31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2014 Day 24: Inspired by a Book

Joe Fresh - Cloud / Iris / Faded Violet

L'Oreal - a la Meringue // American Apparel - 7th and Alameda

O.P.I - Matte Topcoat

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2014 Day 11: Polka Dots

L'Oreal - A La Meringue // China Glaze - Lemon Fizz

American Apparel - 7th and Alameda // MoYou London - Suki Plate 08

Yellow and Grey N/OOTD

Hey all!

Hope you had a great weekend and if you're a mom well then I hope you had a great day.

I took my mom to a great park filled with flowers and beautiful views. 

We sat on a shaded bench by the large fountain and relaxed.

Later I made cocktails and we watched a movie and the season finale of one of our favourite shows.

Oh, and of course I did her nails. 

I'll be sharing my mother's day look with you guys later this week, 

but for now here's my second entry into the MoYou Nail Art Challenge. 

This is Day 12: OOTD

Deborah Lippmann - Amazing Grace // Sally Hansen - Butter-fly Stroke

A England - King Arthur // MoYou - Sailor Plate 06

& the shirt is from bebe

When I first used this DL I was so disappointed in the formula.
But something magical happened in the year that I haven't used it - the formula improved!
I couldn't believe it.
 

Sorry I went a little picture crazy but I really liked these.
Let me know what you think below!
I'll see you Friday.

xo, D.

With a Shotgun in Her Hand

Hey everyone!

Happy Friday. 

First up here's a song to emulate what I've been feeling
lately now that the days are getting warmer.
Can't help but groove to this.

And now here's my latest splatter manicure!

Joe Fresh - Faded Violet // Iris // Cloud

Essie - Licorice

Right Hand

Left Hand

So what do you think? I love how the colours work together.
The gun needs a little work but I still liked it. Just dipping my toes into freehand art again. 

See on Monday.

xo, D.

Stars and Spring

Hey there!

Today I've got a post that mixes the old and the new.

Two different looks with two different childhood influences.

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First up, Second Star to the Right

Esmaltes de Kelly - Neverland

As a little girl I loved the idea of Neverland. In fact I still do.

A place where all you do is go on adventures and FLY?? Sold. 

I didn't care much for Peter Pan, (except when Robin Williams was Peter in Hook. I love that movie.
Definitely one of my childhood top ten favourites. Ru-fi-OOOOO!), but I loved that freaking island.

Needless to say I was thrilled when I found this polish. 

I love the grey blue hues and the tiny black glitters sprinkled throughout. 

I added a nail tattoo from Big Ruby Tattoos on my index finger
and then another tattoo from the Born Pretty Store on my thumb. 

I also choose to name the panda Peter.
(Just so I can say that Peter the Panda is pleasantly positioned on my pointers.)   

The star remained nameless but I loved that little smile.

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Next, Hello Spring

Essie - Meet Me At The Altar // Barry M. - Greenberry // Northern Lights Holographic Topcoat

Just this past week we had to adjust our clocks again. 

This change in time (and soon season!) inspired me to use colours that were fun, and youthful, and oh so girly.
 I loved the gradient created between these two colours. Like a pastel sunset. 

The decals are from the Born Pretty Store and were actually a bonus gift with purchase.

Hello Kitty has nothing to do with spring (or does she?) but it just felt appropriate. 

Besides, she'll always have a special place in my heart because of her show. I can still sing the whole theme song.
 (Am I the only person who watched that as a child?  No one ever mentions it to me.) 

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So that's it! Thanks for stopping by and reminiscing with me.
See you in a few days!

xo, D.

1 Year Blogiversary

Hey friends!
So sorry to have been away so long. I needed a bit of a blogging break.
When I blog I always strive to blog consistently and to
produce interesting posts, and I just wasn’t in the right mind frame to do either.
But! I’m back and all too quickly I’ve hit another milestone: my 1 year blogiversary!!!
Technically I hit it on the 11th of October but I got swept up in Thanksgiving
madness and didn’t get to posting until today – 9 days later.
But since this is my blog and I can do what I want we’re just going to ignore that fact.

Now onto the festivities. To celebrate this occasion I wanted to provide
you with multiple mani’s just like I did for my 100th post.
I’ve been gone so long, you deserve more than one look, so this time around you’re getting 4.
Let me know which look is your favourite! 

& here's a band I'm a little obsessed with at the moment to get things started.



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Aphrodisiac Deco Tips






For this look I used Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Lava as my base
and then I taped off the tips and used piCture pOlish in Aphrodisiac.
I loved the electric pink/glittering gold on plum contrast. 
Total glam.




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Hunter in London





This is a look I wore while going out with some friends for tea and pastries.
I wanted something that embraced fall and all it’s deep rich colours.
I used Zoya – Hunter for my base and then on top of that I used Zoya  - London.
To complete the look I mattified the whole thing with OPI’s matte top coat.



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Jane Eyre Meets King Arthur






Next up, another dark and sultry manicure.
I used A England – Jane Eyre as my base and then I stamped using A England – King Arthur.
The plate I used was Sailor Collection – 06 by MoYou. You can find all their amazing plates here.
Seriously. If you love to stamp you need some of their plates.
Not only are the designs fantastic but the groves are etched deeply and the images transfer really well.



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Fruity Fan-tastic

Last up, another MoYou mani. I wore this manicure for Thanksgiving long weekend
and I was lucky enough to have it last all 3 days of my fatty feast.
Nothing like family and great food to remind me of what I’m thankful for.

For my base I used Barry M – Lychee and then I stamped using A England – Briarwood.
The MoYou plate I used was plate 5 from the Suki Collection.

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So that’s it! Hope you enjoyed my one year blogiversary post.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my little blog.
Now let’s get this next year rollin’!

xo, D.

7 Deadly Sins Challenge: Wrath

Hello there!
So I’m back from the dead, or as I like to call it “I-finally-got-my-laptop-back-from-that-place-that-repairs-them-praised-be-baby-Jesus”. My entire cooling system needed to be replaced. I understand why – I mean I’ve had my lap top for almost 4 years now – I just didn’t realize it would take so long. At first the man with the Russian accent said “okay, we’ll look at it and call you.” Then he called & said “So your cooling system needs replacing. We have to ship the part and it might take up to two weeks.” TWO FREAKIN WEEKS!! I wanted to cry. Luckily I only had to wait a week, but I still suffered from severe blogging withdrawal. And let me just say that using someone else’s lap top did not help. It just made me want mine more. Needless to say I was beyond happy when he called. This is what I sent a friend after I picked it up: “I finally got my laptop back (insert dancing emoticon) I was hugging it like it was my child that had been at camp for a week.”  Now you know my brain a little more.

Finally I get to blog. For my first day back I wanted to show you what I did for wrath for the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge. I choose to combine day 9 and 10 because I had my graduation that week (pssttt! upcoming mani) and I wouldn’t have time to do that many manicures in a week. So here are the prompts: “Day 9: Get mad trying, again, that technique you know it's going to be a fail” + “Day 10: Find something that blows your top and express it with your art!”

The technique that I chose to use was splatter. I’ve tried doing it on more than one occasion and it was just not happening, but I decided to give it another go (this was number 3 I’m pretty sure) because In Jeeb We Trust does the most amazing splatters and I just wanted to try and see if I could even manage to do one nail. Here they are:

To fulfill the day 10 aspect I had to think a little bit. I ended up using Translink (which is the name of the public transportation system where I live) as the thing that blows my top. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to take a bus/skytrain anywhere in the city. I just wish that all the idiotic things that happen to me while I’m on the bus would stop. If you’ve ever taken public transit then you will understand. 



In any case, I used Translink’s colours so that the theme would be meet. Recently the buses were somewhat updated. Example. So the colours I went with were grey, yellow, dark blue, black, & a bit of white.
(If you'd like to know any of the names of the polishes just comment below.)




So there you go! First post back and I’ve already bombarded you with text.
It’s just because I missed you, I swear. Remember to check out the other ladies!

D

P.S. In case you noticed that I skipped day 8: not only was the theme sloth but the prompt said “only if you want”. I didn’t want. So I skipped it and embraced my slothy side.

Zoya London Swatch & Mani

Hey everyone!

Apologies for not posting much in the past few days.
Things have been a little hectic and I was unable to post this earlier.

First off I wanted to show you one of Zoya's Pixie Dusts.
I was beyond excited to work with these since I heard so 

many great things and, of course, the swatches I saw were beautiful.

I purchased London (seen below) and Godiva (which I'll be using in a future post). 

I wore the nail art mani first but wanted to be able to see 

the full effect of the pixie dust so I have been wearing this the past few days.

London is beautiful. It's a dusty grey that really sparkles.
If I had to recommend one collection to try out this year it would definitely be the pixie dusts.
Especially the upcoming spring collection.

I applied this without base coat as is recommended and there's no top coat. 

I feel like if you're going to go for the textured polish why would you even bother covering it up? 

Next up is a mani I did for a concert I went to this past weekend.
I used China Glaze - Hey Doll, Zoya - London, and a Quo stripper in black. 

My boyfriend gave me this idea and I really like it.
Not too complex but still looks interesting.

Well that's all for now.
Next post will be a Saint Patty's Day mani.
Hopefully what I have planned turns out.

Enjoy the rest of your week!!

D