Grey and Yellow Skittlette

Good morning!

Here's a quickie post showing this cute mani that I wore a couple of weeks ago.

This mani started with a base of Essie Power Clutch, then using the dry brush method I added Essie Chinchilly and China Glaze Elephant Walk to create a neat marbled effect.

Then using Color Club Dressed for the Parade mixed with Konad White I stamped the zig zag pattern from BM 423 on my pointer and middle fingers.

On my ring finger is an image from Mash 37.

I mixed the white and yellow polishes on the plate itself, I covered the image with half yellow and half white and scraped a bunch of times quickly to mix the colours and make the yellow opaque so it showed up on the dark base.  I followed a tutorial but I can't find it anymore.. if anyone knows who's tutorial that was please share!

Then on my pinky I used one coat of Maybelline Color Show Street Art - Green Graffiti.  I love these matte glitters :)

Have a great Monday everyone!

Stamping over Zoya Odette

Hi everyone :)

I've been feeling a little off my nail game lately but finally, finally felt like I was just "on" with this next look.  I really love this mani :)

I started out with a base of Zoya Odette, which I got in my ipsy bag last week!

Then using Essie Nothing Else Metals and BM 422 I stamped the hexagons.   Then using Konad Special Black Polish I stamped the "Love" image from BM 412.

Stamping is so funny.  I love my squishy stamper, but it wouldn't for the life of me pick up the "love" image.. neither did my purple squishy (that I only have thanks to an amazing surprise package from Serene and am SO THANKFUL!) so I tried the hard rubber stamp and it worked beautifully.  Something to do with the etching I guess!

I hope you're all having a great week :)

Peek-a-boo Music Notes Stamping

Hi all!

How is everyone's weekend going?  I'm getting pretty tired of winter to be honest lol.  I try not to complain about the weather since it's out of our control but come on!  The snowbanks that border my driveway are legit taller than I am.  It's time for it to all melt ;)

This is something I did pretty quickly the other week.  It was initially meant to be for a guest post but I decided the quality of the work wasn't something I wanted to send in :P

I started with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and stamped using BM-411 on my ring finger and Pueen-47 on the rest of the nails in Konad Special Black.

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I then freehanded the V's using Zoya Savita and outlined them with China Glaze Crush Crush Baby from the Crinkled Chrome collection.

I really liked this look but it drives me crazy that my lines aren't perfect and that I have no patience for tape mani's lol.  So it didn't last terribly long :P

Happy Sunday everyone!

Valentine's Day Stamping

This is a bit early but I figured I'd get a head start :)  There are so many awesome valentine's/love themed plates out there - I had a hard time choosing what to use.  I think my mani came out pretty cute though!

I first started with a base of Orly Ma Cherie on my middle finger and pinkie.  This is such a gorgeous squishy, juicy red.  I then stamped the hearts from plate Pueen-41 with Konad White, and added a second coat of Ma Cherie on top to created a stamping sandwich.

On my index and ring fingers I added two coats of Revlon Cherries in the Snow and stamped with Color Club I Believe in Amour and used an image from BM-H17 on my index and Winstonia-207 on my ring finger.

I then stamped the image on my pinkie using BM-H17 also and the "Love" image from BM-H16.  The holographic dots were done using Gosh Holographic Hero :)

What do you guys think of Valentine's themed nails?  Too much? :P

Have a great weekend guys!

Soft + Advanced Stamping

Hi all!  I hope everyone's Monday went well :)  I had to shovel a whole lot of snow today.. bleh.

This is a mani I did over the weekend - I was supposed to go to a birthday dinner so I started basing my mani on that. 

I started with a base of OPI Skulls and Glossbones then using the cupcake image from BM-H20 tried my hand at advanced stamping, which is basically leaving the image on your stamp, filling in where you want then while your polish on your nail is still pretty tacky, stamping it!

This was my first try.. and it turned out only OK, but ended up working awesomely on my other hand :)
 

Then I had full intention of doing some double stamping and adding more birthday themed images to my nails but after stamping an image from Pueen-26 with Color Club - Take Me to Your Chateau, I really couldn't bring myself to doing it. 

It's such a soft, pretty look! I absolutely love how this turned out.

I actually debated removing the cupcake image since the birthday dinner outing didn't end up happening.  And I find it doesn't really go with the rest of the nails but eh.. by the time I got around to change it the rest of the polish was cracking so I just removed it all :)

Double Stamping over OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OP!?

Hi all!  Happy Saturday :)

Just a quickie today - I decided to try some double stamping this week, something I'd never done before.  And it turned out to be so fun!

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This look started with a base of OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? stamped with BM-414 (fingerprint) with China Glaze Dress me Up then stamped again with BM-301 and Sally Hansen Insta Dri In a Blink Blue.

Have a great weekend!

Red & Gold Chinese Mani

Just after the new year, the boy and I decided to go on an *actual* date and saw a performance put on by a classical Chinese dance company, which was an amazing show!

So in honour of this, I pulled out the new Bundle Monster plates that have what I believe are images for the Chinese New Year, and put them to good use :)

I started off with one of the most perfect candy apple red polishes out there, Essie She's Pampered. It's so juicy!  I almost felt the urge to just leave it be but decided to continue on with my initial plans.

Using BM-H15 and Essie Good as Gold I stamped the dragon on my middle finger and the Chinese symbol on my pointer and pinkie.

And because I had just gotten Sally Hansen Salon Manicure - Crown Jewels which fit perfectly with my red and gold theme, I happily layered it onto my ring finger (and my thumb).  It was such an eye catching mani - I just loved the red and gold combination!

Black and Silver New Year's Mani

Another super late post but I'm all caught up after this one :) 

I'm not a huge fan of the crazy crowds on New Year's Eve and always opt for quieter evenings with friends and family instead.. but that didn't stop me from sporting some NYE appropriate nails!

These were pretty much inspired by Serene at Copy Cat Claws.. I loved her mani so much that I did something similar :)

This look started with a simple black base of OPI Black Onyx on all but my ring finger, which has a base of Gosh Silver.

Then using Essie Nothing Else Metals, No Place Like Chrome and Blue Rhapsody I stamped the fire works using BM-H14 although you really can't tell the difference between the three shades sadly.

Using the same Bundle Monster plate and Konad Black I stamped the Champagne bottle on my ring finger.  Everyone had a hard time figuring out what that image was until I told them what to look for though.. I feel like it's just too big for my tiny nail, plus I smeared it lol.

And to finish off I I added Color Club Platinum Record to my middle finger, topped it all off with Joe Fresh Matte Top Coat and went out to celebrate NYE with a handful of my aunts and uncles that live in the area :)

Revlon Royal + Snowflakes

Who can believe that Christmas is just a short 5 days away (and my birthday is in 4 days, eep)?  It's totally cliché but it's crazy how fast this year has flown by! 

We're completely snow covered in my little city, and they're calling for a storm over the next oh.. 3 days, so why not do some more snow flakes?

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I used a base of the ever gorgeous Revlon Royal and did a glitter gradient starting at the base using OPI Which is Witch? then topped it off with a second coat of Royal.

Then I used BM 323  & H02 I stamped the snowflakes using a Rickis Frosty Lavender (which is basically one of the Color Club Holos).

 It took no time at all but was so eye catching when the holo caught the perfect lighting to make it all rainbowy :)  I love snow manis!

Are you all ready for Christmas?

Thanks for reading!

Another Holiday Mani

Hi loves

Happy Saturday!  What's everyone's plans for the weekend?  I have a family Christmas gathering tonight that I'm very much looking forward to :)

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I am loving the new Bundle Monster plates.. they came out with such cute images this year between the Holiday collection and the blogger creations - I can't stop using them!

I stamped the bells and mittens from BM-H03 with China Glaze Hey Sailor on top of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  On my ring finger is Orly Ma Cherie stamped with BM-H01, and I filled in the heart with OPI Pure 18k White Gold flakes :)

Annnd on my pinkie is something you've seen before HERE, Gosh Forest Floor with Orly Mermaid Tale and Monster Mash.

Thanks for reading! :)

NPC Nail Art Challenge Week 1: Snow

Hi loves!

Happy December 1st! 

Nail Polish Canada is having it's second Holiday Nail Art Challenge and this weeks theme was snow.

 

I chose to go with a 'night' scene.. because what's prettier than seeing snow sparkle when taking a walk after the sun has set?!  It's just so magical!

 

I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff, then did a gradient with Color Club Cold Metal and OPI Yoga-ta Get this Blue then added OPI Pirouette my Whistle and NOPI Make a Comet-Ment as the sparkly snow falling from the sky.

  The two snow flake stamps were done with Essie No Place Like Chrome and plates 323 and H02 from Bundle Monster.  I stamped the tree silhouettes on my ring finger using BM-407.  On the tip I used OPI Solitaire as my 'snow banks'.  And using Solitaire I made a little snow man on my middle finger.

Click HERE to go vote for your favourite snow themed mani!

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!

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:

Copy Cat Manicure

Hi all,

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet.  I absolutely fell head over heels over THIS mani done by Marta of Chit Chat Nails, who's manicures continue to awe me every time she posts something new.

So in order to not mess with an already good thing, I pretty much copied her manicure.

I did change some colours because I didn't want it to be 100% the same but still.. I'd say it's 90% copied ;)  I started with Orly Purple Pleather on my pointer and pinky.  This polish is from their Plastix Satin collection and dries to a rubber like finish - it's super pretty!  I added little square studs from Born Pretty Store on my pinky.

My middle and ring finger have a base of Orly Decades of Dysfunction, then I added a little glitter gradient using Orly Pixie Powder and Halo.  Can I just say how pretty Pixie Powder is?  I know you can't see too much of it here but it added the perfect amount of light purple sheen to the tips of my nails - soo pretty.

I then stamped using the splatter image from the Bundle Monster Fan Collection plates and topped it off with OPI The Man With the Golden Gun.

What do you all think?  They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, would you agree?  I loved this mani on Marta and I loved wearing this mani THANKS to Marta :)

Happy Friday!

Halloween Nail Art

Hi all,

While my parents were visiting during our Thanksgiving weekend we took the opportunity to drive out to Upper Canada Village to visit their amazing display of 6000+ carved pumpkins.  It was a beautiful night, we walked around for 2 hours checking out all of the set ups.. just amazing.

I decided to go with matchy nails even though it'd be dark and no one would see them :P

I started out with a base of Color Club Dress for the Parade then using a triangle makeup sponge I created the gradient using Dress for the Parade, Essie Orange! It's Obvious and She's Pampered.

 

I then stamped using various images from the new Bundle Monster Holiday collection and Konad Black polish.  How cute are these?   Spider web on my pointer, creepy little eyes on my middle finger, skeletal face on my ring finger and a bunch of little pumpkin faces on my pinky.  I am loving the two new BM plate sets!

Are any of you dressing up this year?  I went out with my guy and my sister this weekend and picked out our costumes for a party we're going to on Friday - I'm pretty excited about dressing up this year :)

Stamping Decal Mix & Match mani

Hi loves!

Happy almost Friday :)

Just a little quickie.  Pinkie finger has one coat of China Glaze Liquid Crystal over China Glaze Smoke and Ashes.  Ring and middle finger have China Glaze Traffic Jam, stripped with China Glaze For Audrey and various striper polishes.

 

On my index finger is China Glaze For Audrey, then using THIS tutorial I made my own nail decal using one of the BM stamping plates.  I filled some spots in using CG Traffic Jam & Frostbite, then applied top coat on top.  Once that was dry I applied a top coat to my nail, peeled the decal off of the stamper then applied it to my nail.  As you can see there is a TON of bubbling that occurred.  I'll have to give this another try, but I have a feeling these decals are better used for smaller stamping pictures and not full nail patterns.  Of course it could also just be user error since this was my first try :)  

What do you all think of the home made nail decals? :)

Valentine's Day Mani

Sorry this is a few days late!  This is the mani I wore for Valentine's day.  I hope everyone had a good one :)  I chose to celebrate by going out dancing until 4am - my feet are still killing me today!

 

My index and pinkie have Orly Purple Crush, which is a gorgeous pink jelly polish (and definitely not purple...), whereas my middle and ring fingers have Orly Decades of Dusfunction, probably my favourite nude polish to date!  
 

All stamped images come from Bundle Monster plates, the glitter on my middle finger is OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It and the hearts on my pink were done using Zoya Blaze, Aurora and Storm (which are my first Zoya's except for a super old bottle that I've had for years - Zoya polish is pretty impossible to find out here).

I loved wearing this mani, it was so cute and girly :)

Feeling Green?

Hi everyone!

Ok - I know some of you hate when bloggers apologize for their absence, but I'm really, truly sorry!  C deployed on Monday for 6-7 months so the week leading up to him leaving was a little cray cray and we spent it running around and doing last minute things so I neglected my nails and hands big time.  But, now he's gone and I'm hoping to blog more often to keep me occupied.  We'll see how that goes :P

Here's a mani I was sporting quite a few weeks ago.

The accent nail is Layla Ceramic Effect in Green Galaxy, which is an awesome, awesome dark green jelly with green glitter throughout.  I also added Revlon Celestial FX and Heart of Gold FX to it, which are both super fun glitter toppers even though I had to fish for the larger pieces.

The rest of the nails are China Glaze Running in Circles (swoooooon!), stamped with one of the new BM plates in Essie No Place Like Chrome, then I added Orly Miss-Conduct to make the heart pop :)

Have a great end of week guys, thanks for reading and not giving up on my little blog during my slow time!