Canadian Cottage Scene

Hello!

More wintry themes from me!

I started with a base of Quo by Orly Prepster for the sky, Canvas lacquer Polar Bear Dip for the frozen skating pond, Elevation Polish Alpine Heights (Carlit) for the trees, Nails Inc Oxford St for the cabin with just a hint of bondi nyc Chasing the Sun for the warm glow through the window, a combo of CoverGirl Silver Lining and Sally Hansen Whiteout for the all the snow and smoke out of the chimney, then topped everything off with Canvas' Winter of '99 for the snow falling. Konad Gold Black for added depth. Phew! All freehand.

Let me do your nails next Saturday! Come by 224 Wallace Ave, Unit 104 on Dec 6 for our Pop Up event!

-L

Sun Gradient Pre-Stamp

Hello!

So you know how I'm always forgetting to photograph my bases before I do additional art?
Well I was so happy with today's gradient pre-stamp that it's getting it's own post (and day of public wear) before I add art!

So I've done plenty of linear gradients, pie gradients, and now this is my first circle gradient. I didn't intend it to look so solar, but here we are.
I used Misa A Sunny Smile Makes Me Go Wild (yellow), Quo by Orly Femme Fatale (pink) and Nails Inc Baker Street (blue), all on top of a base of two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff. Had I done 3 coats I probably wouldn't have revealed that ridge on my ring finger. Oh well!

Now the big decision is what will happen next... Tune in for the finale!

-L

MoYou Sailor 08

Hello!

*happy dance* I have been coveting MoYou London plates for what seems like forever (but more like a year). When I heard they started offering free shipping to Canada I just HAD to treat myself.

I bought 6 plates, and this is my first mani. I also bought the squishy rectangular stamper and so far so good! I do find the image transferring has worked really well, but since I haven't done a whole nail design yet I haven't decided if this shape helps me align the image better, or if it reduces warping. My only complaint is that MoYou forgot to include a scraper, so I don't know if that would have been any better or not since it's plastic, and my Konad is metal.

Anyway...

Too often I forget to take pictures of bases before I start doing everything on top. Sorry!
The gradient is subtle here but more apparent IRL. In any case, it was a coat of bondi nyc Blue Skies, then I dabbed on with a sponge Nails Inc Baker Street, Motives Tahiti Surf, and Quo by Orly Prepster.

Using MoYou London Sailor 08 and Konad White, Red and Gold Black I stamped on different coral images. I also used OPI Amazon...Amazoff for green seaweed, but it's not a stamping polish and didn't appear as opaque.
I used the leadlight technique to fill in the fish images with Nfu-Oh Jelly Syrup 20 (yellow), 25 (red) and 03 (gray).

It didn't turn out quite like I pictured in my head, but I'm still satisfied with my first MoYou experience (minus the missing scraper).

-L

Glow In The Dark Jellyfish

Hello!

I haven't done freehand stuff in awhile - so here we go!

I wish I had taken a photo of the subtle blue "sea". It looked pretty cool and I will probably do something similar again. I started with 2 coats of bondi NYC Midnight Mystery. I dabbed on bondi NYC NYPD, Misa Blue Over A Boy and Quo by Orly Prepster.

I didn't think of using glow in the dark polish until the very last second, detail brush in hand. I dug into the CANVAS lacquer stash and used Beyond the Wall, one of our best sellers. I also used Serum No 5 Skylights, another glow polish, to layer the glow power. With my Quo by Orly Instant Artist polishes in Black and White, I tried to add some outline details using the bottle brushes. For added shimmer I layered a bit of Misa Candy Girl. In person the jellyfish shimmer and sparkle so much more, I wish it had translated.

Yes, it's a crappy photo - but you get the gist of it right?

I know I still need to work on my freehand skills, but I wouldn't call this a fail. I also think I may try this again, but without limiting myself to glow polish.

-L

90's Style Colour Blocking

Hello!

Today I bring you a look sans stamping! Colour blocking is such an effective visual punch, especially when you get a great colour combo.

The hot pink and turquoise combo and the abstract geometric design just screams out (early) 90's to me. I'm sure I probably had a windbreaker in this motif.

Quo by Orly Femme Fatale, 3 coats

First I started with 3 coats of Quo by Orly Femme Fatale. Once again, my camera doesn't seem to like pinks much. This shade leans a bit warmer, but just as neon in person. I found it a touch uneven still, but the topcoat helped it appear even, and added glossiness (like most neons it dries semi-matte).

After allowing it to dry for quite some time, I added little triangles of painter's tape I had cut up. I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise for the colour blocking. This is an awesome glowy shade that dries matte - so this is how it looks before I topcoated. I like the contrast in finishes, but I HAVE to topcoat everything or it will come off in minutes (seriously, I'm rough on my hands).

As an accent I added Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan, an amazing glitter topper with various black and white hexes, a few bars and minty circles. I feel like this added to the 90's - ness of the look. (Yup, I'm making up words!)

These sun pics are with topcoat.

 

So fun right?!? This is totally reminding me of early Fresh Prince outfits. Ah, memories.

-L

Monochrome Blue, Nails of the Day

Continuing in the monochrome theme from my last mani, I decided to do something blue.

I wasn't really sure where I was going with this when I started. I grabbed a bunch of my blue cremes, a detail brush and went to work.
I started with a base of bondi nyc Blue Skies - for a fairly light colour I'd consider this an ALMOST one coater! With my detail brush I used a number of blues - and unfortunately I can't remember them all at the moment. I definitely used bondi nyc NYPD, and bondi nyc Midnight Mystery, which are deeper blues. I used a Misa for the lighter blue, but I can't remember what it's called. There may have been another shade or two but who knows!
I then stamped using a Pueen plate 46 and Konad Gold Black.

 

...and then I did this. Probably shouldn't have. I guess I just wanted to add some pizzazz and didn't know how to. So I put a coat of Quo by Orly Glam Trash (which I think is exactly like Orly Sparkling Garbage). It obscures the stamped image, and not in a good way.
The thing about overdoing, or messing up any mani, is that I change my nails so often that I don't let it bother me for very long. I'm always thinking about what I'll be doing next!

-L

Rebecca Minkoff Inspired, Nails of the Day

Hello!

My Cynthia Rowley mani was a big hit, so I decided to do another ‘inspired by fashion’ mani.

This is my beloved Rebecca Minkoff mini M.A.C. bag. I’ve been trying to think of ways of interpreting this into nail art for months. I tried last week to do a tape mani that failed miserably.

the muse

I went with stamping instead, and I think it turned out pretty well. It’s not an exact replica of the weaving on the bag, but it captured the same essence.

The base is Quo by Orly Femme Fatale. I stamped with Vivid Lacquer 009 using bondi nyc NYPD. The accent nail is OPI (Gwen Stefani Collection) Push and Shove, it represents the signature chain and hardware on all her bags.

Push and Shove accent

Push and Shove was painted on over top of Femme Fatale because I forgot my plan when I was painting my base. The chrome finish reacted kinda weird and almost had a shatter/crackle effect! I had to paint 3 layers to get it even.

These inspired by fashion manis are really working for me!

-L

Long Weekend, Nails of the Day(s)

Hello!

I’m sharing two manis in this post since I don’t have too much to say about them. They weren’t total fails, but neither one really turned out the way I was hoping so I didn’t really love either of them, but I thought they were at least worth a quick note (plus they both inadvertently wound up with a vintage feel).

This mani I wore for Easter dinner. The stamping was really only successful on my thumb – I felt like the patterns were competing a bit too much on the other nails. However, I really do like this colour combination. The base is OPI Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around, the green foliage is OPI Amazon…Amazoff, and the floral parts are Zoya Odette. I used a Pueen plate from the Buffet collection, but I’m away from them right now and can’t remember the number, sorry! I want to attempt something like this again, I'll just have to be more mindful of keeping the different colours/patterns separate.

vintage fabric print mani

In this mani I used another Pueen plate from the same collection, again, I can’t remember the number. Also again, I used Amazon…Amazoff to stamp the images (can you tell I love this polish?!) I then haphazardly tried the ‘leadlight’ technique that’s been going around (filling in stamped images with jelly polishes), but I wasn’t all that successful. I started with a bit of yellow and wish I had stopped there. The red isn’t so bad but the purple doesn’t really work, and ends up showing too many brushstrokes. When I was done with all that, I added a coat of Essie Matte About You to give it a sort of vintage tropical fabric vibe. Alana (who’s family is Jamaican), said it’s called “batik”.

batik-esque print mani

Hope you had a great long weekend!

-L