Grey Ombré

I'm sitting here trying to come up with some clever name for this like my Grey-dient.  Grey-bré?  Om-grey? Yea, not really working for me.

This was my first time trying ombré nails, and I really like it!  I've been sick for two days now (though I still have to go to dance - can't miss any rehearsals with the show coming up next Saturday!) and even though it was late last night, I had already been wearing my last manicure for three days and it was getting pretty chipped.  I wanted something fast and easy that was still more interesting than a plain mani, so I finally decided to try this. 

From thumb to pinky I used Sally Hansen Black Out, Orly Shockwave, Grey franken (2 parts Zoya Dove, 1 part Orly Shockwave), Zoya Dove, and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. 

I like the look of the colours transitioning from one to the next across the fingers!  I was a little nervous about having to mix a colour for the middle finger, but I think it came out just right.  I actually ended up liking the colour so much that I might make myself a mini bottle of it! 

I also went a little crazy with the nail file last night, they feel like such nubs after how long they've been the past few weeks!  Oops! 

I'm working on collecting some stuff for a giveaway soon, because lots of exciting events have all seemed to converge!  I just passed 300 blog followers, I'm getting close to 5000 Instagram followers (@emmaclarem), my next post will be number 100, and it's my 17th birthday next Friday, November 16th!  :)

Shiny Funky French

First, I have some exciting (and long overdue) news: Globe & Nail now has a Facebook page!  It'll be a great way for me to connect more with all my followers (and blogging idols!) and I'm really glad that I finally got one going!   If you have Facebook, head on over there and like my page!  :)

Today I'm paying homage to the blog that started my obsession with nail polish, Chloe's Nails.  This has got to be one of her most iconic and re-created manicures, I've seen it everywhere!

I started with Sally Hansen Black Out, followed by a coat of Seche Vite and then Essie Matte About You.  I taped off most of my nail and painted the tips with more Seche, and then added a strip of black striping tape.  I was worried about how the tape would hold up without a topcoat, but I took these pictures after a day of wear and the tape hadn't come off yet!

Yea, sorry about the bubbly pinky.  That bugged me too. 

So how do you think I did with re-creating this famous manicure?  I really enjoyed wearing it and I certainly got a lot of compliments! (Many of which were proceeded by "What happened to the pinky?" Grrr)

Don't forget to head on over and like the Globe & Nail Facebook page to keep up to date with all my nail-painting madness!  :) 

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Pink Rose Diamond

This was just one of those polishes that spent most of its days lying unused in the bottom of a bin full of polish, and I had no idea of its value until I started getting really interested in polish.  We have Pink Rose Diamond and Lavender Pearl from the Nail Prisms collection, both which I believe came in a Sally Hansen polish gift set that my sister got for Christmas years ago (she'll be mad if I don't mention they're technically hers.)

The first picture is how it looks outside in the shade, as well as most of the time indoors.  This is three coats of Pink Rose Diamond, with one coat of Seche Vite (yea, yea, dulling the holo...)  Since I own a whopping two bottles of holographic polish, you can tell they're my favourite finish. *end sarcasm* 

Being extremely inexperienced in photographing holos, I tried to do my best.  Since I couldn't get one photo that accurately captured how it looks in the sunlight, I've included 6.  So just mush them all together in your imagination and you should get an accurate portrayal of the colour.  This is getting a little crazy; I should stop typing now. 

nailXchange has a great compilation of all of the Nail Prisms, so if you're curious be sure to check it out, it's a great resource!

I'm not a fan of this shade of pink or holos, so wearing this polish kind of rubs me the wrong way a little bit... Even if I think it does look pretty in the pictures. 

Do you own any of the hard-to-find Nail Prisms? Do you like the holos or the duo/multichromes from this collection better? 

Purple Paisley Subtle Stamping

It's definitely starting to feel like fall now, and I'm totally ready to bust out the fall polish colours!  One of my favourite polishes for fall (we're actually on our second bottle) is Essie Merino Cool, a warm purple-toned dark gray.  I wanted to jazz it up a bit, so I stamped the paisley print from BM-315 using Sally Hansen Chrome Moonstone.  

This is two coats of Merino Cool, stamping, and two coats of Seche Vite.  

I'm so thrilled with how this turned out; I wasn't expecting for it to be so beautiful!  The colour combination works perfectly and has got me excited for fall!  Are you ready to swap out your summer neons for fall colours?

I'll be starting grade 12 on Tuesday, and I can't believe that it'll be my last first day of high school!  I'm really excited though and looking forward to the changes that this year and the next will bring, and I'm so glad that I'll get to share a bit of it with you here over in my little corner of the internet! :)

Stripey Water Marble

In my last post I said that I was bummed because I spent nearly 3 hours doing an awesome manicure, only to have to take it off that night because of a dance photo shoot where extravagant nails would have looked out of place.

So, today I present to you my second successful water marble!  You can see my first one here.  I wanted the marbling to look different from last time, so I followed this tutorial.  Mine didn't turn out nearly as perfect as hers, but I'm really happy with them!

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen White On, and did the marbling with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.  Topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

I'm super excited because my Bundle Monster 2012 plates arrived in the mail today!  I've only ever owned Konad plates and because of the price I only had 7 of them and had been feeling pretty uninspired to do any stamping.  When I got an email the Nail Polish Canada had the BM 2012 plates in stock, I went on a whim and ordered them! Since you get free Canadian shipping for orders over $25, I went ahead and stocked up on some stamping polishes too.  I LOVE ordering from Nail Polish Canada because they're located in the same city as me, so my orders consistently arrive the day after they've been shipped!  Anyways, that was more of a warning that you'll probably be seeing lots of stamping manicures around here soon :)

I also wanted to ask you all if you'd like me to write a post about my experience at ballet school over the summer and being away from home.  If you'd be interested to read a post about that, let me know and leave a comment! :)

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. 

Pacific Blue & Lacey Lilac Gradient

I'm back!! :) I literally got home 2 hours ago after being away for a month and I'm already writing a post, haha.  This is a manicure that I did one weekend while I was away using two Sally Hansen polishes, a base of Lacey Lilac sponged with my recently acquired Pacific Blue.   Topped with two coats of Seche Vite, as always!

The photos are not as good quality as normal because I didn't have my normal setup, but I hope you'll forgive me this once. ;) 

I had a really good time at ballet school the past month, I felt like I learned a lot and I really enjoyed the teachers and all the friends I made, and I'm seriously considering that school's post-grad program for next year, so it's been an exciting time! 

As for my blog, I realize that over the past while my posts have been mostly consisting of swatches and reviews and have probably been quite boring to read, and I apologize for that.  I feel like I have been neglecting my blog but I've got more time now to get back to what I love doing and the reason I started this blog, nail art!  I hope you'll stick around with me over the next couple of weeks as I get back into the swing of things with my blog and posting regularly again! :)

All That Glitters

 Hello!  I feel like it's been so long since I've written a post, since I've been really enjoying my time at this ballet school but I've also been really busy and with limited internet connection!  Luckily I'm back today with some swatches of a few beautiful polishes from All That Glitters!  Enjoy!

First Is Plum & Plummer.  I have to admit, glitters in shimmer bases don't normally appeal to me, but I picked this one solely for the name.  I'm very glad I did, because this polish was a pleasant surprise!  It's a mix of gunmetal and purple hex glitters in a shimmery light purple base.  The polish was easy to apply and didn't need any underwear.  For the photos I used 3 coats of Plum & Plummer, though two would be enough if you don't mind a bit of visible nail line.

Valentine Massacre is a mix of all different shapes and sizes of red and black glitter in a dark red base.  This one was a pain to apply, and it seemed as if there was more glitter than base in it.  It was really goopy, and got quite thick on some of my nails.  I do really like the final look though, I think this would be a good polish for fall and winter.  For the pictures I layered one coat of Valentine Massacre over one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red. 

Last for today is without a doubt one of this indie polish maker's most popular creations, Spotty Dottie Light.  I absolutely adore this polish, it's such a quick and easy way to turn a plain manicure into something eye-catching and unique!  When I wore this I had so many people asking me how I 'did' the white, and they couldn't believe it was just glitter! ("But glitter is sparkly!?")  Application is a little finicky, but the end result is so worth it.  Here I have one coat of Spotty Dottie Light over one coat of Orly Snowcone.

All That Glitters polishes can be bought on Etsy here, and like their Facebook page to keep up to date with new polishes and restocks so you don't miss out on getting yourself some of her unique polishes! 

On a side note, I just wanted to say thank you to you all for being so understanding about my lack in posting lately.  Also, thank you for all your lovely comments, even if I don't have time to respond to them right now I read and appreciate every single one!  :)

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

Black & White Polka-Dot (& Update!)

 Next to stripes, polka-dots are probably my favourite pattern.  Especially when it comes to nail art, they're so quick and easy, but have such an impressive visual effect!

I've used my trusty one-coat black, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, and made the dots with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On using my uber-professional dotting tool: a pin stuck in the eraser-end of a pencil.  


This is what I wore when we went camping over the weekend, because it matched my bathing suit! :) I also knew that I had to have something that I wouldn't mind wearing for 3 days straight without a change.  Luckily I avoided any breakages while setting up tents and such; but unfortunately my cuticles are nasty, and in the swatch pictures I took today they look less-than-satisfactory.  Boo.  Oh well, pretty pictures for today! 

I did go to Sally's on the weekend, and ended up with quite the haul.  I even got asked if my nails were stickers (by the lady with the large leopard-print and rhinestone stick-on talons on her fingers, lol.)  They had this great deal on where if you bought two bottles of Orly, you'd get a free full-size bottle of any of the new Orly Electronica polishes!  The lady working there was really nice, and even counted my two clearance-price Orlys and allowed me to get MORE free polish!  I ended up with Orly Snowcone, Nite Owl, Glowstick (clearance), After Party (clearance), Shockwave (free), and Decoded (free), as well as my first Finger Paints, Motley (clearance).  Hooray!! :D  

As you may already know, I'm leaving this Saturday to go away to train for a month at a full-time ballet school where they don't allow us to wear nail polish.  I'll have my computer with me when I go away so I've got a couple of my own posts lined up, as well as a few great guest posts!  I've still got room for a few more, so I know this if fairly last-minute but if you'd like to do a guest post for my blog send me an e-mail at ecm.dancer@gmail.com.  As long as you can get it to me by August 4th, then it's not too late! 

This week is very busy with packing and such, so this could very well be my only post this week.  In fact, I probably shouldn't be doing this right now... If my mom knew she'd probably tell me to get off here and work on my packing list... She'll probably read this in the morning... Oops. Too late.  Anywho, shoot me an email if you'd like to guest post!  :)

Aphrodite Lacquers: Romance Novel Collection

Today I've got three absolutely gorgeous polishes to show you from indie polish maker Rebecca of Aphrodite Lacquers.  She was kind enough to send me polishes from the Outta This World Collection which I'll show you soon, and the Romance Novel Collection which you'll be drooling over today. 

The formula for all of them was the same.  They were great, no problems spreading any glitter.  When I was playing around with them before I decided what to do, I found that they all can reach near-opaque with three thick coats, barely any visible nail line.  I've shown this on my pinky in the first picture, but all of the rest are layered over underwear to conserve my mini bottles.  The glitter is a little gritty, so I'd put two coats of a thick topcoat. 

First I've got Enchant, a striking emerald-green jelly polish full of white and green small hex glitter, and dense green micro-glitter.  On my pinky I have three thick coats of Enchant by itself, and on the other fingers I have two coats of Enchant layered over one coat of Orly Lucky Duck, followed by one coat of Seche Vite. 

Next up is Kisses, a beautiful fuchsia jelly polish full of white and fuchsia small hex glitter, and dense fuchsia micro-glitter.  For the pictures I've layered two coats of Kisses over one coat of Orly Plum Noir, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.  I think the darker base really lets the micro-glitter stand out!  

This last one is my favourite, but only by a hair.  Smolder is a stunning red jelly polish full of white and red small hex glitter, and dense red micro-glitter.  This one must have at least a little neon pigment in it, because without a top coat it dried with a satiny finish, and it seriously glows.  It's such a perfect red!  I've layered two coats of Smolder over one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red.  I topped it with one super-thick coat of Seche Vite from an old bottle, followed by one normal coat of SV.  

Since it naturally dried to a satiny finish, I wanted to see what it looked like matte.  It certainly looks cool, but I prefer this one shiny.

I'm absolutely smitten with these polishes, and will definitely be wearing them often!    You can get Aphrodite Lacquers on Etsy here ($8USD/full-sized bottle) and 'like' the Facebook page for updates, sneak peeks, and swatch pictures! :)

I'm very impressed with this indie polish brand, and am super excited to swatch the Outta This World polishes.  Of the ones I've shown you today, which is your favourite?  Let me know, leave a comment! They make me happy :) 




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