Kurosuke Soot Nails Did

Who doesn't love the Kurosuke Soot Balls from Totoro and Spirited Away? THEY'RE SO CUTE!

I recently re-watched some of Miyazaki's films and was kinda of mad at myself for not ever doing homage to his characters in nail art form! So basically look for more of these designs to come LOL. One of my favorite characters from Studio Ghibli are the Soot - I even have a plush one that rattles when you pull a string!

So for the base I used China Glaze Recycle, then for the black balls - Orly Matte Vinyl. To get the "fuzzy" edges I used a fan brush and dipped it in polish to sweep on the polish. For the white eyes I used a nail art pen.

Film Buff Nails Did

I broke my thumbnail this morning and in a calculated effort to not rip off the rest of my nails so that they're even, I decided to polish them! Besides its been a while right?

For the base I used China Glaze For Audrey (haven't worn this in literally a year) then used a combo of white and black nail art pens, CG White on White and Liquid Leather for the film reel.

Gettin' ready for the Oscar's on Sunday. I'd be excited if it was anyone but Billy Crystal hosting - seriously...he's still alive?

Pretty Etchings Nails Did

Oh fellow nail blogger's, I've missed you! My baby boy turned 1 on New Year's Eve and for a bit he's been on a better schedule so I'm taking the opportunities while I can to do some nail designs again! Also, I *may* add a section to the blog in the upcoming year regarding bento making since I'll be making all of his lunches for daycare. But I digress.

I've always loved this vase that's in my living room (I think its from the Debbie Travis collection) and so I used it as inspiration for my nail design!

So I started off with two coats of OPI Fit For a Queensland then used a red striper pen to put some stripes across choice parts of my nail.

Then I outlined a flower and vine design using a black nail art pen. Once I liked hat I painted in the gaps using China Glaze Liquid Leather and a small art brush!

Hope everyone had a happy holidays and see you real soon!

Crack-a-lackin Nails Did

Quick post!!

I saw that OPI had a new shatter polish out and I had to pick it up - while I was shopping for a few baby items for Kai I figured I needed a bit of a treat!

It's pretty cool but you know what I REALLY wish? That it was just a clear coat that would crack any top layer polish so its not only black. But its neat either way. This is Black Shatter on top of China Glaze Neon Purple Panic.

Did you get Black Shatter yet? If so what's your favorite pairing so far?

Spring Toes and a Touch of Neon Nails Did

Remind me again to try to not to anything so intricate on my toes for a bit. I've been having major problems with my back and neck and sitting hunched probably isn't a good thing LOL. Oh well, at least the sunflowers came out nice and pretty! They make me think of the first day of spring - which is TODAY! Yay. And its cold and rainy outside. Yesterday, it was 18C and I was running around in shorts. Go figure.

Anyway, apologies to those in advance who don't like toes - I'm right there with you! Feet...*shudder* so this is probably the first and last time you'll get to see a pedi from me!

The base is China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, with Solar Power for the petals and Lemon Fizz for the highlight. The center is White on White and Rimmel Torrid.




Here is also my submission to Emerald Sparkled's 200+ giveaway! This is an interpretation of the mani that drew me to her blog and actually made me buy Konad plate M51. I had to do it from memory since a lot of her pics aren't working, but I think I got it :).

I used Color Club Volt of Light for the neon yellow, China Glaze Liquid Leather for the black and 2030 for the stamp. Seche vite tops off my mani and pedi (*gasp* I'M RUNNING OUT! NOOOOO).

Hope you all enjoy your first day of spring!!

Off to Mexico I go! And a quick holo nails did.

Hey All!

Just a note to say bye and see you in a week! I did a quick mani that I'm posting quickly before heading to bed since I have to leave for the airport in 5 hours. Sorry I took it with my iPhone camera since I forgot to download pictures from my other camera before I packed it :S

Anyway, I thought I'd do something simple because I have to put up with it for a whole week! There is China Glaze OMG with Konad and Konad black special polish.

Have a fantastic week everyone! See you when I get back!

Sunset in the City Nails Did

Sometimes when I go to and from work on the highway I think - yea Toronto is really pretty! And sometimes there is a huge smog cloud :S

Either way, despite the fact that I'm always wanting to escape I do love my city. So I thought I'd do a little homage to it. I used this picture as my inspiration because it looks very much like one I took when my Ben and I were first dating, coming back from the Toronto Island on the Ferry and seeing the city at sunset.

I started out blending CG Liquid Leather and Sexy in the City to get a slightly deeper blue for the darkest part of the sky. Then I blended in by using a sponge CG Coconut Kiss for the purple and CG Solar Power mixed with OPI Thrill in Brazil to get an orange.

Then I used a fine brush and Liquid Leather to paint little buildings and the CN Tower (with a bit of Thrill in Brazil again for the red beacons). I highlighted them with some CG White on White and mixed the two to get a grey to highlight the edges of the buildings.

I sealed it all off with Seche Vite.

I think it looks pretty cool! What do you think?

The idea just popped into my head today on the way home and I'm glad I ran with it. Makes me feel a bit better about my mani from yesterday :P. AND I think I can put up with this one for a couple of days until I try out my Valentines Day mani (hopefully it works out!). Plus, Ben says I have to start doing my nails less since the fumes are making him loopy. Really I don't notice the difference in him LOL.

Guest Nails Did - Lovely lady Kim

One of the first times I met Kim she was coming in for an interview with me to be one of my reports. Well she dodged the bullet on that one! After that we linked on facebook and have grown a very healthy relationship fueled by mutal hate for M. Night Shyamalan's Ava-crap and Twilight. But also a mutal love of Joss Whedon and nail polish!

Turns out she's also an excellent Konad'er. She actually taught me the way of the q-tip to clean up - SO SMART! She's like my Konad Yoda.

Here is her mani of the moment. She used What's a Tire Jack? matte for Sephora for the base with konad plate m57 and Konad's black nail polish.

It looks awesome. The end result: a lovely velvety two tone black look. It looks very Velvet Underground. LOVE IT!

Ga Ga Nails Did

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Nails Ga Ga Ga Ga Nails Did Did Did Did. I wanted to put that into the titile field but it was just gonna make my URL too long! Here are my Lady Gaga inspired nails from this picture of her lightning makeup on the right.

So this is inspired from nails seen on the Daily Nail and although I LOVE stars, I've already had them on me a few times, so I decided to go with something a little different.

I used China Glaze's Solar Power as a base, and then layered two coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Disco Ball. Then I used Seche Vite Top coat to top it off. Daily Nails swears by Seche Vite, so I thought I'd try it out and I must say - its AMAZING. My nails were dry and good to go in less than 5 min. Usually I have to wait around...sometimes for longer than I'd like to admit not touching anything while waiting for my polish to dry. Anyway, then I cut thunderbolts out of painters tape and stuck them on my nails where I wanted, painted over those with Orly's Matte Vinyl and done!

But wait...why say it in mere words when I can say it in VIDEO. Yea I don't work in TV for nothing peeps. Behold my amazing editing skillz in youtube tutorial video excellence**.




**This is part of a experiment of sort that I'm exploring, after watching many ghetto nail tutorials on youtube I thought "hellz I can do that, where is my windows movie maker!?" et voila. LOL. Awesome.

Office Nails Did pt. 2

The lovely Mel wanted to try out my houndstooth Konad stamper so here it is over Opi's Happy Anniversary using Konad's special black polish. Snazzy. I'm dying to try this pattern too but on the matte!

Hungry Hungry Hippos Nails Did

Okay - to start it off I love love LOVE my new Orly Matte Couture Vinyl polish!! I know this polish has been around for a bit but its brand new to me in all ways - I've never owned a matte before OR an Orly and I must say I'm in love with it. Now I only wish that Orly would come out with some snazzier colours since they're all pretty plain, but whatever. The key to this polish is RIDGE FILLER!! Because if you dont use it the matte polish shows every bump and line you have on your nail.

Okay, so I asked my awesome facebook friends what I thought I should do for my next nail design and Holli said Hungry Hungry Hippos (shes a genius). So I had to try. I think they came out pretty rad. I decided to do something totally new for me which is freehand with a brush AND a matte look. I usually use a lot of nail art pens to get my forms but this time I used a brush (and some nail art pens...edging is hard!! :p ). So the base of this is Orly Matte Couture in Vinyl. The thumb is China Glaze solar with nail art pens for the edging and eyes, pointer is a no name green, middle is a no name orange and pinky is a no name pink (lol they came from Costco!). White balls are China Glaze white on white. Its all topped with China Glaze's Matte magic top coat which turns any glossy polish matte. Its pretty cool. It kinda makes me want to play the game real bad!

PS - I HAAAAAAATE this new blogger editor!!!! Placing pictures is just stupid! I'm switching back.

Office Nails Did

I like having my office ladies look good and what better way than to treat them to a little nail art?



Elif doesn't often get her nails did - in fact she says shes a chronic biter (bad Elif!), she's also not that girly so she says *cough* twilight reader *cough* so we thought we'd go with something a little dark and not super feminine. Opi's Linkin Park After Dark for the base topped with Konad stamping silver with M60 for the design.

Jenn likes to take advantage of my nail art so you'll probably see more and more of her in my blog as the days go by. She's also a chronic chipper. I dont know how you wear down nails after 2 days...USE A BASE COAT JENN! So she already had a champagne pink type colour on her nails that had tip wear so I sponged on Opi's Curry Up Don't Be Late to cover them and then stamped with Konad stamping black with M51 for the design. Came off as a pretty cool effect and actually brought out a lot of the silver tones in her original polish.