Monday, January 31, 2011

think we kissed but i forgot

Here is something I discovered that I wish I realized about 3 days ago when I dropped $10 on this polish.

The new Katy Perry for OPI blue shade, Last Friday Night, has a near-dupe.
And it is 8 dollars cheaper. And I own it already.


Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Shooting Star.
Here are the swatches next to each other.


As you can see there is more glitter in Last Friday Night, but that might also be due to the fact that in these swatches LFN is 4 coats and SS is only 3, but I thought the base color matched after this many coats.
So close that it wouldn't be noticeable to the non-polish-obsessed eye.

Dying for some Katy Perry polish but not into the pricetag? Go to Walmart instead and save money.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

excitement

So this would have been more fitting a few days ago when I posted about my new Katy Perry polishes, but...
My friends and I are going to see Katy Perry this summer!!
We bought tickets today.
(The reason this is so exciting is because we live in Newfoundland, and we never get to see anyone popular.)
We're flying to Montreal to see her on July 2nd.
I will be sporting Teenage Dream for sure!!

When I think of Katy Perry I think of bright colors and fun things, so here are some super bright rainbow water marble nails!

(click to enlarge)

Water marbling is not that easy. I'm never really a huge fan of the finished look, but I liked these.
The middle finger especially!

I hadn't cleaned up this hand before I took the picture. 
The pinky on this hand is adorable! If I could get all my nails to look like that it would be awesome.

I used all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes in this marble.
I used White Out! as a base, and the colors are:
-Caribbean Coral (Red)
-Power Pink
-Sun Kissed (Orange)
-Mellow Yellow
-Going Green
-Green With Envy
-Blue Me Away!

Water marbling: frustrating, but sometimes cute.

Friday, January 28, 2011

leopard encore

I made it to 20 followers in under 2 weeks :)
Thanks everyone!

Today I have some super cute leopard nails to show you.
I really like the color scheme on these, especially for spring!

(click to enlarge)
I can't believe I used to wear my nails this short all the time. Bleh.

I used:
Joe Fresh - Faded Violet
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!
LA Colors Color Craze - Nuclear Energy
LA Colors Art Deco - Black

I really like the multi-colored leopard look!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

blushing bud

I'm having a boring night, so I'm going to take this free time to do a second post today!

This isn't much of an art post, but more just to show off this lovely polish.

(click to enlarge)
This is Orly's Blushing Bud.
This was another Winners find, and I am glad I decided to pick it up!
I also got Bilamos there, and was going to leave this behind where I have a lot of pinks, but I went for it anyway because they were cheaper than they are at Sally's.
And it is a beauty!
This is one coat! Don't you love one-coaters?
I did the dots with my black nail art pen.

Really lovely color, and my photo is really accurate.
Pick this one up if you see it!

let's go all the way tonight

Finally I got my hands on Teenage Dream!

(click to enlarge)
Isn't it beautiful?!
This is three coats of pink glittery heaven from OPI's collaboration with Katy Perry.
It is everything I wanted it to be and more.
The base is a sheer pink, with small silver and pink glitter, and bigger, silver, holographic round glitter.
The name is perfect, it is dreamy!

I also got a bottle of the Shatter topcoat!
I couldn't bear to cover up all the Teenage Dream, so I just did my thumbs.

Sorry for the messy cuticles, that's winter for you.
You can see the holo effect of the glitter in the righthand picture!

For this topcoat, you apply one layer quickly over fully dry nails. Try not to swipe the polish multiple times.
It shatters within seconds!
The amount of Shatter you put on changes the look of your shatter or crackle.
In the left picture I used a thicker coat, the right picture is a thinner coat.

The Shatter was more wonderful than I expected! Really easy to get great results.
I think I prefer the thinner shattered look.

These polishes made my week :)
I might have to go and pick up Last Friday Night as well.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

favorite nails part 5


Hello new followers!:D
I'm really flattered that my blog is getting this sort of attention after like 2 weeks.

It's been a few days, so here are more of my favorite nails!
These here are the kind of nails I can't bear to take off.
In fact, if I got a chip I just fixed the nail so I didn't have part with them! I must have had these on for a week at least.

(click to enlarge)

Why use one polish or stamp when you can use a bunch?!
The reason for doing these mismatched nails was Christmas. I got so many new exciting things for Christmas that I couldn't choose one new polish or stamp to use.

(click to enlarge)
Thumb: China Glaze - Rich and Famous
Index: OPI - Show It and Glow It
Middle: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
Ring: LA Colors Disco Brites - Hustle
Pinky: China Glaze - Rich and Famous with OPI - Show It and Glow It sponged on
Stamping done with Wet N Wild - Black Creme
Images from Konad m57, and the Hello Kitty stamp was from an unnamed eBay set

(click to enlarge)
Thumb: LA Colors Disco Brites - Hustle, stamped with China Glaze Millennium
Index: LA Colors Disco Brites - Hustle with Milani - Purple Outline layered on top
Middle: China Glaze - Rich and Famous, stamped with Wet N Wild - Black Creme
Ring: OPI - Show It and Glow It
Pinky: LA Colors Disco Brites - Hustle with OPI - Show It and Glow It sponged on
Images from Konad m57

Each of these nails could be full manis on their own.
Just looking at these pictures makes me want them back!

Are you a fan of my mismatched brights?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

parlez-vous francais?

Today I'm going to show you something I very rarely do.
Actually, I think this is the only time I've ever done it.

(click to enlarge)

A french manicure!

This is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Calypso Blue.
This is a really nice bright blue with matching blue shimmer. This is one thick coat on my tips, and I used LA Colors Art Deco Black for the line.

I liked wearing these for a few days, but I don't think I could handle wearing many frenches.
My nails are too short right now from a sad break I had, but once they get long enough I might try another one!

Monday, January 24, 2011

let it snow

These are sort of Christmas-y nails, but it's still winter, so these are still in season!
I didn't do many nails for the holiday season, but these were really pretty and I got a lot of compliments on them, both times I wore them.

(click to enlarge)
The first time I did them, I used Color Club - Pucci-licious from the Poptastic collection, however this picture is not color accurate. I took it without flash because the flash drowned out the rhinestone and stamping.
I stamped with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White Out!
The rhinestones I added were from a wheel of 1500 that I got on ebay for $1.50.
If you want rhinestones - ebaaaaay.

(click to enlarge)
And here is the second version!
This is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue with one coat of Sally Hansen HD in DVD.
This picture is at a weird angle to show the duochromey goodness of DVD.
When I did these, I had just gotten China Glaze - Millennium for Christmas so I used that for the stamping, and again the rhinestones are from ebay.

The snowflake image is from Bundle Monster, plate BM14.

Which version is your favorite? :)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

gold digger

Today I have some bling bling for you! I did these today and had to share right away. (all pictures clickable)



This is OPI - Bring on the Bling sponged over China Glaze - 2030.

2030 is a great formula, this is one coat! My brush is kinda frayed though, I ordered it on ebay so sadly I couldn't make sure beforehand that it wasn't!
Not a big problem though.


My mom described these as "celebratory!" Little parties on my nails.
Hopefully these can cheer me up through all the rain and snow we are supposed to get this week!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

nails boss/cake boss

Second post today, with Barbie cake pictures as promised.
First of all I'll show some nails!

(click for bigger)
I love me some leopard!
This is an unnamed pink polish I got at a dollar store, and the purple is Claire's Tahiti Purple.
I used a black nail art pen for the detail.  The nail art pens are perfect for this kind of stuff!

And now for Barbie.
(click for bigger!)
I'm so pleased with it, and I hope it makes a little girl very happy today!
I'm delivering it in a half hour... wish me luck!

barbie will be the death of me

So, I didn't get to post yesterday.
But it isn't my fault. It is Barbie's.

I got off work, ate supper, and started making the Barbie cake.
All was going well for a while, until the icing turned to liquid and started basically dripping off the cake.
So my plans had to change and while she is very pretty now, I really thought I was going to ruin the birthday girl's day when everything started to screw up.
I still need to add a few things to her, and once I do I'll take some pictures and I'll post one here.

I'm going to try to post twice today to make up for yesterday!

Since the rest of this post is about Barbie, I'll post some nails that remind me of Barbie!


(click for bigger)
This is Nicole by OPI in You're An Angel. It is a really pretty pink shade with pinkish-gold shimmer.
I did the hearts with Art Deco Black, and YAA is pretty sheer so I put another coat over the hearts to make them shimmer.
Simple!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

just before midnight

I was going to go right to bed after my busy day, but I remembered that I wanted to blog every day so here I am, in bed, posting a half hour before the day is over.

Tonight's post will be simple.

(click for bigger)
These are some of the first leopard print nails I ever did! I will have plenty more color combos for you in the coming days/weeks.
For these I used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Power Pink
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!
LA Colors Art Deco - Black

Also seen in the background of this picture is the afghan I crocheted all by myself last year! I think the colors go well with this mani, haha.

Oh also, tonight I started baking my first ever doll cake, you know, those ones where the dress is cake and you stick a Barbie in it. Tomorrow I'm decorating it. Wish me luck!

Nighty night

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

nails of the day!

I did this mani yesterday, and I think it is super cute so I'm just going to post them now instead of using another older one! (Please ignore the nasty cut on my middle finger cuticle. Somehow, I did it opening a ketchup bottle...)

 (click for bigger)

This is Joe Fresh's Faded Violet. I stamped a lace image from m71 onto all nails with the large bow from m3 on my thumbs. 
I think it is dainty and cute for winter!

Quick post today because of homework :(
So long!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

more favorite nails / inspiration

Okay, today I'm going to post more favorite nails.
I'm hoping to get this blog out into the world soon, so I might as well make it good to get people interested, right?
The nails I'm posting today were inspired by another nail blogger, Emerald Sparkled.
My love for other nail blogs, especially hers, inspired me to create my own!

A while back, I saw some nails on Emerald Sparkled that I loved so much, I knew I had to do similar ones immediately! She totally turned me on to doing sets of mismatched nails.
So here are my Emerald Sparkled inspired nails. 

(click to see full size!)

I had these on for 8 days straight! I couldn't bear to remove them until they started chipping.
This was my first time using a rhinestone on my nails. 
The way I like to apply rhinestones is with a small drop of Seche Vite in the desired area, then I apply the rhinestone with a toothpick. Let it set and follow with a full coat of Seche Vite!
I was worried about it coming off really quickly, but I made sure to be extra careful of my thumb for around an hour after applying it, to give the Seche Vite time to really set.
Now I wear them all the time and I've never lost one!

Thumb: Claires - Tahiti Purple, stamp from BM05, star rhinestone from a dollar store
Index: Wet n Wild Shine (I forget the number)
Middle: OPI - Mas as a Hatter, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Rockstar pink
Ring: Joe Fresh - Faded Violet, stamp from BM20
Pinky: Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - Presto Pink, stamp from BM19
Stamping done with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On!

Thumb: OPI- Mad as a Hatter, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Rockstar Pink
Index: Joe Fresh - Faded Violet
Middle: Sally Hansen Insta Dry - Presto Pink, stamp from BM19
Ring: Claires - Tahiti Purple, stamp from BM20
Pinky: Wet n Wild Shine (I forget the number)
Stamping done with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On!

Glitter close-up.
One coat of Mad as a Hatter, one of Rockstar Pink, and then another MAAH. 
I like this combo better than both on their own!

If anyone is looking for a cheaper alternative to OPI's famous glitter polishes, Rockstar Pink is basically the exact same thing, but will only run you $2!

I hope you enjoyed my blogger-inspired nails as much as I did!

Cheers!

Monday, January 17, 2011

...bieber nail polish?

I now have two followers! Haha, what an accomplishment.

Today I did something unthinkable.
I bought something that somehow relates to Justin Bieber.
I got "One Less Lonely Glitter" from his Nicole by OPI collection.
It is glitter. And purple. Both of my weaknesses. I couldn't resist.
Sigh. I hope he doesn't actually get any of the profits!

I took the Bieber tag off mine before I went to check out so the cashier wouldn't see, heh.

I was originally going to post some more of my favorite nails tonight but I decided to space those posts out a little more.
So here are some simple but still cute nails!

(click to enlarge)
Lava lamp inspired nails!
This is Color Club "Twiggie" from the Poptastic collection. It is a really opaque light neon (if that is possible) green. 2 coats!
The magenta is an unnamed nail art pen from ebay, I have the full set of 60. Coming soon I'll review them!

That's all for tonight. School in the morning :(

Sunday, January 16, 2011

more favorite nails!

Okay, I couldn't stand not posting again until tomorrow.
Here are some more of my personal favorite nails that I've done thus far!

(click to enlarge)
Aren't these visually pleasing? Haha!

I used:
-China Glaze - Recycle (gray)
-Revlon - Violet (...violet)
-LA Colors Color Club - Sea Siren (teal)
-La Colors Art Deco - Black
-Seche Vite top coat

That's all for today!

first post/favorite nails!

Hello blog world! This is my first official post on this blog that I have created to share my addiction with the rest of the (blog)world.

I've been entertaining starting a blog since mid-2010 (I made this account in June, after all) but finally I have decided that I have enough skillz to begin sharing.

I haven't got this blogger thing exactly figured out yet, my layout isn't great and I have no banner, but I'm getting there, right?

I've got quite a few pictures and things that could make up a few weeks of steady posting, so I'm going to try and post every day until I catch up with my current nails!

In this blog you'll see hand-painted art, stamping art, a lot of animal print, and probably a lot of glitter, but you won't see all the brand new collections from every single brand because 1) Canada doesn't get all of the stuff you're used to seeing on a lot of blogs and 2) I'm not made of money!
I might not have the biggest or most expensive collection but I do good with what I have ;)

Anyway!
I'm going to start out with my personal favorite nails that I've ever done!

(click to enlarge)
For this manicure I used:
-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Power Pink (self explanatory)
-Color Club - Pucci-licious (purple part of gradient)
-LA Colors Color Craze - Static Electricity (beginning of blue)
-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away! (lightest blue)
-Wet n Wild - Black Creme (stamp from Konad image plate m57)
-A cosmetic sponge to add on each color
-Seche Vite top coat :)

I hope you enjoyed my first post!!