Friday, November 29, 2013

Winter Forest - Snow Nail Art

Friday, November 29, 2013
Hello again!

Today, I have some more nail art to show you!  I have been in a wintery mood, despite the fact that I don't really enjoy winter here in Canada, but I created this nail art for the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge.  The theme for Week 1 is Snow!

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The other day, I took a photo of my back yard; the snow had just fallen and coated the bare trees a lovely white.  It's quite a beautiful sight to wake up to in the morning (occasionally), so that was my inspiration for this design.

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For the base of these nails, I used one coat of Essie Who Is the Boss, topped with one coat of Illamasqua Raindrops (this combo looks amazing by itself!).  Using a sponge, I added random spots of China Glaze White On White and Square Hue Portsmouth to give the base some depth.  The trees were painted using Square Hue Swahili Charm, and Iron Horse, and the snow is accented with a shimmery white by Cirque called Your Hand In Mine.

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Square Hue Portsmouth, Square Essie Who Is the Boss, Illamasqua Raindrops, China Glaze White On White, Cirque Your Hand In Mine, Square Hue Swahili Charm (not pictured: Square Hue Iron Horse)

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I am so proud of these nails.  This was my first time painting any sort of landscape on my nails.  It may have taken a few hours to complete, but I'm just so happy with the outcome that it was definitely worth it.

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Thank you for reading! :)


Kristin


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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Red & Black Lumberjack Plaid Nails

Thursday, November 28, 2013
Hello!

I've been wearing some simple plaid nails these past few days.  I love the classic "lumberjack" red & black plaid, and I had an idea to create them a few weeks ago.  My first attempt was kind of a fail, but I decided to give them another go, and I'm really happy with them this time!

Lumberjack Plaid Nails - Essie & a-England

I only used two polishes for this design, and no nail art brushes or tape, so these were very quick to do.  The black is one of my favourites (a-England Camelot), which is super opaque, but what made this plaid work so well is the use of a red jelly (I used Essie Fishnet Stockings).

Lumberjack Plaid Nails - Essie & a-England

To create the plaid, I started with just one coat of red.  This design is all about layering, so the base doesn't have to be perfect.  Using the black I made a grid (two vertical lines, three horizontal), then with another layer of red I painted vertical and horizontal lines overlapping some of the black areas so they would appear faded, just like you would see on a plaid shirt.

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Lumberjack Plaid Nails - Essie & a-England

What do you think of these plaid nails?  I really enjoyed wearing them, especially in this weather.  They looked so nice with a big knit sweater and boots!


Thank you for reading! :)


Kristin



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Sunday, November 24, 2013

NOTD: Neon & Nude + Enchanted Polish Seven Nation Army

Sunday, November 24, 2013
Hi everyone!

I went with some bright nails for today’s NOTD.  I guess I just needed something to cheer me up since we now have snow here :(.  Today was also an Enchanted Polish restock, and I think this mani must have been good luck since I was quite successful!

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Enchanted Polish Seven Nation Army is basically a holographic topcoat, filled with lots of black and white glitter in a few different sizes.  The glitter is so dense that only one coat is necessary if you are layering it, but it could also be worn alone, it's just awesome!

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OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Enchanted Polish Seven Nation Army, and China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

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Hope you all had a lovely weekend, and thank you for reading! :)


Kristin



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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Negative Space Rose Nails + Tutorial

Saturday, November 23, 2013
Hi everyone!  I have a quick post today, but it includes a new tutorial!

I created these negative space style rose nails for Nail It! Magazine's bridal theme that I noticed on Instagram recently.  I will be entering these nails for consideration, so I'm hoping they make it into the March/April issue.  Wish me luck! :)


I love the design I came up with; I think it looks more complicated than it actually is (quite a few people on Instagram actually thought I stamped it!), and yet it's very delicate with a bit of blind.  I think I might even have to try them in different color combinations in the near future .. Maybe a darker version!



Elevation Polish Mount Feathertop, Essie Blanc, China Glaze Angel Wings, Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, and a brush (size 10/0) I got at Michael's recently.




 And a little bonus shot:
 This was my original accent nail idea, but I ended up going with a simple gold nail instead.


Here is the video if you would like to see how I created them:


Enjoy!


Thank you for reading! :)


Kristin

Saturday, November 09, 2013

Holographic Pastel Galaxy Nails + Tutorial!

Saturday, November 09, 2013
Well, it's no secret that one of my favourite designs to wear on my nails is galaxies.  They aren't very fall / winter appropriate, but I've wanted to try a pastel version for a while now, so I finally decided to attempt it.

I'm a little bit obsessed with how they turned out, so I'm just warning you now .. there will be a lot of photos in this post!  Of course I also filmed a tutorial, so you can watch how I created them down below! :)




I used so many different polishes for these galaxy nails, but I managed to fit them all in one photo!

Essie Cascade Cool, Full Steam Ahead, Love & Acceptance, and Pure Pearlfection.  Nars Ecume, Color Club Miss Bliss, Eternal Beauty, and Over the Moon.









I also made them matte before I removed them:


And, here's how I created them:



I hope you all love it!


Thank you for reading! :)


Kristin


Friday, November 08, 2013

F.U.N Lacquer Christmas 2013 Collection - Swatches & Review

Friday, November 08, 2013

Today I have a really awesome Christmas collection to show you all from a brand called F.U.N Lacquer (or Fabulously Unique Nail Lacquer).  F.U.N Lacquer is a hand-made nail polish brand from Singapore.  The Christmas 2013 collection consists of six beautiful polishes; one holographic, three thermals, and two glitter toppers.  It's such a fun collection!


DECENTber is a red holographic polish.  I would say this a true red, which is quite rare for holos since they usually look pink.  It has a great formula; two coats was more than enough.  It doesn't have the strongest holo effect, but it's one of those that is much stronger in person than I could capture in my photos.




Wishing Star is a shimmery yellow thermal.  I'm not a huge fan of yellow so I thought I wouldn't like this one, but it turned out to be one of my favorites!  It's the most perfect sunshine yellow in it's cold state, and it's an icy pale yellow when it's warm.  I was surprised that the formula was not streaky or hard to apply at all, and I only used two coats for the photos.  The thermals in this collection dry to a matte finish, and I think the matte finish just enhances the beauty of Wishing Star.






Xmas 201"Tree" is a shimmery bright green thermal.  When it's warmed up, it transitions to an icy white with green shimmer, and it almost looks turquoise as it's transitioning; so gorgeous.  I love green, so this one was right up my alley.  It was also opaque in two coats, and once again it dried to a matte finish.







Icy Snow is a shimmery bright blue thermal.  It has a purple sheen to it that is just spectacular when the light hits at certain angles.  When it's warm, it turns an icy white with blue shimmer.  This one just glows, and it's definitely my favourite in this collection.  It needed only two coats to be opaque, and dried to a matte finish.  Icy Snow is the perfect name too!

 



You can see the bit of purple on my index in this photo!


Gold Mark is a holographic gold glitter topper.  There are a few sizes of gold holographic hexes, squares, and a really pretty gold flake shimmer in a clear base.  The glitter was so easy and smooth to apply, I used just one coat over Wishing Star for the photos below.




Winter Wonderland is a holographic silver glitter topper.  It's basically the silver version of Gold Mark, except it has a bit of iridescent glitter in the base which makes it really special and quite unique in my collection.  The formula was great on this one as well, I used one coat over Xmas 201"Tree" for the photos below.







I also added one coat of Gold Mark (ring & index) and Winter Wonderland (middle & pinky) on top of DECENTber for the photos below.  


You can really see the iridescent glitter in Winter Wonderland when it's matte as well.




The F.U.N Lacquer Christmas 2013 Collection is available for preorder now at funlacquer.storenvy.com, or you can purchase them individually starting November 11th ($13 US for full size, $7.50 US for minis).


Thank you for reading!


Kristin


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