Pastel Leopard

Today's post is all thanks to a little cleaning of Emma's draft folder!  I believe I did this mani sometime around Easter, but it never got on the blog for whatever reason.  Now that fall is lurking, I figured I better post all the remaining light and bright manis before the colder weather and darker polishes settle upon us.  

I believe the bases of this mani were (from index to pinky) Picture Polish Tiffany, LaCC 2011, Picture Polish Fairy Floss, and LVX Mynt.  I think the silver is OPI This Gown Needs a Crown, and the white is most likely LVX Fantom.  

What do you think of this pastel leopard print?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

Winstonia Store Review: 3D Nail Art Charm #28

Good morning!  Today I've got a nail art product to share which was a first for me: 3D charms!  

For this mani, I used piCture pOlish Peaches n' Cream and Honey Dew as my base colours.  After a coat of Seche Vite, I glued on the rhinestone bow with a dot of nail glue; it was super easy!  

I decided to stamp polka-dots on the rest of my nails, because they look so cute with the bow!  I stamped in Konad white polish with Born Pretty Store plate m79.  Those nails are also topped with a coat of Seche Vite. 

As you can see, the bow is pretty large and sticks off my nail quite a bit.  However, the bottom is curved to allow it to sit on the nail bed more closely.  Once it was glued on, it actually felt quite sturdy and secure; it lasted for the entire afternoon and evening after applying (even through grocery shopping!) until I loosened the glue with acetone and pried it off before showering.  

As long as you're careful with them, these charms are reusable.  Despite being somewhat impractical for everyday wear, I think that this rhinestone bow makes such a cute addition to a mani for a special occasion!   

You can find this 3D nail art charm on the Winstonia Store here; this is design #28.  I have one more 3D nail art charm to show you too, so keep an eye out for that post *probably* tomorrow morning! 

Have you tried 3D charms on your nails before?  Would you?  Thoughts - let me hear them!  :)  

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

Le Bunny Bleu - Striped Half-Moons

Good morning!  Today I've got another cute nail art look inspired by Le Bunny Bleu; you can see my previous post here.  Le Bunny Bleu is a shoe company which is currently hosting a nail art competition, you can enter here until this Friday, June 7th.  Take a look!  :) 

Today's look was inspired by this pair of shoes, and the colour combination on this pair.  I started with a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, (what else? haha) and freehanded an outline for the half-moons.  Next, I added vertical stripes using (L-R, starting with yellow): SpaRitual Enlightened Soul, piCture pOlish Fairy Floss, piCture pOlish Tiffany, and piCture pOlish Twinkle.  

I finished off the look with some glequins from the Born Pretty Store, and sealed it with a coat of Seche Vite.  

If anyone's curious, on my right hand I did half-moon skittles with one nail in each colour.   The contrast of the bold colours on the right and the mixed stripes on the left was quite fun, and this manicure got a lot of compliments!  :)

You can find Le Bunny Bleu on Facebook and order from their online store.  They have lots of adorable shoes, I've especially got my eye on some of the oxfords!  You can enter the Le Bunny Bleu nail art contest here until Friday, June 7th.  There's not much time left, so get painting!  If you're still in need of ideas, keep an eye out for one more Le Bunny Bleu-inspired look I'll have posted within the next few days!  ;)

Pastel Polka-Dot Skittles

Today's nail art is a cute and simple spring mani I did last week, but I've got something a little different in store for today's post...

In a sudden fit of artsy-ness, I dragged my sister outside with me to take some cool nail photos, à la Pshiiit or all of those awesome Russian nail bloggers.  There's tons of them, so I'll put the rest after the jump. 

I also took normal photos, but they look so boring next to the rest so you only get one, haha  :P

Aphrodite Lacquers: Printemps a Paris Collection

Of course I'm mid-photo-crisis when I receive two Aphrodite Lacquers from Rebecca's delightfully seasonally-inappropriate Printemps a Paris collection.  I managed to perfectly capture the lovely colour and depth of these polishes, but you'll have to excuse my oompa-loompa fingers for the time being. 

First I have Terre (translated to Earth,) a pastel-green base (which my friends affectionately described as "frog" when they saw it) with emerald-green and yellow small hex glitters, and hidden green shimmer that comes out to play when the light hits it just right.  I'm not normally a fan of shimmer and glitter in the same polish, but Rebecca nailed it (no pun intended) with the barely-there shimmer that just adds another dimension to the polishes. 

I've used four coats for the pictures, with one coat of Seche Vite; I was very pleased with how smooth this was!  You know when you put top coat over a glitter after doing your mani at night, and then you wake up in the morning and it's all sunk and the glitter is super gritty again?  No problem with that here; these pictures were taken the morning after, with only one coat of top coat! 

The first coat required careful applicaiton, but the next three were super easy.  Great glitter suspension, and no dabbing required.  The jelly base is quite sheer, but if you don't have much free edge or a very visible nail line, you could easily get away with three coats like Stephanie did here. 

The second polish Rebecca sent me definitely does double-duty in terms of being seasonally-appropriate, this is Nuages, (translated to Clouds).  It's a white jelly base (love!) with silver, blue, and gunmetal glitters and a blue hidden shimmer.  

This polish fits in with the springtime collection because of the soft colours, but it's also reminiscent of a snowy winter scene, and I think this also makes a great winter polish for someone who doesn't like the normal dark colours that make up winter collections. 

This one is also four coats, but there is no top coat in the pictures; you can see that it's still very shiny by itself but I'd recommend a quick-drying top coat to help speed up the drying.  In terms of application, everything that I said about Terre applies here.  This one was a tad more sheer so I still had minimal VNL at 4 coats, but I didn't mind it very much with the white base. 

The only negative thing I have to say about this collection is that being a French speaker, in the names of the polishes there are some grammar and spelling issues, along with a lack of accents.  However, this has absolutely nothing to do with Rebecca's polish-making abilities, and I've been smitten with this collection from the get-go.  Anything with French, France, or Paris in the name, and I can't help but be biased towards it.  ;) 

You can find Aphrodite Lacquers always fully-stocked on Etsy, and keep up to date on Facebook. 

Will you be picking up any of the polishes from the Printemps a Paris collection?  Do you let the seasons influence your polish colour choices?

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

Nacozari & Stamping

Hey!  Just a quick post tonight showing you a mani I did with Sassy Lacquer Nacozari, which I won in a giveaway a couple of months ago and hadn't yet gotten around to using! 

Nacozari is a beautiful light blue-leaning-green, though my photos make it look really blue.  It has a very subtle copper-y shimmer in it which only comes out in direct sunlight, but when it does it's stunning!

Formula was a little streaky, but workable.  This is three coats with two coats of Seche Vite.  I stamped on the birds with Konad white polish and BM-315. 

What do you think of this? Are you a fan of subtle stamping accents? 

Guest Post!

This has been in the works for about a week now, but I have written a guest post for the lovely Alexis!  I've written a tutorial for a cute spring mani; you can view the post here.  While you're over there, be sure to check out the rest of Alexis's blog, too! 

In a few days I'll have a condensed picture-tutorial posted under my 'Tutorials' tab, as well.  I've just got a few bottle pictures to show you of the two OPI NYCB polishes my mom picked up for me yesterday.  As a dancer, I love the names of these polishes.  Too many times have I had to say "Don't touch my tutu!" No joke. 

I have an honors performance on Wednesday for one of the competitions we went to, and our annual Gala show is on Friday night, so I don't think I'll be able to try these out until Saturday.  I'm leaving for Provincials on Sunday, but I think since I'm just dancing solos I might be able to get away with wearing a light jelly-sandwich onstage... (Essie Mademoiselle and OPI Pirouette My Whistle?) I'll hopefully be able to fill the void with a few older manis I still haven't shown you.  

Thanks once again to Alexis for having me on your blog! :)