O Canada

Tomorrow is Canada Day and we have a big family party every year.  I'm bringing my kit with me to do Canada Day nails for all the girls and here are my own:

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On.

Used scotch tape and China Glaze's Ruby Pumps here.  I had a bitch of a time trying to get the tape off in one piece.  For some reason it likes to rip on me.  I should try a different brand maybe?

Then I stamped with Ruby Pumps and BM04 and finished it off with a silver nail art brush.  I probably should have filled in the leaf but I didn't have the patience or the time...oh well.  This is pretty tacky for me but so is our party and hey I can't complain about a day off work either.  Have a good one!

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It's a blue day

This is 2 coats of Zoya Breezi.  It's the first Zoya creme I've tried and I'm not a fan of that tiny brush in a creme polish.  I do like the colour though.

I added one coat of Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor on top.  This was really hard to photograph but I liked the look.

I stamped this with an image from BM207 and China Glaze's Little Drummer Boy.  It seems like the design is too big for my nails.  It turned out great on the thumb though.  Canada Day nails coming up tomorrow!

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Sinful Colors Stella

This is only one coat.  I was surprised find it dried matte, sort of similar to the OPI Suedes but not quite as matte.  Very much unlike anything in my collection.

And of course the obligatory stamping fail.  Color Club's Take Me To Your Chateau and plate BM11.  I was in a hurry when I did this so I didn't take enough care to get it straight.  It's topped with Seche Vite but it came off right away anyways.

Then I did some frankening:

The first one is Sinful Colors Let's Talk mixed with a bit of Sally Hansen Celeb City and it looks amazing but wasn't quite properly captured here.  The middle is a black glitter mixed with some iridescent glitter...I added too much black glitter though.  The right one is Studio M's Ego Trip mixed with a dash of creme white, a dash of Sinful Colors Nail Junkie and a healthy dose of  Sally Hansen HD in Lite.  I like this one a lot.

Next up is an old frosty peach polish I had.  Mixed in some Studio M Get The Blues and some Sally Hansen HD in DVD.  The last polish I was going for a  more yellowish mint green with a golden shimmer.  I used some creme white polish, a dash of Billie Lime and a really good dose of Sally Hansen HD in Lite.  It seems to me that they turn out better when I have exactly what I want in mind.

Oh and Wienerfest was a bust, it rained :(

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What's not to love?

Black.  Holo.

This is 2 coats of Golden Rose Paris 118.  The Paris polishes are much larger than the regular Golden Rose Holographic polishes so I'm glad that the black one came in this size.  It was very hard to capture the holo in this one but it's definitely there.

Most times it looks like the above photo.  This polish was also very goopy.  I'm afraid to use thinner in a holo polish.  When I put this on I realized that this was exactly what I expected My Private Jet to look like instead of the brownish non-holo version I found.  I'd be curious to see how this compares to the original holo MPJ.

I finally had some time to stamp this time around.  It's Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes and BM08.  I almost added a gem to it but decided against it. 

Tomorrow is Wienerfest - basically a picnic for dachshund owners.  I've gone for the last 4 or 5 years with my Mom who has 2 dachshunds of her own.  They have a costume contest and wiener dog races.  It's always funny to see hundreds of doxies running around.  I may post a pic or two later on.  Have a great weekend!

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Flakie love

This is 2 coats of LA Colors in Palm Tree.  It's definitely greener than the photos.  Not a bad polish for $2.  I didn't have time for nail art again this week so on the second day I cracked open one of my new Nfu Ohs...#40

Now this reminds me of a mermaid way more than Zoya Charla and all it's dupes.  If I'd had time for nail art I probably would have done some bubbles or maybe sea shells.  The effect really only shows when the light hits it though.  I'm happy to have these Nfu Ohs but man they are expensive at $12.50 US!  I ordered 5 of them with a Mastercard gift card I was given so they were free to me.  Flakie polishes are pretty much non-existent in Canada so I'm thrilled to have these.  They are friggen awesome!

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Sleepwalker

First thing - I just popped by Walmart on my lunch and they now have Essie's!  Small display though, maybe 30 different colours, not like the large displays in the US Walmarts, price is $8.96.  Glad to see they're not completely hosing us Canadians.

So here is one coat of Revlon Lunar.  It's not a good stamping black though, I used one thick coat.

And this is a coat of Wet and Wild Sleepwalker - Fine orange glitter in a black jelly base.  This polish is a twin of China Glaze's Lubu Heels, just slightly different coloured glitter.

I really like it but much like Lubu Heels, you don't really notice the glitter unless you look closely.  I think these 8.5ml bottles are the perfect size for nail polish.  Enough that you can get several manicures out of them but not so much that they will be sitting in your stash for years.

So I threw a matte topcoat on it and dotted with Revlon Copper Penny.  I didn't like it much but what I did like was that the dots reminded me a lot of metal studs.

I'm really having a problem trying to find time to paint my nails now that summer is here.  I have no intentions of giving up the blog.  I guess I'll just have fewer posts during the summer, sorry.

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Short nails again

My nails are in terrible shape.  I place the blame squarely on the Paint and Peel polish I used awhile back.  It completely ruined the surface of my nails.  So I had to cut them again.  I will likely have to keep them short for awhile but I don't mind really.  The longer my nails are, the more likely I will go overboard with the nail art.  Here's proof:

This is 2 coats of L'Oreal Stroke of Midnight.  Awesome vampy jelly.

Stamped with Konad White and BM204.  I didn't intend to scatter the design it just ended up that way and I like it.  Finished it off with a single gem on the ring finger.  I noticed while flipping through all my stamping plates that the new bundle monster plates have hardly any flower designs on them.  They also have far too many french tip plates in that collection, but I guess we can't complain when they're so cheap.

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Short week

I've only got two posts for this week unfortunately.  I lost a bunch of photos and I've been having a rough time with my nails lately.  As of right now they are super short.  I know I don't ever post just swatches, but that's all you're getting today sorry.

This is 3 coats of Zoya Apple.  Thought I would love it but something about it is a little off for me.  I'm not sure what it is.  One thing I will say about these Zoya 'sparkle' type polishes though...I absolutely love that they give you all the bling without the pain in the ass removal of a glitter!

And I know that blogs have been spammed to death with Nfu Oh 61 lately but I just had to wear it last week.  I actually bought 2 bottles of this and I'm so glad I did because it's amazing.

I only did 2 coats here but it definitely needed a third.  No base coat, but the second photo has a top coat.  It did dull the holo.  Also once I put a third coat over it, it was still dull.  No top coat and no sandwiching is the way to go with this polish.  It's a very strange formula, that's for sure.  I found that you have to be quick about it or it takes the layer underneath with it.  It dries faster than a matte polish too.  What worked best for me was a thin layer followed by two thick quick ones.  Next time I'll try it with my base coat.

Funny thing I saw the other day...I go to the grocery store by my work once a week and I always stalk the polish section for clearance.  A few months ago I'd picked up a Wet and Wild polish in a new display that apparently was already months old but I never thought much of it.  Well last week I saw they put a brand new display out - Nicole by OPI Gossip Girl collection....uh, okay.  I actually laughed my ass off when I saw it.  This isn't a discount store so I have no idea why they seem to be holding onto their polish displays until they feel like putting them out.  Weird.

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Finally got some sun

So I pulled out Del Sol in Superhero again.

3 coats.  I know it's a very 80s frosty polish but I kinda like it.  I crossed my fingers that it would work this time...

Not as dramatic a change as I'd hoped, but it's definitely noticeable.  The colour on the lid indicated a deeper purple.

Then I stamped with plate BM208 in China Glaze's Bogie.  Bogie is fast becoming my favourite stamping polish.  It goes great with almost any colour.  And here she is in the sun:

After weeks and weeks of nail fails, I really like the simplicity of this one.  And I wish I'd picked up more Del Sols now.

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Overkill

So after I painted 3 coats of Wet and Wild Fast Dry in Magic Trident I wondered whatever possessed me to buy this and then decided to have some fun with it.

I sponged the following:
Revlon Copper Penny
An unnamed old rusty gold polish
China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Then I added two coats of Elf Golden Goddess.  I absolutely hated this.  So I stamped it in an effort to make it a little more tolerable.

Plate used was BM223 in Wet and Wild Black Creme like usual.  I liked it actually, but not to wear out of the house :) 

Oh and just because this is a short post today I wanted to share something yummy I had yesterday.  I have a serious addiction to Cherry Coke.  We don't get it here in Canada so when I go to the US I stock up.  And when I was in Michigan last week I found this new jell-o where you can mix in your favourite pop or juice...

Mmm Cherry Coke jell-o!

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An unexpected haul

One night last week after work my mother called to ask if I wanted to go shopping in Michigan.  I said sure and she said 'okay meet me in 15'.  Um, I didn't mean right this moment but who am I to pass up a shopping trip?

From L-R:
Love My Nails - All That (purple and silver square glitter with tiny teal glitter)
Pure Ice - Celestial
Sinful Colors - Pearl Harbor, Stella and Nicole
Confetti - My Favorite Martian

When I was in Florida I was excited to find the Confetti display but they didn't have My Favorite Martian which is the one I really wanted.  I wanted to buy more from this brand too but the display was pretty picked over.

From L-R:
Essie - Coat Azure and Sand Tropez (CVS clearance @ $4 each!)
Wet and Wild Fast Dry - Magic Trident, Ocean Grotto and Sea of Dreams
Studio M - Ms. Haute and De-luxe-cious (hmm, sound familiar?)
Sally Hansen HD - Lite (CVS clearance @ 75% off!)

These are the new Wet and Wilds from the Mermaid collection which has yet to show up in Canada.  The orange is totally not my style but it was so pretty in the bottle that I couldn't resist - in fact it ended up being the first one I used.  I was super excited to visit Meijers because I'd heard that they now carry CND...and they did!  But I was really hoping for Jade or Amethyst Sparkle and they only carried the red and gold ones :(  They did have the Sinfuls on sale 3/$5 which was pretty awesome though.

So as a parting shot, here is Magic Trident, 3 coats, pre-nail art:

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My pink solution

I've said it before - I'm not a fan of pink.  But when I see a pink polish that's either holo, on sale or both I feel like I need to buy it.  This is 2 coats of OPI's DS Opulence.  It's pretty but I just can't walk around with pink on my nails, so I decided to play with it.

I added a coat of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Lapis Amethyst.  Yes I bought this when it originally came out, we've already established I'm old lol (Caroline polish anyone?).  I bought 2 of these polishes when they came out, sadly neither of them are the holo ones.  I loved the way this looked and decided to stamp it as well.

This image is from BM224 and stamped with Wet and Wild Black creme.  I kept this one on for a couple of days.

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Another stamping fail

Yeah this a week of fails for me.  So yesterday I posted Golden Rose #107.  I decided to stamp it with one of my new bundle monster plates BM201.

Bad girl, messy cleanup...actually nah, I don't give a shit.  I make my own rules here!  This was the first time I used the black Konad polish.  After stamping, the design was still left on the stamper!  My left hand, which is what I usually photograph was totally smudged so I had to photograph my right one, which wasn't a whole lot better.  I don't know if it's just me or if the Konad polish was the problem.  Not too fussy on the design either.

To update on my Golden Rose post yesterday, they did respond just after 24 hours and refunded my money for the 'swamp jelly'.  They didn't acknowledge the remarks I made regarding the colour discrepancies though.  I did notice on their website however that they raised their prices...

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