NAILS | Avon Metallic Fringe Top Coat in “Fringed and Frayed” Swatch

I was so tempted to title this a “Mani Monday” type thing, but I have never been good about sticking to a schedule for nails or anything really so the inocuous title of “NAILS” will have to do. Fact: I was actually an Avon consultant for all of 6 months because I wanted to experience the product on my own terms without having a “mentor”. Working full time and fielding inquiries on the side proved to be too taxing on my time, but one thing I walked away loving were Avon’s polishes. It began with the gel finish polishes last year and now the new Metallic Fringe Top Coats* (12mL/$8.00 CDN). This finish is what I call the “muppet finish” because it looks a little like fur, but with much more sparkle! Today I am wearing 2 coats of mark. trend Mini Nail Lacquer in Futbol Blue* followed by 2 coats of Avon Fringed and Frayed. You may have to move the bar glitter around to get more even dispersal.

NAILS | Taping Manicure with Nicole by OPI Coca Cola Collection – In Grape Demand and The Look is Orange

What do you do when you have a bunch of brightly coloured polishes? Why, you find a way to combine them of course! I am a huge Coca Cola fan even though I know I shouldn’t be drinking it as much as I do, but there are certain meals that just taste better with Coke! My favourite Persian meal of Kubideh Kabob doesn’t taste good with anything else! When OPI first released a Coca Cola collaboration last year, I was over the moon and was not expecting a Nicole by OPI release of the same theme anytime soon. Yet, here we are with a similar slew of colours, but if you missed out on last year these ones might still be lurking around in certain locations (I hope!). Today’s nail art is a criss-cross manicure created with striping tape and the nail polish shades: In Grape Demand* and The Look is Orange*. Both polishes applied beautifully like most NOPI polishes and once nails are completely dry, add your shiny top coat!

I love wearing manicures like this with business attire. I feel professional, but with a bit of an edge!

NAILS | Getting Stencilled with the OPI Brights Collection in “Life Gave Me Lemons” and “Down to the Core-al”

Summer is my all-time favourite season for nail polish because it’s brights, brights and MORE brights! Yes, we start to see repeats of the same colours, but they make us all so happy! Today I chose a colour combination that is, I admit, kind of weird, but I was convinced it would work. Yellow never works with my skin tone, but I was determined to make “Life Gave Me Lemons”*, an absinthe yellow-green, work so I figured it might if I paired it off with a colour that was safe in the form of re-released “Down to the Core-al”*, a shimmery bright coral, from last year’s neons collection.

 
Using the Almaz stencils from TwinkledT, I applied one coat of “Down to the Core-al” on top of 2 coats of “Life Gave Me Lemons” and I have to say I wasn’t entirely pleased with my results. I found the stencil VERY sticky and even though I had waited 24 hours for the base colour to dry, the stencil pulled up polish in certain areas. My nails are quite short for this stencil pattern so I feel like I didn’t get their full effect as there were blank areas on my nail. I really should practice on the right hand first…both polishes were great though. “Life Gave Me Lemons” was streaky on first coat, but corrected itself on the second which is typical of light coloured creme polishes.

What’s your summer go-to nail colour?

NAILS | Mary Kay Paradise Calling “Swirl” Nail Art with Lagoon and Exotic Orchid Nail Lacquer

I have been sporting my version of nubbins for what feels like almost a year as they were initially breaking from stress back in July. They have had a hard time recovering with my right hand still suffering break after break. You would never know since I have managed to keep nail posts going each week! I have been waiting a few weeks to finally break out some awesome cyclone vinyls from TwinkledT that required a bit of nail length for the pattern to work. While the cyclones would work with an array of colours, I was also anxious to finally wear the new Mary Kay Paradise Calling ($10.00 CDN) polishes. The colours just scream tropical paradise!

I started with two coats of “Exotic Orchid”* and used a fast drying top coat. Exotic Orchid on its own was just so beautiful that I almost left it alone. Opaque in two coats and with a lovely formulation!

 
Then I placed the decal on top of my now COMPLETELY dry nail and although it took some trial and error, I eventually managed to get some cyclones on my nails! For my “cyclone” top layer, I used two coats of the dark green “Lagoon”* and peeled off the decal RIGHT AWAY. That’s the secret to decals and taping manis – take the tape off immediately! Don’t let it dry!

Mary Kay Paradise Calling polishes are available through your Mary Kay consultant or at marykay.ca

NAILS | OPI Infinite Shine Swatches in Girl Without Limits + Stamping Nail Art

I am absolutely craptastic at nail stamping which is why I prefer to freehand everything when it comes to nail art. I can never get that rolling motion right so even though I have everything one could possibly need for stamping, I rarely pick them up. I am ONLY sharing this stamping post with you all because it is a marked improvement from some of the stamping posts I have done in the past. Using my brand new “squishy” stamper, I was finally able to pick up patterns mostly in full from my Born Pretty #03 Stamping Plate*. You have no idea how terrified I get when it’s time to stamp that design down on my nails. I am not someone that enjoys redoing nails or makeup looks so it HAS to be right the first time. I still missed some stars this time, but I hope this is the beginning of some better stamping nail art to share with all of you!

NAIL ART | Lovin’ Some Pineapples with OPI – Pineapples Have Peelings Too!

I love pineapples. Hate cutting them, but love eating and painting them! Following up with my last OPI Hawaii Collection post (here), I bring you OPI – Pineapples Have Peelings Too!* In classic OPI naming scheme, this glitter is quite an interesting one in that it’s a metallic, golden yellow with multi-coloured hex glitter. I am wearing two coats with top coat in all photos below. I do wish yellow shades looked better on me, but I think the pineapples help, don’t you?

NAIL ART | OPI *Hawaii Collection* – This Color’s Making Waves Review and Swatches

Spring and summer are my FAVOURITE seasons for nail polish colours because who doesn’t love brights and colours that we shy away from all winter long? I generally will wear any nail polish any time because I don’t believe in seasons for nail polish, but when it comes to new releases brights are reserved for this very season! “Making a splash” is the new Hawaii Collection from OPI with 12 new shades that will be perfect on both nails and toes! Today I am wearing This Color’s Making Waves* which is a deep shimmery teal with tiny copper-coloured bits of shimmer throughout.

 

To finish off the look, I applied some gold studs from Born Pretty with tweezers and positioned them in a little triangle at the base of my nail to give this manicure some extra pizzazz.

Who is excited for the weekend?! I will be working, but it’s still the WEEKEND!

NAIL ART | NYFW with Tommy Hilfiger Stripes and New York Color

I almost never get nail art inspiration from fashion mainly because I’m not great at recreating patterns and because most of the fashions I like are almost always “boring” and “business chic”. For this months’ NYC Beauty Pro Challenge, I must have looked for days trying to think of a design to recreate that I hadn’t done before and would be cool to share with all of you. In the end, I settled on multi-coloured stripes ala Tommy Hilfiger. I even think the outfit is kind of cute!

NAIL ART | MAC x Isabel and Ruben Toledo Collection Studio Nail Lacquer in Venus Red

When it comes to all things MAC, I tend to have quite a bit of restraint. Every collection has me at love at first swatch and if I gave into those urges, I would be a very well made-up, but broke girl. Not since the MAC x Archies collaboration has my interest been piqued until I caught a glimpse of the MAC Toledo Collection. Maybe it was the abstract art on the packaging or the story behind Isabel and Ruben Toledo, who were high school sweethearts. The bottom line was that I HAD to have this collection. Or at least a small part of it!

The artwork popped out to me so much that along with swatching, I absolutely had to attempt some nail art! Venus Red* is my first MAC polish and it was SO PRETTY. This polish was a little watery, so be wary of some cuticle flooding, but the opacity is bang on delicious. Two coats MAX and I was ready to roll! The faces were hand-drawn with black acrylic paint and the lips with nothing else but Venus Red!

NAIL POLISH | OPI 50 Shades of Grey Collection–Swatches, Review and Nail Art with “Romantically Involved”

I resisted reading the 50 Shades of Grey series until it got to the point where in order to have any sort of opinion about the books, I needed to read them myself. All I can say about the books is that I will never again subject my brain to the this adult Twilight fan fiction, BUT the nail polishes I did enjoy. There are 6 shades in the collection, most of which are well, GREY with the exception of deep creme red called “Romantically Involved”. Not one of my favourite names for a polish, but hey. The books always talk about Ana’s cheesy inner goddess so why not?

NAIL POLISH | *NEW* L’Oreal Infallible 2-Step Nail Colour in Fuschia for Life

Painting my nails always makes me feel better and generally if I don’t have nail polish on, I’m either sad or stressed. I started feeling a little bit better over the weekend, having made it through a full day without crying about Yoshi, and had the craving to paint my nails a super bright colour. I figured, why not dive right into some of the new drugstore beauty releases like the new Infallible 2-Step Nail Colours from L’Oreal? Hot on the heels of the gel-lacquer type nail polishes, these new polishes come in 12 must-have colours and require two steps for an ultra shiny and lasting finish. Step 1 is the actual nail polish and Step 2 is a fast-drying tinted top coat. Below is the shade Fuschia for Life*($10.99 CDN) in two coats with the tinted top coat.

NAIL POLISH | L'Oreal - Hidden Gems

Every time we start the year fresh, we all say we’re going to try new things. I don’t fully believe in New Year’s resolutions because a very small percentage of us actually complete them. I am the eternal pessimist so I never make them. Instead, I write down what I happen to achieve along the way and I make small, tangible goals for myself like this one: TRY A NEW NAIL POLISH BRAND. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s only Jan. 3rd so baby steps, right?

What I have on is 2 coats of L'Oreal - Hidden Gems, a textured teal, black and silver glittered polish, that is unlike anything I own. This is the first time ever wearing/featuring a L'Oreal nail polish so let’s tick that off as “accomplished”!

I am not normally a fan of textured polishes, but this one caught my eye in the bottle. It seemed so dark and mysterious and seemed to have a lot going on “emotionally” for a nail polish.

I just realized that I started off the year with a bit of an “emo” polish.

Are you a New Year’s resolutions person?

Swatch It Up | OPI DS Titanium

One of the very first polishes that I EVER purchased was OPI DS Extravagance (swatch) and ever since then the DS line has always been one of my favourites with colours and finishes that are absolutely stunning. This Fall, OPI is releasing two new additions to the DS family with the precious stone-inspired hues: DS Tourmaline and DS Titanium. I will start with DS Titanium, a stunning glittery dark silver with blue, gold and iridescent glitter that is comfortably opaque in 3 coats. The formulation of these two new polishes is referred to as “polished quartz” as the natural finish is semi-matte with a diamond dust sparkle, but can be brought to a high shine with top coat. The pictures below are with top coat.