Splatter Mani

Hey everyone!
I'm so sorry for my absence recently - but as I'm sure many of you know it's getting close to final exams and my nails are the last thing on my mind. I've been meaning to try out the splatter mani technique for a while, and I fell in love with this one that Sarah from Chalkboard Nails did as a guest post on Fashion Polish - I'm sure you all know of these two blogs but if you don't they are ones to add to your list!

For this look I started with two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones. I then used a straw and began splattering using China Glaze Liquid Leather, OPI Alpine Snow, Revlon Metallic, Quo by ORLY Filthy Rich, and for the first time ever A England Lady of the Lake! 

Keep reading for some more photos!

OPI Pirouette My Whistle Comparison

Hey everyone! Who's excited for the long weekend - I am! When I first saw Pirouette My Whistle from the OPI New York City Ballet collection I wanted to know how similar it is to OPI Crown Me Already from last summer's Miss Universe Collection. Pirouette My Whistle has medium matte silvery-white hex glitter and silver microglitter, while Crown Me Already has three different sizes of metallic silver hex glitter and silver microglitter. The matte glitter in Pirouette My Whistle is what makes it stand out to me, it's not as attention grabbing as most glitters, instead it adds a feminine touch to a jelly or creme finish.

I layered one coat of each glitter over China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. Crown Me Already is on my pinky and middle fingers and Pirouette My Whistle on the index and ring fingers.

Keep reading for more photos!

OPI New York City Ballet - Comparisons

Hi everybody! (I feel like Dr. Nick when I say that). I've noticed that quite a few people in the nail community are saying that a lot of the shades from OPI's NYC Ballet collection look the same on the nail, and so I've done some swatches of the four shades side by side.

This picture is from my original swatches, it shows each colour photographed in the shade.

Keep reading to see the comparisons!

OPI New York City Ballet - Swatches and Review

Hello! Today I have five of the six shades from OPI's annual SoftShades collection to show you, and this year's theme is the New York City Ballet. Though I have never been a fan of sheer shades like this before, I have to admit there are a few winners in this collection, and don't even get me started on how perfect the glitter is.

A word of warning, this post is going to be extremely picture heavy!

Dopamina

It's finally Friday! Are you guys ready for the weekend? I am. Today I have a mani that I'd been planning for a while, it wasn't quite executed as I would've hoped so I think I'll try it again - but it's a cool idea. I have a Psyc midterm on Tuesday so I thought why not do something related. On that note I present to you, neurotransmitter nails!

As you may have noted from the title of this post, this is Dopamine! If you're wondering how I usually title my posts, I just search my iTunes library for something relevant, I have to confess that a lot of my music on this laptop is Spanish. 

I'm sorry I've been MIA - but I promise I'll have some exciting posts this upcoming week.

New OPI News

Good morning everyone! I just have a few photos to pass along to you guys that OPI has posted on their facebook page in the past few weeks - they just can't stop sharing the new collections! First up we have the Spider-Man collection that I told you about a few weeks ago. 

This collection is supposed to hit the shelves this May! The colours from left to right are Shatter the Scales, Your Web or Mine?, Call Me Gwen-Ever, Into the Night, My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Number One Nemesis and Just Spotted the Lizard.

I can not WAIT to get Just Spotted the Lizard!

This is the most exciting news of all for me, an OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse themed collection for June 2012! What perfect summer pedicure colours. The are from left to right  I'm All Ears, Nothin' Mousie 'bout it, If You Moust You Moust and The Color of Minnie.

I can't even explain to you how much I love the looks of Nothin' Mousie 'bout It.

Woah what is that! A sneak peak of the upcoming Fall 2012 collection which is Germany themed! I love OPI's country themed collections. The names for these are  My Very First Knockwurst, Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Berlin There Done That, Dont Talk Bach to Me, Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, Schnapps Out of It, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Every Month is Oktoberfest, Unfor-greta-bly Blue, Deutsche You Want Me Baby, Danke-Shiny Red & German-icure by OPI.

From these shots I'm looking forward to the first five the most - I am a sucker for pretty cremes.

What do you guys think of ALL this news? I know it's a lot to take in at once. What are some of the shades you're looking forward to most?

I got all these photos from the OPI fan page on Facebook, you should "like" them to be among the first to get the scoop on upcoming collections.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Hello and happy Saturday! I think after a week of trying to get the perfect manicure to submit to Rebecca Likes Nails' contest, I finally have one I'm willing to submit! If you've been reading my posts for the past week you're probably sick of hearing this, but as a recap the theme is "gradients, animal prints, bows, dots, and Hello Kitty." My friend Anisha, who helped me with the logistics of how to combine so many themes into one manicure, and I have been coming up with tons of ideas to find the perfect submission for the contest. If you're visiting my page for the first time it'd be great if you could check out my other potential submissions: here, here, and here.

I'm so pleased with how this mani turned out! Keep reading for more photos and to see the colours I used to create this look.

Waves of Dots

Hey guys! Today I have a third potential submission to the nail art contest that Rebecca Likes Nails is hosting. This is another design that my friend Anisha came up with, but she has since informed my that I didn't quite execute it properly. I tried to do a polka dot gradient but instead of straight lines think like a sine wave.

While this looks pretty cool it's not quite what I had in mind, story of my nail-art-life recently! 

Keep reading for more photos!

Shades of Blue

Good morning! Today I have another potential entry into Rebecca Likes Nails' nail art contest! Just to remind you, the theme is based upon Rebecca's favourite things: Hello Kitty, gradients, bows, animal print, and dots. I keep trying to fit as many of her favourite things into my manis, and I'm hoping to find a winner to submit!

My genius friend Anisha suggested that instead of trying to combine all five themes on top of each other, like my previous mani, that I put two of them together and make gradient dots! That way it's not so in your face, but it still follows the theme! Anisha also told me that I should try adding ears to my Hello Kitty accent nail. I'm still not sold on the ears.

I've never done gradient polka dots before and I can't get over how nice they look! Although blue is one of the colours I don't wear too often by itself, I had quite a few options and by mixing the colours with white I was able to get a pretty nice gradient.

Keep reading for more photos and to see the colours used.

Hello Pastel Gradient

Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA this week, I haven't even been that busy I just loved my last mani so much I put off removing it until just the other day. Today I have my first potential entry into Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails' nail art contest! I am determined to win the $25 giftcard to Ninja Polish, so I'm going to be trying out a few designs and hopefully you guys can give me some feedback! 
To give you context for the challenge, Rebecca wants to see nails that are all about her favourite things! If you've ever read Rebecca's blog, you'll understand why she chose "gradients, animal print, bows, dots, and Hello Kitty" as the theme for this competition. I had mapped out a few designs in my head, wanting to include all of the themes to maximize my chances of winning, but I'm having trouble coming up with designs that aren't too tacky, for lack of a better word. 

So in this design I have tried to incorporate a pastel gradient, polka dots, Hello Kitty and of course her bow! I used OPI Pink Friday for the accent nail and for the pink in the gradient, OPI Do You Lilac It? for the purple in the gradient, China Glaze For Audrey for the blue in the gradient, OPI Alpine Snow for the polka dots and Hello Kitty's face, Quo by ORLY Red Hot for her pretty little bow, China Glaze Liquid Leather for the black features, and one tiny drop of Love & Beauty yellow.
Keep reading for some more photos.