Tis' it the Season for black?

Happy Wednesday everyone

Recently I've started to love gold on black.  I personally think it can fit the season we are fast approaching.  Black alone, not so much. However if you add a touch of gold then all is good in the world.

How do you guys feel? Is this season appropriate?

My blog posts are not going to be very frequent due to the holiday season.  I'm a craft-y-ish type person so I have a lot to do for Christmas.  Most important I have to get my husbands cross stitched stocking finished.  I've done everyone in my family not including me and my brothers.(mom did those when we were itty bitty).  Scott was the last in line because he was the last to join the family.  Four years later he is finally going to get one.  That's if I pull away a tad from the nails.  I promise I will be back to every day posts come December 26th!

For this mani I used Finger Paints Black.  I'm not sure of the name but don't think its really required when its just white or black polish.  The gold is Quo by Orly's 'Filthy Rich'. I love love love this polish. I'm not really sure what to call the finish.  It looks like a billion pieces of glitter but goes on like any other regular polish and is easy to remove. Perhaps microglitter???

Dotted Chevrons

Happy Hump day everyone!  It's all down hill from here!

Today I have some more dots for you.  I'm loving doing the itty bitty dots lately.  It's very relaxing for me so I  hope you don't get tired of seeing them.  My only opportunity lately is to take pictures on the weekend. To think the days are only going to get shorter from here is kind of scary.  I keep on forgetting to bring my camera to work for lunch time photos so a lot of mani's have gone unseen.  

This time I decided to make a chevron type design with my baby dots.  The full nail is in Revlon's 'Impulsive'...I believe.  Not quite sure about the dots.  I just pulled out some randoms

Dreaming of Mango Dots

Happy Friday World! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  Even though it was a short work week I'm so happy its almost over.

I have a little dotticure for you today.  I think I'm most impressed with the photo quality and sunlit nails.  My new-to-me camera did a wonderful job.  I'm still trying to get use to it and all the functions. I haven't been able to take a picture this nice since.  I'm blaming it on the cloudy sky. 

I used two coats of Revlon's 'Dreamer' over the entire nail.  For the dots I used Revlon's 'Mad about Mango' and FingerPaint's black.  I like how striking black looks on lighter colours.

Impulsive Minty Sorbet

Happy Friday everyone! It's Thanksgiving long weekend her in Canada. Woop Woop!

I'm so happy to be back at work.... and blogging :oP  I had a ton of paperwork on my desk but it basically only took me the hour and a half I've been here so far.  I wonder when they'll notice.

On to the nails.  I've been neglecting my dots.  I love doing dots so much but am scared I'll overkill them on here.  They make me happy though so I'm going to continue.

For the base I used Sally Hansen X-Treme wear in 'Minty Sorbet.'  The dots are in 'Black Out'  and I believe China Glaze 'Spontaneous'.  No promises though.  I can't really recall what brand the purple was but China Glaze seems right.  I then used a matte top coat. This made all the difference. I love the look of the pale green mattified ;o)

Hope you enjoy!

September Julep Maven Mystery Box

JULEP'S 'NAIL OF THE DAY' SEPTEMBER 26TH

Today I have my review of my September Julep maven Mystery box.  This is the first one I’ve bought so my 3^rd box to date.  The mystery boxes come out once and awhile. Just like the others its $19.99 but you can receive anywhere from $60 to $200 worth of product. 

 I was waiting on mine to arrive so had to search the web to see what other people received.  There was actually quite a bit of hoopla about the whole deal.  Apparently a lot of people got less than $60 worth of product. Looks like mine was worth $56.00. I read that when someone contacted Julep they said the little reusable bag was worth $5.00. Obviously that’s not true but I think that enough people complained that they won’t be making the same mistake again. Forgive and forget ;)

As per usual I decided to make a manicure out of just Julep nail polish.  This is my first attempt at doing a needle design(is that what it's called?).  I did my full nail in Eva I then added dots in the same colour as well as the blue.  I think this is the mystery colour because it did not have a name.  Then I took my trusty safety pin and made some swirls. I’m for sure doing this again.  It was pretty fun!

Did anyone else get the mystery box? 

From right to left. Jennifer(a pale sheer pink), Eva(deep raspberry creme), Mystery colour (blue shimmer), Portia(blue glitter)

This picture does not do the colours justice.  I tried taking it in my light box I made.  No matter what the pictures are very poor quality when I use it. Any suggestions to make the lighting more natural?

If your not already a Maven the get off your behind and do it!!

Don't forget to use my referral code 4710629

julep.com

Ricki's 'Keepin It Real'

This is my second post for the day. Not just because I'm bored at work but mostly because my polka dot pictures bit the big one :oP

I've actually had these on my computer for awhile now.  Surprising that I haven't posted them because I quite like them.  I picked up this polish when i was buying new pants at Ricki's.  I'm pretty sure Ricki's is a Canadian company but correct me if I'm wrong.  I love the store because they cater to all sizes of women.

This polish is called 'Keeping it Real' and it says Ricki's on the bottle. They also sell some Colour Club there that is in the exact same shape of bottle. I'm going to take a wild guess and bet Colour Club is the manufacturer.   For the black lines I used striping tape.  I added some black dots with my dotter then another on top with 'Keeping it Real'

Hope you like!!!

L'Oreal Jet Set to Paris

I'm getting low on my vault photos.  My parents gave me their extra camera last night but the quality of the macro shots are very poor.  I have my eye on the Bloggie Sport but for now my mom is going to lend me her camera.  Hopefully that one will work ;oP

I picked up three L'oreal shades a couple weeks ago. I have to say that I'm loving them.  I have another mani in my vault with all three colours together but I'll leave that to another day.

The blue on my nails is L'Oreal's 'Jet Set to Paris'. I'm loving this polish.  Everything about it was working for me. :o)  I can't for the life of me remember what colour the beige is. Maybe its another one of the L'Oreal's I bought or maybe its Essie Yogaga.  It's a mystery! When I vault pictures I should really write down all the colours I use. 

French tip/Dotticure/Sleepy girl

Today's nails are a post nap manicure.  I was still kind of groggy so I just went with it.  Generally these are the most fun. I don't like having an idea in my head then creating it.  Those ones I always tend to be so critical of.  Although this is not my favourite I just went with the flow and did what came to my head

For the full nail I used Quo by Orly in 'Green Meadow'.  I've really been a fan of the Quo nail polish but lately it has not been cooperating with me.  It was a mess until I put the top coat on.  I think adding some nail polish thinner may help.  Does anyone else use thinner? I'm just wondering if it works or if it ruins the polish.

The tips are in Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear 'Coral Reef'.  I didn't use tape for this as I knew I would be hiding the messy edge with something else.  What is that something else you ask??? DOTS!  For the dots across the the tip I used Revlon's 'Impulsive'.  It still looked really messy and blah at that point so I added the final vertical line of dots in Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear in 'Lacey Lialac'. It was amazing how much it changed the look.  It created a much more clean even manicure.

BOGO Nail Polish at Shoppers Drug Mart

BOGO BABY! Who wouldn't love it?!

Earlier this week I received an email coupon from Shoppers Drug Mart. It was buy one polish get the second free. It was only on from 6pm to 9pm.  The cashier said I was the first one to use it(of course). Naturally I printed out three of them.  I only used 2 so it made me feel a little better.  I thought instead of just doing a regular swatch  I’d add a little fun to it.

The first two colours are Quo By Orly.  For the base colour I used ‘Lilac Dust’.  In the pictures it looks a little more pink then it actually is.  I couldn’t find the right lighting to capture the shade as it was dark out by the time I did it.  The polka dots are in ‘Blue Skies’.  I can’t resist these baby blue colours that are always coming out.  I’m no huge fan of blue in everyday life but when it comes to nail polish I’m a sucker

On a side note I was wondering if it is okay to do the middle finger as the accent? We all know what the middle finger can stand for...

The second BOGO set are both Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure.   The green is ‘Grass Slipper’ and the purple pink is ‘ Cherry, Cherry, Bang, Bang!’  Both have really weird names....I love them anyways ;o)

Bubble Gum Bubbles Nails

Hello kids! ;)

Today I have an 'off the top of my head' manicure for you.  After I was done it kind of reminded me of bubble gum.  Who doesn't love bubble gum, right?!

I used five different nail polishes for this look.  The base is in Orly's 'Decades of Dysfunction'.  I started off making the largest dots in Quo 'Tease'.  This helped to make the path I created from the first nail to the last. I tried to make it as though the dots were flowing through to each nail.  After the large dots I used smaller dots to follow the trail and fill in spaces. I find going from largest to smallest gives it the best look.   For the smaller dots I used Nicole's 'Stolen Kisses', Essence 'Ultimate Pink' and Essie's 'Watermelon'. 

I'm impressed with it I think.  I love using the dotter.  Not just because it's easy but I love the look.

Diagonal strips and my first bottle of China Glaze!!

Good morning all! Hope all my fellow Canadians had a nice long weekend.   Today I have something a little different from my usual nail art. I actually really ended up liking it.  It took some patience but I think it was worth it.

I used my very first China Glaze nail polish ever! Yes I am in the big leagues now.  I figured it was about time that I catch up to the rest of you :o)

I applied two coats of China Glaze nail polish in ‘Spontaneous’.  I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan yet. I figured because everyone uses China Glaze that it would be really great.  Maybe it is but I just built it up to much.  I tend to do that a lot.

I created the strip using manicure tape.  I waited to do this about an hour or two after I applied my base colour. It was so humid that it was taking forever to dry.   I used Revlon’s ‘Plum Night’.  I think I bought this polish over two years ago so I figured I should start using it up!  For the small dots I used Avon’s ‘Starry Sky’ polish.  This was a little more difficult trying to keep them the same size.  I used a very small dotter for this.  I wanted to give it a pearl necklace type look across.

What do you guys think? Is it a pass?

Green Baby!

Well hello fellow bloggers!
It's been an insane week and I have barely had a chance to do anything. Long story short I hurt my neck so badly I couldn't swallow with out it going into spasm, had to move to a new house(while it was like this) and to top it all off with a cherry my dad had a heart attack.  The emotional and physical exhaustion I had was insane.  Everything and everyone is good now thank goodness

So on to the nails. I did this fun little look this morning before continuing to unpack.  I had the idea in my head but was not quite sure how it would turn out.  I love how the dots can create such cool designs.


Take a look below to see how it was done...

I started by painting my nails two different greens.  The lighter of the two is Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in 'Green with Envy'.  The second is Essie's 'Mojito madness'  You don't need a perfectly straight line for this because you will be adding the dots.

Next I used the dotter to create the dots on the opposite side of the line.

I used the exact same method up a little further on my nails using Revlon's 'Posh'. To top it all off I added Essie's 'Good to Go' top coat. 

I will definitely play with this method again. It was a lot of fun. What do you guys think?(if you don't like it lie to me, I had a VERY ROUGH WEEK ;o))

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nails

Good morning all!  So we’ve moved in to our new place but it’s been a crazy past two days.  My nails are in pretty rough shape.  Moving boxes and furniture does not help them out at all.  I thought I would post two different nails styles I tried out on the weekend.   Both of them are purely with Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear nail polish. I really like this polish when it comes to nail art.  All of them were purchased at Well.ca

The first one I did is a little crazy. I’m really trying to figure out the whole flower thing but it’s not working out to well for me :o( Once again I used the dotter for these.  I applied two coats of 'Blue Me Away'to the entire nail.  Then I added the pedals in 'Mellow yellow'  .They did not look to impressive so I added another small dot inside with 'Red Carpet' followed my another of 'Mellow Yellow'.  I can’t for the life of me remember what I used as the centre of the flower but it was Sally Hansen.  It needed a little more jazz so I added the dots in ‘White On’.  I now realize I should not of but I added a sparkle coat of 'Disco Ball'.  I’ve attempted using this polish a couple times and I hate it.  Makes my nails look cakey and almost like there is sugar on them.  I don’t see any sparkle on it at all.  I’m contemplating just throwing it out.

What do you guys think of the nails? A little crazy but it was good practice

For the next manicure I decided to go dotter crazy.

For the full nail I used 'Coral Reef'.  The large blue dots are in 'Blue Me Away' and the small yellow are 'Mellow Yellow' 

I hope  to sit down and play with my nails tonight but we still have soooo much unpacking to do.  Wish me luck!

Striping tape? No striping tape?...you be the judge!

Second post for the day. 

I did this design last night. It was one of those ones that you don’t know what you are going to do  so you just start making dots!  I actually had a lot of fun with it.  I used Nicole’s ‘Baby Blue’ for the base. It’s weird because originally I didn’t like this polish but I keep going back to it.  I’m really attracted to light blues recently. I’m trying to do nails in other colours than blue but I can’t help it. 

I started by making dots across the corner of my nail with Quo’s Steel Heart leaving spaces in between. I then went back and filled them in with more dots in the original  Baby Blue that I used for the full nail. 

I took pictures as usual but decided it needed a little more. I added black striping tape along the edge of the design.  What do you guys think? Striping tape or no striping tape?

WITH STRIPING TAPE

WITHOUT STRIPING TAPE