Potential Wedding Nails #2

Good morning!

Here's another mani I put together as my potential wedding nails.  These are a bit softer than my first attempt but still have the added touch of colour that I want!

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I started out with one of my favourite nudes - Orly Decades of Dysfunction then using my new Emily de Molly EDM04 plate I created a stamping gradient.

For the stamping, from cuticle to tip, I used: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Grape Escape, Sally Hansen Insta Dry Emerald Express and Orly Royal Navy.

I would like for the purple to be a little bit more plum, and the blue a little darker but I think this is a pretty good contender.  Not in your face but totally suits the peacock theme :)

 Any suggestions for a good opaque plum polish that I could use for stamping?

I hope you're all having a great week!

Potential wedding nails?

Hi loves!

I hope you're all having a good week so far!

So most of you know I'm getting married this summer.. and we chose to base our colours around peacock feathers since I love jewel tones :)  I've been brain storming mani ideas, and after seeing a post in the Adventures in Stamping Facebook group I knew I had to recreate it and see if it could be a wedding day mani contender :)

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I first started with a base of Orly Dayglow, then using a sponge I crated a gradient with Zoya Savita, Orly Royal Navy and Zoya Veruschuka.  The purple of Savita shows up way better IRL, my camera kind of turned it blue.  Boo.

I added some sparkle on my ring finger because, why not?  I added Sally Hansen Twinkle Toes-ty, which is an awesome rose gold holo glitter that I just picked up while grocery shopping :P

I then stamped the peacock feathers using Essie Penny Talk and Pueen09.  I really like this stamp but I find the feathers a little too big for my baby sized nails so I'm hoping THIS one will be better :)

What are your thoughts on these?  I really don't want the typical nude wedding nails.  The only thing I would do differently is stamp in silver but.. I've still got 4 months to play around and figure that out :)

Sparlky Reverse Gradient + OPI Liquid Sands

Happy Tuesday!


I hope everyone's week is off to a good start!  It's pretty cold here today so my plan is to stay in and do some chores around the house - I'm too much of a wimp to venture out haha.

So I finally decided to purchase some of the Mariah Carey holiday polishes the other week.  I was holding off, teetering between needing and then not needing them.  But then Nail Polish Canada sent out an email saying they were limited stock so I finally bought the liquid sands I was eye balling!

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I started with a base of OPI My Favorite Ornament.  I love these champagne-y glitter polishes.. I actually went through my collection the other day and found that I have a few that could almost be dupes but aren't quite there.. I guess I'm just a sucker for them ;)

I did a reverse gradient using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rockstar Pink, an awesome glitter polish gifted to me by my fiance at Christmas ;)

On my ring finger I used two coats of the AH-MAZING OPI Kiss me at Midnight.  I didn't expect to love this shade as much as I did, I thought it was 'just' another blue textured polish but it's a perfect shade of cornflower blue that is unlike all other blue textured polishes that I have!  I added dots in OPI Baby Please Come Home and called it a day.

So sparkly!

Have a great day everyone :)

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?

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.

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 :)

Blue Gradient + Gold Accent

Hi loves,

Back in August the boy and I went to our friends wedding.  I had bought this dress from Forever 21 and, though white and thought to be taboo (the bride didn't care, I checked), decided to wear it for the wedding.. and sported this mani to be all matchy matchy with it. 

I started out with a base of China Glaze Electric Beat which matched the starfish on the dress PERFECTLY, and used Orly Luxe for the gold accent finger (to match the gold studs on the dress).  I topped that off with OPI When Monkey's Fly (which no longer has curling glitter...).

For the gradient I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a triangle makeup brush until the desired gradient effect was achieved.  Super easy but I got a bunch of compliments on this mani (and the dress, too!).

And oldie but a goodie.. If only I could get my nails back to this length again!

Thanks for having a read :)

Gradient Nails

Happy Hump Day!

Here's a mani I wore for a night out on the town this weekend - sometimes a night out dancing with a bunch the girls is just what someone needs, and this was no exception :)  This mani got tons of compliments too.

This mani started out with me choosing two polishes and not having a single clue what I wanted to do.. and then I added a third polish and really had no idea how to combine them all into one look.  And then, lightbulb moment, gradient!  So easy and so pretty!

I started with a base of Essie Mint Candy Apple, then using a makeup sponge I sponged on Mint Candy Apple, Essie Butler Please and OPI Anti-Bleak.  I finished it off with a thin coat of Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment to add a little sparkle.

What do you all think of gradients, yay or nay?

Color Club Gradient

Hey all!

I love love love gradient manis.  They're so fast and easy but give your nails such a cool look.  I did these for C's little going away gathering and got complimented on it quite a bit.

 

After seeing THIS BEAUTIFUL gradient, and C telling me I should do something using sparkly pink and sparkly blue, I thought about it for a while, then the light bulb went off and I opted for a gradient.

 

I used Color Club Wing Fling as the base, then sponged on the tips using Color Club Sky High.  So fast, but so pretty - this is one of those manis that I couldn't stop staring at!

Also - you may have noticed a little bit of a nail shape change.  I'm not super happy about the rounded nails to be honest, but I had a corner chip off and didn't really want to take my nails down super short so I opted for a rounded nail.  Hopefully they'll grow out and I can file them to square again soon!

Feeling Blue

Hi loves!

Happy Fridayyyy :)  Here's something I wore earlier in the week.. I loved this, and wish I could have kept it on longer but it chipped within 2 days.  Boo.

 

This was probably my best gradient yet!  All polishes used in this many are Essie.  I started off with two easy coats of Where's my Chauffeur?, then using a makeup sponge I sponged on all at the same time:  Bobbing for Baubles, Butler Please and Where's my Chauffeur?.  I then added two coats of OPI The Man With the Golden Gun, which was supposed to be a Christmas present, but C was too excited to keep it hidden until then.  Ha.  I love that my hunny enables this polish addiction ;)

 

For the accent I started with two coats of No Place like Chrome the using striping tape I created squared and painted them in using the same blue polishes used above.

What are your thoughts on gradients?

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Fall Gradient

Hi loves!

I love me a good gradient mani, and after getting the Orly Fired Up collection I couldn't help myself but wear some of the shades into a gradient manicure.

 

 

I started out with a base of Orly Rapture, which is an amazing chocolate brown creme polish, and added Orly Smolder on my ring finger.  Using Orly Flare I created the gold gradient from the free edge down.  To make it a bit more fun I sponged on top of striping tape to create my accent nail :)

What are your thoughts on gradient manis?

Thanks for reading!

Fantasy Fire

Hi all!

Sorry for my absence again - this time I have a cold from hell to blame.  I spent my entire Thanksgiving weekend cooped up in my empty apartment trying to get better.  I slept, sat on the couch and watched movies, and slept some more.  The joys of living a few provinces away from family and having a fiance in the Canadian Navy, no one came to my rescue! :P  Such a crappy weekend, but I'm finally feeling better!  :)  I hope all my Canadian readers had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend though!

 

A few months ago, a lovely lady that I met through PAA offered to buy a bunch of us the gorgeous Max Factor Fantasy Fire.  At first I passed on it, but then I actually had a dream about it, and so the very next day I sent her payment and a few weeks later it arrived in my mailbox.  And it took me THIS long to try it out.

 

I layered it over one of my favourite polishes, Nails Inc. Baker Street.  These two polishes were seriously meant for each other.  Baker Street is stunning on it's own, but add the extra glitz of Fantasy Fire over it - WOW!  I just comes to life, and glows, and shifts colours, and just.. sparkles.  So, so stunning.

For the accent I used Orly Dayglow, then sponged on Baker Street, and stamped using BM-317 and Essie Blue Rhapsody.

(Sorry for the chipped nail!  I took these photos right before taking this mani off)

Gradient Dots

Hi lovelies!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far :) Here's a quick post showing probably my favourite manicure in the last little while.. I love doticures, they give such a cool look but they're incredible easy to do.

For this look I started with a base of OPI Planks A lot with an accent of OPI Steady as She Rose.

Taking my dotting tools I added dots in OPI DS Extravagance, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh? and then Planks A Lot on the accent finger and Steady as she Rose on all over nails.

 

I really like how this turned out, and now it kind of looks like a gradient effect.  I even rocked this mani for longer than my usual two days!

What are your thoughts on doticures?  Yay or nay?

EXPRessie, please vote for my mani!

Hi all!

So.. this is one of those posts where I ask my amazing readers to go vote for me in a contest on the Essie Canada facebook page.  I had to enter a mani using the new Essie chrome polishes, or a mani inspired by them, and 30 lucky winners with the most facebook votes will get 5 of the new Fall collection polishes.

This is the mani I entered:

 

I used Essie's Nothing Else Metals as the base for this polish.  The chrome polishes are BEAUTIFUL but they really are a pain to apply, and they show every single imperfection on the nails.  I'm willing to put up with that though!

 

Then using tape, Gosh - Deep Purple and OPI - Kiss me on the Tulips I sponged the gradient triangle across my nail :)

 

What do you all think, is it worthy of enough votes to win five of the new Essie polishes?  If you think so, would you kindly click here, find this manicure and vote for mine in particular?  I would really appreciate it :D 

Thanks so much for looking!

Gradient Nails

Hi all!

Today I have gradient nails to show you.  So many beautiful gradients have been floating around the blogosphere lately and I decided to give it a go.  I used the tutorial written up by Sammy, aka the Nailasaurus.

Her tutorial is super easy and gives a gorgeous gradient!

 

To get this look I started with a base of China Glaze - Electric Beat, a polish I just recently picked up from the Electropop collection that came out earlier this year.  Then using the method linked above, I sponged on Orly - Frolic with a bit more Electric Beat.

 I felt I needed a bit more sparkle so I added a coat of Nicole by OPI - Make a Comet-Ment, which is pretty much the same thing as China Glaze Fairy Dust, very fine holo micro glitter.  It just gives it the right about of glitz :)

 

 

 

China Glaze - Electric Beat

Orly - Frolic

NOPI - Make a Comet-Ment

Gradient + Zebra Stripes

Hey everyone!

I'm excited about showing you today's post.  This was my first polish gradient ever, and my first decent try at a full nail stamp.. and I really liked the outcome.  I have issues with my polish chipping so this only lasted 2 days, but now that I've learned to wrap my tips and I'm more careful with my SV top coat (read: no more shrinkage!) my manis will hopefully last a little bit longer.

Alright.. no more words, just pictures:

 

What I used

Sally Hansen: Diamond Strength

Color Club: Dress for the Parade

Color Club: Not Just for Kelly Green

Color Club: Boys Wear Blue

Color Club: Express Yourself

Nicole by OPI: Make a Comet-Ment

GOSH:  Deep Purple

GOSH: Silver

Sinful Colors: Red Ocean

Seche Vite

I painted my entire nails yellow, then created the gradient using a makeup sponge and first applied the green, then the blue, then the purple (all from CC).  For my accent nail I put 2 coats of  Deep Purple.  I let them dry, then stamped the zebra print using OPI black onyx (which I just now realize I forgot to add in the photo), and silver on the accent nails.  I added the NOPI to all fingers except the accent finger where I added Red Ocean, then covered it all with a nice coat of SV.  Voila!

Weird photo, but I wanted to show off the holo-ness of the NOPI glitters.. they're SO pretty!

 

If you look closely there are already chips and tip wear, and this was taken maybe 24 hours after it was done.  So frustrating, but I'm hoping that wrapping my tips will fix this!  If not.. I'll blame it on the lab work.. Being a lab rat isn't really conducive to a long lived mani.