NOTD: China Glaze Tongue and Chic

China Glaze Tongue and Chic

Today's NOTD is a polish from China Glaze's new Fall collection, Autumn Nights. I had my eye on a couple of the shades, but I only picked up two colours...for now. 

The one that caught my eye immediately was this colour, Tongue and Chic (cute name). It caught my eye because I didn't have anything like it in my collection. I have a lot of blues, and a lot of greens, but not a gorgeous blue/green mix like this.

Tongue and Chic is a shimmery  (almost frost finish) turquiose/emerald shade. It is an absolute stunner, and incredibly opaque. I only needed one coat for it.

The formula was a little bit troubling on this one, it was a little streaky and thick, and I got air bubbles on a couple of fingers. 

I'm super excited for Fall, and to start wearing on the neutral colours on my fingers. Hot cocoa, leaf piles, scarfs, all of it. And cute nail polish, of course.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

NOTD: My BBC (Doctor Who/Sherlock) Themed Nails!

Hi everyone!
I am super excited to bring you this post. For anyone that doesn't know me, I am a huge fan of British television. Mainly Doctor Who and Sherlock, and so today, I will be showing you guys pictures of the nail polish look I did in honour of them.

This isn't going to be a step by step tutorial; that would take way too long, since most of the nails are different from the others.

So firstly, these are all the nail polishes I used:

Yeah, it was kind of a mess afterwards!! I used two tools to make the designs: a double sided dotter tool, and a nail art brush. I know that my nails aren't perfect, but I don't do nail art very often!

So first I'll show you what I did on both thumb nails:

I think it kind of ties the whole theme together! Doing this was actually way harder than I thought it was going to be, hence the uneven lines.

Ok, so here's my right hand:

So on my pinky finger I have the Daleks, which wouldn't make sense for anyone who hasn't seen the show. And on my ring finger (which is the same on both hands), is the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) , which is the Police Box the Doctor uses for his time travel. Then my middle finger is the one I am most proud of. It's the wallpaper in Sherlock's apartment, complete with the little spray painted smiley face.

And finally, my index finger is the 11th Doctor's (Matt Smith) standard outfit (I wear bow ties now...bow ties are cool). 

Here's a close up of the Daleks.

And now on to my left hand! 

So the thumb, ring, and pinky fingers are all the same on this hand, but the index and middle finger are different.

So my index finger is my attempt at the Doctor Who logo, which did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Ah well.

And finally, my middle finger is the 10th Doctor's (David Tennant) standard outfit.

So I hope this gave some inspiration to those of you who are fans of Doctor Who/ Sherlock to maybe try your own themed manicure! Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

NOTD: Embarca-Dare Ya! from OPI's Fall/Winter San Francisco Collection

Hi guys! 

Today's post is showing you one of the polishes from OPI's newest collection, the San Francisco collection. This was released very recently, for Fall 2013. 

I was tempted by a few different colours from this collection, but I decided to go with only one (for now) and pick up Embarca-Dare Ya! as I do not have many pinks in my collection. 

Embarca-Dare Ya! is a gorgeous raspberry magenta shimmer with golden undertone shimmer. The gold shimmer is quite evident in the bottle, but unfortunately, does not transfer on to the nail very much. 

Here's a bottle shot to show you the gold shimmer: 

And here's a sunlight picture of this colour: 

The gold is a little difficult to see, but it is a very pretty colour nonetheless. This was a little sheer on the first coat, but it became opaque by the second. 

I'm very tempted to try some of the other colours from this collection! I'm eyeing "Peace, Love, and OPI" which is the duochromy one. 

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

NOTD: OPI Thanks a Windmillion with OPI Lights of Emerald City

Today's post is going to give you a quick look at the nail polish look I currently have on that I just love. These two polishes are both from OPI. 

Thanks a Windmillion is from last Spring's Holland Collection, which for some reason, is still being sold in the stores where I live. I think the collection might have been added to the permanent line. 

Thanks A Windmillion (cute name) is a muted, dusty, blue toned green creme. It is very very similar to Mermaids' Tears from the Pirates of the Carribean collection. It's a gorgeous colour, and needed two coats to be opaque. 

Lights of Emerald City is from Oz The Great and Powerful collection which was released earlier this year to coincide with the release of the movie. That collection is still available in some stores. 

This is the colour I used to put over the Thanks A Windmillion. It consists of a clear base with two types of square glitter- large white squares, and smaller iridescent pieces. Depending on what colour base you layer this over, it can look golden green (darker bases) or blueish purple (lighter bases). It was kind of difficult to get this evenly dispersed and I didn't end up with quite the look I wanted, but oh well. I'll try harder next time. 

Here's a close up shot of the bottle.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Flirty Tankini

Hi everyone!

Today's blog will be just a quick post about the nail polish that I'm currently wearing, China Glaze's Flirty Tankini. 

Flirty Tankini was released with China Glaze's Summer Neons collection last summer, and the reason I'm showing you this now is because China Glaze has recently released another neons collection (The Sunsational Collection) and this colour is similar to a couple of colours in that one. 

Flirty Tankini is a gorgeous neon pinky coral with hot pink shimmer. My camera had a very hard time picking up this one, but in the pictures you can see the coral side of it. In some lights it looks like that, and in some lights, it leans more hot pink.

A close up so you can see the shimmer in this. It's gorgeous! China Glaze does neons very well, and from what I've heard, the Sunsational collection hasn't disappointed with the vibrancy of the neons. 

This is a very multi dimensional colours, and changes a lot depending on what light you're in!

This needed two coats to be opaque, and becomes very shiny once you add top coat!

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Bare If You Dare

Today's NOTD is an old China Glaze polish. I'm pretty sure this was released as part of the Tokyo collection (I think it was 2008?), but I found it in the clearance bin at the salon I buy my nail polish at. I've seen colours also from this collection at different salons, so if you hunt around you might be able to find this polish.

Bare If You Dare is a peach/coral colour with golden shimmer. At first I was afraid it would be too frosty for my nails, but it really doesn't look that frosty on the nails. 

It was opaque in two coats, and lasted for quite awhile!

I've been really into coral colours and they are really in for summer. If you're looking for a colour similar to this, you probably won't have to look very hard!

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Fade Into Hue

 

Today's NOTD is from China Glaze's Avant Garden collection, which was released for Spring 2013. However, I have still seen it in some stores, so you might still be able to find this polish.

 Fade Into Hue is a creme periwinkle blue with a hint of purple. I didn't have a single colour like this in my collection and it seemed like a really pretty shade!

The formula on this was pretty good. The first coat was quite sheer, but the second made it completely opaque. This seemed like it was kind of a mix between a creme and a jelly formula...a crelly I guess.

This chipped a little after about four days.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

NOTD: Essie Tart Deco

Essie Tart Deco

Guys, it finally happened. After four months and 26 days, I finally cracked and...bought another nail polish. Words can not describe how proud of myself I was for not buying any nail polish for that long. But I was browsing my local Shopper's Drug Mart and I saw that Essie was on sale from $11 CAD to $7 CAD, so I gave in and bought this shade I have been eyeing for awhile now.

In the bottle, Tart Deco appears to be a light coral. It doesn't translate like that on the nail, which I was sort of disappointed about. On the nails, this dries much darker and much more orange. The best way I can think to describe this is that instead of coral, it is much more salmon orange. And darker. It's a nice colour, but it wasn't really the colour I was looking for.

The formula on this was pretty good. The coats came on quite thick, but it was self levelling, so no streaks are visible. I needed two coats for full opacity. 

The brush on this was kind of awkward. I own other Essie polishes with better brushes, so I don't know if it was just this colour or what. But it had a really wide end, and the bristles would spread out way too far. 

All in all, not my favourite colour. It's a nice colour if salmon is what you're looking for, but I wanted more coral. I wish it dried the bottle shade. Ah well. It's still a nice summery colour.

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

Nail Tutorial: Ombre Nails!!

So ombre is a huge trend this summer. It's everywhere- hair, clothes, shoes, and now, my nails!!
This is the first time I've ever done ombre nails, so this is not going to be the high tech tutorial ever. But I thought I would just share my method for doing them!

So if you want to see how I got the look below, keep on reading!!

Ok, yes I am aware this isn't the best looking ombre ever, but for a first attempt, I'm pretty proud of it. Alright, let's jump into the "tutorial"!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

The Polishes:

Ok, from the left, I have base coat and top coat, obviously. Then the third polish is what I'm using for a base colour. I would highly recommend using a white or light cream/pink polish to use as a base for your ombre, because that makes all the colours pop a lot more. I'm using OPI's My Vampire Is Buff.

Then the last polishes are my ombre colours. The colours blend more smoothly together if you use three colours instead of two, and the ombre looks more gradual. I stuck with colours in the same colour family for my first try. For the lightest colour (third from the right), I'm using China Glaze Hopeful. My medium colour (second from right) is China Glaze Flirty Tankini, and my darkest colour is China Glaze Make Some Noise.

The Tools:

You will also need some clear tape and a makeup sponge to paint the colours on.

HOW I DID IT:

Step 1:

So first and foremost, you can paint your nails with base coat, if you want to use it. I always do, it's just a habit.

But then you're going to paint on your white/cream/pink base. Side note: if your lightest colour is a white/cream/light pink, then you can just use that as your base. 

Don't worry if it's not completely opaque.

my base colour- OPI My Vampire is Buff

Step 2:

Once your base colour is completely dry (it needs to be dry so your ombre will stay on), take your clear tape and tape around each nail until the skin around each nail is covered by tape. This is a really messy process and the polish will get everywhere, so this step just saves a lot of cleanup.

So I covered the sides, bottom and top of my thumb. Sorry if this is kind of hard to see. But basically when I press the sponge down on my nail, the polish that isn't getting on my nail will be getting on the tape.

This is an incredibly awkward angle, but I just wanted you to see all my fingers taped up. I did it one hand at a time, so I taped one hand, then did the ombre pattern on that hand, then taped the other hand.

Step 3:

So now we arrive at the fun part. So your base colour is dry, and you're all taped up. So take your makeup sponge, and depending which colour you want at the base of your nail, paint the polishes on accordingly. In other words, if you want the darkest colour on the base of the nail and the lightest on the top, the paint a stripe of your darkest colour at the top of the sponge. 

I wanted the darkest at the base of my nail, so here's how I painted my sponge.

The darkest is at the very top of the sponge, so when I press it on my nail, it will go at the base of my nail. 

Wait a second or two to lets the polishes sort of absorb into the sponge and blend better together.

So angling the sponge so all your colours line up where you want them on the nail, press down and make sure you're getting all your colour on there.

This is one coat of the ombre. After each nail, I repaint all the colours onto the sponge so it will be freshly painted for the next nail. I did two coats of ombre for every nail, because after only one coat, the colours aren't super strong. 

So this is one hand after two coats of ombre and BEFORE clean up!!

Told you it gets messy!!

Step 4:

Clean up time! Peeling off the tape gets rid of most of the excess polish, but depending on how precise you were with your taping, you might end up with some polish around your nail. When that happens, I take a nail polish remover pad and put some nail polish remover in the center. Then I fold it in half, and use the folded edge to remove any leftover polish. 

And here's the finished look!!

Sorry for the chip on my index finger, I accidentally hit it when I took the tape off. 

But anyway, I hope this tutorial was helpful! I know I'm not a nail art expert (that can be clearly seen), but I thought I would share how I did this anyway.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa