NOTD: Triangle Colour Block

Tape resist tri-colour block.

NOTD: Galaxy Nails

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

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

NOTD: Layering It's My Year

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!

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

NOTD: Bahamas Sunset

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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