40 Days and 40 Nights

It's official. I have gone on a no-buy. This also coincides with Lent, so it's for reals this time.

(NOTE: This picture, which I have made myself, is in no way representing any dislike for Butter London. I LOVE BUTTER LONDON. It just happened to be the only lone bottle pic on my computer.)

I let people know about my attempt on Thursday, ending the statment with "and it's been going well so far". Of course, I got a good laughing at by the others, since Lent had only started the day before. I came really close to breaking today, as I took a detour to Winners after church today and they had this cute little OPI set with a jewelry case, Manicurist of Seville, and Black Cherry Chutney, which I've been lemming for awhile. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for turning it down, but I keep reminding myself that there are 35 days to go...

So you heard it here first. I am for reals serious not going to buy any new nail polishes until Easter.

Wish me luck!

Flashback: Half-Moons and Moonshine

I've decided that in between current nail art/swatching, I will try and post some past stuff of mine as well that is already floating around on facebook in picture-only form. I would like to liken (does that make sense?) this to that show Behind the Music, except this is more like BEHIND THE MANI...

Yes. I know I'm pretty lame.

So, anwyay....

First off, let me make it clear that I am not usually a fan of black nail polish. It looks nice, I agree, but it's just so...dark. I did this mani for our lovely 20's themed semi-formal, and I did my research!


Apparently it was all the rage during the late 1920s and during the 1930s to file your nails real round and then do half-moons. I was originally going to do it up like the picture, with clear moons, red on the middle, and pearly white tips, but I tried it out on a nail wheel and it looked positively bizarre. Plus it didn't go with my champagne-and-black dress, so I formulated a new plan. What you see above is one coat of Revlon Crème Brulée with 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme on top. The black was a total last minute thing -- I thought it turned out pretty chic, don't you?

The half moons, of course, were painted with the aid of trusty hole punch reinforcements. I actually went the extra step and painted in the edges of the circle near he cuticles where the reinforcement didn't make a tight seal with the nail. The thing I remember most about doing this mani was filing my squared nails into a rounded shape. There was like, a mountain of "nail dust" on my desk when I was finished.

I also distinctly remember the night that followed:

I think this is a pretty unattractive picture of me, but it shows off my nails quite well, no? Oh okay. Maybe it calls attention to the unpreparedness of the photo's subjects. But I think it's a beauty nonetheless.

Out of This World

PROCRASTINATION is the devil.

A very fun, and relaxed devil.

I was supposed to have my CV ready on top of my writing assignments done and taken care of by now, but instead I spent the last hour and a half doing this:

It's based off cutepolish's galaxy nails tutorial. The best person in the world, my friend Susan, has been dying to try this out. Let me tell you. That youtube girl makes it seem so freaking easy. But this took FOREVER to do, and I like to fancy myself at least a notch over beginner on the nail art expertise scale. I don't quite like how some of it turned out, especially the stars and the "fluffiness" of the nebulae, but nothing that a coat of fine holographic glitter can't fix!

Holographic goodness above!! And below:

Here's my right hand, which I actually like better in some respects, especially in the "fluffiness" department:

On my desk right now is a multitude of nail polishes which just didn't make the cut. The ones I used were: Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme, Wet 'n' Wild Tickled Pink, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Thinking of Blue, and Color Club Almost Famous, with a thin coat of Nicole By OPI Make a Comet-ment on top.

I also got a brand new bottle of Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat, which is currently my favourite top coat of all time, since it dries just as fast as Seche Vite, with a far less offensive odour. I ordered a box from work and what better way to crack open a new bottle than with this gorgeous mani?

Bye for now, wish on me some productivity!

Butter London All Hail The Queen

Hellooooo!

I was planning to start a series of greens on Friday since I LOVE GREEN and St. Patrick's Day is one month away, but...this happened:

This beauty, this lovely, taupe-y creation is Butter London's All Hail The Queen (or McQueen, which, personally, I thought was much cooler)

I already had China Glaze Four Leaf Clover out and ready to go when I saw the late evening sunlight hitting the holographic particles in All Hail The Queen just right and I decided that one does not spend twice the usual amount they usually spend on a nail polish to let it sit for weeks before swatching it. I told my friend today that this was the first of many signs that I was growing up; choosing a neutral over a bright green would have never happened a few years ago.

This is the colour that I thought it would be, seeing the pictures on other people's blogs, but I think the colour in the second picture is the most accurate. It turned out darker than I thought it would, but I like it better. I think if it were any lighter it would be Unattractive Mannequinhandsville.

The formula was gorgeous: this is three thin coats. Two would have been enough, but there was a bald spot on my pinky (human error-related) and I decided to add an extra coat to all the nails to make it as smooth as possible.

You can see a beautiful pink-ish shimmer which occasionally makes an appearance in the bottle, less so on the nails. Just look at that subtle holographic goodness. Compliments from three patients today. Three.

Thanks to our friend here, as well as theme nails I am planning to do for the Toronto-Waterloo hockey game, I don't think the green series is going to happen as planned. But that's okay. Because it would have been a crime to let this polish go unworn & I will DEFINITELY be wearing this again -- go-to professional polish, anybody?

In other news, my first attempt at making a franken seems to be a bust as of this point. I put black glitter in it and the base has gone completely black, with the glitter particles going see-through. Womp womp. :(

Finally, I would like to thank (or get angry at, depending on how you view the purchase of this and a Lippmann) Vicky, for giving me the link to Kiss and Make-Up NY, where I got this stunner for $14.

Surprise!

It sure did feel nice to do NOTHING today! It's officially the start of Reading Week, and although this time I'll actually have to be reading, I decided to take this weekend off. And fitting it was, that my Konad stamping kit and my very first high-end polishes came in the mail yesterday.

Beauty! I've been lemming Across the Universe for AGES, but I've never had the "courage" to just go out and do it. I recently stumbled on the fact that I actually got a raise, so I figured it was time. :D

I'm really excited to use these this Reading Week. I was going to start a month of greens for St. Patrick's Day, but...more on that later.

Forever Alone...?

Happy Valentine's Day! Quick (or maybe not-so-quick) mani that I did this evening as a wind-down from my midterm this morning:

It's 2 coats of Wet 'N' Wild Tickled Pink, with one coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection, and hearts and lips drawn on with American Apparel Angeline and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red. The shimmer that the Pure Pearlfection adds can be seen in the picture below. Brilliant.

And the piece de resistance...

Even Forever Alone guy needs some love. Just trying to keep it real this Valentine's Day! :P

No Post on Sundays (Alternate Title: I don't pay for pink)

But there is one on Saturday!

The title is actually referring to the fact that we don't get mail on the weekend and thus my wait for the Deborah Lippmann that I ordered as a post-exam treat will have to continue. Not to mention the Konad kit that I won in the Daily Varnish giveaway! Hooray! (Though not really, because they're not here yet.)

Yesterday, after my lengthy rant about a certain store at a certain rather large shopping mall to you, and another, much shorter one to the girl at the counter of a smaller branch of this same store at the TD Center, I got these babies! (In addition to the 2 I got from Forever 21 and a clearance limited edition L'Oreal)



L to R: Love & Beauty Dark Purple, Love & Beauty Royal, OPI I Have a Herring Problem, OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?, L'Oreal Owl's Night

You can't see it in this crap picture, but the 2 on the left have a pretty awesome duochrome shimmer in the bottle that more or less (it's always that GD gold shimmer!) translates onto the nail in the swatches I did on my nail wheels. I'm pretty sure Dark Purple is dupe-y for OPI Ink, which I'm pretty excited about since it came at a third of the price. At the store yesterday it really came down to Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? or Pedal Faster, Suzi!, which was originally the one I wanted, but apparently old (relatively good and reasonable) habits die hard and I was unable to "pay for the pink". I could have easily bought the minis, but...PURPLE.

This week is going to be pretty rough if I don't get off of here soon. I think after Valentine's Day I might start off with a whole month of greens for St. Patrick's Day. I LOVE GREEN!