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.

NOTD Feb 25/13 - lavender and chevrons

I finally made my first foray into chevrons! I like the design a lot and although I'm not 100% happy with this mani, I know what I want to do differently next time to make it better.

My only issue with this mani is that I think the chevron stripes are too thick - next time I'll make them thinner. Other than that though, I like it! It's easier than I thought it would be to do - probably largely due to the fact that I used acrylic paint instead of nail polish!

Lavender is Revlon Top Speed in Lily, and the white is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On. Black is acrylic paint!

NOTD Feb 23/13 - 80's abstract!

This was actually from last week but I've been slow in getting stuff done, had a busy week!

My boyfriend really loved this design which was funny, he is supportive but he doesn't normally notice my nails all that much!

I based this off a design I saw on Pinterest, but I'm not sure where it originally came from. I just switched up the colours. This looks pretty 80's to me and I like it! Very easy to do and looks so fun!

The green is Essence in L.O.L. and the blue is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away.

NOTD Feb 7/13 - navy and mini hearts

This background colour would not photograph properly and it was so frustrating! It looks black but it is a deep navy! It reminds me of something you would see at American Eagle Outfitters, a pattern on a shirt or something. It's cute for Valentine's Day but it would work any time of the year, and in lots of colour combos! Here is a great swatch by the Polish-A-Holic which shows how the colour REALLY looks!

Background is Barielle in Berry Blue, hearts are Wet n' Wild Wild Shine in Red Red and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On.

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 January 30/13 - valentine's day dotticure

The first of my Valentine's Day manicures is here! I really love this one, it started out with one idea (the dotted heart design) but then grew when I decided I didn't want to do that design on each nail. So I went for the cuticle dot gradient with a contrasting colour on the ring finger. Love this so much!

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!

Freshly Ordered: Jewelry Haul

I have been hitting the Pinterest fashion boards hard the last few days, and one conclusion I have come to is this: I need more jewelry. Particularly statement jewelry! All of my necklaces are either small pendant charms on a chain, or long pendant charms on a chain. I still love those styles and don't plan to stop wearing them, but I wanted something else for variety and to make some of those awesome outfits I've seen on Pinterest happen for me in real life!

I got real lucky tonight too - I scored some absolutely amazing deals and I just can't wait til this stuff arrives!

First I placed an order with HauteLook. If you don't know what HauteLook is, you should!! Basically they host limited time sales for all kinds of brands, at prices that are SO LOW it's insane. I got a $300 curling iron for about $50. And wait til you see the prices for the jewelry I bought!

If you wanna join HauteLook (and simultaneously gift me with a $10 credit upon your first order ;) then CLICK HERE to join!

Now let's see the goods!

This is the Harriet Disc Necklace by Chloe and Theodora. Original price $96.00. I paid $22.00!

And then the t + j designs Pretty in Pink Crystal Necklace. Original price $98.00. I paid $14.00!

Crazy deals right? And the shipping (to Canada, which can be notoriously expensive!) was only $10.95. A steal!

I went to check out the website of t + j designs, and their sale section on their own site. I noticed if you signed up for their newsletter you could get a $10 credit for your first order, so I did that...

I ordered their Lemon Teardrop Necklace. Original price was $30.00. Sale price was $18.00! With the credit, I paid only $8.00!!! Shipping was also a very reasonable $5!

So that was three beautiful statement necklaces, worth over $200, that I paid around $60 for!

I consider this a good day.

Disclaimer: No companies are asking me to pimp their stuff! These were orders made with my money for my own self! Clicking the link to join HauteLook and give me a $10 credit upon your first order is an offer available to any member of HauteLook, not something offered just to me. Join up, share the love, and start sending out invitations to other people to get yourself some credits too! ;)

NOTD Jan 25/13 - funky abstract

This idea was sort of floating in my head for months, but I never got around to doing it. The idea for the pattern on my thumb and ring finger popped into my head and I thought it would look pretty cool, and when I finally decided to make it happen, the perfect colours jumped out at me too!

Now that I look at the pattern in reality, it really kind of reminds me of tire tracks, especially when I was first drawing it on and started it in the middle of my nails. The black rhinestones I added on as a last minute addition to make it a little more balanced and add a bit of pizazz to the plain nails.

The green is an awesome shade I recently picked up, Essence in L.O.L., such a gorgeous chartreuse shade, LOVE! The lavender is Revlon Top Speed in Lily, and the peach is Illamasqua Purity. I painted the designs with black acrylic paint, and the black rhinestones are from Born Pretty Store!

Liplicious Best Kiss Haul

I recently bought a set of colour changing lip glosses by Liplicious called Best Kiss from Bath & Body Works and I love them! I tried to take pictures of them but they didn't turn out true to colour so I'll have to try again another time, but I gotta post the haul pics!

The pink goes on totally clear, then turns to a beautiful neutral toned medium pink on the lips, and it smells like brown sugar. Sooo yummy and gorgeous! This is my current favourite brighter pink lip gloss, it looks bright but still natural. It stains the lips after several hours which also leaves a nice look.

Click here to see a FOTD where I'm wearing the pink Liplicious Best Kiss gloss.

The coral comes out clear with tiny gold shimmer, and then turns a warm orangey colour on the lips. This one I had the most trouble photographing, in pictures it looked just like the pink even though in real life it was definitely orange toned. I haven't tried it yet but I think this would look really great over nude lipstick. It smells like oranges!

The berry lip gloss is a red-toned purple shade, which comes out clear with tiny red shimmer - this shimmer also contributes to this berry shade leaning red, rather than too blue which could start to look a little corpse-like. This is a nice option if you like the idea of berry lips but not the intensity they usually have. Smells like berries :).

I'd recommend all of these! The set is at BBW for about $18 CAD, and last I saw you could just purchase the pink one for about $8.50, but the set is obviously a better deal. They have a nice texture on and a really good wear time, plus the fact that they all start to stain your lips is kind of nice, since even when they eventually do wear off (which I find takes a few hours) they leave the colour on your lips.