Keep Calm and Polish On

Happy Halloween!

2012-10-31T09:00:00.000-03:00

Hi folks, Happy Halloween! I hope everyone's safe and sound from Hurricane Sandy. We're getting some wind and rain but nothing major. What's Sandy doing in your neighbourhood?

While trying to come up with some creative for a Halloween mani, I came across these little gems.

They're OPI nail decals from last year's Halloween mini collection. The kit included four OPI mini polishes: I Only Date Werewolves, He's My Boo, Mummy Knows Best and a special edition glow in the dark polish Zom-Body To Love (my favourite name so far!). Also included were 5 diffierent nail decals: pumpkin, spider, spiderweb, trick or treat and a bat.

The instruction seem simple enough:

"Allow nail lacquer to dry. Remove the proctective film from the sheet. Cut out the desired decal and dip it in warm water for 10 seconds. Moisten the surface of the nail. Gently slide the decal off the paper backing and into position on the nail. Gently blot dry with tissue. Finish with top coat."

All cut up

Soak in water for 10 seconds and apply to nail

I like the finished product. I found the decals VERY hard to position. Has anyone else tried these? What's on your nails for Halloween?

What's That You Say? I Have a Herring Problem!

2012-10-18T14:40:00.001-03:00

OPI celebrates color with the Holland Collection for Spring/Summer 2012. Inspired by the country’s range of stunning shades – as seen in vivid tulips, windmill-dotted hillsides and bustling canals – the collection’s twelve shades offer a mixture of sophisticated neutrals and highly-pigmented brights.

The Holland Collection includes : A Roll in the Hague, Red Lights Ahead...Where?, Kiss Me on My Tulips, Pedal Faster Suzi!, Dutch ’Ya Just Love OPI?, Vampsterdam, Did You ’ear About Van Gogh?, Thanks a WindMillion, Wooden Shoe Like to Know?, I Have a Herring Problem, I Don’t Give a Rotterdam!, Gouda Gouda Two Shoes.

I Have a Herring Problem is described as " What’s that you say? I need to “sea” this shimmery green-blue?" by OPI. IHAHP is a shimmery green -blue that reminds me of a medium demin blue. It's an interesting colour that's accented by a beautiful gold shimmer.

The colour wears well and is very suitable as a work colour. However, the application was a nightmare. After 3 coats, my nails still had visible bald patches. I really hate to use more then 3 coats of polish but it was necessary with IHAHP to achieve even coverage.
While I love the name of this polish, I'm not loving the colour. It's nice but I'm still waiting for the wow factor in this collection. What's you favorite in the Holland Collection?

Work/Play/Polish Giveaway

2012-10-18T13:00:00.004-03:00

Enter to win Zoya's SOLD OUT Gilty Pleasures Collection from Workplaypolish. The giveaway is open internationally and end Oct 31 click here to enter

New Polish!

2012-09-30T12:25:00.003-03:00

Nail polish storage issues aside...I couldn't resist picking up some great finds this week. I found a full size bottle of Alpine Snow (great for nail art!). Two other great finds were, Nothin' Mousie "Bout It from the Minnie Mouse Collection and Just Spotted This Lizard from the Spider Man Collection. The purchase I'm most excited to try are the OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Apps.

Has anyone tried the Nail Apps yet? Any tips or tricks to share?

Deuce Beauties Amazing Giveaway

2012-07-31T12:02:00.001-03:00

Deuce Beauties just reached a blogger milestone of 2,700 followers! Congratulations!
To celebrate she is giving away the entire OPI Amazing Spiderman Collection. The giveaway is open internationally and ends August 8, 2012. Click here to enter

Pirate Nails

2012-07-17T22:07:00.001-03:00

The Tall Ships Festival is about to sail into my city and to get into the festive mood I thought I would do some nail art. I was originally going to do your boring run of the mill skull and cross bones but then I found some wonderful inspiration online.

I used Bubble Bath as my base, to create my pirate face. Then covered the upper half of my nail with Cajun Shrimp to make a bandanna. Once dry I then used I Only Date Werewolves on my dotting tool to create the eye, eye patch and smirk. To finish things up I used my Yodel Me On My Cell and my dotting tool to create polka-dots on my bandanna.

Once again, I apologise for the terrible cell phone photo and general lack of photos but I'm still without a camera

Canada Day Nails!

2012-07-09T21:04:00.000-03:00

I love this mani so much that I couldn't not post about it. For all my Canadian readers I hope you had a fantastic day celebrating our fabulous country. I really wanted to do Canada flags on my nails but maple leafs are seriously had draw. So taking inspiration from Pam over at Girly Bits and wore my heart on my nails.

(Sorry for the terrible cell phone photo but still no camera)

I used OPI Big Apple Red as my base. Then I painted a strip down the centre of my nails with OPI He's My Boo. Used my dotting tool to create the hearts, also with OPI Big Apple Red and voila my heart on my nails.

Better Late The Never!

2012-07-08T14:06:00.004-03:00

Hi folks,
Sorry for the lack of post. It's been a busy couple of months. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait a little longer for new posts. While on vacation, my voltage converter failed to convert and my camera got fried. I thought about buying a cheap replacement for the time being but decided to save up for a decent camera instead. Anyone have any camera recommendations?

New Polish!!!!

2012-04-04T08:00:00.000-03:00

Once again I just couldn't resist. Look what I picked up today!

Look What I've Been Up

2012-04-03T12:15:00.001-03:00

Hi Guys,
I'm so sorry for the lack of posts lately! My best friend is getting married in 20 days (eeek) and we've had a ton of stuff to do. Once things settle down expect regular posts again. Until then check out all the fun wedding craft I've been doing!

New Polish!!!

2012-03-29T08:00:00.000-03:00

Remember when I said I needed to track down full size bottles of Not Like the Movies and The One That Got Away ? Well look what I found!

As an added bonus, I picked up OPI Ink.

Rescue Mani

2012-03-23T08:30:00.000-03:00

Ever paint your nails a fantastic colour that you didn't want to remove even after it's started to chip? I have and thougth this would be the perfect chance to show my favourite way to save a chipped mani.

I've had on Not Like The Movies for a few days and started to see some tip wear and cracks in my polish.

I used tape to block off the top section of my nails. Making sure that the tape was positioned slightly lower on the nail with each finger.

I then painted the exposed area of my nail with I Only Date Werewolves

Allow the polish to dry completely before removing the tape.

Remove the tape and add a top. Voila a great graduated mani from your old chipped mani!

Ladybug Nail Art

2012-03-21T08:00:00.000-03:00

It's 20 degrees out today and it feels like spring is in the air. Feeling springy I thought I thought try ladybug nails. Once again big thanks to Mary at Swatch and Learn for the great tutorial.

I used OPI Big Apple Red as my base

Then covered the top 3/4 of my nail with tape. I covered the bottom half of the tape with OPI I Only Date Werewolves.

Once dry I removed the tape and drew a vertical line with Kiss Nail Art Paint in Black

Finally used my new dotting tools from the Born Pretty Store and painted dots on either side of my vertical line with OPI I Only Date Werewolves

Added two dots for eyes with OPI Alpine Snow

New Polish!!!

2012-03-20T08:00:00.000-03:00

Look what I finally got my hands on!!!

Classic Monday "Yule Love This Silver" Review

2012-03-19T08:00:00.000-03:00

Yule Love This Silver was released as part of the 2001 (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong please!) OPI Holiday Collection.

Yule Love This Silver has a clear base and is jammed full of holo (!) micro glitter! In the bottle the colour can seem a little done (who doesn't have a bottle or two of silver glitter polish?) but once you see it in direct light. Holy crap! It's awesome! Super sparkly. I could not stop staring at my nails!

The formula for this colour is great. It went on well and evenly. My major concern when using a clear base with micro glitter is clumping but that wasn't an issue. I did find the formula to be a little on the thin side but the holo glitter more then made up for it.

I used this colour as a glitter coat over My Private Jet and it was love from the first coat. I'm a glitter fied so I used 2 coats. I think I may have found my original formula MPJ dupe. If you can find Yule Love This Silver grab it!

New Polish

2012-03-16T08:00:00.000-03:00

While getting my hair done, I saw this little gem on a shelf waiting for me to buy it.

Laine Blogger Award

2012-03-15T17:00:00.000-03:00

My first award! How exciting! A big thanks to the lovely Miranda over at Splat for the award.
She currently holding a great matte glitter giveaway that closes 4/2/12, so please check her out and enter.

The Rules
1) Link back to the person who gave it to you.
2) Blog about your award.
3) Give this award to 5 bloggers & let them know you gave it to them.

The Nominees
Makeup is Delicious!!
Just Tiffeny
In All My Jannieness
All things beautiful
Dreams and dresses

There are soo many great blogs out there that it was incredibly difficult choosing only 5. Like Miranda, I tried to award people who haven't already received the Laine Award. If I've named you and you've already received it, sorry! However, two is always better then one right?

Hibiscus Nail Art

2012-03-14T08:00:00.001-03:00

With only 42 days (who's counting?) until vacation, I thought it would be fun to do some tropical nail art. I found a great tutorial for a hibiscus nail design over at thatleanne.

I used Fly as my base

Then used Kiss Nail Art Paint in white to do the outline of the hibiscus flower.

Then coloured the flower in using the white

To draw the inside of the flower, I used a toothpick dipped in A-taupe the Space Needle

Added the last few details with Pink Friday

A Perfect Day

2012-03-13T13:54:00.000-03:00

I love when the sun is shinning in Halifax! It`s a gorgeous day out today. I hope the weather is just as nice where you are.

About a month ago I won a mini-giveaway from Mandy over at Prettymaking. I won a beautiful amplified creme lipstick by MAC. The shade is called "A Perfect Day" and looks fantastic! You can read Mandy's review and check out her swatches of a A Perfect Day here. Thank you again Mandy for the great giveaway!

OPI Princess Charming Collection "Princesses Rule!" Review

2012-03-12T08:00:00.000-03:00

Princesses Rule! is described as "A bright sparkly pink that's tiara worthy!" by OPI.

Princesses Rule! was originally released as part of the OPI Princess Charming Collection and is now part of the OPI Soft Shades Collection. The original collection also included: I'm A Princess, You're Not!, Got A Date To-Knight!, My Daddy's The King!, Who Needs A Prince?, Your Royal Shyness and Princesses Rule!.

PR is a very soft shimmering baby pink. In the bottle the colour looks fantastic and I instantly feel in love. Once on, I found it to be incredible sheer. I needed 4 coats for the colour to become semi-opaque and still had VNL. The formula for this colour is fantastic, it goes on and is packed full of shimmer.

While I can't see myself wearing this colour on it's own. I can see it being a great way to jazz up a boring pink polish and I can't wait to see how it looks over MPJ.

Katy Perry Collection "The One That Got Away" Review

2012-03-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

The One That Got Away is described as "You always thought you'd marry this amazing deep berry" by OPI.

The One That Got Away is one of 5 colours from the Katy Perry Collection released in 2011. The other colours featured in the collection are: The One That Got Away, Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, Not Like The Movies, and a Black Shatter.

I should have really called this post "Don't judge a polish by the colour in the bottle. This colour is WOW! It's a beautiful glass flecked raspberry colour. I could not stop staring at my hands when I put this colour on. It's gorgeous! When I first looked at the colour in the bottle, I was pretty certain I was going to hate it. Reds are not something I wear on my hands, ever. I'm so fair (like SPF 60 fair) that most reds either look vampy or trashy on me. That's why I'm so surprised at how much I love this colour. It's a fantastic work appropriate colour. It has a great elegant look to it but up close it's sparkly and fun.

The formula for this colour was excellent. The One That Got Away was a mini lacquer and I was expecting the formula to be chunky and thick. It wasn't! Yay. It went on evenly had the perfect thickness. I used 3 coats for opacity. I probably could have gotten away with 2 but I noticed some very subtle bald spots. I'm sure I'm the only one who would have noticed them but my inner OCD just wouldn't allow it. I wore this colour for 4 days and had only minimum tip wear and chips.

Did The One That Got Away take you by surprise too? What's your favourite in the Katy Perry Collection?

Touring America Collection "My Address Is Hollywood"

2012-03-07T08:00:00.001-04:00

My Address Is "Hollywood" is described as "We put this pretty rose-pink on the map" by O.P.I.

My Address Is "Hollywood" was released as part of the fall 2011 Touring America Collection. The collection consists of 12 colours: Are We There Yet, Color To Diner For, Honk If You Love OPI, French Quarter For Your Thoughts, A-Taupe The Space Needle, Road House Blues, Suzi Takes The Wheel, I Eat Mainely Lobster, Uh Oh Roll Down the Window, My Address is "Hollywood", Get In The Expresso Lane, I Brake For Manicures, inspired by Suzi Weiss-Fischmann cross America RV tour.

This is the perfect pink! It's a beautiful rose pink with gold shimmer. This shade of rose is a great work appropriate colour. Think how good it would look with a chocolate or charcoal suit! The gold shimmer looks great under any light and the rose base in the polish looks great with many different skin tones.

I bought this colour as a mini and was expecting the formula to be a chunky mess. It wasn't! The formula was perfect. I needed only 2 coats for opacity.

This is a fantastic year round work appropriate colour. I think I need to get my hands on a full size bottle.

As usual click on the photos if you want to enlarge 'em!

Cloud Mani or Step Mani

2012-03-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Once again I blame the wine...okay maybe I'm a little tiny bit to blame

I tried to re-create my own version of the "Cloud Mani" seen over at Nailside, but mine looks more like steps. I'm not really happy with how it turned out but practise makes perfect. Since I believe and nail art is all about trial and error, here we go!

I used Strawberry Margarita as my base
I apologise in advance for the state of my cuticles! My dishwasher broke and I'm washing everything by hand until the new one comes. Maybe I'll switch to paper plates until then....

I then used Fly to create the cloud/step affect.

For the third layer, I used Alpine Snow then topped everything off with a clear top coat and voila.

Nicki Minaj "Save Me" Review

2012-03-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

Save Me is described as "I drove for miles just to find this silver-rainbow glitter" by OPI.

Save Me is one of 6 in the Nicki Minaj Collection by O.P.I. The collection consist of 3 cremes (Fly, Pink Friday, Did It On 'Em), 2 metallics (Metallic 4 Life, Save Me) and one shatter (Super Bass).

This is what I have been waiting for in this entire collection. To me this is Nicki Minaj! I love Save Me. It's a clear base with rectangle holo (!) glitter and silver micro glitter. Gorgeous!

Save Me goes on well with a not to thick not to thin formula. I did have some issues with the micro glitter clumping and almost over powering the bar glitter in certain areas of my nails. I"ve only worn this colour as a glitter coat and not as a stand alone colour. I used 2 coats of Save Me over 2 coats of My Private Jet and loved the affect. I did find the dried finish to be a little too gritty for my liking but a quick top coat solved the problem.

New Polish!

2012-02-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

Storage issues aside, I couldn't resist buying this!!!