Heliotrope Gradient

You may remember back at the beginning of September I posted a heliotrope water marble mani... Read up over there for the explanation behind the whole heliotrope thing, haha!  

For today, I've just got a quick post with an awesome purple gradient that I really enjoyed wearing, (not just because it matched my leotard all day... Well, maybe just a bit.) 

I started with two coats of the lightest purple: OPI You're Such A Budapest.  Once that was dry, I sponged on the gradient using that, LaCC 1972, and Butter London Brummie, which is the shade that matches our uniform! It's all smoothed out with two coats of Seche Vite. 

In other news, I had a pretty awesome (but tiring!) day yesterday...  All of the girls in my class took ballet class with the company yesterday morning to audition to be cast in their performance of Giselle, because the company doesn't quite have enough girls for it... And I was cast!  We had a super long day of rehearsals yesterday, and I was wearing my pointe shoes for almost 8 hours... Not too comfy, (read: extremely uncomfortable) but totally worth it for the amazing experience!  Over the next two weeks we're working with the company all day every day to learn the entire ballet, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!  :) 

Anywho, I really love doing gradients using different shades of one colour, it always looks so awesome!!  What do you think of this look? :)

Neutral Skittlette

Good morning!  It's awfully nice that it's only the second day of classes this week, but it's already Wednesday - I love long weekends!  Today's post is a double-accent mani that I really loved wearing.  I had picked out Contrary Polish Sand (from the Ain't That A Beach trio released earlier this year) because I hadn't worn it since I first swatched it, and this look kind of fell together around it!  

On my index finger, I started with two easy coats of Contrary Polish Sand and a coat of Seche Vite; when that was dry, I taped off the stripes and painted over it with Essie Little Brown Dress.  On my thumb (seen below) I did the same, but switched up the base for OPI My Vampire Is Buff.   

For my double-accent nails, I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff; I then drew on irregular spots using Contrary Polish Sand and went around them with Essie Little Brown Dress for a leopard-print design.  My pinky is two coats of OPI Liquid Sand shade What Wizardry Is This?.  

Quick question for my readers!  I've got swatches of the whole Contrary Polish Ain't That A Beach trio sitting around on my computer... I know this trio is old news now, but would anyone be interested in seeing them?  Let me know!  :)

I'm really happy with how this turned out - it's neutral and cohesive, but still super fun!!  I'm also glad that I got to wear Contrary Polish Sand again, although this just reminded me how gorgeous it really is, and I really should wear it alone soon.  What do you think?  :)

Turquoise

Boring name for a post, I know.  I'm running very short on sleep here - got home earlier today from a few days on tour performing with a ballet company, and I have to get up and do a full day of classes tomorrow again...  It was such an amazing experience though, totally worth it!  Anywho, somehow what started out as plans for a pastel blue galaxy mani ended up looking like turquoise, so I'm just rolling with it. 

I started with a base of China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, and when that was dry I randomly sponged on a bunch of different blue polishes.  I can't remember exactly what I used since I did this a few weeks ago, but I'll try my best!  On the nail you're most likely seeing Essie In The Cab-ana and Rock The Boat, OPI I Have A Herring Problem and Can't Find My Czechbook, Orly Snowcone, and piCture pOlish Honey Dew.  

It's all topped off with one coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Gold, which is where I think I went wrong with the whole pastel galaxy idea.  In retrospect, it really needed a silver glitter topper instead of a gold.  I then decided to add a coat of Essie Matte About You, which made me like the look a bit more.   

Overall, I wasn't too happy with this look initially, but it did grow on me throughout the day as I wore it!  What do you think of this look?  :)

Lines That Go Everywhere

Well, so much for getting all of my summer manis posted this week.  I had planned to schedule a bunch of them to post throughout the week, but that obviously didn't end up happening.  I've been performing all week and have been at classes, rehearsals, and shows every day from 8am to 10:30pm, so as you can imagine, I haven't had much time to post... Nevertheless, I've got a post up for today! 

This is a mani that I threw together sometime in August, when I wanted to try out some different designs with my striping tape.  I started with a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, taped off the patterns, and painted over it with piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream.  To speed up the drying, I added a coat of Seche Vite before topping it with a coat of Essie Matte About You.  

"Who's Section"

Hello there!! So today's nails are "lines that go everywhere" (by the way, I named this)... My favourite one is the ring finger and Emma's favourite is the middle one! These nails reminded me of Penrose Stairs (The Impossible Staircase) for some reason, so I found them very interesting when I saw them in person. I'm also urging Emma to try the staircase on her nails, not sure how she'll do it, but it will be awesome! Goodbye for now!

Patterned Summer Skittles

Continuing this week's mission to share the remainder of my un-posted summer manis, I've got a bright and colourful skittle mani to brighten up your Monday morning!  

When I went away for a month this summer to the ballet school where they don't technically allow nail polish (the same school I'm at now, where I've just decided to ignore the rule since nobody actually seems to care,) I wore plain sheer polishes for the first week.  By the end of that first week I was craving a bright, fun mani, so this is what I put on!  

On my index finger I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff, and added the stripes (with the help of some striping tape) in piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream.  My middle finger is also a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff, but here I added flowers with piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream and Fairy Floss, and Orly Prelude to a Kiss; the leaves are LaCC 1968.  

On my thumb I sponged a gradient of OPI My Vampire is Buff and piCture pOlish Honey Dew, and added a row of gold studs down the middle.  This may have been my favourite nail! 

My ring finger is two coats of piCture pOlish Honey Dew with polka-dots in OPI My Vampire is Buff.  My pinky is three thin coats of OPI Goldeneye.  All of them are topped off with two coats of Seche Vite.  

I really enjoyed wearing this mani, it was so summer and fun, and made me happy every time I looked at it!  Definitely one of my favourites that I've done all summer!  What do you think?  Which nail is your favourite? :) 

Catching Up

Just yesterday I was saying how I'm really getting in the mood for fall polishes, but while cleaning out my computer folders yesterday I realized that there are still quite a few of my summer nail art looks that I haven't shared!  So even though today is the first day of fall, this next week will be spent catching up on all my un-posted summer nail art, and making room in my folders for the upcoming season! 

Today I'm sharing a simple polka-dot look that I wore sometime in August.  The base colour is three coats of OPI You're Such a Budapest, which is quite possibly my favourite lilac polish!  I added the dots with OPI My Vampire is Buff, using the pointy end of an orange stick to get them super tiny.  

I absolutely love the delicate and playful look of miniature pastel polka-dots!  Add the fact that it's super easy to do, and it's definitely one of my quick go-to nail art looks!  :)

Navy Galaxy

Somehow, I very quickly went from refusing to give up my bright summer polishes to craving the dark and vampy colours of fall!  I decided to do a simple navy galaxy mani the other day, since galaxy nail art is quick and easy, but always looks great!  

I started with two coats of Butter London Big Smoke, a dark shimmery navy.  I then randomly sponged on the galaxy with Orly Snowcone, OPI Ink Suede, OPI Russian Navy, Orly Fowl Play, and OPI You're Such a Budapest, in that order.  

To finish off the look, I topped it with a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle.  I love using this polish as a topper for galaxy manis because it gives you different sizes of "stars", as well as being much quicker and easier than hand-painting them individualy, haha! The whole look is smoothed out with a coat of Seche Vite. 

I absolutely love how this came together with all the different blues; relatively simple but so beautiful!  

Birthstone Holo Gradient

Good morning!  After swatching all of the Lacquer Lust Birthstone Holos (Part 1; Part 2), I was inspired to try my first holographic gradient.  I found four of the polishes that went together nicely, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!  :)

Sunlight

Artificial light

I started with a base of the lightest colour, Diamond.  Once that was dry, I sponged on the gradient with the following polishes (lightest to darkest): Diamond, Pink Tourmaline, Ruby, and Garnet.  It's all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite for a smooth finish.  

Sunlight

Sunlight

And now, a little word from my friends.....

Who and Dr. Renata's Section
So during the year Emma has two best friends, Dominic and Renata, both dancers and a great motivation to her! We've decided to write this section at the bottom of a few of her posts, maybe once a week, or whenever we feel like it. So, Renata says "Hola!!" and Dominic says "Hello there!!". By the way, my (Dominic's) last name is "Who" after Doctor Who. Not joking. Renata is an aspiring dancer who also manages (which blows my mind) to be in a part time online University course, wishing to get a PHD in psychology and become a doctor! So basically, we're both doctors (sort of)! Goodbye for now!

Heliotrope Water Marble

Good morning!  Apologies for the week-long hiatus.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll probably know that this past week has been spent packing up pretty much my entire life (but only 300 out of my 615 bottles of polish!) moving to a new city, getting myself settled into an apartment with my friend, starting full-time training, and adjusting to my new life!!  I'm pretty behind on swatching, but things should start to pick up again around here soon.  For now, I've got a water marble mani to show you which I wore last week.  :)

I've come back for the year to train at the same school I was at for a month this summer (and last summer,) and the colour of our uniform leotards is this pretty purple, the exact shade of which is apparently called heliotrope.  Therefore, our entire class are the Heliotropes.  It's a thing.  

For this water marble I started with a base of LaCC 1972 (the lightest purple) and watermarbled using 1972, piCture pOlish Violet Femme, and OPI Vant To Bite My Neck?.  It's all topped off with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat followed by one coat of Seche Vite.  Unfortunately I didn't wait for the design to dry completely (and apparently I'm not very good at floating on my top coat) because it did get smudged a bit.  Luckily, it wasn't noticeable from arm's length!  ;)

As I mentioned earlier, I'm hoping that things on the blog will get up and running normally again within the next week or two, I just need a bit of time to adjust!  :)

Studded 50/50

Good morning!  I had received four of Essie's spring/summer polishes in the mail while away and was super excited to play with them when I got home, so I decided to combine them all (along with some Born Pretty Store studs that also arrived while I was away) in this nail art look!

I alternated the base colours on each nail, taped off half, and painted the rest with another colour.  After removing the tape, I used a slow-drying top coat and tweezers to apply the square studs.  This look was pretty simple to achieve, but looked very striking!  Swatches aside, this was actually the first mani that I wore when I got home last week! 

The light periwinkle blue is Rock the Boat from Essie's Summer 2013 Naughty Nauticals collection.  Formula is a little thin, and requires three coats for opacity.  Lovely shade with a beautiful shimmer!

The other three polishes are from Essie's Spring/Summer 2013 Resort collection.  The bright teal-leaning-blue is In the Cab-ana, which only needs one coat for opacity if you're careful!  Super bright and awesome shade with a fabulous formula!  The light pinkish lavender is Under Where?, and is also on the sheer side, requiring three coats for opacity.  Very pretty shade for nail art, but unfortunately doesn't really flatter my skin tone.  The bright green is First Timer, which joins the bright blue in the almost-one-coater club with another great formula and an awesome shade!

I know I'm pretty late to the party with these, but all in all I'm still really loving them!  Essie always comes out with some great cremes, and these will definitely all become staples in my collection.  Did you pick up any of these or other polishes from Essie's spring/summer lines?  :)

Winstonia Store Review: 3D Nail Art Charm #28

Good morning!  Today I've got a nail art product to share which was a first for me: 3D charms!  

For this mani, I used piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream and Honey Dew as my base colours.  After a coat of Seche Vite, I glued on the rhinestone bow with a dot of nail glue; it was super easy!  

I decided to stamp polka-dots on the rest of my nails, because they look so cute with the bow!  I stamped in Konad white polish with Born Pretty Store plate m79.  Those nails are also topped with a coat of Seche Vite. 

As you can see, the bow is pretty large and sticks off my nail quite a bit.  However, the bottom is curved to allow it to sit on the nail bed more closely.  Once it was glued on, it actually felt quite sturdy and secure; it lasted for the entire afternoon and evening after applying (even through grocery shopping!) until I loosened the glue with acetone and pried it off before showering.  

As long as you're careful with them, these charms are reusable.  Despite being somewhat impractical for everyday wear, I think that this rhinestone bow makes such a cute addition to a mani for a special occasion!   

You can find this 3D nail art charm on the Winstonia Store here; this is design #28.  I have one more 3D nail art charm to show you too, so keep an eye out for that post *probably* tomorrow morning! 

Have you tried 3D charms on your nails before?  Would you?  Thoughts - let me hear them!  :)  

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

Subtle Gradient & Houndstooth

I'm finally back home!!  I ended up blogging far less than I was hoping to be able to while away this past month, but I was still doing my nails so I've got quite a few posts backed up.  I've also got some awesome polishes to swatch, which I'm working on right now, so expect to see those on the blog soon too! 

At the ballet school I've been at for the past month (and where I'm going full-time next year) we're not "*technically* allowed to wear nail polish.  But, being the rebel polish-addict that I am, I did anyways.  For the most part I tried to keep my manis light and subtle, and I have one of them to show you today.  

I started with a gradient of Essie Waltz and piCture pOlish Fairy Floss; I really liked the clean and simple look of this gradient and wore it plain like this for a day! 

The next day I wanted to spice it up a bit, so I stamped the houndstooth pattern from BM-322 using Essie No Place Like Chrome.  It's all topped off with a coat of LaCC 2013 top coat. 

Although having to do manis using only lightly-coloured polishes was an interesting challenge this month, the first thing I did at home this morning was put on a dark vampy polish!!  How do you like this subtle look?  :)

Fandom Mash-up Skittles (on Alisha's nails!)

Happy Monday!  My summer intensive is almost over and I'll be home on Sunday, so things should start picking up around here again soon!  For this morning's post, I've got what is probably the most complicated and time-consuming freehand nail art that I've done to date!  

A few weeks ago, one of my (and my sister's) best friends came camping with us for the weekend.  She slept over the night before, and I had told her that I'd do her nails for her.  It started with the idea of just one or two of her favourite characters, but escalated rather quickly after that... Four hours later: 

Alisha had some amazingly large nail beds, which was perfect for this detailed nail art!  The base colour for all her nails is... you guessed it, OPI My Vampire Is Buff.  Most of the detailing was done with acrylic paint, and all nails are topped off with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat followed by one coat of Seche Vite.  We started with the well-known Nyan Cat on one thumb...  

And on the remaining four fingers of that hand, I did (from index to pinky, L-R) Toad, Spongebob, Princess Peach, and a Despicable Me Minion!  The yellow base for the minion is Spa Ritual Enlightened Soul, and Peach's tiara is Essie Good As Gold. 

On the other thumb, we hose to do Bowser... this one took quite a while!! 

And finally, to finish it off, we did (pinky to index, L-R) Pikachu, Link (from Zelda), Pooh, and Yoshi!  

Here's what Alisha had to say about these... (she loves me a lot after doing this.) 

"I always love when Emma does my nails! Every time I get many compliments (unfortunately I have to tell them I didn't do it) but it's still cool :) These nails were the most amazing thing I think Emma has ever done! With only taking 4 hours of our lives away, it was amazing to watch the techniques of how to get that thin black outline, or where she was going to even start! Thanks Emma! :D "

I've got to say that I'm definitely proud of this nail art!!  Alisha wore them around for about two weeks, and was completely paranoid about chipping them, haha!  My favourite nails are coincidentally the ones I was most worried about attempting, as well as the ones I ended up doing best on (in my opinion!)  My favourites are Peach, Bowser, and Link, but the Nyan Cat is pretty darn awesome too!!  Which nails are your favourite?  :)