NAILS | Happy Summer Polka Dots

I think for the next 10 weeks expect to see only bright manicures from me! It doesn't seem right to wear vampy shades while the sun is shining and the temperature is above 20 degrees. I was browsing Pinterest, as I often do for nailspiration, and came across this pin and loved the colour combination of orange with the neon green studs. I guess I liked the pineapple too, but I didn't feel like more fruit this week...

NAILS | Oooh! It's a Red Holo! #ManiMonday

I wore this holo in the hopes that the sun would come out today for me to take one of those epic holo photos where all you see are rainbows on your eyeballs. Alas, it is bright, but cloudy today in Vancouver so we will have to contend with the ringlight and my telling you that this is the shade Gamma Ray* from the Born Pretty Holographic Holo Series. I have two red holo polishes and though Gamma Ray is nice and juicy, I had some issues with application.

PR samples

NAILS | Pantone Purplicious #ManiMonday

I have been on a staycation for just over a week now and though I have managed to put up a blog post every day since then, I feel like I haven't gotten as much done as I had planned. I vacuumed once, booked a service appointment for my car and baked cookies. I have been trying my hardest to catch up on some long lost blog work and honestly, there are only so many hours in the day that I can sit at a computer and type at home. I get distracted easily and though I have been challenging myself to get up early and get blogging in the morning, I find the opposite has been happening. I am going to bed anywhere from 1-2am with my mind still buzzing for things that need to be done for the next day. It's like I can never seem to get organized which is kind of disheartening. One thing I do still manage to set aside time for is ManiMonday so though there is nothing complicated with today's manicure, I still think this is a delicious mani to start off the week!

NAILS | Two Timing the Purples #ManiMonday

I am pretty happy right now because I am currently on staycation! I had 7 vacation days that I needed to use up by the end of the fiscal year and the timing was just perfect because I was about ready to kill people by the end of last week. I had my Sage diffuser running on overtime and then the adaptor broke and I was going mental with just spraying aromatherapy spray above my head. Thankfully, I stopped by one of the Sage stores to ask about buying an adaptor to which the sales associate responded with "Oh, I think I have an extra one in the back!" She gave me one for free and I bought three more essential oil blends: Exhale, Quick Study and Immune. All blends that are VERY appropriate for the workplace. Can't have anyone falling asleep!

NAILS | Sexy, Sultry and Red with Maxus Nails

I don't often wear red polish on its own, but when I do, I make it count! A new-to-me-brand called Maxus Nails reached out to me recently and after having a look at what they were all about, I was excited to feature them here and of course wear their polishes! Created by Dasha Minina, Maxus polishes are 11-free with a formula that is built to strengthen nails. What this brand is very well-known for are its nail treatments, two of which I enjoyed using and will be talking about later, but for today let's just gaze at this beautiful juicy red creme of a polish!

NAILS | A Little Late with My LAST Pink #ManiMonday!

So I'm a little late in posting my nails for Monday on the blog, BUT they did make it to Instagram so that still counts, right? I will keep this short and sweet, but although this mani didn't turn out quite like I wanted, the colours were still super cute and fun and I wanted to share! This is actually a taping manicure, but the top coat I used was a bit too liquidy so it made the lines bleed around my studs totally destroying that crispness I had worked so hard to achieve. Note for next time: use a thicker gel-like top coat!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 6 - The "Grey"-dient #BCDNAILS

I am finally all caught up now with the BCD Nail Art Challenge with this week's theme being "Grey". It's a bit of a depressing colour for spring, but I promise next week's "Retro" will be filled with colour and smiley-faced emoticons! This grey gradient came from the depths of Pinterest (here) from one of my favourite nail artists, Carly Sisoka, who I consider one of the best when it comes to coming up with gradient colour combinations. When you see them you always go, "Why didn't I think of that?!"

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 5 - Moody Metallic Gradient #BCDNAILS

Last week's Mosaic BCD Nails Challenge (here) took a ridiculous amount of time to do and I was pretty proud of myself for putting in the hours so I decided to keep them for the weekend. It put me one manicure behind for this challenge, but I will hopefully be able to make it up this week! I had a bit of rough week at work and though nothing bad happened, I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed and with Week 5's theme being "Emotion", I thought that instead of being "social media happy", I'd do a manicure that showcased how much of a moody *ahem* witch I was last week.

Using mark. by Avon's new Precious Petals Trend Mini Nail Lacquers in Steel Magnolia* and Green Thumb* as well as some Avon nail studs, I thought I'd go with conveying how icy blue my soul felt all of last week. Dramatic, I know.

NAILS | Getting into the St.Patrick's Day Spirit with Nubar - Reclaim (Reborn!) Swatch

There is nothing like St. Patrick's Day to get a girl to go through her 1400 bottles of nail polish to find ALL THE GREEN POLISH. This post is special because it is the first time I have worn a polish more than once on this blog! Nubar Reclaim is a bit of a cult classic if you've been following nail polish and its blogging counterparts for the last 5 years. Holo nail polishes were all the rage in 2012 and I have some awesome ones to still wear and share on Cosmetic Proof. Nubar Reclaim was my very first linear holo and you can see why everyone loves it - it is pure green HEAVEN.

I first blogged about Nubar Reclaim (here) in 2012 and honestly wanted both the opportunity to wear it again as well as to redo my swatch of them now that I have picked up a few extra photography tips!

NAILS | Shu Uemura Maison Kitsune Nail Enamel in Indigo Glitz #ManiMonday

Sorry guys and gals, but I received the Shu Uemura Maison Kitsune Holiday Collection fairly close to Christmas and just did not have the chance to dive into it until Christmas Day. Luckily, most of the collection is still available online so it is definitely not too late! This is the first Shu nail polish that has appeared on Cosmetic Proof and of course it is sooo purdy! I have a penchant for green, blue and purple so if I didn't pay attention, all of my nail swatches would probably be JUST those colours. I'm fairly conservative everywhere else so my nails are probably the only place where I feel I can "party hard".

Indigo Glitz* ($25.00 CDN) is a glittery dark blue/purple duochrome with tiny purple and blue glitter. It is fully opaque in 2 coats and has a dreamy formula making application very easy with its self-leveling properties.

NAILS | Feeling Glittery with the OPI Starlight Collection #ManiMonday

Due to a 50 hour work week and seasonal gatherings, today's episode of Mani Monday will be a brief, but sparkly introduction to the OPI Starlight Collection. Inspired by the celestial, this collection is filled with MUCH glitter, shimmer, textured finishes and even a holo! As it is a holiday collection, there is still a classic red and wine shade, but as I will show over the next few posts, the other shades will be the ones to catch your eye!

NAILS | Festively Sophisticated with Dior Nail Vernis in State of Gold and Passion

Let me just say that I cooed audibly when I painted my nails with the limited edition Dior State of Gold polishes throughout this manicure. For the holidays, Dior repackaged and went gold and vintage with their lipstick cases and nail polish bottles. While the lipsticks are coming very soon on the blog, I started with my soft spot - nail polishes. There are some polishes that just scream "I have to be elegant" and the rich red of Dior - Passion* ($33.00 CDN) is just that. Of course, the holidays are nothing without some glitter which is where Dior - State of Gold* comes into play!  

NAILS | Triple Coral Glitter Gradient #EssenceGelNails

The Essence Gel Nail Polish launch has been invigorating for me in many ways because I don't think I have done THIS many nail art posts in a very long time. For those that have been following me since I started blogging in 2011, I began as a nail art bloggers and would never have dreamed that I would be showing you all more than my talons. I probably take nail polish far too seriously, but I love pushing myself and trying new things. FOTDs are fun too, but sometimes I feel like there are only so many ways you can change your canvas aka your face. With nails, every time I take off my current design the slate truly is blank and can be transformed into ANYTHING.

I decided to finish of the month with a classic nail art design that is so fast and easy to do, but always looks amazing at the end - the glitter gradient!
 

NAILS | Bright Summer Gradient with Essie Nail Polishes

This is actually my entry into the Shoppers Drug Mart “Nail the Look” contest, but it gave me a great excuse to do a sponge gradient that I have not done in FOREVER. Nail art was what started me blogging and the blog has definitely diversified since then! For my colours, I used all Essie polishes starting with Mojito Madness, Where’s My Chaffeur?, Sunday Funday and then topped off with As Gold As It Gets to smooth out the colours.

I am super irritated that my pointer fingernail is not growing as fast as I would like it to…bear with my swatches as it grows out. I finished off the whole manicure with Essie’s Good to Go top coat and a little flower gem from Born Pretty.

Check out #SDMBeauty on Twitter for a look at all of the other entries!

NAIL ART | Psychedelic Spring Flowers with Wet n Wild Wildshine Nail Polishes

We are officially in the throes of Spring here in Vancouver and although I still feel the urge to wear a fuzzy sweater, I can now forego the winter coat and pair off an outfit with ballet flats instead of boots. After my recent discovery of Wet n Wild Wildshine polishes (here), I thought it might be appropriate to pay them a proper tribute and use them as many as I could in one manicure. Flowers are pretty much the gateway drug into nail art for the season. From here, it’s Easter, cherry blossoms, watercolour and of course MORE FLOWERS!

I started off with 2 coats of Putting on Airs*, an opaque baby blue, and then created flowers randomly on my nails using a dotting tool and the shades Tickled Pink* and Who Is Ultraviolet?* While the polish is still fairly wet, center some gold nail art studs for your flower centers or pistils, for you plant biologists. I used two different sizes of studs since the small ones looked silly with the larger flowers. Then, topcoat your design!

Edit: If you plan on applying the smaller nail art studs close to the edge of your nails, be careful when eating…or you might  inadvertently ingest one…ahem…as was the case yesterday for me.

BEAUTY PANEL | Red Carpet “Naked” Nail Art for Everyday

Incredibly enough, this year’s red carpet manicures weren’t wild or crazy. In fact, they were sophisticated, classic and NAKED. The naked nail look was achieved with polish shades ranging from nude to lilac to barely-there pink. Oddly enough, when it comes to MY everyday life, wearing a classic manicure is not enough so I ended up adding my own red carpet flair to an otherwise basic, yet VERY trendy award season mani! You know I CANNOT leave a plain polish alone!

  

Find out how to create this mani on the Beauty Panel today!

NAIL ART | Gettin’ Squiggly with Mary Kay at Play Hail to the Nails Mini Nail Lacquer Trio

I had briefly talked about the Mary Kay at Play Hail to the Nails Trio*(18.00 CDN) over the holidays as the perfect little stocking stuffer for the nail polish lover in your family and now I get to show it to you in action!

NAIL ART | Studded and Aztec-Inspired Nails

Along with nail decals, nail art studs are one of my favourite ways to add some bling. Nail studs can either be used as delicate accents OR as full on nail armour. When it comes to pricing and variety, I always turn to Born Pretty. My partnership with them was borne out of my inherent love for their products long before as a customer. I rarely do “nail armour” because I tend to lose studs, but the final product always looks so awesome.

#SinfulSaturdays | Sinful Colors Forget Now with Metallic Plaid Stud Nail Art

Being on the West Coast means there is STILL time for some Sinful Colors love! Today I have a glittery, pink jelly called Forget Now that I found a little watery and needed 3 coats to get the coverage you see here. I could have even done one more coat, but I personally draw the line at 3! As you all know, I can never leave a swatch alone, so for some added flair I added some metallic studs from Born Pretty!

Neon Star Studded Night Sky Nail Art

It’s time for the Born Pretty Store to save the day and make nail art that much more fun and interesting. Even though some of the products I feature from Born Pretty are sent for review, I was buying from them long before my affiliation with them. It is only because I trust their product quality as a consumer that I feel comfortable working with them to show you all just how great their products are! Today I am featuring some pretty amazing neon star studs that I have been coveting for months! They look like candy and I just wanna eat ‘em right up!