Feminist Porn Award Nails

So this manicure is kind of old (almost a year to be exact).  Anywhoo, last year we went to the The Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards. Which in short is an awards ceremony that highlights videos that woman had a hand in the production, writing, direction, etc. Also the videos depicts genuine female pleasure and It expands the boundaries of sexual representation on film and challenges stereotypes that are often found in mainstream porn*. First off let me say I had a killer outfit.  I wish I had taken photos.  Second I did take photos of my nails (I think this is when the addiction really started to rear it's ugly head).

Side story.  When we were there I saw the most beautiful human being on the planet sitting in front of me.  Seriously, he was like some ethereal, androgynous, divine being, carved by Aphrodite herself.  I kinda wanted to reach out, touch him, and say "Do you know how beautiful you are?".  You guys would completely understand where my crazy was coming from had you seen a photo. But I'm not that crazy.

Back to nails.  I based this manicure of the dress (that doubled as a top that night).  I bought it years ago at a clothing show and it's probably one of my favourite items of clothing. I added a picture of a larger part of it.

 

Pinky: Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink.

Ring: OPI Step Right up and some random unknown pink.

Middle: OPI Sparkle-icious.

Index: Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous and Essie's Matte About You.

 

There is a bird in the middle of the dress!!! Why have I never noticed you!!!

* Pretty much taken from their website because they word it better than me.

In other news I only have 9 toe nails now.  I tore one off completely :D... seriously though... ow.

ETA: We realized that we have said on different occasions that we are actors. And looking back on this post it might appear like we may do adult films.  So we decided to add this. We do NOT do adult films, and we will NEVER do them. We are open minded and don't scorn or have any ill feeling towards people who do.  But it's not something we would ever do. - Kas & George

Award! + OPI Germany + Some more giveaway info + Question (Whaaa?)

Why do 4 posts when you can have one glorious stir fry of a post.

First off danke to the lovely and talented Brandi of The Collegiate Nail for tagging Varnished Valkyrie for The Liebster award! If you are not following her already I suggest you have a sit down, think about why you aren't and then after a few hours of deep meditation and reflection on not only this but your own life follow her :D

The Rules:

1. Put the link to who gave you the award.

2. Put the award on your post.

3. Choose 5 blogs with under 200 followers to receive the award.

4.  Let them know you awarded them.

Tagging:

My Nail Journey,  Adventures of The Nailfriends, 9ml Universe, Nearly Natural Nails,  (This is where I got hungry and left the computer).

Speaking of German stuff who here is excited for OPI's Germany collection? Fist off I'm excited just because it's  a German collection.  But I'm not sure how I feel about the colours yet.  I need to see actual swatches. So far I see a couple I MIGHT like, but we'll see.

 

L to R: My Very First Knackwurst, Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Berlin There Done That, Dont Talk Bach to Me, Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, Schnapps Out of It, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Every Month is Oktoberfest, Unfor-greta-bly Blue, Deutsch You Want Me Baby, Danke-Shiny Red & German-icure by OPI.

Next up just a bit of an update.  Our giveaway will be up very soon (before Easter... fingers crossed). And we know one of the prizes will be (Mg, Fe)₂SiO₄!  We just need to find time when we can both get together and confirm what else id going with that.

Finally I have a blogger question.  Where is my tiny pencil?!?!?! My edit pencil that was always at the bottom of my posts! I loved that! Is this one of bloggers new changes? Is it going facebook on me? 

Kas 

OPI Pirouette My Whistle

So I wasn't going to get anything from the New York City Ballet collection(ironic because two of my jobs feature ballet heavily!) but I caved when I saw Pirouette My Whistle.

I kind of love the mix of glitter, because it catches the light in wonderful ways.  The large hex glitter look almost like falling snow, while the tiny glitter makes it look almost like there's a hidden shimmer in your base polish.  I wore China Glaze Dress Me Up, but it could've easily been Butter London's Aston if you were looking from a distance because of the way the sparkle looked.

Overall, I think this is a great "middle ground" manicure for someone like myself who can't stand neutrals and loves sparkle.  This, along with a couple of the nude toned OPI DS polishes, would be the kind of thing I'd wear to a job interview or a fancy event.  It looks great for work and overall is just a fun, cute way to do neutral.

What do you guys think?  Do you love this as much as I do?

Nausibranch Nails + Announcement

So over at Rebecca Likes Nails she's having a nail art contest where the theme is her favourite things. So create a manicure that you think I'd love, using my favorite nail art techniques or themes, which are: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, gradients, animal print, bows, dots, and Hello Kitty.

I can honestly say I just wasn't in a dotting mood and all the dot manicures I had I just didn't feel like using.  I could have done gradients which I love doing but my favorite gradients involve a butt load of glitter which never look as good on camera. Which left me with animal print, bows, and Hello Kitty.  When I thought of animal prints, bows, and Hello Kitty I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do with them.  But I did know I had been wanting to do an animal print for a while.  I didn't know what print.  All I knew was I didn't want it to be an animal print you see all the time.

So I ended up with this bad boy. Nausibranch print nails! These animals come in all sorts of stellar colours. But these little guys caught my attention (And not just because they're having The Sex in the photo below ;) ).

For this manicure I used a mixture of Sally Hansen's Lacy Lilac and Miss Kiss Flippin' for the lavender, OPI's Miami Beet for the spots (I guess you could call these dots :P), and a combination of paint and some yellow Orly mini polish (Don't know where the box with the name is).

Hope everyone enjoys!

Sea Slug Sex (Try saying that 5 times fast)

And now for the announcement! 

We've finally hit 56 (and now 57) followers! Huzzah!!! Thank you everyone!!!  And in honor of that we will be having a giveaway VERY soon. (Think within the next week!) Now I can't tell you exactly what we're giving away because we're still not 100% sure what we're giving away  but we do know one thing.  Part of it is...

My new favourite mani for spring/summer?

So this week has been INSANE.  I've been working just about every day, and I had a "school" day for work.  I'm glad to have a couple of days off.

I've been coveting Cult Nails Captivated since I first laid eyes on it about 9-10 months ago.  The beautiful orange jelly and glitter were just calling to me!  But by the time they shipped to Canada, it was gone.  I had resigned myself to living without it, but then they announced it was being brought back, and I knew I'd be first in line to get my hands on this, the perfect layering polish. 

It came in the mail about 5 days ago, and I wore this mani for four days, including to a major event for the skincare line I work for.  My customers might have loved it more than I did!

I decided to layer it over a hot pink foil, and I found that it flattered my skin tone really well, which was a great bonus.  It turned into this beautiful coral-y colour, and it had that amazing "lit from within" quality.  In the sun, the sparkles really came alive and looked like glowing embers.

Here we go:  2 coats of OPI Be a Dahlia, Won't You? with two coats of Cult Nails Captivated.

Blurred to show the sparkle. 

Look at that glow!

I think this'll be amazing for the summer, and I can't wait to layer Captivated over other things.  Any suggestions for combinations you'd like to see?

OPI - Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?

So this week had been quite busy so I haven't really felt like updating until right now. Life eh?

Anyways today I have a swatch!  I was actually wearing this a couple of days ago and one of my best friends Robyn noticed it and asked if that was the polish from OPI's Holland collection.  I was so happy she was able to identify it.  She used to make fun of my polish obsession and to see the disgusting polish monster she's become makes me warm right down to the cockles of my heart.

So Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? was the only polish from the collection that I bought.  I think I've mentioned this before but I'm rather picky when it comes to polish.  Generally I only find a couple per collection that I really, really like and want.  And in the Holland collection this was the one.

Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? Is a plum cream that is full of coppery shimmer.  It almost looks like embers from a fire.  Application was a dream.  Two coats, no problem.  This colour really comes to life in the sun, but even indoors when the shimmer isn't as noticeable there's still something special about it!

Well that's all for today!  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I shall spend mine indoors writing like crazy and trying not to get distracted :P

Ps. Drei!

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

Upcoming China Glaze - Bohemian + Wicked

So I was lurking around the interwebs when I found these! (Well I actually saw the Wicked one a while ago and completely forgot).  Anyways I spy with my little eye China Glazes answer to Chanel's Peridot in all the duochromeness! So far I'm linking Unpredic Table, Glitter Goblin and Cast A Spell!  Do you see anything here that tickles your fancy?

Names under the cut!

Essence - Ultimate Pink

I gotta be honest.  Now pink isn't my favourite polish colour.  It's not my favourite anything colour actually.  But I will say I do like like dusty pinks, and really sheer soft pinks.  Although I've never really been a fan of bright pinks.  But the other day I wanted to do some nail art that involved pink so I decided to buy Essence's Ultimate Pink.  It's not like I was spending a whole lot of money on it so why not?

Let me just say formula wise it was splendid. 2 coats, no hassle, evened itself out perfectly, and had a shiny finish without topcoat.  My personal problem with this Barbie pink is no matter what it always looks tacky, and gawdy on me. And to be honest I think pinks like this look that way on sooo many people(Not everyone. Power to you if you can rock it!).  It's not something I would just wear on a Tuesday.  It's something I would cover in a crazy design on a liquor fueled night out with the girls and then take it off the minute my hangover wears off. But maybe that's just me.

Mattified...just because.

What are your feeling on pinks?  Or is there any colour or finish you personally can't get into?

Urban Outfitters Forest + Butter London Wallis

Ever had one of those days where you do your nails, look at them and think... "No"?  I had one today and (while I have tons of swatches to show for it) it was still frustrating.  I did 7 full manicures before I had a winner. Urban Outfitters Forest and Butter London's Wallis.

Honestly the only reason I got Forest was a)It reminded me of Wallis (which I *heart*) and b)It was super cheap.  Forest went on with no trouble at all in 2 easy coats.  Like Wallis it's an olive gold.  The main difference is Forest has really, really, really fine shimmer, where Wallis one ups it by packing itself which a whole crazy load of gold and green shimmer.  Wallis is like the pretty older sister who will go on to win an Oscar.  But don't worry Forest is great in her own way.  She's the younger sister who's ok looking and finds the cure for AIDS.

I'm glad I have forest.  All I need are 2 coats of her and one of Wallis and I'm good to go.  I like knowing that I can now use Wallis more often.

Forest

Forest

Wallis over Forest

Queen Street subway nails!

So I also decided to enter the contest over at More Nail Polish.  Thanks to the wonderful who suggested it, I had a lot of fun doing these nails and I wore them for three days!

I decided to base mine on something from home, which is the Queen Street subway station in Toronto, Ontario.  If you've never been, there are some large murals in the subway that are done in beautiful, bright colours.  I've always thought they were really neat, so I decided that I would base my nails on the murals.

They're not terribly amazing or exciting, but I did have a few customers at work notice and recognise the art, so that was kind of neat!  Really I just had fun doing them, and I hope you guys like them as much as I did!

So we'll start with the inspiration pictures and move on to the nails! 

Polishes used: 

Urban Outfitters Bandeau

Essie Too Too Hot

Finger Paints Outta Sight Orange

Sinful Colors Let's Meet

OPI Strawberry Margarita

OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys
White striper(missing label)

China Glaze Dress Me Up

OPI Did It On Em

OPI Green-Wich Village

Fashion Bug Shamrock

China Glaze Mediterranean Charm

Essie Borrowed and Blue

Illamasqua Kink

OPI Dating a Royal

China Glaze White on White
China Glaze Pelican Grey

Enjoy!

Take That Inspired Nails

So I'm not sure if you've figured this out yet but I sort of like boy/man bands.  Especially Howard Donald of Take That.  Anyhoo I've been wanting to do this mani for a while now and I noticed this competition going on over at More Nail Polish.  And even though I know I probably wont win I figured I might as well do this now.

I began with Nailene's French Manicure polish as a base.  And I let it dry completely. I like using it as normal polish because it's such a pigmented nude and it goes on like a dream.

Next I knew when I did music nails I wanted to have actual music on them.  Now I've seen music nails before but most of them consist of like 3 lines and random notes.  Which I get is cute but the music nerd in me could not do that.  I needed the whole staff, the treble clef, the key signature, the whole party.

I actually did this a few times.  At first I tried a striping pen.  But unless you have really long nails or can do uber skinny lines it's super difficult. Next I contemplated using some string of sorts, but that proved tricky as hell to get it exactly how you wanted it.

Finally I found something that worked. A rollerball pen. Now here's where the matte comes in. I mattified my nails so they were easier to draw on.  Then with Rembrandt's guiding hand I freehanded the whole thing.  When I was done I finished it with a coat of topcoat.

In case you didn't know I used their classic song "Back For Good". If you haven't heard it before I suggest you go listen to it.

Close up of the treble clef and key signature.

What I used

The only thing that kind of irks me about this manicure is it's missing rests :/ Oh well I will be doing this again for sure!... Both musical manis and Take That manis :D 

Chanel Quartz swatches

So I work in a mall, in a department store, in the cosmetics dept.  Right next to a Chanel counter.  TALK ABOUT TEMPTATION.  Basically I find about 10 excuses a day to wander over and ogle the pretty polishes.

Enter Chanel Quartz.  I really like this one, and I didn't think I would!  But then I put it on and ohhhh, it's so beautiful!  My theory is that this polish is what China Glaze WANTED Hook and Line from the Hunger Games collection to be.  It has that same grey cast and finish, but without most of the horrible brushstrokes.  And the shimmer.... Oh, the shimmer.  It's blue and purple and the neat thing is that it reflects any nearby bright colours so it looks different all the time.  You'll notice that in some photos because my bedroom is bright green.  I also tried it by blue walls and had the same thing happen, so it really is a chameleon.

The shimmer doesn't show well on camera either, but let me just say:  THIS ONE COMES ALIVE OUTSIDE.  It is absolutely amazing.  Stunning.  If you can get your hands on this one, I say do it.

Let's let the pictures do the talking....

H&M Plum + Fierce nails

I have a swatch today of H&M's nail polish Plum. I really wasn't expecting much out of it. I had bought something before Christmas at H&M and they had given me a $5 discount. Luckly for me there was no minimum purtchas limit. So I ended up buying this an another tiny of bottle of nail polish with the card and payed nothing.

H&M Plum is exactly the colour it sounds like. It's a deep plum cream(although aubergine would have been an equally acceptable name). To my surprise this had a great formula. I had full coverage in 2 coats and even before I put top coat on it was super shiney. My only complaint was the brush.  I knew that it wouldn't be the best just because the bottle was small (0.23 fl.oz) but the brush itself didn't fan out that easily.  And I've had small bottles that were decent for what they were.

Then I decided since I was going to be wearing this as an actual mani I wanted to spice it up. So I got out some tape, my bottle of Milani One Coat Glitter in Silver Dazzle and La vola! I've seen them before but I'm not sure what they're called. But I do know this.  They are pretty damn fierce (and I never say fierce). They ooze with sexy prowess. I need to do my nails like this one day for the boy. Valkyrie approved.  They may simple but I love the way they look.  Why didn't I do this sooner?! I will definitely be doing this again!

Cupcake inspired nails!

So I've been at my job for just over a month now and I really wanted to thank everyone for welcoming me, and I decided to do it in the best way I know, which is by baking cupcakes!  I decided that I would do some matching nails because they came out so cute.

So, here's the inspiration:

And follow below for the matching nails....

Nubar 2010

So sorry that some of these pictures are a bit messy.  I had originally put this mani on because I just didn't want naked nails so I didn't clean up what I had been wearing perviously properly.  Anyways I ended up taking some crazy pics and decide no, this needs to be shared.

As you all probably know Nubar 2010 is a flakey polish.  It has a clear base and depending on the light I can flash green, yellow or orange and kind of look like embers. Oh and did I mention when you take pics of it underwater it looks like you were picking a clowns nose. And who doesn't want that look? Who? I layered it over OPI's Black Onyx.

While there's lots of flakies that look like this now a days. I actually prefer this over one's like Essie's Shine of The Times. Mainly because the flakies aren't as dense. I prefer being able to build.  Anyways, check out this amazing pic spam!

RAINBOW!!!!!!!!!

Blog Awards!!!

Thanks to Miranda over at SPLAT has nominated us for our first blog awards! Yay! Go check out her blog! She's currently having a giveaway now that's she's reached 50 followers (and growing)! Exclamation mark!

I think these awards are really cute.  Mainly because I love looking at other peoples and just learning stuff about them that you normally wouldn't have.

Although this is only half done atm.  George can fill in the other half... whenever :P People will be tagged... eventually... :P   BAM DONE.  Check out my(George) answers below too :) After MANY hours and having hundreds of professionals weigh in we have FINALLY nominated people!!!
We haven't been along for that long so we only chose 5.  Feel free to do as much or as little of these.  We won't cry.  BUT WE WILL CRY FOR ARGENTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

China Glaze Magnetix - Pull Me Close and Instant Chemistry swatches and review

So China Glaze is impressing me SO MUCH lately.  I love their colours, the formula, everything.  So when I heard they were jumping on the magnetic polish trend, I knew theirs would be my first ones.  I wasn't about to drop $18 on Nails Inc, so the $10 price tag for CG sounded a lot better.

Then I went to Sally Beauty.  I got them for $6 a piece PLUS the magnet was free!  Saved $24!  I am one happy camper, let me tell you.

I picked Instant Chemistry and Pull Me Close, and I think I might go back for another if I can't get my hands on the Icing Magnetics on today's mall trip.  I loved the colours and unlike other reviews, I liked the magnet.  My only complaint is that, as you'll see, my teeny pinky nails are too small for the starburst pattern.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Onto the swatches!

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man collection first swatches

Now normally there wouldn't be 3 posts in one day but I thought this was worth it.

I blogged about these a few weeks ago but here are actually swatches of OPI's new Spider Man collection! Do I see a possible dupe for Chanel Graphite and Peridot? I know I need to get Just Spotted The Lizard!

Run on over here to Pinch of Pretty to check them out!

-Kas

Sally Haul and BUTTER london Wallis swatches.

Hey everyone!  Sorry for my absence after my intro post, but I work two jobs, one full-time and another part-time, so I have very few opportunities to pause and take photos!  But now I have a day off on sunday and we will be SWATCHING IT UP.

Now, I am so excited to be able to show you these next photos!  I LOVE the Hunger Games novels, so when China Glaze announced the Hunger Games collection, I knew I had to have them.  I bought 6(7 if you count my Electrify backup!) and I love them all and can't wait to swatch them this weekend.

I also got two of the China Glaze Magnetix polishes(and the magnets were FREE at Sally!  SCORE!) so I'll have those for you too in the near future.  I think I'm going to get a third of these.

On top:  Electrify x2.  STUNNING.

L-R: Riveting, Luxe and Lush, Stone Cold, Dress Me Up, Smoke and Ashes. 

Magnets on top.

Pull Me Close and Instant Chemistry.  I think I might get the green as well.

And after the jump:  QUICK AND (not too) DIRTY SWATCHES OF BUTTER LONDON'S WALLIS.

OPI Black Onyx

So I love OPI.  Great formula, stellar brushes, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I hate this polish.

Back Onyx is a black, cream.  In the photos I used 2 coats.  It went on smoothly and everything.  It's probably because since I have had it I've used up most of my polish thinner in it.  90% of the time this is a goopy mess.  I make sure to close it properly, it's always standing upright.  And I've seen reviews saying this is amazing.  And you know what? Maybe it is and I just got a jacked up bottle.  *Sigh* I may give it another go because I do like OPI a lot.

There was far to much negativity in this post. Let's negate that with a picture of Take That's Howard Donald!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D