Beauty School Dropouts

Monday, 7 May 2012

Mother's Day Idea: Manicure at Holt Renfrew

Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday the 13th, and we thought it would be perfect timing to hold another manicure day at Holt Renfrew. I will set up shop in Holt Renfrew here in Ottawa, in the cosmetics section, this Saturday the 12th of May all day long.
Here is how it works:
- If you want a manicure (for yourself or someone you are treating), you must book in advance
- We are not charging for manicures! Instead, with the purchase of any 2 Deborah Lippmann products, you will get a free Beauty School Dropouts manicure

So, all you have to do is call the Deborah Lippmann counter at Holt Renfrew (613-238-2200 Ext. 2265) to book a manicure and, when you come in on Saturday, pick out two of Lippmann's amazing products! (Win-win!)

If you are trying to come up with a gift idea for your Mum, this is the perfect solution! Enjoy some bonding time with your Mum while you shop around the store to pick out two Deborah Lippmann products and then treat her to a Beauty School Dropouts manicure (simple or nail-art enhanced). If you are a Mum, treat yourself to a fun manicure and some amazing products to take home (you deserve it!). If you have a sister or a friend who is a Mum - treat her (and maybe yourself too!) to a lovely Saturday out and about enhanced by beautiful polishes and sweet manicures.

For more information and to book a manicure, call the Deborah Lippmann counter at Holt Renfrew at 613-238-2200 Ext. 2265.
Hurry up and book your spot before they fill up!
We can't wait to do your nails!

A good old 80s pic of me and my Mum :)

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Sunday, 6 May 2012

Holt Renfrew Manicures

This Saturday we got to spend the day with the lovely Holt Renfrew folks and do manicures all day! It was great. We feel so lucky to be able to surround ourselves with Deborah Lippmann's amazing products and play all day long!

Plus, we were so excited to be able to experiment with her new polishes - mirrored chromes, flakies, and magnetic polishes!

These amazing mirrored chrome polishes are unbelievable - "Swagga Like Us" (a bronzey-gold with green-ish orange-ish accents), "Sugar Daddy" (a shimmer light gold) and "Private Dancer" (an incredible purple chrome.

These flakies are to die for! The pink one is called "Sweet Dreams" and the deep blue is called "Ray of Light".

Here, we opted to use Ray of Light and Sweet Dreams on her ring finger...love this accent nail manicure! It's all about the flakies, ladies!

This one is keeping it simple with Sweet Dreams...gotta love this amped up version of a bright fuchsia manicure.

Look who came to visit us! Cooper - the sweetest puppy who took a nap in his owner's purse while she got a manicure...I mean!

...and her owner got adorable accent watermelons on top of Sweet Dreams...the flakes made the watermelon look juicy! Perfect.

Look at how gorgeous Mermaid's Dream is...definitely dreamy and perfect for summer days.

I did a quick rose manicure on top of my shellac (review post to come on that soon) in between clients. Cute!

Look at how cute these pink roses look on top of Sugar Daddy...off to do some spring gardening! (Don't ruin your nails!)

It's Raining Men is such a great bright red...perfect for a fancy event or summertime sexiness.

Look at how neat the wavy magnetic polish looks...this one is Berry Metal (amethyst wave).

The always classic fuchsia Between The Sheets...such a great statement pink!

Sugar Daddy looks great on its own!

Doing the manicures was such a blast...plus, we got to play with some makeup too! We tried Bobbi Brown's eyeshadows...I tried "Bluebell" (I had to buy it!) and Kristina tried out "Ultra Violet". We were having too much fun!

Bluebell

Ultra Violet

I was also lucky enough that my Mum and little sister came to visit!

Overall, we had an absolutely great time (as usual). So much fun, in fact, that I will be back next Saturday (the 12th) to do manicures again!

See you all again soon!

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Tuesday, 24 April 2012

May 5th: Spring Date with Holt Renfrew!

Spring is here and, ladies, its time to embrace all of this season's colours and patterns by amping up your best accessory...your fingernails. The gloves are off and it's time to show 'em off! Next Saturday, May 5th, we will be setting up shop at Ottawa's Holt Renfrew location to fulfill all of your manicure dreams! Just like back in February, we will be teaming up with Deborah Lippmann nail products (our fave) to paint your nails all day long. Check out all the manicures we did last time here.

Some of the amazing Deborah Lippmann polishes we get to choose from

All you need to bring are your nails - maybe even bring a friend, a sister, daughter, or your Mum (what an adorable Mother's Day activity...it's coming up on the 13th!).

Here is the lowdown:
- If you want a manicure, you must book in advance
- We are not charging for manicures! Instead, with the purchase of any 2 Deborah Lippmann products, you will get a free Beauty School Dropouts manicure

So, all you have to do is call the Deborah Lippmann counter at Holt Renfrew (613-238-2200 Ext. 2265) to book a manicure and, when you come in on Saturday, pick out two of Lippmann's amazing products! (Win-win!)

Hurry up and book your spot before they fill up!

For more information and to book a manicure, call the Deborah Lippmann counter at Holt Renfrew at 613-238-2200 Ext. 2265.

We can't wait to do your nails!

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Sunday, 22 April 2012

Titanic Manicure

If you haven't already heard, this past Sunday (April 15th) marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Also, the movie was re-released in theaters (in 3-D!). Since I grew up in the height of the Leo-obsession, this movie is a serious part of my life (and so is my love for Leo). I remember going to see it in theaters when it first came out. I was only in grade 4 but, at the time, I thought that I truly grasped the sadness and intensity of the story. At one point, I had to leave the theater to recuperate and take a breath because I was trying so hard to hold back sobbing.
Last week, I went to see it again with my sister and a few of my girl friends and, well, we sobbed the entire time. In quiet moments, you could hear the entire theater sobbing. Why do we do this to ourselves??? It's just soooo good in a horribly sad way. If you've seen the movie before, watch this video and I dare you not to cry.

*Deep breath* Ok. So, I created a manicure inspired by the front of the ship as seen on the movie poster. It has a similar shape to the Lana Del Rey manicure which I absolutely love and really looks awesome and flattering on the nails.

The movie poster

I really love this one! I definitely like manicures "inspired by" objects rather than just painting tiny objects onto the nail. Sometimes tiny art is really neat but, at other times, I like to work with the nail shape to create an interesting pattern.

And, just in case you're interested, the following represent all the reasons why I can watch that movie over and over again:

This...

...and this

...this too

...oh, and this above all else.

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Game of Thrones Heart Tree Manicure

So, do you guys watch Game of Thrones? It's on its second season now and we are die hard fans. In fact, I've read all the books and they were impossible to put down. The characters are awesome. So, lately I've been deep into season two and, for those of you who are familiar with the story, I'm nostalgic about the beginning of the first book/season one, when the Starks were all still together in Winterfell (sad face).

Jon Snow (babe) in front of a heart tree

For those of you who don't know, the Godswood is a private wooded area where people who pray to Old Gods worship and find solitude. The trees in the Godswood have deep red maple-style leaves and white-ish bark. In the centre of the Godswood stands an old weirwood tree, the heart tree, with a face carved into it with red sap giving the appearance of tears of blood. Super spooky right? Well...manicure inspiration!

Ned Stark and Catelyn Stark at the heart tree

The face!

For this manicure, I used Rimmel's French Manicure Pro in French Ivory because I didn't want to use a flat white and this one is slightly milky and transparent.

For the leaves and blood/sap, I used China Glaze's China Rouge.

For the rest of the details I used Deborah Lippmann's Waking up in Vegas and Fade to Black. Check it out!(It might even be able to double as a spooky Canada day manicure...lol)

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Monday, 16 April 2012

Amazing Bridal Manicure

A couple of weeks ago, we got to go to our dear friends Emily and James' super fun wedding. Even more awesome, we go to do the bridal nails! Let me tell ya, you gotta see her nails. Bridal nails are usually quite neutral and subdued, which is perfect when you want to show off your gorgeous, special dress. However, every once and a while, it's so much fun to see a bride rock a fun manicure. And, Emily went there! She came up with such an adorable wedding manicure that we had to share it with you.

We used Deborah Lippmann's Naked (one of our all-time favourites) on 9 of Emily's fingers.

And, on the ring finger, we used OPI's Mod About You for the light pink background of a...tuxedo nail! Mod About You is a very chalky and opaque, pale pink so it really looked awesome as a girly-alternative to the classic white and black tuxedo nail that we did here (remember Zooey Deschanel wore tuxedo nails to the Golden Globes?) Love it. Such a cute idea for a wedding.

How adorable is that!? Check out these phone pics I took of the wedding..I'm sure some beautiful profesh photos will surface soon - I hope there is a good shot of Em's nails with her beautiful dress, hair, and self!

Their awesome cake-topper (featuring a wolf-husband and owl-wife)

The girls (look at that beautiful wedding dress!) Regine, Emily, Emilie (me), and Kristina

Emily and James sharing their first dance...awwww :)

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Friday, 6 April 2012

Birthday Nail Party

Last night, we were lucky enough to join a super fun group of ladies having an awesome birthday-weekend kick-off party. Needless to say, there were tunes, treats, and champagne. Before joining the party ourselves (new friends, yay!), we got down to some serious nail business! Everyone had great ideas for their manicures and we had a blast picking out colours and coming up with super original designs. Check 'em out!

Some sassy royal blue and silver leopard print nails...meow!