - October 28th 2012:  I've just done a second version of this manicure, view it here.

As mentioned in my last post, I've been obsessed with Dexter lately thanks to m'darlin, so I decided to do some blood splatter nails to coincide with Dexter's job and his "hobby." I took pictures along to way so others can try it out too! It would look really cool with other colours, it doesn't have to be blood after all! 

Things you will need:

• Base Coat
• Top Coat (Quick dry is awfully convenient)
• White/Off-White Polish (I used American Apparel Cotton)
• Blood Red Polish (I used Revlon Valentine. Kind of morbid, considering.)
• The outer part of a disassembled pen
• Vaseline-type jelly (Ultrabalm from Lush contains NO petroleum, win!)
• A sheet of paper to protect your surface
• Acetone for clean up
• Cotton swabs

Step 1:
Apply your base coat and your base colour.

Step 2:
Once dried, lay your sheet of paper down on your work space and surround the skin close to your nail with your Ultrabalm/Petroleum jelly. This will make your clean up much easier!

Step 3:
Take your hollowed out pen and your red nail polish. Brush the polish into the thin end quite thoroughly. You want to make sure there's enough in the opening to effectively splatter on your nails.

Step 4:
Aim the pen above your nail and blow really hard into the end (without the polish, obviously). Repeat on all your nails. The results should look like this:

Step 5:
Clean up! Pure acetone works best for this. You want to use a cotton swab rather than a cotton pad so you don't get fibers caught in the polish. Having used the Ultrabalm most of the polish should rub off with ease. After getting the worst off I used a thin angled paint brush to clean up around the edges close to the nail.

Step 6:
Pose with something menacing!

See how easy this was?? This was my first time doing it, it's a piece of cake (especially like me and you lack in the creative ability dept).

Hope it works out for anyone trying it!

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.

Sweet Potato Chips & NOTD

Wow, long time no blog! I've been pretty uninspired lately in terms of nail polish.. being broke has a really big impact on  the excitement levels I feel towards .. well, pretty much everything. However, I couldn't resist photographing the snack I made today so I took a quick shot of my fingernails too.

Anyway - Sweet potato CHIPS. That's right. They were simple enough to make, all I did was sliced the sweet potato,  lay it out on a baking sheet, sprinkled with a bit (too much) sea salt and bake for an hour or so. It turned out so-so. The trick here is to make sure to evenly slice the chips so they all cook at the same rate. Some were too chewy, some were perfectly crispy. I also ended up putting WAY too much salt without realizing, so that wasn't too nice either. Overall the experience was "meh" but I'm willing to try it out again sometime soon.

They cooked for just over an hour at 250 degrees.

And my nails!

I alternated between Rimmel's Grey Matter and China Glaze Secret Peri-Winkle.

Sorry for the long silence! <3

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!

Easy A

Just some thoughts:

Tonight I watched Easy A starring Emma Stone, and I've gotta tell you - it was awesome. It made me remember how dramatic high school was, but how normal it felt at the time. I'd just like to point out how insane that is. What's worse is that some people's lives are still like that. Can you imagine? Some people just never grow out of the drama. It's sad, really.

Anyway - It also gave me inspiration on what kind of parent I want to be. Everyone always fantasizes about being a cool, down to earth parent who can bond with their kids (and of course it never happens... does it?) Fiction or not, these two were nothing short of hilarious and wonderful.

NOTD: OPI Guy Meets Gal-Veston (& my other Texas collection swatches)

I finally got around to putting this nail polish on! I have three from OPI's Texas collection - Don't Mess With OPI, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear? and Guy Meets Gal-veston. The latter two my dear boyfriend actually got me for Valentine's day. It's taken me a while to get around to using GMG on its own, I haven't been feeling too pink lately... or too jelly, as a matter of fact.

So here it is, Guy Meets Gal-veston.

So juicy looking! I love jellies. This collection marked my first time using them, and I just can't get enough. (This was 4 coats, by the way)
Here is Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?

I never thought I would love an orange polish as much as this one! After a couple of days of wear, I added a layer of GMG on top. The colour turned into a juicy, fruity, tropical papaya shade.

I didn't realize my fingernails could look so delicious.
And to complete my bit of the collection, here's a swatch of Don't Mess With OPI.

I love this green, it's such a beautiful shade and the formula is awesome. I'm happy I decided to go with this one instead of Jade is the New Black (one of OPI's staples), I prefer the richer green tones than the blue-ish that lends itself to JitNB.

These polishes are still available for purchase in most stores too (probably until the Pirates of the Caribbean collection comes out in May), go out and grab these if you haven't yet!

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: Joe Fresh Twilight

This is one of the other Joe Fresh polishes I picked up this week. Twilight. It's my first flakie! YAY! A girl on the nail board at Makeupalley suggested I throw a matte tc on top, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I officially LOVE flakies! The top coat makes it look rubberized or like those silicone cellphone covers (as per DBF's Mom :D). What a fun mani!

Comparison Swatch: Joe Fresh Matte TC vs Essie Matte About You

So I picked up my first matte top coat last week (Essie's Matte About You), but seeing as they're owned by L'Oreal  I'd rather not buy their products. If I had known that Joe Fresh had a matte top coat I wouldn't have bought it in the first place.

Three days later, I find out about the Joe Fresh. A bit of a bummer, because I'd already bought the Essie one, but I figured I'd at least compare the two. So here goes.

I picked up a bunch of polishes that day, and started with Joe Fresh Cobalt.

Then add the top coats

The Joe Fresh is a little bit glossier and reflects the light more, while the Essie dulls it a little bit more (ie: mattifies more). The application is very similar, other than the length of the brush on Joe's being really short and a little bit harder to control. I found Joe's wear to be a bit sturdier than Essie's though.

Overall, I like both of them. Price wise Joe cost me $3.33 (3 colours for $10), and Essie's was over $10, so I think in the future I might stick with Joe.

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. :(