First Tape mani

This was from a few weeks ago, it's my first success with a tape manicure! I'm a horrible blogger right now because I honestly cannot remember what polishes I used... doh. I wore this for a day without the gold glitter then added it to spice things up. I love this look and will definitely try it again!

Thanks for reading,
Hayley

Red Delicious

Before you ask, I have not abandoned the 31 day challenge! I will just take my sweet time with it, that's all ;) My blog, my rules! 

I guess my job has inspired this manicure. On the first day of school, the principal gave all us teachers a bright shiny apple :) So cliche, but very welcome! 

I painted the apples using the brush from the bottle, forming heart-shapes (Zoya Sookie), and added green leaves (Butter London Dosh) and white glossy shines (Sally Hansen White Tip) with a nail art brush. Enjoy!

Hayley

Update

I am back to work now and have a class of 20 lively first graders to teach! Thank-you for your patience with my lack of posting... I am updating now to tell you the winner of my piCture pOlish giveaway - Deja Vu from My Nails: A Love Affair - congrats to her!


I hope to have some more posts up soon - I haven't forgotten about the 31 Day challenge!


Hayley

Day 11: Polka Dots

Day 11: Polka Dots


Here's Pop Beauty Nail Glam's Violetta dotted with Zoya Roxy - I think it's a cute combo! It's actually much brighter than in the photos but my camera wasn't cooperating... oh well :)

Thanks for reading! Now I'm off to get a good night's sleep for my first day back to Grade 1 tomorrow - teaching, by the way, I'm not six years old ;)

Hayley

Day 10: Gradient

Day 10: Gradient

Today's manicure looks much better in person, I just couldn't get a great photo of it! I started off with a light turquoise (Kiko #344), sponged a slightly darker turquoise on the upper 2/3 of my nails (Nails Inc. Warwick Way) and sponged a sparkly blue on the tips (OPI's Absolutely Alice). I have been wearing this for a few days now and I think the look is adorable. 

Same picture, minus the bottle ;)

Hayley

Day 9: Rainbow

Day 9: Rainbow


I interpreted today's challenge as a skittles manicure, which is painting each fingernail a different colour. I chose pastels instead of typical rainbow bright vibrant colours. 

Mary Shaw

 *Sorry Rainbow-Brite. 

The polishes I used are, from thumb to pinky, Ulta Heirhead, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Nails Inc. Wellington Square, Zoya Marley, and China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

I currently have Wellington Square on my toe nails... It's a really beautiful peach colour and I highly recommend it!


Hayley

Day 8: Metallic

Day 8: Metallic
I just got the perfect polish for this post: Chanel's Peridot. I wanted this as soon as I saw swatches of it. This is my only Chanel nail polish, and I don't plan on collecting these on account of the price. $25 is too much for a polish! Everything else about it is perfect - smooth application, even coverage in 2 coats, and stunning duochrome colour. Is it green? Is it gold? It's both!

Hayley

Day 7: Black and White

Day 7: Black & White


Today's manicure could have ended up quite boring, but I went for some nail art to give it a fun graphic twist. These are inspired by Sophie Robson's v-gap nails... enjoy!

Day 6: Violet

Day 6: Violet. 

Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!

Purple is the most popular colour in my nail polish collection, and it's my favourite to wear! Today I'm rocking China Glaze Grape Juice and Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple. 

This is a combo that I will wear again! I really love the Kleancolor holo polishes - they reflect so many colours and are great for layering. Thanks for reading!


Hayley

Day 5: Blue

Day 5: Blue. I used one of my Nails Inc. polishes! Here is Belgrave Place in all it's glory:

I only used one coat. ONE COAT! Looking at my nails now, maayyybe I could have used a second coat, but it's not necessary. It applied wonderfully. It's a deep blue, similar to pen ink. I haven't removed it yet, so I will let you know if it stains (fingers crossed that it doesn't!) Update: a little bit of staining was unavoidable. doh. 


Just for fun, here is a photo of me today:

I ordered the movie off Amazon. It's The Room, directed/produced/written/funded by and starring Tommy Wiseau. Some say that it's the worst movie ever made. I've only seen clips on You Tube so far, and I believe that it will live up to this title! I'm the kind of person who likes this sort of thing though... I have an odd sense of humour!



Hayley 

Day 4: Green

Day 4: Green. I am mostly not excited about the upcoming fall polish collections. I came across a display of Touring America by OPI and hated all of the colours. There might be 2 colours in the China Glaze Metro collection that I want to see in person. Essie's Fall collection is too dark and dreary for me. And Zoya's Smoke and Mirrors... I liked one. Here is Yara:

It's a dark green with micro flecks of light green (gold?) shimmer. It's quite pretty! Dark colours are usually unappealing to me, but this is different. I think I found a "fall" colour that I will wear a lot in the upcoming months (once I'm ready to say BYE to my summer neons... tear)

For full coverage use 2 coats. 

I thought that this was the only colour from this collection that I wanted... until today when I came across Spaz & Squee's swatch of Neeka:

She has also reviewed Jane and Petra in this post - check it out!

One more polish to buy!


-Hayley

The one with all the Nails Inc.

I now interrupt the regular 31 Day Challenge posts for an important announcement... 

Nails Inc. polishes are now at Sephora.

I went shopping and got a few too many... 

Top row, l-r: Electric Lane Holographic Top Coat, Chelsea Square, Buckingham Street, Old Park Lane, Connaught Square

Bottom row, l-r: Bloomsbury Square, Warwick Way, Piccadilly Circus, Belgrave Place, Wellington Square, Franklin's Row

Nails Inc. polishes are only being sold at select Sephora locations. I traveled to the Toronto Eaton Centre flagship store to get these. A new Forever 21 also opened there, and I picked up this amazing dress for only $27.80:

Belted Brushstroke Dress

So I think that's enough shopping for me for a long time*! 

I decided to stop my Friday Favourite posts. Instead, I will use Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that lets you organize any photos that you come across on the web. I have created a few Pin boards (My Style, Classroom Ideas, Bake Me, and more). The one that you will be most interested in is Nail Art. 

Pinterest is great because it links photos back to the place where you found them. I love looking through members boards for inspiration and ideas! It is so much easier than saving photos to my hard drive, and they are accessible from any computer. Amazing. I think that you might need an invite in order to join. If you would like one, comment below with your e-mail address and I will send it to you :)


Thanks for reading!
Hayley

*likely not

Day 3: Yellow

Day 3: Yellow. Yellow = Happy = Glee. I've been watching a lot of The Glee Project lately (oh boy, another guilty pleasure), and while she was on the show, I admired Marissa's banana earrings

I want these! What The Nell sells them for $10.95. I'm crafty though, I think I'll pull out my shrinky dinks and get to work... 

For todays colour theme, I used:

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky

Nubar Angelic Glitter

Two coats of Happy Go Lucky with one coat of Angelic Glitter on top = bright sunshine yellow!  hmmm reminds me of this...


Have a great day :)
Hayley

Day 2: Orange

Now onto Day 2: Orange. I have a hard time wearing orange. I don't own ANY orange clothes (or anything red, yellow or brown, btw) and very few orange accessories. I love oranges though (yum!), and recently bought this at an antique market: 

It's  Florida Orange Bird with his friend Peace-sign Baby Buddha

I have 3 orange polishes and used 2 of them for today's post:

American Apparel Neon Orange

 Zoya Tanzy

One coat of Neon Orange followed by two coats of Tanzy. Bright and shimmery, prefect for summer OR fall - I can imagine some cute black pumpkins stamped or painted on this base colour. 

Hayley

Day 1: Red

The 31 Day Challenge does seem like a big commitment, however I see this as a way for me to swatch some untried polishes, go outside of the box with my colour choices, and expand my nail art skills. I do NOT plan on stressing myself out over this by posting EVERY day, and I DO plan on having fun :) 


Here is Day 1: Red. I used Zoya's Sooki, which I partially bought because of the name #embarrassedtoadmit. I'm a True Blood fan, and this season is better than ever!  

Sooki is a great bright red. It applied evenly in 2 coats and has a nice shine on its own. I added a top coat just because that's how I roll. 

Sorry about the strange reflections on my nails :) This is a nice shade that I can see myself wearing year-round!


Thanks for reading, and remember,

Hayley

31 Day Challenge

I have been feeling uninspired this summer to write in my blog... I want to do this to keep me motivated! I stumbled across this from The Tuning Fork. Reply in my comments if you plan on giving it a go!

RULES:

• Reblog this post if you’re going to accept this challenge 
• One post per day
• If you miss one, pick it up the next day
• Post a picture of each mani
• It would be nice if you listed/linked to what polishes you used
• For the inspiration prompts, SHOW US YOUR INSPIRATION/SHARE LINKS
• BE CREATIVE
• TRY NEW THINGS
• HAVE FUN!!!

Galaxy Nails Video Tutorial

Yesterday I posted my Galaxy Nails... today I made a video tutorial! This is 1. My first tutorial, 2. My first video, and 3. My first time using iMovie! I am pleased with the result, although there are a million things I would do differently next time... Please watch and let me know what you think!!! I would also love to see your own Galaxy nails, comment with a picture or link if you make them!



Thanks for reading (and watching!)


Hayley

piCture pOlish Giveaway!

I got some exciting news last week - I was chosen as one of the top 15 participants in the piCture pOlish Blogfest! Do you remember my pictures of Twinkle? Myself and 14 other bloggers have been rewarded by being provided with a giveaway for our readers! That is great news for YOU. The winner of this giveaway will get to select any THREE piCture pOlish shades from http://www.picturepolish.com.au  There are over 60 polishes to choose from (not including Ozotic polishes). It will be a hard decision for the winner!

You have until August 31, 2011 to enter. You must be a Google Friend Connect follower (new followers always welcome!). You may gain one extra entry by blogging about this giveaway somewhere on your blog. Please provide your e-mail address so that I may contact you if you win. Good luck!

NOTD: Galaxy Nails

I haven't done much with my nails lately. I had been uninspired to do anything beyond a basic creme. I looked through some of my old Friday Favourite posts and remembered Through the Wormhole's Intergalactic Nails (see right). Instant inspiration! I gathered together some polishes that I felt would work with the outer space-feel, and went to work... This was super easy and not all that time-consuming. Here is the result!

I will let you know the polishes I used when I post a tutorial tomorrow. I am going to attempt to make my first video tutorial - wish me luck ;)