Nail School Part 1

So I started nail school this past weekend.  Yes I actually learned a few things.  I learned about proper sanitation and how to perform a basic manicure.  I did 4 basic manicures yesterday to practice, including one on my devoted (clearly, ha) boyfriend:

Although I've mastered painting my own nails now, I clearly need some practice painting others'.  I painted two coats of OPI's Suzy Loves Cowboys here.  I've been using Soak off gels for so long now that I've become used to the fact that it doesn't dry and I can continue to play with it to perfect it.  But with regular polish it dries so much faster and I'm having a hard time with it.  So practice practice practice is what I need.

Speaking of soak offs, I'm so glad I decided not to re-shellac my nails this week.  I had a hunch we may be required to do our own nails during school and I was right.  So the day before I painted my nails in something light and easily removable:

2 coats of OPI DS Desire with no top coat.

We had to partner up at school and perform basic manicures on each other.  The girl who did mine didn't really do a good job at all so I didn't take a photo of it.  She did alright with the filing but she skipped steps and rushed through it, plus the polish was not great so it came right off as soon as I got home.

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Refresh Mint.

I added a coat of Nubar Black Polka Dot to it and I love it, it reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Next week we learn nail extensions and I'm really not happy about having to put them on my own hands :(  It looks like I'm going to have to take a 5 week break from soak offs too...sigh.

Later
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A gel to cross off the list

I really loved wearing that ruffian soak off gel mani but I did paint over it once which ended up being a huge mistake in more ways than one.

I picked up Essie's Eternal Optimist and Chinchilly for $3 each at Rexall!  So I decided to use them both.  What an ugly colour Eternal Optimist is.  I thought it looked like a nice dusty rose in the bottle, but on my nails it's just a hideous greyed peach.

And just to make it even uglier I added a coat of Nubar's Black Polka Dots.  I actually like the black glitter, just not over that peachy colour.

And here's what happened when I took that mani off with my non-acetone remover as usual.  It took some of the Quo By Orly Gel with it!!!  I won't be buying another Quo By Orly Gel.  I have never had gel polish come off with non-acetone remover.

So since I've been doing things out of my comfort zone lately here's what I did last weekend...

1 coat of a random pink chrome and 3 coats of Essie's A Cut Above.  It's blingy as hell!

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I'm still here

No excuse really except for my damaged finger and the fact that I have a new game I just can't put down long enough for me to paint my nails.  Also, I've got shorties again :(

So I found out a few weeks ago that www.nailpolishcanada.com has finally started stocking soak off gels!  So I just had to place an order:

I also ordered a couple of Nubars but the 2 Gelish I ordered are Caution and Night Reflection.  Nailpolishcanada.com has a decent selection too although they didn't carry the two colours I really want badly.  The full size Gelish is $22 for 15ml.  Compared to the $18.95 for the 9ml bottle at Sallys this is a better deal.  Their Shellac is $24.50 which I find pricy since they are also half the size.  Shipping was free over $29 and it took exactly one week to arrive.  This was my first order with them and I have no complaints.

So the first colour I chose was Gelish Night Reflection in 3 coats.  I love this colour.  I decided to do a test run on embedding stickers into the gel polish.  After the 3 coats of Night Reflection I wiped lightly with alcohol and then applied my nail stickers.  I tried without wiping the inhibition layers first and the stickers would not stick properly, so the inhibition layer needs to be removed for this.  I then added a coat of Gelish Structure (a clear builder gel) for smoothness and then finally added my top coat.  Since this was a trial I obviously had a few errors but I'm confident enough I can get it perfect next time.  This photo is actually on day 6 of the manicure so you can see those stickers aren't coming off anytime soon.  Since I didn't get it as smooth as I would have liked I won't be painting over it though.

Later
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Glittery Green

Something I've noticed about getting compliments on my nails:  People only comment when you have crazy shit or bling on your nails.  Every time I wear glitter I get compliments without fail.  The pink holographic gel manicure I did?  I can't even tell you how many compliments I got.  And it seems I've been on a bit of a glitter kick lately...

This is 3 coats of Nubar Meadow Sparkle.  It could have definitely used another coat or two but I had other ideas.

I added one coat of OPI's Fresh Frog of Bel Air on top.  Then I decided this was a great time to give Gelous another shot, so I added a coat and topped it with Seche Vite.  The verdict?  Same results as last time - still a bit gritty.  So I can now say for sure that Gelous = fail.  I wonder if Sally's takes returns on products you're not satisfied with?

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Going full girly

Why stop now right?

I stamped with Konad plate m84 using Billie French White.  As a side note, this was Day12 of my manicure!  Almost zero regrowth!  For a minute I thought maybe I'd see how long I could get away with it but I really couldn't stand having it on any longer.  If it was any colour other than pink...

And here's what I slapped on in between gel manicures.  It's Nubar Avant-Garde.  It's very rusty but generally a pretty boring colour.  I would have stamped it the next day if it hadn't chipped in less than 24 hours, but that's not surprising with a matte polish.

I'm feeling pretty blah lately about nail art and nail polish in general.  The new and upcoming China Glaze collections are completely disappointing to me, the new OPI collection is nothing special either.  I'm honestly getting tired of seeing amazing promo photos only to be incredibly disappointed by swatches.  We're seeing an oversaturation of magnetics much like the crackles last year, which I absolutely hated.  I do like the magnetic polishes but we're getting the all same colours from all the different brands.  I want something different dammit!  Can't anyone help?

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Superpost

I took a few days off last week to spend with my sister from Delaware who was here for a visit.  While she was here I took her shopping in Toronto and visited some places I've never been to before.

I was actually on a quest for Shellac and I did find some but no way in hell was I paying $30 for a .3oz bottle!  I did end up finding some pretty awesome polishes though at Pacific Mall.

From L-R: NYX Girls Enchanted Forest and Under The Moon, Essie Shine of the Times, Ruby Kisses HD Midnight Stars, Kleancolor Midnight Seduction and Afternoon Picnic. 

The NYX's and Essies were 15% off already cheap prices at Pacific Mall - It came to $12 for all 3.  The Ruby Kisses was from a random beauty supply outlet for $2.50.  The Kleancolors were 2/$5 at Dixie Mall.

I have to share a quick photo of our dinner in Toronto because it was amazing and a first experience for my boyfriend and my sister - Korean BBQ.

This was the aftermath.  The table has a hot grill situated in the middle and they bring you plates of raw marinated meats, rice, soup, kimchi and various pickled veggies.  And then you cook it all on the grill in the middle, similar to a fondue.  It's also all you can eat but you just ask them for refills of your favourite meats and veggies.  Toronto is one of the only places around that has these restaurants so if you ever get there, I highly recommend trying this out.  This is meat lovers heaven.

When I got home from Toronto I added a coat of NYX Girls Under The Moon over my blue Gelish manicure.  This photo is day 14(!) of my manicure.  Yes the growth looks terrible but still not a chip in sight!  This is the longest I have worn a soak off gel so far.  Honestly, I bet I could have gotten away with another week!

So on Monday I had to take my sister back to the Buffalo airport and of course I just had to stop at Ulta ;)

So the China Glaze haul consisted of: The Let It Snow set including Blue Years Eve and Snowglobe ($7 at Sallys), Fireside Glow, Lighthouse, Ingrid and VIII.  I also hauled some soak off gels at Ulta but they will be in my Christmas post since they were technically my gift from my boyfriend.

A new brand for me Petites, I found at Rite Aid and I bought 2 - Craze and Daze.  Then there's China Glaze Blonde Bombshell and Nubar Meadow Sparkle.  Funny thing I noticed about my collection after I bought these - over 500 polishes and not a single gold glitter!  The last item is a glitter set I found at JoAnns for $7 that I thought would be amazing for scrubbing into soak off gels because....

They're all holographic!  Can't wait to try the light blue one.

And here's one last shot of something I did for my 2 year old niece last week:

I painted this in her new room directly over her crib.  It's probably 3 feet high, just used plain old acrylic paints and took around 3 hours total.  Hope she likes Tinkerbell until she's 18 :)

Hope you all enjoy your holidays!

Later
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Another new brand

There are a lot of brands that are much easier to find in the US but almost non-existent in Canada.  Barielle was one of those brands I was happy to find last week and now I've found another - Nubar.

I think it was Scrangie's blog I was reading last week when she mentioned a Canadian etailer - Pretty Indulgent.  So I went to check it out and was thrilled to find Nubar (although she's sold out of Reclaim).  I was even more thrilled to find the clearance section and wait, what?  A red matte polish?  I have been lusting over Zoya's Posh forever and last time I ordered from Zoya it was out of stock.  So I figured this clearance red matte Nubar would satisfy me and boy did it ever!  From L-R: Nubar Contempo, Avant-Garde, Twilight Matte and OPI Glow Up Already.  All for $4.50 each and shipping took exactly one week.  She also threw this soap sample in the box and although I appreciate freebies, and on an order comprised entirely of clearance items no less, boy did it stink and not in a good way.  It said it's a mix of dark chocolate, raspberry and sandalwood.  Sounds nice, but it's not really.  It was a very sickly sweet scent to me.  I think I'll throw it in the Princess's stocking :)

Here they are swatched L-R: Glow Up Already, Avant-Garde, Contempo and Twilight Matte.  See how Contempo glows?  Love it!

This is 2 coats of Contempo over my gel mani.  On bare nails I think it probably only needs one coat.  The more my gel mani grows out, the harder it gets to polish over it and it's almost impossible to get nice clean lines.

So I figured what the hell, the Christmas shit is already out at the stores so why not do Christmas nails?  After all, Contempo is the perfect base for a Christmas manicure and I was also dying to use my new China Glaze.  So the accent nail is a coat of China Glaze Twinkle Lights with a matte coat over it.  The stamping is Orly Luxe and Konad m14.  I know I've said in the past I'm not a fan of the multi-glitter and it's true, but I do like the ones that only contain about 3 different colours and also - I love Christmas :)

Anyways, Zoya Posh is now officially crossed off my wishlist.  Nubar Contempo is definitely in my top 10.

Later
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