Here Comes the Sun

Dots

2012-02-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

I dug out my dotting tool and decided to create a cool-coloured gradient made entirely out of dots! I used China Glaxe Re-Fresh Mint, and Electric Beat, plus Kiko 344 and my favourite blue, Nails Inc. Belgrave Place. The base is a mix of a few silver and shimmer polishes I have.

I've also entered these nails into Chalkboard Nails' Nail Art contest... wish me luck!

Thanks for reading,

Hayley

New Mani, New Year!

2012-01-05T17:23:00.002-05:00

Out with 2011, in with 2012! I am SO done with last year and looking forward to lots of great things for the year to come. I haven't updated in a few months, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing my nails ;) Back in December I did a cute snowy manicure inspired by Nailside's design...

I also tried 3D nail decal stickers from Sally's. I hated the texture of these and removed them right after snapping a few pics!

Last night I got around to trying a manicure I had been wanting to attempt for a long time - a full on (double!) rainbow gradient. I was intimidated to try this. I had only ever done a maximum of 3 colours in a gradient, and I was looking at using 6 to get the effect that I wanted. My nails are at a good length now, so last night I finally decided to go for it. Here are the polishes that I used:

Zoya Marley, OPI Pink Friday, random orange OPI (oops! no label!) mixed with white*, Essie Barbuda Banana, Picture Polish Honey Dew, and Essie Borrowed & Blue
*I really need to get a pale orange!

I apologize that my thumbnail looks a little gnarly... I am mending a crack with a tea-bag patch - I'm pretty new at this but it's holding up well! Here are a few more pics. I'm really happy with how this manicure turned out!

I want to share one tip with you... this is the best thing that I have come across to help me with sponging. When I sponge a gradient on my nails, I like to cut up a makeup sponge into tiny pieces in order to get the most of it. The pieces are difficult to hold, especially with freshly-painted nails. I tried regular tweezers, but these proved difficult too, since you have to continually squeeze so you don't drop the sponge. Enter these tweezers:

I believe that they are sticker tweezers, from a company called Making Memories. I bought them at Michaels Craft store years ago. They are reverse tweezers, so by default they are in a closed position, and you only have to squeeze to release the grip and open the tips. This is great for sponging, since you can loosely hold the tweezers like a pencil and not strain your wrist or risk ruining your mani :)

Thanks for reading,

Hayley

First Tape mani

2011-09-27T12:55:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-26T22:50:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-15T21:18:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-05T21:29:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-28T19:40:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-25T07:00:00.004-04:00

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

2011-08-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-19T07:00:00.007-04:00

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

2011-08-18T11:26:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-17T14:11:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-15T11:26:00.000-04:00

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.

2011-08-14T20:11:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-14T18:20:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-13T10:09:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-12T16:31:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-12T14:42:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-10T00:32:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-08-09T17:16:00.000-04:00

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!

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

NOTD: Galaxy Nails

2011-08-09T00:53:00.005-04:00

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 ;)

New Color Clubs

2011-08-01T10:37:00.001-04:00

There are some great new Colour Club collections coming our way, and I think that these make up for the -meh- fall collections being released by some of the more popular brands. OPI Touring America, I'm looking at YOU!

Color Club - Beyond the Mistletoe Collection

Color Club introduces its brightest, shiniest colors yet! Beyond The Mistletoe features six SPARKLING shades that are sure to DAZZLE. Show them off at your holiday party or give as a gift.
No release date yet.

Color Club - Foiled Collection

Color Club brings you six LUXURIOUS LIQUID SHADES with FOILED. CHROME-LIKE shine and strong as METAL wear, Colors SO HOT they MELT!
No release date yet.

Color Club - Copy Cats Collection

Copycoats is a sensory experience like never before. Once dry, indulge yourself in six SCENTED TOPCOATS, each filled with a FABULOUS fragrance. PERFUME your manicure with Copycoats!
No release date yet.

Color Club Backstage Collection

UNLEASH your inner ROCK STAR with Color Club’s Backstage Pass collection. The bigger the glitter, the more you can rock out. These six dazzling shades will be your biggest hit yet!
No release date yet.

Friday Favourites Round 6

2011-07-29T12:37:00.001-04:00

Supa Nails Zulu Pop - I am digging this tribal-look manicure trend. I admire the skill it takes to make all those thin lines! This is a look that I absolutely want to try out myself :)

Keep Calm and Pain Nails' Feather Mani - wow, I think these are real feathers! I'm assuming you layer a base colour, top coat, feather, and a final top coat to seal it in... I want to try this!

Canadian Nail Fanatic's Flower Mani - I linked CNF the last time that she used this stamp. I will probably basically love any time that she uses this plate. LOL. Although I'm not a fan of the new OPI shade Lily I Love You, I like how it is used in this mani to give the navy creme a galaxy feel. Beautiful.

Dizzy Nails' Wallis Crackified - Lauren put Tarnished Gold Crackle from China Glaze over London Butter Wallis to create this look. I am more into subtle contrasts when it comes to crackle polishes, so naturally I love this :)

Haute Laacquer's Murder Scene Mani - wooww, this girl has SKILL with a brush!!! I love crime scene thriller TV shows... Dexter, CSI, Criminal Minds, the list goes on. I studied Forensic Science in my undergrad, too... Naturally, I love these nails. :)

Emerald Sparkled Vintage Roses - This is the nicest flower manicure that I've seen in a long time! The roses are crisp and big, and the colour choice is great too :) love it!

piCture pOlish Blogfest - Twinkle

2011-07-24T23:51:00.001-04:00

Hello readers! Almost two months ago I was selected to participate in Blogfest, put on by piCture pOlish. They are an Australian nail polish company with their own line of colourful shades, plus they sell the must-have Ozotic polishes. They sell world-wide from their website, http://www.picturepolish.com.au/ They offer wonderful customer service and high-quality product. Please check them out if you haven't already!

Blogfest is an event organized by piCture pOlish in which 60 nail polish bloggers from around the world have been each sent a different PP shade to review. Today (July 25) you just might be bombarded by lots and lots of shade reviews, and now you know why! I was sent Twinkle, a light pink-periwinkle purple with a hint of shimmer.

I used 2 coats for full coverage. No streaks, very opaque and very nice with a slight hint of shimmer.

I did not use a top coat for these photos. It's difficult to see the shimmer, but its there! The polish has some pinkish-purple specks of shimmer that reflect nicely in the sun.

My mom's hydrangeas are in full bloom and made an excellent backdrop for this photo shoot... Twinkle is more pink than blue, and I felt that it blended in with my tanned skintone... When I'm paler in the winter this will be my go-to shade!

Don't mind me, I went a bit photo-happy.

Lastly, I took this picture to show you how Twinkle compares to two other popular purples, China Glaze Light as Air and OPI Planks a Lot. this photo shows that Twinkle is much more pink than the other shades. I don't have a dupe in my collection!

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

NOTD: Don't Get Catty

2011-07-24T22:07:00.000-04:00

This is my second try at Sally Hansen Salon Effects, Don't Get Catty from the designer collection (ooh laa laa - lol) I like using these! I cut my nails short so that one strip would cover two nails... This way I only had to open one of the two packages and this set will last for another application! yay!

Don't Get Catty is HOT PINK. The leopard spots reminded me of this phalaenopsis orchid. I feel like I've mentioned this in each of my last posts, but this is definitely a summer manicure! I'm getting a nice tan, and anything that makes my colour pop makes me feel good :)

Hayley

NOTD: Layering It's My Year

2011-07-22T18:58:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick NOTD - China Glaze Grape Pop with one coat of OPI It's My Year layered on top.

I love this look, although it wasn't summery enough for me! I'm taking it off and putting on some Flip Flop Fantasy or one of my new American Apparel neons... I can't go wrong with that!

NOTD: Glitter Bomb!

2011-07-17T20:39:00.000-04:00

Here is a manicure I gave myself for Polish-aholics Anonymous's Monday Nail Art Challenge... Glitter Bomb! I started out with 2 coats of white polish, then 2 of OPI's Sparkle-icious and some DL Happy Birthday on the tips. It's not full-on glitter coverage, but SO much easier to remove!

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

Top Ten Award

2011-07-16T18:56:00.001-04:00

A few eons ago, I was tagged by Amy from Gotham Polish for the Top Ten Award... Amy wrote a sweet little something something about my blog, thanks to her for that ;)

I couldn't choose only 10 of my favourite beauty products to write about, so here are my top 12 list! I use most of these items every day, and I don't know what I would do without them!

1. Cover Girl Fresh Complexion concealer - I've been using this for years as a foundation to conceal dark spots (hellooo under eye circles) and minor imperfections. It is not heavy and allows my skin to breath.

2. The Balm Hot Mama shadow/blush - I wear this as a blush. I get a perfect summery golden-pink glow year round. I've recommended this to many people!

3. Bourjois Paris eyeshadow #16 Nude - It's called Nude, but goes on like a nude/gold shimmer. It really brightens up my eyes without making it look like I'm wearing too much makeup.

4. Lush Rehab shampoo - Papaya, pineapple, kiwi, mango, peppermint and rosemary smell amazing in this shampoo for dry/damaged hair. I use it about once a week, although I don't think it's the best suited to my hair-type. OH WELL!

5. Lush Daddy-O shampoo - This is ideal for blondes, I use it regularly to brighten up my colour. The chamomile also makes my hair smell amazing. I don't mind splurging on Lush shampoo!

6. Lush Eau Roma Water toner - This has been a lifesaver during the hot muggy summer that has plagued Toronto (I love the heat, but the moisture is so sticky and ugh!) I store this in the fridge and spritz it over my face and arms for an instant cool-off.

7. Lush Lemony Flitter cuticle butter - THE BEST cuticle care I've encountered. I slather it on and leave it for a few minutes, and it already starts to absorb into my skin on it's own. After massaging the extra into my hands, like with all Lush products, I smell amazing!

8. Lush Ultrabalm body balm - A year ago, this would have been replaced with Vaseline. I prefer Ultrabalm now! I use it as a nighttime lip moisturizer, to sooth my red ring around my nose when I'm sick, and on my inner thighs to prevent chaffing when I wear a skirt (tmi? lol) It works for all of these uses AMAZINGLY, and there are about a million other uses too. It's less sticky than Vaseline, absorbs better, and is vegan friendly. I'm not vegan, I could actually go for a steak right now, but still a good cause to support. LOL

9. Aquonlina Pink Sugar perfume - For when I want to smell like cotton candy. I love the roller ball application. Thanks, Sephora!

10. L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara - My favourite mascara by far. This is another product I've been using for years. Old Faithful. I can layer it to get tonnes of volume. It doesn't flake. It's perfect.

11. Cover Girl Exact Eyelights brightening liner in Vivid Ruby - I only started using this last year to rim my upper and lower waterlines. The colour really makes my hazel-y green eyes POP and the consistency slides on easily.

12. Lush Lust perfume - For when I want to smell more sophisticated and/or mature. It is a strong jasmine floral scent that takes to my skin beautifully.

NOTD: Bahamas Sunset

2011-07-16T13:00:00.000-04:00

Here is something I came up with last week for Polish-aholics Anonymous Monday nail art challenge, which was a sponge or gradient manicure. I layered CG Lemon Fizz, an Orange OPI that I don't know the name of, and ORLY Flirty to come up with the gradient, and free-handed the palm tree. I love the result!

I also did the same design on my friend Heather's nails, but used blues and silver glitter for a cooler nighttime scene. Poor quality photo, but you get the idea!

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

NOTD: Inspired Nails

2011-07-15T19:23:00.001-04:00

This manicure was inspired by some nail art I came across on Make my Day, a nail art blog from Argentina. Take a look through this site, the designs are beautiful. I forced myself to take my time and do a neat job with my nail art brush, and I am SO pleased with the results! To the right is the inspirational photo -->

And here is my take on it...

Here is a photo to prove that I did both hands! This is the first time I even attempted something so intricate on all nails.

As you can guess, I used a lot of polishes to complete this look. I painted each nail with two coats of white. After it dried, I used my nail art brush (striper brush?) to fill in a half-moon near the base of my nail with one colour, left a stripe of white and then filled in the tip of my nail (basically an extended french tip). Finally, I made a Black "W" on each nail and added some dots. Fini! The polishes I used, from l-r are: China Glaze Liquid Leather, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, SOPI Arm Candy, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, OPI Rumple's Wiggin', OPI Fiercely Fiona, Essie Splash of Grenadine, Essie Barbuda Banana, OPI What's With the Cattitude, Orange OPI (I don't know the name!) mixes with white, and Sally Hansen White Tip

Here's a photo of one of my Mom's plumeria plants in bloom! The flowers smell amazing :)

Thanks for reading!
Hayley

Friday Favourites Round 5

2011-07-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

Also Known As' Turquoise and Silver Shatter manicure - I stared at this picture for *too* long trying to figure it out, before finally reading the text (and noticing that the bottle is a crackle... duh) and realizing that the finger designs alternate! Hah! I can be little slow, let me be. lol. I think this is very cool and I can't wait to try it out!

Enamel Girl's Midnight Mani - These are nail stickers from Sally's! Wow! How awesome does this look?! I want to try them out, even though it looks like there is a bumpy texture that would drive me nuts... it's so dazzling!

Getcha Nails Did's Love, Beverly Hills xx - I'm not totally crazy about this Essie colour, but I LOVE this photo! Haha, something about Dr. Pepper... yum! The colours match perfectly!

Chit Cat Nails' Katy Perry inspired mani - Katy is awesome for inspiration, and I love this look that Marta created based on one of Katy's outfits! Something about the one thick line on each nail adds an extra oomph - well done!

Emily's Bananarama Nails - How FUN is this? The cute bananas remind me of Andy Warhol's art, but are apparently based on another manicurist's nail art (whose link I cannot access right now)

Eat. Sleep. Polish's Braille Nails - I love the colour combos that Victoria came up with for each nail, and the dotting is well-done considering she just got her first dotting tools! Victoria is a relatively new blogger too - be sure to check out her blog!

Another Bottle of Polish's Fingerpaints Water Marble - You have to click on this link and check out all 10 fingernails... I love the floral-looking petals that were created using the water marble technique! I am impressed, this is gorgeous :)

Through the Wormhole's Modrian Manicure - As an art history geek, I love this nail art! I like that it is in blues instead of Modrian's typical primary trio... this is Lex's personalized touch and I am digging it!

Wow Wow Nails' Green Delicious - this is a very cute twist on a french manicure mixed with some foodie nail art! The apples are actually Konad stamps, believe it or not. I think this was made by Nina at Wow Wow... I met her a few months ago when I visited the shop in Toronto... she was very nice and helpful. Also of note - I got both of my China Glaze OMG polishes from Wow Wow Nails! It's hit or miss whether or not they have them in, but the shop is good enough for me to keep visiting and checking :)

NOTD: Terracotta

2011-07-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

Since I didn't get around to those posts I promised for the end of last week (oops!), here is a quick NOTD - Orly's Terracotta.

Terracotta is a great bright summer shade that looks awesome with a tan! I got it at Sally's, and I am quite certain that this polish is a part of the regular Orly collection, so it can be picked up any time. These photos were snapped last month - my nails look MUCH different right now! I squared them off for the first time ever. Although I am still getting used to this shape, I am quite happy with it and will maintain it for a while. You will have to see them for yourself in my next post!

I am also happy to announce the winner of my 100 Follower Giveaway.... Congrats to Nicole from Nails on the Go by Nicole for being picked! 200 followers entered, and there were 410 entries... Nicole is one lucky girl! Thank-you for entering everyone, and please look forward to a 500 follower giveaway coming up soon :)

Hayley

Update!

2011-07-06T21:51:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in over a week! the last day of school was on Thursday, and I was equally as excited as my students... The next day I took a road trip to Montreal with three of my girlfriends to celebrate the Canada Day long weekend! I ate delicious food (Poutine! Crepes! Bagels! Smoked meat!), shopped till I dropped, practiced my French, and, oh yeah, SAW WILL AND KATE! I waited outside a building they were in for 3 hours, and in the end they drove by and I saw Kate's beautiful smile as she waved at us in the crowd :D I was stoked!

Go to Schwartz's deli for the BEST Montreal smoked meat sandwich! I overheard a customer ask "is the placemat the menu?" to which the server replied "smoked meat IS the menu". Yes!

Me!

Mon ami et moi!

J'aime <3

Oui Oui!!

I love Will and Kate too :)

I have started taking a summer course in Visual Arts, so my days are still busy now... I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY GIVEAWAY! As soon as I sort out the entries, I will pick and post a winner! Thank-you for being patient, and WOW! Thank-you for all of your support! I have surpassed the number of followers I ever thought I would get - I am so flattered and amazed! I do not post as often as some other bloggers, so I hope you don't mind that about my blog. I will have a NOTD up by the end of the week - plus my giveaway winner :)

-Hayley

NOTD: Ultraviolet

2011-06-26T01:22:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-25T00:33:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-20T19:45:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-06-19T22:33:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-06-19T13:57:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-14T23:33:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-06T11:12:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-06-04T18:58:00.001-04:00

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.

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NOTD: Yellow Brick Road

2011-06-04T17:22:00.002-04:00

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

2011-06-04T00:06:00.003-04:00

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

2011-06-03T00:22:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-01T22:26:00.000-04:00

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

NOTD: Elytra 528

2011-05-31T23:47:00.000-04:00

Hello! I received some polishes in the mail the other day - my much awaited package from piCture pOlish which included Elytra 528, Elytra 528, Reef 506, and Ozotic High Impact Holographic 509. I had to try out one of the Elytra duo chromatic glittery shades first, here is 528!

I started with a base of 2 coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather, followed with 2 coats of 528 and one coat of SV. 528 mostly reflects purple and green, but I definitely saw some hints of goldish copper too!

My only critique of the polish is that I have a bit of a hard time pulling off black polish, especially now with the start of summer around the corner. My neighbour saw my nails and said "Hayley, they look very Halloween!"... After hearing that, it was all I could think of! I think that I need to try it out layered over some more colours (purples especially). I still do love this look, but I will maybe consider it more for the fall and winter months.

Thank-you for reading :)
Hayley

NOTD: Laced Up

2011-05-26T23:36:00.002-04:00

Hi, long time not post! It's report card time and I am very busy at work getting my students' grades into the system. 24 more days of class until summer vacation! Woo!

I was really happy to see that today, right this minute I have 99 followers :D One more until my first giveaway! I have a few more things that I want to pick up for it, so stay tuned until next week for details. On second thought, this may have to wait until after report cards are completely submitted. Oops, I'm getting too anxious here! The giveaway will happen when it happens, how about that ;)

Speaking of giveaways, I was ecstatic to learn that I won my first! I entered Sweet Sugar's 500 follower giveaway last month and won. I will be recieving my first Catrice and Essence polishes, I am very excited :) Thanks Gwenn! Be sure to follow Sweet Sugar if you are not already.

Now onto my NOTD. I finally got around to trying out the Sally Hansen Salon Effects. Here is Laced Up topped with one coat of SV.

I was searching for Laced Up everywhere! It was the only design that I liked enough to pay $9 for. It seemed to always be sold out. I finally found it at Wal Mart of all places, the only one left! There are some minor imperfections in my application, but nothing that was noticable to anyone but me. I got a lot of compliments on the design, and I really do love it. BUT it's too pricey for my liking. I probably will not purchase them again, unless for a much lower price.

If I improve my stamping skills, I think I might me able to mimic Laced Up using some of my Konad and BM plates... fingers crossed because I love this design! Also, what do you think of my apple ring? Very teacher appropriate, no? ;) $12 CAD, from Aldo.

Thanks for reading

Hayley

NOTD: Blue Jungle

2011-05-17T18:02:00.001-04:00

Is it Friday yet? ;) This week is going by too slow for my liking! I’ve had a rough start to the work week, but my mani has brightened it up slightly :) I just received the first Bundle Monster set in the mail, and I did this pattern right away! I’ve been excited to do this design and I love the way it turned out. The base is China Glaze For Audrey with Orly Snowcone stamped on top using the leaves from BM 9. A coat of SV on top and voila! Enjoy!

Hayley

NOTDs: New Beibs

2011-05-13T21:26:00.001-04:00

I still don’t get the connection between Justin Beiber and nail polish. I loathe that I love so many of the Nicole by OPI shades that he endorses! Mind you, if I was a 13-year-old teeny bopper I might be thinking differently ;) Here are two of my latest manis, featuring Canadian Star and Coral Denominator.

This is my favourite of the two, Canadian Star. It's a purple/ blue duo chrome loaded with lots of shimmer. I needed 4 coats, but it was worth the hassle! This is gorgeous.

Shiny!!!

Next is Coral Denominator. It reflects coral, pink, red and gold. I prefer the look in the bottle unfortunately, and it reminds me a lot of Zoya's Rica from the sunshine collection. I think I will still wear this shade, maybe just on my toes though ;) Check it out!

I am wearing 3 coats in these pictures, and probably could have used a few more to avoid the slight visible nail line. meh, I only wore this for a day!

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

NOTD: All You Need is Color

2011-05-08T23:30:00.000-04:00

First off - Happy Mother's Day! The weather was beautiful today, the perfect way to celebrate Mom! Sunny, warm, perfect :)

Here are two manis that I wore this past week. First is Finger Paint's All You Need Is Color. I believe that it is a part of a new FP line...? My local Sally had a new display featuring a bunch of Flower Power 1960s themed-colours. This one was my fave!

The application was very thick and a little difficult to control, but it built up nicely and gave me good coverage in two coats. I probably could have used a third coat, but who honestly likes to remove glitter polish?!

Today I wore Essie Watermelon with OPI Black Shatter on top. I didn't really like the shatter lines on all of my nails, but whatever... you get what you get!

Thanks for reading :)

Hayley

You like me! You really like me!

2011-05-07T13:10:00.000-04:00

I would like to thanks Giuditta for passing on the Liebster Blog Award to me!

The Liebster Award is designed to bring well deserved additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 300 followers. If you receive the award, link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate 3 more blogs.

I would like to pass this award on to the following awesome blogs that deserve more followers!

Wuliao Nails

I'm Obsessed With Nails

Oh What Fun!

THANKS also to Ling Ling for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award!

The Rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who sent you the award

2. Share seven things about yourself

3. Spread the love. Award recently discovered bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

Since I just recently shared 10 thing about myself (a few posts back), instead I will share with you my 7 favourite nail polishes :)

London Butter No More Waity Katie

OPI Black Shatter

Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air

Deborah Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible

Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet

SOPI Mash-Up

Zoya Zara

The 3 people that I want to nominate for this award are...

ChitChat Nails

Nihrid a

Nailside

Friday Favourites Round 2

2011-05-07T01:10:00.000-04:00

I apologize for acting MIA for the past few days, I am in a bit of a slump with my nails. I removed 3 manis in a row yesterday. I couldn't settle on something I was happy with! And then today at school I was working on a hallway mural all day, my hands and nails got really damaged as a result :/ I cleaned them up and moisturized a lot afterwards, and I'm looking forward to some great NOTDs coming up! Here is what I came across and loved this week, take a look :)

Ivana's Ruffian Manicure - I love this look. It's very sophisticated and classy, plus purple and gold look great together!

Ivana's Mattified Houston We Have a Purple with Prancer - Ivana gets 2 nods this week, because I just discovered her blog! HWHAP looks great with a matte finish (reminder to self - try this!) and the hexagonal red glitters look like they're magically hovering on the nail. Pretty!

The Nail Buff's Block Orange with Flower Accent - Orange is usually NOT my colour, but I couldn't help but love this look. The deep almost-blood orange is nicely contrasted with a cute white flower. Great look!

The Nail Addict's Peafowl Nail Art- success! This full set of multi-coloured nail stampings is so skillfully done, amazing!!

Brooke's Lightbox Tutorial - I didn't know that making your own lightbox could be this easy, thanks for the tutorial Brooke!

Jane's Lightening Bolt French Tutorial - What I love about all of Jane's tutorials the most is how easy-to-follow they are. This girl has a real eye for design, in both the layout of her blog and the funky nail art designs she comes up with. I will be following this tutorial really soon!

Amy's Forever 21 Times Square Review - This post made me LOL for real. Do you get the Toy Story reference? ;) Also, I wish I had started to read Gotham Polish before visiting NYC earlier this year! doh!

Gotham Polish

Stilletto Mani by Nails for Fun - I wish that I could read the language of this blog's author so I could learn some of her secrets! This manicure is SEXY. No other word for it! Check it out!!!

NOTD: C-C-Courage, 2010

2011-05-03T23:33:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick NOTD post before I go to bed. Although I've owned it for over a month, this is my first time using Nubar 2010! Here it is layered over China Glaze C-C-Courage.

The above two photos were snapped indoors without any direct light. Although they're oddly "glowy", these pictures capture the reflected orange, green and purple from the flakies!

These two photos were snapped using my OTT-Light (Lite? Is the brand-name misspelled? lol) The light from the bulb is reflected more in these pics and overpower the flakies, but the beautiful deep purple from C-C-Courage is seen well!

This was yesterday's mani... I took it off today and put on OPI Sparrow Me the Drama from the Pirates collection. I'm disappointed in the colour :( I love the swatches of it that I've seen online BUT it clashes with my skin tone. I will wear it tomorrow and see if it grows on me, but I think that it's too "dusty rose" for my liking. I need bolder, brighter colours. I will try to take a pic tomorrow, stay tuned!

Hayley

Drumroll please...

2011-05-01T22:57:00.002-04:00

I received my first award for my blog! Thank-you to heartNAT for giving it to me, you put a smile on my face :)

As with the conditions of the award, here are 10 random facts about myself:

1. My favourite hobbies are arts and craft-related. I love making jewellery, knitting, painting, drawing, embroidery, etc.

2. My favourite subject throughout highschool and university was art history. I actually liked writing those essays. I also love going to museums and art galleries. I visited the MoMA for the first time in March and could have spent all day there. Seeing Starry Night brought me to tears, I was overjoyed :)

3. I do really stupid things often. But I can laugh at myself, so it’s okay. Like the one time when I worked at Michaels, I called a license plate over the PA system, because someone told me that the car’s lights were on. I found out 3 hours later that it was my car, and I had read out my own license plate.

4. At one point in my life I wanted to be a coroner. And then a homicide detective. And then a forensic ident officer. Then I became a teacher :) Now looking back, I don’t think I could have done any of those jobs!

5. My favourite TV shows are Dexter, Breaking Bad, The Office, Gray’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds. I also get sucked into American Idol every season :/

6. Besides teaching, one of my favourite jobs was working for Lush cosmetics as a factory worker – in the Bubbles department! I hand-made their bubble bars. Working with a fun bunch of people also helped, too! I may go back there in the summer, we’ll see!

7. My next big purchase is going to be an Apple Macbook Pro, if everything goes as planned! Eee!

8. I have an Honours Bachelor of Science in Physical Anthropology and my Bachelor of Education. I am proud of all the schooling I’ve accomplished!

9. I have the best friends in the world :)

10. I am listening to one of my 8 Glee CD soundtracks right now… ahhh, how I love covers of songs, especially by the Glee crew! I’m also going to the Glee concert in Toronto in June! Yayaya!

That was fun! Here is something else that’s fun… a haul!

Essie Watermelon, Bermuda Shorts and China Glaze Cheers to You

OPI DS Extravagance, I Juggle... Men, Dating a Royal, Planks a Lot, Stranger Tides, Mermaid's Tears, Sparrow me the Drama, and Silver Shatter

I've been looking forward to doing this mani since I saw the collection over a month ago. Mermaid's Tears with Silver Shatter. :)

This should be my last haul for a while. I told myself that after getting what I wanted from the OPI Pirates collection, I would go on a no-buy. We’ll see how long this lasts...!

Friday Favourites

2011-04-29T21:36:00.001-04:00

Up until now, I didn’t really have a way to remember my favourite manicures from fellow bloggers. I have saved a few JPEG here and there for future inspiration, but those photos, unfortunately, I don’t know who to give credit to because I didn’t think to at the time!

So here is a new feature that I’m calling Friday Favourites (you get the Canadian/British spelling, no favorite for you Americans, sorry!) I will link to a handful of manicures that I have encountered on various blogs over the past week that have really stood out for me. They may be from old posts or new, stay tuned to find out!

Let Them Have Polish’s Shattered Zoya Sooki – very True Blood-esque, and I can’t help but say Sooook-ay, a la Bill Compton, haha

Chit Chat Nails’ Pink Wednesday Print – I’m drooling over Essie Watermelon here, and the ring finger accent is just gorgeous!

Scandalously Polished’s Yellow Brick Road – I’ve seen this colour around quite a bit and it never did anything for me… BUT these photos make it look so BRIGHT! JUICY! SUMMERY! FUN!

Nihrida’s Clayton My Hero and Irreplaceable comparison – Very unexpected colour from Clayton My Hero, I love it! And after her comparison, Nihrida layers the colours with very nice results.

Let Them Have Polish’s American Eagle colours – I didn’t know that AE sold nail polish, now apparently they do! It’s too bad that they are unnamed. I love the stamping design that Cristina did on what she calls “Coral Bits”

Liquid Jelly’s Treasure on Sunset Beach – I love this because I’m quite certain that I have all of the colours to recreate the look! I love the extra shimmer and I know that it will look great with a tan.

Fashion Polish’s Something Blue – I keep coming back to this post, that’s the blue I’ve been looking for! Also, I think that I have royal wedding fever

NOTD: The Royal Wedding!

2011-04-29T08:31:00.000-04:00

I woke up at 3:45am today to catch the Royal Wedding! I am overjoyed watching all of the festivities. The bride looks stunning, the groom looks dashing, and THE HATS! The hats are so entertaining! It would have been incredible to be there in London while all of this is happening, but watching it live is meeting all of my expectations and I’m thrilled :)

I gave myself this royal wedding-themed mani last night… London Butter’s No More Waity, Katie and a Union Jack accent on my ring finger, plus a stamped crown on my thumb :)

The Union Jack is a litle bit wobbly, I'm sure that I could have made it crisper if I taped it off, but I was impatient! Still, I like that it looks like it's done by hand :)

The stamp is done with one of the new Bundle Monster plates (I just recieved them yesterday) and I accented the tips with glitter from Only Gold for Me.

Did you watch the wedding? Do you have a themed mani to share? Post a link I would love to see!

Hayley

NOTD: Striped Shatter Manicure

2011-04-27T22:22:00.000-04:00

I got around to trying a look that I had admired in a few blogs… First striping some colours on the nails and then applying Black Shatter and of course a gorgeous glossy top coat! This was actually my first time using my shatter, I’ve been intimidated to use it for some reason. I'm so glad that I finally took the plunge, the colours peek out just enough to make me LOVE this look!

For the stripes I used Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Mint Sorbet, The Real Teal and Cobalt Seas (l-r).

Everything applied really nicely. I free-handed the stripes and I was impressed with how well I did! The shatter covered up a few minor slip-ups, but I would have worn the mani without the shatter, too. I just forgot to take a picture before hand, oops :)

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

Latest Haul

2011-04-25T19:16:00.002-04:00

Sherway Gardens is one of my favourite places to shop for nail polish. It’s a mall in the west end of Toronto, and it’s about a 40 minute drive from my house. There is a Holt Renfrew (there I can get Deborah Lippmann, London Butter and Chanel), SoHo Salon and Spa (Full Zoya display, buy 1 get 1 half off this week!), Trade Secrets (O.P.I., Essie, Zoya), Sephora ($O.P.I.), Shoppers Drug Mart (Sally Hansen, Revlon, Nicole by O.P.I., etc), and a few other salons too!

I went on Saturday and did my round of the mall, I was really happy with what I picked up! Here it is:

Zoya Sunshine Collection! Rica, Faye <3 and Tanzy

Clearance from the Intimate collection, Marley, Gemma and Jules ($6 ea, down from $10)

Mod Mattes: Phoebe and Mitzi. I opted not to get Lolly, but now I’m reconsidering!

Tiffany and Roxy from the regular collection. Tiffany looks like it could fit perfectly in with the Summer Sunshines!

No More Waity, Katie <3 I'll wear this when I watch the Royal Wedding on Friday!

Thanks for reading,

Hayley

NOTD: I did it!

2011-04-25T18:37:00.000-04:00

I did a full set of monarch nails!

And by full set, I mean a half set (haha, you can’t see my right hand!)… regardless, I LOVE the result!

The base is Nicole by O.P.I.’s Hint of Mint, which is a sheer light mint. I used four coats, and there was still a bit of a VNL. That hasn’t been a big deal for me since my nail length doesn’t go much past my fingertips.

And just for fun, here’s Chloe checking out my mani ;)

Hayley

NOTD: Monarch Butterfly

2011-04-23T01:21:00.000-04:00

I’ve loved this nail art design since I read Deez Nailz' tutorial, I had to try it myself! I wasn’t confident enough to create consistent designs on all of my nails (didn’t even ATTEMPT painting on my dominant hand’s nails!) so I just went with the ring finger. I’m pleased with the result!

I started off with two layers of Zoya’s Lulu and added sparkle by applying BB Couture Pina Colada. The result was a light shimmery peach shade.

Next time I will go for a brighter colour and try to attempt doing all of my nails… if I am successful there will be pictures :)

Hayley :)

Wish list!

2011-04-21T23:09:00.001-04:00

First off, thanks for the heads up, Natalie’s Nails; The new Bundle Monster stamping plates are available now! $21.99 for 25 plates? Yes please! With shipping it came to $25.99 for me, that’s practically a dollar a plate, amazing. Would someone mind explaining the difference between Bundle Monster and Konad to me? Why are Konad plates so much more expensive? I haven’t tried BM plates yet, but I’ve been swept up in the excitement about the new set getting released. If everyone is talking about them, they must be good, right?! :)

http://www.bundlemonster.com/

I’m a little worried about the next month or so, there are so many polishes that I want to get my hands on, and my bank account is going to suffer! I am looking forward to the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection, especially the silver crackle (swoon) I need to see some more swatches before choosing which to get (or see them in person!), but right now I’m leaning towards Stranger than Tides, Mermaid Tears, and Planks a Lot. Not that I need another purple polish… haha

Skull & Glossbones, Stranger Tides, Mermaids Tears, Steady As She Rose, Sparrow Me the Drama, and Planks a Lot

Based on the photos I’ve seen, I really like the OPI Serena Williams Grand Slam! duo sets that are coming out. I’m not crazy about the white and red shatters, but Rally Pretty Pink looks stunning!

ALSO: Sweet Sugar is celebrating 500 followers with a giveaway! Visit her blog to see the goodies up for grabs... I love the Essence polishes! Good luck!

I will have a new NOTD up soon, thanks for reading :)

Hayley

Rally Pretty Pink

NOTD: Hue Left A Message?

2011-04-20T21:57:00.000-04:00

I haven’t posted in a week, BUT I’ve still been doing my nails! :) Sally has a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, I’m quite certain I’ve got 9 bottles in the past few weeks! Some ORLYs, Finger Paints, and of course, China Glazes. It’s been a great time to get some essentials in my collection.

Here is Finger Paint’s Hue Left a Message. It goes on quite thick and gooey, which I was not a fan of. Regardless, with only 2 coats I had some opaque, beautiful pink GLITTER!

For a glitter polish, it’s actually strangely quite subtle. It didn’t feel like my nails were blindly shining, and I love the colour. Still work appropriate, an overall pretty girly shade.

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

Polish storage

2011-04-12T23:18:00.002-04:00

My nail polish collection has grown significantly in the past 2 months since becoming exposed to so much inspiration and knowledge through the blogging community. I needed better storage than the shoebox I used to rely on! I wanted more space, to have my polish on display, and the colours to be easily visible. Plus I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of moola (I’d rather put that towards more polish!)

Solution: I typed DIY Nail Polish rack into You Tube and low and behold this amazing storage rack plus tutorial by LovinBeautyNStyle. The tutorial is easy to follow and the rack was inexpensive (under $5) and easy to make. Mine holds 73 bottles. Here are some more pics!

Mine took about 90 minutes to make, or 3 episodes of Parks and Recreation (lol). I changed the design from the tutorial slightly by adding triangles to each side so that the polishes don’t slide off (look at the last photo). As you can see, the rack is full and I need to make another one soon! I have polishes waiting, still sitting in that darn shoebox. Haha. I have a feeling this may be a trend – build a rack, fill it, build a rack, fill it, ...

Hayley

NOTD: Monochromatic Leopard Print

2011-04-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

This is the second time I’ve rocked this mani. I stamped China Glaze C-C-Courage over Nicole by O.P.I. Miss Independent (awesome metallic pinky-purple, btw) using the leopard print on m57 and finished it with China Glaze TC.

Miss Independent is very overpowering in this combination, and C-C-Courage doesn’t stamp with a lot of intensity of colour… BUT I love it still! Leopard prints usually come off as very powerful and loud to me (not necessarily bad!) This design is more subtle and I like seeing the softer leopard print. Added bonus: you can’t see my Konad stamping errors! Woo!

The print was difficult to photograph. Depending on the light sometimes it really stands out and other times it’s not visible.

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

Giveaways!

2011-04-11T20:25:00.002-04:00

This one is almost up! Three more days to celebrate 100 followers at Life and Polish, even though there are currently 348! Amazing what a giveaway can do for your follower count, eh?! Enter to win China Glaze’s Island Escape collection!!

You still have a lot of time for Gilded Nails' April giveaway which features two BB Coutures polishes - Love Bug and Daisy Dweller. Good luck on both giveaways!!!

NOTD: Call Me Irresponsible

2011-04-10T23:48:00.002-04:00

I did my first Deborah Lippmann manicure yesterday. LOVE. Great polish application, check. Beautiful colour, check. Durable, check. Attracted compliments, check! I am a big fan of purple polish, various purples take up about a fifth of my collection. Call Me Irresponsible is the most red-toned purple that I have, although the bottle looks more blue-toned, hmm.

I also feel that this was my neatest application of polish ever. I was steady with both my right AND left hand (go me!), going to the edge of each nail and making a nice line along my cuticle. I am proud of myself :)

I added a neat effect top coat this morning on top of yesterday’s mani. I really liked the results.

Funky Fingers Bourbon St + Deborah Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible =

I love this look! Bourbon St really brought out the redness in Call Me Irresponsible. The undertone turned into more of a pinky-mauve. There were gold, green and purple shimmer reflections depending on the light. I’m eager to try Bourbon St over more colours!

While at the grocery store I saw this for $4. Easy YES!

Joe Fresh Twilight

I haven't seen flakes mixed with a colour before. I tested it on some cardstock, and the black base seems to be jelly-like. I will need to try this out soon!

I would like to mention a wonderful experience that I had a nail polish/Konad retail shop yesterday. You may already follow Wow Wow Nails. If you are ever in Toronto be sure to visit their shop! They carry O.P.I., China Glaze and Nubar lacquers, as well as Konad special polishes, kits, and tons of image plates. Nina was super sweet and gave me a helpful Konad demo (now I know why my stamps weren't turning out so clear!) You can also request polishes and they see what they can do to get them (that's how I got Nubar 2010). Their Markham location carries more polishes than the Toronto location, but both are worth the visit. I will be back again!

Hayley

Mixed bag

2011-04-09T01:12:00.003-04:00

I left off my last post with a picture of French manicure stickers. I had plans to do a really cute reverse French manicure following this video tutorial by Nails by Asami. I wanted to redo a mani I did a few weeks ago using Zara’s Maya for the half-moon and Lulu for the rest of the nail. I loved the colour combo BUT (before seeingthe tutorial) I free styled the half-moons and they turned out streaky, uneven and horrible. Asami’s tutorial has helpful instructions, so I decided to follow her method:

Start off by covering the entire nail with the colour that you want the half-moon to be. Let dry completely. Put French tip stickers at the base of the nail and apply top colour over the rest of the nail. When dry, remove stickers and voila!

It looks alright in this photo, but I hated it so much that I removed it before going to work the next morning (and was almost late. Oops). I still love the video tutorial and I will try again, the errors I made were all mine. Here is where I went wrong:

1. The stickers didn’t have enough curve to them and the half-moons were too broad for my liking

2. I removed the stickers too early resulting in some uneven lines. My bad.

3. The colours. I loved them the first time I tried this mani, when I painted the darker Maya (coral) over the lighter Lulu (peach). Following the tutorial, I needed to put Lulu over Maya. I needed 4 coats of Lulu to make it opaque, and even then it mixed with Maya to create a strange coraly-pink… I hated it. It reminded me of an ugly dress I had when I was a kid in the 80s. blahhh. Coral on peach = yes, peach on coral = no. Look at my photo to see how Lulu changed from in the bottle to on my nails.

4. By the end of it all, I was wearing 8 layers of polish and I don’t like the thick feeling.

Off it went. I slopped on Sally Hanson Insta Dry top coat on my bare nails and sped to work. Hah.

In other news, I picked up some new polishes. Happy happy happy

LA Girl Habit and Extreme. I've never tried this brand before and haven't seen many reviews or swatches online either. Regardless, the purple and blue both have gold shimmer and I couldn't pass them up!

Funky Fingers Bourbon St. I just tested this on a scrap of cardstock, I am excited to put it to my nails! It has hints of gold, copper and green. So pretty.

China Glaze Snow Globe, C-C-Courage and Good Witch. I love that older collections are still hanging around places. It's like finding treasure when you come across them!

Finally, Manicure Addict, one of my favourite bloggers, is celebrating her 100^th post (!) and is having a giveaway!! Woooo balloons, streamers, confetti!!! One of the prizes is the ever-coveted Hidden Treasure. One day, this will be mine. Drool. Here are the other goodies she is giving away:

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

New goodies!

2011-04-06T22:37:00.000-04:00

I have a habit of checking my local drug store weekly for new polishes. I have two Shopper’s Drug Marts on my route to work, so I’m glad that I’m not going out of my way. Lately I've been disappointed during every visit… seen it, seen it, have it, have it, have it… But not today...!

Nicole by O.P.I.’s Nicole’s Nickel, Make a Comet-ment and The Next CEO.

There were so many beautiful new colours, I had to limit my purchase to these three. They were on sale for $9.99 (CAN) from $10.99, woo-hoo! Make a Comet-ment caught my eye first. Look at that glitter! Full spectrum of reflected colours. I love it.

I also picked up some of these, and have a plan for tomorrow’s mani. It will be my first time using them, wish me luck!!!

Hayley

NOTD: Zara

2011-04-06T22:08:00.002-04:00

Here’s today’s look! I knew I had to buy Zara when I saw it in a HUGE Zoya display rack at at Soho Salon & Spa in Sherway Gardens. I had seen mini Zoya displays at Trade Secrets before, but nothing like this ginormous double-sided rack!

This colour stood out for me because it’s almost just like my favourite eye shadow – Trax by MAC. Trax is a bit darker purple than Zara, but it has the same gold shimmer. It makes my eyes POP! I love purple with gold, it’s my favourite colour combo.

Not quite true to colour – check it out next time you’re at a MAC store! It looks great with green/hazel eyes.

I do my nails at night and take photos after work late afternoon. My nails go through torture during the day. Yesterday I got glue gun glue stuck to them :/ I need to invest in a base and topcoat so that my mani survives until picture time. Haha, what I’m getting at is that here I have 2 coats done yesterday and another 2 touch-up coats done today :D

I experimented with a matte coat using Matt Finish Topcoat by London Butter. I really like the effect!

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

2011-04-05T21:30:00.002-04:00

Second NOTD in two days, I’m on a roll. Let’s see if I can keep this up ;)

I went with a very similar mani to yesterday’s post – a shimmer duochrome with an accent topcoat on the ring fingernails.

Big difference between the two looks though, this time I went with cool colours instead of warm, achieved by using O.P.I. Go On Green and Nicole by O.P.I. Make U Smile.

I much prefer the warm colours to the cool light blue/green from Go On Green and the silver glitter(still love the big hexagons though!)

I’ve heard that there are people you can see who will analyze your features to tell you what your colours are. I want to get this done. I have a feeling that I know what colours work best on me as far as clothing goes – almost all greens, purples with a blue undertone, and a few blues too. I do not own any articles of clothing that are red, orange or yellow. I stay away from warm colours, they clash with my complexion big time. BUT… pinks and golds for makeup look great on me. I wear gold eye shadows and liners all the time, they really work with my eyes (hazel/green). Plus I have pulled off bright yellow nail polish. I guess warms work great as accent colours in my life.

I’m still deciding what it is that rubs me the wrong way about this mani… hah, I think I figured it out, it just clashed with my outfit today ;) I would give this one another chance, but not before I try yesterday’s NOTD again!

Seeng as the silver glitter is from the Justin Beiber collection, I thought I would share a little ancedote about the Beibs... Last year I was a supply teacher. I was working in a rowdy grade 8 classroom. A girl approaches me and here was our conversation:

Her: Miss, do you like Justin Beiber?!!!

Me: No.

Her: Ugh! You're not my friend anymore!

Me: Sorry, I wasn't your friend to begin with.

I had a hard time not chuckling, but I managed to keep a straight face. hah.

Hayley

Giveaway @ A Polished Life!

2011-04-05T19:50:00.000-04:00

As I’ve already mentioned a few times, I’m a newbie to blogging (I actually almost spelled blooging there, whoops). I’m still allowed to test my luck at blog giveaways, right? Right? ;)

Here is my first post promoting a giveaway!

A Polished Life is celebrating 150 followers! (will I ever reach that? Hehe) They are celebrating with an awesome giveaway that features the number one polish on my wishlist – Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air!

I’ve seem some killer reviews and swatches of this beauty. I went to Holt Renfrew to find it a few weeks back, but they were out. I’m currently waiting for them to call me when a new shipment arrives. Wouldn’t it be grand if I won a bottle before that happens? ;) Good luck to you too, if you decide to enter!

The giveaway also features lots more, head over and check out all of the goodies here.

Ps, I’m working on a new NOTD, stay tuned…

NOTD: Gilded Coral and Only Gold for Me

2011-04-04T22:06:00.004-04:00

Here is what I wore for the last 2 days… 3 coats of ORLY’s Gilded Coral and 2 coats of Sephora by O.P.I.’s Only Gold for Me on my ring fingernails.

I just recently picked up Gilded Coral. It's a beautiful soft pink with so much gold shimmer. It would look amazing with a tan (note to self...). Only Gold for Me has been in my collection for longer. There are tiny gold glitters and larger, hexagonal-shaped as well. I really dig the big glitter polishes, my only pet peeve is removal. Even after leaving a remover-saturated cotton ball on my nail for several minutes, I still have to scrub and pick at the glitter to get rid of it. Maybe I'm not using the best remover... I'll need to research what's best (I'm still a newbie!)

For this mani, I was inspired a lot by what I’ve seen lately in the nail blogosphere, which is having an accent colour or topcoat on only one fingernail. It’s most often the ring fingernail… why is that? I do think that it looks prettiest to have a contrast on that nail, but I can’t figure out why. Here is Vanessa Hudgens sporting the look:

Thank-you, Glamour!

I love this mani on her. I wouldn’t do these exact colours on myself; taupe is too blah (I need COLOUR!). Regardless, a very unexpected and cute design.

I will try this look again, in lots of different colour combos. It was fun to wear and made me smile every time I glanced down at my hands. My grade 1s were keen observers today and noticed, too. Smart little cookies ;)

Please ignore my dry cuticles… I’m working on them! And there’s a spot on my index nail. I teach grade 1. I am in constant contact with Crayola markers. I can’t not be messy with them. So sue me ;)

Thanks for reading!

Hayley

Obligatory Introduction

2011-04-04T21:21:00.000-04:00

About a month ago I was chilling at my friend’s apartment. She is an art school grad, and was showing me her art supply cabinet. I oogled over the paint cans and brushes, and was amazed as she showed me some of her artistic experiments, including a paper marbling attempt.

This triggered my memory of an article I read in YM Magazine back in the day. Like, waaay back.

It was a little blurb on DIY beauty – nail marbling.

I had read the article while at a friend’s cottage when I was 13. We had some nail polishes with us, so we attempted to follow the instructions to create really cool totally awesome designs on our nails. Epic Fail. I was disappointed and frustrated, assuming that the magazine printed an error in the directions, and gave up.

Fast forward 12 years to the memory-triggering discovery.

If paper marbling is possible, then maybe nail marbling can be done, too!

I googled nail marbling and was linked to My Simple Little Pleasures. The author of the blog, Colette, is amazing. She creates beautiful designs on her nails using polish and the water marbling technique, there’s instructional videos and helpful hints and tips, beautiful pictures, it is well-written... That was it, I was hooked.

Her blog also opened me up to a whole new interweb experience: NAIL POLISH BLOGS. There are some fabulous ladies out there that write all about nail polish!

For the past month I’ve been reading these blogs and becoming educated about nail polish, nail art and related techniques. I’ve built up my nail polish collection significantly. I’ve painted my nails fresh every day. And I’ve been feeling an itch to start a nail polish blog.

I’ve tried to write blogs in the past, but alas, I suck. I get self-conscious about my writing and quit after one post. I am determined to keep this blog afloat. Here I go, wish me luck.

Hayley