Holiday Stripes

November 30, 2015

One of the holiday-esque manis I promised from a few weeks ago. This one is really subtle, but sparkly, which I think works since this time of year is so darn sparkly with all the lights, and decorated trees.

Please excuse how dry my skin is, I've been having a hard time protecting my hands lately.

Polishes Used:

China Glaze: "Hey Sailor!"
Julie G.: "My Private Palace"

Diva Nails

Did this lovely set on a wonderful lady last week. She wanted sparkling red tips for her cruise. We used her own polishes, I didn't make a note of the name of each, but a true red polish was used as a base for the chevron tip, then they were coated with a chunky glitter in matching red. We topped it off with a nice black stripe to make the red really pop.

Hopefully her manicure is still sparkling bright.

Planchette

Originally I had planned a blood moon mani for this last week of October. Although, every attempt it fought me, so next year perhaps.

So instead I bring you a blingy planchette (you know the little pointing device for Ouija boards).

I hope you all have a safe, happy and positively frightening Halloween!

See you next week with some Christmas themes.

Colours used:

"Howl You Doin'" China Glaze
"Black Out" Sally Hansen

Ghoulish Ghosts

October 12th, 2015

Some glow in the dark ghosties. This one was easy and fast.

Colours:

O.P.I. "Stranger Tides"
Sally Hansen "Black Out"
China Glaze "Something's Brewing"

Just Batty

Another Halloween one! Pink and blue skies filled with bats!

Honesty I think bats are adorable with their little turned up noses, but I get how some people find them frightening.

I started the bats using some bundle monster plates but the polish I used refused to transfer well so I ended up just painting them over.

Colours:

"First Mate" by China Glaze
"Va Va Voom" by Orly

Candy Corn

It's finally October! It's time for Halloween manicures!

Sept/28/2015

This year we're starting off with something hopefully everyone recognizes; Candy Corn!

I originally thought this was going to be quick and easy but it turned into something much more painstaking. I'm quite out of practise, so it took a lot longer and my lines aren't nearly as nice as they could be.
When I first picked up this colour it looked like the perfect orange creme, although once I got it out of the bottle onto my nails I learned how much of a neon it really was. It is a really bright shade, I was not prepared for how bright it is. I found it also went on a bit streaky (as neons tend to), even after three coats, that was a little frustrating. But, it is a very pretty shade of orange.

Also my nail on my middle finger broke really close to the nail bed, which is why it's much shorter than the rest. It also broke in a really strange way, the under layer (can I call it that?) of the free edge is what broke but it's attached to the skin firmly so removing it would be unwise. The top layer is fine though. I guess I just have to let it grow out.
Anyway, I have a few manicures planned for this month, stay tuned for more Halloween-y goodness.

Colours:

"Lady and the Vamp" China Glaze (Halloween 2015 Collection)

End of Summer

September 06, 2015

Palm trees and leave on a sunset gradient background. Fall is fast approaching despite having a horrible muggy heatwave here, this is my ode to the last days of summer of 2015.

Colours used:

Essie "Blanc"
China Glaze "Solar Power"
Orly "Va Va Voom"
Sation "Miss Emo Shun All"

Spring Floral

This was originally done the first week of September 2013.

I know it's not even close to spring, but I figured I should post this one now, since we could all do with something bright, cheerful and flowery. I don't know about you but I'm sick of all the snow.

Flowers are handpainted, they were pretty easy, just very time consuming.

Colours:

"Pastel Yellow" by Kleancolor
"Matte Top Coat" by Me (add cornstarch to clear top coat)

Valentine's Day Design #2

As the title states, this is the second design I have for Valentine's Day 2015. More of a mix n' match this time around.

Colours used:

"Sheer Pink" by Kleancolor
"Love is in the Air" by Kleancolor

"Don't Touch My Tutu!" by O.P.I.

Valentine's Design #1

It's been quite a while, over a year since I last posted.

Here's a Valentine's themed design for you guys, it's fairly simple.

I apologize for my absense, I was going through a lot of stuff after I lost my job back in 2013, and I hadn't even been painting my nails, until just recently, but now I'm trying to get back into updating this blog at least once a week.

So for this design I used needle-dragging for the mostly pink nails, only one of which turned out to look like hearts (apparently I'm very rusty), and a simple pink watermarble for my ring and thumb nails as an accent.

Colours used:

"Punk Pink 165" by Sally Hansen

"Cotton Candy" by Julie G.
"Blanc" by Essie (the first and only Essie polish I own)

Howlite

These were a lot of work, but well worth it. They are not close visually to the reference I used but I love them regardless. Howlite, or as some may know it "White turquoise" is a really beautiful stone.

Matted Garden

I forgot to post these for you all last Monday.

August/04/2013

 As of late, my life has been getting increasingly hectic, much to my dismay. It seems as though every single weekend this summer has been consumed by stupid parties (those who know me personally know I'm no social butterfly, and crowds/people in general stress me out to no end). So as a result I have not had much time to think of designs, or even carry them out.

Luckily though, these turned out fast and simple enough to do. The roses are handpainted with red acrylic paint. The base colour I used was "Smoke and Ashes" by China Glaze, the shimmer in it does not show up because it's been mattified via China Glaze "Matte Magic".

I hope you all have a lovely week. Also to the Canadians who follow me, the CNE is opening this coming Friday!

Minty Floral

Sorry about my disappearance last Monday. It was just one of those really bad nail art days where nothing

worked at all.

This design though, has been sitting in my sketchbook since February just waiting to be brought to

fruition. I hope you enjoy it.

July/28/2013

The base used for these was Julie G's "Gelato in Venice" a really nice mint green. I sponged some darker green before putting in the roses.

The roses are also that one-stroke type of painting technique. It actually turned out well this time.

The thumb rose is my favourite.

Have a good week!

Butterflies

I wish I had more butterfly stickers.

July/14/2013

The base I used is "Steady as She Rose" by OPI. The butterflies I purchased from the Born Pretty Store. They are actually water decals, and at first I wondered if they would actually adhere to nail polish, but they worked beautifully. I just wish I had more.

Soft Water-less Marble

I find it so weird trying to type on my laptop since my work computer is completely different.

Also, it sucks that I missed last week, both LGBTQ pride AND Canada Day. I didn't get a chance to since my new furbaby wanted to play with my brushes.

Here's a simple and easy one:

July/07/2013

A super easy water-less marble, better known as "needle-dragging" except I used a brush in place of a needle.

I used "You Callin' Me a Lyre" by OPI as a base, with "Fairy Dust" (China Glaze), "Disco Ball" (Sally Hansen) and "French White Creme" (Wet n' Wild) for this.

Watercolour and Roses

I really wanted a floral, specifically cute little roses this week.

June/16/2013 to June/22/2013

The watercolour nails look like my bedspread hahah. I did those by using acetone to water down the polishes and that's how they made that blended look. I did roses on my thumb and ring finger, although it would've looked nicer if I went blue and purple flowers as opposed to pink and yellow.

On a side note, I cut into my middle finger with a butcher's knife last week while trying to chop up some stuff, so you won't be seeing that finger in my posts for a while until it has healed up.

Colours used:

"Don't Touch My Tutu" O.P.I

"Posh Plum" Sally Hansen

"Va Va Voom" Orly

"Blue Sparrow(Neon)" China Glaze
"Turned up Turquoise (Neon)" China Glaze

And some silver holo glitter bought at a local craft store.

Rose Among Thorns

Really simple for this week.

June/09/2013 to June/15/2013

The colours used were "Rose Among Thorns (Neon)" and "Tempt Carnation" by China Glaze. The stripes were done using striping tape and I then added some gold studs I got from the BornPrettyStore. 

Water Decals

I think it was last year, but I bought a set of 20 different water decal full nail strips, and here's one of them:

June/01/2013

This weekend was really busy so I needed to do something really fast, and these water decals are good for those days. It took me about 20 minutes to get these all done, they are a little tricky to work with though.

Have a good week!

Cotton Candy

This manicure reminds me a lot of the cotton candy clouds you get at fairs and such.

May/26/2013 to May/31/2013

 So a did a simple ombre using "Tickled Pink" by Wet n' Wild and "Pastel Blue" from Kleancolor. I topped it off with Kleancolor's Aurora because it's just too pretty not to use on these pastel manicures.

Matte Leopard

The base colour I used is a frankenpolish, I combined Orly's "Coffee Break" with "Fois Gras" by China Glaze and some white polish to get a grey-ish taupe colour. I topped it with some pale gold paint and added the leopard spots. I went with a matte top coat this time instead of a glossy one because I wanted to test it's staying power.