Candy Cane Ice Queen nails

I AM A CANDY CANE ICE QUEEN. And my nails and sleighin' tonight.

This full-finger look was inspired by Glam and Gore's recent new look, I just had to put her face on my nails (and fingers)!

I used simply peel first to protect my skin from all the really uniformed stuff I then proceeded to do on my skin... this is why I'm not a makeup artist.

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW ↓!

Chrome holo flakies from Painted Polish... it just had to happen

So we've thought we've seen every kind of flakie out there - the translucent colour-shifty kind, the multi-chrome/ultra-chrome coloured kind, the metallic kind, the chrome kind... but now I've discovered the FLAKUS MAXIMUS of the year by Painted Polish, which is a - get this - a mirror chrome flakie with holo glitters scattered throughout!! Waaattttt.

In doing these swatches I also tested a new product by the makers of my fav nail oil (Bliss Kiss), called Simply Peel. It's a latex barrier similar in composition to the numerous other brands of latex products for quick and easy post-gradient/stamping/watermarble/otherwise nail art mess removal (e.g., Liquid Palisade, Nail Veil, Mess No More, costume body latex products, etc.).

I often 'sponge on' my glitter and flakies directly onto the nail to maximize polish coverage and minimize clumpiness - the sponge actually absorbs the jelly in the nail polish thus allowing a smoother coat of polish to stick to the nail with less of the jelly. You can check out a video tutorial on how to maximize glitter payoff on YouTube here. But what a mess this causes on my skin, right?!? I used Simply Peel around my nails to help protect my skin from getting flaked out and I must say I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!!

Colour-shifty action with colour blocks and studs

Total random alert! And it's not even a gradient! (wtf?) I was playing around with the new right angle nail vinyls from Nailvinyls.com and got to thinkin': What design can I make out with these that I probably could have used straight vinyls to create so I just wasted those right angles for no reason? Sigh. Whatever, it is definitely easier to get straight right angles with right angle vinyls (obv, duh), and the colour shiftiness of this mani makes up for it. Colour shifting base polish is ILNP Masquerade (H) from their new fall collection which I've swatched with a twist here. The really cool also shifty rhinestone-stud thingies are from Born Pretty Store, love 'em!

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Déjà vu? Black and holo starburst scaled gradient with blinged out accent nail

So yes, this mani definitely looks like one I've posted recently, i.e., the triple starburst holo and black scaled gradient design I did for Nailpolis' celebration mani contest (which btw I didn't win, sad face). But I actually did this mani before the triple (pics are dated Aug 10), so what you see here was my first attempt at a starburst scaled gradient! I shyed away from attempting the triple off the bat, but my order of posting makes things look really deceptive, doesn't it? Muhaha.

Starburst nail vinys are from Nailvinyls.com, and evidently I added an accent nail featuring two infamous holo glitter polishes from Painted Polish by Lexi.

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Polling the people: Splatter mani comes out on top

Today on Instagram I decided to take the opportunity to unload some of my old unpublished mani's. I have quite a few... it's kind of stupid actually. I don't know why, I guess I never got around to posting them and then when I thought about it I was like ermmm.... these are fugly now. In other words, the mani's were done either when my nails/nail care was crappy, before I got my new camera, or after I got my new camera but had no idea how to use it.

So I threw together a couple looks, the theme being 'how to wear chrome', and asked my followers to vote for their fav mani out of the 4 looks that I would post by itself:

Source: @simplynailogical (Instagram)

The glitteriest holo nail art in all the land

Recently I posted four delicious swatches of Painted Polish by Lexi's holo glitter intoxicator line. The crowd went wild, kittens started meowing at record high pitches, and people died. Well, maybe only if a car came in 'drunk on holo' paint, then someone might die because of the reflective and sparkly properties which would in turn blind drivers in oncoming traffic causing a crash. That's why mirror chrome cars were banned from the roads, but whatever. Driving while drunk on holo? Amazing.

The Painted Polish shop is now open for pre-orders on all these holo glitter polishes and some new ones too as I post this. Shop now or you might miss out and you will basically regret it for the rest of your boring dull life.

Here's some nail art I made with these four babies. Now THIS is a real glitter gradient.

Get your party hat on: Serious holo intoxicators

A couple weeks ago I received my first polishes by Painted Polish by Lexi. I was drawn to the line because, well, sparkly. I decided to pick up all four of the new holo glitter line to see how they all compared. I've compiled a couple collages for you today and can I just say that I'm STILL DRUNK on all that holo. All pics below were taken in direct sunlight with my new macro lens. Note that these aren't straight-up swatches per se, I've taken steps to amplify the glitter that involves using a complimentary polish as a base coat. Read on below.

BONUS: Video tutorial on how to maximize glitter payoff at the end of the post.

Heavy metal belt

Good morning! Well, for me anyway, it's nearing 10am and I can actually see sun out my window. Today I have for you a heavy metal look, inspired by a belt and testing out more uses for OPI's new chrome polish from the Gwen Stefani collection.

I lost my stamping cherry in a bed of black lace

That's right, I stamped for the first time last night. I had actually bought the Pueen Love Elements stamping plates set over a month ago, but I quickly gave up out of frustration when I first got them because for whatever reason the stupid images wouldn't even transfer onto the stamper. I was (and still am) convinced that the particular plate I had tried was too shallowlly etched and so no polish was being picked up. I found myself with more patience to try it again last night and pulled out a different plate from the set and BAM it actually transferred! Amazed.

Originally I just wanted to see what OPI's new silver chrome polish from the Gwen Stefani collection looked like and I was so impressed! Here's a couple shots of that alone first:

A plaid mani from the archives inspired by a Coach keychain

We are going to a take a trip back to ancient history.... to November of 2010 when I was just about as immature as my wimpy nub nails. Although dated (obviously), the plaid design is now nothing new and its novelty has worn off, however.... I swear to you that I had NOT ONCE seen a plaid mani before I painted my fingernails some four years ago. So, at the time I was original. How many times have you heard this before in the mani community?

Inspired by a Coach Poppy keychain that is sooooo 2010, clearly. It holds two photos. Guess what I put in them... my cat (I had just the orange one at the time)! Do I still have this appendage hanging on my car keychain today? You bet I do. Are my cats still inside? Duh.

Obviously no striping tape was used back in the olden days of retro nail art, only my semi-steady hands. And no explanation is required for the poor photography (let's just say my camera was immature, too).

Blue, yellow & silver gradient

This simple striping tape mani was done in May of 2013. I am not sure what influenced the design as it was my first experiment with striping tape (specifically the kind made for nails) ever. I was skeptical about using it at all, as any past adventures in scotch tape or those horrible 'french manicure strips' ended up in nail art disaster like when the thick sticky residue on the backs of the french strips stick to your nails and then your base coat is RUINED. That's basically the worst thing ever.

It is fitting, then, that actual striping tape meant for nails has saved the day because it ACTUALLY WOKS, and that this design reminds me of the Avengers logo, except replace the red with neon yellow and BAM it's like superhero nails.

Bright ombre - mattified!

Here's an ombre mani I originally did and photographed in July of 2013. Let's take a moment and relive this summer look in the midst of a horrid Canadian winter, eh.

A simple tri-colour ombre/gradient with some glitters affixed to the side (I got bored with the ombre - what else is new?)