Pink & Green water marble

Hi all!

Here is my second try at water marbling.  I used a bigger container this time and managed to get a lot of rings in my 'bullseye' and I actually like the way it came out :)  Now I just have to work on getting all the nails to look same-ish!

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For this one I again started out with a white base, then using Color Club Twiggie and Mrs. Robinson created my pattern.

Just a quickie tonight.. I'm having a lot of fun with this watermarbling business.. I wish I hadn't waited so darn long to give it a try!

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend :)

Grey and Pink - CG Elephant Walk and OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

Good morning!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of watching the Olympic qualifying rounds of figure skating with some of my family - it was so good (and so, so intense)!

While these nails don't really scream figure skating competition, I made them a little sparkly, which so many figure skating costumes are, so it seemed a little fitting :)

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I adore a good colour combo like pink and grey.  It's just the perfect amount of dainty and girly, no?

I used China Glaze Elephant Walk, which is an awesome medium shade of shimmery grey, and used OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender as my accent nail.  These two shades were pretty much meant for each other, I think :)

I then topped Elephant Walk with Orly Embrace, an amazing Pink medium hex glitter polish with smaller pink holo glitter bits.. it's SO sparkly in real life!

Using Elephant Walk and Pueen-08 I stamped the cute dots on my ring finger.  I swear the XL sticky stamper has changed my stamping life so much - I can't get enough of it!

Something Bright

Happy Saturday!  

After all of the typical red/green/gold/white holiday manicures I was craving something bright and cheerful, so naturally I reached for pink.  Totally not 'holiday' nor is it dark and vampy winter shade, just what I needed!

This mani started with OPI Kiss me on the Tulips on my pinky and index finger.  On top of that, I layerd OPI Polka.com and Orly Spazmatic.

My middle and ring finger have the gorgeous OPI Fly, and using the distressed method I added Kiss me on the Tulips.

I then stamped an image from Pueen-15 using Konad black polish.

I initially just wanted the ring and middle fingers to be stamped but after accidentally stamping my index finger and liking the look I just went with it and stamped them all instead of re-doing that one nail.

I felt like this was such a refreshing mani - I kept it on for days!

Have a great weekend, and as always, thanks for reading :)

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!

KKCenterHK stud review

Hi loves.

Here's a fun mani that I did while trying out rectangular studs from KKCenterHK.  I kept things a simple for this one but these studs are so versatile really!

I used China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle on my index and middle finger, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on my ring finger, stamped using a Pueen plate and Konad Pink polish.  My pinky has China Glaze That's Shore Bright topped with Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coats in Tweedy.

 

Then I placed top coat where I wanted the studs to be, used a dotting tool and put them on the nail and pressed down on them a little bit.  Top coated the rest of my mani and was good to go.  I think so far these are my favourite 'oversized' studs.. they sat pretty much perfectly flat on the nail with no edge to catch anything on.  They stayed on for the duration of my mani.. so around 2 days, and probably would have held on for a bit longer had I given them the chance to!

You can find these studs here, they retail for $4.73 USD for 50 studs but using 'ofknitandnails' at check out will give you 10% off your order :)

Studs were a PR sample sent to me for review. All opinions are my own!

Punk Rock Princess

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone has some exciting plans for the weekend?  I don't, but I'm feeling like I need a slow weekend to recoup a little bit :)

This is a fun mani that I wore earlier this week.  Kind of reminded me of Avril Lavigne when she first came out, hence the punk rock princess title ;)

 

For this look I used Illamasqua Scorn on my ring finger.  This is such a fun polish in that it dries kind of suede like.  I added a few glittery half stripes using OPI Which is Witch?

 

The remainder of my fingers have Orly Purple Crush, which is really a neon like pink that I absolutely love.  Then I stamped the stars with an image from Mash-49 and Konad Black.  The only thing I'm peeved about is the insane amount of bubbling that occurred after applying my top coat.  I guess I need to thin it out a little bit.  

Regardless of the bubbling, I loved wearing this mani :)

Stamped Chevrons 2.0

Hi loves!

Happy Tuesday :)    I just want to say thanks for sticking with me even though my blogging hasn't been that wonderful lately.  I'm trying to finish my grad degree, all while staying busy and so to not get too sad about the fact that my guy is deployed for another 4 months (which, is flying by and I actually don't have time to be sad, sometimes I feel like I'm handling this a little too well, lol). 

So - on to the nails shall we?  Here's my current mani:

 

I started out with a base of OPI Steady as she Rose, which.. I loooooove.  I should reach for this light pink a lot more than I do, it's just so pretty.

I then stamped the floral-like pattern using black stamping polish and Mash-43 plate, and finished off by free-handing chevron tips using OPI Anti-Bleak.

 

I really love the stamped funky-french look, I have previously sported a similar mani, seen here :)  I just wish my top coat hadn't smeared the freaking stamp!  I'm thinking of re-investing in Seche Vite simply for the stamped manis, it's the only top coat that hasn't smeared my designs so far!

Thanks for reading!!

Bright Mix n' Match mani

Hi :)

I hope you've all had a great weekend, but that means we're back to Monday. Sigh.

Here's some fun nails that I did sometime last week.  I needed a little pick-me-up so I chose bright, happy shades and a "skittlette" manicure, made famous by the amazingly talented Marta from Chit Chat Nails -- go check her out if you don't follow her yet!

On my index and middle finger I have OPI Planks A Lot stamped with Gals GA12.  I have to say, these Gals stamping plates are SO much fun!  I absolutely love all of their designs.  On my ring finger I have OPI Fly with translucent purple-to-green shifting glequins that I bought on e-bay.  And my pinky has OPI Did it on 'Em and using saran wrap I 'sponged on' OPI Kiss Me on the Tulips.

 

I was so pleased with the stamping as well.  Finally!

Have a great day all, and as always, thanks for reading :)

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!

Christmas Party Mani

Hi loves

This passed Thursday was our annual navy Christmas party, and I took full advantage and wore a LBD with my amazing pink Barbie shoes that my love bought me last year for Christmas.  I actually don't have any pictures of them, what a sin.  But Chris had a matching pink dress shirt (I love men in pink!), and of course my mani was matchy matchy as well!

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I kept it simple enough.  Chris picked out this lovely pink foil, Color Club Hot Like Lava, stamped using Konad Special Polish in Black and a BM plate (whose number I can't remember right now -- and I'm at work, sorry!). 

For my accent nail I used OPI Black Onyx and stamped a cute little bow using Essie No Place like Chrome.  Now that I think about it, I should covered the dots in the bow with little rhinestones since the bows on my shoes had some bling on them :P

And for your viewing pleasure, my two kitties (Swift & Kaiko aka Boo) posing while I was taking pictures of this mani.  They always follow the camera!

Thanks for having a looksie!

Nicole by OPI Holiday glitters!

Hi everyone!

Quick post today!  Over the weekend (while trying to warm up during the Christmas parade) I picked up one of the Nicole by OPI Christmas polishes and immediately put it to good use :)

Nicole by OPI - All is Glam, All is bright and on my accent is last years Nicole by OPI polish My Sleigh's in the Shop.  I love these polishes, the silver microglitter with copper flecks and the magenta with gold totally scream Christmas to me!

Happy Thanksgiving to those south of the border!  I hope your day is wonderful :)

Pink Skittles

Hi loves!

I felt like skittles the other day, so I came up with this:

I guess this can also be considered pink for Breast Cancer Awareness even though there is no tiny ribbon.  What do you all think?

Index:  Colour Club I Believe in Amour, then after I placed striping tape I added a coat of Zoya Charisma (my only Zoya polish!)
Middle:  Revlon Cherries in the Snow, dots are Gosh Holographic Hero and Gosh Berry Me
Ring:  Orly Bubbly Bombshell & Orly Be Brave
Pinky:  OPI Black Onyx then I used a fan brush and applied OPI Pink Friday & OPI Kiss Me On The Tulips

Super quick post!  Hope you're all having a fantastic week :)

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?

First Julep Polishes

Hi all!

I've decided to bite the bullet and hop on the Julep train recently.  I joined up using someone's code and therefore got my first box for a penny!

I ended up getting the American Beauty style profile box, and these are the two gorgeous colours I received.

Julep Eva, a gorgeous berry pink polish, and Renee a soft lilac.

Both polishes applied like a dream, and reached full opacity at just one coat, but I used two for good measure.  I finished off with a cute little rhinestone on my accent finger.

I really enjoy the idea of being a Julep maven.  Each box costs $20USD, and they are sent monthly but you always have the option to skip a month if you're not feeling the polishes.  Each box will always be worth more than what you actually paid for it.  In my first box I received two polishes at $14 each, plus the Best Pedi Cream Ever! which retails for $22.

   If you're interested in trying it out click here and sign up for your first Julep Maven box!  (Plus if you join and refer two friends with a special link like I'm doing now, you get a free box, win win!)

Pink Candies

Happy Monday! 

I hope you all had a great weekend :)  Today's post is a mani I was rocking for longer than usual because I absolutely LOVED how bright it was.  And it almost had a touch of whimsy to it as well.

 

This isn't entirely colour accurate, but Color Club Warhol is SO HARD to capture correctly on camera.. and I don't know how to play with settings so.. this is what I got.   It's a beautiful, super bright pink with a touch of red to it. 

 

I stamped using OPI's Black Onyx and the candy image from the new Bundle Monster plates.  Then I added dots using my smallest dotting tool and OPI's Fly.

 

And I finished it off with a glittery accent nail using Orly - Can't be Tame from their new Flash Glam FX line :)

 

Color Club - Warhol

Orly - Can't be Tamed

OPI - Black Onyx

OPI - Fly

What do you all think of playful manis like this?  It may not be work appropriate but I'm a student so I can still rock these for a little while yet :)

OPI - I Have a Herring Problem

Happy Almost-Friday!

I have a cute little dotticure to show you guys today, featuring OPI's I Have a Herring Problem.  I don't know why it took me so long to use this colour, I kind of really love it!  It's such a pretty, dusty blue with a crazy amount of cool shimmer through it.

 

I've seen these types of doticures floating around a lot, and I've always wanted to do one, but kept on forgetting.  Not wanting to spend a lot more time on my nails after a manicure fail I decided to have a go at it.  I love how it turned out :)

 

For the dots I used all OPI polishes in Ink Suede, Steady as she Rose & Gargatuan Green Grape.   I absolutely adore the mix of cremes and shimmers going on in this mani.  Dots are such a simple yet effective way to play up a manicure :)

 

 

 

OPI - I Have a Herring Problem

OPI - Steady as she Rose

OPI - Ink Suede

OPI - Gargatuan Green Grape

Pink and Grey

Hi everyone!

Here's a cute mani that I did over the weekend, I love this one so much!   My stamping is improving, but there are still a few flaws that bother me.  It looks good if you don't stare at it from too close ;)

 

The pink polish is Color Club I Believe in Amour, stamped with Essie's Power Clutch using one of the new Bundle Monster plates.  I initially wanted to stamp with a silver polish but I think this turned out much nicer :)

 

For the accent I used Gosh Silver, a beautiful silver foil polish.  I dabbed on some China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara on the tip, then one coat of Revlon's Stunning, which just gives it a little extra sparkle.

NOW.  For some exciting news.  My boyfriend proposed to me over the weekend, it was the sweetest thing ever.  He's so not the romantic type but he did really well ;)  And so that's why I'm sporting a dainty, girly kind of manicure, to complement the beautiful ring I'm now sporting on my finger!

I absolutely adore it!
 

And an awkward photo showing the little sapphire that's embedded, and the classic Birk's Blue Box (which, Jayne from Cosmetic Proof used as inspiration for a mani, found here ;)

Happy Tuesday everyone and thanks for looking :)

Bright Fishtails

Hi all!

Sorry my lack of posting - I've been spending a lot of time at work/school trying to wrap some things up before I head out to Alberta for two weeks.  I haven't even been doing anything to my nails besides straight up painting, I just don't have the time.   I had contemplated doing a bunch of manis and scheduling posts for my two weeks away but it won't happen, so there will be yet another hiatus from me.  Hope you're all okay with that ;)

Here's a quick mani I did a few weeks back using Sarah at Chalkboard Nail's tutorial.  I loved how easy this was!

 For this look I started out with a base of OPI - Kiss me on the Tulips.  I ALMOST left it bare, I was loving the pink so much, but I went for the fishtails regardless and I was pretty happy that I did.

 

I then added the first fishtails pattern using OPI - Fly, and the tips were covered up with China Glaze - I'm with the Lifeguard, and amazing shimmery neon green!

The only downside to this mani was my impatience.  I didn't wait long enough for the polishes to dry between coats, and in the end it was way too thick and I kept getting dings at tips.  And I got a little bit of shrinkage too.  I still wore this for a couple of days though, occasionally fixing it up until it decided to completely crack on me so I sadly removed it.

Hope you all have a fabulous Thursday!