Gradient Friday : Studded Purple

OPI Parlez-Vous OPI? / China Glaze Jungle Queen / China Glaze Purr-fect Plum / CND Raspberry Sparkle / Martha Stewart metallic glass microbeads

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Gradient Friday : Purple and Blue

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Cozy Gradient Friday

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire….
Those lyrics were stuck in my head this week because Christmas songs are playing everywhere. This inspired me to make a warm, cozy, chestnut colored gradient for this Friday, so I hope you like it. I started off with 2 coats of Glitter Gal Dark Brown Sparkle which is a chocolate holographic brown polish. Next, I sponged on Revlon Gold Coin which is a foil gold polish. Lastly, I dabbed on China Glaze Cheers to You on the tips. I blended this in using a coat of China Glaze Snow Globe and sealed it off with CND Super Shiney.

Keep warm everyone!

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Winter Gradient

To celebrate the first snow fall of winter here, I did a snow inspired gradient Friday! The first flakes of snow paired with listening to Christmas music was definitely a perfect evening. I first painted half my nails with China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. It is a silver fine glitter based polish with medium blue hexagonal glitter. This was more opaque I thought which was exciting. Next, I used China Glaze Some Like It Haute on my tips while the other color was still wet and blended it in. Some Like It Haute is a silver and black fine glitter based polish with medium holographic hexagonal glitter. This is quite mesmerizing. Finally, I finished this gradient look with 2 coats of CND Effect Sapphire Sparkle to blend all the colors in. A coat of Seche Vite finished off this look and added more shine.

Both of the China Glaze polishes are from their new Eye Candy line and I love them! Lorelei's Tiara reminds me so much of winter. Have a warm and cozy day!

China Glaze polishes were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

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Spookettes and more

Here is a quick look at my medium size-ish haul today. I picked up the mini Halloween set of OPI (love the glow in the dark!), 2 polishes I was eyeing from China Glaze Let it Snow collection, and some CND polishes that caught my eye today. I also did some quick swatches!

From L to R: CND Plum Truffle & Effect / OPI Zom-Body to Love / OPI I Only Date Werewolves / OPI Hes My Boo / CG Ring In the Red / OPI Mummy Knows Best with CG Snowglobe (my favourite Christmas polish thus far!) layered on top

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Fall Gradient Friday

To welcome the start of September, I have chosen to do a more earthy toned gradient. I started off with 2 coats of OPI You don't know Jacques!, a gorgeous taupey brown color that everyone should have in their collection. Next I mixed a bit of OPI You don't know Jacques! and SpaRitual Mystic together for my middle gradient color. This is a great trick to finding the perfect middle gradient shade for the perfect blend! Finally, I completed my gradient by sponging on SpaRitual Mystic, a light beige color, on my tips and then topped it off with CND Super Shiney.

I really like this gradient because it’s basic and simple but still has a bit of style. Hope you are enjoying the start of this Labour Day weekend Polish Addicts!

PS – I am holding onto Julep Hand Scrub in one of my pictures, it makes my hands really smooth!

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Canucks Gradient

Today is another gradient Friday! Polish addicts, can you guess what this was inspired by? For this week, I used a wet gradient method for this color combination. I used Wet N' Wild Hallucinate for my first coat, let it dry for a little bit, then layered on Sally Hansen HD Resolution on the top 2/3 of my nails, and finally on the top 1/3 of my nails I used Nicole by OPI Me + Blue, a shimmery dark blue. I added one more coat of Wet N' Wild Hallucinate and sealed this all with Seche Vite and CND Super Shiney to give it more of a jelly look.

Polish more soon!

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Believe.in.Blue.

Although my heart hurts from the last two games, I still believe in our boys. This is a quick mani I did before heading to watch the game. I used China Glaze Blue Iguana, a shimmery foil-like blue with blue and fuchsia microglitter. The formulation was a bit watery but it was workable. I used 2 coats in my picture, but it will need more to be opaque as it is on the sheer side.

Next, I layered on OPI Dating a Royal for a deeper blue, and lined my stripes with ArtClub nail art pen in white, and striped on the green line with my striping brush and CND Green Scene.

Click here for my other Canucks nail art design. Other links will link to full swatches of the colors used.

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CND Green Scene

Today marks the first official day of Spring. CND Green Scene is the perfect spring green to start off the season. It applied smoothly and the formulation was good. It was opaque in two coats. Lots of new nail design ideas for spring – I cannot wait to show all of you polish addicts!

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Sophisticated Strawberries

It was quite sunny yesterday and I thought perhaps spring was here. Warmer weather, gorgeous sun, flowers in bloom...what bliss! I was in a great mood and dressed for spring, but alas, the sun was deceiving and it was quite cold. I still got some sunny pictures in, so it was a good day.

I decided to paint my nail into little strawberries because it is a pattern on my March NailUp! Calendar. I used 2 coats of China Glaze Ahoy! from their Anchors Away collection as my base coat. It is a gorgeous raspberry color with pink glitter. Application was smooth and it was opaque in 2 coats. Maybe I should have painted raspberries instead? I used Sally Hansen White Out for my dots and tips and CND Green Scene for the leaves. Here is how to paint your own.

1) Choose and paint a base color for your strawberry (red, pink, raspberry etc…)
2) Sponge white/light pink on at the tips for a more realistic looking strawberry
3) Paint the leaves on using a green polish – you can paint rounder leaves if you are going for a cuter look
4) Top with your favourite top coat and you are done!

Polish addicts, I will announce something exciting this Friday so stay tuned!

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A peek of Spring

Here is a quick and fun nail design I saw on Youtube and decided to do myself. This is done on top of Lancome Lavande. I used ArtClub deco in white and black and silver to paint the leaves and the petals. I topped it all off with a coat of CND Super Shiney. Spring is almost here! Yay!

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Sue Vs. Shue

Sue Vs. Shue (Sephora by OPI, Glee collection) is a dark shimmery blue. I really like the color as it is not as dark as OPI Russian Navy. It was opaque in two coats and application for this color was very smooth. I used CND Super Shiney as my top coat. Just for kicks, I layered Celibacy Club over this color as well. Polish addicts, what are some of your favourite dark blues?

*EDIT* this polish is a GLEE mini set exclusive

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Pink Plaid

It is finally February so now I can try out some Valentine’s Day themed nail designs! Up first is a cute feminine plaid design that I saw in a magazine and painted my own version. I used 2 thick coats of Nox Chiffon as my base color. Next, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme in Black Out, White On, and Twisted Pink to paint my plaid stripes. Finally, I used China Glaze Cheers to You and silver striping tape to line my smile line. I topped it all off with CND super shiney.

More valentine day nail art to come!

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A World of Compassion

SpaRitual A World of Compassion is a gorgeous blue cream with hints of grey and purple undertone. It applied very well and was opaque in 2 coats. I am wearing no top coat in the first picture and CND Super Shiney in the latter pictures. I used Konad plate M56 with their special white polish to stamp on the bow design on the thumb and ring finger.

Tomorrow is the last day of the giveaway! Click here to enter if you haven’t already.

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Canucks nail art

It is the 40^th anniversary of the Vancouver Canucks. I got to watch the first season opener (as a volunteer!), and although the boys played a good game, it was unfortunate that we lost in SO. For the occasion, I painted my nails in the Canuck colors! I used 2 coats of OPI Dating a Royal, CND Green Scene, and OPI Alpine Snow for the colors and they worked perfectly. For the finer details, I used ArtClub Black and Sally Hansen nail art pen 01. They have another game tonight and hopefully the results will make me happier. Go Canucks Go! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in Canada J

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Floral Design

The flowers in my backyard just bloomed and they are gorgeous. I love flowers, especially roses and gerbera daisies. It’s another sunny day here, so I decided to take advantage of it and do another swatch. I used Revlon 185 Lilac as my base coat. I am wearing three coats in the pictures and it took that many to be opaque. The handling on Revlon’s brushes are not the best and the formulation is streakier than I would like. It may not look like it in the picture but close up I can still see streaks. However, the color is really pretty although it has more of a pink undertone than most of my lilacs.

Due to the streaks, I decided to add some designs and watched some tutorials on youtube on how to make roses. I used OPI Hoodoo Voodoo and ArtClub Lilac as my pinks for the roses. For the leaves, I combined Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money and China Glaze For Audrey together. I thought that drawing roses on all five fingers would be a little much; therefore I kept the design on my middle finger simple. I painted a white French tip and lined the smile line with jewels. I used CND Super Shiney (not a spelling mistake, that’s what it’s called!) Top Coat on top and it gives a great shine to all my nails.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! I’m going to go enjoy some more sun. Thanks for reading J

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Funky Tips

Here are the tips that I submitted for this week's challenge at Polish Hoarder Disorder. I think just doing tips is such a fun way to accentuate your nails, and it allows some of your nail to get some oxygen and breathe! There are just so many designs out there for tips and I've seen some pretty amazing ones in magazines and on YouTube. These two are my version of the design that I've seen on others and there are still so many I want to try.

For my "minnie mouse" manicure I used ESSIE Really Red for the tips, OPI Alpine Snow for the dots, silver striping polish, and star stickers for my thumb with a coat of top coat.

For the other manicure I used China Glaze For Audrey, white striping polish, and CND Super Shiney Top Coat (i was so excited when I got this, it's amazing)

Thanks for stopping by!

PS- If you noticed that my nail shape has changed it is because I decided to trim down my nails for it to grow again and let my natural nails breathe for a couple of days - hopefully it'll grow fast!

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Ahoy Matey!

It's been a crazy weekend with lots to do as family has come to visit! The nautical nail theme has been quite popular lately, so I decided to have a go at it. I've seen some marvelous designs, some elaborate with great details or some multi-colored ones. However, I wanted something simple but still cute so I opted for this design.

Indoor with sunlight streaming in

Outdoor with sunlight @ the beach

This is similar to the pink french tip I posted early but with a slight variation. I painted the tips blue with a stripe polish, then added 2 white lines near the top of the nail after. I finished it off with CND Effects Sapphire Sparkle to give it a shimmery effect that is similar to when the sun hits the water during the day. To finish off this nail design, you can opt to draw an anchor on one of your fingers. A tutorial for drawing anchors can be found at my friend's site here. I just drew mine freehand and added a jewel at the top.

The blue tips needed 2 coats, but I think 1 coat would do if you had a more opaque polish. One trick I learned to paint tips that I will share with you here:

1) Take the brush and hold it vertically near the tips of your nail

2) Start on left side of your nail

3) Rotate your FINGER left to right while holding your brush in the same spot

*This example is for painting your left hand, do the opposite for steps 2 and 3 when painting your right hand*

All done! :) You'll be surprised how straight it comes out and how easy it is to do. Hope this helps! Thanks for reading!

PS- starting from today's post when you click on the image, it'll appear bigger in a separate window

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China Glaze Second-Hand Silk

China Glaze Second-Hand Silk is a pastel pink color that leans towards the brighter side. I really like the color and the I wanted to create something fun with my nails so I did a simple design that is similar to a French Tip.

I used this polish as a French Tip, and then afterwards used my white stripping polish to draw a singular line right underneath. Both only required one coat and it still showed up quite well. Over top of the nail, I used my new CND Effects Raspberry Sparkle on top to give it a bit of a sparkle.

The results turned out quite nicely, and I really enjoyed how natural it looked and how easily it worked with my outfits. This picture is taken on Day 4 after application so there might be a bit of tip wear but I hope it's not too noticeable! Now that there is some sun, there will be better pics to come!

Clockwise: White Striping Polish, CND Effects Raspberry Sparkle, Lush Lemony Flutter


China Glaze Second-Hand Silk
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