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?  :)

Glitter Bunny Polish: Little Pink Dress & I Got a Goodie Bag!

 Good morning!  Today I've got two polishes from Glitter Bunny Polish to show you, and keep an eye out for two more tomorrow!

Lots of photos and a full review after the jump.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 17th birthday!  Because I've been really busy this week preparing for a performance tomorrow, I decided that instead of doing something fancy, I'd wear one of my favourite polishes. 

I chose my one and only Deborah Lippmann polish, Ray of Light, which I've actually only worn once before because I'm trying to conserve it due to the price tag.  Come on though, navy blue, jelly, and colour-shifting flakies?  TOTALLY worth it.  

I wore two coats of Ray of Light, and it looks a little patchy in the photos but looked perfect in person.  Added the copper-coloured studs to match the flakies in the polish, and topped with one coat of Seche Vite which the polish gobbled up.  

This one one of my favourite polishes that I own, it's such a perfect combination of my favourite things!  I really want a polish similar to this but a deep red-toned purple jelly base with red/gold colour-shifting flakies... Any indie makers out there raising your hands?  

Seeing as I've got an important performance tomorrow, I don't have any special plans for my birthday.  School this morning, then ballet class this afternoon and a run-through of the show this evening.  My mom is making a delicious dinner though, so I'm looking forward to that tonight!  :)

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!  :)

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. 

Orly Fowl Play

Mooorning. (Thumbs up to you if you read that in George Weasley's voice.)  

My 100 Follower Giveaway is supposed to end today, but since I've got a post for you I'll be accepting any last-minute entries before 12am PST tonight.  If you haven't entered yet, hurry over there and leave a comment! 

Today I'm wearing one of my favourite polishes of all time, Orly Fowl Play.  When I first saw pictures of this  (before I started blogging) I instantly fell in love, and it was actually the first polish I ever wanted so badly that I ordered it online because I couldn't find it where I live. 

Seriously, everyone needs this polish.  Dark purple, jelly, colour-shifting flakies, and a billion other things make this one of my favourite colours.  Two coats of Fowl Play, two coats of Seche Vite.  Take a look:

At this point you should all take a moment to wipe the drool off your chin. 

How amazing is that?  Is it a must-have for you? :)

Tina and Lucy: Moonstone

Here is part two of the Tina and Lucy polish reviews, and this morning I've got Moonstone to show you!  

First off, let me just say that Moonstone is by far the most frustrating polish to try to photograph; it's much prettier in person.  Moonstone is a seafoam-leaning-army-green, with glassy flakies throughout.  The effect is very subtle even in person, which is why it was very difficult to capture on my camera.  If you look closely in the pictures, you can see on some of my nails the flash of the flakies when the light hits it just right.  

Formula on this one was relatively sheer.  I had on two coats of OPI Barre My Soul (very sheer nude polish) before I did this, and decided to keep it on to minimize the number of coats I'd need of Moonstone to not have any visible nail line.  This is three thin coats of Moonstone, followed by two coats of Seche Vite.  I did need two coats of Seche Vite because some of the flakies didn't lie flat on my nail.  Application was very easy and the flakies were spread evenly.  

You can see the flakies better in the bottle:

I feel like this colour shouldn't look good with my skin tone, but I really like it so I don't care; I'll wear it anyways.  This polish is definitely very unique among the masses of glitter-bombs that you see from most indie sellers; I really like the subtle effect. 

You can buy Tina and Lucy polish at their Etsy shop, and like their Facebook page for updates.  Their store is temporarily closed, but it'll be open again soon! 

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

Deborah Lippmann Ray Of Light

Here it is, finally; my very first Deborah Lippmann polish!   I bought it last Sunday and now I'm asking myself how on earth I waited so long to wear it.  

So what if I spent $18 on a bottle of nail polish?  I REGRET NOTHING.  Ray Of Light is the most beautiful navy blue that's somewhere between a creme and a jelly, and it's packed with coppery colour-shifting flakies.  Holy crap, I think I may have died and gone to nail polish heaven.  

First coat was very streaky and difficult and I was a tad bit worried, but the second coat went on absolutely perfectly.  Two coats of Seche Vite later, and I'm left with this beautiful thing on my nails.  I can't stop staring.  Seriously.  

Cue picture spam: 

I was extremely impressed by how flat the flakies were on the nail.  I've found that previous flakies I tried had a tendency to eat my top coat, but not this one.  Pure perfection.  Omnomnomnomnom.  Yea, I'm going a little crazy.

Anywho, I've got a few posts planned for the next couple of days, but I also have my provincial exam on Thursday, so posts may be sporadic and/or short.

Are you drooling over this polish as much as I am?  Do you have a favourite Lippmann polish?  Leave a comment, they make me happy :)

Essie

I'm sorry this post is coming so late in the day. One of the dance teachers was away so I had to stay an extra two hours at the studio to teach little kids. Then I had to come home and edit my dance resume (and watch the Dancing With The Stars results show!).  

Once again, I've got more previous manis to show you, all with Essie polishes today! I love my nails the length they are in the pictures, but I've had to cut them down to little nubs again due to a few breaks. Hopefully they'll grow back quickly. 

First is Essie 'Mesmerised'. Can I start off by saying how much I love this colour?  It's a blue cream that's somewhere between a royal blue and a navy.  This one looked kind of dull when I had it on at home, like in the second picture (stupid rainy weather) but when I caught a rare sunny moment outside, or under the fluorescent lights in the dance studios, I couldn't stop staring at my nails!  

Because I was taking the pictures when it was dreary outside, I edited the first photo below to be more colour-accurate.  Please ignore the oompa-loompa fingers.  Applies like a dream, perfect in 2 coats.  Below is with one coat of Seche Vite and freehand polka dots on my accent nail in Essie 'Matte About You'. 

Now this next one was a mani that I got part way through, and decided to leave half-finished.  My original plan was to have the red and neutral stripes on all the nails, but since I don't own any striping tape, cutting the strips was becoming very tedious.  I actually like it at this stage, and was happy I stopped with just the accent nails.  

This is two perfect coats of my favourite nude polish (which doesn't photograph well for me) Essie 'Topless and Barefoot'. The stripes are Essie 'Limited Addiction'.  One coat of Seche Vite. 

Last one for today is Essie 'Shine of the Times' at it's best.  The flakies flash orange, red, gold, and green.  This is one coat of 'Shine Of The Times' over two coats of OPI 'Black Cherry Chutney'.  Since I LOVE matte flakies, I added one coat of Essie 'Matte About You'. 

 On a side note, a great blog called Konadlicious is having a HUGE giveaway for reaching 3,000 followers. There are $500 in prizes, so make sure to enter! :)


This is primarily a nail blog, but since dance is such a huge part of my life and something I hope to soon do professionally, I might post dance-y pictures here from time to time.  I hope you don't mind!  So for today, I leave you with a picture of my dancing self. :)