History eh?

This is actually the second time during the A-Z challenge I have done something that was Egypt themed! And I am not complaining, I am a lover of history even if King Tut isn't my strong point. Fun fact: I actually got into Royal Holloway, University of London for History, but decided not to go because while I LOVE history I don't love it enough to want to make it work. But if I ever change my mind I know at least one school will have me :P

Anyways for this I used the Born Pretty Store stamping plate BP-05, OPI's Blue My Mind and Sinful Colors Gold Medal. Now I would have LOVED to use one of the full nail designs but alas I can't. And you know what? I don't think it's because of me! I really do think it's my stamper. I have one of those generic double sided stampers and it makes stamping(especially bigger images) super hard. One reason is because the stamper itself doesn't sit in the holder properly so it doesn't pick up, or stamp they way you want it to. Because I love this plate and all the other ones Born Pretty has to offer but when it comes to big designs the current stamper I have is just not doing it for me anymore.

What stamper would you suggest I use?

If you would like this plate go here and get it for only $2.99(USD). And don't forget to use our 10% discount code (EAL91). Because who doesn't like discounts? Also make sure to check out all the other people who did that A-Z challenge and see what they came up with. Oh and the challenge was L for lines. Something I forgot to put at the beginning...

An InLinkz Link-up

*Stamping plate sent for honest review.

Happy (Belated) 3rd Birthday, Varnishe Valkyrie!

I feel a bit bad because I didn't post anything on Varnished Valkyries actual anniversary on the 21st. I really wanted to but I was just so tired. Ever since I got sick a couple weeks ago I have just felt so lethargic. Didn't matter if I woke up at 5am or noon by 8pm I was struggling to stay awake. Luckily that seems to be passing and I'm feeling much more alert through the day! So here is my belated post!

I can't believe I actually kept this up for 3 years. Before this I had blogs and whatnot, but after their novelty wore off they were left for dead. But this one beat the odds! Also big thanks goes out to everyone who reads the blog, whether you comment or not, it all makes me happy.

I was originally going to do cupcake nails, but I felt like with the shape of my nails Ice Cream Cones would just look better. And they are just as tasty and festive! So it's still a win! Also this is doubling as my (Belated) A-Z Challenge mani. The letter this week was K for Kitchen Sink. I interpreted that as Kitchen Sink -> Kitchen -> Freezer in the kitchen -> Ice cream. Boom, it works.

Science and/or Math Nails

I honestly don't know if the nails are technically math or science nails. I think they are a combination of both. I was never one for the numbers. Fun fact: I have failed math twice. Once with the remarkable grade of 27%(I actually dropped the class before it could go on my record and just took a different math course over the summer...a MUCH easier one). That being said in science when we did a unit on genetics I was REALLY good at that. The best part was I really didn't understand it in the slightest, but I could always figure out the answers.

So the stamping plate I used for this was the Mathematical Formula plate from The Born Pretty store. For the most part I didn't have a problem using the formula stamps. But using the graph stamps was a nightmare. I don't know if it's my nail, or my stamper, but getting a stamp over my whole nail is near imposible. I have such a heard time getting the stamper to make contach with my whole nails. It's not like my nails are super curvy...tips?

Full nail design problems aside, I really liked this plate. I ended up topping it with Essies Matte About You to give it that chalkboard effect. If you would like this stamp, please head on over here, where you can get it for only $2.99 USD AND you can use our discount code EAL91 to get 10% off your order!

*product sent for honest review

I Hate The Ocean, But I am Starting to Like Stamping!

First of all, that you for your sweet comments, I am feeling much better! Today I have this ocean manicure that I used with the help of my Born Pretty stamping plate. First of all I hate the ocean. It's salty and gross, and scary things live in it. Also I am not a big fan of nature on a whole. I like observing in in photos, and I can appreciate its beauty, but I would rather be in the middle of a bustling city any day.

Today's manicure is probably the first time I did stamping and wasn't completely overwhelmed. I'm still not the best but I am getting better. For this I started with Barry M Majesty on the end of my nails closer to the cuticle and then I used Sally Hansen's Pacific blue* on the other end. Finally I sponged on Essie's Moon Struck to make the water look more interesting. This stamping plate(BP-10) was pretty fantastic. All the small details were really easy to pick up and translated really well. I'm sure once I figure out what polishes work best for stamping my designs will look even better(I used Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac and Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the stamping). The only thing I didn't like was some of the designs were a bit messed up because I had a few strand of the cotton ball from my removal of my previous manicure stuck in the polish. When I took them out I didn't realise how long some of the strands were and they kind of warped some of the designs.

All in all I am pleased with this manicure and I'm even more excited to give stamping another go! If you would like this plate, just head on over here to the Born Pretty website. It's only $2.99 USD and you can use our 10% discount code (EAL91)!

*Pacific blue looks SUPER vivid in these 0_o Softer in real life and the white is more noticeable.

**Product sent for honest review

Nicole By OPI - My Cherry Amour: Siiiiiiicccccckkkkkkkk

Blah! I'm sick and I have been for the past several days. I thought I would avoid getting sick this year because I like to pretend I'm invincible, but then the boy went and infected me with this damned cold! Anyways I'm feeling a bit better, but my nose is killing me. It was bad enough that I didn't change my polish for DAYS. My manicure actually started to........chip........and even then I still didn't have the energy to change it.

When I did gain a bit of my strength back I decided the least I could do was give myself a new manicure. Nothing fancy, just presentable. So I went with Nicole By OPI My Cherry Amour. This is a rich magenta, textured polish, with holographic glitter, from NOPI's Gumdrops line. It has that candy feel to it! I of course had to top coat it and wow, It looked stunning. It made the holo pop even more and made the colour look even more glorious. And just and fyi, it took 2 coats of TC to have it almost smooth(slight bumps not noticeable unless you looked closely) and 3 coats for total smoothness.

If you can get your hands on this I suggest you snap it up. I know it was a Limited edition collection, but you can easily find it on Amazon.

A-Z Challenge - Inspired: Tonight, we gotta live for, we gotta live for, these days! + 500th POST!!!

So after a break I didn't forget to do the A-Z Challenge, I was just really tired yesterday and made an executive decision not to do my nails.

I've had quite the week. Remember how I said this year I was going to do more performing and whatnot? Well this week I did 2 shows and 1 audition :) And in an effort to motivate myself I have decided that for every show, or audition I do, I will have a chocolate from my tin of Quality Street chocolate. And that is the only time I can have those chocolates! Huzzah! Also this is Varnished Valkyrie's 500th post! Double Huzzah!

Back to nails! My inspiration today is my favourite boy band in the history of everything, Take That, and the outfits they wore when they performed their first single 'These Days' on the X Factor in November. As well as their logo, and the number III(Which is the name of their new album, because now there is only 3 of them). And you know what? While I do miss Jason and dynamic he brought to the group, TT3 is growing on me. It's a slightly different dynamic, but different doesn't have to be bad.

All I used for this manicure was Orly Liquid Vinyl and white acrylic paint.

 

Who here loves Take That? Or am I the only one here :(

Take That - These Days (X Factor performance 23... by ilabarlowed

Check out more fab A-Z Challenge manicures!

An InLinkz Link-up

I CAN PHOTOGRAPH GLITTER!

Since I started blogging, the one thing I could NEVER photograph was glitter. I mean I could, but no matter how hard I tried it always ended up looking like a shiny, undefined blob. But I have seen the light! And that light is my Canon 70D. You can actually make out what my design made out of glitter is! Yay! Again bare with me with my photos. Now that I have a better camera I can now work on making all my photos look the same :P

So today's manicure I have diamond shaped glitter that I got from Born Pretty Store. This pot comes with all sorts of colours in it, some of which have a holo look going on! Application was easy, but it was a bit hard on my eyes, as I chose to only use silver pieces in mine. When I was searching for them, the light would sometimes hit a different colour and make it look silvery. One they were on I ended up topping with a coat of clear polish, and then Seche Vite. Overall I liked them a lot, but I do wish they would have laid a bit more flat on my nails, because even with 2 coats of polish and tc, there was still sticky out bits.

This manicure was inspired by a piece of art I found on tumblr, by a talented artist, Rachel Roach. It's called Frost on the Branches. My base is Barry M Blackberry.

If you like these nails and you want to try out this glitter, head on over to the Born Pretty Store, where you can get them for $2.62 USD. AND you can use out 10% discount code(EAL91), so that way they cost even less!!!

Simply Love - Barry M Blackberry

Again please forgive my photos. I am still playing around with my camera. If anyone has any tips on how to get sharper images on a DSLR let me know. I'm getting better, but most of the time the bottle will be in focus and the nails not.

Today I have the first swatch of 2015! Yes that is right. I am the first person to swatch anything in the year 2015! I'm just a little late posting it :P

Today I have Barry M Blackberry from their Gelly Hi-Shine line. Blacberry is a dark royal blue, along the same lines of the TARDIS(9 and 10's TARDIS). To get full coverage I used two coats, but it comes very close to being a one coater. Application was easy as 1,2,3 and clean up did not leave me with Smurf cuticles. This will be perfect if it doesn't stain when I remove it. Without topcoat this polish was super shiny(as Hi-Shine implies), but I ended up using TC, because I don't take chances.

Overall I loved this polish, and it is another reason Barry M is one of my favourite drug store brands. What is your favourite drug store brand?

New Year's Resolution & A New Camera

Please forgive my photos for the next little while. I just got my new camera(A Canon 70D) and I'm trying to tinker with all the settings and figure it all out.

Today's manicure was a tough one. Not tough to do, but a tough idea to come up with. I wanted something to represent one of my New Years Resolution. And for the record my resolution is to get on stage more and get out to more auditions. I have some opportunities coming up that I don't want to miss out on and I just feel I need to get out there more. But HOW do you show that resolution on the nail? Well I figured I would do make it comedy and film theme, because comedy is mainly what I perform and film represents what I want to eventually do.

Back to the camera. I am SUPER excited to make videos with this camera. That is actually the main reason I bought it :P Now back to resolutions, do you have any?

You know what looks fantastic with holo?

Black.

Happy New Year!!!!!! - Orly Mirrorball

So my new years eve was uneventful, which was fine by me. Honestly my new years eve goes one of two ways. It's either super uneventful or I end up dry heaving on the side of the road yelling at bicycles. Apparently there is no such thing as in between for me.

Not only was mt NYE super uneventful, it was super last minute so I didn't do proper nail art. So I decided instead to just wear polish that I thought fit the occasion. I ended up choosing Orly Mirrorball, because it made me think of the giant ball drop, at midnight in Times Square. I would love to see that in person one day from the comfort of a hotel room. You couldn't pay me to stand crammed outside in a pen, probably a good 5 blocks away from the actual Times Square, for 12 hours, in the freezing cold and probably having to wear a diaper, because you can bet I'm going to have to pee at some point.

Back to polish. This polish is a silver linear holo, with larger pieces of scattered holo glitter. I used three coats, although I may have been able to get away with two. I just wanted to make sure my yellow nails didn't show up in the light. The formula was ok, but not the best. While it was pretty easy to control, it felt watery at the same time and I just didn't love application. Now I have heard people say they love this polish and others say they were disappointing. I honestly think the large glitter makes this polish. If you took them out it would still be pretty, but it would just be another silver holo. Also if you are someone who likes your polish to be super holo in all lights this may not tickle your fancy. It looks AMAZING under the sun or direct light, but in some lights falls a bit flat. Again in cases like that, the bigger pieces of holo glitter save it. If you are able to get your hands on this polish, I suggest you get it!