NOTD: Magnetic Owls..?

So!

I'm on a very serious no-buy right now.  The bf and I are trying to pay off the last of our little bit of debt plus we have to buy 2 plane tickets to fly cross country this summer so we're doing some serious penny pinching, in turn resulting in a serious lull in polish buying.  Which.. is fine right now, nothing that is currently out is really screaming at me (or maybe I'm just telling myself that so I can stick to this no buy ;).

But today, we were out grocery shopping at our huge supermarket, and HE brought me to the beauty section and picked out 2 polishes for me.  He's a huge enabler!  And so I'm sporting one of my new babies as my accent right now and wow.. it's a beauty!

 L'Oreal Owl's Night!  There's a bunch of them just sitting in the display, demanding to be taken home!  I pointed it out and walked away and next thing I know it's sitting in the shopping cart.  He's a sweetie, that one.  It's soo gorgeous!

And of course, on all other nails is one of the Icing Magnetix polishes.  This gorgeous goldish-greenish shimmer appears when you apply the magnet.

This photo is blurry except for Owl's Night.. pretttttty.

I know it's been mentioned before, but the brush on the magnetix polish friggin' sucked.  And the magnet particles scattered after a while, at first the pattern is nice and crisp, but after some time passes it loses some of the crispness.  But.  It's still super pretty!

 

Icing Magnetix - Gold(?)

L'Oreal - Owl's Night

Anyone else loving the magnetic trend right now? :)  Thanks for looking!

Stamping Sunday: Plate ending in 7

Hi all :)

It's Stamping Sunday!!  The stamping group vote results were to use a plate ending in 7.  I ended up using BM-207 plate, and a stamp I had yet to use.  I initially tried one of the red angel plates but it covered too much and I didn't like that ;)

 

I started with a jelly sammich except for the accent nail.  The jelly sammich consisted of FIVE friggin' coats.  I put one coat of OPI - Houston We Have a Purple, a coat of Revlon - Blue Mosaic, another coat of OPI then Revlon - Stunning, and finally a last coat of OPI.  Now.. the accent nail.. Oh. My. Gosh!! I'm so in love with this polish!  It's Lacquistry's Cotton Candy, a polish suspended in a light pink jelly base, and made up of small aqua glitter and medium and large fuchsia hex glitter.   I cannot stop staring at it!

 

Then I stamped the stripes.  I'm a bit underwhelmed with this mani, to be honest.  It's certainly not my favourite (except for Cotton Candy of course!)

 

And it doesn't help that half of my pinky didn't get stamped!

 

Lacquistry - Cotton Candy

OPI - Houston We Have a Purple

Revlon - Blue Mosaic

Revlon - Stunning

If you want to check out the group, find us on Facebook :)

Thanks for looking!

PCFC: Polka Dots

Hi all!

Today's Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge was polka dots.  I think dots are so fun.. a quick and easy way to spruce up a mani!

 

I used GOSH - Flamingo as my base, with GOSH - Gasoline as the base for my accent nail.  Flamingo has been my favourite pink creme for years, it's so barbie like and bright and gorgeous.  It did take 3 coats to level it out, but I think with some thinner it would probably apply better.  Regardless, I still love it and don't mind applying so many coats.

 

The dots on my accent were done with Flamingo and Colour Club - Boys Wear Blue from the pride collection, and the ones on all other nails were done with Color Club - Dress for the Parade (yellow) and Express Yourself, which is a bright purple creme.  The colour in my photos isn't quite accurate though, it's not as blue as it seems.

I'm so happy with these!  They're so bright and just.. happy, especially on this particularly crummy weather-wise day.

 

GOSH - Flamingo

GOSH - Gasoline

Color Club - Express Yourself

Color Club - Dress For The Parade

Color Club - Boys Wear Blue

Thanks for looking :)

Extravagant Flowers

Hey all!

I got my very first (and possibly my last.. way too expensive) OPI DS the other day.  I walked into a new to the mall salon and spotted a whole lot of them and picked up DS Extravagance.  It's so pretty!  So as soon as it was time to re-do my mani I slapped that baby on ;)

 

The photos certainly don't do it justice.  It was dark so it's just under regular lighting, and when I got home tonight I got sucked into getting dinner ready and by the time I thought of taking photos.. it was dark again.  It's just.. so.. SHINY!  It's beautiful in real life.

 

I did my accent using Revlon - Smoldering which is a pink/grey/green duochrome.  You can really see it under certain lighting and it's so pretty.  Then using dotting tools I made little flowers using OPI - Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not and Pink Friday.

 

OPI DS Extravagance

Revlon - Smoldering

OPI - Pink Friday

OPI - Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

Thanks for having a look ;)

Stamping Sunday: Stars

Hi all!

Today's Adventure in Stamping's theme was stars.  I tried to play in a kind of 'night sky' into my mani as well.. I really like how this turned out even though my stamping still needs improvement :)

 

I incorporated a bit of a tape mani in there as well.  It's simple but I really like the look of this.  For all nails but the accent I started off with a base of Revlon - Not So Blueberry which is a beautiful lilac-ish shimmer (and scented) polish.  And for my accent I added two coats of NOPI - Khloe had a little Lam-Lam.  Then I taped it off and added Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Mint Sorbet, and Joe - Ink for all other nails. I stamped the stars using Bundle Monster plates, added Finger Paints - Asylum & Twisted and, ta-da!

 

Even though the stars could have stamped better, I really like this!  

And of course while I was taking photos, I had a little visitor that wanted some attention ;)

 

Revlon - Not So Blueberry

Joe - Ink

NOPI - Khloe had a Little Lam-Lam

Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet

Thanks for looking ;)

Finger Paints - Asylum & Twisted

PCFC: Glitter Bomb

Hi lovelies!

Todays Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge was Glitter Bomb, as chosen by Abby.

I have a good number of glitter polishes, but I could not settle on anything.  So I decided to go with a "kind of' glitter bomb.  Or maybe it can still be considered a full out glitter bomb?  I'll let you guys decide ;)

 

I started out with a base of OPI - Mermaids Tears, with an accent of Revlon - Angelic, which is a gorgeous shimmery baby pink.  Then for my accent I covered it with Color Club - Fame & Fortune, which is a pink jelly polish filled with shredded holographic glitter.  I then added a diagonal strip of Color Club - Candy Cane, and added Color Club - It's a Hit on the corner of my nail.

 

For the remainder of my nails I used a nail art striping brush and added diagonal lines of several glitter polish.  In order from the middle of my nail (the first strip) to the corner I used Color Club - Holiday Slendor, OPI - Gone Gonzo, Color Club - Wish Upon a Rock-Star, NOPI - Gone Wishin' and OPI - Gettin' Miss Piggy With It.

 

And this is what my right hand looks like.  I really didn't have the patience to do all of the strips with my non-dominant hand so I cheated a bit.  The accent is the same as above, but for the rest of my nails I put a layer of Sally Hansen xtreme wear - In the Spotlight, which is holo bar glitter, then OPI - Fresh Frog of Bel Air, and topped it off with Wet 'n Wild - Tangled in my Web.

Phew.

So what do you all think, can I call this a glitter bomb even though half of my nails aren't glittery? :)

Thanks for having a look!

Boyfriend Mani

Hi all!

The mani I'm about to show you was completely 100% chosen by my boyfriend.  Sometimes when I'm feeling a little uninspired I tell him to go through my stash and pick out colours and ask him to just.. design my mani.  Apparently I screwed this one up by stamping the wrong colours on the wrong nails, but I think he just doesn't remember what he picked :P

 

The base for all except the accent nail is Barielle - Falling Star, and the accent is Puke, as he calls it.  Ha.  Then Revlon Alluring Amber was stamped over Whimsical, and Revlon Raspberry Rapture was stamped over Falling Star.  I actually fell in love with the accent nail, it looks so retro!

I had a feeling that stamping over Falling Star would be difficult, but I try to just go with whatever he chooses since he typically picks things I would never come up with on my own.  It gave it a bit of subtlety, but it wasn't flashy enough for my liking ;)

Barielle - Falling Star (Winners has a lot of Barielle's lately, I love it!)

Revlon - Raspberry Rapture

Revlon - Whimsical

Revlon - Alluring Amber

Stamping Sunday...on Monday

Hey guys!

I'm a day late for this one.. I'm in a stamping group on Facebook, and yesterdays challenge was to do an Under the Sea themed mani.

 

This was my take on it. I painted my nails the teal colour, then sponged a nice sparkly blue on the tips, and added a coat of the finger paints flakies to give it a sea-like glow.  I stamped sea-weed looking things on my thumb and pinkie, an anchor and fish skeleton on my ring and pointer, and a pair of jumping dolphins on my middle finger.  I really wish I would have used the black polish to stamp the dolphins.. it just didn't pop enough for me.  

Lesson learned for next time ;)

 

Barielle:  Decadence (base)

Orly: Stone Cole (sponged on the tips)

Finger Paints: Motley (flakies over the base)

Wet n Wild: Black Creme

Colour Club:  Worth the Risque

Thanks for looking!

PCFC: Jewellery Inspired

Hi girls!

Today's Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge was Jewellery Inspired.

I'm not a huge jewellery wearer.. I have my every day earrings and two rings that I wear, and that's about it.  Necklaces bother the crap out of me since I can't handle anything touching the front of my neck so I steer clear of those ;)

I knew right away what I would do though.  Early last year my boyfriend went on a short deployment to Ireland, and brought me back a ring that I wear every day.  Just before he left we had started paperwork to become common law, so the government now considers him my husband, even though we're not really 'married', but what he brought back kind of just symbolizes our commitment to one another.

Anyway!  Less words, more pictures:

 

Can you guess what kind of ring it is?

 

 

Claddagh rings symbolize love, friendship and loyalty.  Now I realize I didn't do the hands but.. really, I'm no artist and this would have just turned out awful :P  I love it, and love what they mean, it never leaves my finger!

I used a small dotting tools for the hearts, and used one of the bundle monster plates for the crowns.

 

Essie: Feed Me

Barielle: Out-Grey-Geous (base)

OPI - Pink Friday (hearts)

OPI - Teenage Dream (over the hearts)

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Grape Escape (crown)

Essie: Good to Go

What's your favourite piece of jewellery?

Thanks for looking :)

NOTD: Glitter Layers

Hi lovelies,

Quick post today showing the mani I'm currently sporting (except now there's some shrinkage and some chips but I'm far too tired to play with my nails tonight :P).  All of these were chosen by my boyfriend, and he chose which glitters to layer over what.  I love that he appreciates this 'addiction' of mine.  It makes it a bit more fun too, because I have no say what so ever (unless it's hideous, haha).

 

Essie: Feed Me

Orly: Frolic

OPI: Save Me

Finger Paints: Laugh my Art Off

China Glaze: Marry a Millionaire

 

I especially love Marry a Millionaire over Laugh my Art Off.. It gave it so much depth and tons of sparkle.  And, I'm loving the 'hairy' glitter :)

Thanks for looking!

Let's get Whimsical!

Hi lovelies!

I'm sure you already know what's coming up just based on the title of the post huh?

Yesterday I seen Zoe's post, showed my boyfriend, said I had to find it, and well.. we needed groceries, so we headed out to our huge wal mart like supermarket and HE found it for me ;)

 

Essie:  Feed Me

Essie - Marshmallow (as underwear)

Revlon - Whimsical

Revlon - Starry Pink

OPI - Yoga-ta Get This Blue

OPI - Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

Seche Vite

 

This is THREE coats of Whimsical over TWO coats of Marshmallow.  Both are so sheer, in hindsight I should have used a more opaque white or light blue polish as underwear, which would have made the colours pop a little bit more.  It took soo long to dry!

I couldn't just leave it though:

I stamped using my XXL plate which has some dupes of the Konad plates I think (I don't know actual Konad plates though so I can't be 100% sure).  I love my plates from You Mix Cosmetics..No complaints as of yet!  Clearly my stamping placement still needs to be worked on but I think this is still acceptable.

Thanks for looking!

PCFC: Animal Print

Hey ladies!

I joined the Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge facebook page back in late November to take part in the Christmas nail art challenge, but the group has weekly challenges as well that are resuming now that the holidays are over :)

This week's theme was animal print.  I have never done an animal print mani before, believe it or not.  Even so, I didn't want to just do animal print so instead went with something a bit more flashy and funky!

 

Essie - Feed Me (which appears have to started to make a difference, although I'm still getting peelies)

GOSH - Silver

OPI - Did it on 'Em

Seche Vite

 

I love my accent nails, in case you haven't noticed ;)  I hardly do a mani without one!  Anyway, I painted my nails in silver with the accent of Did it on 'Em, let them dry then taped off little triangles (as inspired by Kayla Shevonne's mani here), painted them with the opposite colour then stamped leopard prints on every other finger, and zebra prints on the remaining fingers.

I actually really, really love this mani!  I was aiming for larger triangles but I think this works too.  It looks like animal print trying to work its way out of the base polish or something :P

Stamps & Flakies

Hi lovelies!

Here's a recently worn mani:

 

Essie - Feed Me

Essie - Bobbing for Baubles

Essie - School of Hard Rocks

Seche Vite

 

See the flakies poke through?  I found all of the Finger Paints Special Effects at Sally and bought them all since I have no flakies (I know, right?).  I'm a bit sad that I didn't take a photo pre-stamping, though.

 
Also, funny enough, the stamping on my right hand, having used my non-dominant hand to do the stamping, turned out nicer:

 

I used XL plate B from You Mix Cosmetics .  The images are so big there is no way they won't cover your entire nail unless they're super long.  See?

You can see which portion of the image is actually on my nail, and how much of the image is left unstamped because it's so big :)

Thanks for looking!