Twelve Looks from the Last Ten Months and a Little Life Update

Hey everyone, long time no talk!

It looks like it has been about 10 months since I last posted on here, wow! A lot has happened in that time including me finishing up the last year of my Bachelor's of Science with Honours in Biochemistry! Other than that, most of what has happened has been really sad and difficult. I don't want to get into it too much because this should be a happy nail place but my dad began emotionally and verbally abusing us over a year ago, using drugs and now he has moved out and my parents are separated. I struggle with depression and anxiety but now that I have some time off from school I have a lot more time for self care and I really want to get into blogging again. If any of you guys ever want to talk about anything I'm here!

Anyways, onto the twelve looks I've done in the last ten months!

OPI Landscape Artist, Turquoise Aesthetic & Indigo Motif

Deborah Lippmann Love in the Dunes

American Apparel Neon Blue & The Valley

China Glaze Under the Boardwalk

Elevation Polish Lake of the Isles feat one of our kitties, Dmitri!

American Apparel Hassid

Essie Viva Antigua & Loot the Booty

Sonia Kashuk On the Hunt

American Apparel Malibu Green, Sonia Kashuk Jewel Orchid, OPI Rich Girls and Po-Boys & Cirque Colors Carpe Diem

Pure Ice Saddle Me Up

China Glaze Inner Beauty & American Apparel Hassid (inspired by frederiqueolthuis)

OPI I Manicure for Beads & Sonia Kashuk Gary Matter

Thanks so much for having a look guys! I really hope I keep up with this streak of motivation because I really miss blogging. It's so nice to read through my old posts because it's kind of like a journal so I'd like to continue with it. I hope you are all doing well, happy Thursday!

Five Roundups From Five Months: Blue

Hello hello everyone! Today I have the blue looks I wore during my absence to share!

My first final exam is tomorrow so I will be busy studying for about another week. I can't wait for them all to be done and for my summer to start! I'm going to try and get a proper job and continue my tutoring so I won't get bored on this big break!

Anyways, onto the looks!

OPI Indigo Motif with ILNP Phoenix Holo, OPI OPI... Euros Euro, OPI Do You Have This Colour in Stockholm? & Deborah Lippmann Dream Weaver dry brushed on top

Chanel Blue Boy & OPI Don't Speak

Sonia Kashuk Gray Matter & China Glaze Wait N' Sea

Sonia Kashuk Gray Matter, OPI I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw & ILNP Paradox Holo

OPI No Room For The Blues & a Hex Nail Jewelry charm

piCture pOlish Darcy, Cirque Colors Carpe Diem, a bunch of blue, turquoise and teal American Apparel polishes, China Glaze Fairy Dust, a Hex Nail Jewelry charm & American Apparel Neon Purple for the undersides

OPI Dark Side Of The Mood (base), Born Pretty Store foils (I'll do a proper post about them soon), Deborah Lippmann Dream Weaver & NYC Matte Me Crazy top coat

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I hope you're having a great week and if you have finals coming up I hope they go swimmingly! Happy Thursday! :)

Dark Mix & Match Featuring China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You!

Hey guys! Today I have some mix and match nails to share!

So yesterday we actually went through a haunted house and then a maze and it was so fun! I wasn't actually too scared and definitely wasn't the most scared in our group which was cool!

Onto the nails!

For this look, I used Sally Hansen Slick Black, L'oreal Rose To The Occasion, American Apparel Hassid and China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You! I really didn't like these much and they are very worn and not cleaned up well, but I post every look I wear so whatever!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I'll be back tomorrow with some Sally Hansen glitter nails! Happy Saturday! :)

Iridescent Hoop Tape Nails Featuring Some China Glaze The Giver Polishes!

Hey everybody! Today I have some cool iridescent hoop tape nails to share!

I woke up today with the cold I've felt coming on for a while now. At least I have today off to relax in bed with Paul and do some school work!

Onto the nails!

I started off with two coats of Intelligence, Integrity & Courage (grey) on some nails and History of the World (blue-toned purple) on the others. 

After that had dried, I cut up some hoop tape and placed strips and pieces on two nails per hand. It was difficult to get them to lay flat and some edges came up while I wore these, despite using two layers of top coat.

I then realized another new polish I got on sale would go with this, so I painted a coat of OPI Visions of Georgia Green on top of one nail per hand.

What do you lovely people think of this look? I fancy a salon-style mani every once and a while so I quite liked these even though they were quite girly!

Thanks so much for reading everyone! I got my looks in the wrong order so now you'll be seeing the vampy dry marble tomorrow! Happy Wednesday! =)

Multicoloured Fern Fronds For Nail Crazy In April!

Hey everyone, tonight I have some ferny nails to share!

I'm going to make this a short post because I'm officially starting my volunteer work tomorrow! Also, last week I didn't get my blog post in the InLinkz thing in time and I don't want that to happen again! I decided to loosely follow the prompt and do some earthy nails this time around as I missed the actual holiday by a week (and therefore didn't want to wear some clearly Earth Day inspired nails).

Anyways, onto the nails!

To start, I applied two coats of China Glaze Red-y To Rave. It had a super lovely and opaque formula! I think it is brighter and lighter in real life, it's definitely neon!

Next, I went in with a Winstonia striping brush and American Apparel The Valley (aqua/light blue), AA Dynasty (purple) and AA Malibu Green (green/teal).

These were inspired by the lovely MrCandiipants as per usual!

I'm not totally sold on the colour palette just yet but it always takes me a bit of time to form an opinion on any new nail art I do. So we'll see!

I tried out other poses (with my purple triangle nails that you'll be seeing soon) and this is really is the best looking one this hand can do! :P

Check out the other ladies' Earth Day manis down below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks so much for taking a look guys! Let me know what you think of these nails in the comments if you like! Happy Wednesday! =)

Yellow to Blue Gradient Topped with a Grid Design!

Hey everyone! Today I have a grid-topped gradient to share!

I meant to get this post up yesterday but I guess it's nice to have a bit of a break between my posts like usual! It sounds like there are going to be some volunteer opportunities open to me in a lab at my school which I'm really excited about! In the meantime I've been painting my family's and my nails and playing lots of Mario Party 10! If you follow me on Instagram you'll know I ordered the whole Hoop! There It Is collection from Girly Bits Cosmetics recently. I am beyond excited and it should be here any day now so get ready for either a huge swatch post featuring all eleven polishes or a few posts to break it up a bit!

Anyways, onto the nails!

I started off with two coats of OPI You're So Vain-illa and a coat of top coat. The formula was okay and it wasn't completely opaque at two coats, but it was good enough for the base of a gradient!

Next, I went in with a damp makeup sponge and American Apparel Sunshine State (yellow), American Apparel Cresent Heights (chartreuse) and China Glaze Wait N Sea (blue)! I sponged on two to three layers to get the opacity I wanted.

I like to apply a coat of top coat right after I've finished a gradient to try and blend the colours even further, so that's what I did next.

After that had dried, I went in with American Apparel Hassid and a striping brush from Winstonia Store to do all of the lines. Check out my Instagram if you'd like to see a sped up version of this whole process!

One thick and careful coat of top coat and I was finished! I realized later that these were probably subconsciously inspired by the awesome and hilarious Cynthia of Of Life and Lacquer's chain link fence gradient nails! 

I wore this look for about three days and I really loved doing so! I did these when I should have been studying and they took a decent amount of time so I'm glad I got some wear out of them!

Here is my right hand! I should probably try and find a pose that it is actually good at doing one day :P.

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I have a negative space rose look to get up next so stay tuned! Happy Monday y'all! =)

Springy Water Marble with Purple Flowers for Nail Crazy in April!

Hey everyone! Today I have the first water marble nails I've done in years to share!

Today's post will be a bit of a quick one because I need to get back to studying! One final exam down, three to go! I can't wait until a little over a week from now when I'll be free for over four months! How crazy is that? That in itself should be enough to motivate me to study. When I put it that way I feel like I can work hard until I'm finished! Somehow I've just motivated myself, that's a first haha :P.

Anyways, onto the nails!

I've been using a cup a little bit bigger than a shot glass to do my water marbles, and because it's quite a small glass, the colours stay so opaque that you don't need a white base! So what you see here is just the colours themselves over the base coat I always use (Orly Bonder)!

For the water marble I used all American Apparel colours: T-shirt (white), The Valley (dusty blue/aqua), Mount Royal (navy blue) and Crescent Heights (chartreuse green).

Because I'm a water marbling newbie, I bumped my ring finger nail either with the toothpick or onto the inside of the glass (I don't remember which, too much studying :P). Because I remembered that I had this prompt coming up, I decided to add flowers overtop of where I messed up my nail. I used China Glaze Plur-ple for the petals and American Apparel Neon Yellow for the centres of the flowers.

After that, I just went in with a coat of top coat and I was finished! I feel like these came out quite well, especially after not doing this technique for a long time!

What do you guys think of this look? Also, are any of you guys writing finals soon/now? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Be sure to check out the other ladies' looks for this week down below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks so much for taking a look guys! I'll be back with some cool ikat half moon nails very soon! Happy Sunday! :)

Born Pretty Store Double Sided Stamper and Scraper Review Featuring China Glaze X-Ta-Sea!

Hello everyone! Today I have a Born Pretty Store review to share!

I've come to the realization (as I often do) that I should be studying a little bit everyday rather than spending all of my time studying for midterms in the few days leading up to one. That way I could post more frequently and be less stressed. But like I said, I always say that and never actually do it. Today I'm going to start doing the readings before the lectures! Baby steps haha.

Anyway, I started off with two easy coats of China Glaze X-Ta-Sea and a coat of top coat (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, London Drugs was all out of Essie Good to Go when I went in but I'm really loving this top coat too).

A day or so later I went in with Julep Nora, Bundle Monster Plate BM221 and a double sided stamper and scraper from Born Pretty Store. I actually found that the smaller and thinner scraper scraped the plate too deeply so when I tried to pick up the image there was hardly anything there. I have heard that Bundle Monster plates have shallower designs and since I don't own any Konad plates, it's hard to say if that's a problem with the scraper or the plate.

The larger and thicker scraper worked like a charm though! The stamper also was really great and the bigger white end is so squishy and awesome! The polish I decided to use (Nora) seemed to dry really fast and had a strange consistency, and I'm convinced that's why the image didn't transfer completely. I quite like the distressed floral look though!

I finished off everything with another coat of top coat and I was finished!

What do you guys think of these nails? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Be sure to use my coupon code SKBQ10 if you decide to pick up any nail art stuff!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I'll be back with some Halloween nails very soon! Happy Wednesday! =)