Monday, July 29, 2013

piCture pOlish blog fest 2013! the year of the blogger!

Hello everyone and Happy Blogfest! That's right - I am once again participating in piCture pOlish's annual Blog Fest celebration. 
This year's theme is the Year of the Blogger. "This year it’s all about you and celebrating what you do!"
And what's even more interesting is this year, we all have to create a wonderful nail art manicure using three shades sent to us by the very generous girls ar piCture pOlish. There is going to be an overwhelming amount of amazing manis today guys! 
Being that I am in Newfoundland, North America's most easterly point, my post will be one of the first from this continent! Woo! (Everyone is posting at 7pm local time.)
I'm sure you all have seen the fantastic blogger collaboration polishes that PP has been releasing... And the three winners this year will get to create their own shades!
The voting will happen on the special Blog Fest Pinterest board
here.

Without further ado... Here's my manicure. 


The colors chosen for me were Marine, Mad Magenta, and Citrus. I was so happy to get three great creme shades!

piCture pOlish - Marine
This is a beautiful teal creme polish with a great formula. 2 coats, no issues. And no staining! I've worn this like three times since receiving it a few weeks ago... Haha!
piCture pOlish - Mad Magenta 
This is a shade I always wanted from PP so I was so happy to find it in my package! Again, two easy coats. This has been on my toes ever since the day I got it! Great toe color.

piCture pOlish - Citrus
This is my least favorite of the three, just because it is orange. Not an orange fan. But it works for me in nail art with other colors! Just as with the other two, two coats, no issues. 
So... What kind of art did I do? I'll give you one guess...


Leopard print!!!
I struggled for a long time with whether or not I wanted to do leopard print. I've done it a lot and I know a lot of people would be going all-out with intense, new designs. But in the end I decided hey, it is so me, I should just go for it! 


Another part of this year's Blog Fest is that we also have to do tutorials! So here's how I created this manicure.


First of all, you're gonna need a small dotting tool, your clean-up brush (and polish remover) and a makeup sponge. (Don't forget that you can use the same sponge over and over by cutting off the used parts! The one I've used here looks like it has helped me in many manis! Haha!)


The first thing you need to do is the gradient. I like to use two techniques together to create the most flawless gradient. 
First, apply your base color (Citrus) and allow it to dry almost completely.
Next, blob some Mad Magenta onto your work surface (scrap paper, wax paper, stamping plate, whatever). Using a small edge of the sponge, begin to build the color onto the tip and fading down into the nail. For a more detailed tutorial of this technique, check out this post I did ages and ages ago when I was still a newbie! (Even though the pictures aren't up to my current standard, the post still has lots of great tips.)


To blend the gradient even more and perfect the fade, I use the second gradient technique. There is a great tutorial for this by The Nailasaurus
Basically, you paint lines of the two colors on your work surface, swirl it a little in the middle, and then dip the sponge in/around it to pick up the two colors and the blended part in the middle.
You sponge this onto your entire nail all at once, dabbing several times to continue to blend the colors. 
You'll need to do this a couple times to get enough polish in the sponge to be able to do all your nails.

The reason I like to do both techniques at once is because I find the first technique doesn't create the smoothest gradient, and the second one on its own requires too many coats to build the second color if you don't already have some on the nail. So do both. Got it?


Get yo' clean up on, girrrrrrl. The sponging techniques can leave a big mess. Use your clean up brush (and optionally some Q-tips first) to get all the polish off of your skin.


Once you're all clean, add the first step of your leopard print with Marine. I just do those blobs irregularly with the brush from the polish itself. It does not need to be perfect or neat at all! All leopards are different, right?


Then you have to add the black detail with a black polish and your small dotting tool. Again, don't stress about being neat and perfect. Just make random shapes like C shapes and O shapes and dots and lines and whatever you think looks right. 
You can do it big, small, on your full nail, just in some areas - however you feel! 


You add topcoat and tada! You're done! Aren't they pretty?
I'm happy I decided to go with the leopard print because I just love the way it looks. I think I'll wear this manicure for a week at least. 

Thank you so much to the girls at piCture pOlish for letting me participate in this great tradition once again! And happy Blog Fest to all!

  There are many ways to follow piCture pOlish






Saturday, July 27, 2013

my little minions

A few weeks ago, my friend and I decided to go see Despicable Me 2. And obviously I had to do some minion nails for the occasion.

Everyone and their mother has done these nails by now... But they are always ridiculously cute. (Despicably cute?)


I chose to do a one-eyed minion and a two-eyed minion.

It may seem like a difficult design for less experienced nail artists, but they are surprisingly easy to do if you just break it down into shapes!
You start with a yellow base, and add a blue french tip. Small blue lines and black dots complete the overalls. Make a black line for the goggle-strap, and a silver circle with a smaller white circle inside it and a black dot inside that for the eye. Go crazy with the mouth!

And remember, every minion is different and also a little crazy - so they don't have to be perfect!


I used all Color Club polishes for the minions:
Color Club - Almost Famous (yellow)
Color Club - Bright Night (blue)
Color Club - Where's The Soiree? (black)
Color Club - White Tip (white...duh)
Color Club - Wild Orchid (silver)
Color Club - Blushing Rose (pink)

The color on my other nails is piCture pOlish - Marine.


Have you guys ever done minion nails? Let me see your minions!

I have to say though, I didn't think the second movie was as funny as the first. Oh well!

I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the first movie:


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Dance Legend - Android

Press Sample

Hola! Today I have a beautiful polish to show you from the Russian brand Dance Legend!
The lovely people at DL sent me a bunch of different polishes to show you, and they are all amazing, so instead of doing one big lump post, I'm going to spread them out!

First up, this gorgeous polish from their Prism collection.


Dance Legend - Android
Teal holo goodness, OMG. So into it. This polish reminds me of why I liked holos in the first place.


It is sooooooo holographic, and the formula is fantastic. No dragging, smearing, or bald spots, like you might get with other holo polishes on the market. And based on other reviews, all 12 of the polishes in this collection are just as fab. You really couldn't ask for better holos than these Dance Legends.


The best part is, it is still a pretty color when it isn't showing off its rainbows and you're in the shade. My main problem with holos recently is that they are gross when they're not reflecting. But this one I still love!


This is officially my new favorite holo ever.

These polishes retail for $13 and there are a few ways to get your hands on them.
You can find them on their website, but shipping is unpredictable. (It took like two months for my samples to arrive, but that isn't always the case.)
Stockists Ninja Polish and Llarowe also carry them, and Ninja has this beauty in stock right meow.

I neeeeeeed the purple holo also. Need it.
Hope you liked this post! Stay tuned for more Dance Legend polishes in the coming days.

Press Sample

Saturday, July 20, 2013

#NicoleNight was a raging success!

If you read my blog post yesterday or follow me on FB/IG/TW, you definitely heard about #NicoleNight! We had a blast.

The lovely people at Nicole by OPI Canada asked Kayla Shevonne to host a night of polish, pizza, and a poker game with a polish prize! It was such a cool idea and I would be willing to attend a night like that every week. Haha!
There's not much better than getting to be super nerdy about nail polish with some other like-minded girls while also stuffing your faces with pizza, chips, and candy...

I am going to retell the story through Instagram photos.

instagram.com/kaylashevonne

Kayla had the poker table set and the prize ready to go...

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails
And what's a party without an AMAZING cake by Kayla's friend Michelle?

instagram.com/melissamaythomas

And then there was pizza... So much pizza...

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

And I made these little treats. Not sure what they're called, but basically you melt Hershey's Kisses onto waffle-pretzels and smush M&M's into the top. They're delish.

instagram.com/kaylashevonne

Just look at all the nail mail Kayla got with our mani supplies and the poker prize! Jelly.

instagram.com/kelsiesnailfile

So she set up the nail table with all the pretties.

instagram.com/kaylashevonne

And we got to work. This is me painting Melissa's nails.

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

I did my own nails and had some time to make a cool Instagram photo while the other girls were painting their nails! (I'll have more details on my manicure at the end of the post.)

instagram.com/kaylashevonne

Kayla's nails were looking pretty fly as always.

instagram.com/kelsiesnailfile

And Kelsie's too of course.

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

Kayla's hedgehog paid a visit but he is shy and didn't let us see his cute little face.

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

But then we had to get down to business. There was polish at stake, people.

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

Early on, I got into the game...

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

But then suddenly I started to FAIL...

instagram.com/kelsiesnailfile

But then before I knew it, the prize was MINE!!!

instagram.com/rebeccalikesnails

Here was my winning hand. Pocket kings. Not too bad eh?
And check out all my sweet winnings! I'm sure you'll be seeing some swatches in the near future.

For good measure, here are some better pictures of the sweet Nicole by OPI Gumdrop mani I did.


I chose to do a gradient manicure with three of the shades from one of the latest textured polish collections, the Gumdrops by Nicole by OPI.
I started with a layer of the blue polish, Nicole by OPI - Blue-Berry Sweet On You.
Using a sponge, I started the gradient with the purple, Nicole by OPI - I Lilac Gumdrops.
For that extra bit of color at the tip, I finished by sponging on some of Nicole by OPI - Candy Is Dandy, the pink shade, and it has some bigger glitter pieces in it also which brings more sparkle to the manicure.


You may remember that I loved the OPI textured polishes but had trouble with the Zoya, and I am happy to say that these are just like the OPI formula and they dry perfectly in not too much time. Sooooooo into it!!'

Thanks again to Kayla and Nicole by OPI Canada for this amazing night. So happy to spend some time with my polish girls!
Check out Kayla and Kelsie's posts today too for another look at the day.

Friday, July 19, 2013

ain't no party like a #nicolenight party!

Hey guys! Something cool is going down tonight here in sweet home Canada thanks to Nicole by OPI!
Check out this post by the hostess (with the most-ess) Kayla Shevonne for all the details.

It involves pizza and nail polish thus I am pretty damn excited.


Keep up with our live updates...
Kayla Shevonne on Twitter and Instagram
Rebecca Likes Nails on Twitter and Instagram
Kelsie's Nail Files on Twitter and Instagram

Lime Crime - Milky Ways

Lime Crime. You've all seen the polishes. You know how fab they are. I've got 5/7, and here's my final swatch - the perfect palette-cleanser, Milky Ways.
(See the others here and here.)


Lime Crime - Milky Ways
Ugh so nice and fresh and clean and polished looking. So into it, such a good formula and the color goes with anything. And it practically begs for nail art. We'll have to do that soon...


The packaging of these polishes is stupid-cute, and I just can't get enough. I wish they made more shades! More purples... More blues... Instead of the yellow and orange which I don't want. Ha!

Unicorns and bows and perfect polishes? Keep it coming, Lime Crime.