Blueberry Love

Nicole by OPI recently released a new line called Gumdrops Nail Lacquers, which is a mixture between liquid sand and shimmer polish. I have some color swatches for you in the next upcoming posts. First up is Blue-Berry Sweet on You, which is a medium purplish-blue polish. This was opaque in two and the coverage was very nice and even. It looks amazing in the sun as it catches the shine of the sparkles and gives off the sugar coated appearance that they describe. It is a matte finish so no top coat is required, which unfortunately also means that it will chip a little more easily. On the bright side, I wore this polish for a couple of days and the chipping was minimal. I like this texture a lot more than liquid sand as it feels smoother and the shimmery effect really does look like sugar. More colors to come – stay tuned! On a side note, it is blueberry picking season, and if you follow me on instagram, you would have seen my blueberry picking experience! Yum.

Polish was sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : All wrapped up

Using saran wrap to make this gradient was a lot of fun. I read about this on pinterest and could not wait to try it myself. I used Layla CE 84 as my basecoat. It is a creamy bright yellow that was opaque in 2 but slightly streaky if you do not use enough polish on your brush. It applied pretty smoothly and the color stays on well. Next I used a ball of saran wrap and dapped on Joe Watermelon. I sealed this fun summery gradient nail look off with my favorite top coat and voila!

 Layla CE 84 was given to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Pin It Now!

Minion Craze

OPI Banana Bandanna (so fitting!) / essence walk on air / art deco pen black

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Foil

Ciaté has been releasing a number of very fun and creative textured nail polish sets and now that they are being carried by Sephora in Canada, I can finally get my hands on them. I had previously tried their velvet manicure set (seen here) and this time around, I was intrigued to try their colourful nail foil set. They have a variety of different color combinations; the one I chose is called Kaleidoscopic Klash. Each set comes with a nail polish color, mine came with pepperminty – a mint green cream, foil fix glue, and 30 pieces of multicolored foil. After you apply your nail polish color, you add some glue on spots you want the foil color, and then push the foil down – shiny side up. I attempted a gradient with mine using red Blaze, pink Babe, and silver Brill. All in all, I really enjoyed using this set as I have always found package foil in nails stores a bit intimidating. One slight criticism is the choice of color polish they included in the pack as it did not really mix well with the coloured foil. Have an amazing weekend.

Pin It Now!

Aurora Sparkle

Here is a quick swatch of a gorgeous polish I picked up recently. This is 3 coats of Zoya Aurora a pretty dark purple holographic polish. You know I love my holos, especially stunners like this one.

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Happy Easter

Good Friday is a day to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us on the cross...a time of reflection and thanks.

For this Easter-y gradient, I painted my nails with a coat of Sally Hansen White On. Next, I painted 3 lines using the three polishes I chose on a sponge and sponged only 1 layer on because I wanted a lighter whimsical effect. I used Joe Blueberry, Joe Lavender, and Joe Buttercup.

Wishing you a wonderful Easter weekend.

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Irish Luck

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day here in Canada, I did a green gradient in commemoration. I used 3 coats of NCLA AM:Beauty Sleep PM: Shopping Spree as my base coat. This is my first time using this 5 free brand (Formaldehyde, DBP, Toulene, Camphor and Animal Testing) and I found this polish to be quite hard to work with and needed a thick coat in order for it to be smooth. I sponged on Joe Mojito Mix, a deeper minty green, near the tips. I blended the gradient using nails inc The Wyndham, a flaky green special top coat effect. Finally, I used Milani Gold as my accent nail and drew a shamrock using Milani nail art in green. 

I am going on a short vacation, so I will blog when I am back!

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Jammed Packed

It has been crazy hectic with trying to juggle everything in my life right now, so I thought it would be fitting to do a gradient that kind of reflects all the different parts of my life coming together. I started out with 2 coats of Essence nude glam café olé, a light beige cream, as my base. Next, I sponged on joe Periwinkle, a cream blue, on the top half of my nails. Following that, I stamped on the cracked lines from a BM plate using purple Konad polish. I finished this mani off with a coat of Seche Vite.  

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Anti-Bullying Edition

Anti-bullying day is coming up this week so I decided to do a pink gradient in honor of it. I used Joe Cherry Blossom, a pale creamy pink, as my base color. Next, I used a sponge and painted two stripes of color to create my sponge gradient. I used Joe Watermelon, a bright fuchsia pink, and Lacoste Hermine Pink Lemonade, a bright lemonade pink, for this mani. Spread the message that bullying in all forms is unacceptable and stand up against it. Have a nice weekend. 

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : CNY Edition

Wishing you all a very happy Chinese New Year filled with happiness and joy. May it bring prosperity and good fortune to all of you.

Zoya Carmen / Dr.s Remedy Glee Gold / OPI The Man with The Golden Gun

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday: I Theodore You & Which is Witch?

Here are 2 other colors for OPI Oz The Great and Powerful collection that is coming out. They were a perfect pair for this weeks gradient Friday. First up, I used a coat of Sally Hansen White On as OPI I Theodore You is on the sheer side. Next I used 2 coats of OPI I Theodore You, a sheer baby pink, as my base color. Finally, I used OPI Which is Witch?, a stunning clear based bar, circle, hexagonal glitter mix, on my tips for the gradient fading effect. I sealed this off with a coat of Seche Vite. I think Which Is Witch? Is one of the must haves of this collection, there are a few other ones I want to try as well…

Polishes were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Pin It Now!

What Wizardry is This?

OPI is releasing a new line to coincide with Disneys release of Oz The Great and Powerful which is super exciting because I loved The Wizard of Oz. I have a couple colors to show you, but today I have chose their new liquid sand inspired by the wizard of oz himself. What Wizardry is This? is a textured rich dark taupe matte polish that was opaque in 2 coats. I found this textured polish different from the ones in their Mariah Carey collection as this applied much better and the ending result also looked better as well. Stay tuned for 2 more colors from this awesome collection.

Polish was sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.  

Pin It Now!

A Smile makes Everything Better

A smile can brighten up your day, regardless of what may have happened, a smile still makes you feel just a little bit better. I had so much fun painting these nails that it brought multiples smiles on my face! I started off with a base coat of Color Club Almost Famous, a bright yellow cream polish, and used 2 coats. Next I stamped on smiley faces with BM plate using Konad Black. Finally, I finished off with Seche Vite and accented one nail with Sally Hansen Black Out. I stamped a full happy face on my thumbs. Have a wonderful day and dont forget to smile!

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Tranzitions

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know how excited I was when I heard that China Glaze was coming out with a line of polishes that changes color with the addition of top coat. China Glaze's Tranzition line opens up a door of opportunities for lots of cute designs without having the bulky layers and worrying about matching colors. 

First up is a gradient tip design I did but did not fully capture well. I found that the more layers of top coat you added, the darker the color turned, so I tried a 2 layer tip gradient which is a bit hard to see in the pictures for which I apologize. I cannot wait to show you more cute designs from these polishes. I used China Glaze Modify Me for this gradient, which turns to a darker blue with top coat.

Pin It Now!

Gradient Friday : Bottom up Sparkle

Pin It Now!

Snowflake magic

The snow has been pretty awesome on the mountains this year and considering it is still winter, I decided to do a fun seasonal manicure with snow as my inspiration. I used Dr.'s Remedy Navy as my base coat. This is one of my favorite dark blues because it is so pigmented. Next I stamped on some snowflakes using BM plate with white Konad polish. Finally, I used OPI DS Coronation, a pretty silver holographic polish, as my accent color because I still find snow so magical.

Pin It Now!

Past year of gradients...

2012 has come to a close and 2013 has just begun…Here are some of my favorite gradients for the past year. Here is wishing for a great 2013.

Pin It Now!