Coral Compilation Mani

For this manicure, I picked out a bunch of coral polishes that are all similar in tone but have different finishes, and put them together for a subtle skittles mani. I used 'Sally Hansen's 'Crushed', a metallic finish polish, on my thumb and ring finger; 'Hello World', a jelly finish polish from Nicole by OPI on my index finger; 'Kiss Me Coral', a frost finish polish by Revlon, on my middle finger which was then covered with a chunky red heart glitter polish called 'Have a Heart' from Nicole by OPI; and finally, on my pinky I used a crème polish from Revlon called 'Craving Coral'.

Polishes Used

Nicole by OPI ‘Have a Heart’

Revlon ‘Craving Coral’

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear ‘Crushed’

Revlon ‘Kiss me Coral’

Nicole by OPI ‘Hello World’

I haven't been doing a lot of nail stamping or designs lately, so I've been trying to do a lot of interesting combinations to add some element of fun into my manicures! I found this to be an interesting way do a monochromatic look but still have some subtle visual interest. 

It's also really nice that I got a chance to use some of my older polishes for this manicure. I love going back and rediscovering over-looked gems from my collection.

Analogous Colour Scheme Skittle Mani

Today I have a simple impromptu manicure to share:

Recently, I decided that I wanted to try use my 'Borghese Rapido' polishes a bit more, since hadn't been using them that frequently. That decision was the inspiration for today's manicure, where I use three different Borghese Rapido shades to create a simple skittle mani.

Polishes Used

Borghese Rapido ‘Lira’

Borghese Rapido ‘Menta’

Borghese Rapido ‘Castello Blue’

The main feature of this manicure is the colour combination of the different nail polishes. These colours look great combined because yellow, green, and blue are adjacent to each other on the colour wheel, and create an 'analogous' colour scheme when used together. I originally wanted to do some nail stamping over the look, but I never got around to doing it. Even so, I still think that the look holds up despite the lack of any added embellishments.

Blue Glitter Impromptu Mani

Today I have a quick post to share an impromptu mani that I threw on over my last manicure. I even recycled the gold accent nail from that mani.

Sorry that the picture is a little out of focus - I literally only have this one semi-usable shot of the manicure! I didn't get a chance to take photos right after doing the mani, as I usually prefer to do. As a result, I almost forgot to get a picture entirely! At one point, I did this quick snapshot of the manicure just in case I forgot to do a proper photo shoot before I removed the polish. Sure enough, that is exactly what ended up happening!

Here are the polishes that I used:

Polishes Used

L.A. Girl Glitter Addict ‘Jostle’

Sally Hansen Triple Shine ‘Wavy Blue’

Essie ‘Rock at the Top’

Quo by Orly ‘Filthy Rich’

The manicure is just a simple royal blue shimmer polish topped with a royal blue glitter polish. The gold accent nail is essentially the same, but there, the gold glitter polish is applied in a glitter gradient.

Camo Mani

I've been wanting to do a camouflage manicure for ages. Now that we are in to September, and we're starting to see more fall clothing and fall colours I figured that now would be the perfect time to try the look out!

Blue and Green Glitter Mani

Today I have a gorgeous glitter mani to share with you all:

Mix and Match Mani

Today's manicure has a little bit of everything - I used crème polishes, metallic polishes, glitter polishes, nail stamping, light colours, darker colours, and two different but complimentary manicures on each hand! 

Purple and White Manicure

Today's manicure is a mix-match of purple polishes, with a white polish and some holographic glitter thrown in for good measure!

The inspiration for this manicure came from the NCLA's 'Let Them Eat Cake', the polish that I am wearing on my ring finger. I purchased this polish several months ago after becoming hopelessly smitten by the gorgeous mix of purples in its glitter colour palette. I remember being so eager to try it out when I first got itbut unfortunately, I just never got around to doing it. For this manicure, I decided that enough was enough - I resolved to design a manicure around this amazing polish in order to finally take it off my untried list! 

Light Purple, Blue and Teal Mani

Today's manicure was done using two KB Shimmer polishes that I purchased recently, which I absolutely adore!

The main polish, 'I'm So Sweet Pea' is a beautiful light purple crelly-based glitter polish with teal, purple, soft pink and mint glitter particles. This polish was part of KB Shimmer's spring 2015 collection.

Essie Summer Neons Collection 2015

Today I have a quick review on Essie's Neon collection for Summer 2015. I purchased these polishes a few weeks ago, but now that I have gotten a chance to use all of them, I wanted to share my thoughts on the entire collection.

Essie Neon Collection 2015
‘Vibrant Vibes’	‘Melody Maker’
‘Groove is in the Heart’	‘Make Some Noise’
‘Coacha’Bella’	‘All Access Pass’

I love wearing bright, vivid colours on my nails so these polishes are right up my alley! Now, most of these polishes aren't traditionally what I would think of when I hear the word neon, but I do see how these colours fit into a broader interpretation of neon colours. I would say that the light green polish 'Vibrant Vibes', and the light pink polish 'Groove is in the Heart', are pastel neons, while the remaining four shades are medium-dark toned neons.

Pink Floral Pond Mani

For today's manicure, I decided to try out a 'Pond' manicure for the first time. This style of manicure involves sandwiching designs between layers of tinted jelly polish, to create a submerged item effect.

I decided to do a monochromatic look, so I used a medium pink jelly polish for the base, and then used a repeating four-petalled flower design, made using a dotting tool and two shades of pink polish.

I really like how this look turned out - it is super-girly, fun, and vibrant! I also really like the polishes I chose. I used 3 Essie polishes that were newly released for summer 2015. The two crème polishes, 'Coacha'Bella' and 'Groove is in the Heart', were from Essie's Summer Neons collection, while the jelly polish, 'Blush Stroke', is from Essie's Silk Watercolor collection. The other polish I used was one of my silver standby's: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Celeb City'. I really love how sparkly, and reflective this polish is. I use it quite frequently as a silver base polish underneath my nail art.

Polishes Used

Essie ‘Blush Stroke’

Essie ‘Coacha’Bella’

Essie ‘Groove is in the Heart’

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear ‘Celeb City’

This look has really inspired me to try out more pond manicures. There were a couple really notable jelly polish collections released this summer: OPI's 'Color Paints' collection, and Essie's 'Silk Watercolor' collection. Since I purchased both collections, I have a lot of options for creating some lovely pond manicures, and I can't wait to try them out!

Here are some more shots of the completed manicure.

Light Purple Mani with Orange and Blue Accents

Today's manicure was designed around an awesome polish that I recently purchased, KB Shimmer's 'Mauve on Over'.

'Mauve on Over' is a light purple crelly-based glitter polish from KB Shimmer's 2014 Winter collection. It contains a mixture of aqua, navy, and orange glitters. I honestly can't believe how much I love this polish! It's a slightly unexpected colour combination that totally works.

I distinctly remember my first impression of 'Mauve on Over' when I came across it while shopping for polish on line. At first glance, I was completely thrown off by the orange glitter in the mix, as it seemed like it didn't belong. However, I found myself being drawn to the polish. I remember moving on, and then coming back to the same page to look at the polish again and again. Eventually I decided that the polish was absolutely perfect, exceedingly gorgeous, and that I simply had to have it! LOL!!!

I love when something challenges your expectations, and then manages to change your perceptions of what is beautiful!

Here is a picture of the two polishes that I used to create this look:

Polishes Used

KB Shimmer ‘Mauve on Over’

Color Club ‘Diggin’ the Dancing Queen’

Earlier this summer, I did a post about some of the colours in Color Club's Poptastic Neon Pastel Collection. I mentioned that I was unable to get one of the polishes in the collection, as the site that I purchased the order from was sold out of it. The missing colour was 'Diggin' the Dancing Queen', and as you can tell by today's post, I finally managed to get my hands on it (and get it on my hands, too!). It was so worth the wait - this colour is ridiculously beautiful. It's such a soft, feminine colour, but so bright and eye-catching all at the same time. The entire collection perfectly embodies that intriguing mix of soft and loud. I am so psyched to finally have them all.

Here's a shot of the completed collection:

Color Club Poptastic Neon Pastel Collection

Color Club ‘Feathered Hair out to There’

Color Club ‘Hot-Hot-Hot Pants’

Color Club ‘Disco’s not Dead’

Color Club ‘Under the Blacklight’

Color Club ‘Til the Record Stops’

Color Club ‘Meet me at the Rink’

Color Club ‘Diggin’ the Dancing Queen’

Overall, I a really love today's manicure. It's always great when you get to wear two or more polishes that you really love, and they also happen to look great together!

Cute Monster Mani

Today I have a cute monster manicure to share.

 

Polishes Used	Plate Used
OPI ‘Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!’
China Glaze ‘Pelican Gray’	Konad M11 (cute monster image)
Quo by Orly ‘Limelight’	Konad M57 (leopard print pattern)
China Glaze ‘White on White’
Konad Special Polish in Black

The Konad M11 plate that I used to stamp the monster image featured in this manicure has been around for quite some time, however I just bought it on sale recently. I just couldn't resist the adorable cartoon images on it! 

I really love the colour combination of nail polishes that I used for this manicure - it's nothing super complicated, but I just think the bottles look so good lined up together!

The base polish I used is 'Limelight' from Shopper's Drug Mart's store brand of polishes 'Quo by Orly'. It's a neon pastel yellow polish, and I absolutely adore this shade! After choosing such a bright base colour, I wanted to tone the look down a bit, so I used black, white and a couple shades of gray for all of my embellishments. For the dark grey leopard spots, I used ‘Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!’ from OPI's fall 2012 Germany collection. I dotted the inside of the leopard spots with China Glaze's 'White on White' (core collection). The monster is coloured in with China Glaze's 'Pelican Gray', from their Spring 2011 'Anchor's Away' collection. The monster's black outline was done with Konad Special Polish in Black.

I really like how this manicure turned out! It's so bright, whimsical, and cute - perfect for summer!

Neutral Manicure with a Twist

This manicure was designed around two polishes from the Nicole by OPI Carrie Underwood line of nail polishes. The colours were 'Southern Charm', a magnificent pinky-tan neutral shade, and 'Carrie'd Away' a slightly textured gold glitter polish. These polishes were released in early 2014. I think I bought them sometime around last summer, but I'm only getting around to trying them out now!

Polishes Used	Plate Used
Nicole By OPI ‘Southern Charm’
OPI ‘Midnight in Moscow’	Pueen Buffet Leisure Collection:
OPI ‘Chick Flick Cherry’	PUEEN97
Nicole By OPI ‘Carrie’d Away’

Design-wise, I kind of just threw this look together. After painting my nails with the two main polishes, I decided I had to add a little more visual interest to the look, so I added the stamping and colouring on my middle finger, and the dotting on my thumb. 

Overall, I like the finished look. It's not one of my favourite manicures ever, but I do think it turned out OK. Also, I was really impressed by 'Southern Charm'.  This turned out to be an extremely natural looking neutral shade for me, as the colour is quite close to the colour of my natural nail bed. It's so fantastic! 

Pink and Blue Double Stamped Mani

Today's manicure is a reconfiguration of a manicure that I did earlier this year. During the 2015 Crackle Polish Challenge, I did a manicure called the 'Shattered Heart Mani'. It featured a crackle polish decal, glitter, and double stamping over a translucent polish base. Even though the main concept behind the manicure was to showcase the crackle polish decal, the feature that I ended up liking the most was the double stamped design that I used on my thumbnails. I even mentioned in that post that "I may have to do an entire mani like this!". Well, I finally ended up doing it!

Polishes Used	Plates Used
Nfu-Oh NFU JS30 (Royal Blue)	Bundle Monster Secret Garden Collection:
OPI ‘On Pinks & Needles’	BM-721
OPI ‘I Saw… U Saw… We Saw… Warsaw’	Pueen Love Elements Collection:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri ‘Presto Pink’	PUEEN41

In order to switch things up a bit, I used a blue jelly polish from Nfu-Oh's Jelly Syrup Series as the base, and a dark blue polish ('I Saw...' from OPI's Spring 2013 Euro Centrale Collection) for the first layer of the stamping design. Also, for the first layer of stamping, I used a different stamping plate from the one I used the first time around. The polish and plate that I used for the top layer of stamping were the exact same as the original manicure.

I wanted to do something a little different for my ring finger, so instead of stamping the pink top layer over the blue base, I used an awesome pink matte glitter polish from OPI's Brights 2015 Collection called 'On Pinks and Needles'. The shade of pink of the glitters, and of the stamping polish are almost a perfect match!

I really love how this look turned out! I don't like to repeat looks, but I don't think I'm quite done with this particular style just yet. I would like to try a version with brighter colours, and perhaps experiment a bit more with different combinations of patterns that will work well together! 

OPI 'Centennial Celebration'

My last post featured 'Visions of Georgia Green', one of the two new additions to OPI's Coca Cola themed collection of polishes. Today's post is on 'Centennial Celebration', the other new addition to the line up.

Both polishes were made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Coca Cola bottle. 'Visions of Georgia Green' was a take on the green glass soft drink bottle, while this one appears to be a take on the classic clear, colourless bottle.

Polishes Used

L.A. Girl Glitter Addict ‘Uninhibited’

Nicole by OPI ‘Make U Smile’

OPI ‘Centennial Celebration’

At first glance, I was going to pass on buying 'Centennial Celebration' because I already have a lot of silver polishes. However, I purchased 'Visions of Georgia Green', and I loved it so much that I decided to go back and give this polish a try as well. The thing I realized with 'Visions...' is that it wasn't just the colour of the polish that made it special, it was the texture and consistency as well.

These polishes are glass-themed, so they attempt to characterize certain elements of glass such as its translucence, its reflective nature, and its sparkle. Accordingly, the polishes are semi-translucent, metallic, and contain micro-glitter particles. 

In addition to the cool textural properties of 'Centennial Celebration', this particular shade of silver is a little different as well. There is a slight gold tint to this silver which adds a little warmth, and also makes it seem more luxurious.

All in all, I really like this polish, and I'm glad that I decided to give it a try!

OPI 'Visions of Georgia Green'

OPI added two new polishes to its Coca Cola Collection to celebrate the fact that 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic Coca Cola bottle. Today's manicure is a swatch of 'Visions of Georgia Green', my favourite of the two new releases.

The polish is a translucent silvery-green, frosted, shimmery, subtle duo-chrome, that is reminiscent of the classic pale green glass coke bottle. I love the concept, and I love how the polish looks on my nails. I normally don't by a lot of polishes with frosty finishes, but this one is a little different - it seems somewhere between a frost and a metallic and I don't own anything like it.

All in all, I am quite happy with this purchase!

Cool-Tone Dotted Mani

Today's manicure was inspired by the cool shades of the colour spectrum:

Polishes Used

China Glaze Electric Nights Collection ‘Can I Get an Untz Untz’

Essie Summer 2015 Collection ‘Chillato’

Essie Summer Neon Collection 2015 ‘Melody Maker’

Essie Summer Neon Collection 2015 ‘Make Some Noise’

Essie Summer Neon Collection 2015 ‘All Access Pass’

I really love the colour combination used in this manicure! I'm especially impressed with 'Chillato', the pale greenish-yellow colour that I used for the base of the manicure. I think that the colour is so unique and interesting, and it looks great both in the bottle, and on my nails. 

I didn't take my time doing the dotting, so the dots aren't as uniform and precisely placed as they could be, but in real life, this is not as noticeable as it is in the close up photo above!

Modified Anniversary Mani

Today I have a modified version of my 'First Blog Anniversary' manicure from my last post:

I toned-down the manicure by changing the thumb, index, and middle fingers to a neutral polish, and then I stamped a design on the middle finger in gold, to tie the whole look together.

Polishes Used	Plate Used
Essie ‘Brides to Be’	Messy Mansion Leadlight Lacquer
Orly ‘Halo’	- Plate A01
Sally Hansen Color Foil ‘Liquid Gold’

The neutral polish that I used was 'Brides to Be' from Essie's 2015 Bridal Collection. It's a beautiful creamy taupe colour, that looks like a lighter shade of the same colour of my natural nail bed. The glitter polish is Orly 'Halo' from their 2012 'Naughty or Nice' holiday collection. It contains a mix of gold and silver glitter particles. The metallic gold polish that I used for stamping is one of my most used polishes - Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Liquid Gold'.

Overall, I'm really happy with the way that this manicure turned out. It gives a nice 'muted bling' effect that looks both casual, and elegant all at once. Also, it's always nice to be able to get two looks out of one manicure!