NOTD: OPI Goldeneye

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I went shopping the other day and found myself buying a few new lacquers that were an impulse buy. This one is one of them, it's Goldeneye from the OPI 2012 Skyfall Collection. I don't normally gravitate to lacquers like this one, but I found it to be unique and not having one like it in my collection meant that I had to pick it up.

All photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

 I put on 3 coats as I normally do to reach full opacity. The formula was good and dried in normal time. Even though Goldeneye is a micro-flake, once on the nail it's pretty shiny and reflective, almost like a metallic. I'm rather entranced by it's beauty, it's very warm leaning, so it might not be for those who prefer cool toned golds.

 In the close ups, you can see the particles this micro-flake is made of. Click on any photos to view them larger.

Will you be getting any of the Skyfall collection lacquers? I have a couple more that I picked up to show you. 

Till next time!

NOTD: neon gradient + stamping mani

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What type of manicure can you do with white, neon and stamping? This one! I wanted to do a neon gradient mani, topped with a fauxnad design for a while and kept on putting it off. This mani reminds me of summer and seeing as summer's ending, I think I'm in denial and don't want it to end so I'm going for bright manicures.

 I started with Sally Hansen White On, then I used a sponge to do a gradient with Fanny Z. I showed you HERE, then I stamped with Sally Hansen Foot Foils Submariner using Cheeky CH10 plate.

This manicure is a bit brighter in real life, but neons are tough to photograph to show the true brightness unless you take photos under water.

Till next time!

NOTD: Sally Hansen White On

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Today I want to show you a plain white creme lacquer, Sally Hansen White On. Is it ok to wear white lacquer after Labour Day? Ha! I know, it's not white pants, so I'd say it's ok to wear it anytime. Do you wear white? Which one?

All photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

The formula on this one's ok. I used 2 coats to get full opacity and to even it out and it dried in normal time.

White is pretty versatile as it can be worn by itself, the way you see it in my photos here but it can also be worn under neons to make them pop, like I showed you HERE or under stamping, like I showed you HERE, used for a striping gradient mani, like I showed you HERE or finally you could stamp with it, like my examples HERE and HERE.

Here's a question for you, what is the best white creme lacquer you have used? I'm always on the lookout for a good one-coater white, so that I can stamp with it. It's tough to find one.

Till next time!

BLOG ROLL

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I know many of you like new blogs to follow, so here's my latest installment of nail blogs I have come across. You can see past blogs I have showcased HERE.

A Little Polish
Art Of Nail
Brit's New Nails
Call Of Beauty Slack Ops
CC's Polished Pointers
Little J's Nail Corner
Made By Me
Nail Art By Belegwen
Nail Polish Anon
Nail Polish Enthusiast
Polish Schmolish
Steamy Nails
Tara Loves Colors
Verieana
World Of Polish

If you know of any nail blogs written by Canadians, Polish girls or redheads, let me know as I want to feature them. The ones I have found so far can be found at the very bottom of my blog here.

Till next time!

Sensique Sky Over Silk Road No.265

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Today I want to show you one of those fabulous lacquers I found while in Szczecin Poland, see my haul HERE. I picked up Sensique Sky Over Silk Road No.265 because I thought the shade was so unique, it's from the fall/winter 2011 Oriental Dream Collection. Sensique lacquers are available locally in Poland at Natura drug stores.

All photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

 You can see in some photos the nature of this lacquer, it's like a grape base with teal shimmer so strong that it dominates the colour on the nails and looks like it's teal with a grape duochrome. It's just awesome!

 Like most lacquers, I did 3 coats and the formula was great, dried in normal time. 

Have any of you European girls tried Sensique lacquers?

Till next time!

Simple Beauty No.3 + BM-216

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Do you want to see a stamping fail? Sure you do! It's not just about seeing awesome stamped manis all the time. Today I'm going to show you an idea that just didn't work out for me. 

Photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

 I used a plate from Bundle Monster BM-216 for the design and stamped with Seventeen Supreme No.81.

 The base for this manicure is Simple Beauty No. 3, see it swatched HERE. 

 The idea I had for this one was to use one of those funky french stamps and use it vertically, stamping half the nail. I found it tough to stamp them in a way that was uniform on all the nails, so it looks all messy and uneven. Have any of you used the french stamp designs this way successfully?

Till next time!

Nail mail from the UK

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Gosh, how amazing is the whole world on lacquer?! I've had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with many international nail polish fanatics. Today I get to show you what I received in the mail from a friend in the UK. She originally emailed me to let me know that she found some Sally Hansen Nail Prisms that I could add to my SH Nail Prisms Guide. We exchanged packages once and now here's the second round. 

Are you waiting for anything in the mail?

I received:

L-R-> Sally Hansen Nail Prims Star Opal, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms ???(no label), GOSH Holographic Hero, BarryM Raspberry, BarryM Shocking Pink, BarryB Matt White, BarryM Spring Green, MUA duo

 I also received some lacquers from Forever 21, my mom went cross border shopping and brought these back for me.

L-R-> Love & Beauty Green, Love & Beauty Black Navy, Love & Beauty Orchid

Till next time!

NOTD: Simple Beauty No. 3

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I haven't work a red for a very long time, so today I want to show you one that I picked up during my trip in Poland, see my haul HERE. This is Simple Beauty No.3, a nice warm (orange leaning) red, with a gold shimmer.

All photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

I used 3 coats as I normally do. The formula is good and dried in normal time.

In the close ups you can see the nice gold shimmer this one has.

Till next time!

Nail Polish spill on floor - GAH!

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Now here's a thing to NOT do when you just wake up. If it's raining out, do not take photos of your haul on a 4 foot wall outside, then knock a bottle over  while trying to put them away quickly. Why? This is why. I accidentally knocked over one of the ones I was most excited about from my HAUL I showed you HERE, OPI Do You Lilac It? D'oh! I guess I won't be swatching this one anytime soon.

This is what the whole spill looks like on the ground, on the side of the stairs.

 A close up of the carnage for you. Aaaah, pretty purple. By the way, this is not the first time I have spilled lacquer, so if you missed it, see how I spilled and cleaned up my laptop HERE.

 This is the carnage of my nails after a good half hour of cleaning the floor with a rag and acetone. Yes, I tried Windex but apparently on a rock/concrete floor, it doesn't work. Have you had any spills like this? What did you clean them with?

Till next time!

My latest HAUL off of Kijiji.com

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I like to show you all where I find some lacquers, as in local stores or when I travel, online stores, swapping with friends and today I want to show you my latest haul. This time I was doing some searching on Kijiji.com and I happen to find a local girl who wanted to sell some lacquers. So I got these:

L-R-> Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jumpin' Jade, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Wined Up, Sally Hanen Deep Purple, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Essie Carry On, Essie Power Clutch, Essie Bordeaux, OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui, OPI Do You Lilac It?

I'm curious, have you looked up a local listing online and purchased any lacquers on Kijiji.com or Craigslist.com... or any other community forum?

Till next time!

NOTD: BarryM Racing Green + Sinful Colors Green Ocean

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It's been a long while since I've worn a flakie and as soon as I put on BarryM Racing Green, I knew I wanted to add something to it to make it sparkly. I added Sinful Colors Green Ocean. It's not exactly a flakie when you look up close, but it's awesome!

All photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

 I just love the Sinful Colors Green Ocean flashes blue on certain angles, it's so pretty! What colours have you layered it over?

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NOTD: Sally Hansen White On + BM-205 experiment

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In the spirit of trying new things and experimenting, I want to show you what I tried the other day, stamping twice with the same design. Normally when I say that I double stamped, it means that the pattern wasn't large enough for a nail or I missed a spot and had to stamp again. In this case, I simply used two different lacquers to stamp the same design twice, offsetting it a bit in some cases and then totally doing it upside down in others. Remember, it's an experiment.

All photos taken outdoors in the shade.

 The base is Sally Hansen White On, then I stamped with Yu Xuan #23 (see that mani HERE), then I thought this design could be used again, so I stamped again with Nina Ultra Pro Sailor and this is the result. The design is off of plate BM-205.

 In the close up, you can see the pattern twice more clearly. 

 Of course when you do something like this, one nail ends up being a favourite and I find that I like my pointer finger best. Why? Because somehow I stamped the pattern so closely together that it looks neater to me. Have you tried double stamping like this before? Like the results?

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NOTD: Yssy No.74 + Cheeky CH11

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You know sometimes when I do nail designs with stamping, I try to compliment the colour of the base lacquer or add contrast to it or sometimes even take down the brightness of it a bit. Today I get to explain the last one with an example. 

Photos taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

 I was trying to figure out what to use over Yssy No.74, which is a bright yellow/green (see swatch HERE) and I thought this pattern would be nice, so I stamped with Sally Hansen White On. The design is Cheeky CH11 plate.

 If you look at the way the original base lacquer looks on it's own, you can really see the difference in its tone once the stamping is added. In real life it's really prevalent. I'm wondering, am I the only one who uses stamping this way, to change the way the base colour looks?

Till next time!