Christmas Day Mani

Hello!  I hope that everyone who celebrated had a great Christmas!  My day was alright; it was my first year not being able to spend Christmas with my family, so it was a bit sad.  We did have a get-together with a few friends which was nice, but it just isn't the same as being at home.  However, those of you who follow me on IG (@emmaclarem) will know that I adopted my first-ever pet just over a week ago, which has definitely been keeping my spirits and excitement up.  I got a little 11-month-old boy tuxedo cat; he's such a cutie, and a total lap cat!  I love him to bits!  Anywho, let's get on to what you came here for - the nails!

I was a bit short on time (as always these days) so I decided to re-make my favourite Christmas mani from last year, with a couple little changes. 

My index and thumb started with a base of OPI Live and Let Die, and the rest have a base of Picture Polish Moscow.  My pinky got a coat of WingDust Collections Gilt-y Pleasure, while my thumb (forgot a picture - oops!) got two gold studs.  I added dots in Essie Good as Gold on my index finger, and then stamped with that same gold in the snowflake pattern from BM-323 on the remaining two nails.  All nails are topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.  

I really love the mix of patterns and finishes here; what do you think?  Do you have a favourite nail from this skittlette?  :)  

Upside-down French

Happy Friday!!  I've still got class and rehearsals all day Saturday and an audition on Sunday though, so this isn't exactly the last day of the week for me, haha.  Today I've got a look to share that I wore earlier this week and thought was pretty cool!  

But first, for those of you who read my last post and were curious, my sister started her blog earlier this week!  It's called Contemporary Affair, and you can see her first post here.  (Blog design done by me from her ideas, until she can figure out how to redo it herself!)  ;)  I'm sure she'd absolutely love if you could pop by and take a look;  I think her first post is great and I'm really excited to see more, and if you are too it would be awesome if you could leave a comment!  

Onto the nails!

I picked up OPI This Gown Needs A Crown at Winners a couple weeks ago, and finally got around to wearing it.  I applied three easy thin coats alone, and figured it needed a little something more.  I decided to add a reverse French tip (straight half-moon?) with LaCC 1999 for a stark contrast, and I'm really happy with how it came out.  

I think the silver and black compliment each other so well; the slight contrast in finishes and stark contrast in shade makes this simple mani really bold!  What do you think?  :)  

And one last shameless sister blog plug, because (I may be a bit biased) but I really hope that she enjoys blogging and does well, and want to get the word out!  <3

Live and Let Die & Shine of the Times

Just a quick (and extremely belated) post this morning with the mani I wore for Saint Patrick's Day, haha.  

I've been wanting to wear this combo ever since I got Essie Shine of the Times for Christmas in 2012; I'd tested it over green and knew it would be a good layering combo for Saint Patrick's Day.  However, come that day in March 2013, I was in London and had unfortunately not had the foresight to pack these polishes for my trip.  Another year passed, and I finally got around to wearing this!  Here is one coat over OPI Live and Let Die, topped with Seche Vite. 

Even though I'm mostly Irish, we've never really done anything extravagant for Saint Patrick's Day -  most of the perception of the holiday now is just a blown-up Americanized version of what it originally was.  Therefore I thought it suiting to wear these subtly festive polishes together; I love how the dark green base really brings out the golden and bright green shifts of the flakies!  How do you like it?  :)

LVX Mynt & OPI My Favourite Ornament

I purchased both of these polishes pretty recently, and when I saw them sitting next to each other on my desk I knew they'd make a good pair!  

LVX Mynt is a beautiful light vibrant mint creme, with full coverage in three thin coats.  (Two thicker coats would probably do the trick too.)  This was my first LVX polish, and I was really impressed with the formula!  I found a ton of LVX polishes at Winners for $6 each a few weeks ago and picked up three, so you'll be seeing the other two around here eventually as well. 

OPI My Favourite Ornament is a full-coverage gold micro-flakie; I used three thin coats for opacity here too.  This one isn't advertised as a Liquid Sand, but it does dry to a textured finish so I chose to leave it without top coat.  I think you'd need at least two coats of a thick top coat to smooth it out.  I really love the lighter gold colour, it's so flattering! 

I'm really happy with both of these recent purchases, and they look so cute together!!  This mani definitely helped get me in the mood for some more spring-hued looks, despite the gross weather.  What do you think?  :)

Jinx, Sunshine!

Apologies for the week-long break - I've been out of town since last Tuesday on tour with the ballet company performing in Giselle!  I didn't have the time (or foresight) to do up enough posts to schedule through the week, oops... We've still got more shows this weekend, but those are here in town so I should hopefully be able to post a little bit.  

This is a mani I did a few days before I left, when I was in need of something quick and fun.  I used two coats of OPI Jinx on my middle and ring fingers, and I my index and pinky have got one coat each of the amazing Zoya Sunshine.  No top coat obviously, to not ruin the textured finish. 

 These colours together did end up looking a little sports-team-like together (my dad was very proud of my accidental Denver Broncos nails) but blue and orange are complimentary colours, so it made for a fun, bold look!  What do you think?  

Here's hoping the rest of the shows go well this weekend.  I get to go home to my family on Sunday as well for spring break, so it's an exciting week coming up!  :)

Merino Cool & Pirouette My Whistle

Good morning!  Who's looking forward to the weekend ahead?  I definitely am!  Today I've got a simple layering combination that I wore yesterday to share with you. 

This is two coats of Essie Merino Cool, followed by one thick coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle and topped with Seche Vite.  I really love both of these polishes alone, and though they make a slightly odd combination, I do like it!  

What do you think of these two polishes together?  :)  Leave a comment! 

Casino Royale Framed 1972

I'd been wanting to try the framed nail look for quite a while now, and I finally got around to doing it last week! 

The colour scheme was inspired by a few of the ballet company dancers' Yumiko leotards; two of them have leotards in this dark berry colour with faded lilac trim, and I love those shades together! 

I started with two coats of LaCC 1972, and freehanded the frames with OPI Casino Royale.  I decided to add the line down the middle when I was really not liking how the frame looked, and it did make it a bit better. Unfortunately I just wasn't a fan of this look, personally.  I've loved photos of it on other's nails, but it just didn't look great on mine.

Have you ever tried a technique that you loved on someone else's nails, only to have it fall flat on your own?  Let me know in the comments! 

Noho & Solitaire

Good morning! Just a quick post today with a black and white textured look I've worn for the past two days.  :)

I got a mini bottle of OPI Solitaire from my Secret Santa last month which had been on my wishlist for a while, and I finally got around to using it!  (Thank you Blair!)  I layered two thin coats over a silver polish which I'll keep a secret for now because swatches will be on the blog soon... 

I finally caved and purchased Nails Inc. Noho over the weekend, which is part of the Leather Effect collection.  I've got the burgundy and light blue and have been wanting this one forever, and I'm so glad I finally bought it!  It's a super awesome jet black with the really cool leather finish that I love.  This is two coats; it's opaque in one if you're careful, but it does wear at the tips pretty quickly.  

I really liked mixing the Liquid Sand and Leather Effect polishes in this mani; the different textured finishes were really fun together, and the black and white were a great contrast.  What do you think?  :)

Dutch 'Ya Just Love Polka-Dots?

Hi!  Quick post this morning with a mani I did last month.  Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? is one of my favourite polishes for fall, so when the weather started to change I just had to pull this beauty out again!

I didn't want to take away from the polish, so I decided to just add matte polka-dots with Essie Matte About You.  

I'm wearing two coats of Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat underneath the matte polka-dots.  I always love the contrast between matte and shiny designs! :)

Lines That Go Everywhere

Well, so much for getting all of my summer manis posted this week.  I had planned to schedule a bunch of them to post throughout the week, but that obviously didn't end up happening.  I've been performing all week and have been at classes, rehearsals, and shows every day from 8am to 10:30pm, so as you can imagine, I haven't had much time to post... Nevertheless, I've got a post up for today! 

This is a mani that I threw together sometime in August, when I wanted to try out some different designs with my striping tape.  I started with a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, taped off the patterns, and painted over it with piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream.  To speed up the drying, I added a coat of Seche Vite before topping it with a coat of Essie Matte About You.  

"Who's Section"

Hello there!! So today's nails are "lines that go everywhere" (by the way, I named this)... My favourite one is the ring finger and Emma's favourite is the middle one! These nails reminded me of Penrose Stairs (The Impossible Staircase) for some reason, so I found them very interesting when I saw them in person. I'm also urging Emma to try the staircase on her nails, not sure how she'll do it, but it will be awesome! Goodbye for now!

Catching Up

Just yesterday I was saying how I'm really getting in the mood for fall polishes, but while cleaning out my computer folders yesterday I realized that there are still quite a few of my summer nail art looks that I haven't shared!  So even though today is the first day of fall, this next week will be spent catching up on all my un-posted summer nail art, and making room in my folders for the upcoming season! 

Today I'm sharing a simple polka-dot look that I wore sometime in August.  The base colour is three coats of OPI You're Such a Budapest, which is quite possibly my favourite lilac polish!  I added the dots with OPI My Vampire is Buff, using the pointy end of an orange stick to get them super tiny.  

I absolutely love the delicate and playful look of miniature pastel polka-dots!  Add the fact that it's super easy to do, and it's definitely one of my quick go-to nail art looks!  :)

Double-Accent Flowers & Studs

Good morning!  I've still got a ton of photos to edit for a couple large posts, hence why things are still a little backed up around here.  Today I've got a double-accent mani to show you which I wore over the weekend and really loved!! 

I wanted to play around with a couple goodies I'd recently ordered from the Born Pretty Store.  I had to have these water decals and these studs after seeing them on The Nailasaurus! 

I started with three thin coats of OPI You're Such a Budapest on my two accent nails.  While I waited for those to dry, I painted the remaining nails in OPI Ink Suede and placed the pastel studs on.  The water decals were then added (they're so easy to apply!) and the whole look was covered in one coat of Seche Vite. 

I really love how these two shades work together in this look; I always forget how stunning Ink Suede is, both in the normal matte finish as well as glossy!!  I'm seriously in love with the flower water decals... I might have to order another pack, since each only comes with twelve decals.  I've got the pastel studs in a couple different colours now, and those seem to keep making their way into my manis as well!  

Are you planning on picking up either of these nail art supplies?  This isn't a sponsored post, just sharing some new products that I love!!  What do you think of this mani?  :)

Triangular Geometrics & Round Nails

Oh dear, I have round nails!!  They were getting quite long, and I was planning on going back to super-nubs before leaving for a month on Saturday, but I decided to go round for a few days just to give it a go...

I was talking to Alexis while filing them (and freaking out,) and we both agreed that round nails look much better with nail art.  So what did I do?  Nail art it up!! 

Matt Smith is still somehow managing to make it into non-Doctor-Who posts.  My apologies. 

This nail art was initially inspired by this manicure by Alexis, although mine turned out quite differently in the end.  I'm pretty happy with it!  

I started with two thin coats of OPI You're Such A Budapest, freehanded the lines with Essie Good As Gold, and filled in a few of the lines with piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream over white acrylic paint.  It's all topped off with two coats of Poshé, which I just got my first bottle of over the weekend and LOVE! 

Anywho, while it is an interesting change, I'm still not quite sold on the whole round-nails thing, personally.  I'll definitely be back to my lovely squares within a few days.  What do you all think of the look?  :)

Geometric Bright Pastels

I was stumped on what to do on my nails yesterday, but I stumbled upon this post by Spektor's Nails and was instantly inspired to re-create it!  Have a look.  :)

I opted to use different colours for a slightly different look.  I started by laying down two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff (really - what else? I just bought a back-up bottle of this...) and a coat of Seche Vite to speed up the drying.  

One movie later (Galaxy Quest, if you're curious - very weird movie) I lay down some strips of tape in triangular geometric patterns.  I filled the inner triangles with piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream, and the outer bits with piCture pOlish Honey Dew.  I love both these super-bright-pastel polishes, but they're such a pain in the butt to photograph!  The following upside-down photo is most colour-accurate, but still not as bright as in person.

It's all topped off with two coats of Seche Vite, which unfortunately shrunk the OPI base and caused major tipwear and a couple chips in just a day of wear.  It's a shame, I really liked this mani! 

What do you think of this look?  Sound off in the comments!  :)

Liberty & Roses

Today's blog post is just a quick nail art look that I did last week with some of the new polishes I got on our shopping trip in the US last weekend!  :)

I picked up a few of the Zoya Pixie Dust polishes, and I used two coats of Liberty on my index and pinky nails for this mani.  I really love the Pixie Dusts, the texture is much more fine and sparkly than OPI's Liquid Sand polishes!  

My accent nails are wearing a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff.  The roses started with OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, and I added details with Essie Mesmerise and LaCC 1976; the leaves are LaCC 1968.  

I actually did this exact mani on my mom in shades of purple (with Zoya Stevie) and we both really loved it, which is what spurred me to re-create it in blues!  :) 

KKCenterHK Triangle Nail Studs Review

Happy Friday!  Posting will probably be a little sporadic over the next few weeks as I finish everything up for the year, fair warning.  You probably know that I love studs on my nails, so when I was offered the chance to review a product from KKCenterHK, I jumped at the chance to try some of their awesome nail studs!  :)

These studs came in a package of about 50; it's not very many compared to other packages of studs I've got, but if you remove them carefully you can reuse them, (hence why some of mine look a bit scratched up.)

This was actually the second time I wore these studs, the photos from the first time turned out horribly.  This time, I chose to wear them over one coat (yes, only one!) of OPI Honey Ryder.  Because it was a textured polish and top coating over the studs would have ruined the finish of the polish, I used nail glue to attach the studs and left them sans top coat. 

They actually lasted an entire day, much to my surprise!  The first time I wore them, they were attached with top coat and covered in two coats of Seche Vite, and those lasted almost two days before I took them off!  

These studs come flat, and the edges would poke up a lot on my curved nail beds.  To solve this issue and prolong wear time, I simply curved each one over the handle of a nail art brush to fit the curve of my nail prior to applying.  No pokey edges here!  :)

This product can be found on the KKCenterHK website here:  Studs Regular Triangle Silver 5mm Nail Art Decorations.  These studs retail for $5.28USD per package, but you can use the code "globeandnail" to get 10% off your order! (Expires Jan.21st, 2014.)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review.  

Foil Gradient with Liquid Palisade

Hi!  Today I've got a super cool product to show you; it's called Liquid Palisade, and the premise that it basically acts as painter's tape for your nails!

Liquid Palisade comes in a lip-gloss-sized tube with a small brush.  You paint it on as a liquid, and it quickly dries to a rubbery-latex film that you simply peel off after painting for a speedy clean-up!   

I have actually used this product a few times already, mostly for gradients (like the one in Friday's post) since I love them, but hate the cleanup!  When Sarah from Chalkboard Nails posted this gorgeous foil gradient last week and mentioned the tedious clean-up, I knew that would be the perfect test for this!  

I started with a base of OPI A Woman's Prague-ative, which you can see swatched here.  I then painted the liquid palisade around my nails and let it dry, covering quite a large surface since gradients tend to make a huge mess.  After sponging on my gradient with Zoya Ziv, I peeled off the liquid palisade with a pair of tweezers.  I finished the clean-up with some acetone and a makeup brush, as per usual, but the small amount that I had to do was nowhere near as much as I would have had to clean up, had I not used the liquid palisade! 

There are other uses for liquid palisade too, a few of which you can see in Wacky Laki's post here.  I'm interested to see how it works with watermarbling; imagine how awesome it would be if this worked!!  

Liquid Palisade currently retails here for $22/bottle; it may seem pricey, but one bottle contains enough product for over 50 manicures.   

Honestly, my only problem with this product is that the bottle is super tall and skinny, making it very unstable; I felt like I was going to knock it over every time I dipped the brush in.  Uh-oh!  Luckily there were no casualties, so you'll definitely be hearing about this again from me!   What is your impression of liquid palisade?  Have you tried it yet?  If not, do you plan to?  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion.