This reminds me of wallpaper!

Dear Readers,

It got so warm last week - we experienced an early bit of heavenly spring. But now it's freezing again. Brrr....Those Canadian winters don't want to let go....although this was a mild one, so I can't complain.  We turned on the air-con last week and then we had to put the heat back on this morning!

Anyhow... I like stamping metallic over a creme colour in the same tone. Do you?

Sorry it's not a perfect mani - sometimes I forget to take a picture until a few days after I do my nails.

Have a great day, 

glitterM

Orly's got the blues...BM203

Dear Readers,

For this post I decided to include a few shots of what it looks like on my kitchen table when I set up to do my manicure.

The design I used comes from Bundle Monster's plate 203.  I like the interlocking shapes - they are bold, but let enough of the base colour show.

 I used Orly Bonder to get it started. I used 2 coats of Royal Navy for the base colour. Then I used Snowcone to stamp.  Not all polishes can be used to stamp, but this one is really pigmented, so I gave it a try. Luckily it worked very well, even over a darker coloured base.

Hope you didn't mind all the pics.  Do you like more than one or two pics in a post?  I was having fun with my camera...

Please leave me a comment - it's always great to hear from you!

"Stone Cold" Stamped

Hello Dear Readers,

Here's another stamped mani I wore recently.  I used Orly's "Stone Cold" from their Mineral FX collections.  It is an amazing bright blue colour!

(click on the image to see a larger version)

I added a design on the tips using China Glaze "Millennium".

Hope you like this mani. I love hearing from you, so please leave me a comment, and I'll be sure to respond!


Have a great day. :-)

Blue Bundle Monster 201

Dear readers,

Here is the manicure I've been wearing for the past few days.

I used Orly "Royal Navy" (2 coats) for the base colour.  Here's a pic in front of my bookshelf. I arranged my books according to spine colour.  I'm so conflicted about my books... I love books, but in the last year I've been reading off my beloved Kindle.  Books.  Kindle.  Books.  Kindle....they each have their pros. Kindle is much more practical, but there's just something about holding a book and looking at the cover and seeing them stacked up on your shelf...ah, I'm getting way off the topic of nails, aren't I?!

 I added stamping from BM 201 in "Millenium" by China Glaze.

In this one you can see I tried a different design on my pinkie first, but I changed my mind because that pattern, while pretty, didn't leave enough of the blue showing for what I wanted this time.

Holding a weird part of a phone case.  I like finding odd props for my photos.

That's it. You made it to the end of my post.
Have a great week everybody. Please remember to leave me your comments. I love reading them!

Bundle Monster 211

Hi dear readers,

I wanted to post this manicure I did last night. Do you ever do your nails late at night and feel like you can't see that well due to using artificial lighting - and near exhaustion?!  The colours and stamping always seem to look a bit different in the daylight!

This is a base of Avon Mirror Shine in "glisten", a metallic, quick drying light blue.

The stamping design comes from BM211. I like the oval spotted pattern. I used Konad Special Polish in Blue.

Man, this macro lens shows flaws I didn't even know were there! Some of the stamping shows up a bit smudged or doubled but you can barely notice it in real life.  Unless someone had my hand really, really close to their eyes, it wouldn't actually show.

I really like using a cream over a metallic, or the other way around when I do a stamped manicure.  What about you?

Snakeskin BM Manicure

Dear Readers,

I finished marking all of my exams and doing all of my report cards so I had time to do a really elaborate manicure, and here are the results of more free time...

I painted diagonal stripes, roughly, using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Grass Slipper"  - a lime green that applies nearly opaque in 1 coat, and S.H. Insta-Dri in "Blue-Away"- a powder blue that applies similarly.  I randomly applied a few thin streaks of China Glaze "L8R G8R" - a holo olive green - to add some dimension.  Then, I stamped the pattern using Finger Paints "Evergreen Dream" (in the photo above) which is a shimmery dark green that is quite thin, but, surprisingly, it worked great for stamping!

Just in case that wasn't enough going on, I added a coat of Inglot 203, and holographic flaky polish.

I really think this has the look of snakeskin, and the texture too - just not sure if a snake this colour exists in nature!?

Have a great weekend, everyone, and let me know what you think of my latest design.

Blue on Blue - Konadicure m83

Hello dear readers,

("Ooh...I'm ready for my closeup!")

(Now...let's try this upside down...)

For this konadicure, I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blew Away" which is a pretty pastel blue.  It becomes rather opaque in one coat, but needs a second coat to smooth out any of the dragging you sometimes may experience with colours like these. I have a love/hate feeling about the Insta-Dri wide mop-like brushes.  They do cover a lot of ground, but sometimes it's difficult to spread the polish and get a nice clean edge up near the cuticles.  Anyhow, I love blue nail polish, and this is a cute one for spring/summer.

(The colour is a bit pale in this shot!)

(Hey, now I see that my middle finger stamping got a bit

 smudged when I applied Seche Vite topcoat.)

I used the m83 plate for the design, and I stamped it with Konad Special polish in Blue, both of which I just got from ocnailart. They always get it shipped super fast to Canada, where I am.

So that makes my last two manicures based on the colour blue.  Do you love blue polish?  Which blues are your favourites?  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and please leave me your comments....

Inglot 203 - Flaky Fun!

Dear readers,

I was so excited to finally receive my first order from Inglot. I only ordered one polish. I can't find SH "Hidden Treasure" anywhere. I don't have Nubar's Flaky topcoat.  I have no flaky NFU-Oh's.  So, when I saw Inglot carried some holo flakies, I had to order one with my Freedom Palettes.

I read that they were tiny bottles for $10, and that was no joke.  It is a tiny mini bottle (15 ML/0.51 US FL OZ) but the results were good, so it's worth it for a splurge.  I'm usually pretty cheap with what I will spend for polish, but I love how this turned out.

Inglot 203 from their "Dream Collection" shows up with a greenish-turquoise-golden flash, depending on what you use under it.

Here I put it over 2 coast of SH "Pacific Blue".

Sadly we have had no sun here the past few days, and the forecast is for rain, rain and more rain, so this is the best shot I could get, just using dreary rainy day daylight.

This is a weird pic that I snapped while experimenting with my new macro lens.  It's "flaky-morning-after-makeup", but I liked how the shot turned out and it shows a bit of my Inglot shadows (after I slept in my make-up - baaaad girl!).

Have a great week, everyone. And, as always, I'd love to hear from you....do you like flakies? Do you ever go to sleep without taking off your makeup?

Crushed Candy Crackle

I know these crackle manis are all over the blog-o-sphere, but I really like how this colour combo turned out.  These blues are perfect for the rainy weather we are getting here today.

I achieved the diagonal crackle pattern by brushing the crackle polish on in thick diagonal strokes instead of straight down.

I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen's "Pacific Blue" as the base for China Glaze's Crackle Polish in "Crushed Candy".

Hope you enjoy this post, and have a great start to your week!

Crazy Argyle

For this konadicure, I painted three vertical stripes of polish - lime green, bright green and royal blue.

Then I stamped the argyle pattern across the whole nail using Konad Special White.  It's a design from m60, one of the first plates I bought.

When I applied Seche Vite QD topcoat, the white pattern over the lime green polish kind of turned yellowish.

This one is a real attention-grabber!  It has generated a lot of positive feedback and many questions about how I did it! I love how it turned out.

Hope you like this konadicure....Please leave me some comments!

Royal Blue & Gold Floral

Here's the konadi I've been rockin' this week. It's Orly "Royal Navy" which I love, but wish was a bit more opaque, with stamping in China Glaze "2030". Unfortunately, I didn't take pics right away, so there's a bit of tip wear showing.

 I did a double-stamp on the ring finger and the thumb to add a bit of variety.

Hope you enjoy it, friends!

"Thinking of Blue"

I bought this polish a few months ago, and I finally got around to using it last night.  This is Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in "Thinking of Blue".  It's a deep colour that looks navy blue in some lights, and slightly purplish royal blue in other lighting.  I used China Glaze "Millenium" to stamp the pattern from IP M77.

I'm still really jazzed about how well the polishes from the C.G. Khromes collection work for stamping and show up so crisp and clear on dark colours.

Hope you enjoy the long weekend, fellow Canadians!

Vacation Mani/Pedi

Sorry it's been soooo long since I posted. We took the kids to Orlando to see all of the Disney Parks, Water Parks and Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. That was such an incredible vacation - my first time there too! Anyhow, here is the mani/pedi I wore. It got lots of attention, and I really loved it, but I only took pics after wearing it for over a week, so pardon some chips and tip wear!

This design was inspired by many of my fellow bloggers who have been doing similar konadicures.  I layered a few polishes to get a gradation from lime green to bright blue. Then I used the popular leopard print plate in Konad Special Black to get the pattern on top. I just can't believe I'm still flexible enough to manage to do that on my toes too! Ha ha ha....

In the Navy

I finally used Orly's "Royal Navy" which is shaping up to be one of the summer's coolest new polishes.
I tried to capture the colour accurately, and you can see some of that subtle turquoise shimmer showing through. When you are in direct sunlight, it glitters a little more.

 I took these pics next to a window.

It is such an amazing colour, that I didn't even want to Konad over it!

I couldn't resist using a spool of boondoggle (or "gimp") that I bought to make bracelets with my kids this summer.  The colour was right on!

My husband loves the colour because it matches his new car! Ha ha ha :)

Hope you enjoy this post. Let me know if you have or want this colour, and what you think of it.

EOTD - Brights!

This look may not be everyone's cup of tea, but sometimes I love doing a really bright eye look.

The four main shadows I used to create this look are 4 colours by MAC. 

Bitter = bright lime green (on the lid)

Riot = matte darker green (in the crease and outer corner)

Carbon = black (a bit on outer edge) 

Tilt = frost bright blue (over Lapis eyeliner by Annabelle)

Oh yeah, I used a black kohl liner on the waterline and a thin line of MAC's creme liner in black on the top lash line.  

To get a sharp edge on the outer corner, some people use tape, but I just hold a piece of paper towel against my eye and shadow over the straight edge of it.  It doesn't irritate my skin like ripping off tape would, and it's slightly softened, which I like.

So, do you like this look or is it too much for you? Would you ever wear this, yourself?

Thanks for looking, and I hope you are all enjoying Father's Day!

EOTD - Makeup Look, For A Change (pic heavy)

I don't know how you guys feel about seeing a makeup look on a nail polish blog, but I really like how my eyes turned out today, so I figured, why not?!

The reason I tried such an intense look today was because I wanted to get a new lid primer...let me explain better. I usually use MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, but it's been getting dried out, and also, I don't love having to stick my finger in a pot because product always gets stuck under my nails.

I was at Shopper's Drug Mart and the lady in the makeup section recommended Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer.  I bought it, and wanted to test it out. It's a lot thinner/sheerer than the paint pot I'm used to, so I was somewhat doubtful that it would cover my naturally discoloured lids.

I'm actually impressed so far.  It did provide a nice neutral base, though I don't think I'd wear it alone, as it recommends you could. It did grip the eyeshadow nicely, and didn't seem drying, as some reviews claim it is.  I did use MAC Fast Response Eye Cream first, and that is a product I totally love!

I didn't see much creasing, and the makeup is lasting all day, so I'm impressed. Now, to tell you what else I used to create this look...

To fill brows: MAC Coquette e/s and a bit of Carbon e/s
Highlight: NYX 02 White - it's great quality, matte, and way cheaper than MAC!
waterline: Annabelle eyeliner Black
Liner - Annabelle Lapis
Shadow - Barry M Dazzledust 20 Baby Blue all over, then MAC Contrast (darkest navy blue in crease and outer corner), Barry M Fine Glitter Dust Denim (fgd20) on the lid and over eyeliner (top and bottom lash line), and MAC pigment A66 Clear Sky Blue and NYX White to lighten tear duct and to blend out where Contact meets White.
Mascara - Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies Blackest Black (just bought it and love it!)

So that's it. Please let me know what you think...