Deborah Lippman Sweet Dreams. Be still my heart.

Today I have a real beauty to show off!!

This is Deborah Lippmann Sweet Dreams. Medium bright pink jelly chalk full of golden flakies. I'm not even a big pink person but this polish has skyrocketed to my absolute favourite list. It is truly beautiful.

Do you like it as much as I do? I'm in love!

Erica's Nails & More Nail Art Challenge! Day 8!

Hello and welcome to day 8 of Erica's Nails & More February Nail Art Challenge!

Today is just a quick post. The theme is "polka dots". 

I did a very pink dotticure with little flowers. 

I used OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips & SH Insta Dri Pink Blink (my untried!)

It is quite a simple design, but I quite liked the way it turned out :)

Thanks for reading :) xo

Ericas Nails & More Nail Art Challenge! Day 5 Valentines Day Nails

Happy Valentines Day & welcome to day 5 of Erica's Nails & More Nail Art Challenge!

Today is clearly themed Vday nails. I spend my Valentines Day with my fur boyfriends and girlfriends at my local SPCA. I go about three times a week, and this week is no different :) Furbabies need loving too. Plus its way more fun than the same ol' dinner & a movie.

Anyway, I digress. Here is my manicure!

I used OPI Pink Friday, China Glaze Seduce Me, China Glaze Midnight Kiss & Rainbow Honey My Love! I was so happy to get my Rainbow Honey order so quickly & I was most excited to try the LE, My Love (my untried!). I love it! It is full of gold sparkle and pink shimmer, iridescent goodness, and silvered white and pink heart glitters! Very pretty combo. I added some stripes and heart rhinestones too :]

Do you like it? I'm quite happy with how it turned out! I like that CG Seduce Me darkens the tone of it a bit and the heart rhinestones and Pink Friday still add a bit of fun!

Oh and looky at what I got in the mail!! I was part of a Secret Cupid Swap and this is my gift that I received from the lovely Chasadie! I LOOOVEEE IT so I had to show it off! I had been lemming Zoya Aurora for FOREVER. And I wanted to try a liquid sand so badly and she picked the PERFECT colour :) I also got a ton of cool samples (I'm most excited about the John Frieda ones ;) I don't know how she knew that those are some of my favourite candies but they almost didn't make it to the picture because I ate them all up immediately!

And just for a bonus, here is a picture of my last years Valentine, Mr. Duke!! I am happy to say that a year later, he is in a happy forever home. Warm, safe & sound with a forever family. Now THAT is a happy Valentines Day story <3

Don't forge to check out the other awesome nail art from Day 5!!

Old School Sally Hansen Saturday! Nail Prisms Ruby Diamond Swatch

Happy Saturday everyone!

Is anyone else getting the snowstorm that I am? I am seriously NOT looking forward to getting out and shovelling the driveway for the 10th time :P It is a whiteout outside! 

Today I am showing off a swatch of an old Sally Hansen polish, Ruby Diamond. Sally Hansen really had some gems back in the day. The Nail Prism line had some awesome holographics, duochromes, multichromes, and layering polishes! 

Ruby Diamond is a warm pink linear holographic. Two coats would have been fine, but I did three. These pictures were taken indoors in natural light so it doesn't really show off its true beauty! It is much more holo in real life and in the sun :)

This polish is older, I think released in 2002 (don't quote me on that). Keep in mind this means it is not Big 3 free! However, it IS awesome. Sally Hansen really hit the nail on the head for polish lovers with the whole Nail Prisms line. I think they are getting back on track with trends now as well with the release of their new lustre shine sparkly duochromes!

Thanks for reading and if you are in the middle of the big storm like me, stay inside and stay safe :)
xoxox

Erica's Nails & More February Nail Art Challenge! Day 3: Glitter Loaded Nails!

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 3 of Erica's Nails & More February Nail Art Challenge!

I like to franken in my spare time :) Mostly I make polish for friends as gifts with names from our inside jokes... or I add them to swaps when I don't have any cool extras or candy around. I thought glitter loaded nails would be the perfect opportunity to show you guys one of my glittery frankens!

I have an obsession with Tolkien. Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite adventure stories in the whole world. Most of the polishes I make for myself, I name after Tolkien related things. I was originally going to name this one "Courage For Our Friends". Eowyn says this is Merry before the great battle for Middle Earth when arriving at Pelonnor Fields. Neither are even supposed to be fighting in this war but both end up playing important roles in the battle. I'm still a little unsure of its name but I will stick with it for now.

I used a clear base so I could layer it and:
Micro squares of light pink and copper
Medium bright pink, light pink, magenta, apricot squares & gold hexes
Larger matte pink & purple squares
I am thinking of adding some gold shimmer to it to spice it up some more!

This polish is my untried considering I just made it ;)

What do you think of my franken?!
Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the other awesome nail art from the challenge!!

Could You Guys Do Me a Favour? (FT Valentines Day Nail Art!)

Hello!!

One of my favourite (and Canadian!) online polish retails, Harlow & Co are hosting a Valentines Day nail art contest!

This is my entry!

I used Picture Polish Fairy Floss for the base (from Harlow & Co) & then the plaid was done with striping tape, a LOT of dry time, Color Club Poptastic, & OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips! I added hearts on the ring finger and thumb and topped it all in topcoat. 

If you could all do me a favourite and click HERE, find my picture, & vote for me. I would be super thrilled. I am very proud of how this mani turned out :)

Thank you for reading!

Quick NOTD with OPI

Heyyoooooo

Here is a quick swatch of OPI My Very First Knockerwerst. When the Germany collection came out, almost everyone picked Don't Pretzel My Buttons as their favourite nude in the collection. But I actually preferred this one! It has hints of pink while still being nude. I find it kind of feminine while still being appropriate. Nudes typically look horrid with my skin tone. Out of the nudes I own, I think this one might be the least offensive! I think its the pink in it.

This is two standard OPI creme coats. I think I'll wear this when I do job/school finding related things :)

Thanks for reading!

Sunday Swatch Spam FT. OPI

Herrrroh.

Today I've got some swatch spam for you by OPI. Take a peek!

OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede

Pinky-purple-heaven in just ONE coat.

OPI Orge The Top Blue
Perfect medium blue creme in a perfect two coats.

OPI Danke Shiny Red.
My favourite one-coat red by OPI. Stunning shimmer on this one!

OPI Alpine Snow.
3 Thin coats of a stark white. Perhaps a bit too stark for me, but it works if that is what you are goin' for.

OPI Funky Dunky.

Two coats of grape purple perfection. I love that this always looks purple and never too dark.

OPI Fly.
Excellent teal creme/crelly. I love this one. Bright, clean, awesome.

OPI You Only Live Twice
Raspberry Glassfleck with a three thin coat formula. It seriously glows. I love this one.

& That is it for today! I hope you liked my Sunday swatch spam :)
Thank you for reading!

NOTD KB Shimmer Berry Patch & HITS Apolo

Happy Monday!

Today I am showing you a quick NOTD I wore a few days ago. In the pictures are three coats of KB Shimmer Berry Patch with an accent nail of HITS Apolo.

I was really impressed with Berry Patch. Milky pink crelly with pink, holo, & a splatter of navy glitter. It had great application. HITS Apolo is a fantastic dark blue linear holographic. It had an excellent formula and the holo was WAY better in real life than in my crappy lighting in these pictures!

I liked wearing this look!
Thanks for reading :)

Gradient Fail!!!!!

Hello everyone!!

Today I am showing you a gradient manicure fail. Okay, so I usually pride myself in my glitter gradients. I think I am pretty good at doing them! But just colour gradients... WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS? It is difficult!! There is definitely a learning curve to this technique. But I told myself I was going to post my fails as well as my trimumphs on this nail art adventure! So here is it!

I saw a couple tutorials and I went with the Make up sponge technique. I used Color Club Poptastic and American Apparel Neon Violet and sponged away over a white base. First let me say, I got polish EVERYWHERE. Clean up was not fun. And I used chapstick around my fingers to try and make it easier but I think the chapstick got on the sponge and then the polish wouldn't stick to the nail. I ended up with this incredibly messy, translucent, grainy pink/purple thing. Lookin' a little weird, right?

I think I need some practice!!!!
Thanks for reading :)

OPI Divine Swine over Nfu JS27!

Happy Saturday!

Today I am showing you what I put over Nfu Oh JS27.. OPI Divine Swine! This glitter came out in OPI's 2011 Holiday Muppets Collection. Its pretty awesome. I loved the fact that OPI did some unique glitters as a mainstream company. This is just one coat. It is a clear base with magenta/fuchsia micro glitter and medium sized silver hexes. I find it gives it just enough bling and sparkle in one coat over a base colour without being too "blingy" for an average day. It applied really well. No fishing for glitters or anything which is always nice. This glitter can also be built up to opacity on its own in three coats, but I really like the look of one coat over a base colour :)

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!

FINALLY! The search is over, I've found my favourite nude, OPI My Very First Knockerwerst!

Hi everyone!

If you follow my blog you may have noticed that nudes look terrible on me. They all seem to clash with my skin tone making me have obvious red hands or corpse hands.. all that bad stuff. When I first saw swatches online of the OPI Germany Collection, Don't Pretzel My Buttons was getting most of the attention out of the nudes, but for me it was My Very First Knockerwerst that stood out. Pale nude (but not too pale) with just enough pink undertones to be flattering.

It covered nicely in two coats with a standard OPI creme formula. I find it looks subtle but clean and pretty.. like a nude should look on someone. It is definitely work appropriate, while being a little more feminine than a putty, taupe, or beige. I really really like this colour. It has moved up the rankings and is going to be my go-to nude palate cleanser. 

I can't gaurentee it'll look good on every skin tone, but if you are having trouble finding a good nude, I highly recommend this colour :)

OPI Pink Friday!

Hey everyone! Happy Friday!

This weekend I am going back to my undergrad university for homecoming! My school has the strongest alumni network in Canada, and I love it with my whole darn heart. *School themed Mani coming soon!*

Today I am wearing OPI Pink Friday! After Mod About You, this is probably most frequently worn pink! Pretty bang on for bubblegum pink creme. Not terribly unique, but quite pretty! I did three coats, but two would have probably done just fine.

Candeo Colors Orchid Swatch!

Hi!

Today I am sporting Candeo Colors Orchid. This is a bright pink jelly polish full of different sizes of holo glitter! It is pretty much its own jelly sandwich in a bottle! My glitter was sinking a bit when I got it in the mail.. but it shook up to suspend just fine :) This is three coats! So squishy, I love it. Plus orchids are my favourite flowers, they remind me of my late aunt who I miss dearly <3

I hope you like it!

NOTD & Swatchey SPAM

WOOOO HOOO It is a spam day! Swatch and NOTD spam for your Saturday morning viewing pleasure.

Joe Fresh Cobalt & OPI Big Apple Red

China Glaze Electrify over China Glaze Kahlari Kiss!

Color Club Poptastic and Color Club Almost Famous

Zoya Ciara

Joe Fresh Iris

Color Club Almost Famous & Color Club Chelsea Girl

Zoya Marley

OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam

Julep Pippa & Essie Theres No Place Like Chrome

Hope you enjoyed the spam!

Candeo Colors Melonball :)

Hi ya'll!

Today I am wearing Candeo Colour's Melonball. I have been searching and searching all summer for a Melonball type of polish, and I finally get a hold of one.. after summer is over. Haha But I don't care, I am wearing this year round because it is VERY pretty :)

I really like the glitter mix in this polish. I'll let the picture do the talking but I will say the tiny circular glitters are awesome.. and so are the red hexes.

I layered Melonball over Zoya Traci, and I think it was a very good match. I love the way it looks. Formula wise, it was thick, but the glitter spread well. The shiny pink glitters did start to curl on me though, I needed a coat of Gelous and two coats of SV to make them not stick out. I feel that is important to mention.

Melonball is exclusive to llarowe and you can find it at www.shop.llarowe.com.

*Just a side note, my bottle came kind of not full. Like pretty much full.. but not all the way. Kinda weird. Not used at all, the neck was completely clean.. I wonder if it was to avoid explosion during the summer months?

I'm home! + Hare Dig Day Dream

Finally. After seventeen hours of traveling I am cosy in my bed :) I have tons of nail mail to show you from my August haul but for now here is a swatch of on of the polishes I got!

This is Hare's Dog Day Dream. I love the name, it reminds me of "the dog days are over" :) and in this case it's true! September is upon us and I am wearing this to try and squeeze a little more summer out of 2012!

This polish is a gorgeous deep jewel toned pink jelly base (appears as a very pretty berry color on the nail after two coats). It's full of chunky pink shimmer, pink and red hex glitters and purple square glitters. It's incredibly pretty, shiny, & squishy, and VERY sparkly in the sun.

This is just two coats for opacity and it applied very nicely. No sinking glitter, no tacos, and no fishing. A very user friendly glitter polish:)

Please excuse the state of my nails and cuticles. My poor nails took quite a beating at work. I refuse to let that stop me from wearing pretty polish though! And I think Dog Day Dream looks pretty good on my nubs :)

Have an awesome day!
(and sorry for the cell phone pic!)

Lynnderella The Telltale Heart Swatch

Helllooooo!

First of all.. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT IS SEPTEMBER! WTF? Time is flying by with this job. Last I checked.. I'm pretty sure it was May. I hope the weather holds up so I can go to the beach at least ONCE when I get home!

Second of all.. speaking of home.. I go home on Thursday from work! Woohoo! I actually adore the camp I am working in so it is a little bitter sweet.. hopefully I will be back.

ON TO THE POLISH.

Today I am showing you Lynnderella The Telltale Heart from her Halloween Collection from 2011. Different sizes and shapes of Magenta/Fuchsia glitter with a chunky blue obvious shimmer. The base of mine is a little bit tinted magenta. I don't know if that is from bleeding glitter or if it was "intentional". 

My favourite part of the polish are the large square glitters and the blue shimmer.. looks cool with the magenta. This is one coat over black.

It is a very pretty polish but I don't wear it very often. I am thinking about swapping this one!
What do you think?

All That Glitters Ziggy Stardust :)

Hi!

This is what I added to OPI Melon of Troy from yesterday... Ziggy Stardust by All That Glitters! I got it from a blog sale and it is the perfect match for Melon of Troy. Its unique but subtle, which I really like. Its a sheerish pinky-orangey-peachy base with a peachy gold shimmer. Its got gold micro glitter, hexes, and bar glitter with some larger white hexes.

Shown here is two coats over OPI Melon Of Troy.

The glitter in my bottle had kind of settled to the bottom of the bottle slightly so I gave it a good shake and left it upside down for a couple of minutes before application. The gold glitters applied nicely, but I did have to fish slightly for the white hexes. They all spread nicely on the nail though and laid flat (even the bar glitter!).

I love this look. Like I said above.. its unique but still subtle. I think I will be wearing this one quite often :)

All That Glitters is on Etsy and I recommend "liking" her facebook page for updates about restocks. I'm not sure if she still makes this shade, but I hope she does as I really like it!