Heavy Metal Pink Zebra

Last night before heading out, I decided to give myself a quick manicure and decided on zebra. These days, in my world of nail experimentation, one solid colour manicure looks unfinished to me...losing touch with reality? Maybe.

I used two coats of OPI's Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous as the base and a skinny pink brush for the accents.

I picked this one up at Shoppers and, for the price ($2.99), it went on quite well without clumping or being too runny. Plus, they carry a dozen or so different colours and glitter so one could really go wild.

And, of course, I finished the manicure off with our favourite top coat; Seche Vite.

A different pic:

Well, today is the last day of November and, in my eyes, the "Holiday Season" officially starts up tomorrow. And we all know what that means - holiday nail art! So, keep a lookout for the next few posts we make because they are going to involve all things sparkly, twinkly, and cozy-cute (is that a thing?). Pin It

Last night at Victoire - so much fun!

Our second date with Victoire was THE BEST! We were so excited to be fully booked and could not wait to spend our evening chatting and finding out which manicures were chosen by old and new friends alike!

We also had a lot of requests of styles seen on our blog, which really made our day. Regine said it best when she pointed out that all the different nail art options really do speak to people differently. One of the best parts was definitely customizing the colours and styles for each manicure depending on what the ladies wanted - we love to hear your awesome ideas!

We put out the best glitters on display because glitter is obviously a priority!

Here we are doing some serious work (a.k.a. having too much fun).

Here are just some of the manicures we did last night - check 'em out!

 The "While You Were on Facebook" manicure on neon orange and pink gradient

 Red roses on a neutral background

 Purple and gold leopard

 Super gold nautical

 Pink fairy nails

 Strawberry nails

 Plum roses on a pink background

 Sparkly side of the moon

 Gold diagonals on peach

 Sparkly blizzard nails

 Neon coral zebra

 Sparkly apples

Regine getting...

...an all-seeing eyes manicure!

Thanks so much for all those who booked spots with us last night! We can't wait for the next one and will let you all know as soon as a date is chosen.

Thanks again - we had so much fun!

- Emilie & Kristina

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The secret to a perfect manicure.

The secret to a really flawlessly executed manicure is a great topcoat. Ok, well, this isn't the only "secret" there is and I suppose for a lot of people who are obsessed with nails, it's no secret at all, but for us, it's a major make-or-break step. If you're not accustomed to doing a home manicure with a topcoat, I beg you to reconsider and get one ASAP. You will see a huge difference in the appearance of your mani, as well as the longevity.

We are devotees of Seche Vite. Haven't heard of it? Well, GET WISE! You need it. 

No exaggeration, Seche Vite will change the way you do your nails and how much you end up liking your manicure. This is THE topcoat. It actually dries your polish within seconds. We don't know what we'd do if we didn't have this topcoat at the ready (other than maybe wait for each coat of nail polish to dry which is obviously asking too much).

You apply it to WET polish and it is designed to "penetrate through nail lacquer to the base coat forming a single solid coating over the nail plate for a much more durable finish" (according the Seche website). What I take away from that is that it's both science and magic. Anyway, it dries the polish super quick and provides a very shiny and durable finish over polish. For our purposes, it's necessary to have a fast drying topcoat when doing designs on the nail or else they can wear off very quickly.

There are a couple downsides to Seche Vite that we have noticed. It does occasionally 'pull' the edges of a manicure and it gets kind of gloopy quickly (when exposed to air frequently). However, the pros outweigh the cons. We have probably bought it a zillion times. Can't live without it. 

In Canada, you can score Seche Vite at Sally Beauty Supply stores and occasionally at Winners. 

This product is a MUST-HAVE. Really.  Pin It

Beauty School Dropouts at Victoire - Fully Booked!

We are thrilled to announce that our manicure night next Sunday at Victoire is fully booked! We can't wait to mani all night long! And, for those of you who would still like to nail-art-it-up in the future, we will let you know when the next manicure soiree is :)

So keep your eyes and ears peeled!

- Emilie & Kristina Pin It

Crispy Red Apple Mani

For the cutesy mani I used the Forever 21 Glitter I mentioned here as the base. I chose this one because I wanted the background to be neutral-ish so as to not take away from the bright red apples without being beige or grey. I thought tiny sparkles was the way to go. For the red apple I used Essie's Fishnet Stockings which I also used here. It is definitely a great colour for a ripe red apple.

With winter fast approaching, I am trying to embrace the last moments of fall and this delicious fall mani is a big help! Pin It

Super Bright Tiger Nail

Ok, first of all, these polishes are impossible to photograph. I tried in different light conditions, with and without flash, and on different cameras. Neons are tough! 

I used two coats of white by Pure Ice (from Walmart) for the base. This polish is actually quite decent and provides great opaque coverage considering it only cost $1.97!

For the brights, I used Colo(u)r Club's neon pink and China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy.

This is one of our all-time favourite polishes. It is such a perfect neon coral colour. A very bright and orangey pink - it was pretty much a repeat pedicure colour all summer. When I use this one for a mani, I get stopped by people asking me what polish I'm wearing. It's such a crazy colour! We love it. (So, in the images above, try to imaging that the orangey colour near the cuticles is brighter and has more of a pinkish tint to it.)

So, after creating a colour gradient on the nail with the coral near the cuticle and the bright pink on the tip, I added the black details with that good old skinny polish that I mentioned here and here.

I realize that these are summery colours but, hey, November is dark, gloomy, and the sun only graces us with its presence for like...20 minutes a day so I could use a little day-brightening. This bright mani has been brightening my day already :) Pin It

A Second Date with Victoire

After getting to participate in Victoire Boutique’s Talk to the Hand event last week (as a part of Apt613’s SupportLocal month), we are delighted to announce that the lovely ladies of Victoire have invited us back for more… And soon too! We had so much fun at this event and got to meet so many cool chicks. We're over the moon that Victoire is graciously hosting a night just for Beauty School Dropouts to do manicures! 

On Sunday November 27^th from 5:30 pm to 8 pm at Victoire (246 Dalhousie St), we will be buffing, polishing and beautifying nails once again.

We had an overwhelming volume of takers last time so this time around, we will be taking appointments in order to make sure everyone who wants a sweet manicure gets their turn.  We have a huge selection of colours and designs for you to choose from. You KNOW you wanna start December off right with a marvelous manicure. 

(Look at Bette Davis below doing her nails all by herself... Totally staged! And not as fun.)

We will be starting to book appointments for the event over the next week. Get in touch with Emilie and I via email! We’ll book a time just for you so you know when to swing by. Or you can just come to Victoire earlier and pick up some holiday gifts for your friends (*cough* yourself). This is gonna be super fun and we can't wait!

Be sure to check out our Facebook page to stay up to date on events and new manis we do. Oh, and we are on Twitter now too. WEEE!

- Kristina

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Soft Polka Dot Mani

This is a very simple mani that I gave to my friend Tess. She wanted something soft and simple so we settled on polka dots. For the base, we used two coats of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos.

This is such a soft and lovely colour that I tend to use it a lot. As for the little polka dots, I used my go-to greige; Deborah Lippmann's Waking Up in Vegas.

In the end, Tess couldn't resist some little decals I had kicking around so we added those and took this mani to the next level. The mani ended up looking pretty adorable and understated - managing to be an all over pattern while remaning soft and avoiding flashiness. Pin It

Roses and Polka Dot Mani

It's official! I absolutely love doing rose manicures. They are super easy to do and end up looking adorable and feminine. I have tried this mani before on my little sister using pastels and a bright pale blue as the background. It ended up looking really cute and bright but I wanted to give this mani a little bit of a mature twist. So, for this one, I used OPI's Barefoot in Barcelona as the base because I was looking for something pretty and soft but a little more neutral. This way, the roses would pop and remain the focus of the mani.

I did tiny black polka dots in the background to create more of a pattern and I think it turned out looking really pretty with the roses on top. For the two-tone roses, I used Essie's Fishnet Stockings and Revlon's Coral Me Wild.

I can't seem to find a good photo of Coral Me Wild but I highly recommend it. It is the perfect bright orangey-pink without being a matte neon (but almost neon - so much fun!). I used my go-to leaf colour (OPI's Jade is the New Black) and finished off with accents using the black skinny brush polish I mentioned here.

I really like how this look turned out and I can't wait to experiment with different coloured roses!

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Silver Leopard Print Nails

This one is a twist on the classic leopard print. I tried this mani twice, using a different silver glitter for each try. The first time, I used a holographic-type silver glitter called Disco Nights I picked up at Forever21.

I used Gosh's Miss Grey for the spots

and Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen in Black for the details.

This is how the mani turned out:

The forever 21 holographic mani looks really special in daylight because it reflects so many different colours. I used three coats for the base here and it looked great the next day outside.
I also tried this mani with one of my favourite silver glitters that I mentioned here.

I also really loved the way this one turned out. The Orly glittler polish is very metallic and shiny and goes on really great too.
I can't wait to try leopard print in different colours...so many possibilities! Pin It

Juicy Strawberry Nails

Ok - I know it's not technically summer anymore BUT I can't stay away from this adorable summery mani. Plus, it is actually quite beautiful and sunny outside today in Ottawa so I will take what I can get. These strawberries are really easy to do and end up looking absolutely darling. In fact, they were quite popular this weekend at Talk to the Hand at Victoire Boutique.
For the red base, I used Sally Hansen's Insta Dry in Rapid Red.

I used this polish because it is quite opaque with only one coat and, knowing I would be adding details on top, I usually prefer to avoid multiple base coats.
For the seeds and leaves, I used a yellow by Color Club and Jade is the New Black by OPI.

And here is a pic of the manicure with a flash (these little berries are difficult to photograph!).

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Talk to Hand - Grrreat Success!

What an amazing Saturday evening! This event was such a success and we are so happy that we got to meet all the wonderful ladies who came out. We all enjoyed some cozy crafting, scrumptious treats, and fun manicures.

As for Kristina and I, we manicured non-stop and loved every minute of it! It was so much fun to see which nail art designs were chosen - we were so happy by the fact that it was all across the board. Plus, chatting with new friends while nail-arting was an awesome added bonus.

We are blown away by all the ladies who came out and wanted a Beauty School Dropout manicure - too bad we couldn't keep going all night! We can't wait to do this again.
We are currently in the works of planning a regular Beauty School Dropouts X Victoire event so keep your eyes and ears pealed - we want to do your nails!

- Emilie & Kristina Pin It