ManGlaze Nawsome Sauce Swatch!

Hello!

Todays post is Manglaze Nawsome Sauce! First of all, GREAT name from ManGlaze, as always. This is a emerald like matte green with silver shimmer! This is two coats and I chose to keep it matte :) I really love this one! Super pretty!

What do you think of this one? I love it!
Thanks for reading!

Erica's Nails & More Feb. Nail Art Challenge, Day 7!! Inspired By A Tutorial!

Hello!! Day 7 of the nail art challenge here!

Today's theme is "inspired by a tutorial".

Here is the tutorial I picked, found on Simple Nail Art Tips, a webpage belonging to a friend of mine :) http://www.simplenailarttips.com/nail-art/simple-rainbow-on-matte-black-nail-art-tutorial

Original Design by: Sun Dancer: http://solensdanserinde.blogspot.ca/2011/09/awesome-rainbow.html 

Here is my take on it: I used GOSH Nero as my base and mattified it with NYC Matte Me Crazy. Then I added the rhinestones using a dotting tool and the matte top coat as glue. I got my rhinestones from www.bornpretty.com :) I highly recommend them!

Then I thought it needed some "oomph" but I knew with all the shovelling I had to do today (we had a MASSIVE snowstorm) that a full mani of rhinestones wasn't going to hold up. So instead I just added them to the pinkies & added Finger Paints Twisted (My untried!) to the other nails. I like how it turned out. I loooooove Twisted. Who doesn't love rainbow flakies!?

What do you think about my take on the tutorial? I kinda like it! I'm a fan of rainbow, matte, and flakies! Haha!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out the other awesome nail art!

OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede!

Herrrroh.

Today I am sporting what I like to consider the best quick, easy, and appropriate polish. This is OPI You Don't Know Jacques, Suede. YDKJ Suede is a golden toned taupe with a foil-like shimmer but dries matte- hence being referred to as a suede.

Here are some reasons why I love it:

-It is a one coater, extremely quick to apply and gives great coverage with a great formula.

-It dries insanely fast. So you can do your nails and be out the door with no worries of dinging your nails and ruining them.

-It is a nice palette cleanser and appropriate for a conservative environment.

-It looks good with my skin tone :)

-Looks fabulous with topcoat as well, brings out the shimmer while still being a neutral. 

Cons:

-Chips easily. It really is a one-day wear kind of polish.

-Harder to find. It was a part of the suede collection that I think came out in 2009 or 2010 so it isn't hanging out on the permanent collection racks.

This is one of my go-to colors when I need something fast and appropriate. I hope you like it. Thanks for reading!

Blue Nails For World Diabetes Awareness Day! OPI Russian Navy Suede

Hello everyone!

Today is World Diabetes Awareness Day! This is a disease that hits close to home for me. My best friend lives with type 1 diabetes, and she will for the rest of her life. I see what she goes through on a daily basis and I commend her because she deals with it incredibly well. Type 1 diabetes used to be called Juvenile  Diabetes because typically people are diagnosed as kids. This type of diabetes despite all the research that has been done is not curable and not preventable. It is a disorder of the cells of the pancreas that causes a lack of or improper production/utilization of the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar. Unfortunately it is now referred to as Type 1 diabetes because so many children are now being diagnosed with Type 2. The majority of the time Type 2 is caused my diet & lifestyle but can also be linked genetically or be onset by age. Diabetes itself can be managed but comes with an array of life threatening complications. Anyway sorry for rambling on but I think the cause is incredibly important. Between 1/3 and 1/2 of people with Diabetes do not know it, and have not been diagnosed yet.. and so I think awareness is something that really needs to be focused on. I'm glad the nail polish community is coming together to raise awareness for such an important cause!

The colour for Diabetes awareness is blue. Since I have been rocking the OPI Suedes lately, I decided to wear another. This is OPI Russian Navy Suede. A matte navy with shimmer. It applies perfectly. This is one coat. I love how it looks. Like most of the other mattes/suedes I own... it wears terribly (at least OPI warns you about this on the label). But I really like it.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Monday! OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede

Happy Monday polish people!

First of all I hope you all took a moment to remember and celebrate our veterans yesterday. Both of my Grampys fought in the war, and I am still lucky to have one of them in my life. My dads father passed away three years ago, and yesterday my father laid a wreath down for him a ceremony held in town. It was lovely. The sacrifices our veterans made are the reason we have our freedom today. It is good to remember that and show our gratitude and respect.

Todays NOTD is OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede. I love the OPI Suedes.. I think their formulas are excellent! This is just one coat, and it dried so fast. Plus they are super interesting to look at, like velvet or something... (or suede haha!). The combination of shimmer with a matte finish is just so cool. This is a cross between pink and purple and it is awesome. Looks pretty awesome with topcoat too when the shimmer really comes out to play!

This wears like shit though. I put it on last night after I got out of the shower before bed.. and by 10pm tonight it was completely ruined. Unsalvageable. Chipped away everywhere. I did go swimming but lots of my polishes stand up to the pool just fine! I am sure with topcoat it would do better but I like the look of it matte :)

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Monday!
So long for now!

Last 5 days of Halloween Rolled into ONE post! PIC HEAVY!

Hey polish people! 

I finally got my camera and computer to work together and I guess this post is better late than never! So without further ado.. here is the last five days of my Halloween series rolled into one post!! I'll let the pictures do the talking and keep my descriptions to a minimum.

DAY FIVE

OPI Flit a Bit & CG Stone Cold. Flit A Bit is the perfect pumpkin orange and stone cold is the best charcoal grey matte ever!

DAY FOUR

WnW Fantasy Makers Rest In Pieces. Fuchsia microglitter in a black jelly base. Looks way better than this picture in real life.

DAY THREE

CG Riveting and CG Stone Cold in a half-moon halloween mani. I love the gold glassflecks in Riveting and CG stone cold is so opaque that it was easy and ended up looking quite cool! 

& Here it is with topcoat.

DAY TWO

OPI Alpine Snow and OPI Big Apple Red in a drippy-icky blood manicure.

Then I turned the blood into HOLO blood with Jade Vermelho Surreal! I think this is pretty cool.

DAY ONE

& Here is my last Halloween mani. This one might have been my favourite :)

Zombie-esque gradient nails using:

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape Matte

a-England Dragon

Dollish Polish Zombie Flesh

I think they turned out pretty good! But then I sponged on some red blood to add some EXTRA gross-ness. Cool, right?!

& There you have it. This is my 10 Days of Halloween series completed! Sorry that the last half was late but I am glad I finally got to post them. I hope you all had a safe & happy Halloween!

10 Days of Halloween, Day 3: Festive Glitter Tips FT Lynn & CG

Hey everyone!

For day 3 of the 10 Days of Halloween series I am sporting CG Stone Cold (such a great polish, such a great formula!) with Lynnerella Cauldron Drippings on the tips!

I liked this combination. I thought it was super festive and cute :) What do you think?

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, Original & Suede - Swatches & Comparison post!

Hello! My countdown is on! ONE WEEK LEFT OF WORK! Flight is booked for the 28th! Anyway, on to the polish..

I thought my dreams of trying an OPI suede polish had died long ago, I could never find them ANYWHERE. But luck has it my local Winners got some in and even though I was on a strict no buy at the time... I picked this one up. Lincoln Park After Dark is one of the OPI core colours and I love it to pieces so I knew I would like the suede version. 

Here is the original. Nice blackened vampy plum purple. It is especially awesome on short nails. Two coats, no topcoat. It applies like a jelly-creme hybrid (love that), and is very shiny on its own.

And here is the suede version. I don't know what the difference between the OPI Mattes and Suedes are.. they both look matte to me. *[EDIT: Figured it out, OPI Suedes have that hidden shimmer, their mattes don't!] Anyway Lincoln Park After Dark, the suede version, is much lighter than the original. Not blackened at all. To me it looks like a plum purple, leaning a little mauve with a silver shimmer that really comes out to play when you add topcoat. I love the look of this. It is just one coat :) Application was relatively easy for a matte. It was fast drying but not so fast that it ruined application or anything :) When you add topcoat, the mauve undertones completely disappear and it gets a few shades darker and more intense. The shimmer is all microglitter-y and awesome. Sorry I dont have a picture for you of that :(

& Here is the inside of little tag that came on the polish. It gives fair warning to the consumer that it doesn't wear well (like pretty much all matte polishes). I did notice that after washing my hands, & applying hand cream a little later in the day that the completely matte flat look of the polish had faded slightly, so OPI was not lying about that either.

Guess what else they weren't lying about? Wear time. I added some glossy tips, and this picture was taken after exactly 24 hours of wear. Would you look at that? I have never had a polish chip randomly in the middle of my nail. Weird. Sorry for the horrid photo. I was busy, but wanted to grab a picture of what the polish looked like at the 24 hour mark. You can also tell the matte finish has faded in the picture, like they mentioned in the tag.

For the cool matte look though and the price I got it for at Winners, ($7).. I think it is worth it. I knew it wasn't going to wear well and I still bought it anyway because I think matte polishes are pretty cool and I don't really have that many in my collection! Does look way different than the original Lincoln Park After Dark though!

Anyway, have a great day :)

Retro Polka Dot Nail Art :)

Herroh :)

I'm really needing to get called back to work and it is kind of depressing, so today I am in need for a happy manicure.. so I set out on a mission to create one!

I think I finally mastered doing polka dots on my nails. I absolutely love the way this manicure turned out! Usually my dots are misshaped and unequal and not in straight lines but I think the practice is paying off! It's not perfect but I like it a lot.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Stone Cold, a charcoal grey matte from the Capitol Colours Collection. Then I added polka dots in diagonal lines with a medium sized dotting tool, in order from bottom to top of my nail with:
Color Club Twiggie
China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
China Glaze Sun Worshiper
Orly Glowstick
Color Club Warhol
Color Club Pucci-licious

I went over the dots twice to make sure they popped against the grey, and were nice, shiny and opaque. I like the way the shiny dots look against the matte background. Here are some pictures!

I think it looks retro and kind of funky, which I think is awesome. I like it a lot, it has certainly cheered me up! I hope you like it too :)