Easter Nails

Happy Friday everyone!  I can’t believe it, but I think that Spring has finally sprung!  If you have been here for a while, you know I’m a winter person but this winter has been super long even for me.  Today, Owen, Lexi and I spent some time getting our bronze on on the side deck where the sun was beating down and making it nice and toasty warm!  Lexi was finding it a little hot and opted to go lie on the snow in the backyard instead, lol!

Last week, Celine from Nail Polish Canada emailed me and asked if I wanted to participate in their Easter Nail Art Challenge.  It’s been a while since I’ve done nail art, so I thought I would give ‘er a go!  Here’s what I came up with:

I used a bunch of polishes, I’ll just list them for you guys:

Julep Bess (blue)

Julep Blake (yellow)

OPI Rumple’s Wiggin’ (purple)

Julep Hayden (orange)

Julep Martha (pink)

Jordana Black

LA Colors Art Deco striping polish in White

China Glaze Fairy Dust (glitter)

Julep Matte Top Coat

The picture doesn’t show the polishes in 100% colour accuracy, but it was late at night when I took the picture and by the time I got up in the morning, my sugar spun thumb was all smushed.

I love pastel polishes, and they look even better when they are topped with a matte top coat.  I love the chalky look of them 🙂

Make sure to check out all the other entries of the Nail Polish Canada Easter Nail Art Challenge and vote for your favourite!

Have you done any Easter nails yet?  Post them to my Facebook page, I would love to see them!

Holiday Nail Art Challenge Week 2

Hola readers!!  I know I said that I would be on the ball this week with Nail Polish Canada’s Holiday Nail Art Challenge, and I wasn’t.. FAIL!  I did have my mani done a few days ago, I just was being lazy and didn’t get the post up.

This week’s theme was Decorations.  My idea came into my mind immediately when I saw the e-mail, and this is what I came up with!

I started out with 2 coats of Julep Petra – this is a GORGEOUS colour!  It’s so beautiful!!  Then I topped it with the Julep matte top coat.  On my ring nail, I taped off a triangle, and then used striping tape to create “garland” lines on the tree, and filled in the triangle with JulieG Mistletoe.  I added a silver rhinestone tree topper and dots of Julep Felicity, for the decorations.

Then I stamped the line design from BM-319 using Julep Felicity and Harley for tinsel 🙂

I really love how this mani turned out, it’s exactly like I had it in my head, and that’s always rewarding!

What do you guys think?  Make sure to head on over to the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge page and vote for your favourite Decorations design.

Holiday Nail Art Challenge Week 1

Happy Sunday everyone, and Happy December 1st!!  Only 24 more sleeps 😀

I have a late mani submission for the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge.  Yes, I have had all week to do it, but I have been super lazy and only did it last night, very last minute.  Let’s take a look – I am very excited for the way this turned out!  The theme for this week’s challenge was snow, my FAVOURITE part of winter and Christmas 😀

For this mani, I started off with 2 coats of Essie Butler Please.  The polish is a little darker in person, but you know how those darn cameras can be when photographing blues (and purples)!  The 3rd picture is the most colour-accurate.  Then I used Julep Harley (silver metallic) and Fina (sky blue metallic), and the Born Pretty Store snowflake stamping plate QA58 to stamp on some snow flakes.  Then I topped it off with a thin layer of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, trying to do a from-the-cuticle glitter gradient.  Then, my favourite part of all, I applied a snowflake glitter, also from Born Pretty Store, to each nail using some top coat to stick them down.  I am finding with these glitters that the little spokes of the snowflake like to stick up, even when you apply a top coat over top, so just keep that in mind if you decide you MUST have these glitters in your life 🙂  They are totally worth it though, I promise!

I can’t wait to see what theme Nail Polish Canada comes up with for this coming week.  I will try to be more on the ball this time ’round 😀

Don’t forget to head over to the Nail Polish Canada voting page to check out the other entries, and vote for your favourite design!

Z is for Zebra

Happy Monday everyone!  This week is the last week of the ABC Nail Art Challenge!  I can’t believe 26 weeks have come and gone already, time flies when you are having fun 😀

Today I have for you my “Z” mani!

Z is for Zebra

I am in love with this!!  I started off with 2 coats of Zoya Zuza and then stamped on a zebra design using Konad stamping plate M-69.  The end result is perfection!  The design and the base colour work so well together, it’s like a match made in polish stamping heaven 😀  This was also one of the very first designs I used when I first got my stamping plates, before I started blogging.  I have to say that my stamping skills have improved drastically since that very first time.

I was going to add glitter to this, but I thought that would take away from the gorgeousness of Zuza, so I left it alone 😀  A first for me, I know 😉

What do you guys think?  Don’t forget to post your “Z” mani on my Facebook page so I can share it!

I just want to take this time to thank everyone who participated in the ABC Nail Art Challenge with me!  It’s been so much fun to see everyone’s manis over the last 26 weeks!  It was interesting to see how everyone interpreted a certain letter, and all the different polishes out there!  I am going to take a break from doing a Challenge for a while, but will maybe think about doing another one in the new year 🙂  I hope you have all had as much fun as I have, even if it’s just been watching from the sidelines.

Y is for Yin Yang

Howdie!  Has anyone else had a long week??  I’m glad it’s over!  Today I have the 2nd last ABC Nail Art Challenge post for you – my “Y” mani!

Y is for Yin Yang

Indoor

For this I started with 3 coats of Ruby Wing Birdie (yellow), and then with a nail art brush, I painted an “S” shape along the length of my nails and filled in one half with Ruby Wing Zen Garden.  Then, used my biggest dotting tool (still sending thanks to Lauri for my dotting tools!) I did a dot with the opposite colour on each side of the “S” to create the yin yangs.

Now, here is the SUPER FUN PART!!!  Ruby Wing polishes are all colour changing, and they change in UV light (sunlight).  The picture above is the colours indoor/not in the sun, and the picture I’m about to show you is in sunlight!  I had to use my UV gel lamp to create the colour change because (of course) I picked the cloudiest day of the week to do these.  Check it out!

Outside/in direct sunlight

Pretty sweet, huh?!  These polishes have been untried for about a year.. and now I’m regretting it.  I found them at Winners, and now of course they don’t have them anymore, at least not the last few times I have been there.  When I decide to get some more, I will be able to get them from Nail Polish Canada 😀

Birdie, a gorgeous butter yellow changed to a bright, bold orange, perfect for fall.  Zen Garden, a muted lavender, changed to a rich chocolate brown, again perfect for fall.

I will be trying to wear both of these polishes more often as they are SO fun!  I also want to try to get some more of them in my collection 😀  I have been eyeing the new Cupcakes & Champagne collection since it was released 🙂

Make sure to share your “Y” mani on my Facebook page!  And next week is the last week of the Challenge, the letter “Z”!

X is for X-plosion

Happy Friday everyone!  I can’t believe the change in temperature between today (barely 10°C) and this past Tuesday/Wednesday (30-35°C, felt more like 40°C)!  Fall is definitely in the air!

Today I have for you my X mani for the ABC Challenge!  It’s the 3rd last week this week … wow!  Time is going by way too fast!

X is for X-plosion

For this, I started with 2 coats of Julep Bunny.  I waited until it was completely dry, then using clear scotch tape, I created a jagged edge and painted on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Twisted Pink on my ring and thumb nails.  I quickly removed the tape after painting each nail so that the lines remained crisp and clean.  I was too impatient to tape off for the inside of the explosion, so I used Jordana Pop Art Golden Artist (striper) and carefully mimicked the shape of pink part of the explosion.

I have to hand it to those who create awesome explosion nails.  This is a lot harder to do than I thought, I will have to try it again when I have some more patience.  I just wasn’t feeling “artsy” today 😦

Let’s see what you did for “X” week!  Post your “X” mani on my Facebook page so I can share it 😀

W is for Winnie the Pooh Water Marble

Evening everyone!  I’m so glad it’s a long weekend so I don’t have to go to work tomorrow 😀  That and today wasn’t a very productive day, so I’m glad I have another “do-over” day 🙂

Tonight I have my “W” mani for the ABC Nail Art Challenge!  There are only 4 weeks left of the Challenge, I can’t believe we are this close to the end already!  So much has happened in the last 20+ weeks!  Let’s get to it, shall we?

W is for Winnie the Pooh Water Marble

First, I started with a water marble for each Winnie the Pooh character – Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore and Winnie the Pooh.

Then I applied my top coat to each nail and stuck the decals I made using my MJ Special Edition plate from MyOnline Shop that I got a while back.  I got this idea from Crazy Polishes’ post and I knew I had to incorporate it into my “W” mani!

The colours I used are:
Index – Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Twisted Pink, Julep Carrie and Martha.  I used the same colours to fill in the stamp.

Middle – Julep Parker, Blake and Brandt.  I used the same colours as well as Julep Martha and Kate to fill in the stamp.

Ring – Julep Jessica, Martha and Millie.  I used the same colours, as well as Deborah Lippmann Naked and Julep Kate to fill in the stamp.

Pinky – Julep Parker and Delaunay.  I used the same colours to fill in the stamp.

Whew, that’s a lot of colours!  To create decals, I applied polish to the stamping plate, scraped and picked it up with the stamper.  Then, rather than stamping onto my nails, I used my dotting tool and a toothpick to fill in the stamp outline with polish.  I set that aside to dry completely and then covered the entire design with a thin coat of clear top coat.  When that was completely dry, I pressed down around the decal so that it peeled off the rubber in one piece.  I trimmed the clear polish around the design so that it was easier to apply to the nail.

Then, before the top coat I put over my water marble was completely dry, I lightly pressed the decal onto the tacky top coat, and then topped with another layer of top coat to finish the look.

I am SO in love with this mani!  I am a HUGE Disney fan, and the “cast” of Winnie the Pooh is definitely at the top of my favourites list 😀

What do you think?  Do you love it as much as I do??

V is for V-Gap

Howdie readers!  Does everyone have exciting plans for this long weekend??  I don’t, lol!  I’m going to use it to relax and catch up on some sleep 😉  Can you believe it’s the end of August, and back to school time already??  Were has this summer, and the entire year gone?!

Today I have for you my “V” mani for the ABC Nail Art Challenge!

V is for V-Gap

This is by far one of my favourite manis I have done in a while, I couldn’t stop looking at it.  I started with 2 coats of Avon Vivid Violet.  Then I applied striping tape along the length of my nail, and 2 pieces on an angle at the cuticle to create a “V”.  Then I painted to the left and right of the vertical tape with Julep Sienna.  And, because I can’t leave well enough alone, I added some dots of Sienna over Vivid Violet, and a rhinestone at the point to make it all fancy-like 😉

What do you think?  Have you tried a V-Gap mani before?

Make sure to post your “V” mani on my Facebook page!

U is for Union Jack

Evening readers!  I am super excited about this mani I’m about to show you that I can’t wait until tomorrow to post it!  This is the one that I have been most excited about since I started the ABC Nail Art Challenge, so let’s jump right into it!

U is for Union Jack

This mani is inspired by my friend Nat, who is from Great Britain, and all of my readers from across the pond 🙂  When I was going through the letters of the alphabet to come up with a game plan before the Challenge started, I remembered watching this cutepolish tutorial video a while back and knew it would be perfect for the letter “U”.

For this, I used Bondi NYPD, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On and Butter London Pillar Box Red (perfect, right?!).  NYPD was a perfect blue for the Union Jack flag, and I am SO glad I signed up for Bondi!  I can’t wait to see what they comes up with for September 😀

Make sure to post your “U” mani on my Facebook page, I would love to see!

T is for Textured

Evening ladies and gents!  I hope everyone has been enjoying their week so far!  We’re more than half-way through to the weekend 😀 YAY!

Today I have my T nails for the ABC Nail Art Challenge.

T is for Textured

For this, I used 2 coats of Julie G Tangerine Dream, and then with the polish brush I put a few blobs of Julep Tracy on top.  Then I outlined the blobs of Tracy and added a couple extra dots and “c” shapes using Julep Sadie to create a leopard/cheetah print (I can’t tell the difference).

Because all of the polishes I used were textured polishes, I did not apply a top coat so that the texture would remain.

When I finished this, all I wanted to do was shout “YABBA DABBA DOOOOOO!” and sing the theme song for The Flinstones 😉  Doesn’t it remind you of Fred’s suit?

Source

Alright, maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it was the first thing I thought when I looked at the finished product 🙂  And I have all the colours right 😉

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!  Tyler and I are going to his friend’s wedding on Sunday; Tyler is in the wedding party, so I get to see him completely spiffed up!  I have decided on what I am wearing as well, and I plan to coordinate my nails as well 😀

Make sure to post your “T” mani pictures on my Facebook page so I can share them with everyone!