A England Crown of Thistles

When swatches of the A England Elizabeth & Mary collection started popping up, I really wanted the entire collection, since all the polishes are so unique and stunning as I've come to expect from that brand.  Unfortunately I couldn't afford the entire collection, but there was one polish I knew I had to have: Crown of Thistles.  

This polish is the most amazingly vibrant rich orchid with a smooth holo, and it covered in one perfectly smooth coat.  I absolutely love this!  

Have you picked up any polishes from the newest A England Collection yet?  Did you fall for this beauty like I did?  :) 

Christmas Day Mani

Hello!  I hope that everyone who celebrated had a great Christmas!  My day was alright; it was my first year not being able to spend Christmas with my family, so it was a bit sad.  We did have a get-together with a few friends which was nice, but it just isn't the same as being at home.  However, those of you who follow me on IG (@emmaclarem) will know that I adopted my first-ever pet just over a week ago, which has definitely been keeping my spirits and excitement up.  I got a little 11-month-old boy tuxedo cat; he's such a cutie, and a total lap cat!  I love him to bits!  Anywho, let's get on to what you came here for - the nails!

I was a bit short on time (as always these days) so I decided to re-make my favourite Christmas mani from last year, with a couple little changes. 

My index and thumb started with a base of OPI Live and Let Die, and the rest have a base of Picture Polish Moscow.  My pinky got a coat of WingDust Collections Gilt-y Pleasure, while my thumb (forgot a picture - oops!) got two gold studs.  I added dots in Essie Good as Gold on my index finger, and then stamped with that same gold in the snowflake pattern from BM-323 on the remaining two nails.  All nails are topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.  

I really love the mix of patterns and finishes here; what do you think?  Do you have a favourite nail from this skittlette?  :)  

Winter Floral

Hello!  Just dropping in with a mani that I did a couple weeks ago, inspired by the pattern on one of my Fossil iPhone cases. 

I started off with a base of LaCC 1974, and then added the flowers in colours I had that best matched the original design.  The polishes I used for the dots are A England Crown of Thistles (purple, swatch coming soon), LaCC 1941 (red), LaCC 1966 (teal), and LaCC 1981 (nude). 

After painting the random dots after the pattern on my case, I decided to turn them into little abstract flowers.  To do that, I just used a dotting tool to add three little dots in Essie Good As Gold in the middle of each blob.  It's all topped off with a coat of LaCC 2013 top coat.  

Although I didn't have polishes to match al the colours to the case exactly, I was still pretty happy with how this turned out.  I got quite a few compliments on the little abstract flowers, and they were super quick to do as well!  What do you think?  :)

Yule Light Up My Life

Just a quick swatch post today with one of my favourite holiday looks to wear pre-December, since it's festive but doesn't absolutely scream Christmas.  Take a look!

This is one coat of Serum No.5 Yule Light Up My Life over one coat of OPI Live and Let Die.  Amazingly smooth and even application on the glitter (yay!), and it's topped with a coat of Seche Vite.  

This glow-in-the-dark glitter topper was part of last year's holiday trio set from Serum No.5, Lacquer Lust, and Polished by KPT, so unfortunately I believe it's no longer available.  Were you able to snatch up this beauty last year?  :)  It's definitely one of my favourite Christmas glitters! 

1941x1997 Watermarble

Good morning!  It was my 19th birthday yesterday, and even though I had to go to work all day for extra Nutcracker rehearsals, it was a pretty good day!  I was glad to at least have Saturday off though, because I got to do some early Christmas shopping and went to see Big Hero 6 with my boyfriend, which was such a funny movie.  My main birthday present from him will the new Pokemon Alpha Sapphire for 3DS, but that doesn't come out until this Friday so I've got that to look forward to!  :)

Anyways, today's post is just a watermarble mani that I did before leaving on tour in October.  I saw both of these beautiful LaCC polishes sitting side by side in my helmer, and knew that I had to put them together on my nails!

Not too much to explain here really.  The red, 1941, is from the core Fall/Winter line that was released in late 2013.  The light dusty periwinkle, 1997, was one of two new releases for Spring/Summer 2014.  Two easy coats of each for full coverage, and as always the LaCC polishes are fabulous to use for water marbling.  All nails are topped off with LaCC 2013 top coat. 

What do you think of this look?  :)

GOSH: Stardust & Million Stars

I've got an overdue review of two beautiful polishes from Gosh to share with you today.  I was so sure that I'd posted these ages ago, but then I found them sitting in my drafts folder, uh-oh!  Well, better late than never.  

The two polishes I've got here are Million Stars and Stardust, both of which are part of the Stardust Collection.  All photos are in indirect natural light.

Million Stars is a beautiful blue-tinted gray polish, packed with shimmering flecks in mainly blue and purple. The flecked shimmer gives this polish such amazing depth, its beautiful!  

Here I'm wearing two coats of the polish, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.  The formula was on the thick side, but nothing a little patience couldn't take care of.  

Stardust is a clear base packed with lots of the same multi-coloured shimmer flakes that are in the Million Stars, but the colours in this one tend to lean more towards pearly white and pink.  

I chose to layer this shade, since it looked pretty sheer by itself and would probably take up to four coats for opacity.  I layered one perfect coat over Barry M Coconut, and then topped it all with Seche Vite.  This one was very difficult to photograph, and definitely looked even prettier in person!  

These and the rest of the Gosh Stardust Collection polishes are available in Shopper's Drug Mart across Canada, and retail for $7 each.  

Stardust is quite pretty, but Million Stars is definitely the clear favourite for me.  Which one do you prefer?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

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

Split Stitches

One of the first orders of business as soon as I got home on Monday was, of course, some nail art!   Having only worn an assortment of three different nude (read: stage-appropriate) polishes over the past three weeks, I was itching to get something exciting on my nails again!  

On the car ride home I was browsing IG for some inspiration, and decided to try this mani by Pshiiit on my own nails.  

I started with two coats of LVX Fantom on all nails.  Once that was dry, I taped off the middle sections and painted one side of each nail with Picture Polish Bonkers, and the other side with Picture Polish Camo.  The last step was to freehand on the lines, for which I used black acrylic paint.  The whole look is topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.    

The best part about these is that the lines don't have to look super neat, so even though the finished look appears to have quite a bit of time invested in it, this was actually a pretty quick mani to do! :)

Girly Bits: Push It

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted!  Time really flies when you're busy - I'm just on the tail end of a 3-week tour performing all over Eastern Canada, and it's been great!

I'm going to try to clear out my drafts folder a bit over the next couple weeks, so here's a gorgeous polish from Girly Bits that I wore in the summer but haven't shared with you yet.  Take a look at Push It!

Push It is the silver sister to The Power of Love, which I posted about here.   This polish is a silver holo, with silver and copper glitters mixed in.  The mix of the glitters in the holo base gives this polish some awesome visual texture, and you get very different looks depending on the lighting.  

Two coats of this polish give perfect coverage, and I've topped it with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat.  The first photo is in direct sunlight to show the holo (which is stronger in real life,) and the second photo is in indirect natural light, so you can see the glitters better. 

This polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.  You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with new releases.  

It's time for me to sign off for now - I've got another show tonight and will be heading to the theatre soon!  In the mean time, what do you think of this polish?  Are you a fan of holos with glitters mixed in?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

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

Vegan Cuts Nail Box: Review

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had any time to post on the blog!  Busy with good stuff though, mostly working and performing, which is great because I'm absolutely loving my new job!  I've also been in the process of moving into an apartment with a couple friends over the past few days, so I may not be posting very often for a bit until we get wifi set up there.

Anywho, onto today's feature!  I've got a pretty awesome bunch of products to show you today, all from the Vegan Cuts Nail Box.  All of these products are vegan, 5-free, and cruelty-free.  This is quite a lengthy post, so I'll put it all below the jump.

Photo from Vegan Cuts

Click to read on!

Quo by Orly: Fall 2014 Collection

Good morning!  I've got a busy and exciting week ahead, as we go into tech and dress rehearsals for our first show of the season this weekend.  Today I've got five of the six new releases from Quo by Orly for Fall 2014, and they're all beautiful.  Fall is usually my favourite season for polish releases, and these are no disappointment! 

Read on for the full review.

Pastel Leopard

Today's post is all thanks to a little cleaning of Emma's draft folder!  I believe I did this mani sometime around Easter, but it never got on the blog for whatever reason.  Now that fall is lurking, I figured I better post all the remaining light and bright manis before the colder weather and darker polishes settle upon us.  

I believe the bases of this mani were (from index to pinky) Picture Polish Tiffany, LaCC 2011, Picture Polish Fairy Floss, and LVX Mynt.  I think the silver is OPI This Gown Needs a Crown, and the white is most likely LVX Fantom.  

What do you think of this pastel leopard print?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

Girly Bits: Darkly Dreaming

Good morning!  I've been hard at work with the ballet company on staging out production of Cinderella, which begins touring and performances next weekend, how crazy!  We're going to take it all across Canada and into a lot of smaller communities, so if you're perhaps interested you can see our schedule of performances and cities here.   

Anyway, today I've got a real beauty to share with you, which is Girly Bits Darkly Dreaming.   This polish is a collaboration shade with The PolishAholic, and you can read more about her inspiration for the shade here. 

This is a dark green jelly packed with beautiful copper shimmer, which unfortunately didn't photograph as amazingly as it looked in real life.  This polish is essentially a green version of the well-loved Cu Blue, and I'm definitely a huge fan.  Unfortunately I was a terrible person and didn't take swatch notes of this one, but I'm pretty sure that this is three thin coats topped with Seche Vite, and I don't recall having any issues with the formula, or I definitely would have taken note.   Also, apologies for the horrendous amounts of glare, I really need to get myself a new lamp for photos.

You can purchase this polish and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.  You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with new releases.  

Rich, dark evergreen shades like this are a favourite of mine to wear in fall and winter, so you can bet I'll be breaking this one out quite a lot in the colder months!  What do you think?  :)

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

Moonlit Wink

Good morning!  Just wanted to pop in with a quick post of a mani that I wore while visiting my family in London a couple weeks ago.  When I moved out last year, I had to leave a lot of polishes behind with them, but my mom and sister also enjoy doing their nails so the polishes do get some use.  

As I'm sure you can imagine, getting to revisit some of those old polishes that I'd forgotten about was pretty nice!  This mani features one such polish, Coco Allure Moonlit Snow.  

I decided to layer one coat of Moonlit Snow over Illamasqua Wink, and top it with Essie Matte About You.  I absolutely love the way iridescent glitters look with matte top coat, and over the gorgeous lilac that is Wink, it made for such a dreamy combination!  :)  What do you think?  

Barry M Blue Gradient

As was expected, I bought a ton of nail polish while in England.  Within the first few days alone I had picked up 6 Barry M, 2 Kikos, and 6 Models Own polishes... Oops!

Of course, upon arriving back at the flat on one of those first days, I just had to use a few of my new pretties together in some nail art.  These three Barry M polishes were just screaming at me to do a gradient, so I obliged.  

I started with a base of two coats of Barry M Coconut, a lovely off-white creme.  Then I sponged on the gradient with Blueberry and Blue Grape.  It's all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite, as usual.  

I really love Barry M polishes, I wish they were sold here in Canada!  But for now, I've got my sister and mom in England to get them for me.  ;)  I was really excited with how this mani came out, it's such a bright and bold look and I really enjoyed wearing it!  What do you think? Would you wear something like this?   :)

Girly Bits: Supersonic

Hello!  Here's another polish from the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, Supersonic. 

This polish is described as a "neon lemon-lime jelly with golden and blue shimmer, and tiny blue flecks".   While this polish is most definitely unique and interesting, it's not to my personal tastes.  However, I think that's largely due to the fact that my ghost-pale skin doesn't do well with these bright yellow/green shades, and I'm sure it would look much better on you ladies with a bit more colour!  My swatch shows three thin coats followed by LaCC 2013 top coat, and the formula was a dream to work with.  It's also brighter and more vibrant in person; you know how cameras hate to cooperate with these types of shades, haha! 

This polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.  You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with new releases.  

What do you think of Supersonic?  :)

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

Girly Bits: The Power of Love

Good morning!  I've got another amazing Girly Bits polish to share with you today: The Power of Love.   

The Power of Love is a stunning lilac holo with small silver and purple glitters mixed in.  This polish really won me over - the lilac shade is so delicate and pretty, while the mix of holo and glitters gives it some really interesting depth.  Two flawless coats for perfect coverage, and I'm wearing one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat in the photos.  The first photo is in direct sunlight, where you can really see the holo, and the second photo is in indirect natural light, so you can see the glitters better. 

This polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.  You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with new releases.  

Luckily for me, the weather here is giving no hint of the end of summer anytime soon, so I've still got a while to wear lovely pastel and holo shades like this one!  ;)  What do you think of this polish?  

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

Picture Polish Blog Fest 2014

I'm really squeezing this post in here, with less than four hours of Blog Fest day left (in my time zone)!  I only got back from England on Saturday, and by the time I did both my Blog Fest manis on Sunday, it was too dark to take photos.  So I took photos this morning before running out of the house for my first day of work as a paid professional dancer (yay!!), and here we are now.  

For this year's Blog Fest, we were to swatch one selected polish, and do nail nail with the other two shades and a set of Nail Vinyls that was included.  

Let's start with the swatch!  I was sent Pandora, which is a new shade that Picture Polish has just released.  It is an amazing royal purple shade with the signature Picture Polish scattered holo finish which I adore. 

 Of course the holo effect is just stunning in the sun, and when you join that with the fact that this is my favourite shade of purple, it's no surprise that this is a huge winner for me!  Shown is three thin coats with LaCC 2013 top coat, although you could definitely get away with two slightly thicker coats in person. 

The two shades that I was sent for the nail art mani are Swagger and Bonkers, and I got the straight Nail Vinyls to use.  The rules were very restrictive in that we weren't allowed to use any other nail art techniques such as gradients or dots, so I had quite a hard time coming up with something interesting. I ended up just making it up as I went, but in the end, I was pretty happy with how it turned out!  

We were allowed to use white or black polish if needed, so I included white for a bit more contrast between the different shades.  The white I used was LVX Fantom.  I can also tell you that Swagger is a two-coater, and that Bonkers is amazingly opaque in just one coat if you're careful!  The whole look is topped with one coat of Seche Vite, although there are quite a few layers of top coat in between there, since I did multiple layers of taping.  

Picture Polish is available online, and you can find a list of international stockists here.  You can also follow the brand on Facebook and Instagram for updates.  Picture Polish also just recently started stocking a special 4-pack of Nail Vinyls, which you can find here.  You can also purchase Nail Vinyls online, and follow the brand on Facebook and Instagram. 

I've really enjoyed seeing what other bloggers have come up with today, since it was quite a challenge in terms of nail art this year!  Well done, everyone!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for the purpose of Picture Polish Blog Fest 2014. 

Girly Bits: Bette Davis Eyes

I'll be off shortly to spend another day exploring London, but I wanted to write up a quick post to share before I head out!  This polish is another beauty from the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and it's called Bette Davis Eyes.  

Bette Davis Eyes is a lovely pearly white polish with an amazing pink/purple shimmer and slight holographic sparkle, which was much more apparent in person than it is in my photos.  Take a look at the bottle in my photos for a better idea of what the shimmer and holographic sparkle can look like!

I used two thin coats for perfect coverage; the formula was slightly on the thicker side, but it made application very easy and I hardly had to do any clean-up.  Bette Davis Eyes naturally dries to a slightly textured finish which I loved, so that was how I chose to wear it.  However, since the texture isn't too rough, I'd say it would likely smooth out with 1-2 coats of a thick top coat, if you wanted to wear it that way.  

As I mentioned, this polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.   The website is currently down for maintenance, but is expected to be back up and running on August 13th. You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with the site, as well as new releases.  

I absolutely love how delicate and feminine this polish is, with the added interest of being textured!  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided for review and my honest opinion. 

Girly Bits: Conga

I've had a wonderful first two days here in London, just exploring and spending time with my family.  We've done quite a bit of shopping as well, I've already bought 8 new polishes, and my parents bought me a pair of Dr. Martens as an early birthday present (my birthday is in November and I won't see them again until maybe Christmas) which was very exciting!  My mom and I are going out for a fancy tea tomorrow, and then on Friday night we're all going to see Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasliev in Solo for Two, both of which I'm really looking forward to. 

Anyways, today's Girly Bits polish is from the 80's Girl Band Collection, and it's called Conga.  The base is a bright aqua jelly, and it's packed with neon pink hexes and squares, aqua and white circle glitters, and lavender and teal hex glitters.  

I found the formula to be rather goopy and patchy, and the glitters didn't want to stay put, so I decided to layer two coats over LaCC 1977 to make things easier.  However, I'm wearing four coats alone on my thumb for comparison, and it looks almost the exact same.  All nails are topped with only one coat of Seche Vite; it was great to find out this wasn't a hungry glitter.  

As I mentioned, this polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.  You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with new releases.  

I really love the colour of the base in this polish, and the mix of glitters packed in there is so fun!  What do you think of this polish?  Also, any suggestions for things I must see/do while in London?  Let me know in the comments!

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

Girly Bits: No Such Thing As A Purple Problem

Good morning!  This is a scheduled post as I've arrived in London this morning; right about now I'm probably half-way through my day struggling to stay awake after a sleepless red-eye flight, haha!  Anyways, I've got a super pretty polish to share with you today, take a look.

This is two easy coats of Girly Bits No Such Thing As A Purple Problem, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.  It is described as "a grape purple jelly micro glitter with silver holo sparks, dark purple, copper and aqua shimmer".  Unfortunately my camera wanted to photograph this more blue than it is in person, but this is my absolute favourite shade of purple and the holographic sparkle is absolutely stunning!!  

This polish is part of the Girly Bits core line, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.  You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with new releases.  

I'm in love with this purple polish and will most definitely be wearing it again, but I want to hear what you think about it!  Leave a comment!  :)

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

Girly Bits: Food Fight!

I'm headed off to England today to visit my family in their new home for the first time, and I'm so excited!  And in other good news, I'll only be there for a couple weeks before returning to Canada, because I've been offered an apprentice contract with the ballet company here!  I'll need to get around to changing my blog header from "aspiring ballet dancer" to "professional" now!  ;)

I've also got quite an exciting polish to show you today; it's Girly Bits' contribution to the August A Box, Indied, Food Fight!.  

Indirect natural light

Food Fight! is a grey-blue crelly base scattered with tiny holographic glitter and various sizes of iridescent hex glitters which give the polish an amazing glow.  My swatch shows three thin coats topped with Seche Vite; the formula was a little on the thick side, but didn't give me too much trouble.  

This polish is available exclusively in the August A Box, Indied through Llarowe.  You can find lots of other amazing Girly Bits polishes online here, a few of which I'll be showing you over the next few weeks.  

I really love Food Fight!, and the other polishes for this month's box look awesome too, so if you have a chance I'd definitely snatch it up!  The blue-grey colour is definitely something I'll be wearing a lot come fall, and I'm such a sucker for beautiful iridescent glitters!  What do you think?  :)

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

Fruit Salad Skittle

Good morning!  Just one more week of my summer program left, and then I'm headed to my family's new home in London!  I'm so excited! Today's nail art came about after swatching piCture pOlish Tiffany for this post, after which I got a sudden urge to sit down and paint a bunch of tiny fruits on my nails.  

To paint all the fruits I used a handful of polishes that I can't remember off the top of my head so I won't list them here, but if you have a question about a specific polish, leave a comment and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can!  

It's been a while since I've challenged myself to really do some freehand nail art, (especially since I had to get rid of my acrylic paints when I moved,) but I was really happy with how cute these turned out!  What do you think of my fruit-covered nails?  :)

BPS Review: Bunny Water Decal Skittlette

As I mentioned in my last post, I have an affinity for the water decals from Born Pretty Store.  This is one such set of water decals that were so cute, I just couldn't resist trying!

The mint polish is two coats of Miss Ashleigh A Pastel Experi-Mint, the white is LVX Fantom, and the gold glitter is Orly Halo.  The water decals were awesome to apply, as per usual!  The bow decoration on my thumb is also from Born Pretty Store; you can find them at BPS here, and see my original review here. 

Don't forget to use my code PPJ61 to get 10% off your order.   Even though I'm questioning what the bunnies on these decals are actually doing, they're quite cute and I thoroughly enjoyed wearing this mani; I kept it on for three whole days!  What do you think? :)

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

Born Pretty Store Review: 3D Rhinestones

When browsing though nail art supplies on Born Pretty Store I usually gravitate towards the water decals, but I figured I should try something different this time and picked these rhinestone decorations instead.  

I started with two thin coats of LaCC 1997, blocked off the stripes with striping tape, and painted the rest with LaCC 1973.  I added the large rhinestone decorations with a dot of nail glue, and attached the smaller rhinestones with top coat.  The 3D decorations felt decently secure on my thumb nail since it's less curved than my other nails, but the flat back of the decoration on my middle finger nail wasn't quite as secure, as the edges poked out quite a bit.  They managed to last through a couple hours of the evening, until I took them off to shower before bed.  

I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of these, they looked very cheap and plastic-y compared to other 3D decorations I've tried from BPS, and I was wishing they were just a big more sparkly.  However, the opal colours in the oval one were quite pretty!  

Don't forget to use my code PPJ61 to get 10% off your order.  What do you think of this mani?  Let me know in the comments!  :) 

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided for review and my honest opinion. 

NOPI Roughless: On What Grounds?

I was kind of interested to try NOPI's Roughless Collection, but not quite enough to want to pay full-price for them, haha.  So when I saw this one for half-price in a clearance bin at Shopper's, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity!  ;)

This is two thin coats of On What Grounds? alone, although I think one thicker careful coat probably would have worked as well.  The formula itself was on the thick side, but as long as I was careful to work the polish evenly it didn't give me any issues.  The texture is very prominent and rough, (closer to the original Liquid Sands than the softer Pixie Dusts,) but it doesn't get stuck on anything so I personally don't mind.  It's worn really well so far, going on day 4 now with just a bit of tip wear and no chips!  

I quite like this blue, and I'm now curious to try the others too; I think this one would work well in a gradient with the purple.  I'm on a bit of a tight budget right now, but if I see any more of these on sale, I'll definitely be picking them up!  :)

Do you own any of the Roughless polishes?  What are your thoughts on them?