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!