Happy Valentine's Day! Wait...

I don't know why, but I keep wanting to write that! Sorry I have been a bit absent, but I have been really busy the past few weeks. Today I have for you some water marbled St. Patrick's Day nails. This is mt second attempt EVER at doing water marbled nails. The last time I think was back in 2012, and that was a disaster. One big hot mess. This time it helped that I taped my fingers off this time! All in in I think this is a REALLY good attempt, especially considering the last time I tried was 3 years ago. Maybe that's why I was thinking about Valentine's Day, my subconscious just doesn't want to shake off that fail.

Polishes I used were Sinful Colors Hey You and Barry M Majesty on my index and pinky. Then In addition to Hey You I used Barry M Blood Orange, China Glaze Stoked to be Soaked, Sinful Colors, Pull Over and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.

What do you think of them?

Happy (Belated) World Pride - Part 3: Success!

I know I've been away for a while, but I'll get into that later :P

These nails are what I wore to the Pride Parade almost 2 weeks ago. As you know I didn't like how my last set of pride nails turned out. I am happy to say that I loved these! The whole gradient was done using acrylic paint, and I topped it with China Glaze Fairy Dust! The one thing I don't like about these photos is the blue and purple gradient. My camera hates purple and likes making it blue. Rest assured that in real life the blue->purple gradient looked amazing.

The parade itself was interesting. Mainly because it was sooooooooo long. We were near the beginning of the parade and we were there for 4 hours in disgustingly hot weather before we decided to leave. Rumour has it the parade was 6 hours! But one of the "best" moments happened after the parade. We had decided to go and get something to eat, and I had ordered a water(easy right?) When I got my water there was gunk on the bottom of my glass. So I asked for a new one, but to my joy this one had gunk floating in it. My friend's boyfriend then said "It's fine. It looks like food" My response was, "But it's not MY food!" *facepalm*

Happy World Pride - Part 2: Fail + I'm Going Slightly Mad

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!

HAPPY WORLD PRIDE!!! ENJOY MY LEOPARD GOODNESS!!!

So I meant to post this a WEEK ago, but today is the first day that I have some free time in a while. I'll tell you more about that later. Anyways I'm 95% sure my laptop is on it's way out for good. As some of you may remember my laptop pooped out on me a bit over a year ago. They eventually wiped the whole thing clean :/. Luckily for me this time round I have everything important(and some not so important stuff) on an external hard drive :).  There will be no tears this time around!

So I did this the day before the opening ceremony for World Pride! I've actually tried to do leopard print before, but I got maybe one nail in and it was a disaster. So I have pretty much stayed away from it since then, even though it was something I wanted to do. Finally last week I decided to give it another go. In honour of world pride I decided to do it in rainbow print. I was originally going to do it so it looked like an actual rainbow but then I decided against it. Baby steps.

I sort of like how they turned out(let's be real though, I'm probably being hard on myself). I'm not a fan of how the fingers are really inconsistent. I wish they the spots were more unison. But all in all it turned out ok and I left it on for a few days!

What do you think of my first-ish attempt of leopard print nails?

Black on Rainbow: My first rainbow gradient

For the first time in a long time I did something the other day that I hadn't done in years.  I fell off the bed.  I wasn't laying down either, I was sitting at the edge and gracefully toppled over backwards.  Luckily I put my hand out and caught myself on a step stool I had.  I ended up breaking my thumb nail on my left hand when I caught myself.  But looking back I'm grateful.  It was either me, or the nail.

My design today was inspired by these nails by More Nail Polish(who was inspired by other blogger, who were inspired by other bloggers :P).  I decided that since I had these black circular rhinestones from KKCenterHk's Candy Series I would do it in reverse.  Black on rainbow!

I'm honestly pretty bad at gradients and rarely do them.  This is maybe my 4rd attempt.  I painted all the colours(Red, yellow, green, blue, and purple) on a makeup sponge and dabbed it against my nails which already had white polish on them.  It was MUCH easier then I the past few times I did it.  And although it's not perfect I still think it looks good. The only thing I would do differently next time is do the colours in reverse so the red isn't near the cuticles.  It was flippin hard to clean!

Then I  easily placed the solid black rhinestones.  They are 2mm in diameter and they say they include around 100 rhinestones.  If I were to take a guess I would say there was well over 100 in the bottle it came in.  I used 20 and you would never know I used any if looking in the container.  My only "problem"(and reason I only did the row of black as an accent nails) was it's really hard too see what side was the top or thw bottom when you were picking them up.  The colours in the Candy Series are solid colours unlike their other rhinestones, which are transparent, and have silver bottoms, making the bottom easy to identify.   It also probably doesn't help that my eyes are bad.

Overall I really did love these rhinestones!  If you want some head on over to KKCenterHK they also come in MANY other colours.  They retail for $4.50 USD, but you can use our 15% coupon code 'varnishedvalkyrieevent15off' and get them for a bit less :D

What do you think of my gradient?

You have to look close to see if you are picking it up from the top or the bottom.

*Product sent for honest review

LynBDesigns - Lock, Shock, and Barrel: It's like the Joseph coat of polishes

I have my third LynBDesigns polish for you guys today from The Nightmare Begins collection, Lock, Shock and Barrel.  Lock, Stock and Barrel are those three trick or treaters that kidnap Santa Clause and take him to the Oogie Boogie's.  You know, the kids who in really life would avoid at all cost.  In the real world they would all be in jail by now.

This polish is a blue crelly PACKED with an assortment of small glitter.  If you can think of a colour it's probably in there.  Blue, pink, gold, green, red, it's all there.  It reminds me of candy!  This polish only needed 2 coats for full opacity.  It's a bit of a top coat om nomer so I had to use 2 coats of seche.  It was still a bit bumpy to the touch even though your couldn't really tell by just looking at it.  If you need it to be totally smooth then you may have to use a third coat.

If you would like a bottle of this you can head over to LynBDesigns Etsy shop.  Polishes retail from between $8-$10USD.  And if you order now through Sunday, and use the code CHICAGO you can get 50% of your purchase of $16 or more.

What was your favourite Halloween candy?  And if Halloween isn't a thing where you live, what is your favourite candy?

 NOTE: The colour is a tad darker when not directly under light. Closer to photo #1 and #3

 

 

 *Product sent for honest review

Happy Belated Pride! My Majepic Double Rainbow!

Oh and Happy Birthday to Robyn(and Canada)!  For the record this isn't belated because I'm actually writing this up on July first.

Anyways yesterday I went to pride!  And as usual it was super fun!  Of course for the occasion I had to do my nails up all fancy and colourful!  So I did the rainbow flag on all my nails using mostly acrylic paint and Essie's Pretty Edgy.  Then with colour club Harp On It I did holo silver half moon chevrons/v-gaps(I don't know what they are called).  The only thing I wasn't 100% happy with was it was a little light on the red and a little heavy on the green.  Either way I think it looks fabulous!

This is random but I'm sad about Sephora by OPI.  I didn't have many of their polishes BUT their strengthener/base coat is the only base coat I have been using for the past few years.  This is the first time I have ever been sad that a polish is being discontinued.

*Majepic = Majestic + Epic

These were going to be my Valentine's Day nails. Nails the boy will like (Somewhat mature content...don't worry no n0odz)

When it comes down to it I do my nails for me.  If people notice them that's great.  But in the end if they make me feel great that's perfect.

These nails were half for me and half for someone else.  The words on my nails(if you seek amy) are from a Britney Song by the same name.  It's also a double entendre(you see now why the nails aren't just for me?).

I actually wanted to do these around Valentines Day because I'm a class act.  And let be honest no one is really surprised I would do this?  Something fun and a bit cheeky :P

More about the actual nails now.  I started with a white base and the sponged on pink, blue and yellow.  Which when sponged over each other can create orange, purple and green.  Then I topped it off with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  I wrote the lyrics with a roller ball pen.  I know people have tried using sharpies(which I haven) and said they smear but I have yet to have this problem with roller ball pens.

Winner for our giveaway should be announced tomorrow!

Color Club - Harp On It: Because I don't want to be too flashy.

Again sorry I haven't been posting as I have been super busy!  As I'm writing this it's just past 2am.  I did a show tonight and it went well.  And for the FIRST time ever I forgot a line.  Like not forgot it as in I reworded it slightly, I forgot it.  I had a moment of my mind was blank.  Nothing.  And I had a moment of "Shhhhiiitttttt".   Luckily I managed to cover it up so it's all good!

Anyways I wore this polish for the show tonight because I though up close it looks all fun and flashy but from far away it just looks silver.

Color Clubs Harp on is it your classic silver linear holo.  I used 3 coats even thought I really only needed 2.  Application was fantastic(I used base coat) and it dried fast as ever.  Finished it up with Seche and it still looked great.  This is actually the first time I've worn a linear holo so that's pretty neat eh?

While at this time it's nothing new it is a very affordable, good, strong linear holo polish.  If you don't already have a classic silver holo this is a great place to start!

 Sunlight

  Sunlight

  Sunlight

  Sunlight

  Sunlight

 Natural light

 This last photo for some reason reminded me of a book cover.  So I had to do this.  You're welcome :)

Would you read my book?

And remember our giveaway closes in less then a week!

James Bond: Black and white rainbows? (Come see the wonders that are my left AND RIGHT hand!)

In an attempt to do a James Bond mani, I wrote a list of all the James Bond stuff I know.

1) Suits
2) Martinis
3) Sean Connery
4) Pierce Brosnan
5) Daniel Craig
6) Gold something
7) Shooting occurs
8) Movies make loads of money
9) The theme song

I quickly realized that I know nothing about James Bond, and that I didn't care.  So I did this instead!

On my left hand I did black and white stripes,  and a rainbow and white accent nail.  I achieved this by using striping tape.  Then on my right hand I got that straw stamping(?) look by breaking an old pen and using the tube that holds the ink.  And in order to give it more dimension I would stamp more then once with paint.  And in between stamping I would dip my hand in water.  That's why not all the stamps are solid.

On my left and right hand I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as a base.  Then on my left hand I did the stripes with OPI Black Onyx.  The rainbow was done using (From red-purple) Essie Fishnet Stockings, Orly Holla, BK Sweet Candy Fast Dry Nail Art Polish in #19, Essie Pretty Edgy, Milani Dude Blue and H&M Plum.  All the black and colour on my right hand was done with acrylic paint.

So tell me.  Who does not care about James Bond?

 I wanted to hold something that had a rainbow on it.  The only thing I could find was this bottle of Chardonngay.  Oh what a NYE that was.

Born Pretty Store Glittah! + Happy Belated Blogiversary to Us!

Let me start with a big THANK YOU to all out followers old and new.  It was exactly a year ago(lie: It was a year and 4 days ago) that I decided to start this blog.  And since then it has grown not only in followers but in bloggers.  *starts to cry*  I would also like to say thank you to my family and friends and everyone who helped make this blog what it is.  Also I would like to thank <insert deity of choice>.  I could not have done this without you.  I'm sure a phenomenal giveaway will be happening in the near future.  That's when the real shindig starts ;)

Now back to my review!  So I was sent these glitters from the Born Pretty Store!  They are hexagonal glitter that come in 12 different colours!  Dark blue, light blue, pink, silver, iridescent white, gold, yellow, red, orange, lavender, silver-gold and green.  All the colours of Josephs coat and it doesn't come with jealous brothers.  WIN!

First off I almost didn't post these nails.  Because when it came down to it I thought I could have done better.  But then I thought no.  Even if it may not be the best it's just good to see.

So I figured I have all the colours of the coat(Joseph again) why not do some sort of rainbow pattern.  So I did rainbow tips on each finger and then did a rainbow accent.  The glitter was easy to use.  A tad messy(but it is loose glitter).  I used tape to pick up glitter that fell around me.  Now I kind of wished I had used a lighter colour base but I had to take some photos for something else and I was worried a base like white would stand out too much.  Also maybe it was a bit because of the black base but taking photos was a nightmare.  Some angles you would see some colours and the other would vanish, and vice versa.

Overall despite the fact that it wasn't my best I still did like it.  And I'm am super excited to give these another go and show you something that will knock your mismatched socks off!

If you want to buy these you can get them from the Born Pretty Store for $6.45!  And Shipping is FREE!  You can also use our code(EAL91) and get a 10% discount on whatever you buy!

 

 Use this code to get 10% of whatever you buy! Huzzah!

*Product was sent for honest review

Quickie post + PRIDE NAILS 2012!

So I have been conspicuously absent recently, and this will probably continue for another week and a half/two weeks.  You see, my family and I are moving shortly, and packing up our house is a busy, busy process.  Also I am still kind of in denial because I love my childhood home and moving is stupid.

BUT ANYWAY, enough of my wet-blanket-ness.  As you saw, Kas and I love Pride, and we attended two Prides this year.  In NYC I didn't do anything too exciting with my nails as they needed a bit of TLC.  So I waited til Toronto to really have fun with them.

I started with my favourite disco-ball sparkle nails: one thin coat of OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvellous with another coat of OPI Crown Me Already, but this time to add a bit of rainbow sparkle with a thin coat of Wet N Wild Kaleidoscope.

After that, I took a thin brush and used it to write HAPPY on my left hand and PRIDE on my right.  I blended the colours in each letter a little(though not as much as I would've liked, but hey, first shot) so I could have a fuller rainbow and not leave anything out.

For the lettering I used: Essie Too Too Hot, Finger Paints Outta Sight Orange, Kleancolor Neon Yellow, China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, OPI Dating a Royal, and Urban Outfitters Bandeau.

So what do you guys think?  Did any of you do Pride nails?

Claire's Candy Shop!

So this is decidedly more me!  I'm still rocking the Essie/Nubar combo(5 days strong, what is this magic??) but I wanted to show you a swatch I did before I put that on.

So I finally found Candy Shop at Claires, and I was SO psyched to try it and let me say, it does not disappoint!  I'm sure the Lippmann one is great, but to be frank, I like a brighter pink.  This colour is really beautiful, a really nice pink shade, and the variety of glitter is great.  Even with all the glitter, it applied very easily and I had to do very little placing of glitter.  It distributed evenly and levelled quite nicely, though it's not smooth and needs an extra layer of top coat if smoothness is a priority for you.

This is 2.5 coats(I wouldn't say it's a FULL third coat because for the third I just touched on a little extra glitter on a few spots that needed it).  Great coverage too.

As you can see, while it's levelled nicely, it's not very smooth.  

This is with one coat of Essie Good To Go.

What do you think of Candy Shop?  

Is it on your wish list?

St Patty's Day Guinness can mani

This is a bit late... oh well.

I everyone had a fun (and safe) night.  I know I did :)  It was full of booze, creepy men (including one who actually looked like a rat), and late night shenanigoats with the girls and the boy.  Followed by waking up late and going on a 2 hour walk because it was so nice outside!

Anyhoo most of my nails were pretty much just quick nail art.  But on 2 fingers on each hand I used Guinness cans. How did I do this? 1) Get case of Guinness 2)Drink them all 3)Save some and use it in Chocolate Guinness ice cream 4) Carefully cuts ends off of can 5) Cut can down the middle so you can open it up into a sheet 6) Cut out parts of the can you want to use 7)File them down so they fit the way you want them to (and so they aren't sharp) 8) Use the edge of a table and bend them so they fit to the nail better 9) Cover your nail in a couple layers of polish to protect it 9) Glue them down with nail glue 10) Finish with topcoat so it doesn't get scratched up.

And to answer a few questions before they are even asked 1) No they were not sharp and 2) Removal was easy. One actually fell off.   And the rest I soaked in pure acetone to loosen them and peel them off.  Getting the remaining glue of my nail was easier than removing glitter.

Left Hand: G and N from Guinness can.  And ignore my horrific broccoli floret 4 leaf clover.

Right Hand: 2 more can pieces.

 What I used:

Guinness can (I forgot to take a picture of everything else), Essie's Pretty Edgy, and Fishnet Stockings, OPI Black Onyx, Chanel Graphite, China Glaze Medallion, Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure, Claire's Snow and a bunch of paint.

Hahaha I was trying to label Orange in this post and it kept changing it to Jason Orange... I almost left it.

Ps. 7