Pins and Needles

Good morning everyone! Today I have another Valentine's Day mani that didn't turn out as perfectly as I had expected. This was the first time I've ever tried Needle Marbling, I was inspired after seeing Jacki from Adventures in Acetone's submission to the Cult Nails Facebook nail art contest. Jacki is incredibly talented and the wispy, smoke-like look of this manicure inspired me to try my own.

I mean, it's not terrible for my first time trying, but I wasn't exactly proud of this mani. I used a base of OPI Alpine Snow for every finger. My ring finger was the first one I did, using OPI Pink Friday, look at that big shiny bald spot just glaring at me! The next finger I tried was my pinky, and I thought I could make multicolour whisps and so I used OPI Strawberry Margarita and a drop of OPI Alpine Snow...it just turned out looking the same as the Pink Friday nail. Finally I got the hang of it around my middle finger, using OPI Strawberry Margarita and Quo by ORLY Red Hot. The last one I did was my index finger using OPI Strawberry Margarita. Keep reading after the jump for more photos!

OPI News and a Nail Fail

Hey guys! Just a quick post today to show you guys a few things that I am so excited for after seeing online! It looks like the next collection we can expect from OPI is their soft collection centered around the New York City Ballet! I think this is a lovely idea, I hope they're not all too sheer. Some pastel creams would make me squeal, and look at that glitter! This is a photo I found floating around online, it is not mine. 

I'm intrigued! I know Soft collections aren't a lot of people's favourite thing, but I feel like we have to remember that OPI doesn't cater exclusively to the nail-obsessed like us. They have an obligation to make products for normal people too ;) 

While I was looking for more information about this collection online I stumbled across this article in the New Zealand Herald that talks about the next collection after NYC Ballet:

"The brand also collaborates with celebrities (Nicki Minaj, Nicole Richie) and films (first Legally Blonde and most recently The Muppets). Later this year OPI will launch six sheer shades inspired by the New York City Ballet and the next movie collaboration will be a series of brights tied in with the new Spiderman flick, Weiss-Fischmann said."

Did you guys hear that? Spiderman? A series of brights tied in with Spiderman? Excuse me while I hyperventilate a little bit, this is so exciting! I wonder if they'll be as great as last year's Pirates of the Caribbean colours. Look at us, getting all excited before the Holland collection is even released, I just wanted to share the news that I snooped up online and let's hope that it's reliable!

Valentines for Unicorns

Hello everyone! I hope you've had a great weekend, I know I'm not ready for it to end yet. Today I have what was supposed to be the third post in my Valentine's Day series..but it kind of got lost along the way. I underestimated the opacity of Cult Nails Clairvoyant (formerly known as Unicorn Puke) and thought I could make a pretty purple-tinted pink flakie mani..not quite what happened.

This is two coats of Cult Nails Clairvoyant over two coats of OPI Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj collection. I really didn't think the purple in Clairvoyant was so obvious, but it ended up taking over my entire mani. It's not that I don't think this is beautiful, it's just not at all what I was expecting. Clairvoyant sure looks pretty here though, I guess it's not just for wearing over black. Keep reading for some more photos of this purple spin on Valentine's Day.

Flirty Polka Dots

I am so excited to show you guys today's mani because it is using a new polish that my ex-roommate brought me from New Jersey. I knew I had to buy this colour because of the name, and because Kayla Shevonne recommended it and said it was one of her favourite polishes of all time! Do you know which one it is yet?

If you guessed Illamasqua Load, you're right! For this mani I used Load as a base, then my dotting tools and OPI Pink Friday, OPI Strawberry Margarita, and Quo by ORLY Red Hot for the polka dots. Another tip I learned from Kayla's blog was filling in some of the polka dots with the base colour to make them look hollow. (Can I just admit that I originally wrote "holo" and not "hollow" .. nail blogger problems!) 

I think my bottle of Seche Vite is getting too gloopy to use, look at what it did to this mani :( Keep reading for more pics!

Pink Zebra Gradient

Hello there lovely followers and welcome to the first installment of my Valentine's Day 2012 series! I love Valentine's Day, I think it's a lovely holiday and I don't really care if it's "too commercial," I think it's sweet. Over the next two and a half weeks I'm going to be showing you guys some designs that I might wear for V-Day. Without further adieu, my Pink Zebra Gradient mani..

So let me try to offer an explanation for my giant gap first of all. When I sat down to do this mani I was going to water marble, but maybe it was too cold or something but none of my polishes were spreading. I had put down a base of OPI Steady as She Rose but assuming I would be marbling, I'd clean up the mani after. Buuuuut..that never happened so now I have a messy and large gap, sorry!

To get this look I layered two coats of OPI Steady as She Rose, then I sponged on OPI Pink Friday, and finally used a sponge and OPI Strawberry Margarita for the tips. I stamped with China Glaze Liquid Leather and Konad plate m57. I really liked the way these looked and I got a tonne of compliments. Even my roommate who is apathetic towards nails was intrigued. Keep reading for more photos!

It's My Year!

Hey everyone! This is actually the last post that I have pictures for that I took over the winter break with my Dad's DSLR, so we're back to point and shoot pics after today :( This is an OPI I bought a while ago, the same time I bought Crown Me Already! but I hadn't yet gotten around to using it. I know it's not an original colour and a lot of you might be tired of seeing it, but it's so pretty I couldn't resist.

So clearly this polish is a purple base with tons of gold shimmer. It's really pretty and in the bottle I adore it, but I don't know if it's my favourite on my nails. I don't know what it is about it, but I'm not as in love as I thought I would be. 

Here it is inside under really low lighting. It looks more pink than purple here but look at the gold in the bottle! Keep reading for some more pictures.

Unicorn's Night Out

Hey everyone, are you having a good weekend? Aside from a little personal drama last night, I am! I went out for brunch this morning with a bunch of friends.. I don't think a swimming pool of Hollandaise sauce would be enough to satisfy me, yum! Today I have a polish that I swatched FOREVER ago and I can't believe I'm just posting it now. Anyways, this is the beautiful and famous Cult Nails Clairvoyant (formerly known as Unicorn Puke).

Shown is two coats of Clairvoyant over China Glaze Liquid Leather. I can't get over all the colours, this polish is seriously pretty. I'll let you in on a little secret and tell you that you'll be seeing it again soon..

Quit Teasing!

Hey everyone! How are you guys doing today? I'm so happy this week is going by quickly, I just want January and February to hurry up and leave so I can have spring! Today I'm sporting OPI Tease-y Does It from the beautiful Burlesque collection. I can't even name off how many colours this polish shows off in the sunlight, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Did you guys pick up any polishes from this collection? Keep reading for some more pics!

Bogotá Blackberry

I think the title of the post gave this one away, but today I'm going to show you OPI Bogotá Blackberry. One of my dreams is to visit Bogotá someday, and this has been one of my favourite colours for a while.

How can one not love this beautiful shimmery red? Keep reading for more photos!

Oldschool Duochrome!

Yes, you heard me right, DUOCHROME. Actually..maybe even multichrome! Look at this baby! I got this quite a few years ago and at the time I liked it, put it on, realized it turned brown, and took it off because I thought brown nail polish was horrendous! When I was home this past December/January I dug this little gem up and WOW! It hasn't quite satisfied my lemming for some MariMoons but it'll tide me over until I can buy some.. Let me just warn you now, this is a pic-heavy post. Behold the beauty of Rimmel Zeitgeist!

LOOK AT THAT! Purple/coppery brown goodness.. I'm speechless. And yes, this was indeed ONE COAT. Are you sold yet?

Here it is with the flash looking very purple.

Please please please keep reading for some more pictures, this polish can't be ignored! 

Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes

So, if you hadn't noticed this is going to give it away, I am still posting photos that I took while I was at home. Today I have a pretty little mani I did for my Mama while I was there. She gives me free reign over her nails when I'm at home, especially after the success that was the Christmas mani that I did for her. I think my mom really liked these nails, I know it's something I want to try on myself soon. Without further adieu..roses!

The background colour is China Glaze For Audrey, the roses are made using OPI Strawberry Margarita and Pink Friday, the leaves were OPI Green-wich Village and Did It On 'Em. What do you guys think? Keep reading for more pictures and a strange coincidence..

Eats Shoots and Leaves

Hey guys! How has the weekend been treating you? Today I have a ridiculously cute mani to show you, panda bears! I kept my base colour of Joe Fresh Mallard and used OPI Alpine Snow and China Glaze Liquid Leather to make the bears. For the bamboo shoots, I used China Glaze Sunset Sail and OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys. What do you guys think of these, cuter with the eyes or without? I can't decide!

I think they look a little deer-in-headlights with the eyes, but still super cute! Keep reading for more pics!

Quack

Hey guys! It's finally Friday! How has your first week back to the routine been? I feel like this week dragged on forever, I already have so much to do this weekend. Today I have Joe Fresh Mallard to show you guys. The only other Joe Fresh polish I had tried was Grape and I didn't much like it, but Mallard was a delight to work with. It was nearly a one coater but I used two for my swatches to make sure it looked nice. Although I'm not a fan of the Joe Fresh brush, it was manageable.

I love the finish of this polish, it is so glossy and smooth. The photos are without topcoat. Keep reading for more pics!

Αγαπώ βερνίκι νυχιών

What does that title say? I don't know, it's all Greek to me. What a coincidence..that's the name of the polish I'm sporting for today's post! I noticed that Mandy put this as one of her lemmings on our wishlist page, and I realized that I bought it quite a while ago but it remained untried! Well, it must be somewhat special if Mandy wants it so why not swatch it? OPI It's All Greek to Me is a lovely pink/fuchsia shimmer that surprised me! It's not at all frosty and has a great formula, I used two coats for the photos seen below.

Keep reading for some more photos of this beautiful, bright pink polish!

Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows

This might actually be one of my favourite manis to date, and it's something I want to try over and over again because each nail is so different. Behold...what I tried to make look like stained glass but it just ended up looking like sno-cone behind white bars!

What do you guys think?! The colours I used for the sponging, which might be my new obsession, were OPI Did It On 'Em, Fly, Funkey Dunkey, Pink Friday and The Thrill of Brazil, China Glaze Papaya Punch, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightning all over a base of OPI Alpine Snow. I'm thrilled with how this turned out!

Exam Break!

Hey guys! Just to let you know what I will be up to in the following weeks, exam break has officially started (I had my first one today - Social essay) and I am going into battle mode! Well, not literally. But exams are pretty stressful you've got to admit. So, I will try my best to change up my nails at least once each week, if I cannot manage that, sorry! Something new will be coming up shortly though, my tape nails design is already chipping. I don't have to go to school for basically the whole month though so technically no one is seeing my nails... But I'll still do them for you! :)

Thanks and good luck to everyone who has exams!
Mandy

Gold Plated

Ready for the second day back to the routine? I'm excited to try out my new classes today, it's Tuesday meaning I have Social Psychology and History of Latin America since 1825. I'm predicting these to be my two favourite classes, and therefore Tuesdays and Thursdays to be my favourite days. What classes do you have today, or are you working? Still on vacation?
As you saw yesterday I put on two coats of Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, but I wanted to spice it up a little bit. The other day I picked up makeup sponges and used them for the first time in my sock monkey mani, but this time I wanted to try a different type of sponging, sort of like a gradient! Here goes!

I love how these two look together! I used Quo by ORLY Filthy Rick as the gold polish.

Jamaica Me Crazy

How about a nice bright fuchsia to colour your Monday happy! Today I have Essie Jamaica Me Crazy to show you. My mom is going on a cruise at the end of this month which stops in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica! I told her she HAS to paint her toenails with this before she leaves, and then I regretted leaving my bottle of OPI Cozu-melted in the Sun in Montreal. Jamaica Me Crazy is a beautiful shimmery magenta-fuchsia colour and I used two coats for the photos below.

Keep reading for some more photos!

Monkey Business

Hey everyone, hope you're enjoying the weekend! I'm enjoying the last weekend before going back to school on the red eye tonight. I feel like such a complainer, but it's time to get started with the new semester! I tried some nail art out that was inspired by my childhood, haha! I used to have a sock monkey, but one of my friends took it and sold it in her garage sale, I was devastated. For my nephew's first birthday I bought him a classic sock monkey because they're just so cute, and they remind me of when I was little and my long lost friend. 

I started with two coats of China Glaze Pelican Gray, then I mixed some Pelican Gray with black and sponged that over to get the look of the grey sock fabric. I used OPI Alpine Snow for the mouth area and OPI The Thrill of Brazil for the actual mouth. They eyes were made using a dotting tool and China Glaze Liquid Leather. Admittedly, their mouths kind of look scary, they were pretty hard to do with just a dotting tool and not a striping brush. 

We Drew Our Own Constellations

Hello everyone! Happy weekend! Actually, I'm not too happy it's the weekend, because I go back to Montreal tomorrow night which means.. cooking, cleaning, none of my friends and family from home, and perhaps worst of all no dog. You know how some people get bored over the holidays and want to get back to their routine? That's not me.

Today I have one of my untrieds for you that I spiced up a little! I usually don't like how blues look on me and I decided OPI Russian Navy would probably just disappoint me, so I hadn't tried it until now. This polish is SO pretty.. I'm actually considering taking it to Montreal with me if only because it would make a perfect background for a galaxy mani..hmm. While not wanting to go full galaxy I decided to dot constellations on my nails with Revlon Metallic. I only needed one coat of Russian Navy for this look, although two probably would have been nice to even it out.

Do you know which constellations these are? Keep reading for more pics and to find out!

Taped Off

Hey guys! I wanted to play up OPI Take the Stage a little bit, and I decided to do a tape mani! Now that I'm looking back on it.. this probably would've been a great idea around Halloween, perhaps black and orange weren't a genius colour combination for early January. Anyways, here we go..

I used China Glaze Liquid Leather over the orange and some scotch tape. I love the way this looks, I love clean lines. 

Burnt Orange

Hi! How are you guys doing today? Today I have a polish that has a special place in my heart, OPI Take the Stage. A friend bought this for me in a secret santa exchange and it was one of the first really nice nail polishes I ever had.. in case you're reading this Mark, thank you! Take the Stage is a beautiful burnt orange foil, it is so unique! This polish has perfect application, there are no streaks even though it is a lovely metallic. I can't get over how much I love this polish, I've never seen something quite like it.

Keep reading for some more photos of this gem!

At the Beach

Well..I can always wish I was at the beach, can't I? Not that I should complain too much, it has been a VERY mild winter so far this year for Canada, but it's always nice to go to the beach and with the polish I have on today I can pretend I'm there! I have Essie's Beach Bum Blu, which might be the first time an Essie has been posted on this blog, although definitely not the first time I've worn one. This past summer I alternated between Beach Bum Blu and Jamaica Me Crazy on my toenails, since we were allowed to wear flip flops to work (okay..it was American Eagle..not that strict of a dress code). After photographing this polish I'm not sure I will wear it on my fingers because it is a little streaky but it is great for my toes!

It gives me lobster hands to some extent, but it's such a pretty colour I can put up with it for a little while. I used two coats of Beach Bum Blu for my photos, which you can see more of after the jump!

Amazing/Terrible News

I hope that doesn't sound too scary! Let's get to the bad news first.. the lovely Llarowe made a little mistake with  the dates and put the Lynnderella polishes up on her site today instead of tomorrow, and it turns out I was stuck shopping for bathing suits with my mom this morning. I had alarms set and everything to pick up Connect the Dots and The Glittering Crowd, I'm just so sad. I admit, I cried when I found out. But not enough crying to be pathetic, just a little bit. Of course I'm not upset with Leah Ann she does wonders with her website, I guess I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! Onto the better news..I did manage to get two new polishes today..because....

YES! That's right! Two free Zoyas, you only pay shipping! Go go go what are you waiting for?! I picked up Avery and Veruschka! I hope you guys managed to have a better day than I did.
xoxo - Nikki

Gold Foil Comparison

Today I have a comparison of two gold foils to show you guys. I mentioned wanting to compare these two a little while ago when I introduced Filthy Rich by Quo by ORLY in this post, and now that I'm back in Calgary I have access to a gold polish I bought a while ago but left at home. I was certain these were dupes, but I'm happy to see that they are in fact quite different!

On my index and ring finger I have Quo by ORLY Filthy Rich and on my middle and ring fingers I have Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Gilty Pleasure. Filthy Rich has a hint of silver and it's more sparkly than Gilty Pleasure, which is a little streaky. More photos after the jump!

'Cause Baby You're a Firework

Good morning! Today I'm going to show you guys the mani I wore on New Year's Eve, even though I didn't end up doing much to bring in the new year I wanted to have nice nails. You know..they say the way you spend midnight is the way you'll spend the rest of the year, so having a nice mani was pretty important. This design was obviously inspired by New Year's Eve fireworks, which I didn't even see in Calgary, oh well!

I just used my dotting tools over my previous manicure which was ORLY Androgynie. The colours I used for the fireworks were China Glaze Hey Sailor and Papaya Punch, and OPI Did It On 'Em, Fly, and Funkey Dunkey. Keep reading for some more pictures!

Happy 2012!

Hey everybody, I hope you had a great New Year's Eve! What did you do, and more importantly, what did you wear on your nails? Today I have ORLY Androgynie to show you. I eagerly awaited the release of this polish and once I saw a bottle shot I knew I had to have it. This was actually the first polish I ever ordered on eBay, and it came so quickly! Anyways, onto the actual polish.. Androgynie has a sick name, it's also a black jelly filled with what may be silver or perhaps holographic microglitter as well as a few different colours of hex glitter. This polish makes me think of fish scales, kind of like the Rainbow Fish, but I've also heard it's like the galaxy. I personally don't see it.

Now I had heard a lot about this polish, horrible application and it looks nothing like the bottle. How did I get it to look like this you might ask? I used a sewing needle to place the large hex glitters :( I was so sad that the rumours about this polish being bad were true!