$weetcheeks Polish: Eric & Jetta

If you missed yesterday's post announcing the winner of my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway, go check it out now!  Today I've got two cool polishes to show you today from a relatively new indie brand, $weetcheeks Polish.  

Read on after the jump for more photos and a full review!  :)

And the winners are...

The winners of my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway are...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to you both!!  I have emailed both winners; if I do not get a response within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and for WingDust Collections and Llarowe for donating the prizes!  Hooray for a successful giveaway!! :D

Globe & Nail Turns 1 Today!

 Late last night after a swatch-a-thon, I couldn't decide what to do on my nails.  I knew my giveaway was closing and all that stuff (two winners will be announced in another post later today), but I just wasn't thinking straight.  As I decided to just slap on a plain creme and go to sleep, it hit me that today is my 1-year blogiversary!  How silly of me to almost forget!!

In wake of my revelation, I had a quick peek at my very first blog post ever, and decided to re-create that mani for this special day.  You can see my original post here, which I am (surprisingly) not too ashamed of, haha! :P

I stuck with the same colour scheme as before, but used different polishes.  I started with two coats of LaCC 1972 (lilac) then top coated and let it dry.  Next, I taped off the purple part using the jagged side of the tape (where you tear it) instead of the straight edge like normal, to get a cute zig-zag line.  

I repeated these steps with LaCC 1968 (green) and piCture pOlish Fairy Floss (pink), and topped it off with more Seche Vite to complete the look.  

I still like this look, but after a year of doing my nails nearly every day and figuring out my likes and dislikes, it's not necessarily something I would enjoy wearing as much anymore.  It's still a super cute spring look, though!

Here's a photo from my original post, just for comparison.  I think my major improvements over the past year are definitely my photography (LOVE my new camera), clean-up, freehand nail art (which this obviously doesn't showccase) and my cuticle care.  Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter is a miracle-worker. 

And here's a quick collage with bottle shots of all three polishes I used this time around. 

I'm so grateful for everything this year of blogging has brought me; I've made lots of friends who are just as crazy about nail polish as I am, and I've discovered more about myself as well.  I have learned some valuable business and marketing skills, as well as teaching myself about DSLR photography and learning to use photoshop.  I've dug through piles of nail polish at Winners to find the best deals, and pushed myself creatively to come up with new and exciting nail art.  The list goes on and on!

Overall, this year has been an invaluable experience in shaping who I will become in the next few years, with me graduating high school in a couple months.  None of it would have been possible without all of the encouragement and positive feedback from my friends, family, and of course my readers, and for that I am so grateful to you all.  Here's to another year of polished nails!!  :D

Giveaway Reminder!

Hey guys!  Just a quick reminder that my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway closes in three hours, and two winners will be announced tomorrow.  You can see the two prizes below, and go to this post to enter in the Rafflecopter widget.  The giveaway is open to Canadian and Continental US mailing addresses, so go enter if you haven't already!!  :)

Turquoise Tips

I never wear french tip manis, but suddenly one night last week I got the urge to do one.  I just can't bring myself to wear a normal french mani (makes me feel like a Barbie) so I went with a bit of a different look; here's the result!  

I started off with a base of LaCC 1992; once that was dry I taped off the tips and added LaCC 1977.  Topped it all off with two coats of LaCC 2013 top coat for a smooth finish. 

Even though the awesome colour combination helped a bit, I still felt really out of my element wearing french tips.   I guess it's just not my thing!

Is this fun spring-y look something you'd wear?  Are you like me with some particular styles of nail art, where you just don't feel very "you" wearing them?  :P  I'm curious, leave a comment!  :)

The Only Thing Better Than Hairspray...

Actually, there are lots of things better than hairspray.  As a dancer, I have spent way too much time basking in the suffocating chemical stench of hairspray in change-rooms backstage at shows and competitions.

However, when it comes to the musical, you gotta love it!  I discovered it with the release of the 2007 movie adaptation, and my friends and I were so obsessed with it.  Looking back, it was pretty hilarious how much we were in love with that movie, but hey, we were in grade 7.

Of course, I still know every word of every song, and I'll always go back and re-watch that movie.  Plus, who can resist a little James Marsden?  ;)

Anyways, the occasion that prompted this nail art was a local school's production of Hairspray, which I went to see last night.  I know a few people in it (it's not my school, because I'm cool and do school online) so I went with a few friends from dance.   

For this look, I started each nail with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. When that was dry, I taped off half of each nail and added the following colours, thumb to pinky: LaCC 1963 (so close! - the story is set in 1962), piCture pOlish Fairy Floss, LaCC 1977, LaCC 1972, and LaCC 1963 again.  the letters were all done in acrylic paints.  I added two coats of LaCC 2013 top coat for a smooth finish.  

So, are you a fellow Hairspray fan?  Have you seen a production of the musical or the movie?  :D

Cadillacquer: Such Is Life Collection

You may remember that last month I posted about a relatively new indie brand from Switzerland, Cadillacquer.  Madeleine's brand is quickly growing, and today I've got her third collection to show you.  This is another collection of delicious glitter-filled crellies, which is called Such Is Life.  

Read on for more photos and a full review after the jump!  :)

piCture pOlish: Dorothy

Happy Saturday!  I'm going to see The Croods tonight, and now that you're all well aware of my love for sloths, you should understand my excitement, haha!  :)

Today I have yet another beautiful piCture pOlish shade to share with you: Dorothy!  This lovely polish is a red jelly base packed with silver and red microglitter.  

This polish is yet another tribute to the fantastic formulas of piCture pOlish: you're seeing only one coat of Dorothy, no top coat! It was a tad thicker than some others I've tried, but the fact that it's a one-coater more than makes up for it!  

I love this, it's totally perfect for Dorothy's ruby red shoes.  A little out-of-season right now perhaps, I think this would be a great Christmas polish!   

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list. 

How do you like Dorothy?  Do you agree that this lovely glittering red fits the inspiration perfectly?  :)

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

Paintball Splatter

The other night I was stuck for a quick nail art idea, when my friend suggested paint-splatter nails (he's some paintball-crazy guy).  I figured it would be quick enough, and got to work.  

The end result only lasted overnight, until I re-did them before leaving for school the next day.  Nail art fail?  Possibly.  

I didn't absolutely hate these, since I actually contemplated leaving them on, except that my right hand had WAY too much yellow paint on it, so it looked kind of... gross.  No photo; apologies.

To get this look, I started with a base of A England Jane Eyre, and waited to it to be almost completely dry.  Next, I took an old toothbrush and dipped the ends of the bristles in acrylic paint; then I pulled back the bristles with my thumb,  let go, and just kind of let the polish fling itself onto the nail.  Did that make any sense at all? 

I repeated this process with acrylic paints in nude, red, brown, yellow, and more nude.  

Now for the best part!  Make sure to topcoat before cleaning up.  Sit around and wait for that to dry, with your nails and finger still all splattered.  Once they're dry, just go wash your hands with soap and water, and scrub around your nails with a nail brush.  Ta-da, all the mess is gone!  Ah, the wonders of water-soluble acrylic paint.  Practically-cleanup-free manicures FTW. 

So do you think this is one big mess of a nail fail?  Or do you somehow manage to see the abstract art in it all?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

Color Club: Beyond

This morning I've got a quick swatch of a beautiful polish!  Color Club Beyond is a black linear holographic polish from the Halo Hues Collection.

I used two coats for full opacity, no issues with the formula.  I top coated with Seche Vite, and it didn't noticeably dull the holo. Yay!

I wasn't really on the hunt for these polishes like a lot of others were, since I'm not a huge holo fan in general.  This was the only polish that caught my eye in other people's blog posts, so when I saw it on sale at Winners (the last bottle, too!) I decided to pick it up.  

Boy, am I glad I did!  It's so deep and mysterious in most lighting, but when the light hits it just right, beautiful rainbows appear!  :D  This actually reminds me of unicorn blood from Harry Potter, anyone else?

No?  I know, I'm weird.

I'm not sure where these polishes are readily available, seeing as I just happened upon mine.  However, I know that you can order the Halo Hues Collection (and many other collections) through Llarowe.  

I know I'm a little late to the party with this, so which Halo Hues seem to be the general favourites?  Have you picked up any yet?  :) 

Globe & Nail Meets LaCC

I've kind of been an awful blogger, but that's what I get with no concrete blogging schedule... I haven't posted since Thursday.  Oops.  At least I have one pretty awesome excuse among all the kerfuffle of this weekend!  

On Saturday afternoon, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Farima Hakkak, the founder and creative director of La Couleur Couture.  You may remember that I swatched and reviewed her whole first collection here, and we were so surprised when we found out we were in the same city!  

Of course I had to do my nails using her polishes for the occasion!  In my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway post, one of the extra entries is letting me know what you'd like to see more of on my blog; quite a few of you said water marbling (which I have done previously) but I hadn't done one in quite a while.  I decided to give it another go for the occasion.  :)

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then water-marbled in LaCC 1950 (pink) and 2011 (yellow).  They worked perfectly for marbling, and I think it came out pretty well!  

I topped the look off with some Seche Vite.  I would have used LaCC's fabulous 2013 top coat, but my bottle ran out.  Luckily, Farima very kindly gave me another one when me met!

I got a sneak-peek of a couple polishes she's working on for her fall/winter collection, and they are absolutely stunning!!  I'm warning you now, prepare your wallets.  Seriously.  GORGEOUS. 

Also... surprise!! Farima is so generous, along with donating polishes to so many good causes and organizations focusing on women helping women, she was so kind as to provide me with a few polishes for a giveaway!!  I know it's kind of cruel of me to announce it, but I'll set up the giveaway once my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway is over.  It's my first time using Rafflecopter, I don't want to further confuse things by having two going on at once!  Besides, I need to re-swatch most of the polishes before then: old camera pictures. *shudder*

For now, LaCC polishes are available directly through the LaCC website and through Llarowe, as well as at a few local salons.  She's working on getting her products into some pretty awesome retail stores too, but I can't say anything yet since things aren't concrete.  ;)  I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet this amazing woman, and rest assured I'll keep you up to date with news on her much-anticipated (by me) Fall/Winter collection!  :D

Darling Diva Polish: Back In Black Collection

I know that Tuesday's post is hard to follow, but I wanted to thank you all so much for the overwhelmingly positive reactions.  I was honestly kind of afraid that you would all think I was some weirdo, and I'm glad it turned out that most of you are all weirdos with me!  :P

On to today's post, I've got the Darling Diva Polish Back In Black Collection to show you!  This collection consists of six polishes all in black jelly bases: three with chunkier glitter, and three with colour-shifting microglitter.  

More photos and full review after the jump!  :)

Polish Days: 7 Deadly Sins

I've been part of the Polish Days group for a few months now, but this is actually the first time I've ever participated.  Those who know me well will know that this mani was bound to happen eventually.  When the monthly email with the Polish Days theme came around, I knew I had found the right time.

The theme this month is the 7 Deadly Sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.  What did I do, you ask? 

Sloth. Well, sloths.  Yes, I drew sloths on my nails.  I freaking LOVE sloths.  They're so awesome.  Since this post is extremely picture (and gif) heavy, I'll put the rest after the jump.  And trust me, you're going to want to take a look. 

piCture pOlish: Twinkle

There's no new Castle episode tonight, and therefore no Castle Mani Monday post.  I do, however, have another beautiful piCture pOlish shade to show you!!  Take a look.  :)

This is piCture pOlish Twinkle, a cool-toned pinkish-lilac with a very subtle silver shimmer.  Formula was great as usual with this brand; it was almost a one-coater but I used two to avoid any patchiness in the photos.  Topped with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat for a shiny finish! 

I really like this polish, even though these cool-toned pinks/purples don't tend to look very good on my skin tone.  Still a super pretty polish, regardless!! 

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list. 

How do you like this polish?  I think it's perfect for spring (even though the weather is still winter here), but is it something you'd wear in the coming months?  :)

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

Striped Birthday Suit

Sorry, I'm awful at making titles for posts, hahaha!  It's relevant though, I promise!  Today's look is a simple double-accent nail mani; I'm kind of 'meh' about this one, but figured I'd post it anyways in hopes that maybe some of you will like it better.  

I started with a base of Essie Topless and Barefoot on my accent nails.  While that was drying, I applied three easy coats of CrowsToes Birthday Suit on most of my other nails. This shimmery nude is part of the new CrowsToes springTHIS collection, I'm almost done swatching and will have a full-collection review post up soon!  :)

On my right hand, I also have two accent nails that tie in with the colour scheme of the stripes.  My index finger is LaCC 1963, a light but bright coral, and my middle finger is a soft and pretty lilac, LaCC 1972.  

Once the base on my accent nails were dry, I applied the striped water decals from the Born Pretty Store.  They were surprisingly easy to apply, seeing as it was my first time using water decals.  They got slightly messed up at the tips, but that was due to my own clumsiness where I bumped them on my camera.  Luckily it's mostly covered by the glare on the nail in my photos, haha! 

As I said before, I'm not quite feeling this look.  I don't dislike it, but I'm not really a huge fan of it either.  I'll definitely be using the water decals as accent nails again though; I quite like them, despite the fact that they may look like stripey pyjamas!  :P

Spotty Dottie Pink Gradient

I've finally been starting to get into wearing lighter polishes for spring.  I'm more of a rich and vampy polish person, but I forced myself to dip a toe outside my comfort zone and made this cute spring-y pink mani!

I started with three thin coats of LaCC 1957, the lighter pink.  Next, I sponged on a gradient in LaCC 1950, which I went over twice to get the second colour more saturated on the nail.  Finally, I added a thick sponged coat of All That Glitters Spotty Dottie Light, and topped it all with two coats of Seche Vite.  

This look is super easy to re-create, and there's so many possibilities with what colours you use for the gradient and which glitter topper to add!  Even though I'm not a pink-polish girl at all, I think this mani was pretty cute; I got a lot of compliments on it from my friends!  :)

piCture polish: Monroe

It's been a while (as in old-camera 'a while' *cringe*) since I've posted any piCture pOlish swatches, but boy am I making up for it today with this stunner!  You're in for a treat, but don't blame me for any damage to your keyboard due to drool.  That blame is all on piCture pOlish, for creating this beauty.

Behold the magic that is piCture pOlish Monroe.  

Typical flawless piCture pOlish formula, as per usual.  Two dreamy coats, one coat of Seche Vite.  Apparently I forgot to take pictures of this without the studs, sorry!  

I'm a devout viewer of the tv series Smash, which makes this polish even better.  The (scripted) show is centered around the making of a Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe.  Fabulous, catchy original Broadway songs and musical numbers, paired along the inevitable drama and comedy of the rehearsal studio makes this a must-watch for me every week! 

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list. 

Are you as in love with Monroe as I am?  The deep red with rainbow flashes will certainly be a go-to for me whenever I'm in need of a quick but beautiful mani!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

Coffee Skittlette

If you missed my post earlier this morning, go enter my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway! 

Today's my first day back to regular school and dance after my trip to Europe and spring break; it's been really nice, but time to get back to regular life!  Today I've got some random skittlette nail art that I did sometime last week; I really like the nail art in neutral colours!  :)

My index finger is A England Jane Eyre with white acrylic paint.  My ring finger is black acrylic paint over Essie Gym Dandy, which I picked up last week while I was waiting for my mom in the dentist.  She was in there for over 2 hours and there's only so long one can sit in Starbucks alone, so buying nail polish was bound to happen. 

The rest of my nails are gradients with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! and Essie Gym Dandy, with Born Pretty Store black rhinestones.  The whole look (especially the gradients) were looking very coffee-ish to me, so on my right thumb I did a watermarble with the same two polishes to look like the pretty foamy swirls you get in the top of your coffee!

I wasn't so sure about this look when I first did it, but it grew on me and I ended up wearing it for almost three days!  I was pretty sad when I had to take it off to swatch some stuff.  :P

Posting probably won't be quite a frequent for the next few months until the school year is over.  I'm graduating this year, so it's pretty important that I stay on top of my school work.  On top of that, we're charging head-first into rehearsals for multiple shows, and I've still got to try to keep up with the blogging!  I'll  still post as often as I can (hopefully at least 3-4 times per week); I hope you all understand!  :)