Swatch: OPI Comet In The Sky + Review of NYC Matte Me Crazy (S)

AHH! I totally meant to post this much sooner! I've been wearing this for about a week and it is SO NICE. I put OPI Comet in the Sky over Nyx Express and the colours went together really well.

As if that wasn't enough for you, I totally wanted to try it matte. I pulled out my NYC Matte Me Crazy that I received as a badge prize from Influenster.

Soooo that wasn't quite what I wanted but it is another effect topcoat. It's more of a waxy finish, like a couple of the Orlys I have which are called "vinyl" finish (Viridian Vinyl, Purple Pleather, Old School Orange)... So I fell back on good old WarPaint.

Phew, this is the effect I wanted! So gorgeous if I do say so myself. The colour combination is freaking amazing and the glitter from Comet in the Sky is beautiful. I am super happy.

By the way, if anyone wanted to know, Kat Von D Motorhead is a perfect match...

MWAH. Have a beautiful day!

Swatch: Nyx Express (S)

Hi everyone! What the hell is "marsala"? Nyx Express is what I would call, I don't know, wine? Maroon?

Unlike my other Nyx polish experiences (See Las Vegas, Techno, Thunder) which are filed under Gorgeous Colours That Are Seven Layers Too Sheer, this one was a dream. Two to three coats of gorgeous opacity and unlike my possible dupe, Sally Hansen Cruel Heart, this one's bottle colour translates to the nail. Good gift! (I got it as a gift.)

 Come back for more, this looks even better matted!

And hey, if anyone knows what marsala is, post it to Facebook for me =P

-S

NailPolishCanada.com Summer Nail Art Challenge!

Woohoo! If you've been following my facebook you know that this is one of the most ambitious nail designs I have undertaken for a long time. I was contacted by NailPolishCanada (as I have been a couple times before :D) to enter their nail art contest and the theme was SUMMER.

>>>VOTING LINK HERE<<< 

(sorry I want it to be easy to find)

After pondering for a bit, I decided the most quintessential summer experience I had was when I went to Cuba. In Cuba, though I didn't do this myself, my friends did go snorkeling and make friends with some tropical fish.

To Google!

I used a LOT of colours for this one so I'm going to list them at the bottom of the post I think. In the pic above (which I got from googling "tropical fish" and taking the ones that I had colours for) it goes thumbs to pinkies from left to right. Check it out!

This is before topcoat. I was super paranoid it was going to ruin something so here you go.

Luckily it didn't ruin anything AND the sun came up in the morning for a bit so I could get some quality pics.

So it's obviously a skittles mani and I'll leave it for you to decide whether it's that coherent but at least it's tied by the theme of tropical fish, right?

The pic below is a feat because I took it myself by holding my phone between my knees. #bloggerlyfe

Also just lemme gush about those bornprettystore.com brushes and how thin the freaking lines are on the clownfish nail. Like wow. Dang.

Okay! As for colours... I'm going to go in the same order as the fish in the first pic, I'm sure you can figure it out though.

Left

Thumb: Nyx Thunder + Essence You Belong To Me

Index: Essence Wanna Be Your Sunshine + Acrylic Paint

Middle: China Glaze Riveting + Julep Nessa + Acrylic Paint

Ring: ILNP My Little Glacier + Essence Wanna Be Your Sunshine

Pinkie: WetnWild 454D + Rainbow Honey Cymbidium

Right

Thumb: Orly Old School Orange + Acrylic Paint

Index: Julep Claire + Julep Melissa + China Glaze Riveting

Middle: Essence Wanna Be Your Sunshine + WetnWild 454D + Essence Passion for Fashion

Ring: Essence Walk On Air + Essence Wanna Be Your Sunshine + Acrylic Paint

Pinkie: Rainbow Honey Annual Emotion + Essence Wanna Be Your Sunshine + Acrylic Paint

Yay! That was kinda complicated, haha! I hope you like it. Check out the other entries, but you're all gonna vote for me, obvs. right? ;D

Just for good measure, here it is one more time <3

>>>VOTING LINK HERE<<<

Jellyfish nails!

Hi everyone! I hope you all took yesterday as an excuse to demand cuddles and sweets with your sweetie, or drink some really fancy potent things with some cuddly snuggly blankets and your favourite movie <3

Vancouver Aquarium opened their doors on Wednesday the 12th after hours for some kid-free awesome time and I didn't quite realize how much the children interfere with my enjoyment of the place until the night was over and I realized I learned and talked a lot and actually felt rewarded for my interest... ANYWAY, I was so excited and we all know what I do when I'm excited by now right?

I started with one of my favourite polishes, Nyx Thunder.

I started with it because it is not the easiest polish to work with and does take upwards of 3 coats to be completely opaque, despite the fact that I knew I wanted the darker colour to be near my cuticles. It worked out though! I swiped some Vaseline onto my cuticles to keep them clean and used my make up sponge to make a gradient using Sephora Formula X Cosmic (the one that was a lovely gift!). It's purple after multiple coats but the first coat is blue and I knew it would look like that over another blue.

I love gradients! For some reason it never sticks in my head how good they look and how easy they are. I covered this in a coat of Rainbow Honey Bubblebeam.

Of course it's not over, this isn't art yet! Recently VanAqua advertised their fluorescent jellyfish display and they did not disappoint. My nails needed some jellies! I used acrylic paint and a striper brush I got as part of a set from bornprettystore.com.

I may need a little practice for realism but I really like how they turned out. Hello jellies!

The whole event was absolutely awesome <3 My boyf and I needed a nice date night and we don't really do Valentine's day so this was perfect and fun! Even during the day with little brats running around the actual aquarium is pretty cool. One of the nicest things about the lack of children (even though the lack of children was a gift itself) was that the staff talked about the research that goes on behind the scenes as well as the cool facts about the creatures. I hadn't realized how much Vancouver Aquarium had contributed to science before that night.

Bonus photo!

Awake sloth!!

Inspired by Akimbo nail art and happy birthday to mee =3

I love when bloggers do a spotlight on artisans with cool jewelry a la XOXO Alexis Leigh. This time it wasn't her though, it was Steph Lau at Fun Size Beauty (who shares my opinion that full size nail polish is impossible to finish and mini's are all we need). She did an awesome spotlight on Akimbo, an etsy shop run by California sisters Jenny and Kim. They collaborated to even sweeten the deal with a little giveaway for almost any one item from their shop... and I won :D:D:D This was an excellent thing for me because as soon as I looked at their gorgeous pieces, I wishlisted the meteorite ring and fully intended to spend my ever dwindling cashmoneys on it. When I found out I won I was ecstatic!

I eagerly awaited its arrival and it made it just in time for my birthday! Lucky meeee <3

 So, like I said, I got inspired! I used a sponging technique and a million colours (okay, like five: Revlon Strawberry Electric, Pure Ice Blue Midnight, China Glaze Running in Circles, Orly Rockin' Rockette, Nyx Techno) all over China Glaze Cast a Spell.

(Instead of bombarding you with a scroll of photos of my step-by-step I made a picmonkey collage.)

To further match the ring, and distinguish these from galaxy nails (though near-sheer metallics appear to be an AMAZING way to accomplish those), I freehanded two double lines using my dotting tool and KleanColor Gold Bright. I cleared up the terrible mistakes while it was still wet by running a mechanical pencil along the edges. It worked pretty well. One day I will have a real nail art brush. One day...

And another collage with their pretty business card <3

And then just some snaps from the sunshine...

Omg, do you love it as much as I do? I may have to use these specific colours again for actual galaxy nails :3

What do you think? Do you have any tips for getting precise lines? Wish me happy birthday? ^___^

PS: I really wish I could do a giveaway for you guys for my birthday but I'm so low on funds I'd never be able to ship the prizes in a timely manner. The second I get a job, there will be a celebratory giveaway so send me your tips and tricks if you've got any ;P

[Akimbo Handmade Jewelry is on both Etsy and Facebook - go say hi and tell them I sent you!]