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 10: Gradient

Zoya - Blu / Gie Gie

Northern Lights Holograhic Topcoat // OPI Matte Top Coat

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2014 Day 6: Violet

Joe Fresh - Faded Violet // Nfu Oh - 51 // OPI - Matte Top Coat

Blue Lagoon

Hey friends! Happy Monday.

It's a long weekend here in beautiful British Columbia.

Yesterday I went out for a hike with my parents and took in some mother nature at Rice Lake. 

When I was younger I had a passion for climbing rocks and traversing ravens.
I can clearly remember climbing up a huge stack of rocks to get to a small little island while my granny freaked out.
I don't do it as much now but the need to go on long walks and discover new places has never left.
 I'm always trying to discover a new place in this city. 

Joe Fresh - Lagoon // Nothern Lights Holographic Topcoat

O.P.I - Matte Top Coat // Fadzone Nail Art Decoration 

I was immediately smitten with this polish. 3 thin easy coats and it was perfect.

I was expecting a lighter blue but this was so much better. And I love the name!

I ordered this great pack of 1200 simple nail art decorations (you can find them here)
and I wanted to compare the ivory and white pearls. To add a bit more whimsy I also added a cute little bow. 

Feel free to leave your comments below!

I'm off now to meet up with my favourite guy and to enjoy what's left of this weekend.

See you Friday.

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.

Matte Miranda & Her Studded Panda

So I know I said I’d post yesterday but things happened. Mainly it was the fact that
I mysteriously twisted my ankle (i.e I woke up and it hurt like a..) so I was just kind of
grumpy all day. I didn’t want to give any of that negative energy to you guys so I didn’t post.

But! Today I have a mani I was totally in love with.

Isn’t that just the cutest little panda???? I bought this pack of decals from the Born Pretty Store.
I was instantly in love with the panda holding the little apple and I knew it had to be paired with red.

The studs are from Heart 2 Art and I bought this pack at Walmart for less than 3 dollars.
They’re actually shinier than they appear in photos but they’re slightly dull because I covered them with my OPI Matte Top Coat.

And finally the main beauty – Miranda by Zoya.
I love how vibrant this colour is and, of course, I love the sparkle.

But I wanted to try something different. So I used 3 thin coats of Miranda and then I covered her up
with my OPI Matte Top Coat. I loved!!! how this looked. Made me want to try mattifying all of my Pixie’s.

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Also – remember how I said something amazing was happening this weekend?
Well, I’m going on vacation! I won’t tell you when or for how long because I’ve been
told that you don’t put those things on the internet. Cause, you know, people are crazy.
There will be no posts in my absence but I will be painting while I’m away so there will be a
set of posts that will come after my vaca showing you what manis I wore.
I may also do a outfit of the day post but we’ll see how much pep I have.

Have a happy Friday friends!

Much love, D.

Pastel Galaxy

Hello again!

How are you all doing? Vancouver’s been a little grey the past couple days
(which I don’t mind because we needed rain) so I decided to do something light and pretty.
I’d seen this tutorial by Nailasaurus a little while ago and I’ve been wanting to attempt it ever since.
So here is my take on pastel galaxies:

if I had to decide what would exist in this galaxy then it would definitely be fluffy bunnies and unicorns.
And there would be a giant caterpillar smoking out of a pipe. There’s just something magical about it.

As with any galaxy that I’ve done before I had to use quite a few colours.
First up I chose to use Highlight Of My Summer by China Glaze as my base. Don’t be fooled by the bottle shot.
This polish is actually a lot more neon in person but my camera was having a hard time capturing it.
The nail shots show the true colour better.
Then I used Lemon Fizz by China Glaze & Greenberry by Barry M.



Next I added Meet Me At the Altar by Essie, Stevie by Zoya, & Miss Bliss by Colour Club.
The stars were done using a dotting tool & Essie – Blanc.
To finish it all off I added my OPI Matte Top Coat.

Here’s the gang all together atop my current read: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

I was surprised by my how well this turned out. I have to admit I was slightly sceptical
because I just love galaxies using dark colours. I didn’t think it would work out but it totally hit the right note.

So what do you think? Are you loving the pastel galaxies or are you more partial to the darker versions?

Much love D.

7 Deadly Sins Challenge: Day 12

Hello everyone!
Today I’ve got day 12 of the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge.
Today’s prompt was: “Let the "Green Monster" guide you to some enviable nails.”
For this look I decided to replicate another challengers manicure again.
I used this look by Spektor’s Nails as my inspiration.

I used Nubar – Sour Apple as my base colour. I’ve never used Nubar products before and I was really pleased. Great colour payoff and an awesom formula. I then used OPI – Sprung to do the saran wrap effect.

Finally I topped it all off with my brand new OPI Matte Top Coat.
I’m so happy I decided to keep it matte like Spektor’s Nails. It really added something special to the design.

I love the final effect. It reminded me of apples dipped in caramel.
Or! An apple pie with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. 

Saran wrap manicures are so much fun.
My brains already spinning from the possible colour combinations I could do.
But what do you think? Sound off below.
Remember to check out the other ladies!

D