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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Easy Candy Cane Nails

Yay for Christmas!! With the kids and presents and family coming tonight I wanted something fast and easy, but still semi holiday-ish. So I went for some quick Candy Cane stripes.
China Glaze Ring in the Red, and LA Colors Art Deco White


As you can see my free hand needs a LOT of work, but it was easy and festive so its a keeper. Hope you like it and Merry Christmas to all!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Terrible Tree

I recently came across a tutorial from Nailside, for a taped Christmas tree mani, The tutorial was great, and super easy to follow. You can find it here.
Base colour: Color Club Antiquated, Tree: China Glaze Glittering Garland

Once again I tried to challenge myself, but I definitely need more practice. My major problem *I think, was that I used painters tape, and it didn't stick very well, the points kept lifting up and the green kept running under the tape. This was the only half way decent looking one so I kept it long enough to take a pic. I do love the idea of tape manis though, and there are a ton more on Nailside as well as tons of other great nail art so definitely check her out!! Hope everybody is having a fantastic holiday week so far!


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

OPI NICKI MINAJ SUPER BASS SHATTER!!!

♪Boy you got my heartbeat runnin' away
Beating like a drum and it's coming your way
Can't you hear that boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass
Yeah that's that super bass♪ -
Nicki Minaj SuperBass

I swear Nicki got my heart beat running away for real, she is killin' it in every way, in everything she does. I mean who else can call Slick Rick that guy with the thing on his eye!! Lol.
So here it is, my second polish from the Nicki Minaj Collection from OPI, Super Bass Shatter, named of course, for her smash hit Super Bass.

The obligatory label shot... someone on the line was slacking :p
This shimmery plum purple shatter was definitely calling my name :P The colour is awesome, and I have a few regular polishes in this same colour range. I was already wearing Color Club Antiquated, so I quickly topped it with Super Bass. I think it looks fantastic, the neutral base colour really allows the shatter to be focal point, instead of just being part of the look.

 
yep thats my camera string


sunshine

indoor
The formula on this seems a little less goopy than the previous OPI shatters I have, and went on super smooth. All in all I think this is probably one of my favorite collections so far. I think the colours are totally on point with Nickis persona, and I can't wait to grab a few of the other colours.

First Tape Mani

So I recently did my first tape mani.... exciting right :p  Its nothing special but the colours really make me think holidays.
I used Wet and Wild fast dry Gold and the beautiful, taped using painters tape on the diagonal, and painted the red with Julep Lindsay.  The Lindsay over the gold had a really neat effect cause it dried sort of see through, so you could still see the gold underneath. I really like this one, I'm already coming up with more taping ideas!!

Monday, December 19, 2011

OPI NICKI MINAJ METALLIC 4 LIFE SWATCH AND REVIEW!!!!!

I wanna start by saying I LOVE NICKI!!! My favorite song is probably Save Me off Pink Friday, and then Romans Revenge with Eminem. :DDDDD

Ok now on to the nails.... My sister brought home 2 of the polishes from the Nicki collection last night. To say I was excited would be an understatement. Lucky for me she bought the one colour I've had my eye on since the press pics, Metallic 4 Life (named for her song Moment For Life) so here are some pics.

Packed with sparkles!!
idk some people take pics of the labels

Up close 


under artificial light
This colour is AMAZING. If you could bottle rockstar this would be it. 

Metallic 4 life is semi transparent black jelly, jam packed with all different sizes of silver glitter, from tiny sparkles, to medium hex. It was totally opaque with 2 coats no base colour, and it is almost blinding its so light catching. The formula on this is thick, but i liked it MUCH better than any of the Muppets Collection glitters. It painted very evenly considering how glumpy it was from all the sparkles, and I got no bare spots.

My only complaint is that because its got so much glitter in it, the tips of my nails were scratching and snagging everything, and I needed at least 2 coats of top coat to smooth it out. On the plus side of that, the top coat added even more dimension.


All in all this is a definite win for me and I am not disappointed in the least. I can't wait to grab a few more colours from this collection.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Snowy Fail

I get so inspired by other peoples nail art, I often attempt things that are far beyond my skill set. Well today I thought I would try a wintery sponge gradient. As you can see it was a biiiiiiiiiig fail. I probably should have looked up a tutorial or something but that's not how I roll :p


 I had to mix the baby blue since I only own one blue. So I mixed Color Club Pure Energy with Loreal French tip white, and sponged it on first. I then sponged on some Orly Au Champagne which really did nothing, then I sponged on the Loreal French tip white on the edge of my nail waited 5 mins and gave it another go. Topped it off with a coat of OPI Last Friday Night for a snowy feel, and added some dollar store jewels. In retrospect I would have done this completely differently, and I was such a dope to use Last Friday night cause it made the white blue, but ugggghhhh! overall this was a total fail for me :((

Saturday, December 17, 2011

SHC #50

Since my favorite black nail polish came from the dollar store, I am constantly on the hunt for more hidden nail treasures. I found this one at Everything For a Dollar Store, SHC #50. I have no idea about this company or anything about the polish, but for a dollar, I can't really complain!

sunshine!


inside natural light

Gun Metal silver, one of my all time favorite colours for just about anything. The bottle looks like it is filled with liquid metal, and I love it. Its not sparkles but has that speckly foily shine too it. This will definitely been in my go to pile! Anybody else have any go to favs the found super cheap??

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Julep Shania Swatch and Review

I recently purchased my first Julep Maven Box, and this was one of the 2 nail polishes I received in it. The colour, called Shania, caught my eye immediately. I have no silver nail polishes in my collection, so I was super excited to try this one out.



Outside cloudy day
Now, as I said, I was loving this colour in the bottle, its a light whiteish creamy silver. No sparkles, which is a change from most of my other polishes, and no real shimmer, it dries shiny, but not super glassy, more velvety.
With 3 coats the colour was true to the bottle (indoors)
Next day you can see it still looks thick and goopy and you can see all the smudges and smears.

Now for the review part....

The formula on Shania was a nightmare. It's thick and goopy, and it pools at the edges. It was too sheer to swatch one coat, so I ended up doing 3. That was a big mistake. Even letting it dry for a minimum of 15 minutes between layers, this just ended up one big mess. After letting the third coat dry for like half an hour, it was still gooey, so I threw on some China Glaze Fast Forward to see if that would help..... it didn't.
I don't know if it was my bad nail painting that was the cause, or if you really need a light to cure this polish but I wasn't impressed.
I am really sad that this was such a fail, because I do really like this colour, so I will  try it again.  And on the plus side their polishes are all big 3 free, and a dollar from every polish sold goes to various women's charities.

Julep Polishes are available on their website www.julep.com  and retail for $14 for a .27oz/8ml bottle.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Mels nails of the day

Mels latest Konadicure.


Shes always such a bword about taking the pics

OPI Sparrow me the drama, stamped with China Glaze Devotion, and Konad Plate M65.
Overall neither of us were very happy with this one, I really need more colour variety in my polishes I think.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Julep Maven Intro Box

I recently came across a Google Ad for the Julep Maven Program, they were advertising a $5 sneak peek box which boasts $40 worth of hand and nail products. Of course being the nail junkie that I am, I couldn't say no.

Julep is a Seattle based nail salon, which has transitioned into making and selling their own products, and they are all about girl power (cue Spice Girls music). When you sign up for the Maven Program, you take a style quiz to find out what type of Maven you are. I am an American Beauty, funny of course cause I'm Canadian. Well after waiting forever for the delivery (customs fault) it finally arrived!!
Loved the red shipping box
Inside everything was packed in a little black Julep bag

My American Beauty Intro Box.

Julep Facial For Hands: Glycolic Hand Scrub
 I love the Hand scrub, its a non foaming glycol based gel with apricot seeds for double exfoliating action, which doesn't make me rashy. YaY for that since my skin is annoyingly sensitive.

Shania: So excited to try this creamy silver.
Lindsay - No matter how I tried I could not get a proper pic of this colour. Its a very deep plum colour.
 I am super excited to try the polishes, especially the silver since I have NONE in my collection, and I have to admit these are both colours I like, so I guess their little quiz really did peg me. :D

The regular cost of the Maven program is $19.99 a month, and every month you will receive a new box based on your Maven Style with over $40 worth of products. I have to say the December Boxes looked awesome, and I wish I had joined in time to get one of those. Another bonus for joining the program, is a  20% discount off any individual products, and Mavens always get free shipping.

You can get your own intro box for just $5 using Coupon Code WELCOMEMV5.

The polishes both retail for $14 for a .27oz/8ml bottle and the hand scrub retails for $32. All products are available at www.julep.com

Monday, December 12, 2011

Amandalandish Giveaway

Check out this great giveaway from Amandalandish. To celebrate her 230(ish) followers, she is giving away 3 Duri Nail Polishes.


 You can find all the details here: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/2011/12/230ish-follower-giveaway.html

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The 60's called and they want their nails back?

My latest Konad creation.  I was going for retro.<3



 I started with 2 coats of Zoya Angella, then stamped the pattern from Konad plate M61 and the french tip from plate M19 both with Konad Princess White, and topped with China Glaze Fast Forward. I really like how this one turned out!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Nails of the day!

So the other day I painted my nails with OPI Brisbane Bronze, and while it was a nice colour it was a little plain for me. So today instead of taking it off I decided to pull out my stamping stuff and fix it up a little. I wanted something pretty, and a little bit girly, but subtle.





I used the Dandelion Pattern (thats what it reminds me of)  from plate M61, and stamped it with Color Club Antiquated. I LOVE the results, exactly what I wanted.
Hope you like it :D


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Holly and Polish 200 follower giveaway!!!

Holly and Polish has recently reached 200 followers!! To celebrate they are having a giveaway featuring some great prizes and 2 winners!!!
You can find all the details at http://www.hollyandpolish.com/2011/11/200-follower-giveaway.html

OPI Brisbane Bronze

This little bottle has been rolling around in my nail polish box for a while. Technically it's my sisters, and definitely more of a colour she would buy. After my unexpected love of Warm 'n Fozzie, I decided to try it. This is 2.5 coats Brisbane Bronze ( I say 2.5 because it would have been ok with 2 but my bad nail painting required a couple touch ups) with Revlon Speed Dry top coat.

Outside Daylight

In the Bathroom
Its a nice metallic bronze, more on the reddish side than the gold, with a hint of shimmer. It was pretty streaky when I applied it but it smoothed out as it dried. Overall I like this colour and will definitely wear it again.

Monday, December 5, 2011

China Glaze Glittering Garland

Well seems like I cant escape the red and greens of the holidays, but since Christmas is my favorite holiday I can hardly complain :D


Here is China Glaze Glittering Garland.

 You can see where I shmucked my pinky >.<

It's a really great deep green with lighter green sparkles. The base colour is a shade darker than its cream counter part Holly-days, and the sparkles aren't your usual super light reflecting sparkles, but they add more of a textured effect which I love. This colour was pretty enough on its own that I didn't even Konad it :P

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Nubar Holo Glitter

I am a HUGE holo fan.... I would give some of my husbands body parts to get a hold of some of the polishes from the China Glaze OMG collection, lol.

Today I was wearing Nubar Hologram Glitter.

 2 coats Billie Black, and 2 coats of Nubar Hologram Glitter, and 2 coats Seche Vite to smooth it out.



I don't know how I managed to get pic with almost no rainbow shine, oh well. I tried to get a macro shot of the glitter, it really was amazing, especially in the sunlight. Although next time I think I would just use a light coat over top of my mani instead of making it the main attraction, but I couldn't resist.


Anybody have an tips or tricks for taking nail pics??

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Holiday Nails of the day!

I wanted a holiday-ish manicure, so I pulled out China Glaze Poinsettia. Going through my Konad disks I actually found a design that reminded me of poinsettias. So here you go.

Two coats China Glaze Poinsettia, Stamped with Konad Gold, plate M74, and one coat of Seche Vite.

 ^^Just finished, messy, and I definitely couldn't see the nail lines, they look so dirty and they totally weren't >.<

  2 days later it started chipping so I put a coat of Essie Matte About You, and I like it WAY more. I'm totally into matte finish, and the Konad Special Gold looks really good. Red and Gold is my favorite colour combo ever. I know the pics are horrible sorry =\

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Fashion Polish Giveaway Week 4

The lovely Sam at Fashion Polish, is now holding week 4 giveaway of her 1000000 page views/ Blogaversary extravaganza.

If you haven't already checked it out, definitely check it out, shes got a ton of great swatches and reviews <3
You can find all the details here .

Santa Inspired?!

Lol. Well these were not exactly what I planned but it's what I ended up with so here you go...


Tips are Orly Au Champagne, red is China Glaze Poinsettia, and you can't really see it, but I stamped candy canes from Konad plate M12 with Konad special Gold, and topped with Revlon Speed Dry Top Coat.