Blushing Bronze

Happy New Year's Eve! What are your plans for tonight? I had originally wanted to post four NYE looks for you but it turns out that I only have stamina for three ):

Having previously done gold and silver, bronze was next on my list. Here I mixed it with rose gold glitter and damask print, all on top of a blushing nude base, for a pretty, feminine look. I'm growing incredibly fond of nude bases. They're very palate-cleansing and so very easy to clean up around the cuticles :P

The nude base I used is OPI Barre My Soul. Using a small brush I painted on the damask print with American Apparel Bronze Dash and used a makeup sponge to create a gradient. I topped the gradient with Essie A Cut Above.

And that's my last post of 2012! This year has had its ups and downs but it has been one of the best. I hope 2012 was kind to you and that the new year is even greater. Here's to 2013! :) As always, link me or tweet me your NYE nails! (@preciouspolish)

BRITTNEY XO

My Best of 2012

I've been seeing a lot of bloggers doing 'Best of 2012' posts so I thought it would be fun to do one too. I've chosen twelve personal favourites, listed in chronological order. Going through my 2012 archives I've found that a lot has changed- for the better, of course. Watermarks, photography, and nail care are the most evident to me. I still rely on natural lighting but I feel like my photos are somewhat more consistent now. 

It's no surprise that florals and all types of gradients dominated my favourites, but I'm surprised that only one tribal manicure made the list. Tribal nail art is probably what defines my comfort zone, but I guess I'm losing appreciation for them. For 2013 I'm going to try to go outside the box, push my limits and innovate :)

See larger photos, explanations, and links to original posts after the jump! :)

Silver Linings

Hi all! It's the last weekend of 2012- hope it's a good one for you :) For this NYE look I went for something easy to execute with a heavy serving of silver and glitter. I saw a fantastic manicure by Criminal Nails a couple days ago. Her black version is so bold and striking but I decided to recreate it in a softer silver. It's a simple and quick striping tape manicure: simply place strips of tape across your nail and paint the whole nail with polish. Remove the strips quickly but carefully and you're left with this cool design. I did a subtle accent using silver glitter instead of plain silver foil for the ring finger and thumb. I think I was a bit overzealous with the tape though :P

I started with American Apparel Dance to cover up any stains. I applied pre-cut strips of striping tape horizontally across each of my nails. One nail at a time, I painted a coat of American Apparel Silver Jazz, removing the tape strips immediately after. For the accent nails I applied an additional coat of silver glitter by Love & Beauty before removing the tape.

I've really been warming up to striping tape recently! I didn't like it the first time I tried it but I've realized that it's actually very handy. Have you done any striping tape manicures? Link me or tweet me your nails! (@preciouspolish)

BRITTNEY XO

Puttin' On The Glitz

Hi everyone! The Christmas season is over for me, finished up with a bit of Boxing Day shopping yesterday. While I'll miss the Christmas festivities, I'm still really excited for some New Years manicures.This year I'm really feeling glitter and metallics. I'll be incorporating both into the four upcoming manicures I have planned out to show you. Expect a lot of glitz and glamour in varying metallic hues to match your NYE statement bling (haha).

First up is an edgy gold tribal and shard glitter manicure. I love the look of all the 18kt gold topcoats being released but I'm not so crazy about their price tags. Instead my sister gifted me American Apparel Meteor Shower for Christmas; a clear base with a generous amount of gold shard glitter. It's not quite like the gold flakie topcoats but it perfectly satiates my craving, and for only a fraction of the price!

I applied American Apparel Hassid to all of my nails. On the accent nails I painted half of the nail with American Apparel Gold Flash and used a black striping polish to paint the tribal design. I topped off the rest of the nails with American Apparel Meteor Shower.

Did you get any good deals on Boxing Day? Nail polish-wise, I hauled the American Apparel metallics, which I thought were perfect for these New Years manicures :) Link me or tweet me your finds! (@preciouspolish)

BRITTNEY XO

I ♥ The Holidays

Merry Christmas, everyone! I said I would post today, and it's coming to you a bit late but here it is nonetheless. Last night was nice but I spent Christmas day lounging in my PJs. I started and finished a book (Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn) and ate leftover Christmas dinner. It was a nice change of pace from all of the frantic holiday preparation :)

Today I have my final Christmas manicure for you. I wore this last night, mostly to match my shirt. It's not a typical Christmas look but I do think it is appropriate for the holidays in general. 

I used American Apparel Port and painted on the designs with a small paint brush and Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure.

And as a final round up, here are all eight of my manicures for the 2012 holiday season! 

Now that Christmas is over, I'm looking forward to doing some super glittery New Years manicures :) I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday together. Season's greetings, I love you all very much :)

BRITTNEY XO

Winter Wonderland

It's Christmas Eve! Things are all kinds of crazy here. There's a lot of cooking and preparing happening before everyone arrives for dinner tonight. It'll be a nice night with the family but it's sad to think that by the end of tomorrow Christmas will be over. The holiday season is way too short ):

For these nails I wanted to stray away from the typical red and green that I've been doing. This time I tried a silver and blue, high-sparkle look. On the thumb we have another abstract Christmas tree using a triangular glitter gradient. I complemented that with silver glitter snowflakes and some good ol' full-coverage glitter.

On my index and ring finger nails I used China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. On the rest of the nails I started off with American Apparel T-Shirt. For the thumb I taped off a triangular section and sponged on China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara in a gradient inside the triangle. I topped that off with a star-shaped rhinestone. On the remaining two nails I used a silver glitter striping polish and a dotting tool to make snowflakes. Finally I fished out blue hex glitters from L.A. Girl Aqueous with a dotting tool and placed them individually on my nails.

I hope you and your family have a lovely holiday, no matter what you celebrate. See you tomorrow for my final Christmas manicure of 2012!

BRITTNEY XO

Christmas Glitter

Hi everyone, hope you're enjoying this busy weekend! The Christmas spirit is in full swing here at my house. We're having the whole family over for Christmas Eve so there's been lots of cleaning and decorating going on. I can't believe how quickly the week has gone by. This post was supposed to go up on Saturday but time just flew by me and now it's Sunday. I have two more holiday manicures to go though, so be prepared for three consecutive days of posting from me! (This has never happened in the history of Precious Polish, ever.)

Today's manicure is chock-full of glitter! Despite the wide array of beautiful red and green Christmas glitters, I can only justify having one. I only get to use festive glitter once a year and China Glaze Party Hearty is my polish of choice. It's a delicate mix of green and gold microglitter and larger red glitter. The very popular China Glaze Ruby Pumps is another holiday favourite of mine. It's a lovely red glitter that always garners lots of compliments. Here I incorporated both of these polishes into one Christmas manicure.

I started with American Apparel T-Shirt. Then I applied China Glaze Party Hearty. I used American Apparel Downtown LA to paint a stripe down half of the accent nails, layering China Glaze Ruby Pumps on top of that. Finally I took a white striping polish and a dotting tool to paint the designs.

Oh, here's something else that I'm excited to show you. One of my best friends asked for an ugly Christmas sweater. As her secret santa I was pretty distraught to not be able to find one to buy. Instead, I decided to DIY it, starting with an (also ugly) rugby sweater, a poinsettia-print stocking, some ribbon, and a lot of glitter glue:

Isn't it hideous? :) I covered up the rugby patch on the chest with poinsettia images. Then I slathered that and the polo collar parts in glitter glue. I made a big present bow and attached it to the middle. Finally I cut off the sleeve cuffs and made new ones to match the print.

I think it was a pretty successful DIY gift! Did you make any homemade gifts this year? :)

BRITTNEY XO

O Christmas Tree

Hello! Christmas is less than a week away, can you believe it? After today I hope to have three more holiday manicures planned out for you, so stay tuned! That will be eight designs in total, so hopefully I'll give you some ideas for your Christmas manicure if you haven't thought of one yet. I'm pretty impressed with myself this year, considering that I only did a measly two designs last December :P

Monday's manicure was predominantly red glitter so this time around I went for green. I've seen a lot of creative Christmas tree manicures this season and wanted to try one too. I went for a very geometric version using a triangle print. For the most part I like it but I messed up the sides of the tree on the thumb a little. I guess I didn't plan it out well enough. Also, the stars were a last minute decision so I wish I had left enough room to put one on the thumb too :P

I started off with American Apparel T-Shirt. I used striping tape to block off triangles and filled them in with China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses. Then I went in with a white striping polish and painted the little triangles, finishing off the tree tops with star-shaped rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by!

BRITTNEY XO

All Wrapped Up

Exams are over! I have officially survived my first semester of university! I wrote my organic chem exam today and it was a total disaster but I'm just glad it's finally done with. I can finally focus on other things: family, friends, hobbies, this blog, and you guys, of course. I'm taking a few days to rest before I move back home but I should be back to blog reading and commenting soon, just awhile longer!

I'm really excited to show you today's manicure. These nails were loosely inspired by this cute Christmas-y manicure by Esmalteria Neia Belas Unhas. I love putting a spin on a classic french manicure for the holidays. You can check out last year's french over here, including a video tutorial! This time around I did a thicker tip with red bows and rhinestone accents.

I used American Apparel Dance to start. I painted on a french tip using the brush from American Apparel T-Shirt. With a dotting tool and American Apparel Downtown LA I made the center of each bow. Then I used a small paint brush to create triangular shapes for the rest of the bows. After that I layered China Glaze Ruby Pumps on top of the bows. With a white striping polish I outlined the bows and added a red rhinestone in the centers to finish them off.

I hope you've been liking these holiday manicures :) I'm trying to think of new ideas that haven't been done before and I hope to have a few more for you before Christmas. In the mean time, catch me up! Send me links to your holiday nails, or tweet them to me @preciouspolish!

BRITTNEY XO

Frosted Window Panes

Hi! How have you been? Today I wrote my physics exam, which means that I'm done with physics forever! I have two more exams to go with my last one on Monday and then I'm on winter break :D

I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately and one of my favourite holiday tunes is Christmas Waltz (a really lovely version by Mindy Gledhill!). The song opens with the lyric 'frosted window panes...' which was the inspiration for this winter manicure. I attempted a frosty, snowy backdrop with snowflake accents pressed upon a window. 

I had a lot of trouble with this manicure and I had to restart my ring finger from scratch three times. Also  this marks my first attempt at using striping tape. The end result is crisp and appealing but I didn't like the process very much at all. I'm way too impatient!

I started with a base of American Apparel T-Shirt. Then I used the watercolour technique with American Apparel Factory Grey, American Apparel The Valley, and American Apparel L'Esprit. For the snowflakes I used striping tape, a white striping polish and a tutorial by Simple Nail Art Designs. Finally I used a silver glitter polish and a dotting tool for the finishing touches.

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!

BRITTNEY XO

Festive Florals

Hi everyone! The weekend is here which means that my first semester of university classes is officially over, with exams to start on Monday. Despite the inevitable stress that will soon creep up on me, I'm still feeling the holiday spirit. We finally had some half-hearted snowfall in Toronto on Wednesday. I really doubt that it will be a white Christmas this year but it was a nice glimmer of hope :')

I really liked the florals I did last week, Pretty Perennials, so I went for a holiday-appropriate version this time around. I painted flowers in red, white, and gold against a shimmering forest green backdrop. Unfortunately I don't like this version as much as the first one- something about the full manicure aspect or the colours are throwing me off...

First I used American Apparel Hunter, topped with China Glaze Glittering Garland. I used various sized dotting tools to make the flowers with American Apparel T-Shirt, American Apparel Downtown LA, and Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure. The leaves were done with a white striping polish.

The next week and a half or so will be pretty brutal with exams and moving back home, but I'll try to keep posting every few days. I still don't have a lot of time to reply to comments and read other blogs but that will change in two weeks, I promise!

BRITTNEY XO

Peppermint Tribal

Happy December, everyone! Like most people I love this time of year. Usually I don't get too festive up until the day of the holiday but Christmas is the one exception! I have a few holiday nail art ideas to show you so hopefully I have time to get through them all :)

First up is a classic tribal print. I love kicking off the season with less-traditional versions of Christmas colours. It's a nice way to ease into it, plus mint is always a fan favourite. I think this is the first non-accent nail manicure I've done in a very long time (accent nails = no time/laziness). I incorporated my usual tribal designs as well as more Christmas-themed patterns. 

I started with American Apparel T-Shirt on all of my nails. I used the brushes from American Apparel Office and American Apparel Poppy to make thick vertical stripes of colour. Then I used a white striping polish and dotting tools for the details.

/Have you started your holiday/winter nail art yet? Feel free to send me links below or tweet photos to me @preciouspolish!

BRITTNEY XO

Pretty Perennials

Hello! It's the last day of November, can you believe it? I went out the door in flats today before I realized that it's basically winter. Two hours later I came home with numb toes and banished the flats to the closet for the rest of the season :P The upside to the beginning of December is that Movember is finally over. I'm all for the cause but I've seen way too many unruly, scraggly beards this month :P

This manicure is one that I'm particularly fond of. I wanted to try out one of my recent purchases, American Apparel Imperial Purple. It's a beautiful deep, purple-blue shade that was opaque in an easy two coats. On top of that I did some bright ditsy floral accent nails. 

I painted American Apparel Imperial Purple on all of my nails. I used dotting tools in various sizes to make the flowers and polka dots with American Apparel Poppy, American Apparel The Valley, American Apparel Manila and American Apparel T-Shirt. I used a striping brush to draw on the leaves and the white parts of the petals.

So now that December's here I think it's time to start doing some holiday nail art. Stay tuned!

XO BRITTNEY

Watercolour Wonder

Hi all! I'm really sorry for basically disappearing this month- my last post was on Halloween! My first year at university is proving to be killer and I finally finished all of my midterms (nine of them!) I think I made some poor decisions with my academic planning but we live and we learn, right? I'm counting down the days until winter break so that I can get everything back in order. I say this way too often but I truly mean it: thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking around! 

After my last midterm I was finally able to treat myself with some real nail art. Here I took another try at the watercolour technique. My first attempt was this floral design, where I explain the technique in-depth. Basically, it uses nail polish remover to disperse the pigment in the nail polish, creating this cool effect. 

I started off with American Apparel Summer Peach. On my thumb and ring finger I used scotch tape to section off the triangles. Then I used American Apparel Rose Bowl, American Apparel L'Esprit and American Apparel Cameo Blue for the watercolour.

Thanks for looking and I hope to post again soon! 

XO BRITTNEY

Sugar Skulls

Happy Halloween! These are the nails I'm sporting for the occassion- a fun mix of sugar skulls and gingham. That yellow colour is actually a lot more orange in real life. It's a neon so evidently it went crazy on camera. 

Recently I've seen a lot of sugar skull nails and I really love the style. I figured that now was a great time to try them out and they were surprisingly simple to do :) I got the gingham idea from these cute Halloween nails by Pink Poodle. 

I used OPI Alpine Snow on all of my nails to start. The purple is Essie Play Date and the orange is American Apparel Neon Orange. I used a black striping polish, striping brushes and dotting tools for the sugar skulls. The gingham was free-handed with a striping brush.

I'm very pleased with how these turned out and I hope you like them too! 

What are your plans for tonight? Again, happy Halloween and stay safe! 

XO BRITTNEY

Modern Mermaid

Hello! I don't have too much to say today (shocking, yes) so here's a quick post. I hope the weekend treated you well and I hope you're well-rested for the work week ahead :)

I originally did this to match my Halloween costume but I didn't actually end up wearing them at the same time, oops. I went as Ariel from The Little Mermaid as my friends and I decided to be Disney princesses with a modern twist. I pulled colours from her tail and her bikini top for a purple-aqua gradient with glitter.

The purple polish is Essie Nice is Nice and the aqua is China Glaze For Audrey. For the glitter gradient I used Sinful Colors Nail Junkie and Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me.

What are you dressing up as for Halloween, and how are you painting your nails to match? ;)

XO BRITTNEY

Fall Filigree

Greetings! How's the weekend treating you so far? I should be studying for calculus, but I'm not, go figure. I have one more midterm on Monday and then I'm done with tests until November (cue rejoicing). 

I was going to bore you with yet another tribal manicure but I'll save that for another time ;) Instead I tried something pretty different. I went for a classic black and gold combination with filigree accent nails. The rest of the nails are a gold gradient with black glitter on top. 

I'm really liking this look. It's quite refreshing from all of those tribal prints and a lot more chic and on trend for autumn :)

I painted all nails with China Glaze Liquid Leather. I used a striping brush and Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure for the filigree and I sponged it on for the gradient. I topped the gradient nails off with LA Girls Uninhibited.

In other news, I completely revamped my blog last night. I went from three columns to two and changed things up for a more minimal look. I'm liking it so far, how about you? :) You can check out my tumblr and twitter to see the matching layouts :')

XO BRITTNEY

American Dreams

Hi! Sorry for the small absence last week- it was a busy one! I ended up wearing plain full-colour manicures all week. I finally had the chance to play around on Friday and this unintentionally American-looking manicure is the result. It consists of a dreamy pink-purple-blue gradient, typical tribal prints, and some cute stars thrown in for a little variety.

The colours I used are Essie Van D'Go, Essie Nice is Nice, and China Glaze Kinetic Candy. The tribal print and stars were done with a white striping polish.

That's all for today! Thank you for looking and have a lovely work week :)

- brittney xo

Window To The Stars

Hi friends! I hope you're enjoying a fine weekend. Here in Canada it's Thanksgiving weekend so Monday's a holiday for us. Everyone's come back home from university so I'm excited to reunite with my friends. Even though I complain about school a lot, I truly am thankful for everything I have right now. I'm in such a lucky position and I'm very happy where I am. Whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving or not, what are you thankful for? :)

The other day I saw this incredibly amazing manicure by Candice of MrCandiipants. She combined tribal with galaxy nails and it just blew my mind. Seriously, if you haven't already seen it, go click that link and check it out now! :) Upon seeing it I was struck by inspiration. I wanted to do some sort of galaxy combination too so I mashed it together with a framed nail (is that still a thing?) and because I was feeling super hipster I did a triangular window too ;)

I painted all of my nails with China Glaze Liquid Leather. I used a makeup sponge for the galaxies, first sponging on a layer of Nails Inc Baker Street. I then sponged on a bit of OPI Alpine Snow, then Nails Inc Baker Street again for depth. I added small bits of China Glaze Sweet Hook, American Apparel Office, and American Apparel The Valley. Finally I added some white dots of varying sizes for stars and a bit of Sinful Colors Hottie for sparkle. I used a black striping polish to outline all of the shapes and filled them in accordingly. I then used a white striping polish for some additional borders.

I'm super happy with how these turned out, I can't stop looking at those triangles! I want to try out similar looks with a pink/purple galaxy next :)

- brittney xo

Mint On My Mind

Hello there! It's the middle of the week and I hope you're all faring well so far (: I had my first university midterm yesterday and it was pretty much a nightmare. It was one of those times where it went slightly better than I thought but I had already gone into it with super low expectations (ie. it was slightly less horrible than completely horrible). At least it's finished now and I can go back to putting physics on the back burner until the next test ;)

I have a simple manicure for you today. Looking at my unruly collection of polishes, I kept being drawn back to this minty shade. Once I had it on I couldn't bare to cover it up completely so I did a very subtle white tribal gradient.

For the accent nails I started with OPI Alpine Snow. I sponged on American Apparel Office for the gradient and applied it to the rest of my nails. For the tribal print I used a white striping polish.

Thanks for looking, much love!

- brittney xo

Sayonara Summer

Hello! I hope you're all doing well on this lovely autumn day. I've missed blogging a lot this past month but it was necessary to put it on the back burner for a little while. University has by no means settled down but I think I've finally gotten myself up to speed to keep up :) Hopefully I'll be back reading all of your blogs soon too! I have a lot of catching up to do :)

This is a manicure that I did a little while ago and some of you may have seen it already on Twitter. I wanted something on my nails that would aid in the summer-fall transition. Here I chose a full tribal chevron pattern with neutrals, rich red and a pop of light blue for a final glimpse of summer.

I used American Apparel California Trooper as my base. With a striping brush I drew on the design using American Apparel Downtown LA and American Apparel The Valley. For the dots I used a dotting tool and a white striping polish.

Thank you so much for your time and for sticking around. I'm so grateful to all of you.

- brittney xo

Watercolour Flowers

Hello! Today I have a fun technique to share with you. I first saw it in this pretty manicure by Sarah of Chalkboard Nails. It's a 'watercolour' method that yields beautiful results with a simple technique. Here's a quick rundown on how I achieved this look:

1. Paint your nails with your base colour. Apply topcoat and let it dry.
2. Put a few tiny drops of polish to start off some of your petals at the center of the flowers.
3. Dip a paint brush in nail polish remover and gently dab it onto the drops of polish.
4. The polish should disperse and you can use the brush to drag the colour outwards to form the petals.
5. Use the leftover polish on the paint brush to paint on the rest of the petals in your flower.
6. If you accidentally remove the base colour or you need more vibrancy, just repeat the process until you cover things up or achieve the desired opacity! 'Less is more' is a key concept in this case- you don't want to end up with a giant blob of polish nor do you want to flood your nails with remover.
7. Seal with topcoat and you're done!

So simple! I really like the finished product- it reminds me of pressed flowers! I'm looking forward to trying out this technique some more. I think it has a lot of potential for more intricate designs.

I used OPI Alpine Snow for my base. For the flowers I used OPI A Roll in the Hague, OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where? and OPI Kiss Me on My Tulips.

Still working on the photo setup business. It's working so far. Check out my new itty bitty watermark! I hope this one is effective yet minimally intrusive. I realize that it would be really easy to photoshop it out but I'm gonna go out on a limb and trust the kind people of the internet to leave it alone ;)

What do you think of the watercolour technique? Yay or nay? Have you tried it yet? (Feel free to link me with your versions!)

Dawn Til Dusk

It's almost the weekend, yay! This is both relieving and sad- next week is my last week of work. I've really come to enjoy it and I'll be sad to be leaving )': But university awaits!

Here's an edgy manicure that incorporates a lot of different elements: gradient, tribal, and cut-out hearts and suns! All of the polishes I used are by American Apparel- my favourite brand for cremes :) I'm happy with this look- it's the perfect way to end the summer.

You may notice that this photo looks a lot different from my usually ones. I always took pictures by a window with natural light and automatic camera settings. I haven't been very satisfied with this method lately so I decided that it was time for a change. I'm still using natural light but I'm playing with solid backgrounds, manually adjusting the white balance, and zooming out more. I like how this photo looks so hopefully this method will work in the future! I hope you like this new style too :)

I sponged a gradient on all of my nails with a makeup sponge and American Apparel Manila, American Apparel Neon Orange, American Apparel Sunset Blvd, American Apparel Poppy, and American Apparel Dynasty. Then I used black striping polish for the tribal print and the outlines of the shapes and American Apparel Hassid to fill.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

Strawberry Gingham

I hope you're all having a splendid Saturday. It's been very rainy here and I think I'm feeling a bit under the weather (get it?) as a result of it. I love working, I really do, but at the end of the week I'm just physically and mentally exhausted. And now for a lengthy explanation to this posts' manicure...

I've had a mental to-do list of nail ideas that never came to fruition because I couldn't figure out a nice way to execute them. For one thing, I've been dying to use this sheer red jelly I acquired: Revlon Cherry Fizz. It's labeled as a 'Glimmer Gloss' and I had never heard of this line before. I snagged it by chance for around a dollar at a store closing sale. On top of that, I finally bought Milani Gems, the famed Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday dupe, and I knew I had to do a jelly sandwich with it. Lastly, I've been itching to try a gingham print but I was always really unsure of whether or not creme finishes could do the job. I now know: jelly finishes are the way to go!

So how did this jumble of ideas come together? Last week I saw this adorable manicure by the very talented Katy of Nailed It. (scroll to the bottom of the post, underneath those perfect swatches). I used her design as accent nails and a full gingham print on the rest of the nails. I'm pretty happy with the result, I think it came out really cute :) By the way, about jelly polishes and gingham: This method was so easy, no mixing for darker shades required! The sheer jelly built opacity nicely, simply by adding a dab of polish at the gingham intersections.

For the accent nails I started of with a base of OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where? Then I layered a coat of Milani Gems followed by a couple layers of Revlon Cherry Fizz. For the gingham I used OPI Alpine Snow for the base colour. I just used the brush that came with Revlon Cherry Fizz for the gingham. For the gingham tips I did the same thing but outlined the shape with a white striping polish first.

And there we have it! A high-gloss, summery picnic-desire-invoking manicure. Sorry for all the rambling but I hope you enjoyed this post :)

Daisy Chains

Good morning! To my fellow Canadians: I hope you're enjoying your long weekend! To everyone else: Haha suckers I hope your regular weekend is going well too! ;) I'm behind in posting which may be a good thing because I now have three posts ready to go for this week.

I was really liking the flowers from my previous manicure, Wildflowers, so I decided to try out those little flowers again. This time I arranged them in a more structured pattern, framing my nails almost like the border nail trend. I chose to go for a single accent nail in a happy, shimmery yellow that added just the right punch of brightness to the manicure.

On the accent finger I used American Apparel Manila with Color Club Daisy Does It (how fitting!) on top. For the rest of the nails I used American Apparel California Trooper. With a small brush I painted on the petals with OPI Alpine Snow and the leaves with OPI Green-wich Village. I used a dotting tool and the same yellow combo for the centers of the daisies.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Wildflowers

Hello! I feel like I've been a bad blogger. I'm really behind on replying to comments and commenting on other blogs. I realized that this lethargy is applicable to basically everything going on in my life. I'm just avoiding everything, pushing it all away to deal with at a later date. This is starting to sound like a diary (which I am also behind on) but I felt like I owed you some sort of explanation! Hopefully this all passes soon, fingers crossed.

Anyway, I really like today's manicure: a pattern of bright flowers with some sketchy leaves. I was a bit iffy about it at first but by the end of the process I was very pleased! It's different from my usual but I'm looking forward to trying some similar looks soon.

The base here is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. The flowers were made with a dotting tool and China Glaze Kinetic Candy, American Apparel Neon Orange, and Essie Lapis of Luxury. The leaves were freehanded with a black striping polish.

I hope you're all doing well!

Tribal Travels

This is a manicure that I wore while at the cottage. I feel like tribal print is perfectly representative of summer. Any time that the sun or the beach is involved, my mind instantly gravitates toward tribal prints. It's such a fun, crisp pattern and I don't think I'll ever get tired of them. Here I tried something a bit different- a half nail design. I really like the finished product. It's a fun way to show off both the base colour and a cool design!

You may notice that this photo looks a bit different from my usual ones. I was at the cottage with a very talented photographer friend! So special thanks to my favourite friend @vanessahht for taking this photo :D

For this look I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy with Art Club Electric Universe for the tribal print.

Thanks for stopping by! xo

Woven Gold

Happy hump day! I'm sorry for the lack of posting again. I got back from the cottage last Friday and I started my job on Monday. The job itself is pretty nice but the commute is three hours out of my day, five days a week ):

Otherwise, thanks so much for sticking around! I really appreciate you all very much. I have a pretty manicure for you today, featuring that good ol' fishtail pattern. I have a tutorial here if you want to learn how to do it for yourself! (: I really like this colour combination and this might sound weird, but I'm really pleased with my actual polish application haha. 

Started off with China Glaze Kinetic Candy. The gradient is Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure, a gold glitter by Love & Beauty and Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me. I used a white striping polish and Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure for the fishtail.

That's all folks! Look out for some cool tribal manicures up next!

Neon Clash

Greetings! This is a scheduled post so I won't be able to reply quickly (not that I ever really do). So if you have any questions, I'll try to get back to you as soon as I'm back on a computer!

Here's some fun nail art for you today. I wanted something loud and bright with some cool patterns. This is what I came up with, a neon tribal mix. I like it a lot, it's very fun and reminiscent of summer.

This manicure was really hard to capture properly on camera! The neons were going wild, flashing and glowing all sorts of crazy colours. This photo is mostly colour-accurate, except the red looking parts are actually a touch more pink. I like the index and thumb designs the best, I want to use them again soon (:

I painted all of the nails with American Apparel Manila and then went crazy with Art Club striping polishes in Neon Yellow, Neon Violet and MOD Pink.

So what do you think of this neon-filled look? Is it something you would wear too? (:

Lavender & Lace (Prom Dress + Nails)

I feel like I had been waiting for prom for an eternity but just like that it came and went. It was a wonderful time full of fun and pretties. On the right here you can see me, posing awkwardly for some solo shots haha. My prom dress is a strapless high-low style in a light purple colour with a sweetheart neckline. There is a layer of white lace underneath the sheer purple overlay. It wasn't the kind of dress I expected to end up with but I really do love it. My shoes are some of the most comfortable heels I have ever worn (bonus!) since they have both a platform and a chunkier heel. I got really lucky in finding them- they match my dress perfectly! It's not in this photo but I had an Alexander McQueen look-alike for my clutch. A gunmetal colour with those cool skull rings!

For my nails I went for the simple approach. I was thinking of doing a lace pattern but being short for time I did a quick gradient instead. This look is super popular, I find. Stay tuned because I filmed a tutorial for it! (Hopefully I'll edit it before next year ;P)

I started off with Seche Chemise. I sponged on Love & Beauty Orchid, followed by a silver glitter from Love & Beauty and Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter.

I hope you liked this post! (: Quick note: I'm leaving for the cottage tomorrow with some friends so I won't have access to a computer. I have some drafted posts though, so I'll try to schedule those! Until then! xo

Prom Perfect (8 Nail Designs!)

As some of you may know from my previous posts, my prom is finally coming up this Friday! It's literally the last possible day to have it, since I don't think anyone has prom in July. I wanted to branch out with my nail endeavors and prom seemed like a good place to start. I offered other girls from my school the chance to have a set of false nails hand painted by me. I had a relatively good response to it and I finally have them all finished.

Orders came in at random times. I wanted to post these sooner to give you some ideas in case you had your prom but I waited until they were all done. Maybe next year? (: For those wondering, the process involved sizing each 'client', one nail at a time. Then I looked at their prom dress, came up with a few options on a nail wheel and we negotiated until they liked a design. Then I hand clipped and filed down the nails where they could finally be painted. Phew!

Enough rambling, here are the nails, named by the initial of each girl! The blue-ish stuff you see on some of the translucent nails is just temporary adhesive. If you want to know any specific polishes, just ask! (:

C: clear to gold & holographic glitter with rhinestones.

E: light purple to fuchsia gradient with fine silver shimmer and rhinestones.

G: nude with gunmetal and black triangles.

M: clear to iridescent silver glitter with rhinestones.

O: clear to green glass fleck with fuchsia flowers and rhinestones.

V: clear to silver glitter.

A: clear to gold glitter.

K: light purple to dark purple gradient with fine silver shimmer and silver glitter.

Evidently the trend for this year is gradients and heaps of glitter. I hope you liked all of these different looks!