Rock the Boat

Sunday was my 2-year blogiversary, and I completely missed it - oops!  Unfortunately my life has been so crazy for the past while that I didn't have the foresight or funds to plan a giveaway or anything, but I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me through it all!  :)

I don't have a fancy post to celebrate, but I do have a swatch of a beautiful polish I wore last week!

This is four thin coats of Essie Rock the Boat, followed by a coat of Seche Vite and topped with a coat of Sally Hansen Big Matte Top Coat.  You could get away with three thicker coats too, if you've got a heavier hand than I do.  This gorgeous baby blue is from the terribly named Summer 2013 Naughty Nauticals collection.

I absolutely loved wearing this simple look - the baby blue with super subtle silver shimmer looks so delicate when matte, and it really got me in the mood for spring!  What do you think?  :)

Upside-down French

Happy Friday!!  I've still got class and rehearsals all day Saturday and an audition on Sunday though, so this isn't exactly the last day of the week for me, haha.  Today I've got a look to share that I wore earlier this week and thought was pretty cool!  

But first, for those of you who read my last post and were curious, my sister started her blog earlier this week!  It's called Contemporary Affair, and you can see her first post here.  (Blog design done by me from her ideas, until she can figure out how to redo it herself!)  ;)  I'm sure she'd absolutely love if you could pop by and take a look;  I think her first post is great and I'm really excited to see more, and if you are too it would be awesome if you could leave a comment!  

Onto the nails!

I picked up OPI This Gown Needs A Crown at Winners a couple weeks ago, and finally got around to wearing it.  I applied three easy thin coats alone, and figured it needed a little something more.  I decided to add a reverse French tip (straight half-moon?) with LaCC 1999 for a stark contrast, and I'm really happy with how it came out.  

I think the silver and black compliment each other so well; the slight contrast in finishes and stark contrast in shade makes this simple mani really bold!  What do you think?  :)  

And one last shameless sister blog plug, because (I may be a bit biased) but I really hope that she enjoys blogging and does well, and want to get the word out!  <3

Studded Neutral Gradient

Good morning!  I had a nice relaxing 4-day break over Easter weekend, but I'm ready to get back to blogging!  However, as those of you who know me personally (or follow me on IG) are aware, my immediate family is moving to London (England, not Ontario) tomorrow, so this weekend has been anything but relaxing for them as they packed up the entire house to be shipped across the pond!  As for me, things are still up in the air as to whether I'll stay here for another year or go with them, but we'll see how it all works out. 

Over the past few days I've been helping my sister set up her own blog to document her new life in London, as well as fashion, nails, and food posts.  She's planning to start posting over the next few days, so once she does I'll definitely link to it so you guys can check it out.  I helped her with photos for the first few fashion posts! ;) 

Onto the nails!  This is a look I wore a few weeks ago, and really loved the simple sophisticated look of. 

I started with a coat of LaCC 1981, and the then sponged on the gradient with (lightest to darkest) LaCC 1981, 1988, and 1998.  I then added columns of gold studs to my accent nails, and finished it all with two coats of Seche Vite. 

I'm a huge fan of neutral gradients, they just look so awesome and these three LaCC polishes blend together perfectly!  What do you think of this look?  :)

Polka-Dots and Love Hearts

This is another look I did using the NCLA Brillapalooza nail wraps that I showed you here a couple weeks ago.  I went for the same colour scheme of white, black, and red, but with a very different overall look!  

Each nail started with three thin coats of LVX Fantom; all nails except my ring finger then got polka-dots in LaCC 1999.  I added nail wraps to my accent nails (one on each hand), and topped it all off with two coats of Seche Vite.  

NCLA nail wraps in Brillapalooza can be purchased through Nail Polish Canada here. 

I really loved this cute look - I definitely have a soft spot for polka-dots, and the heart accents give it a really graphic look!  What do you think?  :)

Live and Let Die & Shine of the Times

Just a quick (and extremely belated) post this morning with the mani I wore for Saint Patrick's Day, haha.  

I've been wanting to wear this combo ever since I got Essie Shine of the Times for Christmas in 2012; I'd tested it over green and knew it would be a good layering combo for Saint Patrick's Day.  However, come that day in March 2013, I was in London and had unfortunately not had the foresight to pack these polishes for my trip.  Another year passed, and I finally got around to wearing this!  Here is one coat over OPI Live and Let Die, topped with Seche Vite. 

Even though I'm mostly Irish, we've never really done anything extravagant for Saint Patrick's Day -  most of the perception of the holiday now is just a blown-up Americanized version of what it originally was.  Therefore I thought it suiting to wear these subtly festive polishes together; I love how the dark green base really brings out the golden and bright green shifts of the flakies!  How do you like it?  :)

Quo by Orly: Spring 2014 Collection

Press Sample

This morning I have three of six new Quo by Orly polishes to show you from the Sring 2014 Collection.  I've got quite a few Orly polishes in my collection, but this was my first experience with the Quo line and I was very impressed!  Continue reading after the jump for a full review. 

My Neighbour Totoro

Totoro nail art has been on my to-do list for a very long time, ever since I saw this post by Coewless Polish.  One day last month I had time to do some more time-intensive nail art, so I finally sat down and got to it!

In no way will I ever be as skilled at freehand as Coewless Polish (seriously, if you haven't seen her freehand work you're missing out!) so I simplified the mani a little bit.  

My middle and ring fingers started with two coats of Zoya Dove.  I freehanded Totoro and the dust spirits with acrylic paint using nail art brushes and dotting tools. 

On my index finger I'm wearing two easy coats of piCture pOlish Pirouette topped with a black stud from Born Pretty Store.  My pinky is one coat of Zoya Dove underneath two coats of Wonder Beauty Products Steel Magnolia, a glitter mix which I thought pulled together the other colours perfectly!  

I was absolutely in love with the charm of this mani - and all my Japanese friends in my class went crazy over it, haha!!  I'm really glad I finally decided to do this nail art, I'm so happy with how it turned out!  What do you think?  Leave a comment!  :)

NCLA Nail Wraps: Brillapalooza

A couple days ago I checked my mailbox as usual, only to find a wonderful surprise - a set of NCLA nail wraps sent to me by the lovely Tiffany at Nail Polish Canada!  I really like the mix of designs in this set, so I chose a couple and put together a skittle mani.

I used two of the NCLA Brillapalooza nail wraps for my middle and ring fingers.  My pinky is two coats of LaCC 1999, and my index is two coats of LVX Fantom with a black stud from Born Pretty Store.  All nails (including the wraps) are topped with a coat of Seche Vite.  

I forgot to take a photo of the set of nail wraps before removing the ones I was using, so I've included the photo from Nail Polish Canada. You can find and purchase this set here; all orders within Canada currently ship free (no minimum) so take advantage of that while it lasts! ;)

This isn't a full review post because I've previously reviewed NCLA nail wraps - you can find those posts here.  However, I will mention that I didn't have nearly as easy of a time applying these as I did with the other sets; the wraps now seem to be a bit thicker which makes it a bit more difficult to get a completely smooth finish.  It wasn't too much of an issue though, I'd still recommend these!  

A lot of these wraps are designs on transparent backgrounds or have transparent cutouts (like the ones I used,) so I'm interested to experiment with how I can incorporate the rest of them into nail art.  What do you think of this look?  I'd love to hear your thoughts, leave a comment!  :)