Sunday 17 March 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope that you all had a lovely Sunday.  I don't think I've ever posted on a Sunday before.  It is a day of rest after all.  I always feel extra lazy on Sunday and my Husband always feels like cleaning and doing laundry and being responsible.
Lego Leprechaun! 4 leaf clover stamping!

Today is St. Patrick's Day and last night I saw people dressed in green going out for drinks.  I can't say that it is something that I've ever done, but whatever.  I never could understand the whole drinking heavily because you are Irish thing.  It seems kind of mean to Irish people if  North Americans celebrate one of their holidays by drinking.  It's not even about that! In Ireland they would probably just go to church and hang out with their families (It is a religious Holiday after all!). Here it seems more like celebrating stereotypes of Irish people : ( You can enjoy a pint of Irish stout like Guinness, but please be responsible!

St. Paddy's nails: green, Irish flag, gold and brown and cream to look like a pint of Guinness!

 
From R to L: Revlon Hot for Cocoa, the head of the stout was made with Joe Fresh Plaster, for the gold middle finger I used Sally Hansen Golden I and Color Club Gingerbread, for the flag I used Sally Hansen White Out, Rimmel Tequila Sunrise and Revlon Posh, for the emerald finger I used Sally Hansen Groovy Green topped with Love and Beauty Green Glitter (wow the amount of thought that went into that name!)
Bonus nail design I wore earlier in the week: Love and Beauty Bronze (gorgeous shimmery rose gold) and Orly Holla.  I wanted really obnoxious nails!

 Well I must get to bed.  I'm exhausted from the technical difficulties I had today (it took forever to post this because my photos weren't uploading). Also I start work tomorrow! Yay I'm employed again!  I guess some of the luck of the Irish rubbed off on me!
-A.C.

Sunday 10 March 2013

High on Love... February leftovers

Hello lovelies!
I'm being totally gay and girly because Valentine's Day passed not too long ago and I got to see my BFF.  Woohoo! Then the rest of the month just fell down the toilet and I don't really want to talk about it. Good things happened though! Like my husband getting me a white chocolate Kit Kat (I'm allergic to cocoa, it has to do with my metal allergies) and a bottle of Revlon Girly.  I don't think I've ever lusted after something so hard! No wait that is entirely untrue because I have a lemming list and Sally Hansen has come out with a Deborah Lippmann dupe.

Either way I felt totally spoiled and it has been like Valentine's Day everyday here. I guess February was not a total monster. I'm still alive, still loved and I still have everything I need.  Sometimes I just want things though.  Do you know what I mean? I think I'm going to have to look into doing promo stuff.

Before I add the photo glut (sorry, I totally fell off posting again!), I just wanted to let you know that my favorite Nail Polish purchasing site Nail Polish Canada sent me an email regarding my vote for carrying Model's Inc.  I get to purchase early! It kind of sucks because I'm broke and unemployed, but maybe I can just get one bottle or something.  I think it is great that they allow you to vote for new stuff.  They really do listen and I'm hoping to get my fellow Canadian bloggers to carry more clout when it comes to voting.  The only thing I can do is encourage you to vote for new brands and if you are looking for something that they don't carry, just shoot them an email.  I can guarantee that they will respond : )

I'm going to share some nail art that I have done and I love! I also shared the love and later this week I will post pics of Other People's Polish : )

I finally tried Galaxy Nails: Nina Ultra Pro Black as the base, then I sponged on China Glaze Prism, Sally Hansen Laser and covered it all in Wet N Wild Silver Frost and Kaleidoscope Top Coat.  I'm holding a Gundam bad guy from my husband's collection.  It was this or a Lego alien.

Galaxy Nails in the shade.

Full sun pic of Galaxy Nails.

Mardi Gras Nails! I used Urban Outfitters Bandeau on my index finger, Revlon Posh on my middle finger, China Glaze Glitter All the Way and Sally Hansen Golden-I on my pinky.

Valentine's Nails! We don't know where this bear came from but I decided to hold him because of his hearts.

For this mani I used Revlon Pink Lingerie and I stamped with Essence Ultimate Pink.  For my Feature nail I used Sally Hansen Strobe Light.

Valentine's Day Mani part 2: I used Sally Hansen Lilac as a base, then added 2 coats of Revlon Girly.  This color combo wore very well and didn't chip until around day 5.

This is a closer shot.  Because Revlon Girly is pretty sheer and milky, I needed some kind of underwear.  I could have built it upon itself, but then I would risk it taking too long to dry.  It had great glitter density!

Sorry that these were so late! I just can't sound nice if I'm in a bad mood and I don't want to say mean things on my blog for the world to see.  Things have been kind of shitty, but I want to focus on what makes me happy.  Like glitter and pretty colors and romance!
-A.C.


Wednesday 13 February 2013

Year of the Snake

Happy Year of the Snake! Did you know that snakes make great business people, but aren't very trustworthy? Interesting fact, but I'm not going to take much stock in it because I read it on some random website. Either way: may you have a joyous and prosperous Year of the Snake!

I just wanted to do a quick post of Sunday's nails as well as Monday's because I have a few more ideas to churn out. I don't know what to do for Valentine's Day nails, but I'm sure I will think of something.

Firecracker looking nails done Feb. 10 for the Lunar New Year

I used Joe Fresh Apple red polish with China Glaze Electrifying for the tips and the feature nail
Monday's nails marked the demise of the penny.  Pennies are finally out of circulation in Canada due to rising copper prices.  It cost more to make them than the value of the coin! For this mani I used Revlon Copper Penny and OPI Warm and Fozzie on the tips and the feature nail.
Penny's Pawdicure! I trimmed her claws while she nibbled my hands... one day I will gather the courage and trim her toe-hawks. They make her slide around like her brakes don't work. She was posing a little with her paw slightly raised.

Other People's Polish and a Nail Fail

On this blog I will try to post my failures.  My Bollywood nail art idea was so cool and I wanted to try the Sharpie Marker Technique.  My first mistake was probably putting it on over topcoat. My second mistake was rushing and smearing the art with more topcoat.  I'm still learning and I hope I get better at it.  I will probably try this theme again sometime in the near future.

I did this for my Goddaughter's 10th birthday which had a Bollywood theme.  It was super fun and there was lots of dancing and an elephant pinata.  I was blown away by the decor and the cake! My Goddaughter is awesome and her awesome mommy is one of my BFFs.

Sally Hansen Wined Up with a feature nail of OPI's Rally Pretty Pink.  Gold Sharpie Design FAIL :(

I also had a slumber party with my Goddaughter Sofia, her awesome mommy Julia, my friend Wendy and her daughter Ellie.  It was super fun: we ate junk (donuts from a place called Glory Hole, probably the best name for a donut shop lol), watched girly movies, played Just Dance and Mario Party, and we had makeovers.  The little girls put on this awful staining blue eyeshadow (haven't we all made that mistake?) and we did face masks.  Cucumber face mask was probably the most fun because it peels off.  I couldn't do one because I had just finished an AHA peel and my skin was being really sensitive.

The best part was the nail art that I gave everyone! I had fun doing their nails, but I could not do it as a profession.  Also I hate the smell of acrylic! It makes me kinda woozy and nauseated.  I just decided to do something fun to suit everyone's personality.

Julia's Girly but tough manicure... with a bit of sparkle

Wendy's sparkly glam caviar mani

Ellie's sweet and girly caviar mani... she couldn't wait to play and lost some of her caviar lol

Sofia's rock star nails with Selena Gomez glitter and a Konad zebra stamp.  She was so happy and speechless at this mani.  Also it was the only way to get her to stay still!

My friends are really getting into nail art.  I like showing off other people's polish (OPP) and I think it may become a "thing".  Except when I stop someone on the subway and they don't know what they are wearing... that is just annoying lol. Most of the time I can tell what it is because I am a polish addict : )

-A.C.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Happy New Year!




Happy New Year peeps! I know that February is well in swing, but I wish people a happy New Year until after Chinese New Year (I have a lot of Asian friends) and sometimes in March. I think I will try do something for Chinese New Year (year of the snake), Mardi Gras and Valentines Day.  I hope my nails survive! I'm a bit annoyed because I attempted to schedule posts ( I knew I would be busy) and it didn't work! I need a blogger tutorial because this trial and error thing is total balls.

The Pantone colour of 2013 is Emerald.  I love Emerald! I love all colours, but a nice Emerald creme is up there with Purple, Turquoise and Acid Green (yup!) in terms of nail colours that I like to wear. I usually wear something obnoxious on my toes because besides my face, my feet are the palest part of my body

Color Club Port-folio and a feature nail layered with Cacee BFE Morion (Motion) Dazzle.  I couldn't capture the duochrome goodness of Port-folio.

I was at Winners after Christmas and I found the ransacked cosmetics section... it looked worse than Walmart.  In fact it looked like a Nailpocalypse. They had some Color Club sets, but they were either open or broken in the package. I wanted the set of mini glitters, but I couldn't find the package and they were just sitting on the shelf.  They also had a rare Sally Hansen (one of the older ones), but someone had swapped the sticker and it was priced at $10 or something ridiculous. I managed to find a package without broken nail polish bottles and I made my own set.  What? I'm not about to pass up 7 Color Club nail polishes for $14! Also my husband was my accomplice and he is the most law abiding citizen.

So I have a bunch of unnamed Color Club polishes because they don't put names on them in these multi-packs, but if you recognize any please let me know.  I think some are from the Fall 2012 In True Fashion Collection (Model Behaviour, Port- Folio), some from Winter 2011(Jingle Jangle), a clear one and some I don't even have a clue:

Poor babies... one even had a different cap :(
 
L to R:  Snakeskin, Antiquated ?, Artsy Crafty?, Something, Something, Port-folio, Jingle Jangle

Thursday 24 January 2013

Ghosts of Christmases Past (Photo Glut)

Hello Finging Fiends! Happy New Year! Sorry that this is a month late lol. I hope all of your Holidays went well! Mine were ok... they could have been better, but I felt homesick, tired and uninspired.  The holidays were pretty rough for me because I am unemployed, but since I am creative I made jewelery and finished a painting for my oldest sister's birthday.  I was fired around this time last year and it sucked that I found myself unemployed 2 Christmases in a row.  There was a lot of moping and crying and me feeling sorry for myself. I guess it was naive of me to think that I would have found something by now, but 4 months is the longest I have ever been out of work and things are getting kind of grim.

I'm trying to stay productive and keep busy job hunting as well as keeping my spirits up.  I had some parties to go to before Christmas, so that felt good.  It was also my Hubs's birthday on December 22, so that was a pretty fun party.  I was kind of annoyed that I baked so much and nobody ate it! He loved his cake, but I was like "Is everyone on a diet... before Christmas?! Is my baking really bad? Am I the only one who likes sweets and is that why I look like Momma June whilst everyone is slimming down?".  It is stupid now that I see in writing what goes through my head when I feel anxious.  It feels good to get it out and laugh at my imbalanced brain.

I did some really great nail art over the holidays so I'm just going to post a photo glut, then once I am up to date I will post more often (ha ha let's see how long this Resolution lasts... hey shut up brain! I resolve to not fall for your negativity!). There will be many posts with just photos and less rambling because I am still new here.  I may make a second blog with more personal stuff : ) since I have so many photos to share and maybe you are not here for whinies, but here for the shinies.

I wanted my nails to look like a soft early morning snofall.  This design was pretty sweet and subtle.

Penny the tortie cat under the tree.

Some of my favourite decorations. Frog Flapper Lady and Frog Dapper Gentleman... and a mushroom.

The Angel looked lonely, so Jack Skellington Serenaded her.

Penny waiting for Santa.

Nothing says Christmas like a Pickle ornament! I lost the star on my Christmas tree nail art.

Paaaaaaarty!


Glitter and a Chikadee.

The oh-so-popular snowflake.

Cult Nails Flushed, Claire's Mystical and a Color Club's Wild at Heart.  My 3 current faves... it was like Christmas came early!
Penny sneaking into the background... or me intentionally putting her there because of her cuteness.

If you like any of the art, you can ask me in the comments what nail polish I used.  I didn't really feel like listing all the stuff I used.  I got a Helmer for Christmas (Yay! Thanks Hubs!) and I am currently re-organizing my collection.