Category: Essie

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#HePicksMyPolish — Floral edition.

I’m lucky, as I have a boyfriend who can put up with the fact I own so much polish,–a collection that just keeps on growing! I’m also lucky because every so often I give him the responsibility of picking my polishes when I can’t, or don’t, feel like doing it myself, and he’s always a good sport about it. A couple months ago, I read about the #hepicksmypolish challenge, and thought it was an awesome idea. So I sat him down, made him pick three colors, and created a manicure from them. I hadn’t done that in a while, so I figured another round of #hepicksmypolish was in order.

hepicksfloral

For this manicure, the boyfriend picked the following polishes:

  • Maripose Nail Polish with no name — the teal base color.
  • Essie in The Lace is On — purple pedals of my flowers.
  • OPI in You’re So Flippy Floppy (from the OPI Brazil collection mini sandies) –Yellow middles of my flowers.

He didn’t really go through all of my polishes to find these–he chose them all from my mini’s drawer. I don’t know what it is, but he always picks a purple and yellow combination for me. The second I saw these three colors, I knew I was doing a floral! Haha. And I do love how they turned it–they kind of remind me of the 60ies, and Andy Warhol.

I ended up adding my Icing It’s a Matte World top coat, which I feel just upped this floral to a whole other level.

hepicksfloral3

Have you ever let your significant other chose your nail polish/or what you should paint on your nails? I keep trying to convince him he should actually paint my nails, but he hasn’t agreed to it… yet. Maybe someday haha.

 

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April Showers bring May Floral Nails.

First off I just want to thank everyone that has been liking and commenting on my posts. It’s so exciting to know people like what I’ve been sharing! Nail art makes me happy, and it’s awesome being able to meet others who feel the same way. =)

Being as it’s now officially May, I was feeling a Spring floral for my nails. Floral print is one of my favorite prints to wear–whether it’s on my nails, or a dress. I was going for a kind of carnation look, which is a floral print I’ve never tried before. I don’t think they look exactly like carnations, but they do look like flowers so that’s all that matters!

floral

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • ACO by Ardene in Bridezilla — my base color.
  • ACO by Ardene in Ardene’s Secret –flower pedals.
  • ACO by Ardene in Secret Rendezvous –flower pedals.
  • Essie in We’re in this Together –flower pedals & polka dots between the flowers (though they are really light so didn’t show up as well.)
  • Sinful Colors in Strapped — outer color of the leaves.
  • ACO by Ardene in Green Peace –inner color of the leaves.
  • LA Girl Quick Dry Top Coat.

I absolutely love how these turned out. So pretty, and spring like. Unfortunately, I ran out of my trusty Sally Hansen Diamond flash, and I think my bottle of LA Girl Top Coat is old, because I made it not even an hour into work before these started to chip. And not just chip, but the whole nail polish just peeled off.

chipped chipped2

Definitely not as pretty. =( And considering how much work I put into these, I was considerably unimpressed.

But! I got a new top coat, and quick drying drops to try out, so my next manicure will be featuring those. I’ve never used quick dry drops before, so I’m excited to see if they work. I almost always paint my nails the night before–usually before I head to bed–so I need something that will keep my nails from smudging or getting sheet marks. So hopefully these will work out for me. I don’t know if anything can top my Diamond Flash though–I’m going to have to start hoarding bottles of it, so I never run out!

So what’s your favorite floral print to recreate on your nails?

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Crazy for Dots.

My brand new dotting tool set I ordered last month finally arrived last week, and I couldn’t be more excited. I already had a single dotting tool that I bought at Shoppers last year (Essence brand) but it’s had better days. Plus, I only had the one size so it restricted my dot options to two sizes.

dottingtool

I scored these beauties on Amazon.ca for $1.96. (I also scored some new small detail brushes as well, which haven’t arrived yet.)

It took a while for them to arrive, but once they did I couldn’t wait to try they out! I just needed to figure out what was the first design I wanted to do! It was getting a little late when I started these, so I figure I a funky dotticure was the perfect solution.

dots

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Cherimoya nail polish in Dulce de Leche (from the “Make You Melt” Petite collection.) — base color.
  • Essie in The Lace is On — Dark purple dots.
  • Garage brand nail polish — the light pink dots. (No name on this one.)
  • LA Girl Quick Dry Top Coat.

Even though it’s a simple mani, I really like how it turned out on the nail. I really am crazy for dots.

The only disappointment was a I banged my finger in the morning getting ready for the gym, and broke the nail on my pointer finger so I had to file down the rest of my nails so they were all the same length (and go through work with a slight chip to the polish all day). Then I ended up hitting my hand at work, breaking the edge of my thumb nail! So my nails are super short again. I’m a sad girl.

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The 31 Day Challenge –Day 12: Stripes.

I have to say I’m actually pretty impressed with myself, and the fact I’ve been able to keep this challenge going without giving up. It’s actually been so easy for nail art because I know what I have to do, it just means figuring out the details of how.

For Day 12, my prompt was stripes. I was inspired by this manicure I found on pinterest, a combination of stripes and flowers. Mine are a little different, obviously–and I’m still working on perfecting my roses. I can’t wait until the new nail art brushes arrive so I can do much smaller details. These are a little messy, but I still think they’re very pretty. And perfect for spring weather. The days are finally getting warmer, and so I will be wearing my darker manicure less often, and concentrating on spring colors.

stripes

As you can see, I went with purple stripes instead of the black ones in the picture, and only concentrated on the flowers on a few accent nails (my thumb, middle, and ring finger). My flowers are definitely not perfect, but I think I just didn’t choose the right combination of colors–I started these pretty late the night previous, when I was already tired.

nailpolish

The polishes I used for this manicure were (from left to right):

  • ACO by Ardene in Sour Apple — light green polish in the middle of the leaves.
  • OPI’s Pinking of You — the light pink base of the roses (although they kind of got hidden by my other polishes).
  • Essie Watermelon — Accent dots of pink on the roses.
  • ACO by Ardene in Bridezilla — light ivory base of my nails.
  • Color Club Art Club striping polish in Paisley Paradise — stripes on my nails.
  • Garage Nail polish (No Name) — pink outline of my roses.
  • ACO by Ardene in Techno Green — darker green of my leaves.

All topped off with my favorite Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat (which you can see peeking out from the back row, behind my the Art Club striper.)

These are not my most impressive roses, but I think my stripes turned out awesome. I’m not very good at tape manicures, even with a lot of practice, so I rely on striping polishes to get them done! I’ve been working pretty hard on practicing my line work, and trying to get a steadier hand, and I really think it’s paying off. A year ago I would not have been able to draw such even lines on my nails!

Also I have to say how much I LOVE Bridezilla by ACO. I’ve been looking for a new off-white polish for wearing as a base, as I’m scared if I use my beloved My Boyfriend Scales Walls too much, it’s going to run out way quicker than I want. Bridezilla is somewhere between an off-white or cream, and a very very light nude, and I just adore it. The application was awesome (2 coats on most nails for opacity, with only one or two nails needing another coat thin coat for hiding some bald spots.) And it was the perfect base color for my stripes.

Also my best friend is getting married in August, and I’m not sure what nail art I’m going to be able to do, but Bridezilla could be a lovely color to wear just as is. (Our brides maid dresses are blue and cream stripes, and I’m pretty sure that is almost exactly the same color as the stripes on our dresses.)

 

So what do you think of this stripe and rose combination?