31DC2014: Day 25

Hey guys! Today's theme is Inspired By Fashion.
I actually did these like 2 weeks ago when inspiration hit me immediately after seeing some hella cute shoes.

I'm not usually into Kate Spade but holy crap those are cute! So I did nails to match.

Tada! I used Sephora by OPI - It's My Pink and I painted the tip on freehand and used a dotting tool to do the dots. I didn't even wear basecoat. Look how nice and non-stained my nails are! I mean, were. I stained them this week but can't remember what polish did it.

How do you guys like this take on a classic french? I think it's pretty fun!

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 25 designs:

• 2013: Volcom
• 2012: Kristen Stewart
• 2011: Betsey Johnson

31DC2014: Day 17

Hello and welcome to Day 17 of the 31 Day Challenge. Today's theme is glitter. One of my favorite things on the planet. Today is a good day. Glitter bomb time!

I started with a base of Sephora by OPI - XOX Betsey. 
I layered three glitters on top to get the bright and fun look I wanted!
Candy Lacquer - Block Party
Candy Lacquer - Candies & Sprinkles
China Glaze - Fairy Dust 

You may know that I haven't had the best experiences with indie polishes. Today however, that's not the case! I purchased these shades from Candy Lacquer like 2 years ago probably and they sat in my drawer unused until now and the glitter had not bled, or settled, or buckled, or anything. The polishes looked brand new. And the fact that I bought them in the first place means a lot because I am very picky on buying indie thanks to my bad experiences (AKA basically I don't) but there were several shades from Candy Lacquer I had to have. Like, HAD TO. Long story short - I totally recommend them. I think these shades are old and discontinued but there are loads more cute ones in the shop.

Doesn't the tiny Fairy Dust really bring all the big glitters together? I loveeee this mani!

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 17 designs:

• 2013: It's Bouquet With Me
• 2012: Birthday Cake
• 2011: Bloomsbury Square

31DC2014: Day 13

It'ssssss my birthdaaaaaay!! The big 24. And once again, the theme for the 31 Day Challenge happens to be Animal Print and it's great.
Every year I do leopard which is kinda predictable I guess but it's my favorite nail look to wear so why not? It's my birthday after all! 

This year I was inspired by my favorite birthday gift...

OMG this watch gives me life. And so do the nails!!

I had to use the perfect polish for a manicure inspired by the Betsey Johnson leopard print.
Sephora by OPI - It's My Pink from the Betsey collection. And it's even scented like her perfume! I can totally smell it even through my smelly Seche Vite.

I did the leopard a bit different from what I usually do to more closely mimic the Betsey pattern, and it takes a bit longer thanks to the added attention to the detail however I reallyyyy like the look it produces and I will probably do it more often now.
I used a small nail art brush to do the choppy black spots. The pink on the insides is an unnamed Art Club striper polish.

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous Day 13 designs:

• 2013: Gradient Leopard
• 2012: I'm Feelin' 22
• 2011: Poptastic Leopard

31DC2013 - day 17

Hey guys!! Holy crap, this week has been a whirlwind. As you most likely know, I spent the week in Chicago at Riot Fest (and also of course shopping)

I didn't get home until like 5am and I had to get up and go to school after just 5 hours sleep or so, and then go to work... So now I am SO exhausted!
As if the crazy trip wasn't enough exhaustion, I went and had a busy day today.
Tomorrow won't be much better either... So happy I am doing the challenge in the middle of all this. HA!

Today's theme is Glitter. Thankfully this is an easy day! I decided to use new polishes I got in Chicago. (Perhaps when I have more time I'll show some beautiful haul pics, haha!)

All the polishes from Sephora by OPI have been discontinued and they are on clearance for 3/$10! So I picked up some of course. That's like 3 for the price of one.
I've always wanted this pink glitter topper so I snatched that and a gray creme, as well as a gold glitter.

Sephora by OPI - It's Bouquet With Me
Pink and silver and holo glitter. Yum.

Sephora by OPI - Break a Leg-Warmer!
I had no reason to really buy this polish because I am sure I have something similar, but the polishes were 3/$10 and I needed a third... Haha! It's really nice though and has a great formula so hey, I ain't mad!

Totally slacked with this manicure. Should have done something better. Ah well. There's just not enough time in a day!

LA Girl - Celebrate

Okay, this is funny.
I am Canadian and I did not find time to do a Canada-Day-Mani - but I happen to have a Fourth-of-July-Appropriate-Swatch to show you today.
(It's been in my swatch folder for a while so I didn't really do it on purpose, but hey, if it works, it works!)

LA Girl Glitter Addict - Celebrate
Red and blue glitter, this is a patriotic polish for sure! (But with some pink mixed in.)
I was really pleased with the consistency of this polish and I've shown just one coat over Sephora by OPI - Pushing Your Luck.

LA Girl polishes are usually only $2 or $3 and I'd definitely pick up more of the Glitter Addict line.
I'm not a huge fan of their other lines, though. 



Ah, glitter. Can we ever get enough? Probably not.

Betsey Johnson - Cartwheels on the Catwalk

It occurred to me yesterday while posting my ruffle nails that I hadn't yet posted a swatch of the base color I used for them!
And it is just a gorgeous polish, so I figured, today is the day you see it!

Sephora by OPI - Cartwheels On The Catwalk
This is a gorgeous dusty light blue polish from the Betsey Johnson collection. (You may remember seeing the mini collection here and It's My Pink here.)
If you haven't heard already, Betsey Johnson is going out of business. This makes a Betsey fan like me really sad. I guess I'll have to weep over the few Betsey things I've been able to find, and keep stalking eBay for more!

I'm glad $OPI put out Betsey polishes, more Betsey for me to hoard.
At first I didn't think I needed this color - don't we all have 10 dupes?
But in person I realized it is actually quite different from For Audrey and all the other similar colors. I didn't do a comparison but you can trust me. This is prettier and more... Vintage? I don't know. Prettier. Less stark. 2 coats is all you need for good coverage.

Whoops, that's out of focus. But you can still read it!

*Sigh.*
I'll miss you, Betsey!
Even if you won't be doing your cartwheels on the catwalk anymore, I'll still be wearing my Cartwheels on the Catwalk.

ruffle mani à la chalkboard nails

Bonjour!

Many of you have probably seen the Ruffle Manicure Tutorial from Chalkboard Nails.
I've always thought those ruffle manis were adorable and I really wanted to try it!

I'm sad to say my first attempt wasn't spectacular... But it is still cute!

Creating this look is really easy but getting it perfect takes a lot of patience and careful dotting!
As you can see, mine is far from perfect. But I still like it!
Next time I try this, I will definitely take my time and try to line it up better! Haha.

I really like the colors I chose for this mani! I didn't really have a color scheme in mind and I just started pulling things out of my drawers that looked cute together.

Here are all the polishes I used:
Sephora by OPI - Cartwheels On The Catwalk (base color and also at tip)
China Glaze - Recycle
Essence - Joe
Zoya - Megan
Essence - Viva La Green
Essence - Movie Star
Essence - Absolutely Blue
Essence - Got A Secret 

I think I applied this too thick, I couldn't really get it to dry. And I dented my middle finger. Pay no attention to that.

I look forward to trying this again. With quick-dry polishes. And more patience.

Have you guys tried a ruffle mani yet? Did you do it better than me?

1/2 of the OPI Holland Collection

Hey everyone! I'm gonna hit you with a few more swatch spam posts in the upcoming days because my swatch folder is just overflowing!

When the Holland Collection from OPI was first announced, I was so in love with all of the colors. But then when they came out, I decided I didn't really need any of them. So I didn't buy any!
...But then I found a bunch on sale for $2 and I ended up with six.
(A lot of you have been asking me where I find OPI on clearance for so cheap - they were at a local drugstore called Lawtons which I think is only in Atlantic Canada. It was only one location and I have no idea why they were so cheap. Some were old stock and some were new. They have the Hollands for full price again there now. So weird.)

I'm happy I picked these up, they are such pretty colors! Let's get to the swatches.

OPI - I Don't Give A Rotterdam!
Pretty shimmery blue, needs three coats for the best color payoff. I just love the large, almost-speckled shimmer of this type of polish.

OPI - I Have A Herring Problem
I've shown you this polish already in this manicure. Another shimmering blue but a slightly different shade than the previous one. If you look at the bottle shot at the beginning of the post you can see the difference in the colors better.
They are super similar so you don't really need both, unless you're a sucker for the shimmer like me! (And if they are $2 each you can totally justify it, too.)

OPI - Kiss Me On My Tulips
A nice, bright pink creme! Nice formula, 2 coats. Not an original color but pretty nonetheless.

OPI - Vampsterdam
Okay, I regret buying this one a little. It's much streakier than I anticipated and I just don't like it. 3 coats.

OPI - Pedal Faster Suzi!
Gorgeous shimmery pink! I adore this one. It covers nicely in just 2 coats, but you can also wear it at just one coat for a sheer shimmery look, which my mom loves!

OPI - Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?
Yes, yes I do. And I love purple. 2 coats of loveliness.
I had a request to compare this one with another polish I posted about recently:

OPI - Dutch Ya Just Love OPI / Sephora by OPI - Hell To The No
I couldn't get a great picture of the difference in these two on a wheel so I'm just gonna show you the bottles. The Sephora polish is a more vibrant purple and the shimmer is more golden compared to the bronze shimmer in Dutch Ya.
I prefer the Sephora but the OPI is nice too, of course.

What do you guys think of these colors? Did you pick up any of the Holland Collection?

Sephora by OPI swatch spam!

Second post from me today because I want to keep rolling out these swatch spam posts! I paused earlier for my Topbox review, but now we're back!

Tonight I'll be showing you the remainder of my Sephora by OPI polish collection, apart from the two new Betsey Johnson ones I got on vacation (which deserve their own post anyway.)

Let's get right to it!

Sephora by OPI - Hell to the No
This was one of my most wanted polishes for a long time! Until the lovely Rhonni found it for me in a blogsale and saved the day.
This gorgeous purple is from the Glee collection that came out last year. I wish I had all the Glee polishes! This is the only one I needed though.
It's a grape purple with gold shimmer! 3 coats to even out all bald spots.
The above photos are a little bit dark, check out the one below:

It's more the color of the bottle in this photo.
It's really amazing and I love it. A lot.

Sephora by OPI - Blasted Gold
As you can see, this is a gold shatter polish, I've layered it here over Hell To The No. It's interesting because it has some bigger gold sparkles amongst the metallic base, which are visible in the last picture especially.
I like the extra sparkly look, and it worked pretty well, so this is a winning shatter!

Sephora by OPI - Teal We Meet Again
Love love love. A deep dark teal shimmer. Great formula, just 2 coats for full coverage. 

Sephora by OPI - Blasted Opalescent
Here's something different, a sheer shatter! (Well, it was different, until they released the same polish in the Nicole by OPI range, too.) I layered it over Teal We Meet Again.
It has this awesome shimmery purple look to it, but still more subtle than usual shatters. It's cool as hell.
I found this one on clearance at the end of April in Sephora so take a look for it! (Or Opal Texture from Nicole.)

Sephora by OPI - Fancy Schmancy
I love the name of this one, it's silly. A sheer pearly white shimmer, shown at three coats. You could probably layer this too for a cool effect, but I think it would be kinda frosty.

Sephora by OPI - Go With The Flow-er
This is a hot hot red/pink glassfleck polish, which is super shiny and sparkly. It's kinda sheer and you need three coats to build it up.

Sephora by OPI - Mermaid to Order
Holy crap I love this. A teal/turquoise metallic that is so reflective, it freaked out my camera. It's a little bit streaky but I can totally forgive that for the color payoff! I adore it. Such a fun color! 2 coats to cover completely.

I'm a swatch spam machine! One day I hope to have every polish in my stash posted on this blog so I guess I'll have to do more swatch spam weeks in the future. I hope you guys don't hate these kinds of posts!
See you tomorrow with Nicole by OPI spam.