NYE Sparkle in the Midnight Air

I finally decided on a manicure for tonight! Since I haven't settled on an outfit yet (I know...cutting it close), I opted for a manicure that could go with pretty much anything.

I used two coats of Essie's Licorice (black) as the base and added Deborah Lippmann's I Love the Nightlife as a gradient concentrated at the tips.

As expected, Lippmann did it again - created an awesome glitter. The chunks of glitter themselves are octagonal in shape and are silver with a slight blueish-purpleish tint. The glitter is in a clear base which makes it easy to apply to any base colour. I love the shape and size of these glitter pieces because, even though they are pretty glamorous and intense, the fact that they are slightly biggers makes them pretty adorable because they kindof look like polka dots on the nails.
Overall, a great glitter that helped create a black and silver manicure that will (hopefully) match whatever I end up wearing tonight.

Whether you decide to go out all night or opt for a quiet night in, have an amazing NYE and Happy New Year! Pin It

NYE Keep the Champagne Flowing Manicure

With bubbly in mind, I created this mani by first using two coats of OPI's Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous as the base, which is a graphite and silver micro glitter.

Then, after creating a white background along the tips of the nails, I added one coat of Sinful Color's This is It, a sparkly yellow-gold.

I love how the champagne flows along the nails - fun! As a finishing touch, I added a tiny bit of Orly's Tiara to the champagne to create the illusion of bubbles. Still brainstorming which manicure I am going to wear tonight... oh, decisions!



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NYE 2012 Let the Glitter Rain Manicure

My family and I are on holiday so my little (teenaged) sister requested a special NYE manicure for tonight. I used Deborah Lippmann's Between the Sheets for the base because it is a lovely bright fuschia perfect for a lovely night out for dinner. Then, starting at the cuticle, I created a glitter gradient using Orly's Tiara. I finished it off with tiny numbers on four of the nails on each hand...bring on 2012! 

Definitely looking forward to tonight... but still deciding what to wear and, most importantly, how to accessorize my finger tips!

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Midnight Kiss NYE Manicure

For this New Year's Eve inspired manicure, I used China Glaze's Icicle for the base.  I love this micro-glitter metallic polish and also used it here. Then, I added hand-painted kiss marks with Deborah Lippmann's beautiful Between the Sheets which is a vibrant, dark fuschia.

Then I added some white glossy light reflections and voila! How is your NYE outfit planning going? The fun thing about this manicure is that you can tweak the base and lip mark polish colours to more closely match your outfit (I know I am at fault of overplanning...can't help it!). Happy NYE planning!

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Thanks for the article, Snobriety.ca!

Hello everyone! While you are all daydreaming of New Year's Eve plans, why don't you check out a recent article by Snobriety where we dish on the local art and fashion scene in our hometown and talk about our inspiration to get into hand-painted nailart. While you're there, snoop around the rest of their site which focuses on the creative Canadian world. Don't forget to check out our local friends we mention in the article who are making a name for themselves in the Canadian fashion world - Victoire Boutique, Sessie Dress, and Raised by Wolves.

Check back soon for more party manicures :) Pin It

Champagne Bubbles New Year's Eve Manicure

Well, Christmas is over and I hope you all ate too much and relaxed too much because New Year's Eve is around the corner and we have to prep for parties! With that in mind, I have been brainstorming some New Year's Eve manicures and here is the first one - champagne bubbles! 

This one is understated and beautiful. It's soft, neutral, feminine and delicate with a tad of sparkly glitter to bring it up to new year's eve party level. I used two coats of Deborah Lippmann's Naked as the base.

Usually, I don't like most pinky-beige polishes on me because they can cause the "lobster hand effect" (certain polishes accent the red tones in my skin and my fingers can look straight up creepy - of course, this completely depends on one's skin tone). However, I was surprised to find out that I absolutely love how Naked looks. It kindof creates a mannequin hand...in a good way. It's very flattering as the colour elongates the fingers and the nail beds. 

For the champagne bubbles, I used Deborah Lippmann's Stairway to Heaven. 

I love this glitter. I used it to make a gradient concentrated on the tip of the nail to create the illusion of champagne bubbles rising in a glass. It is in a creamy gel base which is perfect for this manicure because it can easily be made into a gradient on the Naked base without leaving any obvious lines. The chunks of glitter in this polish are square and octagonal and iridescent and change from warm coppers and pinks to watery blues and teals. It's really adorable and I can't wait to try it on different bases. Here are some more pics of the manicure:

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More Holiday Manicures!

This week, I had the pleasure of getting together with some old friends Maddie and Sophie to get down to some serious holiday nail business. Plus, it was so great to be able to catch up and chat during the manicures. Sophie wanted something wintery and cute and opted for a full snowflake manicure similar to the one I did a little while ago. We used the awesome Sapphire (Designer series) by OPI and then I added some hand-painted white snowflakes. It ended up looking adorable! (This holographic polish is so difficult to photograph! You've gotta see it in person to experience its beauty).

Maddie asked for something feminine but also holiday-inspired so I gift-wrapped her nails! We chose the OPI Designer..de Better from the Muppet line (that I used and reviewed here) for the base and, of course, my favourite red - OPI's Red My Fortune Cookie for the accents and the bow.

This one really looked great. Perfect for this time of year! Good choices, ladies!

Last night, I had a girlie Christmas party to go to so I decided to do a last minute manicure before I stepped out (the best accessory). I thought I would try the Born to Die manicure in different colours. This time, I decided to use a colour as the background instead of leaving the nails bare, so I thought I would use something neutral. I opted for OPI's Barefoot in Barcelona as the base.

For the tips, I chose China Glaze's Icicle and the same Nicole by OPI gold glitter (Twist of Fate) that I used for the original Born to Die manicure.

This is how it turned out:

I like this colour combo - still fancy and party-ready like the original, but slightly less eye-popping. Anyway, must go - gotta get back to wrapping!

Happy Holidays :) Pin It

First Day of Hanukkah Holiday Manicure

Happy Hanukkah! This evening marks the first day of Hanukkah and I was drawn to creating a beautiful sparkly Hanukkah inspired manicure.
I used an absolutely breathtaking shimmery royal blue as the base; China Glaze's Frostbite (clearly seasonally appropriate).

This polish has such a beautiful deep colour, is extremely easy to apply, and looks marvelous with only two coats. Plus, the slightly metallic-shimmery appearance hides any nail imperfections and looks pro even without a super steady hand.
Then, I hand-painted the white candles, black wick, and yellow and white flames. And, of course, added the gold and silver sparkle accents (because I can never resist adding a touch - or a serious amount - of glitter). With the silver Star of David on the thumb nails, two hands of four candles on each makes eight! (Thinking ahead!).

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Lana Del Rey's Born to Die Manicure

I watched Lana Del Rey's newly released video for Born to Die and was totally inspired. Check it out.

First of all, I am pretty obsessed with her intense voice and whole shtick (see more videos further down in this post). Second of all, the nails! I knew I had to try them as soon as I saw this video. Here are some shots from the video of her nails:

Aren't they awesome? OK - so I don't have the super long and square fake nails thing going on but I decided to try my own version of this look anyway. Plus, the bright red and thin line of gold glitter are perfect holiday party colours. So, since I knew that my bare nails would be showing, I gave them a good buff to make sure there were no discolourations. Then, I painted one coat of China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat. 

This has been my go-to base coat for a while now. It dries quickly (important) and seems to really help my manicures last longer. It gave my nails a nice subtle shininess that would accent the red and gold tips perfectly. Then, I hand-painted the rounded "V" shape onto the tips of my nails and added thin lines of gold glitter with a skinny brush. As expected, I used my favourite red, OPI's Red My Fortune Cookie.

For the gold glitter accents, I used Nicole by OPI's Twist of Fate.

This is how it turned out:

I really love how these turned out! Like the geometric christmas tree nails I posted yesterday, this manicure really elongates the nails. Plus, I'm pretty sure these nails could really work a holiday party. 

And, as promised, more Lana Del Rey.

Enjoy!

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Geometric Christmas Tree Holiday Manicure

Usually, when I'm thinking up ideas for cute themed manicures, I try to avoid just painting a tiny picture of something onto the nail. Instead, I like to come up with creative ways to work something into the shape of the nail so that it comes together as a whole instead of being made up of separate parts (like this and this and this). However, I do paint images onto the nails sometimes, like here and here, because it can also look really adorable.
So, when I wanted to do a manicure with something resembling a Christmas Tree, I decided to give it a geometric feel. I used Nailene's  Perfect Tips and Toes French Polish Guides to create the Christmas Tree Shape on the nail.

After a base coat, I painted one coat of Yves Saint Laurent's Gold polish. Only one coat was needed - this is a very beautiful and buttery polish. At this point, I used one coat of Seche Vite and let the nails dry for 30 minutes so that the stickers wouldn't peel the polish off.

Then, I used the Nailene stickers that were meant for toes (they are straight unlike the guides designed for fingernails) to section off a triangle on the nail.

Then, I painted OPI's Jade is the New Black as the trees.

To finish it off, I carefully peeled of the stickers and added another coat of Seche Vite. I really like the way this one turned out - it's both geometric and modern and the shape of the "trees" also elongates the nails. Plus, the gold and green are great holiday colours and look super luxurious together.

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Weekend of Manicures

The holiday parties are definitely happening! This weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting with and doing the nails of Tara and Yasmen. They both wanted manicures well-suited for holiday parties and we went with glitter!...how could we not?!
Tara chose Deborah Lippmann's Single Ladies, a beautiful deep red with a blue undertone.

We paired it with Lippmann's classic glitter, Happy Birthday, and ended up with a gorgeous, decadent and sparkly holiday manicure.

Yasmen went for something a little more understated and chose OPI's Suzi Skis in the Pyrenese as the base. This is definitely one of my new favourites (even though it is not that new!). I have fallen in love with it all over again after using it for my penguin manicure- it's great for a dark manicure if you want to avoid the harshness of a full-on black polish.
We topped it off with a glitter gradient on the tips using my go-to silver glitter, Orly's Tiara.

It turned out looking like a lovely snowy night sky - a great holiday manicure that could be paired with pretty much any outfit and jewelry.

I was also lucky enough to spend some time with a gorgeous birthday girl this weekend and give her a manicure as well! We decided to do her nails before her party so she could truly embrace the party girl vibe in a matchy-matchy manicure. Jess chose leopard print to match her dress and we picked out the colours accordingly. We went with a shimmery light silver, OPI's Birthday Babe (how fitting)!), and used Sally Hansen's Insta Dri in Rapid red for the spots. This is how it turned out!

And, of course, a full shot of the girl and her dress to get the full picture:

In my books, a weekend is always a blast if it involves a ton of manicures - so bring it on, holidays!

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