Matte & Gloss

(picture, Y U NO clear?)

Hello my lovely people!

Long time no see! It's THURSDAY!! You know what that means....

Just one more day 'til the weekend arrives! We're almost there, gang!!

You may have noticed that my posts have significantly decreased since school started...

Don't worry, you're not imagining things...to my surprise, school is quite time consuming!

We're going through the theory portion right now so there are a lot of reading, assignments, and tests...

I guess we can say I'm feeling a little overwhelmed...

All is well though, I believe that I will eventually find the balance between a full time job, school and blogging!

Moving on!!

Today, I have a matte and gloss combo mani to show you.

I used NYC's Matte Me Crazy top coat, Manhattan, and Rimmel London's Black Satin

...I also dotted on some Penny Talk from Essie...

(not shown in picture)

I was originally wanting to mimic the crocodile skin finish...

but it didn't turn out the way I envisioned it to be... I think if my glossy blobs were smaller it'd be better...

NEXT TIME!

For that reason, I decided to change up the design for the burgundy fingers.

I'm quite happy with them :)

This NYC mattifying top coat is probably the best one I've come across...other than the Butter London one of course...that top coat...I can't even......

Speaking of which, I can't wait until my Butter London order arrives!!

*excitement dance*

Anyway, that's all for me today! Hope you enjoy today's mani as much as I did!

Have a fantastic day, everyone!!

NOTD- Skittle IKAT Mani

Hello lovers! Today I am very excited to show you a mani I think I'll be sporting more often.

Neon Skittle IKATs!

It looks complicated but thanks to the power of the interwebs, there are plenty of amazing tutorials available.

The one I saw was tweeted by Rie at Nails and Noms--> here

Somehow it's a lot simpler than I had imagined! YAY!!

So I took a quick look at it, and gave it my own spin. 

To achieve the above look, I used the following:

Base:

OPI- Skulls & Glossbones 

Skittle accents:

Color Club- Feelin Groovy, Wild Child, Electro Candy

China Glaze- Flying Dragon (!!)

NYC- Times Square

and black acrylic paint for the black outline.

I am really in love with this....

Like the Paisley print, there are so many variations of the print you can go with....so again!

The possibilities are endless 

I didn't have to do much clean up with this mani....which is always a plus!

I'll definitely be RAWKING this again sometime!

Have a wonderful day, my beautifuls!


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*sidenote*
I came upon Tutorial Tuesday on Briana's blog post!! What a coincident!!

NOTD- Free Hand Paisley

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Today I have a very detailed mani to show you- Paisley Print nails.
I've had this in my "idea book" for a while now...it's something I've always wanted to try but was too scared to...
But who knew! Here I am today writing a post about it! :D

What is paisley? You know those print you see on bandanas? That's it!

(source: google)

They also look like really pretty amoebas....haha

(source: google)

Anyhoo, this mani didn't take as long as I expected it to be...so that's always a bonus!

Here's what I used as base:

Color Club- Age of Aquarius

NYC- Times Square

I bought Times Square a long time ago and I'm so glad I finally got to use it.

I will definitely be doing more paisley inspired variations! The possibilities are endless with this print!

.

That's all for me today, hope you enjoyed this mani as much as I enjoyed doing it.

.

Have a FANTABULOUS weekend, my loves!!

NOTD- Lines Lines Lines

Happy hump day, lovers and friends!!

I have a short post for you today...lines, lines and more lines!

I used Color Club's Age of Aquarius, NYC's Peaches n' Cream, and Urban Outfitter's Bandeau.

Then I dabbed on the sparkly dots with Color Club's Under the Mistletoe

That is all!

Short and stubby.

Two more days 'til the weekend!!

All Wrapped Up

Happy hump day, lovely people of the world!!

Today I have a summer mani for you.

For this mani, I used the following:

China Glaze- For Audrey

NYC- Peaches N' Cream

First, I wrapped the For Audrey filled claws with Peaches N' Cream

NYC polishes come with great brushes, they're perfect for drawing blunt lines like this!

This distinctive peachy creme colour is packed with sophisticated fun! 

It is the perfect colour for summer, in my opinion.

I've been having a heck of a time trying to draw thinner lines...then it dawned on me that maybe I should trim down my brush....gee it only took me forever to figure this out....

-___-

You can see the difference immediately between the two brushes!

Now I just have to work on drawing cleaner, and straighter lines.....YAY!!!!

Hope you enjoyed this mani as much as I did doing it!

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PS.

I was contacted by Nail Polish Canada to spread the word about their giveaway...and because sharing is caring, here it is! I'm sure you've seen this many-a-times already. But just in case you haven't :

From their press release:

The prize will go to whomever can show that their life will be most impacted by winning Shellac for life. Be it better, or worse. If you or a loved one is still stuck in a world of chips, smudges and wasting countless hours re-doing nails we urge you to take a stand.

Enter at http://www.nailpolishcanada.com/categories/cnd-shellac.html 

Grand prize will go to the best description of how winning a 25 years supply of Shellac will change their life.

Winner selected August 7, 2012.

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Have a wonderful day, lovers!

Thrifty Nifty

Ahh....Monday....My most favouritest day of the week....(not!)

It's been a while since I shared my cheap finds with you. So today is the day.

First up!

NYC's Matte me Crazy

I've been looking for a nice matte top coat for a while. I've tried: 

CND's "Super Matte" (DO NOT RECOMMEND!!)

Sephora/OPI's Matte Top Coat

and Butter London's Matte Finish.

Out of the three, Butter London was the best one...it delivered a perfect matte finish....but the thought of spending $24 on a bottle of polish made me want to cry a little. So I kept looking...

I came across this one in Rite Aid. Tried it on, and decided that it was going home with me.

This retails for $1.99 USD, I have yet to see it in drugstores in Canada.

I go absolutely gaga when it mattifies glitters, shimmers, and holos.

SO PRETTY!

So if you see this at your local drugstore, pick it up. You won't regret it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Next up,

Jordana's Quick Shine Topcoat and Extra Garlic Basecoat

If you're like me, waiting for polishes to dry is torture, I never am patient enough to let it dry completely. 

So needless to say, speed dry is important!

I was strolling around the cosmetic section in my local grocery store this weekend and found these babies.

The quick shine topcoat claims to dry within 60 seconds. 

Let me tell ya, it did not disappoint!!

As I tried on this top coat, I immediately associated the smell with Seche Vite.

That's when I knew I may have hit the jackpot...lol

Unfortunately, Seche Vite still contain harmful chemicals in their formula (Formaldehyde)

All Jordana polishes are TFF & DBP free.

 TFF & DBP Free: do not contain Toluene, Formaldehyde, or DBP – Dibutyl Phthalate

At the beauty supply store I go to, they have this section full of garlic base coats. 

I was super curious but decided against it.

This Garlic base coat goes on smoothly. Dries almost clear with perhaps just a tint of cloudiness.
As for the nail growth claim, I will have to update you on that since I just bought it two days ago.

...and no, it didn't smell like garlic...

BONUS!

I got these Jordana polishes for $1.99/ each

Hope you found these reviews helpful!

:) Have a great day, lovelies!

Love is in the airrrr

Happy Monday morning everybody!! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. 

This past Saturday, BF and I attended a surprise engagement party.

I originally was going to show up with my Laser Beam Nails...but I decided against it last minute.

Story of my life.

I used NYC's City Sweets collection in Peaches and Cream....(LOVE this colour)

XXI's Silver, and layered with Silver specks.

Why the two accent fingers, you ask?

.......well.......

I figured I'd be doing a lot of this on Saturday night:

(...and don't ask me why...my brain works in funny ways)

But not once did I do the RAWK STAR pose....not once....lol

Well there goes THAT idea...

There was a photographer there, and he took lots of pictures!! Will show later on if I spot my nails in them 

:)

Enjoy the rest of your day, my lovelies!!

<3

*EDIT*
I'm a little slow (because it's Monday, and we're going with this excuse)...
but I just realized that THIS POST is my 100th entry!!!!!


YEHEY!!!! 
*throws glitter in air like Mariah Carey*

Black & Gold Randoms

Hello my loves, and we're back to regular programming!

 Thanks for putting up with my Canucks antics.

I don't know when or how, I became a sucker for random nail designs.

...and to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I would categorize today's mani under...

Easter egg hunt? 300? Tribal? I don't know.

This was inspired by the Tikipali design by SUPA NAILS.

After freaking out over this design yesterday...I decided to build from what she had.

(source: Tikipali by Supa Nails)

I know...the design on mine is no where even close to the detail she had on hers...

But I'm really digging the orange accent nail... oh and this just in...I NEED BIGGER NAILS!

So for this mani, I used the following:

Sally Hansen- Guilty Pleasure

Wet n' Wild- Black Creme

NYC- Times Square

and a black nail art pen from Sally Hansen

(I'm not really happy with the way this goes on existing polishes....I think this'll be the last time I use it for nail art)

Here's a closer look at each finger.

Black and gold (and orange) go SO WELL together...don't you think?

Anyhoo, that's it for me today!

Hope you enjoyed today's mani!! 

Vacation Nails: Instant Galaxy

Good morning friends! 

TODAY IS MY FAKE FRIDAY!

You might not know this, but I'm going to a place FAH FAH away... (well not really)

BEHOLD! My vacation nails!!

When I'm on vacation, the last thing I want to worry about is breaking a nail.

So the first thing I did was cut them. (PS- wow, I have child size nails)

The next thing is....I need something that'll last. 

So I went with the following combination:

Zoya's Cynthia, and NYC's Starry Silver Glitter

Okay, can we talk about Cynthia for a second?

 SAO. PRETTY.

It looks like black...but it's actually a dark teal....and it's SOOO SHINY!!

I mentioned in my other post that I bought the NYC polish at Rite Aid for 99 cts!

This polish is packed with awesome glittery goodness...

Look at the glitters!!

Okay, so yes. This is my vacation nails.

It looks like a galaxy mani...without all the work lol

So that's it for the next week and a half guys!

I'll report back if these last throughout my vacation! :)

See you when I get back, lovers!

<3

Do you do your nails when you're on vacation?

Shine and Shimmery Splendid

I can show you the world....

 Ahhh....that was beautiful...I must say, Aladdin is my all time fave.
Good day, my loves!

Today we have a very random and simple design: