Tuesday 30 December 2014

Geometric ultra-chrome flakie and right angle madness

Further to my swatches of new ILNP ultra-chrome flakies and subsequent flakie porno, I went to town and you could say I had more than a few flakie-gasms. Here's some eye-blinding in-your-face-shiny and colourful nail art that is perfect for new year's eve celebrations, or if you're like me then obnoxious nails any time of the year! I used right angle nail vinyls along with 6 of ILNP's new ultra-chrome flakie polishes to create this eyeball stimulating look, which actually kind of speaks sparkling garbage hooker, but I love it so, that's a good thing.

ILNP ultra-chrome flakies
 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Saturday 27 December 2014

ILNP Ultra-Chrome Flakies: Not for the faint-hearted

OH MAH GAWD it's a miracle. There is such a thing as ultra-chrome aka multi-chrome flakies and they are going to get you drooling in all the colours of the rainbow. These new ultra-chrome flakies from ILNP are 100% opaque in a clear jelly base, can colour shift beyond imagination, and remove like regular nail polish! I've got the first 6 of a 13-piece collection to showcase for you today, let's get drooling!

ILNP ultra-chrome flakies

Friday 26 December 2014

Nude-toned edgy holo reciprocal-V gradient

Here's an edgy but simple enough look I did in early November and I think it'd be perfectly suited for New Year's nails! Striking, simple and holo - all necessary to ring in the new year! This reciprocal gradient (see my Gradient Guide for more on terminology and variations) was inspired by Mélanie of iparallaxe's silver and black holo version, who was inspired by @supinaileuse on Instagram. Mélanie is an amazing French blogger and her photography - especially holo photography - is just to die for.

I used two new Colors by Llarowe polishes to me that I've lusted over for a long time now, Blonde Ambition and Final Fantasy. Together they could be Final Ambition? Blonde Fantasy? Whoa, okay. Nevermind.


 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Christmas throwback: Candy cane nails

So I'm on vacation right now in Florida and yes I'll be slacking on my posts cause the sun here is this magical thing I rarely get to see living in Canada. I also broke my middle nail a few weeks ago so I've had to slow down my reserve stash posts in order to catch up to myself once I can resume doing nail arts and swatches. Expect shorter nails when that happen though! In honor of this, here's a throwback to last year around this time when I had shorter nails (but also just less taken-care-of nails, worse photography, clean-up, etc.)! For what I've done in the past year to bring my nails to their usual better condition you're used to seeing on my blog, check out my Nail Care page.


Thursday 18 December 2014

Abstract dark Christmas chevron nails

'Cause who takes holiday nail art literally? I love me some dark moody nails, and I got these two new Orly polishes from Tracey of @missbellatracey on Instagram the other month so why not dress them up in some simple nail art. I'm basically just posting this as 'Christmas nail art' cause its close in colour to Christmas, but I actually haven't had time to do real Christmas manis cause my stupid nail broke, soooo yeah, let's just pretend I actually intended to have these nails be specifically for Christmas. Mmhmmm.

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Bestie twin nails: Colourful ikat chevron

Fun freehand nail art today! I never do many freehand nails, so today is a much needed break from my usual order of gradients, nail vinyls, and striping tape (check out my Gradient Guide for more on that!). I teamed up with Nia of @trendynailzofficial on Instagram and we were inspired by this very retro-feel ikat chevron (is that what this is called anyway?) pattern Nia found while browsing the net. Pretty neat indeed and super colourful!

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Saturday 13 December 2014

Holo Christmas Jellies from Beyond the Nail

It's holo jelly time - Christmas style - with Beyond the Nail! You may recall I swatched their summer galaxy collection a couple months back. The two polishes I have to show off today are the same in formula - a linear holo jelly that go on sheer and can be built up to full opacity in 2-3 coats! Below are 2 of the 10 polishes in Beyond the Nail's Christmas collection. On my accent nail I've re-created a cross-hatch plus gradient look I did a while back - it uses the 'lead-lighting' technique by layering colourful holo jelly polishes over a pattern of white and black I made with striping tape.

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Friday 12 December 2014

Winter snow glitters over blue to white gradient

Winter snow glitter nails I did an entire 2 months ago cause September snow, yeah! I totally just whipped these up for my weekly nail art challenge 'snow' themed post, right! I'm holding a custom bottle of white iridescent glitter polish (look at that shift!) by my friend Tracey aka @missbellatracey on Instagram. I first showcased these multi-faceted babies in swatch form here.

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Thursday 11 December 2014

Shit Nail Artists Say: A whole new meaning for 'nail collab'

How many times do you get strange looks from others (think significant other, relatives, friends, co-workers) when you comment on how beautiful the holo on your nails is? What about when you basically have a funeral for your broken nail? When you blab on about bestie twin nails and mani swaps? Or squishy jellies and almond shapes? People think we're weird. We accept it. But we also have to admit we are kind of ridiculous. 

This unique nail collab involves no actual nail painting *shocker* and puts our strange behaviours into context by showcasing 12 of your favourite active online nail artists making fun of the things we all say and do. It's Shit Nail Artists Say (aka SNAS), that's what it is!!


Read more below for the full story behind this production!

Monday 8 December 2014

Geometric square colour-blocking easy nail art

Some random modern-ish nail tip colour-blocking thing going on here! I made this using a white polish plus new polishes from Color Club's Made in New York and Seven Deadly Sins collection. Some of these are now available from Live Love Polish, a new online polish retailer (great for those in Canada and the US but they also ship internationally!). I used striping tape to mark off the 'grid' sections, and filled in some of the squares, then removed the tape. Super easy and great in any colour combo!

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Friday 5 December 2014

Painted Polish releases four new holo glitters

More holo glitters brewing in the Painted Polish sparkly lair!! Check out these new brilliant babies the indie shop has added to their main line of 'under the holo influence' holo glitters. You can see my first round of swatches of the first of 'drunk on holo' phenomenon here, and some newer releases including - my faves - teal and a radiant orchid coloured holo glitter swatches here! As of right now, there's a total of 19 different holo glitters sold in the Painted Polish shop (and I have, erm, all of them... I don't have a problem).

Painted Polish holo glitters

Monday 1 December 2014

Glam Polish: Holos from the December 2014 collection

Winter is here to stay! For most of the year! Well for me anyways, being in Canada and all, summer is like the shortest season ever to actually see the sidewalks. Whatever, new seasons mean new nail polish collections to me, so there's that. Especially holo ones like Glam Polish's limited edition Mid-Winters Dream Collection, inspired by icy winter at its finest! This December 2014 collection boasts whimsical holo-day hues galore. I've got 5 of the 9 total polishes in the collection here for review. The whole collection will be available for purchase on December 4th directly from Glam Polish (based in Australia), or one of their international stockists. If you're in Canada or the US be sure to check Harlow & Co.'s website first, they will be stocking them soon!

Glam Polish December 2014 swatches
 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!