Pink Nimbus: Upgraded

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I added some stamping over the pink nimbus nail art.  This just took it way over the top, but it was pretty hilariously fun to wear!  

The polishes used in the base nail art are, from darkest to lightest, LaCC 1950, piCture pOlish Pirouette, piCture pOlish Fairy Floss, and LaCC 1992.  

I stamped the swirls and unicorn from Nailz Craze plate NC02 in white Konad polish.  For the record, that stamping plate will forever be the best plate of all time.  Swirls and unicorns all the way.  

What do you think?  Is this look something you'd wear?  It's really abnormally girly for me personally, but I couldn't help but love it anyways, haha! 

Pink Nimbus

Two days of Nailasaurus-inspired manis in a row?  Yes, but with all the awesomeness going on over there, you really can't blame me.  This nail art technique has been on my to-try list for ages, ever since the tutorial was posted in October last year.  Took me long enough!  

I started with a base of two coats of LaCC 1992, and then dotted on my polishes darkest to lightest with a q-tip dipped in acetone.  The polishes in the order I dotted them are as follows: LaCC 1950, piCture pOlish Pirouette, piCture pOlish Fairy Floss, and LaCC 1992.  It's all topped off with a coat of LaCC 2013 top coat. 

Along with the fact that this is ridiculously easy, it's named Nimbus nail art!  I know it's supposed to be another word for halo, but in my mind it's definitely related to Harry Potter.  No doubt.  

These nails were slightly out of the norm for me with the abundance of pink and girly-ness, and I definitely think I would be better suited to this look in a purple scheme.  However, I did really have fun wearing this and actually spruced it up even more with some stamping which I'll show you tomorrow!  ;)  

What do you think of this look?  Have you tried this nail art technique yet?  

Candeo Colors: Night Flight and Super Nova

Good morning! I hope you're all having a good weekend so far!  Today I'm showing you two new polishes from a brand that I haven't shared here in quite a while - Candeo Colors! 

Read on for swatches and review of Candeo Colors Night Flight and Super Nova.  

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!  :)

China Glaze: Touch of Twinkle Set

Good morning!  I've been super out of it with everything regarding Christmas this year, with all my time being occupied by Nutcracker rehearsals and shows.  I haven't really been able to keep up with all the polish news and new collections, so I was excited when I was contacted by Nail Polish Canada to showcase one of the trios from the new China Glaze Happy Holi-Glaze collection!  This set consists of three polishes: Santa Red My List, Be Merry, Be Bright, and Just Be-Claus.  Let's take a look at the Touch of Twinkle trio!

Vivid Lacquer: Theoretical Blogger & Talking With My Hands

Good morning!  I'm so glad today's the last day before Thanksgiving long weekend, I've been so tired and am really looking forward to three whole days off!!  

Today I've got two polishes from a new-to-me indie brand to show you, Theoretical Blogger and Talking With My Hands by Vivid Lacquer.  Continue reading after the jump!

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!

piCture pOlish: Fairy Floss

Although I do have dance today, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the long weekend!  We're going down to the US for some shopping, so all this weekend's posts will be scheduled.  Depending on my internet access, I'll hopefully still be able to reply to comments and emails as normal.  :)  

Anywho, it's been a while since I showed you a piCture pOlish shade, but I have one today to share!  You can see all my previous piCture pOlish swatches and reviews here. 

This is a beautiful cotton-candy pink creme, appropriately named Fairy Floss.  You're seeing two perfect easy coats, with one coat of Seche Vite.  

I've actually ended up using this colour way more than I thought I would when I got it a few months ago; it's not my usual type of colour but it's really grown on me!  It's a perfect light-but-bright pink that is super flattering and doesn't look too Barbie-ish.  It's made it's way into a ton of my nail art!  

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list. 

I'd say that if you're on the hunt for a perfect light pink polish, this could be what you've been looking for!  What do you think of Fairy Floss?  :)

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

Jelly Stripes

Last week I tried some nail art inspired by a photo that Pam, the creator or Girly Bits, shared on Facebook (here).  While my interpretation didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, I still really liked the result!

The idea is basically a jelly sandwich with nail art, instead of the usual glitter.  I had just picked up OPI Houston We Have A Purple (which I'd been looking for for ages, hooray Winners!) and I figured the sheer jelly would work well for this!  

I started off with two coats of the OPI, and then drew three stripes down each nail with acrylic paint.  Next, I added another coat of the jelly, and drew some more lines in between the previous ones.  I finished it all off with one more coat of the jelly, and a coat of Seche Vite. 

It didn't quite end up looking like the 'buried' nail art I was going for, but I think that the alternating shades of magenta stripes looked quite cool!  

I think I'll try this again sometime, but perhaps with an extra coat of jelly polish between the designs to further separate them.  Either way, I really enjoyed wearing this look!  What do you think?  Is this something you'd try?  :)

Globe & Nail Turns 1 Today!

 Late last night after a swatch-a-thon, I couldn't decide what to do on my nails.  I knew my giveaway was closing and all that stuff (two winners will be announced in another post later today), but I just wasn't thinking straight.  As I decided to just slap on a plain creme and go to sleep, it hit me that today is my 1-year blogiversary!  How silly of me to almost forget!!

In wake of my revelation, I had a quick peek at my very first blog post ever, and decided to re-create that mani for this special day.  You can see my original post here, which I am (surprisingly) not too ashamed of, haha! :P

I stuck with the same colour scheme as before, but used different polishes.  I started with two coats of LaCC 1972 (lilac) then top coated and let it dry.  Next, I taped off the purple part using the jagged side of the tape (where you tear it) instead of the straight edge like normal, to get a cute zig-zag line.  

I repeated these steps with LaCC 1968 (green) and piCture pOlish Fairy Floss (pink), and topped it off with more Seche Vite to complete the look.  

I still like this look, but after a year of doing my nails nearly every day and figuring out my likes and dislikes, it's not necessarily something I would enjoy wearing as much anymore.  It's still a super cute spring look, though!

Here's a photo from my original post, just for comparison.  I think my major improvements over the past year are definitely my photography (LOVE my new camera), clean-up, freehand nail art (which this obviously doesn't showccase) and my cuticle care.  Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter is a miracle-worker. 

And here's a quick collage with bottle shots of all three polishes I used this time around. 

I'm so grateful for everything this year of blogging has brought me; I've made lots of friends who are just as crazy about nail polish as I am, and I've discovered more about myself as well.  I have learned some valuable business and marketing skills, as well as teaching myself about DSLR photography and learning to use photoshop.  I've dug through piles of nail polish at Winners to find the best deals, and pushed myself creatively to come up with new and exciting nail art.  The list goes on and on!

Overall, this year has been an invaluable experience in shaping who I will become in the next few years, with me graduating high school in a couple months.  None of it would have been possible without all of the encouragement and positive feedback from my friends, family, and of course my readers, and for that I am so grateful to you all.  Here's to another year of polished nails!!  :D

Globe & Nail Meets LaCC

I've kind of been an awful blogger, but that's what I get with no concrete blogging schedule... I haven't posted since Thursday.  Oops.  At least I have one pretty awesome excuse among all the kerfuffle of this weekend!  

On Saturday afternoon, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Farima Hakkak, the founder and creative director of La Couleur Couture.  You may remember that I swatched and reviewed her whole first collection here, and we were so surprised when we found out we were in the same city!  

Of course I had to do my nails using her polishes for the occasion!  In my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway post, one of the extra entries is letting me know what you'd like to see more of on my blog; quite a few of you said water marbling (which I have done previously) but I hadn't done one in quite a while.  I decided to give it another go for the occasion.  :)

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then water-marbled in LaCC 1950 (pink) and 2011 (yellow).  They worked perfectly for marbling, and I think it came out pretty well!  

I topped the look off with some Seche Vite.  I would have used LaCC's fabulous 2013 top coat, but my bottle ran out.  Luckily, Farima very kindly gave me another one when me met!

I got a sneak-peek of a couple polishes she's working on for her fall/winter collection, and they are absolutely stunning!!  I'm warning you now, prepare your wallets.  Seriously.  GORGEOUS. 

Also... surprise!! Farima is so generous, along with donating polishes to so many good causes and organizations focusing on women helping women, she was so kind as to provide me with a few polishes for a giveaway!!  I know it's kind of cruel of me to announce it, but I'll set up the giveaway once my 1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway is over.  It's my first time using Rafflecopter, I don't want to further confuse things by having two going on at once!  Besides, I need to re-swatch most of the polishes before then: old camera pictures. *shudder*

For now, LaCC polishes are available directly through the LaCC website and through Llarowe, as well as at a few local salons.  She's working on getting her products into some pretty awesome retail stores too, but I can't say anything yet since things aren't concrete.  ;)  I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet this amazing woman, and rest assured I'll keep you up to date with news on her much-anticipated (by me) Fall/Winter collection!  :D

Spotty Dottie Pink Gradient

I've finally been starting to get into wearing lighter polishes for spring.  I'm more of a rich and vampy polish person, but I forced myself to dip a toe outside my comfort zone and made this cute spring-y pink mani!

I started with three thin coats of LaCC 1957, the lighter pink.  Next, I sponged on a gradient in LaCC 1950, which I went over twice to get the second colour more saturated on the nail.  Finally, I added a thick sponged coat of All That Glitters Spotty Dottie Light, and topped it all with two coats of Seche Vite.  

This look is super easy to re-create, and there's so many possibilities with what colours you use for the gradient and which glitter topper to add!  Even though I'm not a pink-polish girl at all, I think this mani was pretty cute; I got a lot of compliments on it from my friends!  :)

Happy Easter!

I really wanted to do some awesome Easter nail art, but time just got away from me with swatching last night.  I did this yesterday afternoon before all that got going, so I guess this is technically cheating since it isn't actually the mani I'll be wearing for Easter.  However, it is awfully cute, so I decided to share anyways!  :)

I haven't stamped in a really long time so, looking for some quick nail art, I grabbed BM-302 with the spring and Easter patterns on it.  I was really happy with my Bundle Monster plates from Nail Polish Canada, but this is the only image in the whole set that came scratched.  Grrr. 

I already had LaCC 1992 on my nails, because I had a ballet photoshoot earlier in the day and needed a neutral look.  (Creep my IG for those photos soon!  Link in the sidebar.--> )  I stamped the design from BM-302 with Konad special pink polish, and topped it off with some Seche Vite.   

The mani that I'm actually wearing today is LaCC 1977 topped with Different Dimension Social Suicide, because it matches the dress I wore to Church this morning!  I'll post photos of that somewhere, at some point.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  

I would say that I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the day with family, but truth is that we'll probably all be off doing our own things around the house (swatching for me) until soon before dinner.  I am really looking forward to dinner tonight though, my mom makes such good food for holidays!  

Anyone else have any exciting plans or familiar traditions for today?  Whatever you're doing, make it a great day!  :)

Darling Diva Polish: Catherine, Flirt, & Anna

Hi all!  There's a little bit of a situation right now with one of my photos having just been distributed to a huge audience (a.k.a. every single One-Direction-loving fangirl in the whole world) with my watermark removed; take a look at my Facebook status update for more information, and if you have any advice to offer I'd be very grateful! 

On to today's post, I've got three lovely unique polishes from Darling Diva Polish to show you today.  The first one is Catherine, a lovely magenta holo with a unique twist of added iridescent glitters. 

You're seeing two coats of Catherine in direct lighting, with top coat.  Formula was a little thick, but workable. 

Here's some pictures in the lightbox, and you can see that the iridescent glitters come out to play.  

I really like how this polish has two personalities; in direct light it's a holo, and in indirect light it's a subtly sparkly magenta with iridescent flashes!  

Next up is Flirt, which is the same as the previous polish but in a light green.  Two coats with top coat, thick but workable formula.

And some in indirect lighting to show off the iridescent glitters.  Love this one too, though I can't decide if I have a favourite of the two...

Lastly for today is Anna, a stunning jelly polish packed with blue holographic microglitters.  

I chose to layer two coats of Anna over Essie Coat Azure, but you could probably build this one up on it's own in three of four coats alone, depending on the length of your nails.  One coat of Seche Vite in the photos, but the top coat sunk after I took the pictures so you'd probably need two for a completely smooth finish while wearing it. 

Lightbox time!!

Darling Diva Polish is available through Etsy, and you can find shop updates and photos on Facebook!

Of the first two, which colour do you prefer?  Do you have a favourite of these three polishes?  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review.