It's kind of funny because I have a bunch of photos just sitting here on my laptop and I have no clue if I posted them before or not. Mainly because I have just been picking and choosing whichever one piqued my interest, and not going in any order. So my apologies if I repeat!
You know what I have been liking a lot recently. Chocolate. I have honestly never been a chocolate person, but ever since I got my hands on the Lindt Chocolate Bunnies I can not stop. Apparently chocolate has a similar effect on the brain as opium, and according to my research a lot more tasty and fun.
Anyway here are some cookie nails I did with the help of Robin Moses's Cookie Monster tutorial. I don't remember for sure what the red polish is right now, but I think it's OPI's Got The Blues for Red, and everything else is acrylic paint.
Well I have had another one of those weeks where I think I updated recently, but the reality was it's been a week. Anyway, let's get down to business. So I only started really wearing makeup in January. Before that I would only wear it if I HAD to. Now I wear it pretty much any time I leave the house. Now I'm no pro, but I think I'm decent, but I do feel a little iffy when I go into cosmetic stores. I always think they see my makeup and think "Wow, who invited Baba Yaga?". I mean I'm sure they don't say that but if there is anyp lace I feel insecure about my skills it's in a cosmetic store. The one place I feel the most awkward is Sephora, because I feel like everyone there is on point. Well a couple days ago I went in with some of my cousins and when we were checking out the lady behind the counter asked me about my makeup look, because she loved it! This is a first for me, having someone at Sephora take an interest in what I had on. It made me feel fantastic!
What does that all have to do with the manicure? Well since I have been getting into makeup I have been lurking a lot of makeup accounts. Some of these artists are soooooooo creative and I love looking at their work. Even though they sometimes do crazy stuff that I could never do on my own face, I can still use it and translate it to my nails. Like today, I have this manicure inspired by makeup artist Alene Filippova. This look caught my eye immediately when I scrolled past. I just had to put it on my nails :)
For my nails I started off with a black base, then I top coated it. I then added tape down the centre, and with a fan brush, brushed on the gold(Which is a nameless Dior). Once I removed the tape I top coated it again, put another strip of tape down the centre, and with the fan brush added the red(Revlon Red Carpet). Finally I top coated the whole thing. I did it with and without matte topcoat. I think I like it better shiny as the matte dulled the red.
So tell me. Do you like the makeup? What are some of your favourite products?
I have yet another Born Pretty Store plate to share with you today! This is plate BP-L 003. When I saw this plate I knew I had to have it because a)It has a lot of nice designs and b)On my laptop I have a nail art inspiration folder. The second I saw the plate I knew one of the designs would be perfect for a photo I had sitting in the folder for months. The photo is of a dress from the Mara Hoffman RTW SS 2015 line.
Gorgeous model in a Mara Hoffman dress
The plate was a bit tricky to use. As you can see some of the designs have some fine details(like the centre of my swirls). I found that I had to use a thinner polish(OPI Alpine Snow) if I wanted those smaller lines to show up. I originally used Sinful Colors Show Me White, but I could never get the centre of the wave patterns to show up. Maybe an actual stamping polish would play nicer. And just so you know, the other colours I used were Pure Ice's Party hard for the blue, and the sun was all acrylic paint that I mixed.
On the left I stamped with OPI's Alpine show and on the right is Sinful Colors Snow me White
That aside I really like this plate, it has a lot of other designs that don't have such fine details. I can't wait to whip it out again! If you would like this plate, you can find it here, where you can buy it for $5.99 USD. And of course you can add Varnished Valkyries 10% discount code EAL91.
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 :(
I'm going to be honest with you guys, because we're all friends here. When it comes to glitter swatches I sometimes don't care for macro shots. It's not that they aren't pretty, but let's be real when are you ever going to see your nails like that? I just feel like sometimes when looking at polish from different distances can make it look different kind of like with different lighting. I'm making sense right?
Well this manicure is the opposite of that. I know this isn't macro, but it is a close up. While it looks kind of cool I don't think it looks it's best. This manicure in my opinion is a perfect "To be seen from a distance-acure". It's one of those manicures that catches peoples eye, but not in an obnoxious way.
To get this look I first got some inspiration from on of my favourite mediums to get inspiration from, Fashion. The piece I based this on was from Felder Felder's Autumn Winter 2014 collection. To get the effect of the dress I used the dry brush technique using a fan brush. A technique where you wipe most of the paint off your brush before using it on you nails, giving it a distressed look. I used a combo of polish and acrylic paints over a white polish.
Have you tried this technique before?
Also could someone please buy me the dress? Please and thank you :P
A couple nights ago I was really tired when I got home so I took an hour long nap. When I woke up there was this MASSIVE bug of sorts flying around the ceiling. I did what every normal person would do at that point. I pulled my covers over my head and hoped the winged, terror would leave me be. When I eventually emerged the bug was gone. I use the word gone loosely because 95% of the time my bedroom door is shut. So there was a large chance that he(or she) was still in my room. But at the same time this was 2 days ago and I have yet to see her(or him) again. This seemed weird because it was huge! So part of me now thinks that maybe I was seeing things. You know that moment right when you wake up and you aren't really all there? Maybe in that moment my head was making things up? I feel like I'm going a little batty...
Now moving along to the fail!
This manicure was inspired originally by this manicure by Finger Polish Mania. And of course the colours I used were inspired by pride. I am not a fan of mine personally. First of all some of the colours I didn't have the right shade in polish, so I had to use paint. When it comes to using tape paint has a tendency to seep. Lucky for me once it dried I was able to scrape some of the paint off my nail to make the lines appear more clear. My second issue was the red polish (H&M Cherry). Now before I put on top coat my nails were drying for a good few minutes. The minute I put on TC the red would streak. Every. Single. Time. And it was just the red polish! And then other colours started to get messed up because I was fiddling with it. Overall this manicure frustrated me.
Heart on my thumb. I did really like how this turned out!
So it's currently almost 3:30am. I was about to finally go to sleep like
an hour ago, but then I remembered I had to submit something and upload
some photos to Google Drive. I'm currently watching the photos upload.
It has taken 10 minutes to upload 4 photos...20 more to go. I'll
probably go to sleep when at least 50% has been uploaded. My laptop is
super poopy so I want to make sure I get at least half up. Actually I'm going to sleep now. It's all in the hands of the internet Gods/Godesses now. This post will have to wait.
2 DAYS LATER
So fashion is probably one of my favourite things to get inspiration from. Especially when it comes to runway stuff. You have all the "normal" Ready To Wear lines and then you have those Haute Couture lines where everyone is wearing a garbage bag made out of glitter. While some of it may not be practical, from an art point of view it can be amazing! Today I have something that was sitting on my computer in my inspiration bin literally for years! This outfit was part of Gucci's 2012, spring, ready to wear line. For this I used Sinful Colors Hey, You!, a no name Gold Dior(it was part of a set and not intended to be sold individually which is why I think it has no name), and I don't remember which of my blacks I used.
Ps. Sorry these photos are kind of sketch looking :/ Please forgive me and accept this Lady Gaga Song as a piece offering.
So I'm a bit late posting this. I actually did this last year, shortly after Christmas. It was one of those manicure that you look at and think "I am never taking you off". And when you do take it off a small part of you cries.
Even though I rarely do them I love fashion inspired nails. Like I said I don't do them often, but I do have a whole folder full of fashion stuff for inspiration. I just think fashion is a really great place to look if you are in search of some fun ideas, or you are just flat out of ideas but still want a neat design on your nails.
For you today I have these Vivienne Tam, Spring 2014 line nails. The minute I saw it I knew I had to put it on my nails. This was super easy to do. I simply painted my nails white, blobbed on dots of acrylic paint an polish in varying colours(You don't have to use one or the other, the colours I needed I don't own all in polish or all in paint), finally using the sugar spun technique I strung black polish all around the nail.
What do you think of these? What do you use for inspiration?
So yesterday I went with my friend Eliza to see Les Misérables(And I ate popcorn for the first time since I had my wisdom teeth removed! Huzzah!). I've never read the book or actually seen the musical live but I've know the music and story for a while as I fancy musicals. As does Eliza. But Les Mis for her is the bees knees of musicals. Long story story overall it was great and you should all go see it. Unless you don't want to sit through an almost 3 hour movie. Or a musical. Chances are if you hate both these things you will want to steer clear of this.
For my nails I decided to sponge the french flag and do red flag accent nails. I used Claire's Snowball, OPI's Dating a Royal and Essie's Fishnet Stockings. I loved how it came out looking gritty. I am so sorry if it's a bit messy(especially the right hand). I find red polishes to be a pain to clean up but Fishnet Stocking is the Devil.
Ps. Unless you know your stuff about movie musicals/musicals you probably wont understand this but wouldn't it be horrific if Adam Shankman directed Les Mis?
Ignore the mess around my cuticles on my right hand. But I really loved how the sponging turned out.
First off let me thank everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday the other day! I had a great night of drinking and karaoke. BUT the fun isn't over yet! Tonight I'm going out for a birthday dinner with a few friends, followed by dancing!
Originally I was going to do just a bit of nail art. Nothing too time consuming. Then out of no where I though "Beetlejuice nails...I need to do them!". I don't know why I wanted to do them I just did. Also it's a rule of thumb that you can do whatever you want on your birthday dinner. Minus murder, cow tipping and a full two act puppet show. Besides they go perfect with sushi right?
I actually started with a pure white cream. But that was patchy and gross, so I covered it up with Essie Moonstruck. I actually like how it wasn't a stark white because, Beetlejuices suit isn't exactly clean. Next I sponged on green acrylic paint, OPI Black Onyx and then Urban Outfitters Forest. So it kind of mimics the stuff growing on his face. Next I did all the stripes by hand with paint. Cutting tape to the perfect size was just too much of a pain. And I really liked how this turned out. Finally I added Beetlejuice's green hair to my ring fingers.
All in all I'm really pleased with this. Now all getting all excited thinking of Halloween and all the potential manicures!
Left Hand
Right hand
(L-R) Acrylic paint. OPI Black Onyx, Urban Outfitters Forest and Essie Moonstruck.
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
Thank you for sticking around this long. Here's to 8375290394543789405.200 more.
Anyways I don't know what you do at 4am, but I know I attempt nail art.
So if you've read this blog for a while now you probably already know I LOVE Marmite. It's my salty elixir, from the yeasty gods(This post also now contains the WORST sentence ever used in this blog). Especially on grilled cheese. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... What I'm trying to say is if you can go and try some. You might like it. Maybe love it?
So I've wanted to do Marmite nails for a while now. But I always kind of shied away from it. Even if it's only on one nail, nail art that doesn't consist of lines or dots is a challenge for me. Small lettering frightens me like a Weeping Angels frighten Amy and Rory. Maybe it was because it was 4am and I was feeling bold I decided to just try doing a Marmite jar on my thumb(never intending to post it). And you know what? I didn't hate it(like Marmite!)! So I decided to do the rest of my nails Marmite themed and using my striping tape. And I put the love and hate on my index and pinky finger because you wither 'Love It or Hate It'. The ring finger is gold because you can currently get limited edition jar with gold coloured flecks in it!
All in all it's not my best manicure BUT I did step out of my comfort zone by actually trying some more detailed stuff!
(L-R) OPI Black Onyx, acrylic paints, Essie Pretty Edgy, Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure and gold striping tape.
