Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

*Singing* Be a friend to the earth, cuz you know how much it is worth. It's worth more than gold. It's worth more than jewels. So help clean it up, AND DON'T BE A FOOL. Be a friend to the earth.

I kid you not that was a song my class wrote when I was maybe 8. I figured because of the title this would be one of the only times I would get to share this just missed out on the top 100, songs of the 90's you might have missed.

Anyways this post in no way apart from the song has anything to do with me being a friend to the earth. Not that I'm not her friend, I just prefer calling her my acquaintance. I mean we get along but I wouldn't call her a friend yet. Back on topic! My nails! So I had a really hard time wanting to take off the last mani. I ended up wearing them for almost a week. By the time I took remover to my fingers I had already taken off the studs the night before. When I took them off I though "You look fine", so I  kept them. Long story short the black studs in this manicure are the exact same set of studs I had used in my previous gradient and black manicure! I figured why not use them again if I'm only going to get 50. Not only that but they hold up just fine, like they have never been used before!

Do you guys reuse nail art supply's like studs? I like saving larger studs and of course stuff along the line of charms.

Cult Nails - Power Thief: I really wanted to do nail art

But I ended up using this instead.  Do you ever have those days where you're like "I really want to do x to my nails."  Then as you are looking through your stash you get drawn to the complete opposite?  That's what happened to me.  I really wanted to do some nail are.  I really didn't have anything in mind I just knew I wanted to do art.  But for some reason I kept picking up nudes and neutrals.  And not wanting to put art on them :P

I ended up picking up Cult Nails Power Thief originally from their Super Powers collection.  It's a milk chocolate brown.  It looks like chocolate milk with silver flecks in in.  I only had to us 2 coats, but I noticed it did start getting a bit gloopy as I went through the manicure.  Despite this minor problem I really like this colour.  It's safe for work but the flecks add a little something to it.

Anyways I shall have some nail art this weekend!  Huzzah!  And maybe I'll show you guys a pair of sparkly, stud covered sneakers I bought :P

The best part of Halloween?

Candies, of course!

Well, actually not.  I don't eat most candy being that I am apparently some sort of alien.  Really just chocolate and like caramel and things of that nature.  I am learning to like gummies but I can't chew them without feeling queasy so methinks the battle will be long ad arduous so I may just stop fighting and not eat candy.

But candy is pretty awesome on nails, as evidenced by the adorable manicure that I did last week after I applied my lovely white base!  I added some Ghoulish Glow on top to make it a little more fun but forgot to take photos in the dark.  C'est la vie!

So here is a cute little candy manicure!  I used about a million polishes and I can't remember them all but off the top of my head:

Urban Outfitters Bandeau
Zoya Charla
Zoya Ivanka
Cult Nails Annalicious
OPI Fly
OPI Did It On Em
Color Club Almost Famous
Color Club Fly With Me
OPI Pompeii Purple
OPI Too Hot Pink To Hold Em
OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear
OPI The Show Must Go On
Revlon Royal
Orly Glitz and Glamour (which is the gold bits and also the best warm gold ever)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Something ugly(and kind of a fail) inspired by something cute (Zombie Nails Pt.2)

So lately I've been seeing a lot of those cute Halloween manicures (Like the one here by Elizabeth of  Did My Nails).  Now I love these cute manicures and I would probably do one if I had some more days before Halloween.  But alas Halloween is upon us.  I decided to do a little twist on these nails.  Make them ugly.  So I decided to go with the classic stitched up look.

I liked the idea a lot but it was sort of a fail.  But I only have myself to blame.  I kindda rushed through the whole thing(didn't even get a great picture...but I guess and scary, bad picture works on Halloween).  Ah well next time.  And by next time I mean when I decide to start incorporating Halloween into Christmas.

It shall be called Christoween.

(L-R) OPI's Suzie Loves Cowboys, Cult Nails Quench, Essie's Fishnet Stockings, and Sew Phyched, and acrylic paint.

Eye See Slime!

First off(and most importantly) let me say to everyone being affected by hurricane Sandy I hope you are all keeping safe!  So far where I am it has just been overly shitty weather.

Next up I did a show the other day and of course my nails were Halloween themed.  Since there's only a few days left for till Halloween I want to get all my Halloween nails out of my system!

So on my left hand I did blood shot eyes(note how they are actually bloodshot) to get that bloodshot look I sponged on Cult Nails Quench after having dipped a makeup sponge in acetone.  I don't know what but it always kind of irks me when I see blood shot eyes that are totally white. I'm picky.  Then on my right hand I just did some slime over black.  Quick and easy.

I really liked how these turned out.  Especially the eyes!

Does anyone here also do completely different manicures on each hand sometimes?

 

(L-R) On my left hand I used Claire's Snowball, Cult Nails Quench, and acrylic paint.  Then for the right hand I used Orly Iron Butterfly and acrylic paint.

Brrrrraaaaiiinnnsss! Zombie Nails: Pt 1

So I did these nails for a contest over at The Polished Zombie's 200 reader giveaways.  I used mainly OPI's polishes on my nails along with Cult Nails Quench and Essie's Fishnet stockings. Oh and false nails that I roughed up.  And as you can see I didn't just stop at nails.  I figured I might as well go all out (well worth the hour I had all this on for).  Win or lose that gash is pretty badass. I would write more but I'm tired.  Enjoy!

ETA now that I'm a tad less tired: There is acrylic paint under the false nails make the nails look darker(they were white to begin with).  Then on top of the nails I sponged on OPI's Onyx, Over The Taupe and Suzi Loves Cowboys.  And around my cuticles and in the broken bits of nails I have Cult nails Quench and Essie's fishnet stockings.

 

 Everything I used

Vampire Nails: Part 2

So since I had the false fang nails on I decided I need to at least use them more than once.  So here is my second fang mani!  It's the classic blood dripping down from the fangs, and puncture wounds!

I have since had to take the polish off as I have a show today and I thought they were a tad distracting.  I had one more manicure that would have worked with the fangs but I can do it without it.

I have a few more fake nail manicures planned.  Fingers crossed that they work out :P They are pretty amazing these ideas.

For the puncture wounds I did 2 dots and then sponged different shades of red around them.

Speaking of vampires, do you guys know any good vampire fiction books that aren't the obvious ones?  I would love to read some.  And no Twilight.  I don't need that fan fiction jabber.

If You Like Twilight...I Don't Think You'll Like This Post. BUT If You Like Twilight/Mortal Kombat Corssovers You Should Stay. (Aka Vampire Nails Pt. 1)

So every month I with go to or participate in a show that is just comedians reading fan fiction (usually really bad stuff).  This month the fandom we focused on was Twilight.  My sketch troupe read this.  It's a crossover between Twilight and Mortal Combat.   It was AMAZING. If anything you should read the last chapter just for the authors note.  BTW if you know any good(bad) Doctor Who fan fiction you should link me to it as there is a Doctor Who show soon :)

Anyways my left hand was dedicated to "real" vampires.  I decided to take some inspiration from over at The Daily Nail. And do fang nails.  I first painted my nails all white.  Then with a fan brush dipped in acetone I went over it with Cult Nails Quench, Barry M Red Black, and OPI's Royal Rajah Ruby.  Until I got the look I wanted.  I was going for the blood coloured teeth look.  When the vampire shows their teeth right after they have sucked blood.

On my right hand I used some Nailene polish from their french manicure kit and China Glazes Fairy dust.  Because Edward sparkles.  WTF Stephanie Myers? WTF?

 

I didn't file my own nails.  I used false nails and placed them on 2/3 of my nails and filed them from there.  So there was no giant hump when the fake nail ended I filled in the part over my own nail with some old Seche Vite.

I'll show you how I used the fangs again in my next post (Because I wasn't going to partially destroy my nails for just one manicure).

The Cooling of the Embers - Flakie layering inspired by a song.

So like a lot of you, I've been following other bloggers doing the 30 day challenge, but I haven't been an active participant.  But then the other night I went to a concert and had an idea for an "inspired by a song" manicure.  I will also be doing a manicure inspired by my favourite movie, but I'm waiting til my nails are longer... So here we go!  Cookies if any of you have already recognised the title of the song......

So one of my favourite singers is Missy Higgins, a gorgeous Aussie lady with a voice like warm honey and milk(Anyone?  Just me?  Okay...).  She was in Toronto the other night with Katie Herzig and Butterfly Boucher.  Missy's latest album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle, came out not long ago, and one of the songs, The Cooling Of The Embers, really struck me.  It's about dealing with dementia in a loved one, so not the cheeriest music in the world, but I love the beautiful imagery of a fire burning itself out, the embers cooling slowly.

I started with one coat of one of my favourite reds, OPI Big Apple Red, and then added one thin coat each of Cult Nails Seduction, Nubar 2010, and Finger Paints Twisted.  I do own the mythical Cult Nails Clairvoyant, but I decided to leave it out of this mani.  The three together really added to the "fire burning out" look.  The main colour shift is orange to yellow to red, with flashes of green and blue, like white hot embers.  I'm excited to see it in sunlight in the morning.

You might ask yourself, are 6 photos too many?  Not when a manicure is as magical as this!

And you're only half here 

like someone left a frail body and took the rest 

But I remember when you were strong 
Never wanted help from no-one

What you've become is not who I remember

Is this the cooling of the embers? 

Cult Nails I Got Distracted

So Cult Nails have fast established themselves as one of my favourite brands.  Compared to others, their polishes wear beautifully, and Maria comes up with colours that are both unique and totally wearable.  And let's not forget that fabulous formula that just GLIDES onto the nail.

So I was a little bit skeptical when I saw that Maria's 13-year-old daughter Coco was creating her own collection.  I was a little worried it would be too obnoxious even for me!  Well, obviously I was wrong because I bought two of the polishes.  You already saw Annalicious... so I present I Got Distracted!

Now, for people who know me, this would be almost criminally hilarious.  My former college roommate won't let me sit facing reflective surfaces when we go out to eat together because I'll get distracted by reflections of TVs, people walking by, all sorts of things.  I am nothing if not easily distracted.  I have, as Robyn(guest blogger extraordinaire) says, "the attention span of a fly".

This polish is amazing.  Seriously one of the most amazing polishes I've ever owned.  It's a black jelly base with holographic microglitter, green microglitter, and larger green hexes.  It comes alive in the light and kind of looks like a witch's cauldron, simmering away with some wonderful magic.  This is two thin coats with Wicked Fast topcoat.

Macro shot!  Knocked my tips a little, but check out those beautiful glitters!

Cult Nails - Mind Control

I think this was the first Cult Nails I ever owned.  Memories.

Mind control is a blackened base with duochrome flecks that flashes magenta and green depending on the light.  Formula was nice and it covered in two easy coats.

I don't know why but when I took photos with flash It just looked gross.

Overall this is a great vampy colour for the fall.  I love colours like this.  And while it's not my favourite I still think it's pretty great and if you can you should grab yourself a bottle.

 Green

 to

 magenta.

 

It looked dirty with the flash.  Maybe that's just me...

I'm back! Goodness me, it has been too long! Have some Cult Nails Annalicious with my apologies.

So I bet some of you thought you'd never see me again!  And I'm sure that in the time I've been gone, Kas has brought a bunch of new people to the blog, so for those who don't know me or have forgotten, I'm George, best friend and blog partner who has been away for far too long due to a myriad of terrible things including but not limited to:

1) MOVING.  Moved house with my family the day after I made me last post.
2) BROKEN COMPUTER.  My macbook decided that not only was the hinge going to snap, but the screen was going to come apart!  HORRORS.  Finally managed to have it repaired a week and a half ago, and now have access to my computer again.
3) BREAK ALL THE NAILS.  So I got a new job not long after I commenced my hiatus, and then, just as I was finally ready to return to the blog about 3.5 weeks ago, I shut my hand in a freezer door at work and broke three of my nails right to the quick.  In case you were wondering: Yes, it hurt like a bitch.  So obviously my nails were in no shape to be shown off, which bummed me the hell out.
4) CUTICLES FROM HELL.  As is evident in my photos, my cuticles and I have a love/hate relationship at best.  Dry skin and other issues tend to make them yucky looking which makes me afraid to swatch for fear of scaring some of you.  They've been extra unhappy after the freezer door incident.  But luckily I think this is getting better, and I will soon my posting MY hand and nail care regimen as well.

Hopefully from here on out my hands and swatches will be a lot prettier :)  I look forward to getting to know our new followers and catching up with the old ones!

So, for my first post back I thought I'd share one of my new pretties from Cult Nails.  Annalicious is from Maria's daughter Coco's collection(I also picked up I Got Distracted, which deserves its own post and will soon get it!) and is a bright cherry red packed with gold shimmer that really warms it up without looking garish.  It's glowy and absolutely amazing!  I can't stop staring at my nails!  This one reminds me of OPI Dear Santa.  All photos taken in natural light with no flash.

Slightly unrelated:  I need some ideas for new editing software/sites, because I am not happy with the one I've been using.  It really messes with the quality of my images and I don't like that. Any suggestions?

Seeing Red/Double + My New Nails!!!

So I've had a pretty crappy night that involved being stuck out in the rain and cold so I'm kinda seeing red today.

You're probably seeing double. I know Cult Nails Quench has been posted here before but I decided now that I've worn for a few days I needed to do a quick review too.

It's a glossy red jelly that varies in shade depending on the light.  After 2 coats it looked opaque but you could tell where it was patchy in different light.  So I needed 3 coats for complete coverage.

Here's where my problem is.  It's a beautiful, alluring colour (and I'm glad I own it).  But after a day of wearing it I had tip wear.  Also I got sheet marks... on the SECOND night I was wearing it.  I've worn jellies before and never had this happen.  I also used my normal base and top coat.  So that was a bit disappointing.

Here are also my new nails.  No, I didn't have some accident that required I even them all out.  I just wanted shorter nails.  I think they look cute, especially with the deeper colours I like to wear.  Also a couple of my nails start to grow funny if they get to long and that looks blah!