Swatch: Rainbow Honey Stellar Treat + Nail Art

Yeah man! I think I got the hand of striping tape! The trick is not to use scissors but nail clippers to get the cut as close as humanly possible. Hurrah!

But first, here's a swatch of RH Stellar Treat over RH Apple Kid. I don't know if you can see those adorable tiny stars because Apple Kid ate them a little bit but if you chose a more contrasting colour it would look spectacular. As it is, you get little holographic flashes out of them this way.

I only painted my middle and ring fingers with them.

Then I decided accent nails were not enough. I dug up my silver striping tape and some really old nail stickers (I think they're Kiss).

Painted another half of my pinkie and index with Stellar Treat and diagonal on my thumb, stuck down the stickers, topcoat and there! Simple but pretty.

I'm so glad there's been some sunshine lately, it really makes it so much easier to take pictures.

Would you ever go this girly on your nails?

Fast Food Poutine: New York Fries

A couple weeks ago, just after another interview, I treated myself and my driver (my stepsister, thank you Sophia!) to some yummy junk food. New York Fries, which is an entirely Canadian company is a fast food place you can find in just about every food court. I used to work there so I know too much and they have this three step process to cook their fries. It's not that great. I often feel like I have this grainy-sandy feeling in the back of my throat after I eat there but that might just be me because they are popular and everybody likes em.

It always looks good and there's nothing to complain about with that gravy and cheese though! I think their other versions of fry toppings (The Works esp!) are more a reason to go than their classic poutine.

Fast Food Poutines

• SFU Mackenzie Cafe
• A&W
• Roo's Pub
• New York Fries

Check out the rest here:  Vancouver Poutine

Swatch: Rainbow Honey Apple Kid

PINK. It's finally summer and that means bright in-your-face colours! I have an interview on Wednesday and I don't know what I'm going to do about how pink these are... Probably leave them, f*ck it.

Two coats and BAM.

For once flash wasn't my friend and makes this look much more purple than it is IRL.

Good thing the sun was out :)

New favourite pink! What's yours?

Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish Starter Kit (won from Influenster)

Oh my gosh I swear I have been doing nail-y things but this post has been so long coming because I really wanted to have it tested out before I posted anything! I won a Gel Polish Starter Kit from Influenster when I participated in their Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure VoxBox and I was SO EXCITED to get this in the mail, not the least of which because it was a complete surprise. I also have tried it twice before posting so you get the benefit of both times.

Initial impressions are good! I took everything out of the box  and everything fits back in really easily. Read the instructions! When you plug the light in it turns on right away for about a minute so be careful and try not to look directly at it.

Doing my nails this way goes much much faster than with normal nail polish because dry time is 30 seconds. That might have been my favourite part, hah.

So this first set of pics... I did one layer of each and it looked fine in real life but my camera clearly didn't think so and it appeared super patchy. I assure you it did not look like this when I looked at it but live n learn. Oh! And this is Red My Lips, of which I also have the CSM version from the VoxBox.

^It looked more like that^

I did my toes too... (Sorry feet pics, even I don't really want it here...)

So that was the first time. After about two days I peeled it off and it came off really easily and all at once, which is nice BUT I expected it to last much longer when it's advertised for "up to 2 weeks". Toes still going though.

About four days later I painted again and this time I did two coats of red after the base coat and one coat of topcoat after. It looked way better in photographs and I had gotten better at using the lamp and getting everything done.

The photos below are after two days of wear and I can't see any chipping or tipwear.... and they're so SHINY.

About three days after THAT (5 days since application) I got a chip on my middle finger of my right hand.

A day after that I started peeling =P The pinky was ready anyway because I had applied incorrectly o something and the side was bumpy and shriveled and therefore easy to pick up and grab onto.

Left hand is still good though! (I'm lefthanded too, go figure the right would go first)

The next day I'd peeled them all off, giving this a total of one week which for me is a really really long time. I'm pretty impressed and the only thing preventing me from doing more gel nails is the lack of colours I own. Also, I don't think there's too much glitter and stuff for gels, so I'm not sure I will ever completely switch over BUT for someone that likes to get their nails done in solid colours I think this is a good investment (but pricey yes). Retails at Target for $69.99 last I checked but bottles of gel polish make good gifts so building a collection may not be as bad as it would be for me.

Anyway, there you are! Thanks for reading this whole long post! Have you tried gels? How do you find an at home kit compares to going to a salon and getting them done?