Sunday Stamping - Happy New Year 2014

Hey there!  This week's Adventures in Stamping theme is Happy New Year 2014!  I can't believe the new year is right around the corner!  Here's what I came up with to celebrate this theme.

Icy Textured Gradient

Hey there!  First, I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas (or your holiday of choice) and made some wonderful new memories.  Second, I have to apologize for disappearing for the last few days.  I honestly thought I'd have time to write a post or two but I went to my parents' house and their internet is practically circa 1994.  I grew up outside of the city and it's still really hard to get decent internet service installed out there short of cutting down all the trees on the acreage...and that would be A LOT of trees.  It's a shame because I really wanted to show my Christmas nails.  They weren't overly Christmas-y so maybe I can still share them.

Anyways, since I'm now back to the land of proper internet (and my nail polish stash), here's a winter-y textured gradient I did recently.  The first textured gradient I've done.

Zoya Belinda and KBShimmer I Only Have Ice For You

Hey there!  I have a quick non-holiday post today simply because I couldn't wait to show off this KBShimmer's I Only Have Ice For You.  Isn't it amazing?!

Santa and His Reindeer Nail Art

Hey there!  Earlier this week I joined the Adventures In Stamping Facebook group.  Every week there's a Sunday Stamping theme and this week's theme is Merry Christmas!!  Here's what I came up with.

Christmas Ornament Stamping

Hey there!  Today I'm showing you two awesome polishes with a little Christmas ornament stamping.    This is China Glaze Just Be-Claws and OPI Goldeneye with an image from Bundle Monster's BM-H03 plate.

Zoya Holly and KBShimmer Candy Cane Crush

Hey there!  I just have a quick post today to show you what I'm wearing today.  This is Zoya Holly topped with KBShimmer Candy Cane Crush.

Picture Polish Candy Cane Nail Art

Hey there!  I mentioned in my last post that I love candy canes, didn't I?  I'm actually eating one as I type this so I thought it would be appropriate to post another candy cane look I wore last week, using all Picture Polish colors.

Candy Cane Jelly Stampwich

Hey there!  The theme of week 3 of Nail Polish Canada's Holiday Nail Art Challenge is Holiday Memories.  I went with a candy cane jelly stampwich because we always had candy canes on our Christmas tree and I still love candy canes today.  Even the old ones that get kind of chewy...

Banksy Balloon Girl Stamping

Hey there!  Here's a nail look I did a little while ago.  I won't pretend to be even the slightest bit knowledgable about art but I do like the work of the UK graffiti artist, Banksy.  So I was super excited to see some of his art reproduced on the MoYou London Rebel -02 stamping plate.  Here's what I came up with to show off his Balloon Girl.

Holiday Garland Nail Art

Hey there!  Today I have some more holiday decoration nail art to share.  I mentioned yesterday that I had created two manicures for the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge.  I already showed you some festive wreaths.  Today I have some Christmas tree decorations for you.

Holiday Wreath Nail Art

Hey guys!  I started writing this post on Friday and then ended up with a rare busy Friday night (drinks with my boss and belated birthday dinner with the family).  I've decided to participate in Nail Polish Canada's Holiday Nail Art Challenge.  I'm barely sneaking in for Week 2's theme which is "Decorations".  Feel free to find my image and vote :-)

Christmas Sweater/Nordic Nail Stamping

Hey there!  Today I'm showing what I currently have on my nails...my first (and so far, only) Christmas nail look of the season.  And the first pictures I've taken in my new light box!  Here are some tiny Christmas sweaters for you...

A England Camelot

Hey there!  Today I'm sharing two manicures I've done using A England Camelot.  I love black nail polish and I love A England's formula so I find myself reaching for Camelot a lot.  

American Apparel Gradient, Water Marble and Stamping

Hey there!  Welcome to December.  How was everybody's weekend?  Personally, I am another year older.  On the plus side, my sister bought me a new light box and my friend Susan bought me approximately one million Mod Lacquer polishes which is super exciting because I've never tried that brand before.  A nail polish addict's dream...

Anyways, a couple of weeks ago there was a Groupon for American Apparel so I picked up some new polishes and wanted to use them together.  So here's the spring-y manicure I came up with (despite the snow on the ground).

Picture Polish Polka Dots

Hey there!  I hope my American friends are now stuffed with turkey and enjoying all the Black Friday sales.  Has anyone got anything good from all the nail polish sales?  Up here in Canada it's just a regular work day though we do have some sales.

Today is the first time I'm showing you a dotticure!  It's not the best ever but I liked the colours so I thought I'd share anyways.  For these I used Picture Polish Violet Femme with Mellow Yellow polka dots.

DNA Nail Art

Hey there!  Now I recognize that today's post is going to appeal to approximately 0.00001% of the population but I was so proud of it I just had to share it.  I even posted a picture of my nails on my personal Facebook which I've only done once before (for my Breaking Bad nails) since a lot of my friends are scientists too.  So here you go with a science lesson and the geekiest nail art ever...DNA nails!

OPI Eurso Euro & Max Factor Fantasy Fire Swatches

Hey there!  I have a really quick post tonight.  I've heard so many references and seen so many pictures of Max Factor Fantasy Fire but was sad to learn it was only available in the UK (or maybe in all of Europe...I'm not sure).   So when I heard that Max Factor Fantasy Fire was available at Color4Nails I had to buy it right away.

Winter Wonderland Nail Art

Hey there!  My city has been absolutely slammed with snow lately!  We got 50-55 cm (20-22 inches) last week alone.  To put that in perspective, our average annual snowfall is 124 cm so that much in a week was a bit much.  But, in an effort to see the bright side of things, I took a little walk with my camera that inspired today's nail art.

Emily de Molly Serenity & Simplicity Swatches

Hey there!  I hope everybody had a good weekend.  I really wanted to share some nail art I did this weekend but I just didn't have time to edit the pictures yet.  Hopefully I can get on that tonight so for now I'm going to show you a couple of Emily de Molly polishes I've bought recently, Serenity and Simplicity.

Emily de Molly Serenity

Emily de Molly Simplicity

Marble Nail Art

Hey there!  Today's manicure was inspired by one of my best friends...hi Susan!  Susan has been painting her nails for as long as I've known her.  The first time I met her way back when we started high school 20 years ago (yikes!) I distinctly remember she had black nail polish on.  Back then I thought that was very strange.  Nowadays I love black nail polish and the girl that was wearing it.   We text each other pictures of our nails and last weekend she sent me a picture of a water marble she had done and one of her nails looked like real marble to me.  So, because I'm a big copycat, I was determined to try out some marble nail art.

Enchanted Polish Dream On Swatch

Hey there!  Today is the first time I'm showing you an Enchanted Polish.  If you've never heard of Enchanted Polish, it's an indie brand that causes such excitement in the nail polish community that anytime there's a restock it's almost guaranteed to break the website and make normal, happy women turn into fierce tigers.  It's really nuts.  But I've jumped on the bandwagon and, because Nail Polish Canada opens their restocks to Canadians only for the first hours of a release (to prevent their site from crashing), I've managed to snag three of these polishes, altogether.  This is Dream On, a Nail Polish Canada exclusive shade.

direct light

Crayon Nail Art

Hey there!  If you follow me on Instagram you know I'm in mourning today...for my thumb nail.  It cracked on Friday and I tried to repair it with my Orly Nail Repair Kit but I guess my repair job failed and this morning it snapped right off.  Luckily it's not on my picture hand so I guess there's a silver lining.  RIP thumb nail.  You'll be missed.

Anyways, enough with my silliness.  Today I want to show you some nail art I did on the weekend that I thought was cute.  I was out with a good friend of mine last week and he said he thought someone should do the Crayola logo on their nails.  While there are some people that are good enough to do the actual logo, I'm well aware that I'm not quite there so here's what I came up with instead.  I have a three year old niece who visits a lot so I even had a box of crayons to use as a reference.

Esmaltes Da Kelly Swatches - Loosho, Phoenix, Slice Of Life and Thabata

Hey there!  Today I have a few swatches of an awesome, underrated, indie brand, Esmaltes Da Kelly.  Maybe it's just me but occasionally when I wear a bottle of nail polish from a brand that either I haven't used before or haven't worn in a while, I (re)discover a love of it and I wear the same brand over and over again.  This is what happened here.

Night Sky Nail Art

Hey there!  A couple weeks ago I was walking home from the post office (picking up nail mail, of course) and the sky caught my eye.  It was at that early time of night when it's dark out and you can see the moon and a couple of stars but there's still light from the sunset.  I saw it and thought that'd be a great idea for some nail art.

Edmonton before 7 pm...the nights are getting too long!

Candy Nail Polish Review

Hey there!  Today I want to show you guys a brand new Canadian indie brand from Montreal, Quebec that I came across on Instagram.  Since I'm all for supporting indies and Canadian business I got in touch with the creator of Candy Nail, Kim,  about placing an order.  Here's what I received on Friday...

Quick Dry Top Coat Comparison

Hey there!  Tonight I want to show you something a little different for me.  Last weekend, out of curiosity, I decided to do a comparison of the quick dry top coats that I own.  I compared Glisten & Glow HK Girl, KBShimmer Clearly On Top, Orly Sec 'n Dry, Rica Glossy Glam and the old favorite Seche Vite for dry time, glitter smoothing and stamp streaking.  Ideally I would have compared wear time but I never keep a manicure on to test that one.

Dragon Nail Art - Part 2

Hey there!  As promised, I have the second of two dragon looks that I wore last week.  For this one, I used a polish that comes from a collaboration between Celestial Cosmetics and Color4Nails, Mother of Dragons.  With a name like that, of course I had to add some dragons!

Dragon Nail Art - Part 1

Hey there!  Today I want to show you a complete copycat manicure.  I saw some Dragon scales on Nail Polish Wars awhile back and knew I had to try them myself, especially knowing my love of A England polishes.  Then I received my Scaly Things plate (MM21) from Messy Mansion and then I REALLY had to try them!

Remembrance Day Nail Art

Hey there!  It's Remembrance Day here in Canada (and in all other Commonwealth countries) to so I tried some poppy nail art using acrylic paints.

Textured Snowflake Nail Art

Hey there!  It's snowing here in Edmonton again but I'm trying to embrace the snow by doing what I'm sure will be the first of many snowflake looks this winter.  For this one I used two textured polishes from the OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand collection, Solitaire and Tiffany Case.

Real snow.  Terrible lighting.

A England Jane Eyre & Perceval Gradient

Hey there!  I have a confession to make...I have a thing for any red & black combo.  It's always so striking to me.  I've always been too lazy to do a red and black gradient because of the intimidating level of clean up.  Red and black are always nightmares to remove from my skin.  But I sucked it up and finally did one.  Here's the results.

Brush Stroke with Stamping

Hey there!  Today I want to share my first attempt at a brush stroke manicure.  This is an easy technique involving (almost) randomly painting on small areas of colour with a nearly dry brush.  Then, simply because I love to stamp, I stamped a cut out flower image on it.

Emily de Molly Turbulence Swatch

Hey there!  Today I have a quick swatch to show you of an amazing glitterbomb, Emily de Molly Turbulence.  Emily de Molly is an Australian-made indie brand known for it's amazing glitter suspensions (hello, have you seen the Forces trio?!) and Turbulence is no exception.  It's a blue jelly filled with glitters of all shape and sizes.  Diamonds, circles, hexes...oh my!  I think the diamond-shaped glitter is so cool!  I've never seen another polish with diamond glitter.

Glitter Rainbow Nails

Hey there!  Since yesterday was a snowy, stay indoors kind of day, I tried something I've been wanting to try for awhile.  Laura at Polish All The Nails is pretty much THE queen of glitter placement and I'm always in awe of her manicures so I wanted to try to do an (easy) version of a rainbow gradient.

Dance Legend Robots vs Humans

Hey there!  Welcome to November.  Hopefully yours hasn't started as snowy as mine has.  It snowed approximately 10 cm in the last 24 hours here in Edmonton.  I'll post a picture of what today looked like at the end of this post.  I guess it's time to start wearing socks *sad face*.

Tonight I'm going to show you a more fall-appropriate manicure than a winter-appropriate one.  This is Dance Legend Robot vs Humans with images from PUEEN33 and PUEEN40.  I've never shown a Dance Legend polish before but I don't know why because it's a great brand.

direct light

Pretty Serious Haddonfield & Crystal Lake

Hey there!  Happy Halloween!!!  As promised, today I have a cool Halloween polish to show you.  Actually I have two.  Both Crystal Lake and Haddonfield are from Pretty Serious' Halloween collection, Killer Fangirls.  There's also a third polish in the collection called Elm Street but I didn't purchase that one.   I'll let the pictures do the talking.  They explain things better than I do.

Pretty Serious Haddonfield

Pretty Serious Crystal Lake

Spiders and Spatters

Hey there!  I have two (you heard me..two!) halloween designs I've worn in the last week.  I'll keep the talking to a minimum since I have too many pictures.