Black and Gold Disco Ball

Hey everyone! These are my nails for New Years!

Whole Hand

 This inspiration for these nails came from my lovely friend C, she tossed out the idea of "Black and gold disco balls" and when my other idea failed, these succeeded.

So for these I began with a base of Wet n' Wild "Black Creme", added some loose large holographic gold glitter hexagons on a few nails to re-create that disco ball feel, and finally a coat of "Synergy" by L.A. Girl on the pinky. The words and numbers are all hand done with gold paint.

Close-up on Thumb

I wrote "Happy New Year" on the thumb nail since it's the largest surface.

Those are my nails for New Years, I hope you all have a wonderful time on New Year's Eve no matter what you choose to do. I shall see you all next year!

Nyx: Robotic Swatch

A while back I purchased a few nail polish goodies via la internet. They finally arrived but I'm going to swatch them one by one and slowly so I don't expose my nails to too much acetone at any given time.

Here's one of them:

Dec/26/2012

I apologize for the chip in the middle finger nail. Onwards! So this is "Robotic" by Nyx Girl polish. I've never tried Nyx's nail polishes before, and I have to admit I'm not fond of them. It's chipped after one day (the thumb is completely gone), and this is done with 6 coats, it's incredibly sheer, which can be a plus in some instances but not when I was expecting a solid colour.

On the plus side, I do like this shade, its a blueish green that's nearly black with blue/green shimmer to it, it's a subtle shimmer, but it does remind me of China Glaze's "Smoke and Ashes".

I should buy a few more Nyx polishes to determine if they're all this sheer, but I'm hoping they aren't, all of that aside, this colour chips to soon for my liking.

Elven Gold

Nothing fancy, just something Hobbit-ish.

Dec/23/2012

So this is the most Hobbit-inspired I'm getting. Here's a swatch of "Elven Gold", a foil by Dollarnailart. It's a nice antique-gold/mossy green marble effect. I've also discoverd that China Glaze's "No Chip Top Coat" does not cause scrunching of the foil! Which is fantastic since I can grab it for cheap at my local Sally's.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and for those who don't celebrate it, some seriously Happy Holidays! Be safe!

Let it Snow!

Still no snow here in Ontario, at least not for those of us in the GTA. Kind of depressing, but then I realize, I can make my own.

Dec/15/2012

These were quick, as I used Konad stamps, the snowflake ones from plate M59? with Konad's "White" and "Silver Sweep" by Sally Hansen. They were done on a base of "Royal" by Revlon, and on a couple of fingers you see the multi-sized glitter "Pirouette My Whistle" by OPI. Quick, easy and filled my desire for snow. As long as I don't have to drive in the stuff.

Also, here's a photo of our little baby budgie pals, Pickle(blue) and Salsa (green):

Pickle(blue) and Salsa(green)

As I flip through the photos of these birdies, I notice that Pickle always has the same look on his face. In, EVERY single photo.

Burberry Decals

I managed to thoroughly wreck these before even finishing the other hand. So here they are:

They are Burberry inspired water decals for nails. Frankly, I've never been fond of this pattern, which is why I used it first. 

Happy Friday!

Purple Clouds

These next few weeks are going to be hell, but here are some quick and easy clouds for you!

These were done with "Flying Dragon(Neon)" by China Glaze, "Silver Sweep" (Sally Hansen), and "Black Creme" by Wet n' Wild. Really simple, really quick, and super cool.

There won't be much posting for these upcoming weeks, but hopefully once my hours drop down again, I'll have some more time to spend on my nails.

Have a good week!

Flashback Friday: Blue Snowflakes

Nov/29/2010

This is another acrylic set I did for myself from waaayy back when. I made my own blue glitter acrylic and then stamped over them some white snowflakes which you can barely see. Ahh well, lesson learned.

Deer Skull

In light of the fact that I have no new nail art for you, since my weekend was absorbed by other duties, I do have a piece for you that I have been working on for well over a year now.

Nov/09/2011 to Dec/02/2012

Click on it to make it larger. This was done in Paint Tool Sai, it is now also a print you can purchase (also iPhone skins/hardcases) in my new Society6 Shop.There are currently only a few items in shop right now, but hopefully before the week if through I will have more prints with more variety.

If you don't hear from me for the remainder of this week, I wish you a Happy Week and Weekend.

Glitzy Sailor

Aahhh, I forgot to post these last week when they were on, so please forgive me.

Nov/21/2012 to Nov/24/2012

Base colour is "Hey Sailor!" by China Glaze, with "I Herd That" (CG) on the ring finger. Topped it off with some "Synergy" by L.A. Girl Colors. Simple, sparkly and fast. Last week was a shitty week.

One Stroke Roses

Happy Monday! Here's a simple one for you!

Nov/25/2012

Base colour is Butter London's "Come to Bed Red" with only 2 coats so you can still see the free edge. These are just some one-stroke roses I did, you can find tutorials for them all over youtube. I'm not overly fond of them as they look bulky, and I don't really like my nails to look bulky. 

Peacock Inspired by Robin Moses

Peacock nails, these are Inspired by Robin Moses.

Nov/18/2012

The colours for these are "Silver Sweep" by Sally Hansen, and "Evening Seduction" by China Glaze.
The feathers are hand painted.

Happy Monday!

Butter London Mini Haul

Happy Friday!

I wasn't planning on posting today, but when I got into work, lo and behold I learned we began carrying Butter London Nail Lacquer! So far we only have 3 shades, Slapper, Come to Bed Red and Primrose Hill Picnic.

Here I have some swatches for you:

Left to Right: Primrose Hill Picnic, Come to Bed Red, and Slapper

Let's move on to the swatches!

"Slapper" Butter London

 This is "Slapper", cute name, it's a beautiful creme turquoise. I found it much brighter in person and those streaks were not there in person either. It leans more to the blue side of turquoise. This is it with two coats, you can still see a bit of visible free edge which is easily remedied with a third coat.

"Primrose Hill Picnic" Butter London

 Here is a beautiful blue-toned pink creme. Once again, this is much brighter in person than it shows up on my camera. It's a very cheerful shade of deep bubblegum pink. This is it with two coats and it's very opaque. You could go a third coat to completely erase that visible free edge peeking through, but I'm happy with it at 2 coats.

"Come to Bed Red" Butter London

A truly beautiful shade of red creme, it's absolutely perfect for the holidays. It calls to memory the shade "Poinsettia" by China Glaze, but I feel that this is more of a cool tone red, than say "Poinsettia" which is more pink-ish in hue. This one, like most reds, needs at least 3 coats, after two coats here, my free edge is still very visible. 

All in all, these are all gorgeous, bright and happy shades that we got in for the Holidays. I had to snatch a shade of each before I put them all out. Butter London retails for $17.00, so it makes it more of a luxury brand. Although the price is steep(even for myself), the quality on these is perfect, they go on smooth, glossy, and perfectly creamy.

I hope you enjoyed this post and find it useful if you plan on purchasing these colours. Here's a bonus photo of the other items I purchased from work:

Here we have 2 plush toy owls, one large and one small. Three polishes I bought, and a 2013 Barbie Calendar with art by Robert Best.

Coffee Candy Cane

Have you ever had/seen those gourmet candy canes? You know, the coffee, cappuccino  or espresso flavoured ones? Well, this mani reminds me very strongly of those ones.

Nov/14/2012

I used a striping brush and regular nail polish to make these. The lines are a touch wobbly as I was a bit wobbly the other day. Also, I must apologize for the dents, my hair lately seems to be attracted to wet nail polish :(.  The colours I used for this mani are "Copper", "Expresso" by Kleancolor, and "Saturday Night Fever" by Sally Hansen.

Nude Bling

Happy Monday!

Nov/10/2012

Nothing fancy this Monday, just a simple solid of "Touch of Mauve" by Revlon. With some added bling on the ring and thumb finger nails.

Flashback Friday: Christmas Marble

These colours together make me feel very festive. Even though this was done in September I think it goes well with the holidays.

Sept/20/2012

The colours I used were my own made frankenpolish: White Gold, and the red is "Hey Sailor!" by China Glaze. It turned out beautifully, despite how horrible some of my water marbles turn out, I especially love the middle and index fingers.

Unicorn Barf

Somewhat low-key today. It was a toss up between this and some red-gold filigree. But C was excited when I mentioned Unicorn Barf, so that seemed like the better choice.

So I tried that PVA-glue basecoat idea for the glitter accent nail. We'll see how easy it is to remove after a few days. And I'm sorry for the blurred pinky, this was the best photo out of the bunch.


"Pastel Teal" Kleancolor
"Aurora" Kleancolor
"Pastel Yellow" Kleancolor
"Tickled Pink" Wet n' Wild
"Syngergy" L.A. Girl Glitters
"French White Creme" Wet n' Wild

Enjoy! And have a Happy Monday!

Flashback Friday: Ferns

This didn't turn out quite right. My "Flashback Fridays" are quickly turning into nail fails.

September 12th, 2012

Base colour is "Gouda Gouda Two Shoes" by OPI. I tried some ferns on the one nail, but it ended up being too much and very smudged looking. The other nails turned out fine though, I like the gold decorative swirls.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!

The last of my 5 Halloween manis. And definitely one of my all-time faves.

Oct/24/2012 to Oct/28/2012

I did these last week, but haven't had much time to post anything or do my basic editing stuff.

Anyways, I reversed the colours on my right hand. Look below for the list of colours I used:

"Lickety-Split Lime" Sally Hansen

"Red Carpet" Sally Hansen

"Flying Dragon (Neon)" China Glaze

"Black Creme" and "French White Creme" by Wet n' Wild

"Disco Nights" Covergirl

Flashback Friday: Geometric Pink

This was more of  a nail fail than anything else. But I will try it again one day when I have a steadier hand.

September 9th 2012.

 The base colour for these was "Tickled Pink" by Wet n' Wild. Please excuse the fact that I didn't clean up around the edges. I just hated it so much I had to remove it immediately. 

Nail Polish Canada Mini Haul

I don't have a new design for you yet, as I just finished work today, but I do have some swatches of colours I purchased last month from Nail Polish Canada. So let's get started:

Blue-Ming by Color Club

 Here's "Blue-ming" by Color Club. It's very close to a cyan colour, and although it looks a tad dull in this photo it's very bright, and vibrant, it's one of those cheerful colours that I love. I will have a design with this up soon. Two thickish coats.

"Age of Aquarius" Color Club

 This one is "Age of Aquarius", another Color Club polish, it's that perfect shade of creme teal that I've been looking for for a while now. Three coats.

"Foxy" China Glaze

 Here's "Foxy" from China Glaze, a nice deep shimmery/almost metallic reddy brown shade. It's got some really nice copper/gold shimmer to it. It makes me think of Fantastic Mr.Fox's fur. Two Coats.

"Space Cadet" Orly

Such a phenomenal colour! Ahh, it has a duotone sort of sheen to it, like it can't decide whether it wants to be copper, purple or a green shade. It's like a chameleon it changes so much! I used two coats here.

Boneyard

Here's another Halloween mani for you! Not as typical as the others I've posted, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. :)

Oct/21/2012

Just some simple skulls and bones.

Colours used:

 "First Mate" China Glaze

"Near Dark" China Glaze

"Evening Seduction" China Glaze

"Black Creme" Wet n' Wild

A blue/grey Frankenpolish I made a while ago.

Flashback Friday: POW!

Feeling a little inspired this Friday. Based off of those cute action word bubbles from old-school comic books.

August/15/2012 Whole Hand

 I apologize in advance for the severely chipped ring finger nail. I only got a chance to photograph these after I finished work.

Main Four.

Thumb Close up.

So I wanted something quick for this manicure. So I french up with "Scandalous" by Revlon, a beautiful sheer black jelly with multiple sized glitter pieces floating in it. I've always liked the little action words like "BAM!" "WHAM!" and "POW" so I put them on my nails with some spikey abstract things. I thought this was fun while it lasted. And again, I apologize for the chips, dents and tip wear.

Nails Inc Baker Street

Saw this shade on a couple of different hands, and felt like picking it up.

This is Nails Inc's "Baker Street" a nice cobalt blue creme. It's really quite beautiful, it looks lighter in this photo than in reality. Overall it's a gorgeous shade of blue.

Happy Jack-o-lanterns

My first idea failed, so here are some simple Jack-o-lanterns instead!

Just something really simple. The base colour is "Hi Pumpkin" by OPI. The black sheer glitter you see ombred on the other nails is a glitter polish I made. I'm calling it "Juvenile Batfish" after the glitter mixture I purchased from an eBay seller.

Ghoulish Ghosts

My gorgeous friend Sam wanted some Halloween nails done. She asked for little ghosties.

Oct/12/2012

 She also wanted her nails longer, so we decided UV gel sculpted tips would be best, partially because I`m not fond of acrylic.

Thumbs.

Ahh, I love the little ghosties on her thumbs. They are just adorable. Now after I gave her a gel set + extensions, I painted the base colours: `Mourning Glory`and `Hi Pumpkin!`from OPI`s Halloween 2012 mini set. I added some `Fairy Dust`(China Glaze) to the black nails and gave her the ghosts on the others. Overall a cute manicure for Halloween.

Flashback Friday: Go Go Power Rangers

August/08/2012 to August/11/2012

These are simple nails, but they remind me of the Power Rangers for some odd reason. The base colour I used was "Hot 4 Teacher" by Sation, and "I'm Not Lion" by China Glaze (ring finger) from their On Safari collection. I did a sort of chevron reverse colour french tip on these using my foils from Dollarnailart.com. The gold foil is "White Gold" and the pink is "Passion Pink". Then I added some lines with black polish to jazz it up even more. This was a fun, and simple design to do.

Frankenstein

Another Halloween one, this one is very pretty with a bit of a twist.

Whole Hand

 I did accent nails again. I like the sponging/glitter effect I have on my index, middle and pinky fingers, alone they would make a very pretty manicure, but I also love Frankenstein's face on my thumb and ring fingers.

As usual, all hand painted by me, with no use of decals or stamping.

The colours that I used were:

OPI "On Stranger Tides" (the base colour)

China Glaze "Holly-Day"

China Glaze "Foxy"

Nina Ultra Pro "Mossy Britches"

Sally Hansen eXtreme Wear " Saturday Night Fever"

L.A. Girl Glitter Addict "Synergy"

L.A. Girl Glitter Addict "Flash"

Dexter

This is the first Halloween mani of 2012! I like the whole splatter polish technique, because its simple, quick and not as messy as a water marble (my opinion). So here we go!

October/07/2012 Whole Hand

 And of course, because Dexter is back for a 7th season, I had to do a tribute to my favourite Blood Splatter Analyst/Serial Killer, of any fictional work.

Main Four

 So the exciting bit here for me, is that this was done 100% with nail polish, no acrylic paint, I used a straw for the splatters, a dotting tool for the little hand print and blood drips, and dipped a finger into it for the finger print smudges. Exciting stuff no?

Thumb Close up

Alright, the base colour used was "You Callin' Me a Lyre?" by O.P.I., I used two reds here: "Poinsettia" by China Glaze and "Marooned" by Ocean. Overall I like how they look, and it's weird that I get giddy everytime I look at them, because I think Halloween is Coming!

On a side note, I'm going to stop posting the "Flashback Friday" posts, and just post the manicures when I do them. It'll be easier for me than trying to wrack my brain for when they were done. Although I do plan on swatching my collection so you should be kept busy with that at least.

Flashback Friday: Blossoms

This is an old one, but it's nice, simple flowers on an easy gradient:

May/09/2012

On a side note, forgive the severe dryness of my skin, it's not been happy with me lately.

So this is a simple french done using Wet n' Wild's "Tickled Pink" with a lilac gradient sponged over top in "Lacey Lilac" from Sally Hansen. It's a nice, light, airy sort of design, which is why I like it. I tried a different way of doing the french tips, which resulted them being a tad thick. I think I'll stick to my old way, unless school teaches me a better technique.

They're kind of dented because these photos were taken after going to work and doing lots of manual labour.

The flowers were done using white acrylic craft paint.

Frankenpolish: White Gold

So this is not my first attempt in making my own polish colour, but it is definitely one I'm in love with.

Here we go! 

Since I started getting into painting my paws (almost a decade now), I've been hunting for a stunning white gold shimmer polish. I was never able to locate one in my price range, that I liked enough to buy. So I ventured into the world of Frankenpolish, and created this little number out of some basic trial and error.

September 20 2012.

This is it with two coats. It's sheer, but after a third coat it looks opaque. The photo from my blackberry doesn't do it justice, but when I decide to do something with it, I'll re-post a newer photo. I've only found one issue with this, the colour doesn't stay suspended in the polish, it almost immediately all falls the the bottom of the bottle and requires a 10 shaking to re-mix into this shade. Hmm, I dunno, I might have to use a thicker base polish for this next time I try this from scratch, but overall, I love it.

*Update*

So I have another photo of these for you:

Oct/29/2012 to Nov/02/2012

I managed to get a shot of this with my proper camera this time. It's still not quite accurate, but it did amazingly well holding up to this weeks wear-and-tear. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Halloween Water Marble

Oct/21/2010 to Oct/31/2010

Halloween marble design. Used "Black Sand" and "Lickety-Split Lime" by Sally Hansen for the water marble. Used some Konad Halloween stamps with their Special Polish in "Black".

Black Heart Tights

Sheer Black Heart Tights, I saw a design similar to this on Tumblr a while back and wanted to try it for myself as a warm up to Halloween designs. You will get the first Halloween design next Monday, I promise.

Sept/30/2012

The sheer black polish is a frankenpolish I made by thinning out an old black nail polish. The black tips and hearts are done in "Black Creme" by Wet n' Wild.

I don't like how this one turned out, I'm rusty with my french tips, they look too sloppy for my liking, oh well that should teach me not to rush them in the future.

Have a Happy Monday!