Mo' nails.

Happy Thursday!

Things have been busy round here - I had my mom and two of my best friends over last weekend to go wedding dress shopping annnd I found my dress!  Now I'm just bummed about having to wait 7 more months before wearing it.  haha.

So - I figured before November ends I should post my Movember nails.  How is it almost December already?!

How cute are the mustache's?! I started with a base of Essie Cute as a Button on my index and middle fingers, then stamped my index with BM-402.  On my middle finger is a water decal from Born Pretty store. 

On my ring finger is Essie Beyond Cozy, one of my favourite glittery polish.  And on my pinky is China Glaze Bump in The Night with OPI Solitaire polka dots.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!  Hope you're all enjoying time with your loved ones :)

Thanks for reading. 

Black and White mani

Wahh I've been a bad blogger and I don't even have an excuse!  I've been knitting a lot trying to finish a pair of socks before next week so my nails are being neglected.  Boo!

I was feeling uninspired so I asked C what I should do and he said black and white.. so I did!

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I started out with a base of Orly Dayglow then created a gradient using China Glaze Elephant Walk on the tips.  I love gradients!

On my ring finger I added a coat of Lush Lacquer Salt N Peppa, then I used Bundle Monster plate 406 to stamp on the cute hart pattern.

I'm loving black and white lately!  What are your thoughts?

Nimbus Nails

Happy Friday!

Here's hoping you're all having a good weekend :) Call me crazy but I'm in a Christmas decorating mood so all of our decor is going up this weekend!  All I need now is a little bit of snow ;)

So I'm sure you're all following The Nailasaurus (if you're not, you should be) and thus have seen her Nimbus mani tutorial.  I decided to give it a try not too long ago.  It's so fun and super easy to do, too.

 

I started out with a white base or Orly Dayglow, then using way too many polishes I started dabbing away at my nails. I really need to start writing down all the polishes I use because I can't remember them now.  But the ones I do remember were Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, Sally Hansen Blue me Away, China Glaze Electric Beat, China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle, Color Club Express Yourself and OPI Steady as She Rose.

On my pinky I added Color Club Jingle Jangle since the purple and blue glitter matched the colour scheme of the mani, and on my ring finger I stamped the chevron pattern from Bundle Monster plate 423 in Konad White polish.

Have you tried the Nimbus method yet? 

Thanks for reading!

Joe Fresh Ink + Stamping

Happy Tuesday!

How was everyone's weekend?  I spent mine with my family celebrating my nephew's 11th birthday.  Hard to believe that kid is 11 already (and pretty much my height.. with bigger feet than me, how does that even happen?)

This is a mani I sported last week.  I had a hard time getting inspired but I think it turned out pretty decent!

For this look I used a base of Joe Fresh - Ink, a dark shimmery purply-blue.  I topped it off with Essie Pure Pearlfection to add a little bit more shimmer and dimension to the polish.

On my index and pinkie I also have a coat of Finger Paints Asylum, the gorgeous red/blue/purple flakie combo then I  finished them off with a medium sized silver hex glequin near the base.

For my ring and middle finger I stamped using Essie Blue Rhapsody and Pueen-49 plate.  I'm super happy with the way my stamping came out, too.  Those Essie mirror metallics are perfect for stamping!

Thanks for reading!

Remembrance Day Nails

Just a quickie today - here at my nails in honour of those who have served and those currently serving, especially my grandpa, my fiance, my brother in law and father in law :)

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Base is Orly Decades of Dysfunction, one of my all time favourite polishes.  Then using a small brush I painted on Essie Navigate Her as the light green then went over everything with Revlon Posh.

For the poppies I used Orly Ignite and OPI Black Onyx for the center.  

Hope everyone had a good day today :)

Zoya Dream & Payton

Good morning :)

I've recently cut back a lot on my polish buying - mainly because I find a lot of the new shades are a lot like some I already have or I just don't feel that strong pull of needing a certain polish lately.  Granted my wish list on Nail Polish Canada is ever growing, but I also have a big wedding to pay for (my family is huge) and I just can't justify spending too much money on polish when it could go towards something wedding related.  Sigh.  What a dilemma :P

But when I saw the new amazingly sparkly Zoya polishes in the Christmas collection I knew they were eventually going to be mine :P

 Zoya Dream is such a perfect polish.  It's a a beautiful shade of blue jam packed with sparkly bits - and it's squishy so even after a second coat you still see the holographic particles peak through.  I wish the photos better represented just how beautiful and glittery this polish is.

On my accent I have Zoya Payton, a dark purple jelly with the same scattered holo effect as Dream (and as Aurora, Blaze and Storm from last year's Holiday collection).  The base is a little bit more opaque though so the shimmer doesn't peak through as much as it does in Dream but it's still a beautiful must-have polish.

I also topped off my accent nail with OPI Pure 18k White Gold & Silver Top Coat.. I couldn't help myself.  I have the yellow gold topper so I just had to buy it's white gold twin.  What you see is two thin coats, but I find it's a bit more packed with flakes than the yellow gold one.

Unfortunately, maybe 4 days after receiving this from Nail Polish Canada, I found it at Winner's for $19.99.  I may or may not have swore a little bit under my breath, all the while my sister pointed and laughed at me, scooped it up and brought it home with her.  For $15 less than what I paid.  haha.  Serves me right for being impatient, but I still say it was worth it ;)

Have you picked up any holiday polishes yet?  Most collections are hard to resist this time of year but I'm resisting so far, save for these 3 polishes :)

Half Moon + Stamping using Sinful Leather Luxe polishes

Remember when I mentioned having a nail girl meetup in Halifax before I moved back to Ontario?  We had a secret swap, and I ended up getting two of the Sinful Color Leather Luxe polishes.  After watching them on the nail wheel I decided I had to get two more :P

I created a half moon mani using a base of Sinful Color Get it On as the base, which is a berry matte creme polish.  I topped that off with Sinful Color My Turn, a lovely elephant grey.

There was a top coat that came in the display, I ended up getting it in the swap as well so I tried it out here.  It actually looks really good - it's not super shiny but it gave the matte polish just enough shine.

Then, because I had recently gotten my Pueen stamping plates - this happened.  I don't remember the plate number as this mani was done a couple of months ago now, but it's from the Love Elements set.

I felt like there was maybe too much going on with this mani so it didn't last too long :)

Have you tried the Leather Luxe polishes?  I don't give Sinful Color enough of a chance.. the few polishes I have I actually really like.  Maybe I should buy some more ;)

Interview Nails

Hi loves

I had a couple of interviews a few weeks ago and decided to keep things pretty simple.  I figure I can get crazy after I landed the job (which I didn't, but I'm okay with that - they weren't something I was terribly excited about lol)

For the base I have three coats of OPI Care to Danse then created a subtle glitter gradient using OPI Which is Witch? at the tips.

 

I had initially planned on using OPI Lights of Emerald City for the glitter gradient but I didn't like how the big white square glitter looked on there so.. I guess we can say I used it for an accidental accent nail ;)

Happy Wednesday!

Wantable Accessories Subscription Box

Not too long ago I was given the opportunity to review a Wantable box.  Wantable started as either a makeup or jewellery subscription box, but has recently added an Intimates box and they currently also have a special edition Holiday Box!

Since I'm super picky with my makeup brands (I try to stay as chemical free as I can - save for nail polish obviously :P) I opted for the jewellery box.  I'm starting to slowly grow out of the jeans and hoody phase I've been in for so long (I'm still a student!) so I figure adding some accessories is never a bad thing.  

Wantable is different in that if you choose the makeup option, all of your items are full sized.  Also, before your box is sent your way, you're asked to take a survey so that they can get an idea of what you like - and from what I can tell they listen!  I loved all three items I received!

Suzanna Scarf - Take a walk on the wild side with this statement scarf!  Take your jeans and tee to a whole new level, or dress up your sweaterdress and keep warm.

I love scarves.  And I don't have any in this colour scheme, so even better!  I've already worn it out a couple of times.

Price - $32.00 

Princess Tatiana Sunglasses -  The Princess Tatiana Sunglasses feature stylish frames with rhinstone and silver-tone details in a safari-inspired design.

I'm not going to lie, I was super worried when I first saw that sunglasses were included in the box - my face is so tiny that I have a hard time finding sunglasses that fit properly but these actually work quite well with the shape of my face.  I've already worn them out quite a few times!

Price - $20


Decklen Watch - The Decklen watch is a chick piece featuring tortoise shell and gold tone links.  THe slightly oversized round face makes this perfectly on-trend, and the subtle rhinestone details make it special without looking too over the top.

 This is definitely my kind of watch.  It needs to be re-sized but I can't wait to wear it!

Price - $36.00

Total value of the October accessories box - $88 

 This is one of the more expensive subscription boxes, where you will pay $36 a month if you sign up for a year, of $40 if you want to purchase just one box.  However based on what I've seen, the cosmetics and the accessories included in either box is well worth the price!  You also have the option to skip a month if it doesn't fit your budget or you can put the box on hold until you're ready to pay for it again.  Definitely a subscription I would recommend :)  

If any of you would like to subscribe you can either do so on the website or use my referral link :)

PR Sample sent for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Water Decal Review - KKCenterHK

Happy Sunday!  I hope you're all having a fabulous weekend :)

I have another review today brought to you by KKCenterHK.  I don't know what it is but I've been finding myself going ga-ga over peacock themed things.  Feathers, the colours, the clothes.. everything!  Maybe because they're jewel tones and I'm instantly drawn to those.. who knows.

But when I saw THESE water decals I knew they were coming home to me :)

 

For these decals you get a little sheet with 4 rows of masquerade masks and 4 rows of peacock feathers.  Enough to last you a little while if you choose to use them strictly for accent nails.  

You cut out the bit you want placed on your nail, soak it in water for about 30 seconds then carefully peel off the decal using tweezers.  I then dip my nail in the water before placing the decal as I find it helps a little bit with the placement - you can slide it around a little bit more.  Once it's place I dab off the extra water on a piece of tissue, wait for it to dry completely then finish it off with top coat!

 

They are super easy to use!  I thought they'd be delicate and that my tweezers might damage them but that wasn't the case at all. 

I chose to leave them plain here over a base of Color Club Antiquated but you can easily dress them up using a small brush and some polish.

My pinky has two glorious coats of OPI Alcatraz.. Rocks, which is probably my favourite textured polish, ever!

 For my index and middle finger I started with a base of Color Club Perfect Molten, then sponged on from tip to base Color Club Cold Metal, Color Club Lumin-icecent, Color Club Hot Like Lava and Perfectly Molten.  I had never done a gradient using anything other than creme polishes, but I really loved the look of this! 

What do you all think?

These decals retail for $2.54USD but you can take 10% off your order by using code "ofknitandnails" at checkout.

Decals provided for honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Born Pretty Feather Review

Happy Saturday!

I hope you have better plans than me this weekend - with all of the moving and settling in the last little bits of my grad thesis have been put on the back burner so I'm working on finishing it all off for good!

I've seen a lot of cool real feather manis floating around the blogosphere, and they always intrigued me but I never really gave them a shot until I was sent some feathers from Born Pretty.  I had attempted using the feathers over a month ago and nothing worked, which actually resulted in my Peacock feather mani that I ended up loving so much - I guess I was determined to have a feather on my nail that day :P

That being said, I was determined to make this work.  So I took a piece of these Fancy Feathers in colour #5 and finally managed to get it to stay on my nail! 

I waited for my base of Orly Dayglow to dry, added a layer of topcoat and waited for it to get a bit tacky then gently pushed a cut up piece of feather onto it.  When it was placed to my liking I covered it up with top coat then cut off the little bits that were too big for my nail.

For the rest of the mani I used China Glaze Frostbite, a lovely shimmery royal blue polish.  I then stamped some feathers using the new Bundle Monster set and Konad White polish.

I really like the feather nail art look, but I like it better on others I think. 

If you'd like to give this look a try you can purchase your feathers HERE for $0.99 USD, plus free shipping world wide.  You can also get a 10% discount by using the code provided below: