Mirage

Hello lovelies!

Today's post is instalment #1 of 4 about a series of custom polishes that Kimberly over at Tryst Lacquers made for me. She's a sweetheart and her polishes are awesome; I strongly recommend you check them out if you haven't already. She only ships to Canada and the States at the moment, but I'm happy to do some nail mail magic if you spot anything you really want!

This is a much paler orange than it's appearing in photos-- the last photo gets it the closest. It's a pale orange with an edge of peach, filled with silver micro holo glitter and opalescent flakes. The flakes come in small to quite large, and the odd one is a pain in the butt, requiring you to wipe them off the brush lest they get all curly on your nail. A good coat of Glitter Food, though, and the bumps are all sorted out. It dries down to a good thickness, even with 3 coats. And, in spite of the flakes, it's a super-easy polish to apply and control. Kimberly makes a good product!

This is a simpler nail art in large part because I felt like something I could hammer out quickly, and because I used 100% nail polish for this look, so I didn't have the workable time of acrylics on my side. I think it came out quite cutely! That little buffalo skull is my favourite part, and the part I thought I'd have the hardest time with.

The opalescent flakes in an orange base strongly reminded me of mirages in the desert, so that's why I named it Mirage! :) I fiddled with the levels and colour balances to try to get the polish colour more accurate in this photo, but it's still a bit too darkly orange. You'll have to use your imaginations! ;)

Polishes used:
Tryst Lacquers - Mirage (custom)
OPI - My Vampire is Buff
Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
Nails Inc - Porchester Square
Zoya - Godiva, Tracie
Rescue Beauty Lounge - Recycle
Elevation Polish - Xixabangma, Streetside NYC, Temperance
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat; only on top of Mirage, not on top of nail art)

The other three custom polishes I have to show you are Confection, Rosin, and Calypso! I gotta brainstorm ideas...

DON'T FORGET ABOUT MY CONTEST / GIVEAWAY!!


J.

Wedgwood China Nail Art

Hey lovelies! I'm sorry for my radio silence for most of the past week; a cold kicked me in the butt and my sinuses and I remain in a protracted battle even as a type this. BUT, I'm feeling better enough for some nail art!

I noticed I'd banged up the index after this photo, and fixed it in the rest. Sorry for the unsightliness!

For this look, I wanted something very fluid, very organic, very imperfect. So I started out with a base of 3 coats of Bella-- which is to die for, it's squishy and perfect and at 3 medium coats it self-levels like a champ. But it also takes forever and a year to dry-- you have been warned. I then painted on all of the details with indigo fountain pen ink and a tiny brush. I took my inspiration from photos of Wedgwood China I found through Google Image Search.

Polishes used:
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Rescue Beauty Lounge - Bella
Essie - Matte About You (top coat)
Diamine Old English Fountain Pen Ink - Indigo (painted on top of matte top coat)
detail nail art brush

I have many more plans for the upcoming days, provided I win this microbial war, so stay tuned!


J.

Inverted Chevrons for Easter!

Happy Easter Monday to all who celebrate! I am amused that it falls on April Fool's Day this year. There's only so much coincidence a person can take before they can't help but smile.

This is a very toned-down Easter nail art, inspired by the very talented Emily at Globe & Nail, who did this look with a deep navy and a blingy micro-holo band and it looks FANTASTIC, so go see! Emily also has the best nails, the crispest swatches, and the world's best blog name (if you are Canadian and get the joke).

For this, I pulled out what I feel is the quintessential Easter polish: Adeste Fidelis [sic]. Named for a hymn (English version is "O Come All Ye Faithful") that the polish's creator once saw Pavarotti sing in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Montreal, she took the cathedral's interior as her inspiration in putting together the colour scheme. I think it's as classy as a glitter possibly can possibly be, and, though it is obviously intended as a Christmas polish, the medium pink and pale green glitters remind me of the Easter dresses I used to wear as a child.

Because I chose to paint the bottoms a different colour altogether, to maximise the effect of the matte topcoat, I only taped off the chevrons once, and then freehanded the band of gold. This was probably not the best of ideas, but it wasn't a TOTAL disaster.

A coat or two (as needed) of Glitter Food to smooth everything out, followed by quick-dry topcoat and Matte About You on the tips (freehanded as well), and they're done!

And, finally, a close-up to show you just how complex Adeste Fidelis is. A lot going on, but somehow it never becomes overwhelming!

Polishes used:
Smitten Polish - Adeste Fidelis
Rescue Beauty Lounge - Plié
Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food
INM - Out the Door (top coat)
Essie - Matte About You (top coat)
one-stroke brush

I hope you're nomming on chocolate right now! I sure am. (Though this isn't new; I pretty much always am regardless of the occasion.)


J.

Harlow & Co. Valentine's Day 2013 Contest Entry

A great many moons ago (ok, I suppose a month ago), Harlow & Co held a Valentine's Day nail art contest via their FB page. I decided to enter and came up with the below:

This is an extremely uncomfortable hand position, just in case that wasn't obvious.

More after the break!