Gradient with Glitter and Textured Chevron Nail Art!

Hey everyone! Today I have some gradient and chevron nail art to share!

Yesterday we went on a field trip to a hospital to talk to some genetic counsellors and it was really interesting. Interesting in the sense that after a month and a half of being in a genetics course I am seriously considering a career in genetics, or possibly even genetic counselling. Not so interesting in the sense that over the weekend our teacher emailed us the two PowerPoints we went through at the hospital and the fact that we didn't get to see the cytogenetics lab because the cytogeneticist was on holiday. Oh well, it was still much nicer than a busy three hour genetics lab!

Today nothing overly interesting has happened, though I did wake up twenty minutes before I had to leave for school. These are the days that I throw on a hoodie and a cardigan on top for warmth and don't even bother with a shirt haha. I'm very glad that my boyfriend woke up earlier and made us our morning teas in travel cups so I'm not still exhausted! Anyways, onto the nails!

For the gradient nails I started with two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a coat of top coat (because I wasn't sure what I was going to do yet so I wanted my nails dry so I couldn't mess them up)! I then sponged two layers of Essie Turquoise & Caicos and Essie Mod Square on my nails from a wet makeup sponge, and added a coat of topcoat to smooth out the gradient a little more. I do think it being wet helps to create a smoother gradient, and it doesn't soak up the polish as much so you save polish! I finished off with two coats of Black Sheep Lacquer A Letter to the New York Post and another coat of top coat!

The green to pink gradient was completely inspired by Steph Stone Nails on Instagram (link here)! It's a really interesting combination to me because green is my favourite colour and pink is my least favourite. I'm surprised that I like these so much because they're half pink! =P

For the chevron nails I just did two coats of Sally Hansen Lick-O-Rich (it's opaque at one but some parts are shiny and missing the texture bits) and two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the white lines! Lick-O-Rich dried really quickly and had a lovely formula, the only bad thing I could say about it is that it takes about half a day for the sharp textured bits on the edges to wear off, so try and avoid scratching up your face!

What do you guys think of this mani? I loved wearing it because the black nails were so bold and stood out even from far away! I also love a good gradient with a matte black and white glitter topper, so this is a win-win for me!

Thanks so much for reading everyone! Anything exciting going on with you guys lately? Let me know! Happy Tuesday!

Black Sheep Lacquer Duochrome/Multichrome Gradient Nail Art!

Hey everyone! Today I have a multichrome/duochrome gradient to share!

I have a bunch of homework to do this weekend and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed so I think I'll keep this post pretty short. What are your guys' plans for the weekend? Anyone else a bit stressed with school or work?

For this look I started with one coat of my favourite black polish, Revlon Espresso, for a nice and opaque base. I then went in with Black Sheep Lacquer Zaftig Zombie (green), Black Sheep Lacquer Blink (blue) and Black Sheep Lacquer Blue-Yea (pink/purple). Since these are duochromes/multichromes the colour of these polishes on their own is usually different than the colour they shine over black, which I think is super awesome! I had to take into consideration what each colour looked like over black to decide which ones to use and in which order to use them!

I have swatched each of these individually (both on their own and over black) in a very picture-heavy post you can find here! There is a fourth Black Sheep Lacquer polish featured in that swatch post called Forbidden Fruit that I didn't use here because my nails aren't really long enough!

One of my favourite things about this mani is that Blink contains small pink iridescent glitters and some ended up on my nails!

I even made a gif of me moving my nails from up to down because you can see the different colours more from different angles!

Thanks so much for having a look everyone! What do you guys think of this mani? I'd love to hear in the comments! Happy Saturday!

One Year Blogiversary: Then and Now!

Hey everyone! Today I have a "then and now" post for my one year blogiversary to share!

I saw this awesome idea on Lindsey of Wondrously Polished's lovely blog (link to her post here)! It was hard to find anything very interesting that I did in the first few months of blogging because unlike Lindsey, I wasn't very good when I started my blog, and because of that I didn't try any advanced nail art. My picture quality is the biggest difference I see in these pictures, what do you guys think is my biggest improvement?

For this first mani I remember thinking all of the colours were too bright and intense for a watercolour look, and even when I redid them the other day I thought I should have made the colours even less intense. The funny thing was, rather than thinning the polishes out, I decided to sponge them on the first time I did these. It was like I was trying to do a design that involves a certain technique but I decided to use another technique and still call it the original design… I'm strange sometimes :P.

Here is the link to the post this first picture is from if you're interested! I used to write a lot less in my posts and write even more awkwardly than I do now haha! These are from January 2013 and while wearing these and before writing up the post, I picked up my first bottle of pure acetone for cleanup!

Here is my recent reattempt at this look! I used all of the same polishes as in the other post (American Apparel California Trooper, Essie Cute as a Button, Essie Bikini so Teeny, Revlon Mint Gelato, and Revlon Lemon Meringue) as well as a sheer white polish on top (Essie Waltz) to achieve a more pastel and watercolour-like look!

What do you guys think about the new version of these? To me they look like a blurred floral or houndstooth pattern!

The other mani I decided to redo for this post was a black to neon gradient look. Here is the original post from February 2013! There is a cute story behind these nails because my boyfriend at the time (and current one, we're still dating) told me in detail exactly how I should do these nails and which colour to do on each nail! I just painted a black base and asked him what I should do and this is exactly what he said, down to the ring finger orange accent nail :).

I remember noticing that if you just sponged on a neon colour once or twice it looked like a dark version of the colour, so it really isn't difficult to make a smooth gradient with sheerer polishes like neons. I'm not sure why I didn't think that was as important as it was at the time haha, live and learn!

I almost used the exact same polishes as I did last time for this, but I switched out the Orly black for a more opaque (one-coater!) black; Revlon Espresso. The rest of the polishes are the same, American Apparel Neon Yellow, American Apparel Neon Green, and China Glaze Sun Worshipper! I also switched top coats to a 3-free one because that's really important to me, and as I've said many times I use Essie Good to Go!

I totally screwed up the colour scheme here as you can probably tell, I got distracted watching a crazy movie! What do you guys think of this version of this mani?

Thank you so much for reading guys! I hope I can keep improving and doing posts like this every year! I also hope you've all had a lovely first week back at school and work! =)

Born Pretty Store Flower Water Decal Review and a Gradient!

Hey guys! Today I have some flower-covered gradient nails to share! I will also be reviewing the floral water decals seen here from Born Pretty Store!

Sorry about posting these late guys, I was crashing while editing the pictures so I decided to write it up this morning instead. I try really hard to post every three days but sometimes life (for me, school) gets in the way! I've been exhausted for the last week or so and I'm so glad today's the last day of school! Anything exciting happening in your guys' lives? Let me know!

A bunch of people from Will Paint Nails For Food's Beginner Blogger's Bootcamp Group Critique commented on my last post saying that my fingers were blurry and that it was a bit distracting, and I had seriously never noticed! When I saw my pictures after that, I realized I looked like some weird alien without any lines or wrinkles on my fingers haha! I increased the depth of field before taking these pictures and I think you can see some detail on my fingers now, what do you guys think? :)

For these nails I started with one coat of Essie Mesmerize, painted on NYX Girls Inkheart and Revlon Espresso, and then patted on mixtures of the two colours where they met! I think the gradient looks better and smoother in person, so I'm excited to improve on my gradient skills so they look good in pictures too! Lindsay from Wondrously Polished always does literally perfect gradients (they look like the ones you can make in a photo editing program) and often puts nail art on top, so these nails were definitely inspired by her! I really think it's an amazing and beautiful idea to use a gradient as a background for nail art rather than a plain creme!

As for the decals (link here, they're the BLE422 ones), I was completely silly at first and applied one like a tattoo, and of course the design was upside down and all black and white (see my left hand's thumbnail). I asked my boyfriend if he thought it'd be possible to slide them off and on to the nail so the designs would show, and he ended up trying it for me and it worked! I just wetted a reasonably soft brush (my cleanup brush), let the decal soak in water for 15-20 seconds and slid it off of the paper carefully and onto my nail! You can move them around once they're on your nail for a period of time (especially if you wet your nail first) so you certainly don't have to get the perfect placement right away! I decided to place two decals on top of each other on some nails and I think they look really nice layered! I accidentally crumpled and folded one up, and I was still able to flatten it back out and put it on my nail which really impressed me! The only negative thing I have to say about these is still totally avoidable; top coat can smudge the decals a bit but as long as you apply it carefully (as you would on top of nail art) they won't smudge! I was being very careless when applying my topcoat because I didn't think they would smudge, and they still hardly did! :)

Off-topic, but do you guys think I should spread my text out between the pictures so it's not a huge block of text and then a huge block of pictures? I think I'll start doing that so let me know if you'd prefer I didn't!

Onto the nails!

Here's the gradient I started with as a base!

My right hand!

If you're looking for any other nail art stuff Born Pretty Store is a good place to check! Here's my coupon for 10% off!

Thanks so much for reading everyone! Have any plans for the weekend? I'll be studying for the three back-to-back finals I have coming up and finishing a biochemistry assignment! :)

Black Sheep Lacquer Confused Canary over a Subtle Green to Blue Gradient!

Hey everyone! Today I have another simple glitter-topped gradient to share!

I was planning to paint my nails all day yesterday, but due to a cell biology lab assignment I only ended up having time to do something quick and simple (read: I procrastinated by watching Star Trek Next Generation and shopping all weekend)! I can't honestly say the shopping was unproductive though, my mom, sister, boyfriend and I now all have wondrously soft and warm hoodies (and we match)! :P They're lined with fluffy amazingness so if anyone's looking for a hoodie like that, we got ours in the men's section of Tommy Hilfiger for 40% off! I'd seriously recommend them!

Anyways, back to the nails! I was a bit surprised by how subtle the gradient came out because I've done this same gradient before on my mom and the fact that it was two colours was more obvious. Maybe it's because I gave myself little nubbins before I painted these? Regardless, I absolutely love the two colours I used for this; China Glaze For Audrey (the greener one at the cuticle) and China Glaze Bahamian Escape (the bluer one on my tips)! I also completely adore the glitter topper I chucked on top, Black Sheep Lacquer Confused Canary! It has these silver holographic microglitters in it, so when the Sun makes an appearance on frosty mornings like this, looking at my nails makes me even happier! I topped all of this off with two coats of top coat, again, for maximum squishiness!

I saw that I hit 55 Google Friend Connect Followers yesterday I believe, and I just want to thank each and every one of you for following me! I seem to be gaining a following on most of my social media accounts and it makes me so incredibly happy, you have no idea! Thank you all so much! <3

Onto the pictures!

What do you guys think about these, are you a fan of subtle gradients? And do you love Confused Canary as much as I do? Thanks so much for reading everybody, happy Monday! =)

Dollish Polish Putting On The Ritz! over a Blue to Purple Essie Gradient!

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick post featuring another glitter-topped gradient mani to share!

I've recently fallen in love with gradients (probably because I've finally mastered a technique that works) so I decided to do another one yesterday! The blue is Essie Bikini So Teeny and the purple is Essie Play Date (two of my favourite polishes)! The glitter on top is Dollish Polish Putting On The Ritzzz!, a lovely black and white glitter topper without any bar glitter (unlike Hard Candy Black Tie Optional)!

Onto the pictures!

What do you guys think of gradients topped with glitter? Thank you so much for reading! :)

Thermal Black Sheep Lacquer Swatches: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Jump In The Fire and Enter Sandman!

Hello everyone! Today I have three lovely thermal Black Sheep Lacquer polishes to share!*

Get ready for a crapload of pictures! I put Erin's "it will stand on it's own at one coat" claim to the test, and I'm happy to say it's no lie! I included a picture of each polish at one coat so you can see for yourself!

All of these polishes had lovely formulas, so let's get to the swatches!

Smells Like Teen Spirit- one coat

Smells Like Teen Spirit- two coats

Smells Like Teen Spirit- three coats

Smells Like Teen Spirit- three coats

Smells Like Teen Spirit- three coats

Smells Like Teen Spirit- three coats, cold

Smells Like Teen Spirit- three coats, hot

Smells Like Teen Spirit- three coats, index and middle are hot and the rest are cold

Jump In The Fire- one coat (no wrapped tips as you can see)

Jump In The Fire- two coats

Jump In The Fire- two coats

Jump In The Fire- two coats

Jump In The Fire- two coats, cold

Jump In The Fire- two coats, hot

Jump In The Fire- two coats, hot dipped in cold

Jump In The Fire- two coats, index and middle are hot and the rest are cold

Undies! White- OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, grey- Sally Hansen Wet Cement, green- Color Club Edie

Enter Sandman- one coat

Enter Sandman- two coats

Erin said the pigment she used for this polish was hard to work with, and the streaks of pigment seen here were just from the polish not being mixed enough. So I'm sure she'll do more testing and make sure the ones she sells are mixed well enough!

Enter Sandman- two coats

Enter Sandman- two coats, cold

Enter Sandman- two coats, hot

Enter Sandman- two coats, hot dipped in cold

Enter Sandman- two coats plus a coat of Black Sheep Lacquer's A Letter To The New York Post

Enter Sandman- two coats plus a coat of Black Sheep Lacquer's A Letter To The New York Post

Enter Sandman- two coats plus a coat of Black Sheep Lacquer's A Letter To The New York Post, cold

Enter Sandman- two coats plus a coat of Black Sheep Lacquer's A Letter To The New York Post, hot

Thanks so much for having a look everyone! Erin sent me 6 other lovelies last week so I'll have two more Black Sheep Lacquer posts coming your way, including four new duochromes that are being released as I swatch them! Check out her Etsy shop here, all three polishes featured in this post are up for sale already!

*These polishes were generously sent to me for swatching purposes.