SIMPLE SUNDAY: Retro Fishtail

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Hello lovelies!

SURPRISE! I have a post for you! I am probably on a plane right now, but I wore this look for a dinner out on Friday and I decided I wanted to share it with you.

PINK NAILS PINK NAILS WEE OO WEE OO. Seriously I don't think I've had pink nails since I was 10. I'm calling this a retro fishtail because the colours seems very... "70s wallpaper" to me.

This started with three coats of Mt Augustus (which is paler in real life, sort of a bright pastel pink with coral leanings), followed by two coats of Pastille for the upper fishtail, and one coat of Educate for the lower fishtail. Some studs, and done!

This shot gives you the shimmer in Mt Augustus, the holo in Pastille, and the green flakes in Educate.

Polishes used:

Elevation Polish - Mt Augustus (which I think got discontinued?)

Mentality Nail Polish - Pastille, Educate

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

1.5mm studs from Born Pretty Store

Okay, now FOR REAL I'm leaving you all for a week. You can follow my adventures on Instagram, I'll try to post interesting photos about my trip there!

xo,

J.

SNAPSHOT: Pot Skittle

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Hello lovelies!

Just a quick photo today; nothing special, but I wanted to share. :)

I call it my 'pot skittle' because the brown colour is called Legislate, from Mentality's 420 Holos line. (Not that the holo shows in the lightbox.)

Polishes used:

Mentality - Legislate, Taffy

Elevation Polish - Xixabangma (discontinued)

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

1.5mm studs from Born Pretty Store

rectangular studs from The Nail Room

liner brush

dotting tool

This mani is kiiiiind of leaning towards the sorts of looks I'll be creating for Digit-al Dozen week starting next Monday. Any guesses as to what the theme is? ;)

xo,

J.

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Black & White Lined French

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Hello lovelies! Saved you the best for last.

At least, I think they're the best. I may be biased, though, because this look was done before the move, when my nails were in their long, squoval glory. Oh, how I miss them. GROW, NAILS, GROW!!!

You know, I only noticed that the lines on that one stud were facing the wrong way after I'd taken photos, so I'm going to pretend it was on purpose.

This look started off with a coat of Nail Foundation and a coat of Nail Glow. Once dry, I taped off the French tips with those sticky guide thingies (you know the ones), and sponged on a gradient of Tempest and, if memory serves, Recycle. I then removed the stickies, used Camelot to freehand on the thick lines, and topcoated/stuck the studs on.

At the time, the following ring was brand new to me, so I had to include it in photos. Mostly because it's by Bliss Lau, and she rocks killer geometric nail art like this all the time.

Ooh, aah.

I really AM pretty happy with these. Better than the last time I tried this, don't you agree?

Polishes used:

Cult Nails - Tempest

China Glaze - Recycle

A England - Camelot

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Dior - Nail Glow (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

studs from The Nail Room (a word of note: these come holo-looking, but acetone removes the holo)

liner brush

cosmetic sponge (for the gradient)

I can't believe that's it for another rendition of Digit-al Dozen week! Where does the time go? Next month is full-on festive, so you've got a month to whip out your Non-Denominational Wintery Holiday decorations and get in the spirit! (And I promise not to mention anything more about said N-D.W.H. until then!!!)

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Hallowe'en Skittle

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Hello lovelies! It's the last day of my very first Digit-al Dozen week! I SURVIVED.

Today I have for you a Hallowe'en-ish skittle. I saved it for last because, A) I think it's the most accomplished in terms of what a skittle manicure is really all about, and B) it means it's closer to Hallowe'en proper.

Where do I even begin with these? Okay, okay. Thumb is two coats of Lopez Canyon with Xixabangma detail. Index is one coat of Streetside NYC with Camelot detail.

Middle finger is one coat of Xixabangma with Lopez Canyon / Streetside NYC / Camelot detail. Ring finger is two coats of Camelot with studs. Pinky is two coats of Lopez Canyon with two coats of 205 layered over top.

Don't even ask what the middle finger is; I have no answer to that question.

Polishes used:

American Apparel - Lopez Canyon

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC, Xixabangma

A England - Camelot

Inglot - 205 (flakie)

1.5mm studs from Born Pretty Store

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

detail brush

dotting tool to pick up studs

Do you have any Hallowe'en plans? I went out and bought a pair of plaid satin pyjamas and a grey satin half-robe today, because I am going as Hugh Hefner. That's right. And my older boyfriend will be outfitted with bunny ears. :) We have three (THREE) Hallowe'en parties to go to, all of subsequent weekends! Phew!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Skittle Tips

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Hello lovelies!

OH BOY OH BOY HERE WE GO

Day 1 of Skittles week! To be honest, throughout this endeavour, I've learned that I'm crap at skittles. I just don't think disjointedly like that. The gestalt of nail art requires some ability to think of the greater whole in a whack of differences (i.e. every nail must be different), but there is some leeway to be found in doing something similar on each nail and tweaking it slightly. Hence, today's mani.

Say goodbye to that thumb, you're never seeing it again.

So, here's a funny story. I did all of these manis in advance, and patted myself on the back, and then completely did not write down what I used for any of them. I'm going to do my best to guess at the polishes I used, ok? But don't hold me to them.

This was a super-easy but super-effective look. Paint nails in No Way Tawdry, paint tips in various colours, and top with top coat and studs. Na naaah! But I really liked how this looked. I will revisit this in future.

I failed to get the rectangle stud in the middle of my middle finger and, no gonna lie, it's driving me nuts. But see, SEE the flakie goodness in No Way Tawdry?! It's a beautiful beautiful polish:

Polishes used:

Arcane Lacquer - No Way Tawdry

Lime Crime - Pastelchio, Parfait Day

Cult Nails - Tempest

la couleur couture - 1977, 2013 (top coat)

studs from The Nail Room

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

See you tomorrow for yet more Digit-al Dozen Week fun! I'm kind of giddy!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES ARE UP TO: 

Tweed for Fall

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Hello lovelies!

This looked better in my head. But it isn't a total failure, so up it goes!

It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to get a good photo of the base colour for this mani. I suspect this might be an ongoing battle between my camera and darker colours. They always end up way too dark. I have no idea how to rectify this because I know basically nothing about cameras or how they work. (True story.)

The base for this was Creeping Moss. The tweed accent nail didn't come across quite as well as I would have liked, but it was pretty easy and fun to do; just do the spun sugar technique both horizontally and vertically. I used Aciiied, Desert Fruit, and Xixabangma on a base of Tempest. Next time, I will do it on a dark base and use white as one of the spun sugar colours.

This photo is the only one that is vaguely colour-accurate. It's crappy, but the colour is as light as it appears on the right-hand side.

Polishes used:

Contrary Polish - Creeping Moss, Desert Fruit

Models Own - Aciiied

Elevation Polish - Xixabangma

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

Studs and rhinestones from Born Pretty

dotting tool (for spun sugar technique)

Many posts upcoming! One tomorrow, then one each day all next week becaaaauuuseee... Digit-al Dozen week is starting! Holy moly! I'm kind of nervous.

And to any lovelies who are Canadian, happy Thanksgiving!

xo,

J.

SIMPLE SUNDAY: Fire Alarm!

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Hello lovelies!

Today's look came about because I painted my nails with this gorgeous colour, Rusted Lux, and then had no idea what to do with it.

One of my Instagram lovelies suggested fire, and I kind of ran with it. In the direction of the absurd.

I took a look at my studs and thought, "Hey, these kind of look like exclamation points." And from there I decided on a fire signage kind of idea thing. You know, one of those idea things. Right-o.

Rusted Lux is a weird polish, it's a very sheer base with opaque flakes in it. The coverage of the flakes is what gives the polish opacity. I used three coats, but it could have used a fourth. It is amazing, though. Even my boyfriend grabbed my hand and exclaimed about how pretty it is. Glowy beauty.

Zoom this one in and you can see all the flakes in action!:

Polishes used:

SpaRitual - Rusted Lux

KONAD - Special Stamping Polish in White

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

rectangular studs from The Nail Room

round studs from Born Pretty Store

medium detailing brush

xo,

J.

Neon Brushstrokes

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Hello lovelies! I'm on the fence about this one; maybe you can help me figure out if I like it or not.

I got this idea from Missy's somewhat similar brushstroke-ness-thing. I like hers way way WAY better.

For this look, I began with a gradient of Sacred Ground, Ridnitsohkka, and Tempest. I then did brushstrokes on top with Punki Pink, Solar Flake, Orange Flame, Lime Light, and Charisma. I topped it off with little studs from Born Pretty.

Polishes used:

Cult Nails - Tempest

Spa Ritual - Sacred Ground (this polish is amazing, if you do not own it you are crazypants)

Elevation Polish - Ridnitsohkka (being reformulated; restock due 7 August 2013)

Finger Paints - Punki Pink, Solar Flare, Orange Flame, Lime Light

Zoya - Charisma

Orly - Bonder (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

black 1.5mm studs from Born Pretty

So, yea or nay? I honestly am not sure. I think I liked this in principle way more than in practice. At any rate. Until next time, my lovelies!

xo,

J.

Studs and Spots

Hello lovelies,

I sat down to do a complex architectural mani for a contest, and found out that I had zero energy for it. Nada. So I decided to play with texture instead.

Water spotting looks cool when it works, but it is even more finicky than water marbling. Here's why: TWO variables (polish and spray) instead of one (polish). You could find a polish that works well for spotting, but your hairspray (e.g.) doesn't work at all, or some permutation of the above. Nutso. These two polishes also spotted into a completely different way, which I thought was neat!

Nonetheless, this mani (after much trial and error) didn't turn out badly. I think it looks pretty cool. The base is 1972, which is a much pinker lavender in real life, but everything going on made my camera unhappy. :) It was glorious to apply, as all la couleur couture polishes are; I also think they have my single favourite brush of all time.

Polishes used:

la couleur couture - 1972

Essie - Penny Talk

Nina Ultra Pro - French White

hairspray

tape (to cover fingers)

1.5mm silver studs

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Seche Vite (top coat)

As I mentioned yesterday, I'll be taking the week off to try to get my hands/nails/cuticles back to a healthy state, because they are incredibly unhappy right now. I will play it by ear as I go. I'm also finding that I've run out of steam when it comes to nail art, so I think taking a short break will do me good. Absence, fonder heart, blah blah blah!

See you soon! ;)

J.

Retro Spaceships! (Kind Of.)

I have a fun one for you today! Unfortunately, it is irredeemably cloudy out, so my photos aren't their best, but hopefully it's possible to get the gist of it.

I had this idea in my head as a pure exercise in geometry, but my partner saw them upon completion and announced they looked like old school space capsules. Which is, I guess, kind of true! So I added some dots to the background at the last minute, to resemble stars, and called it a day.

I love this thing.

I started with a base of Cape Liz (3 coats to opacity); lovely formula, unfortunate that I couldn't get a photo that shows its beautiful multi-coloured glass fleck finish. I then sponged Marble on the top halves, and learned the hard way that it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean up this particular polish-- it just disintegrates into a million little sparkles that stick to your skin forever (augh).

I then cut out the shapes in tape and stuck those pieces of tape on my nails, followed by two coats of Euphoria and the swift removal of the tape while the polish was still wet. Lastly, I glued on the little studs, made the little white dots with a small dotting tool, and covered the whole thing in Glitter Food and topcoat.

And a super-overexposed photo to show you the holographic goodness of Euphoria. (It also shows up in the sun, but is too subtle for cloudy conditions.)

Polishes used:

Cirque - Cape Liz

Spa Ritual - Marble

Wonder Beauty Products / Superchic Nail Lacquer - Euphoria

Konad - Special Stamping Polish (White)

Born Pretty Store - 1.5mm silver studs (affixed with Orly nail glue)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

OPI - Nail Envy Matte (base coat)

New York Color - Grand Central Station (top coat)

Hoping to do something really awesome for the end of this week, stay tuned!

J.

PS: DUN DUN DUNNNN: