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?  :)

Floral Sky

I happened to purchase Essie Haute as Hello on the same day that piCture pOlish Sky arrived in the mail, and I knew the two would look great together! 

I started by painting all my nails with three thin coats of piCture pOlish Sky.  The floral nail was inspired by this mani by @lifeisbetterpolished on IG.  The darker outlines are Essie Haute as Hello, and the lighter shade is the same polish mixed with a bit of white.  The leaves are LaCC 1963 and Essie First Timer.  One coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out! 

I posted a swatch of Haute as Hello on IG, which you can see here.

I really loved how bright and fun this simple mani was, I wore it for four days!!  What do you think? :)

LaCC Floral Nail Art & BPS Gold Studs

Good morning!  As I mentioned in Saturday's post, I was super excited to do some nail art with the new LaCC Spring/Summer releases.  This was the first design that I came up with, and I knew it would look awesome accented with these nail art studs from Born Pretty Store.

I started with three thin coats of LaCC 1992, one of my favourite light pink/nude polishes ever!  Next, I freehanded the roses using a few LaCC purples: the new shade 1997 for the main part, 1973 for the darker outlines, and a bit of 1972 for some more dimension.  Once that was dry, I taped over the flowery halves of my nails and painted the other half in the new shade 1969.  I also added some leaves on the flowers in the same green to tie it together.   All nails were topped with two coats of LaCC 2013 top coat. 

I was going to attach the studs with nail glue, but upon grabbing mine I discovered it had glued itself shut... I tried all I could but it wasn't budging, so out of necessity I just attached them with dots of Seche Vite.  They're pretty large so they didn't stay on very long that way, but I'm sure they'd stay on a lot better with nail glue!  

You can buy these gold studs here from Born Pretty Store.  Don't forget to use my coupon code above for 10% off!

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

Floral Pirouette

Last Friday I received a huge dump of mail all at once - a Valentine's Day package from my family which was a lovely surprise, some boring forms from my dad to do with my EU citizenship application, two new polishes to review from Candeo Colors, and my order of piCture pOlish Pirouette from Nail Polish Canada!  It's not hard to guess what's featuring in today's post... 

I wasn't in the mood for swatching, but couldn't decide what polish to wear either - so I combined Candeo Colors Night Flight and piCture pOlish Pirouette into this cute floral double-accent mani! 

Pirouette was definitely an impulse buy for me - I knew the particular shade of pink wouldn't be flattering on my skin, but the holo and shimmer was so pretty and come on, it's call Pirouette!!  How is the ballerina in me supposed to resist that?  (And if you're wondering, yes, I have the A England Ballerina Collection in my possession and I will show it to you eventually... Be prepared for a lengthy post including a lesson in the history of ballet!!) 

My index and pinky fingers are wearing two perfect coats of piCture pOlish Pirouette, topped with a coat of Seche Vite.  The dots are Cult Nails Time Traveller, only because the navy I used on the other nails wasn't quite as opaque as I would have liked for dots.  

My two floral nails are two coats of Candeo Colors Night Flight, which I'll have a full swatch and review of here soon (along with one more Candeo Color polish!)  The flowers are mainly Pirouette, with highlighting and shadowing in Essie Fiji and LaCC 1950, respectively.  The leaves are Essie Mojito Madness with highlights in LaCC 1968.  One coat of Seche Vite to finish off those nails as well! 

I really liked this look, and thought it was a nice escape from the all-dark manis I've gravitated towards for the past few months.  Unfortunately the shade of pink in Pirouette doesn't look good on my skin (it's less obvious in photos) but it's just so pretty, and there was no way I could resist that name!  ;)

How do you like this mani?  I'd love to hear what you think, leave a comment!  :)

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? :) 

Double-Accent Flowers & Studs

Good morning!  I've still got a ton of photos to edit for a couple large posts, hence why things are still a little backed up around here.  Today I've got a double-accent mani to show you which I wore over the weekend and really loved!! 

I wanted to play around with a couple goodies I'd recently ordered from the Born Pretty Store.  I had to have these water decals and these studs after seeing them on The Nailasaurus! 

I started with three thin coats of OPI You're Such a Budapest on my two accent nails.  While I waited for those to dry, I painted the remaining nails in OPI Ink Suede and placed the pastel studs on.  The water decals were then added (they're so easy to apply!) and the whole look was covered in one coat of Seche Vite. 

I really love how these two shades work together in this look; I always forget how stunning Ink Suede is, both in the normal matte finish as well as glossy!!  I'm seriously in love with the flower water decals... I might have to order another pack, since each only comes with twelve decals.  I've got the pastel studs in a couple different colours now, and those seem to keep making their way into my manis as well!  

Are you planning on picking up either of these nail art supplies?  This isn't a sponsored post, just sharing some new products that I love!!  What do you think of this mani?  :)

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013: Year of the Blogger

I was so excited when I found out that I was selected to take part in this year's piCture pOlish Blog Fest; it's been so hard to keep it a secret until now!  This year's theme is 'Year of the Blogger', and we were all asked to create a unique nail art look using three piCture pOlish shades provided to us.  It was quite a challenge because we had no say in which polishes we were given, but that's all part of the fun! 

Direct artificial lighting

This post is super picture- and gif-heavy so be sure to read on after the jump for a tutorial!  :)

Liberty & Roses

Today's blog post is just a quick nail art look that I did last week with some of the new polishes I got on our shopping trip in the US last weekend!  :)

I picked up a few of the Zoya Pixie Dust polishes, and I used two coats of Liberty on my index and pinky nails for this mani.  I really love the Pixie Dusts, the texture is much more fine and sparkly than OPI's Liquid Sand polishes!  

My accent nails are wearing a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff.  The roses started with OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, and I added details with Essie Mesmerise and LaCC 1976; the leaves are LaCC 1968.  

I actually did this exact mani on my mom in shades of purple (with Zoya Stevie) and we both really loved it, which is what spurred me to re-create it in blues!  :) 

NCLA Nail Wraps Review: Aly En Vogue

Nail Polish Canada recently started carrying the NCLA Nail Wraps; I'd had my eye on these wraps for a while, so when I got an email asking if I'd like to review them when they got their first shipment, I couldn't say no!

I got to choose two designs, and I have one of them for you today.  This design is called Aly En Vogue, and is super pretty!  Since I think that all-over patterns can sometimes be a bit much (and to extend the life of the packages of wraps) I prefer to use them as accent nails, which is what I chose to do with these!

Although it's not visible in the listing for these wraps, you can see in my first photo that the wraps come in two different colours: a pinky peach and a light eggshell yellow/nude.  I used two of the peach-coloured wraps on my accent nails, and my other nails are three coats of Orly Prelude To A Kiss with BornPretty Store studs. 

Along with the wraps, each package comes with a set of instructions and a nail file.  These wraps were very easy to use: choose the size that best fits your nail, peel off, place on your nail, stretch and rub to remove any air bubbles or wrinkles, file off the excess at the edge, and top coat.  The great thing about these is that if you don't get it on the first try, you can quickly remove it and try again.  They were pretty stretchy, and it was super easy to get the completely smooth finish that I've been missing from other brands of wraps.  In case I'm making no sense, ChrissyAi posted a video on applying these wraps! 

I topped them with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat, and then added a coat of Seche Vite right before photos for a perfectly shiny finish.  These lasted for two whole days (through two showers, doing dishes, and multiple dance classes) with no signs of wear or any lifting.  I'm sure they would have lasted longer, but I had lots of swatching to do and therefore had to remove them.   

Honestly, my only problem with these wraps is that the designs aren't centered.  Despite how pretty this design is, if you're as OCD as I am, I'd choose a design that doesn't need to be centered.  They've got plenty to choose from!  

NCLA Nail Wraps are now available for purchase through Nail Polish Canada for $16CAD per set of wraps; you can find this specific set here.  To see the whole selection offered by NPC, clicky here.  With 40 individual wraps in one set, you'll get a lot of manis, especially if you use them as accent nails!  

What do you think of these wraps?  I've tried quite a few brands of wraps now, and these have definitely hopped to the top of my list!  :)

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