Looking Forward to the Bright Future Ahead

In the beginning when I first approached Nikki to start a nail blog, we were two co-workers that bonded over our love of nail polish. This shared passion turned into Cutie-cles, a nail blog whose claim to fame was having not one, but two authors both full-time students from Canada. We never knew that Cutie-cles would grow to be so big in just a short amount of time. Little did we know that we would get almost 300, 000 pageviews to date! As the pageviews and followers grew, so did our love for the blog as it seemed to be making its way through the blogosphere, opening new doors for us both. After almost 2 years of being live on the web, we both have learned so much about our favourite hobby and have bettered our skills through this blog. Now believe me, creating a blog is not an easy feat. Everything from taking good quality photographs to writing detailed posts is time consuming down to the pixel. However, what is even harder is getting your blog out there to gain exposure. Through Cutie-cles, we learnt how the process of blog-making is and cherish how wonderful it has been. My once seemingly crazy idea has now grown into something worthwhile with both of our collective efforts.

As you, may have noticed, I have not been posting on Cutie-cles for quite some time now. Due to my crazy schedule of balancing English and Chinese school, two jobs, extracurricular activities and the blog, it was not possible for me to put as much time as I probably should have into Cutie-cles. However, I still saw it as an outlet to share my passion with the world. But as time passed, school got harder with senior year and plans for university looming above my head. That is why since September, I seem to have been the invisible partner of Cutie-cles and I just wanted to take some time today to tell you my reason for doing so. 

Now you are probably wondering, what is the purpose of this post? Well Nikki and I would like to share some bittersweet news with the Cutie-cles community. We have decided to disband Cutie-cles and instead create individual, personal blogs. Multiple factors were considered when this decision was made and we feel that it is the best way for each of us to cater our posting schedules and to not feel late or dragged down by the other. We feel this is going to allow us to express our passions in the most efficient way and we hope you understand our reasons for doing so. 

For this transition, Nikki will be operating out of the same platform as Cutie-cles but under a different domain and name. Her posts from Cutie-cles will still be visible, but the name Cutie-cles is defunked as of today. As for myself, I unfortunately will be starting brand new without the help of the Cutie-cles platform and am working under a new domain and name - Nails & Threads. This is a fashion and nail blog featuring many OOTD's, hauls, nail art, swatches and reviews. I have found that blogging solo has allowed me to create better posting schedules and I would love for you to check out my work! This marks the end of Cutie-cles and we hope you continue to journey with us on our new adventures. We know this may be disappointing to many readers and we want to give you time to adjust to these plans. Therefore, we would like to give you the opportunity to take a look at our respective, new blogs to see what we have to offer as individual authors. This transitional phase will last for one month, officially ending Cutie-cles and our partnership on July 3, 2013.

- Mandy

To clarify, this means that you will not see any posts in your feed coming from this blog for one month, but that doesn't mean I won't be stockpiling manicures to show off! You may have noticed things have been a bit slower on the blog for the past couple of months, I've been struggling with posting under the name Cutie-cles while knowing that the blog will be dissolved, but ultimately I have realized that I don't post because of the blog, I post to the blog as a creative outlet and to share manicures with a community that I love. I can't wait to start this new journey and see what blogging solo will be like. I'd like to thank everyone who has ever visited out blog, as well as Mandy for pushing me to start a blog with her and being a great partner.

- Nikki

We value all the support and encouragement our lovely readers have bestowed upon us these past two years and we hope to continue our relationships with you as we look forward to new opportunities. Thank you for being the best readers anyone could ever have and we hope to see you soon on our new blogs. This is the end and beginning of something great!

To view Mandy's blog click here

A link to Nikki's blog will be posted at the end of the transitional period, once the URL and domain names have been modified.

Sincerely,

Mandy & Nikki

Born Pretty Store Review - Water Decals

Hello everyone! Today I have one more product from the Born Pretty Store to review for you guys! I was given the chance to pick two items and the second one I chose was some water decals to incorporate in my nail art. The package I chose is currently not available on the website, but here is a link to the section where the rest of their water decals and water tattoos are.

This is the first of three manicures that I put together to show off these water decals and I chose to start out with a nautical theme! These are really easy to use, you simply cut out the decal, submerge it in warm water for 10 seconds, then press it onto your nail. I had no problems with these smudging and I had less than perfect application skills.

The blue colour I used is OPI Eurso Euro, the white and red accent nail used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where?

These come off very easily with nail polish remover and are in my opinion a great addition to anyone's collection as they are really quick and easy nail art.

There were some cute star decals on the sheets that I received so I threw together this manicure for you guys to see how well these transfer. Look at the detail on the stars on my middle finger, I was amazed that all those little dots make it onto my nails!

I couldn't resist doing a princess themed manicure with the crowns and bows that were on this sheet of decals. The light pink is OPI Mod About You.

I was in love with this manicure and I kept it on for quite a few days!

I am really pleased with this product from Born Pretty Store and I think that I will be ordering some more of their nail decals as they make nail art so easy to do. The trickiest part of using these is placing them straight on your nails, I had some troubles with this in my nautical manicure but I think I mostly had it figured out by the end.  These are another product that I wholeheartedly recommend, even for nail art beginners.

As always, Cutie-cles readers can save 10% on your Born Pretty Store purchase just by using the code BQL91 which you can find permanently on the sidebar on the right side of this page. This code can be used on all your orders, it's not just a one-time thing! 

Could you see yourself purchasing these nail decals? If you have any questions about the application process let me know and I'll answer you in the comments!

Born Pretty Store Review - Black Studs

Good afternoon everyone! Today I have an awesome manicure to show off with some products that I was sent from Born Pretty Store to review for my readers. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I have been purchasing nail art supplies from this store for ages and I'm always happy with the products, these black studs are no different!

Wow - that's bright! This is Quo by ORLY Femme Fatale and here is a link to the exact studs that I was sent to review. I chose black, but there are quite a few options! I just stuck them on while my manicure was tacky, which means before it had dried completely, and sealed it in with some top coat.

These studs are 3D and here you can see a photo of just how much they are raised off the nail.

These blacks studs were very easy to use and they're great for nail art. This manicure literally took me less than ten minutes and it sure looks edgy.  The Born Pretty Store has tons of nail art supplies like this, and Cutie-cles readers can get 10% off their order every time with the coupon code BQL91 which you can find in the sidebar on the right of this page! Tomorrow I have one more product from the Born Pretty Store to review for you guys so check back then!

OPI Couture de Minnie - Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Sorry for the little break in posting, we had pouring rain for the past couple days and I couldn't take any pictures of my nails. Today I have some swatches of a new OPI collection to make it up to you! I was lucky enough to receive three of the polishes from this summer collection to review for you - here we go.

The first shade is a gorgeous light pink with a very subtle silver shimmer called Chic from Ears to Tail. For comparison purposes, this is a tad darker than OPI Pink Friday which makes it unique to my collection. 

I didn't have great luck with the formula on this colour unfortunately, shown in  my photos is three coats but they were fairly uneven and streaky. I used a coat of Seche Vite to get a nicer look, but it probably could have been resolved with a fourth coat. 

I was hoping you could see the silver shimmer in this photo, but it really is quite sparse. 

Here's a photo in the shade. This colour has a very jelly-ish finish to it because it's quite sheer. While I do like the look of this, if you're someone who prefers a creme with great coverage I would opt for a shade like OPI Pink Friday or OPI If You Moust You Moust.

This colour is called A Definite Moust-have and it is my favourite of the three I received. The colour shown in my photos isn't quite right, there is a little more coral to it, it's not a true raspberry, but it sure is pretty.

OPI A Definite Moust-have has a very nice silver shimmer to it which isn't shy like it is in the other polish. I used two coats here to even things out, but I think with a think coat you could get away with just one. This polish might work well for stamping!

I could absolutely see myself rocking this colour as a pedicure all summer.

The final polish that I have to show you is an amazing Liquid Sand polish called Magazine Cover Mouse. This is a reddy-coral with tons of gold sparkles that really catch the light in real life. 

This had a great formula just like the other Liquid Sand polishes that I have tried from OPI and I needed two easy coats to get this look! I have been wearing this polish to work for a couple of days and my coworkers keep complimenting me - also, no chips!

Overall I'm pleased with the three polishes I received to review. Each one is unique to my collection which is always tough to do with pinks and reds. The formula on Chic from Ears to Tail wasn't the easiest to work with, but this could just be a fluke bottle. The formula on the other two polishes were spot on and they will definitely be some of my go-to colours this summer. 

Have you picked up any colours from this collection yet? Which one of the above is your favourite?

Nude and Pastels

Hi guys! As I mentioned yesterday, today is my very first day back at work. I've been having a pretty nice time sitting around doing my nails, reading, and watching non-stop TLC and Stanley Cup Playoffs so it's a bit of a bummer to be headed back to work, but guess who can't wait to actually be earning money again! Anyway, today's nail art look came from me playing around with striping tape while watching hockey the other night and I really love this colour combinations!

The base colour is one of my favourites - OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, and the two pastel colours I used are Zoya Neely and OPI You're Such a Budapest.

Is it just me, or does the purple OPI polish lean periwinkle-blue in these photos? It sure looks a lot more lilac-esque in real life.

Thanks so much for reading guys! I'll let you know how my first day of work goes later this week!

Portions for Foxes

Hi guys! I hope you've had a great long weekend if you're in a country that celebrates Victoria Day. My boyfriend Daniel came home from his job up in the oil sands which was very nice! Some of you may notice that I'm debuting a new look on my nails today, I broke one of them and decided to file them into rounded tips instead of filing them all down. I'm still getting used to them, let me know what you think in the comments! Today I have a super cute fox design that I adapted from this super cute manicure.

The colours I used were both from the OPI The Amazing Spider-man collection from last year - Call Me Gwen-ever and My Boyfriend Scales Walls. The black polish I used is Quo by ORLY Little Black Dress.

I love these! They're so cute and they were way easier to do than I anticipated. I sure am enjoying having all this time to work on my nail art...but that might change soon - I start work tomorrow! It's pretty tough to find a job that's willing to take me for just 3 months before I head back to university, so I'm going back to my job at American Eagle that I've held on and off since May 2011. Wish me luck tomorrow getting back into the swing of things!

Colourful Striping Tape Manicure

Morning friends! Do you have any fun plans for the day? I have a fun striping tape manicure to show off on the blog today that I think you'll like. I did one using the first collection of Zoya PixieDusts that turned out really nicely and so I thought I would try it again - this time with cremes!

So colourful! I used OPI Funky Dunkey, OPI Fly, and Zoya Lara, as well as lots of Seche Vite to make sure that I could lay down the striping tape without pulling up the colours underneath.

Which nail is your favourite? I think the ring finger has my favourite design but I can't choose a favourite colour combination.

Do you like doing striping tape manicures, or are they just too time consuming?

Glequin Polka Dots

Hello everyone! I hope you're having a great day. Today I have an exciting manicure to show you, simple, but exciting. I can't quite put my finger on it but I love this look even though it was so easy to create.

Instead of doing a normal polka dot manicure using my dotting tools, I opted for placing some pink glequins in a polka dot pattern to get a similar effect. The base colour is Zoya Jacqueline, a gorgeous subdued yellow-beige colour.

I really love the combination of pink and yellow in this manicure, and the glequins dress up the look to make it more elegant than a normal polka dot look. I think this is definitely something I'll try again and again.

What is your favourite look to create with glequins? 

Beige and Blue Skittles Manicure

Good morning everyone! Today I have kind of a funny manicure to post about because I had a little mishap with one of the nails in this skittles look that is throwing me off. Here, you'll see what I mean.

Oops, check out that middle finger. I accidentally put down the tape and then painted with both the blue and the beige leaving a textured stripe. Well, other than that, I quite like this manicure!

The colours I used for this were OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh and China Glaze Secret Periwinkle, as well as some of my blue glequins. In my true nature, I think my favourite nail is the gradient one. 

Peach and Pink Gradient

Hi everyone! Sorry about the brief break in posting, I headed up to Edmonton for a few days to spend some time with my Grandparents. This is one of the designs that I did before we left for our little trip but forgot my memory card at home and couldn't post it! You guys have probably noticed how much I love gradients and now that I'm home with my entire polish collection I just have the urge to make gradients with every combination I see.

The two colours I used for this springy peach and pink gradient are Zoya Lara and Barry M Peach Melba, topped with some OPI Top Coat. Notice those weird little bumps on the manicure? The sponge that I used to create the gradient look shed a little bit - oops!

Here's a look in the shade. For some reason the blending looks a little better in the shade picture, agreed?

It's been such nice weather where I live lately, I am loving using bright spring and summer colours on my nails, especially pinks. What nail trends have you been hooked on lately?