Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice

It's no secret to anybody that I am an absolute coffee FIEND. (I am a fiend for many things - it should really be on my resume.) This fact has very little to do with anything, but at the same time it has to do with EVERYTHING about this post. 

When I started at U of T, I hated coffee. Couldn't stand the stuff. I once went to Starbucks, ordered a Vanilla Latte thinking it would be like a Tim Horton's French Vanilla, took three sips, and then threw it out because it "tasted too much like coffee". Then, one day, everything changed:

My BFF (omg, can't believe I'm using that term again. kill me now), who despised coffee as I did, suggested that I try a gateway drug...I mean, Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

This happened:

And now, I can't get enough of the stuff. It was a steep and slippery slope leading from PSLs to my apparent coffee addiction today. Why am I telling you this?

1. I am most likely enjoying a Venti PSL as you read this to help me take away the pain of the exam I just wrote
2. This next colour I'm about to show you reminds me of my most beloved Starbucks favourite

Essence Colour & Go in Gorgeous Bling Bling is a burnt orange shade filled with gold flecks. It's a gorgeous colour that just screams, FALL!

The formula was flawless as always: could have gotten away with a single coat if applied more carefully. Also, is anyone else totally digging how even the cap has gold flecks in it? I think it's a great special touch to the packaging to have the lid match the colour on the inside, down to the gold flecks.

Personally, though, I think this shade leans a little bit too red/brown for it to be flattering to my warm skin tone. I think this would look amazing on somebody much paler or less...yellow. (Just keeping it real.) Nevertheless, it is a wonderful fall colour and even though it's not my cup of tea, it certainly is like a cup of PSL. :D

I'm really impressed by these little Essence polishes. They're affordable, they're cute, and the colour selection has been exquisite. I'm excited to see what shades they'll come up with next!

Cupcakes, Glitter, and Rhinestones, oh my!

At the beginning of the school year, I told myself that I wouldn't let myself get behind on anything: school work, social life, extracurriculars, and this blog. Sixty days later, and I'm 0 for 4 -- especially when it comes to posting on here. 

BUT today is my BIRTHDAY, so as a present to myself, I'm going to try and get caught up. (Or, at the very least, I'm going to post my birthday mani.) It's my last year of school, and it's only fitting that, after 4 consecutive years of birthday midterms, I should have one last birthday midterm to deal with before I get the heck outta here. 

The concept for my birthday mani flip flopped through a number of different concepts, many involving Halloween nail appliques, gold leaf, and glow in the dark nail polish. I tried to combine all the ideas in my head, but when I finally got down to painting in all the base colours, it looked so tacky I could have died...sort of like a skittles mani on acid. So I made an executive decision: to bring on the bling.

Lightbox (more colour accurate)

Flash

Lightbox

I used Nubar Violet Sparkle (3 coats) on the pinky, middle, and index fingers. Violet Sparkle is mixture of densely packed, finely milled glitter in a purple base. The purple leans more to the red side than to the blue, as seen in the lightbox pictures, which are more colour accurate. I do have to warn you, however, that this one is topcoat hungry. I used 2 coats of clear polish + 1 coat of Revlon Quick Dry, and it still feels gritty.

The cupcake was a last minute addition to this ensemble. I love cupcakes, I love to make them, so why wouldn't they be featured in my birthday mani? I painted a french tip on my ring finger with Essie's She's Picture Perfect and used a striping brush to paint on the stripes in Joe Fresh Iris. The icing was painted on using a large dotting tool, and the sprinkles with a small dotting tool.

And just in case there wasn't enough bling already:

I have never actually used rhinestones before, and when I bought these at Walmart I thought that they were simply rhinestone "stickers", so I waited for my 2 coats of Iris to dry before I even opened the package. Lesson learned.

Blurry shot to show off the SPARKLE

I ended up using a wooden cuticle stick dipped in clear polish to help me place the rhinestones, which worked well enough. The sheer number of rhinestones I used was just cray. The second "2" is a little wonky just because I didn't have enough space for it. :S

By the time I finished the "22" on my left thumb, I was in no mood to do it all over again on my right, so instead I stuck with a simpler (but by no means easier) heart design:

Right Thumb

Despite the fact that I didn't end up putting in my most extravagant ideas into my birthday manicure, I'm pretty pleased by how it turned out. It took forever to do, but I would say it was worth it if only just to have awesome nails on this gloomy, rainy day.

Back to work, I guess. :(  Happy Birthday to Me!

OMG: Oh My Glitter!

Good morning! I hope everyone's week started well. Mine was just barely tolerable, to be honest, but I'm sitting here writing up this blog post to cheer me up.

Hopefully.

I have a swatch here from this epic haul of shame that I got within days of school starting this year. It included, but was not limited to several new Essence Colour & Go polishes, plus a crapload of different funky pairs of earrings. I was looking for Essence I'm the Boss, but unfortunately that particular colour was either sold out or not currently on sale at Shoppers.

This, the first of 6 (or 7, I lost count) polishes, is Oh My Glitter:

Oh My Glitter is a medium purple with pink and blue micro glitter. A bunch of the new Essence shades have this wicked micro glitter running through them, and they're all stunning. This is no exception!

The formula was, as with all Essence polishes, was awesome. I used 2 coats, and although I got full coverage, these pictures make me think that a 3rd coat wouldn't have hurt. Maybe. I can't tell if those are bald spots or just reflections of light.

This colour was absolutely gorgeous. I almost didn't want to take this one off! I don't have any other purples in my collection that have this exact shade of purple, nor do I have any with this pretty shimmery glitter.  These new Essence polishes retail for $1.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart.

(Sidenote, has anybody seen the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother? Holy awesome.)

Turning Green

There goes yet another unproductive weekend. I swear, if I don't start doing stuff I'm actually going to die under the mountain of assignments and topics I'm going to need to cover before midterms.

So here I am with another post.

I have my priorities in order, clearly.

This next manicure I did a week or two ago in an attempt to squeeze out the last seconds of summer in the first days of school. The colour is Icing Little Blue Box, which I'm assuming is supposed to refer to Tiffany, but...this colour is definitely not Tiffany blue. It's more of a blue-leaning aquamarine. It applied nicely enough in two thick coats.

What I did next was inspired by The Polishaholic, Barielle's Do Unto Others and Buddha-ful were 2 colours that I had as lemmings in the past, more or less killed with the Finger Paints Flecked collection (in the case of Buddha-ful), or forgotten.

On top of Little Blue Box, I did 2 coats of Finger Paints Flecked, my favourite green-blue flakie polish. The results were stunning -- I could not take my eyes off my fngers.

HOWEVER, not everything was nice and perfect and ocean-y. I enjoyed the blue hue of the polish and the shifting of the blue and green flakies against it. I went to bed thinking all was ewell with the world.

Something happened with the pigmentation of the polish!

When I took the above picture, I didn't notice that any colour changing had occurred. I noticed as I was leaving for school the following morning, when I realized that my nails were now bright green instead of aqua. The yellow pigment of the polish must have been drawn out by the base of the flakie polish. It looked totally different from before! I wish I would have snapped a picture to show it  to you guys,.

I kept this on for about 2 days. I would have done longer if the colour had remained true to what it looked like upon application. Don't get me wrong: both these polishes are awesome, but maybe they  shouldn't be used together without waiting for proper drying time in between layers.

This colour sure was a beauty, and I can't wait to wear it on its own next time so we can truly appreciate its loveliness. :)

Something A Little Less Epic

Hello!

I feel like I haven't posted anything in ages, since I've scheduled the last 10 or so posts from before school started. On paper I'm up to my eyeballs in things to do, but there's still some part of me that's in denial and still chillin' on vacation mode. 

This is my last year in school, and that coupled with my extracurriculars, I often stay up late (ish) to get some extra work in. I just wasn't feeling it tonight. Falling asleep on top of my keyboard every 5 seconds, making some useful additions to my drug chart.

I should hope Angioedemafgfffffffffffffffffffffffffg is rare. It sounds terrible.

Anyway, the point of it all is that I was ready to head off to bed, despite the fact that I'd promised myself that I would come on here and get caught up on my posting. How sad it is, that I'm behind not only on schoolwork but on this too? Crazy. I'm even falling asleep as I write this.  bnhhgggggggggggggggggggggggg

What brought me here was this post on my friend's awesome blog. Which is 8261024842804 times more well written than mine. So in response, I'm bringing you something much less epic than Pikachu nails.

This is OPI Danke-shiny Red. I don't usually do reds, but I had a meeting coming up and I couldn't show up with the lined paper nails I had on right before this.

Danke-Shiny Red is a true red with shimmer that makes it almost feel metallic. This was one of those impulse buys, mostly due to the name. It was just too cute.

So there you have it. A post. A single post. With something very non-remarkable.

It's probably safe to assume that the days of nail art and epic ideas are behind us. It's going to be solid colour city over here for the next few weeks. YOU'RE WELCOME, bare rap battle nail.

Good night.  vbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

Electric!

Brace yourselves. I was really excited about this when I did it, and I hope you will be too.

YES. IT IS WHAT YOU THINK IT IS.

Pikachu Nails! Love!

Pokemon used to be my life. I ran home from school every single day to watch the show on TV, and I used to play the games for hours on end, mashing that B button in hopes of catching every Pokemon worth catching. And by that, I mean running away from every damn Caterpie I came across while wandering through the bushes.

The yellow I used was, no surprise, Color Club Almost Famous. I used Wet 'n' Wild Red Red for the cheeks, and Black Creme for the eyes. I used a dotting tool to make the mouth and nose.

Before you all die of cuteness overload, I should show you my attempt at making Jigglypuff nails. Brace yourselves again. You might want to have a trash can near...or a toilet.

It looks so retarded. I almost didn't post it, but I thought you had the right to know: I suck sometimes. Jigglypuff was always my favourite: such a shit disturber. Sad that it didn't turn out well.

ANYWAY, I'll snap out of this elementary school flashback for long enough to get back to work on reality and all the problems that it brings. See you on the flip.

Pretty Plumerias

When I was 14, I went to the Philippines on vacation with my parents. There were these cute white flowers that I would pick off trees and magical stuff like that, just collecting them and putting them in my hair.

These flowers are just so darned pretty! I hadn't thought much about these flowers until I saw them when I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens at the beginning of this summer.

And then again when I bought these really cute earrings at the CNE!

Obviously, the last step was to put them onto my nails.

If you notice the black spots underneath the pinky, that was simply an experiment to see if permanent marker would mark my nails permanently. They did. But the focal point is really the flowers, so please pay the spots no mind. (They also spell out OMG, which is kind of embarrassing, so...don't look at it, LOL)

The base colour is Coral Reef from Sally Hansen, and the flowers were painted in white and yellow acrylic paints. I would have wanted the flowers to be more white, but I only had slightly off-white acrylic paint left, and since I did this on Labour Day I could go and get some. 

It turned out just okay, but I have to work on my art skills, clearly. I really liked the white on this pink, though. PRETTY.