NOTD Mar 27/13 - nude, black and silver glitter

Just a really quick and simple one today! I saw this look in Pinterest and thought it was very classy and pretty, so I had to try it out! I also finally spruced up my toes today! Feels good to be all polished up!

Colours are Essence in Black is Back, LA Girl in Romantic, and LA Girl Glitter Addict in Explosion.

NOTD March 17/13 - Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Happy St.Patrick's Day everyone! I worked today so I didn't get into any kinds of festivities, but I hope you're all having fun of some kind today!

I looove this mani.. I know I say that a lot, but it's OK to love a lot of things... and I really do love this. It's so simple but it has so much impact. I was an easy mani to do, even the clovers only used a dotting tool and took about 4 seconds each! I think too that this is a good format for other kinds of manis... ie: use red and pink glitter and do the white nail with a heart on it for Valentine's Day... you get the idea!

Anyways, here she is!

The white is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, the gold I layered under the glitter is Sally Hansen CSM in Gilty Pleasure, and the green I layered under the glitter is Sinful Colors in Envy. The gold glitter is Milani Jewel FX in Gold, and the green glitter is LA Girl Glitter Addict in Purge.

NOTD Feb 2/13 - simple Valentine's glitter fade

Sometimes simple manis happen because that's what you're in the mood for, and sometimes they happen because you have somewhere to be but then you realize your manicure is looking totally busted and it's time for a new one. And time is short, so you do the quickest thing you can think of! This manicure is the latter! But even if it was rushed, I still really like it. I love the contrast of the really sheer, soft pink and the bright red glitter - I don't think this would look as cool with an opaque pink polish.

The pink is Essence in Sweet as Candy, and the red glitter is LA Girl Glitter Addict in Animate.

NOTD Jan 27/13 - matte grey, simple and classy

On Pinterest this week I saw a photo of a very simply mattified grey manicure, and I was totally inspired - grey isn't a colour I use a lot. But being me, I couldn't do just matte grey. I wanted to keep it fairly simple and classy looking though, so I toyed around with some different ideas and settled on grey with white polka dots and an accent nail of silver glitter, all mattified.

I love how these turned out!!! They're simple but still different, totally classy but cute vibe to them. This would be cute in any colour combination but I'm loving the grey/silver/white look.

Colours I used were Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement and White On, and LA Girl Glitter Addict in Explosion. Top coat is GOSH Matt Effect.

Also, I think my indoor photo taking is a bit better this time. I messed around with the lighting in an editing program a bit and I think it worked nicely!

NOTD Jan 11/13 - Aruba Coconut tropical leaves

As many of you may know, I work at Bath & Body Works (although not for much longer!). This week we've begun receiving product for spring/summer, including the new 2013 repackages of the tropical themed Signature Collection products like Aruba Coconut, Bali Mango and Rio Rumberry.

You can already check them out on the website, although they won't be available in stores until after the weekend, but oh my goodness, the packaging is GORGEOUS. I knew I had to do some manicures inspired by them!

I started with Aruba Coconut. This mani is one of those ones I love the most when I see it from a bit of a distance, but when I look at it up close I get really nitpicky about the shapes of the leaves! Next time I try a design like this I'll probably use the sandwich bag method because it was hard to freehand the leaves on my own nails. But overall I really like this mani and the colours especially!

Background colour is a polish I picked up at the dollar store, and I am very impressed by it! I'll be back to grab more shades. It's Tivoli Color Shock NP153 (no real name :( I hate that!). Then the leaves are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow and Green With Envy, LA Girl Disco Brites in Turntable, Essence Walk on Air, and one bit of the leaves is a mixture of the two previous shades.

NOTD Nov 25/12 - festive glitter

This one was pretty simple guys! I just layered three different glitters to get one festive glitterbomb mani!

The colours I used were all by LA Girl - the gold is Live on Stage (from the Rock Star line), the red is Animate, and the green is Purge (the last two both from the Glitter Addict line).

These looked like sparkly little Christmas ornaments on my hands and people kept commenting on them at work! They looked like they were one glitter polish, so this has me of a mind to try layering more glitters to see what combos I get!

NOTD Nov 6/12 - nude sparkly

This is the time of year where getting good pictures of my nails becomes very hard! It's almost always grey and/or rainy here now, so the lighting is never great! These look about a million times cooler in person but oh well, not much you can do!

I started out with a couple coats of Essence in Sweet as Candy which is a really sheer baby pink. Then I added a couple coats of the LA Girl Rock Star Lacquer in Double Platinum. It's hard to tell in this pic but in real life Double Platinum's base is lightly tinted kind of grey/beige-ish, so my nails look like they're a warm grey/beige shade with tiny silver and iridescent sparkles. They have a lot more dimension in person - the lack of light made it hard to capture that aspect of them. I really like these even though they're so simple! Life has been a little busy lately so I haven't had as much time for more complicated nail art. I do want to do something a little more elaborate very soon though!

NOTD Oct 30/12 - black and red glitter gradient

Just a quick one today! I wore these nails to pair with my Halloween costume this past weekend, which was a black devil costume - just a simple horns headband and a tail and I wore all black. Cute and simple and these nails gave it a little bit of colour! Not the best picture but it was cloudy and early and I was in a rush!

I used a few colours in this - basic black obviously, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. Then for the reds I used Illamasqua Scarab, Revlon Cherry Crush, and LA Girl Glitter Addict in Animate.

NOTD Sep 15/12 - vertical dots and glitter tips!

Sometimes I get a random idea for an abstract nail design that I haven't seen anywhere (to my knowledge anyways, if this design has already been done by someone, I either haven't seen it or I have but it went straight to my subconscious mind). When I do, they either turn out NOTHING like what I pictured in my head, or really cool. In this case, I think it falls into the really cool category!

The design itself is simple. Vertical dots on the nails, in alternating colours, with different sized dots and different length rows. And then glitter on the tips. I wouldn't mind trying out other colour combos, but I love how this looks the first time around!

 The blue dots are Nicole by OPI in "Baby" Blue, the pink dots are Revlon Pink Lingerie, and the silver glitter is LA Girl Glitter Addict in Explosion.

NOTD Sep 12/12 - peachy pink and gold glitter gradient

I just got all those glitters in from my Cherry Culture order, and it had been so long since I did one of my favourites, a glitter gradient!

First was a couple coats of LA Girl Nude Polish in Dainty, then I sponged on Sally Hansen
CSM in Gilty Pleasure to start the gradient. I topped that with a sponging of LA Girl Rock Star in Live On Stage, and I had planned to stop there but it didn't quite look finished to me, so I added a thin coat of Milani Jewel FX in Gold over the tips and spilling down into the other part of the gradient and then it was perfect!

I've been lemming the Jewel FX for aages, so glad I finally got my hands on it!

September haul!

I recently received an order I placed with Cherry Culture for a whole bunch of nail polishes, all glitter except for one! One was a repurchase and the rest are brand new!

Top row L-R: LA Girl Rock Star in Double Platinum, Milani One Coat Glitter in Lavender Fizz, NYX Salon Polish in Pastel Yellow, Milani Jewel FX in Gold, LA Girl Rock Star in Live On Stage

Bottom row L-R: LA Girl Glitter Addict in Animate, LA Girl Glitter Addict in Uninhibited, LA Girl Glitter Addict in Purge, LA Girl Glitter Addict in Explosion.

These are my first two Milani polishes ever, very excited to try them out since I've heard great things about both of these polishes!!

NOTD Aug 13/12 - pink roses

I had my uncle's wedding to go to this Saturday so I wanted some nail art that would be appropriate for that kind of occasion, and this seemed perfect and went nicely with my outfit, without being matchy. I really like floral patterns on my nails and I think these turned out really nicely!

I started with a coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, then I painted the roses with LA Girl Color Addict in Sensation. I added leaves with Sinful Colors in Envy, and then painted Essence in Sweet As Candy over the middles of the roses to soften the color just slightly. :) Hope you like!

NOTD Aug 9/12 - orange leopard and gold

Orange is a colour I realize I just don't use enough in my nail art. It's just one of those colours I find hard to feature in a design for some reason... but that shouldn't mean my poor orange polishes sit lonely and unused! I love leopard print and it's a really versatile bit of nail art, so therefore a great way to include some bright sunny orange! And perfect timing too.. I painted these yesterday when we had been sitting through a couple days of rain, gloom and even a huge thunderstorm. But today the sun is back and bright!

First I painted all my nails white with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, then I used an orange nail art pen to draw on the leopard print. I painted my ring fingers with a few coats of LA Girl Glitter Addict in Synergy for an accent!

NOTD Aug 6/12 - cocktail nails

Hope everyone in Canada is enjoying the long weekend today!

I did these nails the other day just to play around - they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted but I still like them, and I finally got to use one of my new Essence polishes! I love how shimmery it is, almost like glass flecks.

I painted all my nails with a coat of Rimmel 60 Seconds in Green With Envy, then added a coat of Essence in Choose Me! on the thumb, ring and pinky fingers. Then a coat each of Revlon Blue Mosaic and LA Girl Glitter Addict in Explosion on the index and middle fingers.

NOTD Jul 11/12 - colourblock meets drippy

That was really the best title I could think of for this because honestly, it's kind of random and abstract! It was one of those "comes to you while sitting in bed" kind of ideas, and I'm glad it came because I really like this design! I feel like it lends itself to lots of different colour palettes, and it's not a really difficult design to execute but it does have visual impact. And it's just fun to look at!

First I painted my nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On. Then I added a stripe of LA Girl Disco Brites in Disco Diva to the middle third of my nail, and then Wet n' Wild Wild Shine in Red Red to the top third. Then I just did stripes of the middle colour (pink) down into the lower third of white, pulled red stripes down into the middle third of pink, and added white stripes and a thin white tip to the top third of red!

NOTD Jul 3/12 - white, pink and yellow stripes and dots

Hey everyone!! Loving this design today, something simple but really summery and fun, it brightens up my hands a lot. I really enjoy light and bright looks like this!

Started with a coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, just got this shade of white today to replace my empties and I like it a lot! Only two coats needed. Then I striped on the pink - originally it was just Essence in Sweet as Candy, which I also just got today and is a really beautiful colour, but for what I was going for it was too light and sheer, so I mixed in some Revlon Pink Lingerie to deepen the colour a bit. Then I striped on Revlon Electric, and added multi-sized dots of LA Girl Disco Brites in Disco Diva. Top coat and voila!! Bright, fun, happy summery nails! Which totally don't match the weather outside which is grey and rainy... doesn't it know it's supposed to be July out there?

NOTD May 16/12 - red with silver glitter

Hey everyone! Wow, I don't know how it happened that I went 10 days without an update! I had pictures lined up but I guess my schedule must have gotten in the way!

Anyhow, here's a quickie manicure I did actually last week, randomly chose the colours and I LOVE how this looks. It almost seems "accidentally Disney" to me with that colour scheme! I guess I've really got Disney on the brain though :) I'm planning a trip to Disneyland for this July! So exciting!

Colours:
Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Red Red
LA Girl Glitter Addict in Explosion