New Year's Nails

We went to a friend's place for New Year's Eve - they hosted a super fun murder mystery party. It was set in a school for magic, not unlike Harry Potter.

I debated doing themed nails, but couldn't settle on something that worked, since it wasn't actually in the HP world.

Instead, I looked to Pantone, for their colour of the year for 2015.

This year's colour is marsala - a brick-wine red. I bought the perfect colour a couple of years ago on clearance - China Glaze Redstone.

It's a little dark, but it's in the same colour family, and it's really pretty.

I jazzed it up with a gold glitter gradient for the party.

Triforce

A friend gave me a bottle of polish in a present. It was L'Oreal The Temptress Touch

This is a gorgeous spring green with a bright gold almost duochrome effect.
After I applied it (3 coats, it's pretty sheer), I thought it needed something, so I went through my gem wheel, applied some studs and painted over them with Revlon Vincent Van Gold.

I thought it worked - especially while playing Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

I got a lot of compliments on this one from gamers and non-gamers alike.

Revlon Selects and Christmas

Revlon Selects sent me some of their Revlon by Marchesa 3D Jewel Appliques, and I saved them for my company Christmas party.

I used Gilded Mosaic - a very pretty gold and silver mosaic pattern.

Last time I tried the appliques, they only lasted a day before peeling up, and I kinda got frustrated with them. I had used a basecoat, which I think was part of the problem. 

This time I followed a how-to blog post from someone else (I forgot to save the link, and now I can't find it), and didn't use a basecoat.

The how-to said to use a "feather touch" when filing off the excess sticker, and ... yeah, these are so thick that you need a little pressure. I was still being gentle though. Some of the ends were still ragged - though I think that's a product of the design on these ones and my nail length - some of the jewels popped off at the ends of my nails.

I touched up the ends and wrapped the tips with some gold polish, and because the ragged edges were still bugging me, I went over it with a topcoat (it had to last a couple of days, because I was working the day of the party).

On my ring finger, I used Avon Matte Concrete, Essence Black is Back and Bundle Monster stamping plate 323 to create a nail that matched my party dress.

Now, the nail sitckers actually lasted several days this time before the design started to wear off, revealing the white base. 

I followed the directions, and peeled them up from the cuticle edge. Every finger except my thumbs (both hands), went well.

Here is what happened on my thumbs:

It peeled off a layer of my nail in some places - this was the better of the two. My other thumb had much larger sections peel off.

So, next time - basecoat for SURE.

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After letting my nails rest for a few days, I decided that I needed to do something Christmas-y

I used Color Club Red De Rio, then applied Claire's Cranberry scented polish from last year's scented holiday collection (it didn't really smell ... I think it's faded now). It's a fine red glitter with slightly larger gold glitter strewn throughout.

On my ring finger, I used a tutorial from Nailside to make a Christmas tree. I used China Glaze Winter Holly for the tree, and applied a gem to the top.

Winter Holly is a fun colour - packed with fine dark green glitter, and I think I spotted some gold and silver in there too.

My only complaint is the base of the glitter somehow caused the red to soak through my basecoat and stain my nail.

Emerald Eve

I wanted to do something with a glittery feature nail, so I went looking at my glitter polishes, and saw one I hadn't used yet. I paired it with a complimentary shade for the rest of my nails.

I started with two coats of OPI Cuckoo For This Color - this was a gift from a friend with great taste - haha! It is a shimmery dark teal. I guess you could describe it as an emerald green with a hint of blue. I don't even know what to say other than that; it's just really pretty.

On my ring finger, I applied a coat of Hard Candy Emerald Eve. Hard Candy polishes always surprise me - they are with glitter. This polish has tiny round emerald green glitter and larger round holographic gold glitter. I applied a thick-ish coat, and then remembered something else about Hard Candy polishes ... they dry fast!

I applied two coats of topcoat to the glittery nail just to help smooth out the texture.

The Day of The Doctor

I've already established that I am a Doctor Who fan, so I have definitely been looking forward to today - the 50th anniversary of the show.

I figured I should do a manicure that would be appropriate for today.

I think I am most proud of my ring finger - it turned out pretty much exactly how I wanted.

The TARDIS on my thumb:

• China Glaze First Mate - for the base
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Blue Metallic - for detailing
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Black - for detailing
• Claire's White striping polish - for detailing
• Sinful Colors Snow Me White - for the windows and the door sign

The 10th Doctor on my index finger:

• Revlon Chocolate Truffle - for the jacket
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Blue Metallic - for the pinstripes
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Black - for detailing
• Claire's White striping Polish - for the shirt
• Chine Glaze First Mate - for the tie

The 11th Doctor on my middle finger:

• Icing Skinny Dipping Beauty - for the jacket
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Black - for detailing and pants
• Claire's White striping Polish - for the shirt
• Sally Hansen Celeb City - for the buttons
• Ink Nail Art Dark Red - for the bowtie

A Dalek on my ring finger:

• Revlon Vincent Van Gold - for the base
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Black - for detailing
• Claire's Gem Wheel - yellow rhinestones - for the "Dalek bumps"
• Claire's Gem Wheel - silver rhinestones - for the eye stalk.

A Cyberman on my pinky:

• Claire's Celeb City - for the base
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite Black - for detailing

Also ... I just finished watching the special. So. Good.

Reddit Challenge - Inspired by a Movie / TV

This one was actually pretty easy, because I've wanted to do this as a manicure for a little while ...

The movie I picked was "Oz the Great and Powerful"

Here is a picture where you can sort of see the manicure in question:

And, here is my version:

I started with one coat of Essence Sweet as Candy for a sheer base.
Then I drew a triangle on my nail with Zoya Envy - an almost-black pine green.
I went over top of that with China Glaze Winter Holly
Finally, I did a line of gold just inside the edges of the triangle - I used my Icing by Claire's gold striping polish.

Revlon Selects - Polish Box

Alright, so I shared with you last week that I received a surprise box of nail goodies from Revlon as part of the Revlon Selects program. I'm going to be featuring the two polishes I received in today's post.

If you would like the opportunity to take part in the Revlon Selects program, they offer opportunities on their Revlon Canada Facebook page every once in a while, so check it out!
If you're not in Canada, take a look at your local Revlon page on Facebook - they may have similar product sample offers.

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First up, Revlon Colorstay in Nude Beige.
Sheer coverage with one coat, and opaque coverage in two. Easy to apply, smooth and super shiny (photo has no topcoat).
The colour? Definitely nude! I've seen other nail bloggers refer to this look as 'mannequin hands'. It's kinda neat! I think I will have to try this shade again with some black or white stamping over top.
Nude polishes seem to be in for spring, so this is perfect timing for Revlon to release this new shade.

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Next up is from the new limited Chroma Chameleon line. This is a line of duochrome or colour shifting polishes. I couldn't find anything official from Revlon (they aren't on their site yet), so here is a link to Nouveau Cheap's post with some photos of the collection.
I ended up with "Gold" which has a gold-green colour shift. I don't own Chanel's Peridot, but from what I've seen, this will be another dupe.

I was a little afraid when I started applying this one because of just how sheer it was on the first coat, however it built up pretty quickly and I only needed three coats in the end. You will end up with some brushstrokes, but they don't stand out too much.

It was a little difficult to photograph this one in my dark house in cloudy Vancouver (I really need a light box), so I took one photo with the flash and another photo in the dull afternoon sun.
The duochrome is pretty strong on this one in real life. I would recommend it if you missed out on any of the other versions of this shade. It looks like they have some other really nice duochromes in the line as well.

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And finally, (mostly) naked nails!
This one was NOT provided to me by Revlon, but it is their product ...
I quickly swatched the polishes above with no basecoat or topcoat  on Wednesday and then decided to hold off doing a full manicure for a couple of days, because I wanted to do something for a comic convention I was going to over the weekend. The first day, I had nothing on my nails at all and it actually felt weird, so when I got home, I applied my Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener.
I use this once in a while, because it doesn't really work as a basecoat (I always end up with lots of bubbles), but if ever I want bare nails, it is my go-to clear coat.
I figured since my nails were in decent condition, I would share!

I get a tiny amount of discolouration toward the tips of my nails, but using a basecoat every time really helps to prevent staining or yellowing.

In a couple more days, I will share the manicure I wore to Fan Expo Vancouver, and I am going to test out the nail strips that came in my Revlon Selects package in the next few weeks.

**disclamer**

The first two products featured in this post were provided to me free of charge to test and review based on a contest I entered last year. I do not receive any additional compensation for reviewing the products, nor do I allow free product samples to influence my opinions of the product itself.

Turquoise Nails

After seeing them over on Reddit, and after a tutorial was posted, I knew I had to try.

Mine didn't turn out the way I wanted, but they're still really pretty.

I started with one coat of Fascino Blue as a base, then went over it with a coat of Sinful Colors Mint Apple.

Once that was all dry, I dripped some Sally Hansen Golden-I into water, as if I was about to do a water marble, but instead of adding more colours and swirling, I spritzed it a couple of times with rubbing alcohol, then I dipped my nail in.

After I finished the gold on all my nails, I did the same thing with Avon Licorice.

Here's where I made a mistake - I used two drops of black, but you only need one.

I highly recommend taping your fingers if you're going to do this, because I didn't, and I had to do a LOT of cleanup.

I'll definitely be doing this one again - I really like it.

Revlon Selects Nail Polish Reviews

It's been a while, but I finally sat down and played some more with the Revlon Selects products I was sent.

The Nail Art polishes are dual-ended polishes where one side is a base coat and the other is an 'effect' of some sort. I believe the first ones were crackle sets. They also come in Neon (with a white base coat to make the neon shade pop), Moon Candy (flakies!!) and Expressionist (with a smaller detail brush)

I received an Expressionist and a Moon Candy - I'll be reviewing both!

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The Moon Candy polish I received is called Orbit.
This one was hard to get a good photo of - my camera did not like it at all (but oh, if you saw it in person, I know you'd love it!)

The base colour is a super dark purple creme. It's even and opaque in one coat - I've heard the Moon Candy polishes are like this, but I wasn't really expecting it to be THAT solid.
I love it. I honestly don't know what else I can say - it's a great polish.

The other side is a purple/blue/green flakie in a clear purple base. A lot of people complained that the flakies were hard to apply and hung off the edge of the nail. I can definitely see this - I dabbed the polish on, because that's how I'm used to applying most glitter and flakies, and the flakies were a bit on the unruly side, but I was able to place them easily enough.
The manicure was a bit lumpier than I'm used to, so I ended up having to use two coats of my topcoat.

I can't stop looking at the colour shift.

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The Expressionist polish I received is called "Vincent Van Gold"
I guess my camera doesn't like dark purples very much, because this one was hard to photograph as well.

The base colour side is dark purple with a blue shimmer - super pretty. I used it on it's own first, and it was a little too sheer for my taste.
For this manicure, I first did a coat with the base from the Moon Candy polish, then applied the Expressionist polish over top. I think this one is sheer, because it's a shimmery polish - I'm sure the ones with the creme polish base will be similar to the Moon Candy base polish.
Anyways, the colour is gorgeous and the application was nice and smooth.

The detail polish is a bright gold.
For the design, since I was doing this later at night after a busy day, I wanted something simple, so I opted for stripes - I did two vertical on one side of my nail, then two horizontal near the top of my nail.
I only had to do one coat to get solid coverage, which is essential with detail polishes.
The brush isn't as thin and long as some of the detail polishes you can find, but it's nice and flexible. I actually find the slightly shorter length to be a benefit - there is less room for wiggling if you've got shaky hands! It's easy enough to shape the brush against the mouth of the bottle to get a thinner line if you want it.
I think the thicker brush will allow you to do dots a lot easier - I'll have to give that a shot some time.

Reddit Challenge - Inspired by a Song

I had a really tough time with this one, and I asked people for help.

I asked my husband first. At the time, I was painting my nails black for my company Christmas party, and he just looked at my nails, looked back at me and raised his eyebrows. "Paint it Black" ... I really didn't want to cop-out, but I kept it in my back pocket.

I asked a co-worker. "99 Red Balloons", he suggested and gave me a link to a website with a list of songs that have colours in the title. Very crafty!

I browsed the site and thought "Yellow Submarine!" but since I'm going to be taking it off quickly to do a manicure for another Christmas party, I didn't want to put a lot of time into it.

I started typing in bands, looking for lists of songs, I finally went back to The Beatles, and figured why not just go for their costumes for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

So ... here it is!

Thumb is 3 coats Claire's Scented Banana
Index finger is 2 coats Wet n Wild Lavender
Middle finger is 3 coats Claire's Scented Lime
Ring finger is 2 coats Fascino Blue
Pinkie is 2 coats Wet n Wild Red

Details are done with Claire's and Icing detail polishes in gold and silver.

Fast and cute!

Revlon Selects has Arrived!

I got home today, and a small box was sitting on my table with a Revlon Selects label!
My husband said that the mail man had crammed it in our mailbox - it's bigger than our mailbox, so it was a little dented, but everything made it in one piece!

Included in the box is:

Revlon PhotoReady Primer+Shadow in Metropolitan - lovely brown/taupe/gold eyeshadow shades

Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in Backstage - a shimmery wine shade

Revlon Nail Art Expressionist polish in Vincent Van Gold - shimmery purple and gold polishes

Revlon Nail Art Moon Candy in Orbit - dark purple creme and blue-green flakies in a clear purple base

Revlon Diamond Collection Nail File (I got a purple one!)

I look forward to testing these all out and posting my reviews.

I'm going to wear the eyeshadow to work tomorrow just for fun.

52 Week Challenge - Water Marble

I actually gave my nails an entire week to breathe ... sort of.
I wore the black rock star manicure for a few days, and took it off on Monday when I posted the blog entry.
I used my Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener to see if it would make any difference. My nails didn't peel any further, so I guess that's good.

Anyways, super early post!

I spent a long time looking at my collection of polishes to find which colours I wanted to use on my water marble.

Here is what I went with:
OPI Steady as She Rose - dusty pink with a hint of lavender. I used it with my needle marble manicure.
Icing by Claires KTDID - metallic purple / maroon shade.
Sally Hansen Golden-I - gold glitter polish (super dense)

I started with 2 coats of Steady as She Rose over top of my Quo by ORLY rubberized basecoat.

I used Brita filtered water brought to room temperature - I had grabbed a couple of those little paper cups they give you at takeout sushi places for your soy sauce.
I taped my fingers around my nails so cleanup would be easier.

Into the water, I added 1 drop of my Zoya white - just to get started without wasting my colours.
Then I did 1 drop each Steady as She Rose, KTDID, Golden-I, and a final drop of Steady as She Rose to create a nice "bullseye"

I dragged a toothpick through the polish to create a design.
Once I was happy with the design, I lowered my finger in, and used a toothpick to pick up all the excess polish on the surface of the water.

I smudged my pinky a bit, which sucks, but I didn't really want to take it off and do it again. Cleanup was a bit of a pain - the gold is not easy to get off (you can see it's still a little messy), but I couldn't imagine what it would be like without the tape!

Pretty and surprisingly easy! I don't think I'd do it often, but for a special occasion? Definitely.

Dot Gradient

I was looking around at other nail polish blogs, and found a 'dot gradient' manicure. I decided to give it a shot. I went with the tutorial on PixelsPolish.

I don't have a dotting tool (well, actually I do, it's called a sculpting tool, and that's what I use it for). Anyways - I'm all about not having to buy extra junk to do funky manicures, so I did this all freehand.
I also didn't bother to use tape, because I didn't want to have that many layers of polish, I just painted each half on its own.

I went with black and gold and did the gradient on my thumbs. The rest of my nails are just plain black with super skinny gold french tips.

Please pardon the smudge on my middle finger - I put the topcoat on right before I left for the day (I was going to be sitting in the car doing nothing for a few hours, I figured it would be safe), but I smushed the polish with my purse.

It was hard to get a photo of this - not used to taking photos where you can see my thumb nail.

I started with the gold polish - unfortunately, I don't have a big bottle, so I just used my Icing By Claire's gold detail polish. I painted a diagonal line down my nail and filled in one side - two coats.

I moved on to the black - OPI Black Onyx - filling in the other half of my thumb and painting all my other nails. Two coats.

Going back to the black, this time using my Claire's black detail polish. I started in on the dots. First ones were right up against the centre line - I did 4. Then I moved out and did 3 smaller ones, and finally 2 smaller ones outside those.
Then I went back in with the gold - painting dots on the now mostly dry black. It was actually at this point that I decided my other nails were to plain, so I did the gold tips.

Next week, I'm starting part way through a 52 week nail challenge. I'm using the one from I'm Simply Complex
I only just noticed that this week's is "Dotticure" ... I guess I'm starting it this week - hah!
Anyways, I'll see this one through to the end, and find a new one in January. If I can't find a new one, I will just start at the beginning of this one.

Next week's theme is "Earth Appreciation" hm.

Nouveau Vintage Stripe

I did this one on Sunday night, so it's coming up on a week old - it's wearing pretty well. My other hand started to chip a bit (on my problem nail).
It was a bit hard to photograph this one - natural light was too dark, and with the flash, you get that shiny spot. I stuck with the flash photo, because it shows the colour best.

This is Color Club's Nouveau Vintage from their Back to Boho collection. 2 coats. I'm loving everything I've tried from this collection. I have to put stickers on the bottles with the names though - I keep having to look them up :p

Topped it off with Gosh Matte topcoat. This is the only matte topcoat I have tried and I would call it more of a "satin" finish than a true matte. It flattens everything out, but there is a dull shine. Not sure if other matte topcoats are like this or not, but this was the only one I could find locally.

Once that was all dry, I took Icing by Claire's nail art polish in gold, and did two stripes on each nail.