Essie Van D'Go & Beyond Cozy

Hey there!  Tonight I'm sharing a really simple manicure.  Quite simply it was two coats of Essie Van D'go and, on an accent nail, two coats of Beyond Cozy.

Breaking Bad Nails

Hey there!  I've been sitting around all day watching a Breaking Bad marathon in preparation for the series finale tonight.  I can't wait to see how it ends.  I've loved watching the transformation of Walt and Jesse over the years.  I don't think any show has ever done such a good job at character development as this one has.

So I decided to try my hand (no pun intended) at doing some Breaking Bad nails to say goodbye to a great show.  I've seen some great ones online like these and these that I know I can't compare to but I still wanted to show my attempt.  I'll apologize in advance for the terrible clean-up job here.

On my pointer, middle and index fingers I started with a base of CND Vinylux Serene Green that my sister just bought that for me because it has my name in it.  Cool eh?!  I added the Br and Ba logo using a white striper and white acrylic paint.  I tried offsetting them by putting the Br higher than the Ba like the logo but in retrospect that wasn't a great idea.  I added the toxic looking green smoke using Love & Beauty by Forever 21 in Neon Yellow using the watercolor method.  If you want to see the coolest smoke manicure ever, check out Chalkboard Nails manicure here.  She's a nail art god.

On my pinky and thumb I have an homage to the blue crystal they cook using the shimmery blue Picture Polish Whimsy.  I also added a coat of A England Morgan Le Fay to make it even more shimmery.  

I don't often try to do freehand nail art.  I'm not super artistic so I generally stick with stamping but I actually don't mind how these turn out.  Hopefully with some practice I can get better nail art *fingers crossed*

Hope everyone enjoys the finale tonight!  Goodbye Walt and Jesse :-(

'Til next time...

GlitterBunny Strawbermelon

Hey there!  Tonight I have another polish that I put on as soon as I received it in the mail.  Strawbermelon is a red jelly with small black glitter that "can't decide if it's a strawberry or a watermelon".  I decided to put it to the test!

WingDust Collections Steel Town Girl

Hey there!  I can't wait to show you a polish I've been wanting for ages.  I finally had the chance to order it a couple weeks ago and I've been pretty much stalking (tracking) it approximately every 5 minutes since then.  It was waiting in my mailbox when I got home from work tonight and I couldn't wait to get it on.  This is Steel Town Girl from WingDust Collections.

WingDust Steel Town Girl - direct light

Zoya Louise/Cirque French Roast (and a congratulations to Nail Polish Canada)

Hey there!  It seems I need to accept that fall is here.  The leaves here in Edmonton are turning so I guess that means I should start wearing more fall colors.  I'm not someone who really follows seasonal colors (I'm pretty much fashion-blind and I'm sure I'll still be wearing neon nails in January) but I have been holding out on wearing certain colors until now; one of those is brown.  3 months ago I didn't own any brown nail polish.  Lately I've decided I need to own it ALL!  

A lovely chocolate brown color is Zoya Louise, from the Fall 2013 Cashmeres collection.  This is two coats plus topcoat.

Zoya Louise

Zoya Louise

Picture Polish Dorothy

Hey there!  Tonight I want to show you Picture Polish's Dorothy.  Presumably inspired by Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, this is a red mesh shade of Picture Polish's.  The mesh shades are fine glitter in a jelly base.  This is two coats plus topcoat.  It was surprisingly easy to apply.  With a polish this full of glitter I was expecting it to be thick and clumpy but it was nice and smooth.  It actually leans just a little bit pink (to my eyes, at least) but it's still a sparkly red

Pink Shiny Nail Foils

Hey there!  Tonight I have a really quick, really shiny manicure for you.  Nail foils come as a roll of thin film and are applied by applying a layer of foil glue and pressing the foil to your nail.  They're really quick (the longest part is waiting for the glue to be tacky instead of sticky) and usually pretty dramatic.

Turtle Nails & A England Dragon Swatch

Hey there!  Ever have a weekend when you think you have nothing to do and end up with a million things to do?  That's what my weekend was like.  Luckily it was all fun stuff.

Tonight I want to show you the turtle shell nails I've done using A England Dragon as a base, stamped with Maybelline Bold Gold using the Mo You Pro Collection -03 plate.

Color Club 2013 Halo Hues Blended

Hey there!  Tonight I wanted to show you a manicure that was inspired by Waki Laki's Rainbows.  When I saw how great she blended the Color Club Halo Hues into a vertical gradient I wanted to see what I could do with them.  I'm sure you've seen them a ton but these are the strongest holographic polishes I've come across.  Their rainbows are brilliant.

Here I started with one coat of Color Club Harp On It, a silver holo from the 2012 collection.  Then I randomly sponged on areas of Cosmic Fate (orange), Eternal Beauty (purple), Kismet (green), Miss Bliss (pink) and Over The Moon (blue), all from the 2013 Halo Hues collection.  Easy peasy.  The only polish from this collection that I didn't include was Beyond (black).

Ozotic 601/Ozotic 617 Swatches and Stripes

Hey there!  Last week I showed you Ozotic 621 and tonight I'm showing Ozotic 601 and 617.  I can't get enough of these Ozotic scattered holos.  They are so sparkly and multifaceted, especially in the sun.  Just spectacular.  And I really love the lack of hassle removing them, not that I like removing them but as a polish addict you know I must change my polish way too often.  And they look great together!

Ozotic 601/617 stripes - sunlight

China Glaze Bohemian Lustre Chrome Collection Watermarble

Hey there!  Tonight I want to show you a watermarble I did this past weekend.  Watermarbling is my nemesis (I'm sure I'm not alone there).  I absolutely LOVE the look of them but when I try them either my polish won't spread or it sinks or when I go to marble it I just break the polish or everything looks good and I just end up with polish up to my elbows.  I've read and watched tutorial after tutorial, I keep a jug of room temperature distilled water (as in lab-grade ultra-pure water) on hand and I still feel hopeless.  BUT this one pretty much worked.  Woohoo!

Originally I wanted nails that looked like an oil slick and I thought the China Glaze Bohemian collection from last year would make the perfect polishes to use.  They're duochrome and metallic...what's not to like?!

China Glaze Bohemian Watermarble

Galaxy Nails on Picture Polish Hope

Hey there!  Yesterday I showed you Picture Polish Hope.  Since it reminded me of a night sky I thought it would make the perfect base for some galaxy nails.

Galaxy Nails

Picture Polish Hope Swatch & Review

Hey there!  Tonight I want to show you a gorgeous dark blue, sparkly polish called Hope.  Hope is one of Picture Polish's collaboration shades created with Vernis en Folie.  This is another polish I put off buying when it first came out.  I thought it was similar to Cosmos but, in reality, they're very different.  Hope is a much darker shade of blue jelly and, while both have the beautiful holo sparkle that Picture Polish does so well, Hope also has the occasional tiny hex glitter.  This is 2 coats plus topcoat.

Picture Polish Hope

Colors by Llarowe Zipper

Hey there!  I was on Facebook today and came across a very sad (and later very happy) post on Llarowe's site.  Leah Ann has a black lab named Zipper (who was the inspiration for this polish) and today she was told it was time to put him down.  Understandably upset, she asked the nail polish community to share their manicures of Zipper so I wanted to share a new and old manicure using this polish.  But there was good news!  She took Zipper (the dog, not the polish) for a second opinion and the new vet said he doesn't think it's Zipper's time yet!

Here I used 3 coats of Zipper and attempted to paint a dog silhouette with black and white acrylic paint.  Obviously I won't be leaving my day job anytime soon to start a new career as an artist but at least I tried, right?

CbL Zipper

A England Lady of the Lake

Happy Friday the 13th!  Today I'm showing you what's on my nails right now.  It's A England's Lady of the Lake, a beautiful dusty purple that is slightly holographic, just enough to be subtle and gorgeous.  A England has, hands down, my favourite formula of any polish I've tried.  It's always smooth and buttery and very pigmented.  This is 2 coats plus topcoat but easily could be a one-coater.

A England Lady of the Lake

Femme Fatale Wolfsbane Swatch & Review

Hey there!  I'm so excited tonight!  Darling Diva Polish shared a picture I posted on her Facebook today and it got lots of likes and even a few shares.  It's nice to see that there's people who love polish like I do :-)

Anyways, today I want to show you Wolfsbane by Femme Fatale, another Aussie indie brand.  It's a neat purple (dark blurple?) jelly base filled with blue hexes of different sizes, small red hexes and the occasional light blue crescent moon.  Here is one coat over OPI Euro Eurso plus topcoat to smooth it out.

Femme Fatale Wolfsbane

Glequin French Manicure

Hey there!  This was the manicure I did this summer for my little sister's university convocation to match a blue and white striped dress I was wearing.  Trust me it's rare for me to coordinate my nails to my outfit but this was a special occasion.

Glequin French Manicure

Darling Diva Holiday Swatch & Review

Hello!  Tonight I'm showing you a really neat glitter topper - Darling Diva's Holiday.  Inspired by Madonna's song, this is chock-full of circle glitter of all sorts of colors and sizes.  And who doesn't LOVE circle glitter?!

I layered 1.5 coats this over OPI Black Onyx plus topcoat to smooth it out.  I say 1.5 coats because my first coat left a couple of blank spots which I filled in by dabbing on a few more glitters.  Please excuse the super dry hands.  I was at the lake when I did these nails and I guess moisturizing wasn't high on my list of priorities :-(

Darling Diva Holiday

Darling Diva Holiday

Ozotic 621 Swatch & Review

Hey there!  Tonight I want to share Ozotic 621.  It's such a shame these polishes don't have real names but that's my only criticism of this polish.  If you even slightly like red nail polishes (or even if you don't), this is a must have.  It's sparkly and glowy and all kinds of good.

This is 2 easy coats with top coat.  Look at that holo sparkle!

Ozotic 621 - sunlight

Ozotic 621 - sunlight

My first blog post! Peacock nails

Hello internet!

My name is Serene and I'm new here.  This is my very first blog post so please forgive me while I learn the ropes.  I've been wanting to start a nail blog for awhile to share my mild (or not-so-mild) nail polish obsession and tonight I'm doing it!  My sister titled this blog for me Copycat Claws because, while I LOVE nail polish, sometimes I lack creativity and look to social media for inspiration.  By day I'm a scientist so I'll never plagiarize.  I'll always "cite my sources".

Now to get started...for these peacock nails I started with a base of 2 coats of Picture Polish Paradise and stamped with China Glaze Passion.  The peacock feather pattern is from the MoYou Pro Collection -03 plate.  I then added dots of Pure Ice Get In Line and Zoya Never to the "eyes" of the feathers.