Christmas Ornament Inspired Nails

Hey Buddies!

I have my first Christmas nails for you.  Although I'm not a big red with green fan I knew I had to do at least one.  I decided to use an ornament for my inspiration.  This is the only red and green ornament I have on my tree so it was not a difficult decision.

The full nail is in Julep's 'Delaunay'.  Its a beautiful rich red creme that unfortunately is almost gone :(.  The gold is Quo by Orly's 'Filthy Rich'.  This bottle is also getting pretty low. I think a new one will be required soon especially during the holiday season. I then used some green glitter to recreate the sequins on the ornaments.

Hope you enjoy

Safari Chic Dots

Well hello strangers!!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine consisted of some Christmas decorating which also involved crafting a few decorations.  I forgot to take some pictures but I will definitely do that soon.  I also had my nephews 2nd birthday party to go to.  It was a jammed pack weekend of to-dos!

These nails were done on Thursday or Friday night. I really can't recall do to all the craziness.  For the full nails I used L'Oreals 'Safari Chic' which is a beautiful army green colour.  I used a swipe or two of Essence Black on the tips.  It didn't look right so I added a few glitter dots by Quo.

Hope you like

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???

Here a Pink, There a Pink

Good morning all!  

It's the beginning of yet another work week.  I just found out today that I can start working 8 to 4 instead of 8:30 to 5.  I'm pretty stoked about it. The earlier I can get in and out the better. It means only a half hour lunch but I'm okay with that.  My boss is so easy going that if I take longer it's no problem.

I have something pretty simple but fun today.  The lines are by no means straight but I'm not going to hold it against myself. I don't seem to use pink that often so it was due time.

The dark pink is Revlon's 'Raspberry Rupture' and the light is Quo by Orly's 'Tease'.  I can't believe I remembered the colours.  I've been a big time slacker in recording my polishes used.  

31 Day Challenge: Animal Print

I've been waiting for this day in the challenge!

 I've always been far to intimidated to post any animal prints. They usually end up all lumpy and nasty looking but this time it worked out well for me.  At least as far as the lumpiness goes.

The full nail is in 'Baby Blue' by Nicole.  The leopard dots are in Quo 'Blue Skies' and another no name mini bottle of Quo.

Make sure to check out the other fine ladies animal print

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa
-Mari at Nailista
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
-Robin Sparkles  

31 Day Challenge: Rainbow

Yay for my mommy!!!!!
......  she dropped off her camera for me to borrow until I get a new one.  She left it in the mailbox and. although it was not as exciting as nail mail it was pretty damn exciting.  Needless to say I ran inside and started to do my Rainbow nails for the 31 day challenge. As you can see its nothing to creative but I did not want to miss posting it before midnight ;o)

I even have all the nail polish names because they are still sitting beside me.  From red to blue we have:

Quo by Orly mini bottle of red
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 'Sun Kissed'
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 'Mellow Yellow'
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 'Grass Slipper'
Finger Paint's in 'Inkblot Blue'

oh ya....the dots are Nfu Oh 61!

See y'all tomorrow!

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa
-Mari at Nailista
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
- Robin Sparkles 

Colour Blocking Becca

Well helloooooo everyone!

I have a fun manicure for you today! Very fiddly and time consuming but I'm loving the end result.  I'd been planning on trying the colour blocking for awhile but keep putting it off.  There are so many fun different colour blocking nails out there. I didn't want to fuss too much about what colours I should use so I just picked them quick and randomly.

The base colour of the nail is Revlon's 'Raspberry Scone'.  It's the only scented nail polish that I don't get a headache from.  I made two random sized blocks on each nail. The blue is 'Blue Skies' by Quo and the teal green is 'Flour Leaf Clover' by China Glaze.

There is no way I could make straight enough lines to create this look.  I used black striping tape to make the border around each block.

What do you guys think?!  It's definitely a look every nail art enthusiast has to try!

Freakin awesome Friday nails!

It's Friiiiiidaaaaay!  Yay for weekend!

I'm liking these nails....for once.  I think other than dots I like geometric type nails. 

I used Quo by Orly in 'Blue Skies' for the base colour.  I believe I only used two coats.  The polish is getting pretty think though so I think it's time for thinner!  For the black triangle thingies I used a nail art brush. In the past I probably would of used tape but now that I have brushes I prefer to use them.  It's so much less time consuming.  Of course I had to use striping tape on for the final look.  Not only do I like the look of striping tape but it helps give it a nice crisp clean look.  It was my first time using white.  As you can seen it's a little transparent.  It's not quite as noticeable in person so I'm willing to live with it. :o)

Just Blue Colour Blocking

Hi All

Lucky me, I have my puppy Casey with me at work today.  He got the old 'snip snip' yesterday.  :os He had a check up first thing this morning so I just decided to bring him in afterwards.  He's licking a little too much and I forgot his cone so I'm keeping a very close eye on the little rascal.    

On to the nails....  It was a lot of fiddle work to accomplish this look.  I’m a little frustrated that all the nails are not exactly the same. However the only time it is noticeable is in this picture.  (I’m very critical of myself by the way)

I started off with two coats of Gosh nail polish in ‘Blue Balloon’ over the entire nail.  I then used two pieces of striping tape to create a cross.  That left me with three triangles to have a little fun with. The triangles going clockwise from the left are Quo by Orly in ‘The Blue Box’, Finger Paints ‘Inkblot Blue’ and  Quo by Orly in ‘Blue Skies’. After filling in the triangles and taking off the striping tape it looked a little messy. I used two more pieces of the tape to define the triangles and some top coat.  Voila!!! 

I can’t wait for my coloured stripping tape to arrive. I love the crisp clean look it adds to nails

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.

Quo by Orly Blue ombre pack

Hi Everyone! 
I'm posting mid day because it's a Civic holiday for us in Canada.  Hope all my fellow Canadian bloggers are having a nice long weekend!

I picked up this Quo ombre set a while back when it was on sale for $9.99.  I thought I would do a swatch first then have a little fun.  The colours don't have names but they are all beautiful.  The pictures aren't that great because I took them last night

The two colours that are hard to see are the ring and pinky.  the ring finger is a gorgeous sparkly blue.  I'm not sure if I would ever be able to capture the effect with a camera.  The pinky is a very deep blue with a bit of shimmer

For the nail art I used all the polishs from the ombre pack.  I just had a little fun and figured things out as I went

I think Quo may be my polish of choice now.  I realize it is by Orly so maybe Orly is my fav. :oP

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

Braided Nails

I'm not going to lie this is not the first time I've attempted a braid manicure.....but it is the second so take it easy on me ;o) 
I actually hope to do a little more tutorials like I did with my caviar nails.  Right now it is not possible though as I'm in the midst of packing and moving.  As soon as we get settled in to our new place I will be sure to do some.  I always love seeing how things are done myself so that's why I plan on doing it.
For this manicure I started off with two coats of Finger Paints 'Inkblot Blue'. I decided to just do the braid on my ring finger because it was a little frustrating for me :oP. In the braid I used the 'Inkblot Blue, Quo's 'Steel Heart' and Rimmel's 'Black Satin'. 
The concept is pretty easy because all of us girls have made a braid at some point in our life.  The difficulty for me was keeping the lines straight. Something else I will have to work on is keeping it centre. It slowly went to one side.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions to make this go a little more smoothly for me?

Striping Tape!!!

I just wanted to write a quick post before I head off to bed :o)  I received my order in today from Nail Polish Canada.  What did I get?  Well I decided to get some striping tape(and maybe a little more).  I've seen it on some blogs and really liked the looks created with it. 
Below is my first attempt.  My mind has been all over the place with our upcoming move so I was lacking in ideas. I can ensure you I will make up for it!

I used two coats of Quo's 'Filthy Rich'.  The striping tape is incredibly easy to use.  I just laid it on the nail and trimmed off any excess. 

I took this picture inside with my camera minus a flash :oP  The polish had a much better glimmer in person. Once I get settled in to my new place I will attempt making a light box.....key word.....attempt

NIGHT NIGHT, DON'T LET THE BED BUGS BITE!!!

Flowers and Microbeads....awwwww...

I had a little fun last night!  I slapped on a couple coats of Quo’s ‘The Blue Box’…..then I proceeded to look at my nails for 20 minutes or so.  :os  This is what popped into my head.   I had fun with this one. I was contemplating doing all my nails but figured it would be too much. 

I made the flowers with Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear in ‘The Real Teal’. I then added a top coat to all nails and let it dry.  To add the micro beads I just put a drop of top coat in the middle of the flower and sprinkled them on. Fun stuff! You like????

Sunday Morning Inspiration

I woke up this morning knowing I'd have a long day ahead of me.  Chances were I wouldn't be able to play around with my nails in the evening. So at 7:30a.m.  I sat down at the table and decided to try something a little fun.  I took three objects that were already on the table and tried to recreate them on my nails.  The key word here is 'tryyyyy'.  Keep in mind I am still an amateur at nail art.  Although I may not be proud of them all I thought I should at least share. 
My objects were.....an earring, a yellow note pad and a can of A&W Diet Rootbeer.

The pop can was probably the most successful.  I started with two coats of Quo by Orly in 'Steel Heart'.  I then used Essie's Luxeffects in 'Set in Stones' to get the bubble effect.

For the note pad I used 3 coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in 'Mellow Yellow'. For the blue lines I used a small tester bottle. Only info I have on it is that it's by Quo :oP

The last attempt kind of disappointed me.  It had a lot of possibility but I think by that time I was more concentrated on getting ready for the day.  I promise to make up for this one....eventually



If anyone ever has any advice please don't hesitate to lay it on me. I'm up for constructive criticism

Clearance Bin Score!

I had to run out today to get a few things a Shopper's Drug Mart.  Of course I had to take a quick stroll through the nail polish isle.  I was very proud of myself for not picking anything up.  This is something new to me. ;o)
I was pretty proud of myself standing in the line up holding just what I came for....and then....out of the corner of my eye......I spotted it.....the clearance bin.  I couldn't help myself so I went to take a look see.  Quo by Orly for $3.00! Usually it runs ten bucks a bottle.  Thank goodness for my mom being there or else I wouldn't of stopped at three.  Below are two of my three picks.
The first one is Quo by Orly in 'The Blue Box'.  The second is Quo as well in 'Tease'.  I was really impressed by both of these polishes

I decided to add a little fun to the blue.  I stamped it using a Nailene stamping plate.  I'm not a fan of Nailene's but I love the image.  It was actually the first time it worked so well for me.  That's not to say there wasn't pieces missing though.



I'll be getting new Konad stamping plates in the mail soon. Be preparded for lots and lots of stamping photos!

p.s.  That's my 9 month 75lbs puppy in the background ;o)

Polka Dot Pink

For my first real post I thought I'd start out with something short and sweet. What better way than pink with Polka Dots.  As I am a newbie at this whole nail art thing I was quite impressed with the end result. I started off with a pink laquer by Quo for Orly.  There was not a name on the bottle as it came in a pack of 16 sample colours. 

This took about three coats to get the opaque colour in the image above.

Next using my dotter(which I'm new to as well) I applied polka dots in Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme wear in WHITE ON.  I love this white as its very opaque

And VOILA!!!! My very first attempt at polka dot nails was a success.