Flakie Explosion

Dual post day!  You may have read my earlier post on Butter London Knackered, but if you missed it, go check it out now!

This post is something I've had in the vault for quite a while now; I just found it and figured it should be posted!  Over Sally Hansen Black Out, I've layered two coats of Daring Digits Ice, followed by one coat of Finger Paints Motley.  

This is my first (and so far, only) Finger Paints polish, but I found it on clearance at Sally's and since it was a flakie I immediately snatched it up!

I'm really impressed with these polishes, and love the layered combination of the two together.  Topped with Seche Vite, can't remember how many coats. 

I LOVE matte flakies, but unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of this one matte.  I've got a couple more posts lined up for over the long weekend, so be on the lookout for those!  :)

Butter London Knackered

I have a quick swatch post today of Butter London Knackered.  For these pictures I layered 3 coats of Knackered over 3 coats of China Glaze Inner Beauty.  I think next time I'll layer it over a black creme so that the duochrome is more visible, but I did these on Monday night after my photo shoot so I was already wearing Inner Beauty.  It was pretty late when I did these, so my manicure job is annoyingly sub-standard for me.  I had some shrinkage, took some photos that don't do this polish any justice, and I even managed to badly dent two nails!  Anyways, I'll just leave you with the pictures. 

With flash to show the holo. 

New Bundle Monster Plates & My Sister's Birthday!

It was my sister's birthday yesterday, so I did her nails for her before we went out for dinner.  My 2012 Bundle Monster plates also arrived the other day, and like many others the design I was most excited for was the houndstooth print on BM-322.  There's pictures of my sister's nails as well as a picture of us together at the end of the post, so be sure to stick around to check those out! 

I did my own nails with a base of Picture Polish Tiffany, and stamped from BM-322 in Konad special black polish.  I haven't stamped in quite a while, so ignore all the little imperfections.  They looked great from arm's-length ;)

I did my sister's nails with a base of Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet and stamped in Konad special black polish with images from BM-304. 

Her thumbs are my favourite ;) 

Here's a picture of us before we went out for dinner!  My sister in on the left and she just turned 15 (she's a whole new level of hipster) and I'll be 17 in November! :) 

Do you have any favourite images from the new Bundle Monster plates?  Thanks for reading! :)

Stripey Water Marble

In my last post I said that I was bummed because I spent nearly 3 hours doing an awesome manicure, only to have to take it off that night because of a dance photo shoot where extravagant nails would have looked out of place.

So, today I present to you my second successful water marble!  You can see my first one here.  I wanted the marbling to look different from last time, so I followed this tutorial.  Mine didn't turn out nearly as perfect as hers, but I'm really happy with them!

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen White On, and did the marbling with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.  Topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

I'm super excited because my Bundle Monster 2012 plates arrived in the mail today!  I've only ever owned Konad plates and because of the price I only had 7 of them and had been feeling pretty uninspired to do any stamping.  When I got an email the Nail Polish Canada had the BM 2012 plates in stock, I went on a whim and ordered them! Since you get free Canadian shipping for orders over $25, I went ahead and stocked up on some stamping polishes too.  I LOVE ordering from Nail Polish Canada because they're located in the same city as me, so my orders consistently arrive the day after they've been shipped!  Anyways, that was more of a warning that you'll probably be seeing lots of stamping manicures around here soon :)

I also wanted to ask you all if you'd like me to write a post about my experience at ballet school over the summer and being away from home.  If you'd be interested to read a post about that, let me know and leave a comment! :)

China Glaze Inner Beauty

Just a super-quick swatch of China Glaze Inner Beauty today.  I'm kind of bummed because yesterday I spent almost 3 hours doing a super awesome manicure, but then I got a confirmation for a dance photo shoot  today .  Let's just say that my nails would have been a little distracting in the otherwise balletic photos. 

Anyways, I had to take it off (I did remember to get pictures first though, those to come soon!) and put back on the colour I wore for the entirety of last month at the "godforsaken place where they don't allow nail polish" (thanks for that one Kat)  :)

This is three coats of China Glaze Inner Beauty topped with one coat of Seche Vite.  (I have a tea bag fix-up on my middle finger if you're wondering...)

That's all I have time for right now.  I have to go to ballet class this morning and then the photo shoot this afternoon.  Have a great day!

Silver Stripes

Good morning!  If you read my blog with any sort of regularity, you'll know that I LOVE stripes.  Until now I had always just cut my own strips of tape, which was unpleasantly tedious and time-consuming.  I don't know why it's taken me so long to get some striping tape, but now that I have it I'm never looking back!

I got a 12-pack of striping tape from the Born Pretty Store.  Each roll holds a lot of tape, and even with my affinity for stripes I think it'll be a long time before I run out!  For this manicure I started with two coats of my brand-smackin'-new Butter London Big Smoke. (While I was away my mom got me three Butter Londons, and they are also my first, which makes me a wee bit excited.)  The formula on Big Smoke was absolutely flawless.  I topped that with one coat of Seche Vite before adding the stripes. 

I put on the stripes by cutting pieces of tape that were longer than my nail, placing them on, and then cutting them to length at the edges of my nails using nippers. I topped it with two more coats of Seche Vite and it was still a little bumpy, but nothing that bothered me.

The tape stripes lasted surprisingly well.  After the second full day of wear some of the edges started poking up, but I was able to make it three full days with near-perfect stripes!

You can use my coupon code below at checkout at the Born Pretty Store for 7% off your order.  They have a ton of great nail art supplies for really good prices, and free worldwide shipping! 

I also wanted to let you know that a couple days ago my blog passed 10,000 pageviews, and I have over 2000 followers on Instagram!  Woohoo!  Thank you guys so much for all your support!  :)


Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion. 

V-Gaps With A Twist (& Tutorial)

If you read the end of my last post, you'll know that I had a lot of polishes arrive at my house during my absence.  The most-anticipated was without question my first order from Llarowe.  I won a $50 gift certificate in a giveaway (you have no idea how much squealing occurred when I found out) so I placed an order for a couple of polishes to cross off my lemming list!  

Among these polishes were my first Picture Polishes, Violet Femme and Tiffany.  I couldn't wait long enough to try them both out separately, and luckily they look stunning together!  I have been wanting to try v-gaps for a while, but then I had the idea to leave a 'tip', if you will, in the base colour as well as the v-gap!  

 The base colour is two coats of Picture Polish Tiffany, and the purple is Picture Polish Violet Femme.  It's all topped with two coats of Seche Vite.

After the pictures I've made a little tutorial if any of you are curious and would like to re-create this look! 

Time for a tutorial!  I'd like to make it known that I'm in no way claiming that I'm the first to do this, (because somebody else probably has,) but I did pull this idea from my own brain! 

I think the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions just leave a comment!  I forgot to take pictures for top-coating and clean-up, so just pretend it's there. ;)

Guest Post: Lit From Within

Today I have for you a guest post that the lovely Nidia of Lit From Within has written for me!  It was meant to be posted while I was away, but due to my computer issues I haven't been able to post it until now.  Take it away, Nidia! :)

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Hi Globe and Nail readers!

I want to thank Emma for opening up her blog for guest posts, and wish her success at ballet school.  Maybe someday I’ll see her on my fave TV show – So You Think You Can Dance! J

My name is Nidia, and I run a little blog called Lit From Within.  I focus mostly on nails and nail art, with the occasional beauty product review.  I believe that all women should feel beautiful – whether they wear makeup or not.  Our beauty is Lit From Within.

I’m excited, and a little nervous, to show you the mani I wore yesterday.  You see, it started with Sinful Colors Zeus.  I hope that by the time this is posted, SC will own up to their mistake of taking bloggers’ photos as their own, and make things right.  In my happy world of blissful ignorance, we can just admire the polish for being a beautiful dusty purple with a nice pink shimmer.

When I saw this color, I knew I wanted to try it with one of my new indie glitters from Black Cat Lacquer,  Let Them Eat Cake.  I’d never seen a glitter so full of pastel colors before!  I love it.  It applied very nicely with the normal initial sweep of glitter and then some dabbing to fill in.

I really like the pastel glitter on the purple base, and I hope you do, too.  I think this glitter is wonderfully made, with the right balance of glitter to base, and with a mix of colors that does make me think of cupcake frosting.

I know to wish an actor luck you tell them to ‘break a leg’, but that doesn’t seem appropriate for a dancer… so, Emma, have fun, be safe, enjoy school!  Have a great day, everyone!

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I love this layering combination!  I don't own any Black Cat Lacquer, but I'm definitely eyeing Let Them Eat Cake; the pastel glitter is so pretty!  Be sure to check out Nidia's blog, Lit From Within.  This (finally) concludes my series of guest posts over the past month, so starting now you'll be stuck with little old me again for a while. ;) 

 I got a lot of polishes in the mail while I was away including an order from Llarowe, a giveaway prize, and my first Butter London polishes, so I've got lots of great new toys to play around with over the next little while.  Look forward to some beautiful polishes and some nail art over the next little while! :)

Daring Digits: Blueberry Square & Ice

Good morning!  Today I have for you a post that is long overdue on publishing due to me being away and subsequent computer problems, but I (finally) bring you two gorgeous polishes from Daring Digits! 

Blueberry Square is a glitter topper made of small matte white hexes and medium blue square glitter in a clear base.  The glitter in this one is pretty dense and I only needed one coat for good coverage.  No issues to report on the application here.  I had a really difficult time choosing what to layer this over, because it looked good over so many different polishes!  Here I've shown  one coat of Blueberry Square over one coat of Orly Snowcone. 

Next is Ice, which is a flakie topper that looks best over dark colours.  It is a multi-coloured flakie, but the colours are more pastel, making it unique in my collection!  The flakies were kind of sparse in this one so you can use one coat if you'd like a more subtle effect, but here I've used two easy coats of Ice over one coat of Sally Hansen Black Out.

And of course matte, because you know how much I love matte flakies. :)

You can but Daring Digits polishes on Etsy here, and keep an eye on their Facebook page.  There is such a huge collection of diverse polishes in store, so be sure to check it out because there's definitely something for everybody!  (Your wallets probably won't thank me for that.) 

I also wanted to let you guys know that about a week ago I was part of a guest blogger series over at Sweet Sugar Nails.  I did a "Best of You" post which you can view here.  While you're over there be sure to check out the rest of Gwenn's blog, she does some really amazing nail art!  Hope you all have a great day!  :)

Disclaimer: The polishes in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion. 

Pacific Blue & Lacey Lilac Gradient

I'm back!! :) I literally got home 2 hours ago after being away for a month and I'm already writing a post, haha.  This is a manicure that I did one weekend while I was away using two Sally Hansen polishes, a base of Lacey Lilac sponged with my recently acquired Pacific Blue.   Topped with two coats of Seche Vite, as always!

The photos are not as good quality as normal because I didn't have my normal setup, but I hope you'll forgive me this once. ;) 

I had a really good time at ballet school the past month, I felt like I learned a lot and I really enjoyed the teachers and all the friends I made, and I'm seriously considering that school's post-grad program for next year, so it's been an exciting time! 

As for my blog, I realize that over the past while my posts have been mostly consisting of swatches and reviews and have probably been quite boring to read, and I apologize for that.  I feel like I have been neglecting my blog but I've got more time now to get back to what I love doing and the reason I started this blog, nail art!  I hope you'll stick around with me over the next couple of weeks as I get back into the swing of things with my blog and posting regularly again! :)

Guest Post: -XOXO Alexis Leigh

Today I've got something special for you!  The lovely Alexis from XOXO Alexis Leigh was the first place I was ever a guest poster, and now she's here on my blog sharing something really special with us!  I'll hand it over to Alexis!  :)

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Hi everyone! My name's Alexis and today I'm super excited to be sharing some special nail art created just for you and Emma while she's away at ballet camp! Let me first just thank Emma; thanks so much for letting me run wild on your blog while you're away, I hope I didn't wreak too much havoc! :D Anywayyyyy, Emma didn't really give me any theme or rules for what she wanted so I just waited and waited for some sort of creative idea surge to pop into my brain. It didn't take too long to think of this design because hello Emma's a ballet dancer and also I love ballet (I only did it for a few years when I was younger but so many members of my family have done dance, specifically ballet as well.)! I hope you all like it; I usually am very critical of myself but I'm really happy with this design!

The colors aren't necessarily realistic but I thought they were very feminine and ballerina-esque. On all of my nails except for my ring finger I used a pale pink franken, 3 coats. On my ring finger I used Wet n' Wild - French White Creme as my base color, 2 coats. For the ballet dancer's tights I used OPI - Suzi & The Lifeguard and for the pointe shoes I used Revlon - Cheers. I used FWC for my white on the thumb nail design too. All of my nails were topped with SV, my ring and thumb had more coats than the rest although I forget how many.

Here on my thumb, I did the silhouette of a ballerina dancing.

Bonus picture! Here are the sketches I made in my inspiration/idea book for my blog! :D

I hope you guys enjoyed my guest post, I had so much fun planning, sketching, actually executing it, and then of course writing up the post for you! I really do love doing guest posts! Thanks again Emma, I hope you love my post as much as I loved yours you did for me a little while back! Time for me to go back home to my blog :( sad to leave you but I do love my home :)

- xoxo Alexis Leigh

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Isn't that just great?!?  I couldn't stop smiling when I saw what Alexis had put together for me, I love it so much!  I think I might have to try it when I get back, though it probably won't look as amazing.  Thank you so much Alexis!  :)

Quick note, I thought I'd let you all know that Im having problems with my computer refusing to connect to the internet, so a few posts that I have pictures for but have not yet written won't be making their way to the blog until I get that sorted out. :( I'm in my last week here at ballet school, so hopefully I'll be able to get my computer sorted out and get back to posting regularly very soon!  Thank you all for sticking with me through this hiatus! :)

Guest Post: Sincerely, Obsessed With Polish

Today I've got a guest post from Amanda of Sincerely, Obsessed With Polish.  You can also see her nails on her Tumblr, JnJnails.  I love her blog because she always does great manicures with dotting tools, and I love dots!  :) I'll hand it over to Amanda now!

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Hi, I am Amanda from Sincerely Obsessed with Polish. I want to first thank Emma for letting me do a guest post. I am obsessed with dots and using doting tools. So, of course I chose to do a dot manicure for this post. I was inspired by a towel for this mani, and I have to say that I LLOOVVEE this one. I could not stop staring at it. The colors went so well together. They were almost the exact colors of the towel. I wish I had a pic of the towel to show you. For now, the nails will have to do. 

I used Sinful Colors Paradise, Essence Just Rock It!, and Sinful Colors Innocent. I want to try this color combination again just in a different way. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!!

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Looks great, Amanda!  I'm always looking out for new ways to do dots, and you've got something lovely here.  It seems that towels nearly always look good when translated onto nails, doesn't it?  Isn't this a great summer manicure?  

Thanks again, Amanda!  :)

The Liebster Award!

I wasn't planning on having another post for at least a few days, but I've been tagged for the Liebster Award by three lovely bloggers in the past couple days!  Thank you so much to Elissa of Lissa's Polish Addiction, Tintin from The Colors of My Empress Nails, and Brenda of  No Naked Nails for tagging me! 

*EDIT* Thank you also to Arielle at Klutzy Hands Nails who also tagged me for this award! *EDIT*

Here's the official rules:

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.

4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.

5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs.

Here we go! 

11 Things About Me:

1. I have a sister who is (almost) two years younger than me and she is my best friend! :) <3

2. I went away to a full-time ballet boarding school alone in Washington, DC, for my grade 9 year.  

3. My favourite colour is a deep rich purple. 

4. My hair is slightly curly and reaches to my waist. 

5. I totally thought I was a Ravenclaw, but Pottermore sorted me into Gryffindor and now I'm a proud lion!

6. I'm almost done reading the Lord of the Rings series and think that it is the most flawlessly and thoroughly created world to ever come out of someone's imagination. 

7. I'd call my personal style Parisian chic with the occasional dose of almost-hipster.

8. I have blue eyes and I wear makeup every day.  I won't leave the house without it! 

9. I got a real leather jacket in dark purple for my 16th birthday and it's my favourite item of clothing! :)

10. I wear contact lenses every day, unless I'm not leaving the house in which case I don't bother to put them in because they aren't that bad.  I never wear my glasses. 

11. I LOVE food.  No question about that. 

Next is answering the questions of the tagger, and since I've been tagged three times I'll answer all of the questions from each blogger unless there are repeat questions!

Questions from The Colors of My Empress Nails:

1. What makes you decide to start a nail blog?

I was regularly doing my nails and taking pictures to post on Facebook and Instagram (@emmaclarem) and I was reading other nail blogs, so I decided to start my own! 2. Aside from nail art what hobbies you consider your favorite? 

My favourite hobby (though I don't think I can really call it a "hobby" at this point) is without a question dance.  I train full-time, focusing on classical ballet, and I hope to be a professional dancer after graduation! My other hobbies include doing my nails and blogging (obviously), cooking and baking, cake decorating, sewing, fashion designing, and obsessing over Harry Potter and Castle. 3. If you can have your own brand of nail polish, what would you name it and why?  

I have never given this any thought, as I think it's best to leave creating and frankening to the many talented polish makers out there.  If I did decide to start my own line, I would probably name it after my blog, Globe & Nail.  4. What is your favorite brand of nail polish so far? 

I don't think I could choose a favourite, but I definitely have more Essies than any other brand! 5. What is your favorite nail art of yours so far? (Please provide a photo) 

I couldn't choose a favourite, but anything with stripes is my favourite to wear.  Here's my favourite picture I've taken of my nails, though.  It's Deborah Lippmann Ray Of Light. Do yourself a favor and click to enlarge this one. 

6. What was your dream to be when you were a little kid?

To be a ballerina :)7. If you were a given a chance to change your name what would it be?

I don't think I'd change it, I'm quite happy as Emma and I can't imagine being called anything else! 8. What is your favorite color when wearing a polish? 

My favourite polish colour to wear, if I had to choose, would be a dark vampy purple. 9. How did you come up with your blog name?

There's a newspaper named The Globe & Mail, so I switched it up to be Globe & Nail for my blog :)10. What are the things that you can't last a day without?

If we're talking material possessions, then I'd have to say my phone, Burt's Bees lip balm, a ring my mom gave me and my Cross necklace that I never take off, and coffee. 11. Why do you do nail blogging? 

I blog about my nails to share what I love to do and hopefully inspire some others to be creative with their nails like I was once! :)

Questions from Lissa's Polish Addiction:

2. Where are you from? 

British Columbia, Canada :)

3. What are your five favourite nail polishes of all time? (Or more if you can't nail it down. ;))

In no particular order: Deborah Lippmann Ray Of Light, Essie Topless & Barefoot, OPI Black Cherry Chutney, Essie Mojito Madness, Nails Inc. Baker Street, and Orly Fowl Play.  (Sorry, I had to choose 6!) 

4. What is your favourite nail art design that you've done (or that you've seen on someone else, if you don't do nail art)? 

My favourite design in general would be anything with stripes :)

6. What are your favourite nail care products?

I'm not very particular about my nail care, the only product that I use faithfully is Barielle's Instant Liquid Nail Hardener, works miracles! 

7. Number one nail tip you'd like to share?

This isn't really a tip, but please clean up around your nails if you're going to post pictures of them.  Pet peeve of mine. 

8. How often do you do your nails?

Usually every other day, but I'll sometime go three or four days if I really love what I have on! 

9. Favourite base and top coat?

I use Barielle's Instant Liquid Nail Hardener as my base coat, and Seche Vite as a top coat. 

11. What nail trends do you love, and which do you hate?

I'm not a fan of crackles or the OPI Spotted, but I'm most definitely a huge supporter of the boom in indie polish lately! (That counts as a trend, right?) 

Questions from No Naked Nails:

1-How many polishes (including stripers) do you own? 

Last time I counted I had 122, but I've added at lease 10 since then! 

2-How much time each week do you spend working on your nails?

I do them bout every other day, but it can take me anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours (eek!) to do them. 

3-What or who got you started doing your nails?

I found the blog Chloe's Nails and that started the avalanche. 

5-What was your biggest polish haul of all time? (in quantity or value)

I think the most I've spent at one time is about $48. 

6-What has been your biggest life changing event?

Choosing to go away to a full-time ballet boarding school alone in Washington, DC for my grade 9 year. 

7-Words to live by or favorite quote.....

I don;t really have any words to live by or a favourite quote, but I try to learn something new every day, or do something a little bit better than I did the day before. 

8-Do you now or have you ever painted a pet's nails?

I've never had a pet with nails (I've only ever had a fish) so no. 

9-Do you ever go out with 'naked' nails?

Nope! The most naked I'll go is wearing only Barielle Instant Liquid Nail Hardener, and that only happens for performances and competitions. 

10-What was your biggest manicure fail?

Oh dear, there's been a couple times but I've removed all the evidence. 

11-What is your favorite 'unique'  invention of all time? 

This is an interesting question.  In terms of nail polish, I'm going to say that OPI Spotted has got to be the most unique invention I've ever seen, even though I'm not a huge fan of it. 

*EDIT* 
Questions from Klutzy Hands Nails:

1. What started your nail polish obsession? 

Chloe's Nails.  That is all. 

3. What mythical creature do you most identify with, and why?

Oh, creative question! I can't say I really identify with one, but I do love dragons and unicorns. 

5.  If you had to give up one of the five senses, which one would you give up and why?

Since we're speaking hypothetically, I'll say smell and pretend that not being able to smell wouldn't take away most of my ability to taste.  No more smelling polish fumes!

6. What song would you choose to sing at Karaoke?

Something from Hairspray, for sure. 

7. If you could jump into a movie or book, where would you go? 

HOGWARTS.  Who's with me?

8. What is your super power?

Flight at the moment, but I'll probably change my mind in not too long. 

9. What tattoo do you have or wish you could get?

I don't want a tattoo, but if I had to choose it would probably be something Celtic (I'm of mostly Irish heritage) or something in French because I love France and everything about French culture, I speak French fluently, and I wish I could live in Paris. 

10. What is your favorite tongue twister?

I've never really thought about this... I don't really have a favourite, but my favourite to say when I was younger was the whole Peter's pickled peppers thing.  You know the one. 

11.What supposedly cute thing do you find really creepy?

I'll come back and edit the post once I think of something for this one; you've got me stumped!

*EDIT*

Here are my 11 questions for the bloggers I'm tagging:

1. Why did you decide to start blogging, and how long ago did you start?
2. Favourite polish finish? (Creme, glitter, holo, shimmer, ect.?)
3. Ever had an embarrassing manicure failure?
4. What is your nail art/nail care pet peeve?
5. Biggest polish lemming?
6. What brand of polish do you own the most of?
7. What is your favourite movie?
8. Favourite book? 
9. Any hobbies besides nail art and blogging?
10. Three material possessions you couldn't live a day without?
11. Do you ever leave the house with naked nails?

Now for the blogs I'm tagging!
1. -XOXO Alexis Leigh
2. Polished Peripherals
3. Brummingbird
4. Polished Prisms
5. No Holos!
6. Lace: A Nail Art Blog
7. Not Too Polished
8. Cuti-CLUE-les
9. Lacquer Buzz
10. Hooked On Polish
11. The Nail Art Hobby