2012 Blog Resolutions

Hello everyone! I hope 2011 has treated you as well as it has me! I can't wait to start 2012 off right, and to help do this I've written out a list of resolutions for the new year. As I was writing this list I was thinking of the things that matter most to me and I realized that this blog is more important to me than I ever would have thought. I don't want to get to mushy on you guys, but thank you for your support! A year ago I NEVER would have imagined that complete strangers would be interested in seeing what I paint on my nails, and to help keep bringing you guys quality posts I have a little list of resolutions and goals for the next 365 days!

New Years Glam

Happy New Years!!!! Hope you all are wearing something sparkly to whatever New Years occasion that you're going to! Because honestly, New Years is the BEST time to wear glitter, there's an actual excuse for doing so! We're going to a dinner party on New Years Day, but that's about it. I'm sure you all have fun parties and get togethers, so yeah have a ton of fun and embrace 2012! I can't believe this year flew by so quickly, but I'm also excited as to what 2012 will bring. Anyway, here is the manicure: 1 coat of FingerPaints Magenta Mood, then 2 coats of Sephora by OPI What's Your Poison? I love What's Your Poison because the glitter is very fine and uniform, so the overall effect just looks like twinkling red lights on my nails. I remember when I first got this polish, I was actually looking for a hot pink or magenta glitter. And whaddya know? Here it is! So, you tell me! What's Your Poison?

The glitter from my candle transferred onto my hand... Oh well, I'm sparkly!

Thanks for reading as always and CHEERS TO 2012~

Mandy

Ruby Red

Hey guys! I only have a few photos to show you today of a mani I wore while travelling, it was China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I've since given this polish away to my friend Sofia, it was gorgeous and I loved wearing it but I'm not sure if it will get much mileage on my fingernails. I used three coats for my swatches, and I didn't have the bottle easily accessible, sorry!

Christmas Haul for Mandy

Hey guys! Since Nikki did a Christmas haul, I decided that it was a great idea and want to show you what I received for the Holidays as well! I didn't take pictures of everything that I got, but here are a few of the gifts that I thought you would like to see.

 My favorite gift of all would be the iPad 2

<3 my new baby

 Here is another one of those advent calendar gifts that I received, the color is really nice. But let's hope it applies better than the purple that I swatched a week or two ago...

The digital photo frame is from my parents, and Keel's Simple Diary (+card) is from my best friend, Anna. Love you lots bbg!

Now this picture I just wanted to show you my new glitter candle, and also to tell you that I found a bunch of hot pink and black ornaments at Bouclair Homes today! I was so excited because not a lot of places make Christmas decorations in those colors. And my room just happens to be all black, silver, pink, and white.

Now I didn't take pictures of these, but here are some pictures of things that I either received or bought for myself.

I got these for only 14 bucks!

These are such warm and stylish boots, love them!

Tunes for the music junkie!

I bought some hot pink jeans from Zara, not exactly these but just to give you an image of what they look like.

Also, this is not the same cardigan but I bought one just like it from Abercrombie.

My parents bought me this sweater from Hollister on Boxing Day while I was working at AE for 9 hours.

And last but definitely not least, my girl Hannah gave me a black glitter clutch (similar to this but not quite) with a couple pairs of earrings as well. We know each others' styles so well! <3

I have more gifts (and one coming on the way) but this is just to get an idea of what I got this Christmas!

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you all got what you wanted as well!

Mandy

P.S. The pictures from the black oxfords onwards to the end of this post do not belong to me, I just found them on Google, credits go to the blogs and stores of which I got these images from.

Gunmetal Glitter

Hello everybody! Hope all is well and that everyone is having a good time wherever you are. Today I am going to be showing you the manicure that my mom had on for Christmas! For this mani, she painted one coat of Ulta's Little Black Dress, and then one or two coats (I don't remember) of Nicole by OPI Nicole's Nickel. This turned out to look way better than my manicure with Nicole's Nickel, yay mom! You can check out my previous post with the same manicure here. So anyway here are some pictures!

And this is a random picture of our lunch in Edmonton at Oodle Noodle! They had amazing music and the food wasn't too bad either. I ordered the Tokyo Glaze, udon noodles, chicken, and teriyaki sauce all stir fried to perfection.

Thanks for reading!

Mandy

Christmas Haul

I bet the title of this post got you excited, the question on your mind is probably how much/which nail polishes did I get for Christmas..but the answer is NONE. And I am totally ok with that! Most of the people who give me presents probably wouldn't pick out shades that I would like to wear, and they wouldn't know where to begin shopping, so I am totally okay with not receiving any polishes. Let's have a little look at what I did get though!

Wow, am I ever spoiled! My family gives really great gifts for the most part, they always pick great books to buy me. I've picked up and put back down the Open Veins of Latin America at least five times, but I'm stoked to finally have some Galeano of my own to read. My uncle who has a great taste in music bought me The National CD, do any of you listen to them?

Although very unoriginal my mom gave me this mostly for the excitement of owning my own new $100 bill! Look how beautiful it is, I can't wait till all our bills have a pretty clear stripe. Sorry about my gross stained and unpolished nails, I just finished taking a glitter off and I am giving my nails some chill time. 

Did you guys get any outstanding gifts for Christmas? What about Boxing Day? I went to The Bay and looked at Chanel Peridot again today, but I just can't justify $27 dollars.. not yet at least. 

xoxo Nikki

Just A Little Dangerous...

This is my manicure for Christmas Eve where we got all dressed up to go to church and fancy dinner. I was wearing a black dress so decided to go with a deep amethyst purple! This is Sephora by OPI's Just A Little Dangerous. A beautiful dark purple with a tiny hint of shimmer to it.

2 coats Just A Little Dangerous + Seche Vite topcoat

Thanks for Reading!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you guys have had a lovely day filled with joy and family and good food! I'm actually queuing this post ahead of time so if I get any exciting nail related gifts, stay tuned for that tomorrow. Today I have a polish to show you guys which I'm you've seen swatched to death in the last couple weeks. My mom bought it a little while ago for herself and she was nice enough to let me use it. Introducing..China Glaze Twinkle Lights!

I used three coats of Twinkle Lights for my photos. Keep reading for a few more pics. 

Nicki Minaj Water Marble

Hey guys! Welcome to what is the final post in my mini Nicki Minaj nail art series. Ever since I saw the promo pics for these polishes I wanted to marble the three cremes, unfortunately they didn't have the best formula for marbling! The polishes I have didn't spread out well in the water, Fly was the only one that was manageable which is why some of the nails are repetitive. The colours also bled into eachother which left an interesting colour of green on my right hand, but overall I didn't achieve the look I was going for. That's the thing about water marbling, sometimes you do it really well and other times it just doesn't work out the way you envisioned it!

Christmas Nail Art! (Merry Christmas!)

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! ¡Feliz Navidad С Рождеством! 聖誕快樂!

Hope everyone had a great week! Can't believe Christmas is here already. I haven't posted all week because of the hectic school schedule, but I can officially say that semester is DONE for 2011! Therefore, I am posting now to share with you my happiness that I am finally free, and also to show you my Christmas-y nails. 

For this mani I used CG's Ruby Deer, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, black and orange polish for the Snowman's decorations. First I applied 3 coats of Ruby Deer and waited that to dry completely. Then, I painted three circles of varying sizes to create the snowman's body. After that, using the black polish I drew his hat, eyes, arms, and coal buttons. And finally the orange was used to create his little carrot nose. Seal the design with topcoat and you're good to go! More pics after the jump

Nicki Minaj Polka Dots

Hey everyone! I am currently sitting at my grandparents house with my family where we're going to spend Christmas, it's nice to be around other people who love the holiday season unlike my mom. Today I'm starting a mini (read: very short) nail art series using only the polishes from the upcoming Nicki Minaj for OPI collection. As I mentioned a little while ago I am still trying out my dotting tools so I thought why not go for a polka dot mani, it's simple and with such bright colours I bet it will look fun.

Keep reading for more photos!

Nicki Minaj for OPI Comparisons & Layering

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed yesterday's swatches of four of the six lacquers from the upcoming Nicki Minaj collection. When the press release for these came out my mind immediately went to the Shrek collection, thinking that we had some dupes on our hands. Today I'm going to show you a few comparisons and I am happy to say I did not find any exact duplicates, so these Nicki Minaj polishes are winners in my book.

Here's a little reminder of the polishes I'm going to be comparing today. I hope you guys are okay with another picture heavy post.. keep reading!

Nicki Minaj for OPI Swatches & Review

The day is finally here everyone, swatches of the most anticipated collection of the year: Nicki Minaj for OPI! I have four of the colours from the six piece collection to show you today and let me warn you ahead of time, this post is going to be extremely picture heavy, but I know most of you won't mind that! I know everyone is anxious to see the swatches so I won't keep you reading!

Keep reading to see detailed descriptions of all four of these colours and a lot more pictures!

Christmas Chevrons

So I had been envisioning these chevrons for a while, and after having them on my nails for less than an hour I'm already removing them. I'm not sure why but these just aren't my favourite nail look..but maybe you guys will like them and have suggestions for next time!

Oh Christmas Lights, Keep Shining On

Good Morning everyone! First of all I'd like to wish a VERY Happy Birthday to my lovely roommate Joyce, I love you! She has an exam today and one tomorrow as well, poor thing :(, but she'll be off to Europe soon!

 I hope you liked seeing my mom's nails yesterday, maybe nice nails is genetic afterall. I've been envisioning these nails for literally two months, and I don't want to say I'm disappointed with how they turned out but they're not quite the same look I was going for. Nevertheless, I think these are awesome and I'm excited to share them with you guys!

For this manicure I used OPI Skull & Glossbones as a base, why did I not pick this polish up before yesterday, it's SO perfect. I made the strings using a black striper from LA Colors Art Deco, and made the lights using two different sizes of dotting tools and OPI Banana Bandanna, The Thrill of Brazil, Suzi Says Feng Shui, Green-wich Village, and China Glaze Papaya Punch. Keep reading for some more pictures!

Guest Starring..

Hello everyone! Yesterday my mom and I went to CosmoProf and we both bought a few too many new polishes and she asked me to give her a holiday manicure. I took inspiration from this post by The Nailasaurus but my mom wanted some seasonal skittles so I gave her a little variety. Check out my mom's new mani!

Aren't they cute? I'm pretty proud. Keep reading for a few more photos as well as a list of polishes used.

Sephora Blue Sapphire

So after that purple disaster chipped away within a day or two, I had enough of it and decided to put this one on. Sephora Blue Sapphire is basically what the name implies: sapphire blue! The best thing about this polish is the little silver glitter suspended within the jelly-like base. Makes for a beautiful holiday polish! I used 2 coats of Sephora Blue Sapphire and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I'm sure a third coat would make it look better but oh well, I don't really have time to mull over things like that anymore! Here are the pics!

Sorry for the weird coloring sometimes in my photos, my hands are naturally very red. And that redness is enhanced even more by the lighting in my bedroom. So therefore I always have to fiddle with settings on my camera and edit the photos before uploading them. Anyway, thanks to all for reading and for all of you doing exams - GOOD LUCK! I know I'll need it!

Mandy

Crunch Time!

Hey everyone! To make up for my lack of posting, I will put up another post shortly after this one :) I'm so sorry for my absence, it's just this month has been and continues to be crazy. However this is the worst and final week, so bear with me and expect to see more posts during winter break. This week, I have 7 unit tests/exams to deal with in a span of four days. 3 French finals, 2 Chem tests, 1 Bio test, and 1 Social test. Yeah, you can see why I'm stressed can't you?

Anyway, I decided to take a little break from studying so here is a Hard Candy polish that I got in my advent calendar. Do you guys have advent calendars? I've had one every year without fail, so this year is no exception! Now, I don't know what the name of this polish is... Maybe I'm not looking close enough but really there's no name on any of the labels. The only thing I see is a "6" on the bottom of the bottle... Don't know if that's the name or just a glass manufacturing detail. Anyway, this polish plainly just sucks. The brush is hard and brittle, so it makes streaks every time you go over the polish. The formula of the polish is weird because it dries matte and the glitter is not very smooth. To top it all off, I got major bubbling as well. :/ Not a good week.

Pics after the jump!

Dotting Tools

Today I just wanted to show you my new dotting tools that I can NOT get enough of! I ordered them on ebay and they ended up costing less than $2 CAN, with free shipping. Of course, they took a while to get here coming from China but since I didn't have to pay for shipping I'm not complaining.

Home Sweet Home

Hey everyone, I am finally home! It feels so nice to be back with my family and my puppy and the rest of my polish collection. When I got home I saw that a package had arrived for me containing my dotting tools! I was expecting those to come to my apartment in Montreal but somehow they turned up at my parents house - but at least I finally have them! I was testing them out last night and I didn't want to do anything too difficult, I just wanted to get the hang of the tools so here is a very quick mani I did. I love the way it turned out, these are so much fun and I think they're going to really improve my nail art.

The colours I used were OPI's Alpine Snow, Gargantuan Green Grape, Do You Lilac It?, China Glaze's Liquid Leather, Papaya Punch, Hey Sailor, For Audrey and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightning.
Another thing to note is that while I'm home I'm able to shoot with my dad's Nikon D90 instead of my little point and shoot, I hope you notice the change in quality! :)

Teenage Dream

Hello everyone! If you're reading this that means it's Thursday and it means today I officially finish my last final exam and will be frantically packing to catch my 7 am flight on Friday! Today I have a polish that very recently joined my collection, and by very recently I mean I bought it on Monday. See, there's this little shop that I know of that still has the entire Burlesque line (minus Sparklicious), the entire Shrek collection, and until yesterday they still had the entire Katy Perry collection, but I bought the last bottle of Teenage Dream. I wanted to treat myself after my double-header exams on Monday but it was hard to decide between What's With the Cattitude and Teenage Dream, but in the end the pretty holo sparkles won me over. This polish is actually unlike anything I've ever seen before, it's a clear base filled with pink microglitter and holo-pink tiny hex glitter. The glitter in this lacquer is unlike anything I've ever seen, there's no better way to describe it than eye catching.

For my swatch I used three coats of Teenage Dream. I was thinking of layering it over a light pink but I really like the effect that's given off by using this polish by itself. You're going to want to keep reading for more pictures!

Here Today... Aragón Friday

Today I have OPI's Here Today Aragón Tomorrow from the Spain collection to show you, and I feel like it's pretty appropriate since I have my last final on Thursday which is Spanish Literature and then on Friday I am GONE back home for the break! This polish..well I can't say I loved it as much as I thought I would. I'm pretty sure I bought it for the name, and it turned out looking black on me all the time. It was so hard to get the green to show and people kept wondering why I had painted my nails such a sad colour, but that's okay. I'm glad another untried is off my list!

I'm trying a new thing by putting this photo in a larger size, do you like it like this? The formula on this was less than desirable, it was pretty runny. I only used two coats for this swatch but there were some uneven patches.  Keep reading for a few more pictures and to see it in some different lights.

Christmas nails!

Hey everyone, another crazy week in December! Does it ever end? Apparently not...
But anyhoo, today I bring to you my Christmas-y nails for the year (I probably won't have time to do another nail art mani, most likely just some glitter or something.) I think it turned out pretty well, and it was actually very easy for me to do my right hand, so tell me what you think and if you give it a try!

I used FingerPaints Magenta Mood, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City, and CG Midnight Kiss. Other materials include: clear rhinestones, an orangewood stick to put the rhinestones on with, my dotting tool, and Seche Vite topcoat.

Thanks for reading and hope you like them! Usually my attempts at nail art just fail, I think this turned out alright if I do say so myself!
Mandy

Finals make me Sick!

Hello everyone! Happy Friday..it’s not such a happy Friday for me. I just got back from an especially draining Psychology final, but it’s over now and there’s no use dwelling on the past. Well maybe there would be some use if I didn’t have two more finals this Monday.. ;). I have OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window from the recent fall Touring America collection! I was expecting this green to look like, well let’s not beat around the bush, puke (more on that later). To be honest I’m both pleased and disappointed. I am very happy because this colour is a lot more wearable than I thought it would be, but it takes away some of the fun of the name!

For my swatches I used two coats of Uh-Oh and one coat of Seche Vite. I can’t say anything about the wear because I got so stressed out during my exam today that I started peeling it off my fingers.. bad habit, I know. Keep reading for some more photos of this unique green.

Diva of Geneva

Hello everyone, this is a scheduled post because of a lack of time available to me to be writing up posts every day. For this mani, I layered one coat of OPI Diva of Geneva over my pre-existing Parlez-Vous OPI mani. I have never used DoG on my fingers, but I did go through a period of keep it consistently on my toes, haha. Now I regret that, it's way too pretty not to show off!

Parlez-Vous Final Exams?

Hey everyone! I feel bad about not posting much, and when I do post not writing much, but I promise I will make it up to you over the Christmas break (11 days until my freedom). I have been sporting OPI Parlez-Vous OPI on my nails this week. I can't believe I've never put this colour on before, it's classic, simple, and elegant. I don't have enough great things to say!

Teal and Holo = Ah-Mazing!

Today's post is on China Glaze's Atlantis, a beautiful teal with silver and holographic glitter suspended in the jelly-like base. This is MUCH better than the poop brown I had on my nails a day or two ago. So for this mani, I painted one coat of Nicole by OPI's Iceberg Lotus first and then 2 coats of CG's Atlantis. That way, I don't have to pack on the layers of glitter and the color becomes more vibrant. Pics after the jump!