Catrice - Oh My Goldness!: Best brush ever.

Today I have a polish brand that is new to me. Well new in the sense that I had never tried it, only heard of it.  It's Catrice Oh My Goldness! It's a densely packed glitter/shimmer in a clear base. I only needed to coats, but I added a third for the photo. I was a bit unsure of the colour at first. While its name indicates gold, it leans towards a coppery orange. Once I put it on I ended up loving it. I think it looks great on me, but I'm not sure it will look good on all skintones.

My favourite part of this polish would have to be the brush. Right when I started using it I KNEW it was my new favourite brush. Now my nails aren't wide, but they aren't tiny. I personally like wide brushes over skinny brushes, they are easier for me to use. This brush was a wide brush, but not too wide. The thing that made me love this brush was the flexibility of the brush. It wasn't too floppy, or too stiff, which meant I had perfect control. This meant it wasn't too wide for narrow nails, like my pinky. And at the same time I meant I also got good coverage on wider nails because the brush spread out just enough to easily paint them without ever feeling limp.

Overall I loved this polish, and would love to try out some more from them. Do you guys have a favourite?

Pretty Ugly

This is going to be another quick post. This was actually what I was going to show you for the A-Z challenge for the letter O(Old). This is Avon Dark Denin. It's not my oldest polish, but it is an oldie(at least 12 years old. One of the reasons I chose it was because it came with its own loose glitter for nail art in the lid. Long story short it was a hot mess. The polish itself was beautiful, a silky blurple that was opaque in two coats. The glitter was a nightmare. It went everywhere and just looked ugly.

What do you think of this polish? What about with the glitter?

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!!!

I don't love you?

So generally I don't post my fails, or things I just don't like.   Now just to clarify fails to me are things I look at and say "That's really not pleasant to look at".  Things i don't like are more along the lines of "You look ok, but I'm not feeling you".  This manicure originally from January, fell in to the I don't like it category.   I thought it looked just ok on the nail, and I just hated it when I photographed it.  But this morning I was going through photos I had that I never posted when I came across this the photos again.  And I can honestly say I didn't not like it nearly as much as I did before.  I can't say I love it but I'm pretty sure I like it now :P

Oh and I used OPI's Dating a Royal and Glow Up Already!

Do you share things you just feel meh about?

Literary Lacquers Goodnight Moon: First foray into shaped glitter

I had lobster poutine the other day.  It was amazing.  The end.

Today I have another Literary Lacquers for you guys, it's Goodnight Moon, created by Tami of The Manicured Mermaid, and based on the Children's of the same name.  A book about a child saying goodnight to everything (Read full story of inspiration here).  And I'll be honest, I've never read it and I never had it read to me.  Is that weird?

Good night moon is a sheer blue jelly polish, filled with holographic glitter, silver hex glitter and of course silver and blue moon shaped glitter.  I applied one coat over Cult Nails Time Travler, a deep navy TARDIS blue.  I did have some problems getting the moons out though,  I kept having to shake and fish for them.  That being said overall I did really like this polish, and I have some nail art planned for it!

If you would like a bottle of this you should head on over to Literary Lacquers and grab a bottle for $10 USD.

ETA - Wait no.  This is the second foray into shaped glitter :P

*Product sent for honest review

First Holiday Swatch of 2014!!!: Finger Paints - Sparkle In The Sky

Let's get the party started 11 months early! Today I have an older Holiday polish, from way back in 2013.   It's Finger Paints Sparkle In The Sky, from their 2013 LE Enchanted Winter Holiday collection.  Also a near dupe for OPI's polish Alcatraz...Rocks.

Sparkle In The Sky is super, duper pretty.  It's a navy textured polish with what appears to be fine pieces of  light green and purple(maybe pink) glitter.  I used 2 coats and it dried quickly.  Although not as fast as her sister Snow Crystals.  I also added 2 coats of top coat after a day or so.  It didn't smooth it out completely, but it wasn't noticeably bumpy.  It was noticeably pretty.  It really was like a sparkly night sky.

Overall I love this polish and I'm really happy I picked it up.  Do you have any polish from this collection?  I honestly don't think I heard much talk of this polish online.

 W/ top coat

 In sunlight

3D Lego Nails Tutorial: First Tutorial EVER!!!

Minus the infamous 53 coats of polish my Lego nails would have to be my second most popular manicure.  I always wanted to do a tutorial but I never did...until now!  So I'm going to try and make this as quick and painless as possible.  If you would like the quick but painful version, I suggest you get some nipple clamps and wear them while doing this.

So let's start with what you will need:

 - A bottle of polish of whatever colour you want your lego to be.  Along with a corresponding acrylic paint colour.  If you don't have paint just keep using the same polish.
- Circular glitter(any colour).  The ones I used are 2.5mm.
- Nail glue or clear polish.
- A thin topcoat(my SV is watered down).

First paint your nail whatever colour you want your lego to be using nail polish.  This will help anchor down the first piece of glitter and protect your nails from the paint (They STAIN).

Now while the polish is still wet/tacky place between 2 and 6 pieces of glitter, depending on how many bumps you want your Lego to have.

Once those are in place add a TINY bit of nail glue or clear polish on top of each piece of glitter, then carefully stack another piece of glitter on top.  When those are in place repeat this step.  You should have 3 pieces of glitter stacked on top of each other now.

Next, take your paint and using thin coats go over everything.  5a is one sloppy coat, and 5b is after two more.  The second coat for me in the most important.  I focus on around the bumps.  If you don't have paint, go over the glitter in polish, but be careful.  Polish is thicker so your bumps may not be as crisp, so it is very important to use thin coats.  Also it also doesn't give you as much time to play with it as it gets goopy quickly.

Finish off with a couple coats of your thinnest top coat to even everything out, and make it all pretty.  I say thin again so you can keep the bumps crisp.   NOTE: My SV has been watered down with thinner. I do this with old bottles and use them when I want to use SV but don't want the extra weight.  I find it works just as well but isn't thick.

And there you have it 3D Lego nails!!!

 

NOTE: You can actually tell in this pic that the pinky was done in all polish.  As it's a bit less crisp.

Hope my first tutorial wasn't a huge fail :D

Cutest Water Decals Ever: I think this manicure would make Miley proud.

Have you ever fallen asleep in the clothing you were wearing that day?  I went out this weekend and ended up falling asleep in my clothing.  For some reason sleeping in jeans is really off putting.  You wake up feeling extra gross when you wake up in jeans.  Anyways today is my fathers birthday, so I have to make this quick.

Today I have these super cute animal decals from Born Pretty Store.  They are kitties, ducks, teddies and flowers.  They come with the instructions on the back.  I can honestly say I didn't follow most of them.  I painted my nails the base colour, I removed the film and cut the design I wanted, then dunked it in water for around 20 seconds.  For there I was able to peel the design of the paper and stick it to my non moist nail.  Also you don't need to blow dry it.  It will air dry on it's own in under a minute.  Finally I topped with topcoat and just let that dry.  My one complaint is that it says it comes in a 4 piece sheet.  The one I got as you can see is only 1 piece.

 Note: My cuticle on my index finger looks gross.  That's actually Seche Vite doing silly things.

If you would like some of these for some simple nail art/showing respect to Miley Cyrus's AMA performance head on over to the Born Pretty Store where these retail for $3.99 USD.  AND shipping is free.  AND they are having end of the year sales! AND you can use our 10% discount code 'EAL91'!

*Some products sent for honest review

China Glaze Mingle With Kringle: I shall wear you with my Hannah Montana shirt.

Yes, I do own a Hannah Montana shirt.  Let me explain.  It was bought a few years ago for a show I was in.  It has been laying around since then eagerly awaiting Hannah Montana's comeback.  But the other night a did another show and it gave me the opportunity to wear it again!  Yay?  That being said if I'm going to be honest I DO have Miley's new album.  I'm under no assumption that her music is earth shattering or will touch the deepest depths of my soul.  It's pretty much words, put to noise, that you can dance to.

Anyways as usual I didn't know what polish I wanted to wear the other night.  That's when I saw that the Hannah Montana shirt had gold in it.  So I thought this would be the perfect time to wear China Glaze's Mingle With Kringle.  It is the third polish in the Dash of Dazzle trio sent to me from the people at Nail Polish Canada.  Mingle is a gold foil with slightly larger, and darker gold pieces.  I was a little 'eh' about the darker pieces, because I had seen photos of it already.  But it turns out I love it.  The darker its work well in real life, where the polish shimmers like crazy.  Application was 2 easy coats.

If you would like to polish the Dash of Dazzle Trio you can get it over at Nail Polish Canada for $15.00CND.  Or you can buy the polish on it's own for $6.95CND.  And for a limited time all orders(no matter what the price) will be shipped for free within Canada!

 T make it a bit more blingy I added China Glaze Gold Medallion.

 

What do you think of these polishes?   Also what fun random music do you listen to?

China Glaze Bells Will Be Blinging: Snow is great in theory.

I love looking at the snow fall while having a cup of something hot(BUT NOT TOO HOT), especially when its a heavy snowfall.  But the minute I have to go outside it becomes horrible, glorified, hard water, that will inevitably turn into dirty slush as it melts.  Also as most of us know due to science, it needs to be cold for there to be snow.  I hate that too, the cold.  The only thing good about winter is it looks pretty and Christmas.  I would say "Damn you Australia," but I also hate really hot weather.  As you can see I am a ray of sunshine.

Today I have another polish sent to me by Nail Polish Canada.  China Glaze Bells Will Be Blinging.  It is also part of their Christmas Collection this year as well as the Dash of Dazzle trio.  Now in theory I shouldn't love this polish.  It's a glitter storm that includes small piece of blue glitter, slightly larger pieces of silver glitter and the pièce de resistance, holographic bar glitter.  Now I'm not usually crazy about glitters, but I liked this.  It reminded me of a snowstorm, when all the snow is falling, and the wind is also blowing it about.  I was ok with the bar glitter because even though it was small they weren't skinny like in those "fuzzy" polishes.  So they never reminded me of hair, or creepy bugs.  Application was easy and even, I only needed one coat over OPI's Dating a Royal.  To me this is a great Christmas/Winter glitter!

Natural outdoor lighting

 Natural indoor lighting

 You can see the holo here

If you would like to polish the Dash of Dazzle Trio you can get it over at Nail Polish Canada for $15.00CND.  Or you can buy the polish on it's own for $6.95CND.  And for a limited time all orders(no matter what the price) will be shipped for free within Canada!

Who else hates snow but likes things that remind them of snow?

*Product Sent for honest review

F4 - Hocus Pocus: Well worth the wait.

Well Halloween has come and gone.  And I'll be honest with you guys the one thing I will be missing will be the horror movies that are always on the television.  I love a good(or hilariously bad) horror film.

This polish that I wore today was part of F4's Halloween line last year.  I didn't wear it last year so I decided that this year I was going to wear it on Halloween for the first time.  I wanted my first time to to be special guys.  So I have been sitting on this polish for over a year and that day has finally come.  Let me tell you it was well worth the wait(OMG she used the title of the post in the post...like in movies).

I decided to go with the obnoxious look.  My base was a bright orange by Orly(I could not find the name on the mini bottle), and I used one coat of Hocus Pocus over it.  Hocus Pocus is tiny matte black glitter and pink glitter, as well as larger pieces of green and yellow glitter.  Formula was super easy to use and you could probably get this to be opaque on its own in 3 coats or so.

So do I do Christmas stuff now?

Have you tried F4 polishes?  Do you think this was worth the wait?  Do you like scary movies?  Which ones?  TELL ME!