Witch-y Waters

Nubar - Sour Apple // China Glaze - In the Limelight (neon)
Firecracker Lacquer - Penguin Parade + Flamingo Fanfare
American Apparel - Lopez Canyon // Northern Lights Holographic Topcoat

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2014 Day 19: Galaxies & Galaxy Tutorial

Deborah Lippmann - Amazing Grace

Color Club - Eternal Beauty/ Miss Bliss / Cosmic Fate

Zoya - Godiva // Northern Lights Holographic Topcoat

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2014 Day 10: Gradient

Zoya - Blu / Gie Gie

Northern Lights Holograhic Topcoat // OPI Matte Top Coat

Christmas in March

Hey friends.

I've got another combo post to share today.

If you follow me on Instagram you'll know that I did a green galaxy for St. Patrick's day.
(This green galaxy is quite photo heavy - I couldn't help but take it out into the sun)

What you don't know is that I also did a red galaxy a few months ago.
(Yes I said months, and no it's not as picture heavy. There was no brilliant spring sunlight in January.)

So check em out and let me know what you think!

-----------------------------------

Green Galaxies

A England - Saint George // Zoya - Logan // Sally Hansen - Scarab

Smitten Polish - Blue Footed Booby Dance// Zoya - Solange // Northern Lights Holographic Topcoat

I wore this look for St. Patrick's day and I couldn't stop staring at my digits.

And you just know it turned out well when your boyfriend compliments
your manicure without being prompted. More than once even. High five to that.

I've also decided to not add big white stars anymore.
I much prefer combining glitter and Zoya Pixie Dusts.
They seem to work better on my tiny canvases.

-----------------------------------

Red Galaxies

A England - Rose Bower // A England - Sleeping Palace // Essie - Angora Cardi
Zoya - Miranda // Ciate - Candy Cane

This look was inspired by a page from this book Logan gave my dad for Christmas.
You can expect to see some more looks inspired by this book at some point.

-----------------------------------

I think galaxies might just be my favourite nail art technique.
No two galaxy manicures are ever the same and each one provides endless room for magic.
What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.
See you in a few!

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.

------------------------

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.

------------------------

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.) 

------------------------

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

xo, D.

Holiday Mani-Madness Day 3

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today I have day 3 of Holiday Mani Madness to share.

This look was inspired by these purple tree candles that I have sitting on my nail polish box.

I use the top tray as a display case/center piece on my desk and when I found these trees at the dollar store I just knew they'd be perfect. I should also add that the box was a gift from my boyfriend. It's nice to have a man who can build things. 

Essie - Meet Me at the Altar // Northern Lights Silver Holographic Topcoat

Snow: Maybelline - Porcelain Party

Dark Purple Trees: China Glaze - Are You Jelly? // Esmaltes de Kelly - Wolfsbane

Light Purple Trees: Sally Hansen - Raspberry Race // Zoya - Stevie

Let me know what you think of this look in the comments!

Also! I was intending to post Day 4 tomorrow but unfortunately I used

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter a peel basecoat and my manicure

peeled before I had the time to photograph it properly :(

I will still be posting a different look but I have to postpone till Friday.

So I'll see you Friday!

Have a very Merry Christmas friends! <3

D.

Fierce & Melodramatic Saran Wrap

Hey there!
So recently I received a couple of new beauties from a dear friend of mine.
While we had our picnic and relaxed in the grass she told me she hadn’t known what colours to
get me so she ended up just going with my favourite – purple. Smart girl ;)
Both colours were gorgeous so I just had to pair them together.

On the left we have Melodramatic & on the right we have Fierce.
My camera hates photographing neon polishes so Fierce is actually a much deeper plum
purple and Melodramatic is a deeper pink. There’s another shot below that does them more justice.

Both polishes are made by Sephora & are apart of their neon collection.
These were really easy to work with and they dried not only quickly but also
to a really interesting finish – sort of matte but with shine.

I was originally wanting to do a stamping manicure but after my first attempt I realized that
my plan wasn’t going to work out. So I went to a technique I haven’t done in a while: saran wrap!

After “saran wrapping” I felt like it needed a little more so I added some fun decals from
the Born Pretty Store & I also added my Northern Lights Holographic Topcoat.

Even though this wasn’t the look I was initially intending I really fell in love with it.
It reminded me of cloudy nights and fog. A perfect magical purple-y mist.

Thank you to Jenn for spending a lovely summer day with me and, of course, for these beauties!
I already have ideas buzzing around for how else I could use them.
That’s it for now friends.

Much love, D.

Cosmic Rainbow

Hey all! So today I wanted to share a quick post about what I wore to a concert a few days ago. One of my closest friends, Gee (from In Jeeb We Trust), asked me to accompany her to a B-52’s concert. I was super pumped to dance and shimmy but I needed a manicure that screamed colour and fun just like the band. I ended up being inspired by one of their album covers and I think it really hit the mark.

Here’s the cover….


& Here’s my look!


I did a side ways gradient and I followed the same colour pattern as the album.
I’ve never done a sideways gradient before and I must say that I love how it looks.
I can totally see myself doing these more often.

The colours had to be bright and fun so here’s what I used:
Sally Hansen Insta Dri – Brisk Blue; NYC – High Line Green
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear – Mellow Yellow; Zoya – Thandie
Sation – Love At First Lavender& I also added my favourite Northern Lights topcoat to give it that extra sparkle.

While painting I realized that I didn’t have a gradient planned for my thumb but thankfully I was quick on my feet and used my Big Ruby Tattoos. I couldn’t decide on just one tattoo so I decided to just go for it and use two. Because yes I’m that bad ass.



I’m so happy with how these turned out – bright, cheerful, and a bit kitsch.
And the concert! Gurrl, Let me tell you! We had front row seats but we ended up right at the stage. There’s nothing quite like watching a band who actually enjoys what they do for a living. It was a blast and I totally danced my ass off. You just can’t be sad at a B-52’s concert. Make sure to check out what Gee did here. I must say, we were totally on the same wave length. I’m still drooling over her mani.
Well, this quick post has turned into a long one so I’m done babbling now.
Enjoy your Sunday friends!

D

psstttt here’s a couple shots because I just couldn’t resist sharing.
Her outfit makes we want to watch The Wizard of Oz.

 

Sailor Moon…?

Hey there. Happy Saturday! Hope you are keeping well. Today I’ve got a mani for you guys
that is definitely bright and cheerful. I saw this look while I was browsing the internet for ideas
and I knew right away that I wanted to try it out. Here’s my take:



I decided to switch out the colours a bit because I wanted them to pop in all the sunshine that we were having. I chose to use China Glaze – Lemon Fizz and Sally Hansen Insta Dri – Pink Blink.
Then I freehanded the bows and the lines with Essie – Licorice.



I had a hard time with the bows. I realized too late that they should have been smaller. I was going to fix them but then I hesitated because for some strange reason I felt like a sailor scout. This of course made me want to keep the bows big because it felt like the only way to fulfill my childhood dream of fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight. Then I thought “This NEEDS sparkle.” So I added my beloved Northern Lights Holographic Topcoat.
Because you know Serena would have added sparkle. (Venus was my favourite by the way. And I think she would have added sparkle too. So it had to be done.)






This isn't the most daring look I've created and the bows aren't perfect but
holy cow did this look make me happy. What do you think? Should I have made the bows smaller?
Let me know. Maybe I’ll redo this look at some point.

Well that’s all for now friends. This sailor scout is off to protect the Earth. Now where did I leave that tiara?

D

Graduation

Hello again!
Today I wanted to share a special mani with you guys. A little over a week ago I graduated from university! It was a big day for me so I needed a manicure that made me feel fabulous. I didn’t know whether to keep it simple or not but I decided to just go for it. Such an occasion deserved some hutzpah. Here’s how it turned out:





I decided right away that glitter had to be involved. I used 3 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure – Golden Rule as my base and then I stamped onto it with Essie – Licorice. Then I added Northern Lights Holographic Top Coat.

So what do you think?  I loved them. They made me feel special.
And! They went perfectly with both my dress and the outfit I wore to a late night concert.

Well that’s it for now. Next up: Deadly Sins Challenge Day 12.

D

7 Deadly Sins Challenge: Day 11

Hey everyone!Today I have another Deadly Sins post to share. We’ve reached day 11 & this week’s sin is Envy. The prompt was: “Who would you like to be? Let us know recreating another challenger's work.” So I scanned through all of the photos that have been posted and settled on 2 manicures I wanted to re-do. The first, which you’ll see in this post, is this manicure by In Jeeb We Trust. (sad news bear: Rainbo Nails also did galaxy nails but I can’t link her as she has no blog). I’ve done galaxy nails previously but I did them before I had a blog so it’s been a very long time since I attempted this technique. Here’s what I came up with:

I’m really happy with how they turned out. I’m a sucker for lots of colour so this was definitely a fun venture. I used lots of different colours to create this look but I’ll just mention that the base is Beyond by Color Club. I also added Northern Lights Holographic Silver Top Coat as a finishing touch. I’m obsessed with this top coat.  If you’d like to know the name of any of the other polishes just leave a comment and I’ll let you know. 

That’s it for today. I’m off now to enjoy some sibling time.
I’m going to stuff my face with donuts, fried chicken, and tea. It’s going to be marvelous.

D

& check out the other ladies designs that are linked below!