A England Crown of Thistles

When swatches of the A England Elizabeth & Mary collection started popping up, I really wanted the entire collection, since all the polishes are so unique and stunning as I've come to expect from that brand.  Unfortunately I couldn't afford the entire collection, but there was one polish I knew I had to have: Crown of Thistles.  

This polish is the most amazingly vibrant rich orchid with a smooth holo, and it covered in one perfectly smooth coat.  I absolutely love this!  

Have you picked up any polishes from the newest A England Collection yet?  Did you fall for this beauty like I did?  :) 

Moonlit Wink

Good morning!  Just wanted to pop in with a quick post of a mani that I wore while visiting my family in London a couple weeks ago.  When I moved out last year, I had to leave a lot of polishes behind with them, but my mom and sister also enjoy doing their nails so the polishes do get some use.  

As I'm sure you can imagine, getting to revisit some of those old polishes that I'd forgotten about was pretty nice!  This mani features one such polish, Coco Allure Moonlit Snow.  

I decided to layer one coat of Moonlit Snow over Illamasqua Wink, and top it with Essie Matte About You.  I absolutely love the way iridescent glitters look with matte top coat, and over the gorgeous lilac that is Wink, it made for such a dreamy combination!  :)  What do you think?  

Born Pretty Store Review: 3D Rhinestones

When browsing though nail art supplies on Born Pretty Store I usually gravitate towards the water decals, but I figured I should try something different this time and picked these rhinestone decorations instead.  

I started with two thin coats of LaCC 1997, blocked off the stripes with striping tape, and painted the rest with LaCC 1973.  I added the large rhinestone decorations with a dot of nail glue, and attached the smaller rhinestones with top coat.  The 3D decorations felt decently secure on my thumb nail since it's less curved than my other nails, but the flat back of the decoration on my middle finger nail wasn't quite as secure, as the edges poked out quite a bit.  They managed to last through a couple hours of the evening, until I took them off to shower before bed.  

I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of these, they looked very cheap and plastic-y compared to other 3D decorations I've tried from BPS, and I was wishing they were just a big more sparkly.  However, the opal colours in the oval one were quite pretty!  

Don't forget to use my code PPJ61 to get 10% off your order.  What do you think of this mani?  Let me know in the comments!  :) 

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

Purple Skittlette & Another Year Older

I'm 18 today!  It's weird, it really doesn't feel like it should be this time of year already, and yet somehow it is...  I've still got to go to ballet class and rehearsals this morning and then go to work for six hours in the afternoon, but I'm going out for dinner with two friends later, so that'll give me something to look forward to!  Well, that and eating an entire tub of Ben & Jerry's all by myself... Because everything is calorie-free on your birthday.

This isn't actually what's on my nails today, but it's a cute skittlette that I wore earlier this week.  I really loved this, mainly because it's all purple which is my favourite colour!  :)

The gorgeous glitter on my index finger is two coats of Aphrodite Lacquers Star Crossed Lovers over OPI You're Such A Budapest.   My middle and ring fingers are each one coat of LaCC 1973 stamped with Nailz Craze Plate NC02 and Essie No Place Like Chrome.  I finished off the look with my favourite textured polish on my pinky: Zoya Stevie.  All nails (except the Pixie Dust) are topped with LaCC 2013 top coat.  

Do you love this look as much as I do?  :)

Heliotrope Gradient

You may remember back at the beginning of September I posted a heliotrope water marble mani... Read up over there for the explanation behind the whole heliotrope thing, haha!  

For today, I've just got a quick post with an awesome purple gradient that I really enjoyed wearing, (not just because it matched my leotard all day... Well, maybe just a bit.) 

I started with two coats of the lightest purple: OPI You're Such A Budapest.  Once that was dry, I sponged on the gradient using that, LaCC 1972, and Butter London Brummie, which is the shade that matches our uniform! It's all smoothed out with two coats of Seche Vite. 

In other news, I had a pretty awesome (but tiring!) day yesterday...  All of the girls in my class took ballet class with the company yesterday morning to audition to be cast in their performance of Giselle, because the company doesn't quite have enough girls for it... And I was cast!  We had a super long day of rehearsals yesterday, and I was wearing my pointe shoes for almost 8 hours... Not too comfy, (read: extremely uncomfortable) but totally worth it for the amazing experience!  Over the next two weeks we're working with the company all day every day to learn the entire ballet, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!  :) 

Anywho, I really love doing gradients using different shades of one colour, it always looks so awesome!!  What do you think of this look? :)

Vivid Lacquer: Theoretical Blogger & Talking With My Hands

Good morning!  I'm so glad today's the last day before Thanksgiving long weekend, I've been so tired and am really looking forward to three whole days off!!  

Today I've got two polishes from a new-to-me indie brand to show you, Theoretical Blogger and Talking With My Hands by Vivid Lacquer.  Continue reading after the jump!

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! :)

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?  :)

Heliotrope Water Marble

Good morning!  Apologies for the week-long hiatus.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll probably know that this past week has been spent packing up pretty much my entire life (but only 300 out of my 615 bottles of polish!) moving to a new city, getting myself settled into an apartment with my friend, starting full-time training, and adjusting to my new life!!  I'm pretty behind on swatching, but things should start to pick up again around here soon.  For now, I've got a water marble mani to show you which I wore last week.  :)

I've come back for the year to train at the same school I was at for a month this summer (and last summer,) and the colour of our uniform leotards is this pretty purple, the exact shade of which is apparently called heliotrope.  Therefore, our entire class are the Heliotropes.  It's a thing.  

For this water marble I started with a base of LaCC 1972 (the lightest purple) and watermarbled using 1972, piCture pOlish Violet Femme, and OPI Vant To Bite My Neck?.  It's all topped off with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat followed by one coat of Seche Vite.  Unfortunately I didn't wait for the design to dry completely (and apparently I'm not very good at floating on my top coat) because it did get smudged a bit.  Luckily, it wasn't noticeable from arm's length!  ;)

As I mentioned earlier, I'm hoping that things on the blog will get up and running normally again within the next week or two, I just need a bit of time to adjust!  :)

LynBDesigns: So Changeable & Purple Polish of Sex

Who's ready for two amazing polishes inspired by everyone's favourite high-functioning sociopath?  You better all be raising your hands.  Today is a first for me, as these are my first Sherlock-inspired polishes!  I've been a fan of the BBC adaptation for quite a while, and I've even read a good number of the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so I was pretty darn excited to get these polishes from LynBDesigns! 

Read on after the jump for more photos, a full review, and a dose of fangirling!  

Enchanted Polish: Time To Pretend

It's the last week of school and things are pretty crazy around here, but I've got a quick post today.  This is my very first Enchanted Polish, which I managed to snag from the restock at Nail Polish Canada !  :D 

I hadn't done any research before the restock as to which polishes I wanted, probably because I didn't know it was happening, haha.  I just happened to stumble upon a Facebook post announcing the restock three minutes before it went live, so I quickly grabbed this beauty and checked out before I could get cart-jacked.  ;)

To preserve my precious bottle, I layered one coat over Dior Purple Revolution (might as well go all-out, right?) and topped it with one coat of Seche Vite, which didn't dull the holo.  

There's TONS of photos, a mix of regularly-lit and outdoors to show the absolutely amazing holo and colour shift.  I'm in love!!

I wore this mani for two whole days, and still didn't want to take it off!  What do you think of this beauty?
Will you be trying to grab any Enchanted Polishes soon?  This was my first, but I think I'm definitely going to have to get more... Uh-oh, down the rabbit hole I go!

Nailz Craze Stamping Plate Review - NC02

As promised, here is part two of yesterday's post!  Yesterday I showed you two manis that I did with the Nailz Craze stamping plate NC01, and today I've got two manis to share using NC02!  :)

Jelly Stripes

Last week I tried some nail art inspired by a photo that Pam, the creator or Girly Bits, shared on Facebook (here).  While my interpretation didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, I still really liked the result!

The idea is basically a jelly sandwich with nail art, instead of the usual glitter.  I had just picked up OPI Houston We Have A Purple (which I'd been looking for for ages, hooray Winners!) and I figured the sheer jelly would work well for this!  

I started off with two coats of the OPI, and then drew three stripes down each nail with acrylic paint.  Next, I added another coat of the jelly, and drew some more lines in between the previous ones.  I finished it all off with one more coat of the jelly, and a coat of Seche Vite. 

It didn't quite end up looking like the 'buried' nail art I was going for, but I think that the alternating shades of magenta stripes looked quite cool!  

I think I'll try this again sometime, but perhaps with an extra coat of jelly polish between the designs to further separate them.  Either way, I really enjoyed wearing this look!  What do you think?  Is this something you'd try?  :)

Globe & Nail Turns 1 Today!

 Late last night after a swatch-a-thon, I couldn't decide what to do on my nails.  I knew my giveaway was closing and all that stuff (two winners will be announced in another post later today), but I just wasn't thinking straight.  As I decided to just slap on a plain creme and go to sleep, it hit me that today is my 1-year blogiversary!  How silly of me to almost forget!!

In wake of my revelation, I had a quick peek at my very first blog post ever, and decided to re-create that mani for this special day.  You can see my original post here, which I am (surprisingly) not too ashamed of, haha! :P

I stuck with the same colour scheme as before, but used different polishes.  I started with two coats of LaCC 1972 (lilac) then top coated and let it dry.  Next, I taped off the purple part using the jagged side of the tape (where you tear it) instead of the straight edge like normal, to get a cute zig-zag line.  

I repeated these steps with LaCC 1968 (green) and piCture pOlish Fairy Floss (pink), and topped it off with more Seche Vite to complete the look.  

I still like this look, but after a year of doing my nails nearly every day and figuring out my likes and dislikes, it's not necessarily something I would enjoy wearing as much anymore.  It's still a super cute spring look, though!

Here's a photo from my original post, just for comparison.  I think my major improvements over the past year are definitely my photography (LOVE my new camera), clean-up, freehand nail art (which this obviously doesn't showccase) and my cuticle care.  Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter is a miracle-worker. 

And here's a quick collage with bottle shots of all three polishes I used this time around. 

I'm so grateful for everything this year of blogging has brought me; I've made lots of friends who are just as crazy about nail polish as I am, and I've discovered more about myself as well.  I have learned some valuable business and marketing skills, as well as teaching myself about DSLR photography and learning to use photoshop.  I've dug through piles of nail polish at Winners to find the best deals, and pushed myself creatively to come up with new and exciting nail art.  The list goes on and on!

Overall, this year has been an invaluable experience in shaping who I will become in the next few years, with me graduating high school in a couple months.  None of it would have been possible without all of the encouragement and positive feedback from my friends, family, and of course my readers, and for that I am so grateful to you all.  Here's to another year of polished nails!!  :D

piCture pOlish: Twinkle

There's no new Castle episode tonight, and therefore no Castle Mani Monday post.  I do, however, have another beautiful piCture pOlish shade to show you!!  Take a look.  :)

This is piCture pOlish Twinkle, a cool-toned pinkish-lilac with a very subtle silver shimmer.  Formula was great as usual with this brand; it was almost a one-coater but I used two to avoid any patchiness in the photos.  Topped with one coat of LaCC 2013 top coat for a shiny finish! 

I really like this polish, even though these cool-toned pinks/purples don't tend to look very good on my skin tone.  Still a super pretty polish, regardless!! 

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list. 

How do you like this polish?  I think it's perfect for spring (even though the weather is still winter here), but is it something you'd wear in the coming months?  :)

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

Indie January: Candeo Colors Sweet Sierra

Today's post will be a short one, I'm going out of town to a dance convention this weekend and need to write up four Indie January posts for the days that I'm gone!  (Probably should have done that sooner, but...)

Anywho, today's polish is Candeo Colors Sweet Sierra, a clear base packed with purple matte hexes and squares, small purple and holo hexes, medium pink hexes, and small iridescent hexes. 

I layered one easy coat of Sweet Sierra over Zoya Savita, which I think is the perfect undies.  The pink-toned purple base along with stunning pink shimmer in Savita complimented the pink and purple glitter in Sweet Sierra very nicely.  Two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth finish. 

I wasn't sure of this one in the bottle because I'm not really a fan of pink and purple together (though I like them separately) but the purple definitely dominates in this polish!  

Candeo Colors polishes are available through Llarowe and the Candeo Colors website; keep up to date on Facebook. 

This glitter topper is super sparkly, a must-have for pink and purple glitter lovers!  What do you think?  Will you be picking this one up?  :)

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