NOTD: Ultraviolet

Here is a polish that I picked up recently at ULTA in Buffalo. You may remember that this was an exciting shopping trip for me - international haul! lol. Pop Nail Glam's Ultraviolet:

 This polish caught my eye because of the colour and the appeal of a new brand. I hadn't heard of Pop Beauty beforehand, but now I'm glad I took the risk! The application is flawless. Two coats gave me solid coverage. What I love most is the finish. It's not glossy or matte, it's somewhere in-between, almost a toned-down plastic-like finish. I actually wish that I had picked up more colours just so that I have more options with this finish! This picture gives you more of an idea of what I'm talking about:

I don't see my polish on the Pop Beauty website, there are lots of other colours though - check them out! They appear to be different finishes, just looking at the swatches. 

Do you have any Pop Nail Glam polishes? I would love to hear what you think about them!!!

Thanks for reading, 

Hayley

Friday Favourites Round 4

Das Experiment's Picture Polish Sparkle - These swatches make me want this colour! My nails aren't nearly as nice as this blogger's though. I agree with her opinion that the polish looks great paired with light denim. Very pretty. 

Fashion Polish's Coney Island and Glitter in the Air -  I have to add American Apparel's Coney Island to my wishlist! It looks great paired with GITA, and reminds me of cotton candy :) As usualy, Sam's photos are stunning.

Sweet Sugar's Striping Tape Manicure -  Another Bella and Edward pairing that really pops! I wish that Essence polishes were available in Canada. Or if they are, I'm totally missing them! 

Nightly Nails' Revlon Just Tinted - These are great swatches of the new Revlon line. These colours look so juicy, I can't wait to try mine out.   

Lex's Intergalactic Nails - Incredible nail art, his girl has talent. Tutorial here.

Chit Chat Nails Stranger Tides - I like the earthy look of this manicure, it's really cute and subtle

Canadian Nail Fanatic's Maya Flowers - What a great stamped manicure! I love the base colour, I love the image plate, and the yellow dots are a playful and fun contrast against the coral. Pretty and feminine. 

MaD Manis' Dandelions - I hate dandelions, but I love dandelion imagry (hah!) This nail art is skillfully done, and I love how the image travels across all of the nails. 

NOTD: Matte Glossy Dots

 I created a simple cute mani for Polish-aholics Anonymous' Monday Nail Art Challenge... This was the first collective group challenge that members came up with, I thought it would be fun to join in! The theme this week was Polka-dots, and here is my take on it...

 I coated each nail with 4 coats of Deborah Lippmann's Call Me Irresponsible (jelly polish that needed a lot of building up!). I put a matte finish on every other nail, and dotted these nails with a clear shiny polish. Then I dotted the already-glossy nails with the matte polish. Taa-daa!

 I love this statue in my Mom's Garden...

Thanks for reading,


Hayley

NOTD: Watermelon!

Just thinking now, I probably should have done this mani with Essie's Watermelon, but maybe next time! I really like this look, it's very cute and super easy to do!

I used Maybelline Pink Burst, did a white french tip and added a green stripe on top of that. Black seeds using a dotting tool and voila!

Thanks for reading :)
Hayley

International Haul!

When I say International, I just mean a visit to Buffalo, LOL. I went cross-boarder shopping with my Mom last weekend. I scouted out a Rite-Aid and an Ulta, and I picked up some great finds! Here they are...

 Orly Halley's Comet, Out of this World and Galaxy Girl

 Jellies! Revlon Desire, Victorian and Dawn, plus Essie No Pre-nup

  Ok, this wasn't from a store, but ordered online: CND Effects!!! Here are Violet, Emerald and Gold Shimmers; Sapphire and Jade Sparkles; and Gold and Lavender Pearls

  Cremes: Nicole by OPI Daffy Dill, Maybelline Pink Burst and POP Nail Glam Ultraviolet

  Shimmers: Piggy Polish I and Love Blue, London Butter Lady Muck and Essence Where is the Party?

 GLITTERS! NYC Starry Silver Glitter, Color Fever Pink Diamond and 24K Gold, and ULTA Pinata-Yada-Yada

Woo! Time to get polishing!

Hayley

NOTD: Silver Bolt

Here is a recent manicure inspired by Nailside's awesome lightening bolt tutorials.

Here is something that you don't know about me: I am impatient when it comes to waiting for things to dry or cool off. I always ice cupcakes too soon resulting in a melted icing mess. I usually touch my manicures while they're still tacky, and need to do touch ups. I could give you more examples, but I will save them for another day. I tried putting tape on top of OPI's Rumple's Wiggin' to block off the section for the lightening bolts... but it wasn't dry. Nails ruined, it was a horrible mess. 


I removed everything and re-did the lilac and instead free-handed the lightening bolts (Chine Glaze Cheers to You) Not super-crisp lines, but I got the effect I wanted and I was happy with the results! Here are some more pics, enjoy :)

Thanks for reading,
Hayley

NOTD: Trophy Wife Tattered in Gold

The names of these polishes go together really well, don't you think? Here are Essie's Trophy Wife and Color Club's Tattered in Gold (which you can win in my giveaway, by the way!)

 The more Essie polishes I try, the more I fall in love with the brand. The application is flawless, with complete coverage in 2 coats. Trophy Wife has a really bold shimmer to it. The polish didn't need sprucing up, but that wasn't enough to stop me from applying some crackle polish!

Tattered in Gold is applied just like most other crackle polishes - only after the base colour is completely dry, and varying thickness produce different textures. I did this mani with thin-medium coats of TiG. I think that these contrasting colours compliment each other well!

Thanks for reading,

Hayley

100 Follower Giveaway!

Thank-you for reading, thank-you for following! As a reward to you (and an incentive to get you tell more people about my blog!), I am hosting my first giveaway!

 That's just a little Beiber humor, hardy-har-harr.

The following items will go to one lucky winner. These are all brand new, purchased by me. The polishes are some of my favourites, I hope they appeal to you! From R-L, Top-Bottom:

Revlon  - Minted (creme polish)

Nicole by OPI - Canadian Star (swatched here)

Finger Paints - All You Need Is Color (swatched here)

Funky Fingers - Bourbon St (great for layering, as seen here)

Color Club - Tattered in Gold (shatter polish)

Color Club - Crush on You (shatter polish)

Color Club - Magic Attracion (holo glitter)

So... Here are the deets:


This giveaway is international and will last one month, ending July 4, 2011.

You must be a public follower and leave me your e-mail address so that I can contact you if I win.

You can gain extra entries by blogging about this giveaway (please use one of the photos!) and telling me what your favourite nail polish is. 

NOTD: Yellow Brick Road

I had a blond moment today, and since I have little shame I will share it with you! I got Deborah Lippmann's Yellow Brick Road a few days ago, and tried it out for the first time today. 4 or 5 coats later I built up the jelly polish into a really nice yellow that I love! I had the windows open as I was doing my manicure so the smell wouldn't get to me, but I still smelled something strong. It was pineapples. What? Could my new polish be pineapple-scented?!! I didn't read that it was scented in any of the reviews online, and the box doesn't say that it's scented... am I imagining things? The smell is getting stronger! Am I having a stroke??!! Seriously, a million things went through my head, but I just kept polishing on, laa dee daa, in my own little happy bubble. I took some pictures, the smell was still there. I went on the computer, the smell still lingered. I got a drink downstairs... pinepapple smell everywhere! Then I realized... DUH I had applied a new Coconut Pineapple Bath and Body Works fragrance mist. :) I am so s-m-r-t. Well, here are some new photos to share!

 Still loving my mom's garden! Especially after a rain shower... so pretty. 

 And finally, the scent-culprit. I recommended this fragrance mist (so long as you remember you're wearing it... lol) Better than a pina colada!

Friday Favourites Round 3

I've missed a few Fridays, but I haven't stopped collecting my favourite posts! Here are some of YOUR amazing posts that inspire my passion for nail polish!(also, I hate how Blogger has formatted this post - if it bothers you as much as it bothers me, I'm sorry, I've tried and I can't fix it!)

Liquid Jelly's Once a Cheetah, Always a Cheetah - I have passed by the $OPI Safari Luxe collection a zillion times and never wanted anything from it, but this post makes me want to get OACAAC! It looks so pretty on Liz's nails, and her photography really captured the glow. Beautiful. 

Rebecca Likes Nails' Gradient Zebra - Speaking of Safaris...! Rebecca's nail art is so well done, it looks amazing. I love that she has used relatively inexpensive polishes (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear) to create this awesome Zebra print mani. Plus the tutorial is very detailed and helpful. Wow! 

Diana's Green and Glitter Nails - It's the colour that really attracts me to this design. I love the mint base paired with the green Konad accents. I have the fishnet (lace?) image plate, I am excited to try this design out.  I also find it amazing that the glitter topcoat is called Edward, and that it has a pair called Bella. LOL.

Fashion Polish's Essie Lapis of Luxury with Effects - Adding the Golden Rose scale effect (aka FLAKIE!) to an already beautiful colour and then mattifying it - WOW. I could wear this every day for the rest of my life, it's THAT pretty. 













Emily's Twist on the Traditional Leopard Print - I have seen lots of leopard print manis, and a lot of them are non-traditional, and I pretty much love all of them. This one catches my eye especially because it is monochromatic - black, white and grey. The unexpected glitter accents are so pretty :)

Kayla's Cherry Blossoms - This is flawless. Just stunning. <3 I want this now. 



















Let Them Have Polish's Mermaid's Tears - Another fishnet/lace design (I see a trend in my favourites this week), Cristina took the name of the polish literally when designing her manicure - Mermaid's Tears! Duh, why didn't I think of this?! The sponging effect paired with a clever use of the newly-named fishnet/lace/fishSCALE image plate, and a few clear rhinestones - voila. Very cool.

Nicely Varnished's Time for Summer! - This nail art it so awesome! I rarely see such bright neons put together in such a nice way. Very summery indeed.












Once Bitten's Snakeskin Nails - I love where the inspiration for this manicure came from - an actual snakeskin manicure that cost over $300. Once Bitten made her faux snakeskin design for much less moola by carefully blending colours and stamping. Very creative and well-done!

Gotham Polish's Milky Glitter Mani -  A Friday Favourite post wouldn't be complete without a link to Gotham Polish! I love this girl's photos and unique perspective of NYC. I love her sense of humor. AND I LOVE THIS MANICURE! I am calling it Milky glitter, because that's what it reminds me of (Amy, I hope you don't mind!) The bright and bold glitter of Milani Gems takes on a whole new pastel look. Win! 

Stalking: $OPI Blasted

Crackle, Shatted, Texture, Fractured... now there's BLASTED!

It's available in filer, gold and black. They were sold out of all of them, but had samples of silver and gold. Silver was (suprise!) just like OPI silver shatter. The gold shattered identically, which, in my opinion, does not produce the nicest texture. I recently picked up the Colour Club shatter equivalent in gold, and I MUCH prefer the fault lines that it produces... I will try to get some pictures up soon!

Hayley

NOTD: Reverse Inspiration

I am calling this mani Reverse Inspiration because after wearing it for a day I noticed this in my mom's garden:

My nails matched it pretty well! 2 coats of OPI's Houston We Have a Purple, 1 coat of Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, another coat of HWHAP and a matte top coat...

HWHAP matches the flower almost perfectly. I love this manicure, I put it on my toe nails too :)

I was pleased with how well Happy Birthday went on. It gives a nice concentrated amount of glitter in only one coat.

I'm going a little photo-crazy here, but I had fun in the garden! Everything is in bloom and it looks so beautiful. My mom really does a great job out there :)

Thanks for reading :) Also of note, I finished shopping for my giveaway, look forward to a post soon!


Hayley