Swatch-It-Up-Saturday Jan 25

Howdy, and Happy Saturday!  We got a huge dumping of snow again last night.  They had all the highways around us closed, and just reopened some of them about an hour ago.  Tyler and I don't have any plans today, so we don't have to worry about not getting to where we are supposed to be.  It's a great day to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie with a steaming mug of hot chocolate :D

It's Swatch-It-Up-Saturday again!  I don't have too many swatches for you this week though, but let's get to it, shall we?

Swatch-It-Up-Saturday Jan 18

Good morning!!  I have a pile of swatches for you guys this morning that I have been stashing since the end of November...  Yeah...  *sheepish grin*  Anyways, let's get to it, shall we?

Christmas Nails #3

Hey everyone and Happy Friday!!  How many of you are done work for the Christmas season?  Yesterday was my last day of work for the year, and I don't go back until January 6th!!  WOOHOO!!!

I figured with it being less than 5 days till Christmas Day, I should probably post another Christmas mani!  I did this a while ago, because as you know I have been losing my polishing mojo :(  But, let's take a look!

Christmas Nails #2

Hey everybody!!!  I have another Christmas mani for you today!  I didn't get to polishing last night because I was too busy making homemade sugar cookies so my sister and I can ice them tomorrow :D  I'll post pictures of them on the Facebook page when we have them done :)

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Got distracted at work, sorry.  I'm back now and going to finish this up!  Come check out the 2nd Christmas mani I did!

S is for Scallops

Hey everybody!  I am SOOOOO sorry for being absent over the last week.  I seem to be in a bit of a funk :\  I'm going to work on getting my act together and get to posting frequently again.

Today I have for you my late "S" mani for the ABC Nail Art Challenge!

S is for Scallops

Swatch-It-Up-Saturday July 13

Happy Saturday!  Today, and this past week, I have been spending a LOT of time trying to eliminate the snails in my flower beds.  At first, seeing snails was cool and cute, but now that I have discovered that what I thought was my lack of a green thumb is actually the snails and slugs mowing down on my flowers it's definitely not cute anymore :(  Over the past week I have probably collected about 150 snails, it's getting ridiculous!  Although, I think I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and have almost caught them all.  On a positive note, the snails' shells have definitely inspired me to so some s"nail" art ;)

It's Swatch-It-Saturday, and I have been collecting some swatches for you over the last few weeks, even though I haven't done a whole lot of polishing.

Make It Stick Nail Decal Tutorial

Decals were sent to me for review from Make It Stick Designs.

Howdie ladies and gents!  I hope your week has been good to you!  I have something a little different for you today.  Back when I did my first post using Make It Stick Designs nail decals, I told you that I would (eventually) do a how-to post.  Well, today is the day!!

G is for Gradient

Afternoon ladies and gents!  Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  Hopefully your babies (human or fur-baby) are treating you to a day of rest and relaxation!  Tyler and Owen just left, but I was just happy to have them with me for the morning, and this whole weekend :)

Today's post is for the ABC Challenge.  It's "G" week :)

G is for Gradient

Zoya Aurora

Good lovely morning everybody!  It's pretty dreary here this morning - typical Spring morning, and my snow is disappearing at an alarmingly fast rate :(

Today I have for you the beautiful Zoya Aurora from the Ornate collection that they released for the Christmas season last year.  Yep, it's my first time trying it on its own.. yep, I'm a slow-poke!  LOL!

First Tape Mani

Happy Wednesday lovely readers!  It snowed again last night!  I'm not read for winter to be over, it feels like it just got here :(

Today I have for you a tape mani that I did over China Glaze Unpredictable that I showed you yesterday.  When I posted the picture of Unpredictable for COTW in my group, I asked for any nail art suggestions and it was suggested to add purple to it.  So I took that and this is what I came up with:

February Nail Art Challenge Day 8

Howdy readers!!  It's Thursday, my last day of work - yippee!!!  Bring on the weekend so I can sleep in :D

Today is Day 8 of the Challenge, can you believe it's almost over?!  Only one more day to go, what ever will I do when it's all over?!?!  Day 8 is all about Polka Dots :D  I love me some dotticures, they are so easy to execute and the combinations are seriously endless!  All you need is polish and something pointy.  Personally, I use a tailor's pin stuck in the eraser of a pencil, an unfolded paperclip, or a toothpick, or a combination of them all, to create my dotticures.  You could also use a dried up ball point pen or the lead end of a pencil.  No need to buy those fancy schmancy dotting tools when you have so many around the house ;)

February Nail Art Challenge Day 4

Happy Sunday ladies!!  Did everyone on the eastern US seaboard survive the snow?  What about all of you in Ontario, Québec and the rest of the eastern provinces?  We got about 20-30cm over Thursday and Friday :D  The snowbanks are piled high, and it's making it hard to see around corners while driving.

Today I have for you my Day 4 design for the Challenge - inspired by a pattern.  There are SO many patterns out there, but there was really only one that I knew I had to do.

Christmas Wreath Half Moons

Well, looks like we all survived December 21, 2012!  Who wants to make t-shirts?!  ;)  And to top it off, we got some snow last night so *breaks into song* it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Today I have for you a Christmas twist on half moon nails - I have turned them into Christmas wreathes :D  I can't believe we are only 4 days away from Christmas day!  This month has gone by way too fast!  I remember when I was younger, December would always drag by so slowly because I was so excited for Christmas!  Christmas Day and Boxing Day also seemed to last forever too, but now it seems you do all these preparations for Christmas and then before you know it, it's all over.  Maybe we should do Christmas nails all through the year :D

Anywho, onto my wreathes...

For this I used 2 coats of Julep Alyson as my base colour.  Then with hole reinforcements, I created my half moon curve a little further down the nail than you normally would with a half moon and painted Avon Ruby Slippers on the tip.  After removing the reinforcements, I used Zoya Logan and my dotting tool to create the bottom of a wreath along the half moon line.  You probably could just do your nails half and half because the bottom of the wreath is what creates the half moon look in the end anyways.

Then using Julep Delaunay and my dotting tool again, I created little berries on the wreath :)  After all that, using Julep Felicity and Konad M71 I stamped bows on the bottom of the wreath.  It didn't stand out as much as I had pictured in my mind, so if you want it to stand out more, it would probably be best to freehand a bow rather than stamping.

I love the way this turned out!  Except for the bow not standing out as much as I hoped, it looks exactly how I pictured it in my head :D

Are you excited that we are so close to Christmas?  What is the favourite Christmas mani you have done so far?

Christmas Dotticure

Happy Hump Day!!!  I only have 5-1/2 days left of work until I'm on Christmas holidays for 2 weeks!!  Where has the time gone?!  I'm running out of days to do Christmas nails!!!

Today I have for you a cute Christmas dotticure that I did last night, but I ran out of time to post about it.  I think I will try to post every other day rather than every day, it might be a little less stressful for me :)

Cute, right?!  For this I used Butter London Pillar Box Red (a perfect Christmas red) and Zoya Storm as my base colours.  Then on the red I dotted with Zoya Logan and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, and applied 2 coats of Elixir Lacquers Peppermint Barque from her holiday collection over Storm :)

I really love this!  I think the dotticure compliments Peppermint Barque perfectly because of the small red and green hexes and the medium white hexes :)  I really love this glitter!  *sigh* I love Christmas!  Can we have it year 'round, pretty please with a cherry on top?!

Nail Polish Canada Nail Art Challenge Week 2

YAY!!!  It's December!  Time to bust out the Christmas manis for a whole month!  And what better way to do that than to do a "present mani" for the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge??

I love everything about Christmas -- the food, the family get togethers, the decorations, the snow, the cold, the smells, and of course the PRESENTS!  Although, I love giving presents more than I love getting them, buuuut I don't mind opening one or two ;D  What is your favourite part about Christmas?

For the second week of the Challenge, the theme is Presents.  This could be any way you wanted to interpret it -- whether it be doing a mani showing what gift you wanted to receive most this year, to give a hint to your family and friends ;) or the ways to receive presents.  I chose the way to receive presents -- all wrapped beautifully and of course the main giver of gifts... (in Buddy the Elf voice) SANTA!!!!!! :D

Here are some close-ups:

Thumb -- Santa Suit Nail

Butter London Pillar Box Red base colour with two vertical rows of dots in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, a stripe of Jordana Pop Art Black Mark and Butter London West End Wonderland for the belt!

This nail was inspired by Mary at Swatch and Learn's Santa Nails nail art design.

Index -- Wrapping Paper Nail

Butter London West End Wonderland base colour with Butter London Pillar Box Red, Zoya Irene and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On lines drawn using a toothpick to create a plaid look to represent wrapping paper :)

Middle -- Wrapped Gift Nail

Zoya Blaze base colour with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On stamped with Konad plate M67 and striped on for a wrapped gift, just for you! ;)

Ring -- Christmas Tree Nail (yes, it's upside down, sorry lol!)

Water marble with Julep Courteney, Avon Electric Green and Zoya Irene.  Topped with Dollish Polish Dino-Mite Yoshi (perfect for "Christmas tree decorations") and cat eye shaped rhinestones for a star.

This is definitely one of my favourites of this mani!  I will be doing this as a full mani for the Christmas season!!

Pinky -- Glitter Nail
Julep Delaunay base colour topped with China Glaze Twinkle Lights.  This is to resemble the meaning of Christmas... GLITTER!  Haha, just kidding.. kinda!  everything during the Christmas season is packed with glitter :)







I hope you love this mani as much as I do!  I don't want to take it off, and I'm actually not looking forward to it with all the glitter that is incorporated into it.. *sigh*

Don't forget to check out all the other wonderful present manis of the bloggers participating in the Challenge and vote for your favourite!

NOTD: Zoya Irene

Hello fair readers :D  I hope your short week has gone splendidly so far!  Only one more day to go (well I only have to work a half day tomorrow, so yay me ;) )

I have for you my other first Zoya, Irene.  This is a great olive shimmer.  That is the best way to describe this colour.  It went on great, it took 3 coats to get to full opacity -- is this fairly normal for Zoya polishes (for those of you who have lots of them)?

You know, I wouldn't have thought that olive would be a great nail colour, but it definitely works :)  I think this would be a great polish to either do nail art with or to use as a base colour for nail art.  I would use corals, browns, and maybe tans with this colour if I was going to use it with nail art.  It would also look really great for "camo" nails :D  I can only imagine my dad's delight if I did camo nails, hahaha!

Again, this colour came from Nail Polish Canada and I got it on sale :D  Don't forget that with Nail Polish Canada, all Canadian orders $25 and over qualify for free shipping, so always make sure to load up your cart to meet that minimum, it's so worth it!  I have been using the "wish list" feature on Nail Polish Canada to keep track of what I want, that way I don't have to remember, and I don't have to go hunting for it every time I want to place an order :D

Would this be a colour you would pick up for yourself?  Do you already have this colour?  Send me a picture of you wearing it either by e-mail (ericamccabe28@gmail.com) or post it to my Facebook page :D

NOTD: Zoya Summer

Hey Polish-istas!  Can you believe it's Wednesday already?!  Holy smokes, where has this week gone??  Anyone have big and exciting plans for the weekend?  Tyler, Owen and I are headed north again to a cottage for "Party Weekend".  Party Weekend consists of a bunch of friends getting together on the weekend after Labour Day for one last hoorah for summer :)  I'm not much of a partier, and the friends I go with have been doing this for 11 years (last year was my first year, everyone else going is older than me), so it's a lot "calmer" than when they first started the tradition, which is fine by me :)  We will be at a cottage from Friday afternoon-ish until Sunday sometime, soaking up the remains of the hot summer sun and enjoying the water :)  I just hope it doesn't rain as we will be tenting it -- there isn't enough room in the cottage for everyone to sleep inside.

Today's post features Zoya Summer.  This is a really pretty, not-quite-nude, not-quite-pastel, pinky/peachy colour.  I really love this colour and I am glad I chose it (helped that it was on sale ;) )

It's a little more pink in real life, my camera really picked up the peach in the colour, so it looks more nude than it actually is.  These pictures all have 3 coats of Summer :)  When I was wearing this, Tyler and I went hiking and I tripped over roots a few times and I feel it was because I was looking at this colour, it's so pretty :D

I got this from Nail Polish Canada (see my haul here) and if you go now you can get it for $6.00!!  And don't forget that with Nail Polish Canada, any order over $25 qualifies for free shipping in Canada :D  Weeeeeeeeee! (there's those polish fumes acting up again ;P )

Nail Mail: Nail Polish Canada Haul

It's Friday!! :D  I hope everyone has exciting plans for the weekend!

 

I have my haul from Nail Polish Canada today :)  I love Nail Polish Canada because when you place an order over $25, shipping is free!  :D  Which is awesome!  And they have some pretty good deals on polish sometimes!

 

Let's see what I opened up!

 

The box is purple!  How is that for them catering to their customers?!  ;)

 

Filled with peanuts for protection during shipping :)

 

And wrapped in bubble wrap so everything shows up safe and sound, and in on piece :D

 

First up is Essie Mesmerise.  I first saw this polish on Swatch and Learn and fell in love!  So when I saw it was available on Nail Polish Canada, I knew it was mine! :D

 

Next is Zoya Irene.  This polish was on sale on Nail Polish Canada, regularly $8.75 and I paid $6.80!  I realize it's probably because it's "out of season", but I don't care, lol!  This is my first Zoya (yay me!) and I got it because I don't have anything like it, and it was on sale! :D  This is is an interesting olive shimmer polish and can't wait to try it :)

 

And next we have Zoya Summer.  Again, this polish was on sale, regular $8.75 and I got it for $6.80 (it is currently $6.00 if you go now!)!  Again, it is probably "out of season" but I was looking for a pale pink colour and after looking at swatches I liked this one the best.  It is a very soft pink/peach colour.  This is my other first Zoya polish :)

And the reason for the purchase was I was advised of a Discount Code to use to get a Soulstice polish for FREE!  So the first thing I did when I went to Nail Polish Canada was find the Soulstice polish I wanted to try.  The one that stood out for me was Geneva.  This is a shimmery dark mauve colour.  It looks more burgundy-ish in the bottle (swatches to come in a couple days).

To bring my total order to $25 I decided to get Essie Protien Base Coat.  I thought maybe this would help to prevent my nails from peeling.  No harm in trying :D  It came in a box, similar to all Essie nail treatment products.  The base coat looks like a milky white polish, so maybe it's chock full of good stuff for nails :D

If anyone is interested, I just checked and the Discount Code for the Soulstice polish is still in effect, so if you want to try out one of these polishes use the Discount Code TRYSOULSTICE783 upon checkout and you will get it for free (regular $8.50)! :D

 

Anyone have any of these colours?