Return to normal programming! (?) And some nails!

Hey guys! I was a little burned out for a while there with the full on blogging, and I was finding it easier to just do quick uploads to Tumblr and Beautylish instead of writing full blog posts here. I'm still not 100% sure if I am going to be bringing this blog back to full speed or if I will go with Tumblr only. Since my work hours have changed (making it harder to get daylight pictures with my camera) and I got an iPhone (which means I can at least snap decent pics at work when there's light and then upload them from my phone) it changed the dynamics of my posting. Typing out a whole blog post on an iPhone is not fun!

For now, here's some pics of what's been on my nails since the last time I updated. If you aren't following already, check me out on Tumblr! I'm also on Beautylish! :)

As you can see, I've been far from inactive as far as nails go! I can't definitively promise regular updating on here, so please come follow my Tumblr or my Beautylish page. :) See you around!

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 Mar 23/13 - nude and blue leopard

Sorry for the bit of a gap in updates! I recently got an iPhone and I've been playing around with Instagram (username is kayleighk88 if you want to follow :) ) so I've been a little distracted!

I haven't managed to get a "real" photo of these nails but the Instagram photo turned out pretty good so I thought I would also share here!

I used a couple coats of Barielle in Beaches & Dreams and then for the middle of the leopard spots I used Essie in Butler Please, which I recently picked up on sale! Looove this colour, going to be doing more with it ASAP! The black is acrylic paint.

It seems like pretty much everywhere in North America except here in BC is getting crazy blizzards lately!! It's actually been getting sunnier and nicer here, still a nice little hailstorm the other day though, and even snow about 30 minutes away from my work, where it was sunny. What up, global warming?! But even this little bit of sun is making me hopelessly excited for summer to hurry up and come... I can predict my manis will only be getting more and more summery!

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 Mar 15/13 - Minnie Mouse inspired (again!)

I realized this is the third time I have done a manicure inspired by Minnie Mouse! Somehow that little mouse is just so inspiring with her iconic red with white polka dots and black bow! My Minnie Mouse design on my Etsy shop has been my most popular design, accounting for about 30% of my sales!

I recently bought a new red polish from a dollar store line I've grown to love, called Tivoli. This red is no exception, it applied like an absolute DREAM. This was two easy coats! The shade is Tivoli in NP193, and then I used acrylic paint for the dots and the bows!

NOTD Mar 10/13 - stripes and negative space

Negative space has been a growing trend with nail art lately, and I really love the look of it. I also really needed to find more reasons to use my striping tape, but I always hesitate to use it because I have to let my bottom layer of nail polish dry for so long before it's safe to put the striping tape over it, and I don't usually have the time! So combining a striped look and negative space was the perfect solution!

I applied the striping tape over my bare nails, and then used a detail brush to paint in stripes of the various colours. The colour palette I picked was black, gold, turquoise and coral. I'm really happy with how this turned out, I think it looked awesome!

The colours I used were Essence in Black is Back, Barielle in Do Unto Others, Sally Hansen CSM in Gilty Pleasure, and Barielle Blossom. My right hand was skittles of these colours because I did eventually get tired of fussing with the striping tape!! :p

FOTD Mar 10/13 - navy blue cat eye

Not too long ago I spotted some Essence products on clearance at Shoppers Drug Mart and one of them was a gorgeous, shimmery navy blue eyeshadow shade called Wild at Heart. I knew it was a perfect shade for "my kinda colour" in eye makeup, which is fairly subtle.

Today I got around to actually trying the look I had in mind and I love it! It gives as much drama and definition as a black cat eye but with a little bit of a more colourful, different look. I just put this on to run out for a few errands but I'm definitely going to be rocking this look again this week at work!

I kept the lids really simple with just light, neutral colours so they wouldn't overpower the blue liner. On my lids I have Essence Eyeshadow in Cappuccino, Please!, UD in Buck is in my crease and just in the outer corners for more definition I used a matte dark brown shadow from my NYX One Night in Morocco palette. Highlight on inner corners and browbone is UD Sin.

For the actual liner itself, first I did a light line of a navy blue eyeliner, one by Annabelle. Then I used an angled brush and swept Wild at Heart over the line, then followed with mascara! The mascara I used today was Essence Get Big! Lashes (waterproof).

Here's some close ups of the eyes:

I wore NYX Stick Blush in Hibiscus on my cheeks, and my lips are Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Just Enough Buff with Sephora Glossy Gloss in Maple Syrup on top.

NOTD Mar 7/13 - chevrons and dots

I couldn't just leave the chevron look alone! It's a design I really like and I wanted to give it another shot. This time I mixed it up - I did smaller chevrons on the thumbnail and bigger ones on the fingers, and then on my right hand I went for dots instead in the same colour scheme.

Here's a side by side shot of both hands!

The orange is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed, and the blue is Essence Let's Get Lost. White is acrylic paint!

NOTD Mar 5/13 - round-studded ruffian with Cinderella

A while back I finally picked up the much hyped Sinful Colors Cinderella, but I hadn't found a chance to use it in a manicure yet! I finally sat down the other night and had no firm ideas for what to paint on my nails, but I knew I wanted to incorporate Cinderella finally!

I started with a coat of Nicole by OPI in "Baby" Blue as underwear, then painted on a coat of Sinful Colors in Cinderella. Then I looked all around my nail painting station (grandiose euphemism for the top of my Helmer drawers) for inspiration, and saw my flat round studs! Then the inspiration came easy - a ruffian made of the studs. A few minutes later I was in business and pretty darn pleased about how the spur of the moment mani turned out! I would definitely try this out again with other colours. I think it's a great way to showcase a nail polish that has a cool and unique colour or finish without covering it up with nail art, but still incorporating some "extra" details.

Unfortunately slightly cloudy photographing conditions didn't do an awesome job of showing the pink micro-flakies in this polish, but trust me, it looks even more awesome in real life!

NOTD Mar 4/13 - violet and colourful glitter

I just loved this new shade of polish so much I had to find a way to use it! It's another dollar store one, can't remember the exact price but it was somewhere in the $2 range, and it applies marvellously for such a cheap polish! Doesn't have that stinky chemical smell some cheaper polishes can have too which is even more of a bonus.

I kept it simple (for me) with a couple coats of the gorgeous violet and then a glitter gradient that was multicoloured.

The violet is Tivoli Color Shock in shade NP127 (have I mentioned how much I hate it when companies don't actually name their shades? Grrr!) and the glitter is NYX Advanced Salon Formula Nail Polish in Multi Glitter. At least it has a name, but no points for creativity there.