Marvelous Manicure(s): Twice the Fun

Get ready for it - I have TWO manicures for you today!  While I had given myself a pretty cool one at the beginning of this week, I bought a new shade yesterday and couldn't wait to try it on... so I didn't.  Anyway, let's get started!  Manicure number one started with "Iceberg Lotus" by Nicole, with some "Nicole... Spotted!" on the tips (that's the first pic), but I found this was a little on the boring side, so I used my Sally Hansen nail pens to add some silver and black leopard spots (second pic), which I was fairly satisfied with.  I should also add that with that vibrant green it will absolutely stain your nails, so use base coat!  I use Seche Natural, which did an impressive job of blocking stains.

In the third picture is my latest manicure, where I used Lise Watier's "Fun in the Sun".  I haven't used Lise Watier polish before, so this was something of a test run.  The colour dried just a liiiittle bit more red than in the bottle, and the consistency is on the clear side, but after two coats it looks quite nice.  While I have a Revlon polish that is very close in colour to "Fun in the Sun", I can't say I regret getting it... it's just such a great summer colour!

As a last note, you'll notice a book in the background of the last pic - that's Empire of Illusion, which I am trudging through and fully intend to review as I am almost done and it has been a fascinating read.  Unfortunately I have found over the last few months that I've developed something of a literature ADD.  Once upon a time I was the type of person who chose a book and then read it cover to cover, and only ever read one book at a time (otherwise I found it distracting).  However, since completing my degree (yay!) I have a new-found inability to focus on just one book.  Perhaps my brain is nostalgic for the days where I had 30 different books to read a semester, but regardless the effect has been clear: I am part-way through at least five different books right now, which is why my book reviews have been non-existent over the last little while.  I have finished reading several books (I'm not THAT slow a reader), but they're just not review-worthy.  Anyway, I'm rambling.  The point is, reviews are coming!

Manicure: She Sells Seashells by the Sea Shore

So to my great dismay my royal manicure didn't last very long... though neither did the dismay, since it meant I got to give myself a new manicure.

There are few things I love more than a nice neutral palette - I seem to live in them.  A favourite colour combination of mine is a soft pearl gray with a shell pink (hence the title).  Surprisingly this is a pairing I have yet to try on my nails, and admittedly I stumbled upon the idea by accident.  I'm definitely pleased with how things turned out, though I do wish the Icing by Claire's polish's sparkles were rainbow like all the others - I used four different kinds of sparkles: Icing by Claire's in "Sparkle Me Happy", Revlon's "Belle", Sally Hansen's "Disco Ball", and China Glaze's "Fairy Dust".  I layered them over "Silver" by Revlon and "Hopelessly in Love" by OPI.  Hope you like it!

 

Royal Wedding Manicure

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a treat for you today.  You are already aware I majored in History at university, but many of you will not know that I specialized in British history or that the monarchy is one of my favourite parts of history to study (I took an entire course entirely centred on the British monarchy and it was awesome!).  Anyway, as such I have a deep fondness for the institution and a fascination with it, so the upcoming royal nuptials have me very excited!

Besides being an incredible continuation of ceremonies that extend back thousands of years, I also find the upcoming wedding interesting in a more social context.  It's so lovely to see the world (well, maybe just the Commonwealth) get excited about something together.  After so many years of endless headlines on the market crash, its consequent recession, oil spills, wars, and the usual doom and gloom it's so refreshing to finally see people coming together and being happy.  Nothing gets people's spirits up quite like a wedding, and considering royal weddings only happen once every thirty or so years (I wasn't yet alive when Charles and Diana married) it's definitely something remarkable.

So, in keeping with all this my mother, sister and I will all be staying up until one or two in the morning or whenever when things will be starting live in England and we're having a little Royal Wedding Party.  There will be lots of tea and we're all dressing up (my sister and I are going to do our best Kate Middleton impressions).  I have a veil I'm going to bust out while I believe my sister is going to sport a hat with a whole lot of feathers.  Today we picked up replica rings of Kate/Diana's engagement ring, and - the theme of this post - painted our nails Will & Kate Wedding-style.  Anyway, I thought I'd share the photos of the finished result.

My original plan had been to use our nail stamper for the crowns and the bells, but it was being SO UNCOOPERATIVE so I eventually gave up and had to freehand it.  So, it's not quite as tidy as I would have liked but I'm still pretty pleased.

 

"W&K" - the ampersand is a little blurred but ohhhh well.

 

The replica!  Unfortunately it's a size too big, but who's going to be choosey?

At Long Last: Christian Dior Manicure (and extras)

Okay, so I finally got around to doing my Christian Dior-inspired mani today.  And when I say I did it today,  I mean it took pretty much all day to do a satisfactory job.  While I started out using all the colours I bought - both the blues and the mauves - I didn't like how it looked so I wound up taking off the blues and making it all about the mauves, burgundies and blacks.  I used Bahama Mama and Angora Cardi by Essie, and OPI's Black Onyx and Nicole by OPI's Razzle Dazzler Matte.  And, as usual, I used my beloved Seche Vite top coat, though for a base coat I switched up my regular Seche Clear and gave my new Seche Natural a try - I'll keep you posted on how well that does.  For the details on my thumbs and pinkies I had started using one of my Sally Hansen nail pens, but it wasn't showing up clearly enough so I swapped it for one of the nail pens my sister and I picked up at the PNE a couple of years ago.

As for how I feel about the manicure, I do like it but I figure it could be a lot tidier.  While I was able to use tape successfully to do the stripes on my middle finger, it wasn't being cooperative for the matte tips on my index fingers so I had to freehand it which made it less streamlined than I usually like.  Overall it's a pretty awesome mani by my standards, but I feel it's a little too wintry to be wearing with Easter just around the corner, so in all likelihood I'll take it off and do an Easter-themed manicure in the next few days.

As for these next two photos, I was editing some old Facebook photos and found these buried away.  The leopard one speaks for itself (and no, that's not an engagement ring) and the other one was my manicure for Canada Day last summer - FYI maple leaves are HARD to freehand.

Manicure Preview: Inspired by Christian Dior

Ever since going through Christian Dior's Fall 2011 runway show the cogs in my head have been turning over how to incorporate that kind of awesomeness into my own style.  The first thing that occurred to me was a manicure.  Since voicing this plan, however, I've had a lot of questions as to how on earth you turn an entire runway show into a manicure.  My thinking was that Dior focused heavily upon using different textures, patterns and colours in a really phenomenal way.  Similarly, nail polish is available in a variety of textures now (matte, suede, glossy), and patterns are not a problem for me.  So, much like the last manicure I posted, I'm planning on using different base colours for my nails overlaid with different patterns.  But this time I'll be using different textures too!

The reason I haven't already started this mani is because until now I was lacking a few crucial colours.  But yesterday while running errands I had a chance to go to Shoppers and get what I needed!  Below are examples of the patterns, colours and textures I'm planning to work with, as well as the nail polishes I picked up so you can have some idea of what I'm thinking.  Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

 

Essie Angora Cardi

 

Essie Bahama Mama

 

Nicole by OPI - No Limits Matte

 

Gosh Metallic Blue 566 (I couldn't find a pic of just the polish)

Marvelous Manicure

Yesterday the local Shoppers Drug Mart had a nail polish sale on, so of course my sister and I swung by to see what there was to be had.  I wound up getting three new polishes: 555 Silver by Gosh, Nicole's Nickel by Nicole, and Iceberg Lotus, also by Nicole.  I was going to wait until closer to my event next week to do a manicure, but the temptation was too much, especially after seeing this manicure by Chloe's Nails.  So, voila!  I used two coats of Nicole's Nickel, which though patchy is sparkle-packed, and then did the tips using Black Onyx by OPI.  Then I finished things off with two coats of Seche Vite.

Stealth Zebra

Not too long ago my sister sent me this link to this inexpressibly cool manicure, and when I saw it I knew that there was no way I wasn't going to try it out.  The only thing that delayed me was that until today I did not have a black matte nail polish.  For those of you who don't speak nail polish, "matte" refers to a nail polish without any shine.  Anyway, today I headed out to Shoppers Drug Mart and got myself Razzle Dazzler Matte from Nicole by OPI, which is very close to what the blogger used (Matte is Murder by ManGlaze).  Now in her version she used a Konad stamp plate with zebra pattern and some topcoat.  My sister has the right Konad plate, but unfortunately has lost part of her kit so stamping wasn't an option.  Instead I hunted down an itty bitty paintbrush and quite literally hand painted on my zebra stripes using my all-time favourite Seche Vite topcoat.  I am totally jazzed on my results!  Not only am I now sold on matte nail polish, but this manicure is just tooooo coooooool.  It's very subtle, which is a nice break from some of the more elaborate stuff I wear sometimes.  Plus I'm loving the way the topcoat picks up light at certain angles.  Anyway, if you have a stamp plate or have the patience to paint on your stripes I would say this is definitely a manicure to try!

This is the original from http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/GraziaDailyNails/archive/2010/09/06/opposites-attract.htm

And this is how my manicure turned out.  This isn't the best photo of it, but quite honestly I'm in a bit of a rush and don't have time to take another pic.  You get the idea.  Happy hunting!