Stripe You Later Nails Did

So I have this wedding shower to go to tomorrow so I had an excuse to redo my nails today!

I saw a colour sample on Pinterest (so addicted) and thought I'd go for it. I'm taking a different approach to posting and thinking of revamping the blog in a big style way so let me know if you like it!

I have some french tip guides on order from Ebay but I really wanted to do some simple striping and I just couldn't be patient. For this mani I used OPI San Tan.Tonio, Misa Dirty Sexy Money, and China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

So to start off I put on the OPI and then a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine (like Seche but CHEAPER!), then waited...and waited....and got impatient...then had to redo my thumb...and waited... till finally it was really really dry. Then I took my pre-cut strips of tape and stuck them a couple of times to my hand first so it wouldn't be too sticky, then applied them to the middle of my nails.

I put the China Glaze and Misa on at the same time so that while they were still wet and using the tweezers, I could pull off the tape really really fast. Et voila! Stripy nails!

I think next time I'll put the lightest colour as the base since I noticed that its hard to get it even (and really it would need a couple of coats to turn out best) when you have to rip the tape before the colour dries. Live and learn :)

*Niki

Wild About Weddings Nails Did

Tomorrow one of my best friend's Stephanie is getting married...again...but this time to a keeper! So of course to match my fabulous dress that my sweet hubby bought me I thought I'd do my nails (since I haven't done them in so long because Kai sprouted teeth and likes to chew/rip off my polish :S).

This is what my dress looks like! It's a green and black halter made from silk and chiffon. It's really rather nice and holds my GIGANTIC boobs quite well. I wasn't quite sold on it at first but the more I see it the more I really like it.

So I decided to go with something a bit more exotic since the dress for some reason reminds me of the jungle.

I've been wanting to do a zebra print forever but for some reason despite its simplicity just never got around to it. So here it is with a twist:

I used Nubar Green Tea for the base and striped on China Glaze 2030 for the gold accents and then used a black nail striper on top for the stripes. And of COURSE they bled. I have to get a new Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat since this one is thickening and making my polish bleed :( But its not that noticeable in person.

Excuse the horrible cuticles. They're recovering from lack of calcium and being butchered at the nail salon - AGAIN. What is with these people and killing my cuticles??? Poor poor fingers. Also no matter what I do I can't keep my skin hydrated. Any one have any favorite hand creams to recommend?

Last Wedding of the YEAR Nails Did

I guess its just that time in my life now but I've been to more weddings this year than pretty much any other year ever! But the last one was great. This time we celebrated Amy and Sheriff who had a very interesting Jewish/African fusion wedding. It was fab. I love multicultural weddings where I get to learn about other people's traditions! I learned that its custom in Sheriff's culture to do a little dance while your family members shower you with money! They were seriously surrounded by people throwing US dollars at them! It made me feel like they were in one of those game show boxes where money is blown all around you!

So, as always I was in a rush - and though you may not be able to tell in this pic I smooshed 3 of my nails and had to redo them in 5 minutes while Ben is screaming at me to get in the car LOL. I used China Glaze White on White then did a (very crudely done) ruffian with China Glaze Liquid Leather. I also used Konad Special Stamping polish in Silver with a Bundle Monster plate, then threw on a rhinestone. For all the stuff I used I was pretty meh about it and the pictures TOTALLY doesn't do it justice...it did look a little better. Plus because of the rush I didn't get to actually clean up my cuticles. Note to self - 15 minutes is not enough for a manicure! When will I learn?

So Many Weddings Nails Did

Okay this is officially my 3rd wedding manicure! I'm all wedding'd out! By the end of the year I'll have just one more (thank goodness). This past Friday I had the pleasure of attending my friend Xavier's wedding to Denise. Xavier and I go way back to high school and all those times he used to bring his dog Ozzy to visit me at the radio station when I was in the studio. He then moved away to Fernie, British Columbia and lives amongst snowy mountains and clean air - jerk LOL. But he came back to the city to tie the knot! It was a truly lovely wedding!

For my mani - which again was rushed :P - I used this new H&M polish I bought called Grey Sky which is a grey with purple hues and a wee bit of shimmer. It comes in this cute little bottle that now I have to go back and buy some more because I used too much already! Ontop I used Konad black and a Bundle Monster Image plate for the stamp. Then I put on some black pearls that I found at the craft store and a little dot of white from a nail art pen in the middle of each flower stamp. I know its a little dark looking for a wedding - but hey my dress was black and I was having an AWFUL time finding a maternity dress suitable enough for a wedding! Yes that's Ben's eye peeking out in my picture.

Oh, and this is me and my longtime friend Teresa doing the chicken dance...which seemed to last forever. She specifically requested it. It was baby's first ho-down! By the way, Teresa also makes some fab beaded jewelery. Pop on by BuonaBam to check it out!

Suzy's Wedding Nail's Did

Yay my friend Suzanne finally got married to the fabulous Walter! For their wedding I wanted to do something pretty and QUICK! I had exactly an hour to do a full mani and pedi so I decided to bust out my trusty nail decals for this one :) My bridesmaid dress was red with a black belt and rhinestones (not that you could see the belt because my baby bump and GIGANTIC boobs were covering it - my dress didn't fit). I used OPI's Thrill in Brazil as the base, with some nail decals I got in Chinatown and some self-adhesive pearls that I bought at the craft store.



It was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple and I was very happy to be a part of it. Congrats you two!!!

Michelle and Amy's Wedding Nails Did

I love weddings, especially those where I don't have to do any work! This Saturday was my friends Michelle and Amy's wedding which I had been looking forward to for a while. They are such a lovely couple and had such a perfect day. All week it had been raining and dreary and the clouds parted this weekend for some much needed sunshine!










So I decided to do a special mani to celebrate their special day. Funnily enough I happened to match both my dress and their wedding colours! I was so matchy!!

I used China Glaze Up in the Air for the base and stamped 2030 and Coconut Kiss with the flower image from Konad Plate S9.

Then I finally got to use these 3D nail art stickers I picked up in Japan along with some self-adhesive pearls I picked up in the craft section of the dollar store. I sealed it off with multiple coats of Sally Hansen UV topcoat to keep everything in place!