Witchy Tips

I have been pretty busy the last few months and could not decide on what I wanted to wear on my nails. I ended up going for something classic with a slight twist, a mix of a French manicure and colour blocking.

I taped off my nails with thin striper tape and added a generous coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, which has been my go to black polish lately. Although I only applied one coat, this mani lasted me a full week with minimal tip wear. It really started to show it's wear in the last few days, however.

I wanted to do some Halloween nail art over it but was just too busy unfortunately.

Ghostess with the Mostess

Hostess with the Mostess is apart of the Ghouls Night Out collection released this year apart of China Glaze's Halloween collection.

I decided to layer two coats over a bare nails (plus a base coat, of course!) to make the most of each piece of glitter. I couldn't decide on a base shade that would be truly complimentary to each coloured glitter.

Ghostess with the Mostess is made up of matte black, pastel green, pastel orange and striped purple hex glitter of various sizes. In hindsight I thought of a layering idea of layering the glitter between a black or orange glitter. Heck, even green or purple would work too!

It applied nice and smooth, the consistency of the clear base was a breeze. There was lots of glitter on the brush, didn't have to fish around too much, just played around a bit with the brush on the nail for placement of glitter so it was not overlapping. So far it has been wearing great!

Ziggy Zaggy!

Today I have a Halloween inspired refresh inspired by @Stormandstars on Instagram (shown below).

I'm not sure exactly what products were used, but I just loved the look!

My base is Del Sol Trick or Treat and I used Bundle Monster plate BM-201 with Konad black for stamping the zigzag pattern.

 

I LOVE this look, although I must say I am a bit rusty at stamping. It's been a while! My nails are also a tad long and the pattern just reached the top. I actually filed then down a bit to ensure the pattern looked complete.

A fun and quick way to Halloween up your nails!

A Halloween Favorite

Today I have a Halloween favorite that I try to use sparingly, Del Sol Trick or Treat.

Trick or Treat is a UV activated colour shifting polish. In it's regular state it is a bright orange jelly with holographic micro glitter. When in the sun or exposed to UV light it turns a dark shade of purple, almost black jelly! Such a great shift and colour changing polish. I wish there were a heat activated version as well!

I used two coats over (two layers) of my Deborah Lippmann All About That Base base coat. I decided to use two layers of the base to help with opacity of the polish, and save a layer or two of polish. All and all the technique worked very well!

Comparing the colour shift from the last time I wore this polish, it's safe to say there is a bit of a difference. This may be due to a few factors, either age of the polish or quantity of layers. Age may have affected the colour shift or additional layers are needed to produce a better effect. I'll have to test the polish out to know for sure.

Do you have this polish? How is the colour shift like from your bottle?

Oogie Boogie!

I have been waiting for October to wear this glow-in-the dark Nightmare Before Christmas* inspired shade. I found Funky Fingers Oogie Boogie at Five Below in July and just could not leave it! I found recently that Hot Topic also carries similar (they look IDENTICAL) polish shades in their skull bottles. I also found Dia De Muertos. I would say you are better off with Five Below since two or three only cost you $5, where Hot Topic Charges that per bottle!

Anyways, Oogie Boogie is a glow-in-the dark glitter topper. The sheer slimy green base houses various shapes and sizes of light green glitter. The base is fairly sheer so I decided to layer over a similar base colour, China Glaze Be More Pacific.

I applied one coat of Be More Pacific, and two to three coats of Oogie Boogie. I applied what I thought was topcoat and took these pics. I was having some trouble wth keeping this mani on my nails! It just wanted to rub right off, I was so confused, I never have issues like this worth Seche Vite, it must be the glitter, I thought. I waited a bit longer for it I dry but it was a lost cause! It literally wiped right off the nail.

I blamed it I the polish until I double checked my top coat, I had noticed during application it was a bit thicker, could this be why...? Turns out I used Seche Clear instead of Seche Vite! Not only did I use a base coat as a topcoat but it was thick and sticky. Unfortunately I only realized this after taking everything off and applying a whole new mani (with the base coat as a top coat...).

I will have to try this again, maybe wit a more Oogie Boogie theme or nail art. I took a blurry pic of the glow-in-the dark effect. It was glowy, bit I feel like Dia De Muertos was brighter with little effort.

Moral of the story... ALWAYS check you are using the proper base and top coats!

*The Nightmare Before Christmas is NOT a Halloween movie, it is a Christmas movie! However characters such as Oogie Boogie, Jack, Sally etc. live in Halloween town and makes it perfectly appropriate to wear during the month of October :)

How To Block A Zombie

Today I have a quick and easy mani refresh with China Glaze Zombie Zest and NAME. I was getting some slight tip wear but wanted to get a bit more mileage out of my mani so I did some colour blocking. I did this for the same reason this past summer and have been wanting to try it again ever since. It's super easy to do, I literally did this 10 minutes before leaving the house!

The most important and time consuming part is sectioning off the nail with striping tape, although it didn't take that long. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out to full in the space. Always remember to remove the tape right after application for a crisp line and to avoid having the polish drying on the tape and peeling off. Tweezers are hand in application and removal of the tape.

I sealed it off with Ask Cosmetics top coat and was out the door! I really love this look. I love how something so simple can make something look more than it actually is.


Annnnd... Incase there weren't enough photos in this post, I decided to add a matte topcoat after a few days, which I think I loved even more than the glossy look!

Zesty

You all know this shade. I'm sure I have pulled it out pretty much every year since it's release and tried it out in a new way. Although my favorite way I wear China Glaze, Zombie Zest is on it's own, I decided to try it out over a deep green this year, China Glaze Holly-day.

Holly-day is a deep blue based green creme, I used one coat as a base. I then added two generous coats of Zombie Zest over top. Holly-day masks the overall murkiness of the swamp, green/yellow base, which I love. However, I find the deeper base makes this look more dramatic and vampy. Maybe even a little more wearable for those not used to pretty ugly colours like Zombie Zest.

The longer I have this on my nails the less I eat to remove it!

September Favorites

This is an ongoing monthly post which highlights some of my very favorites from the month past. 

Today I have my most favorite things from September. Check them out below.

Favorite Life Change - School! 
You may notice I mention a small amount about nutrition and healthier recipes in my monthly favorites, so this September I finally decided to go back to school for holistic nutrition. So far it has been very exciting and educational. It has definitely taken up more of my time since I am still working full-time, so I am still adjusting. This has contributed to less time spent on my nails, however I am still doing them at least once a week at the moment.

Favorite Polish - Sinful Colors Blue La La
With less free-time on my hands, the beginning of September was neglectful to my nails, and I must say that Blue La La really held up well with with at least two full weeks on my nails! This also included a trimming (while still wearing the polish) and a refresh with a new favorite glow-in-the-dark polish, Funky Fingers Dia De Muertos (shown together below).

Favorite Book - Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, T. Colin Campbell
I'm sure you notice most of my favorite books listed here have a similar theme, whole, natural nutrition. I have done a lot of research and I love to lean more about nutrition. If you read the China Study (Which I highly recommend), you should read this! It gives you a better understanding of how to apply the research found in the China Study to your overall life. I would recommend it to those who have not read the China Study as well as a fist read, it is not as technical and a slightly easier read. I haven't finished it yes because of all the extra reading I have with school at the moment, but I don't have the heart to put it on hold, its that interesting!

Favorite Fashion -  Faux Leather Moto Jacket
I had a few semi-dressy events this September. Although the weather was great in, when I needed a little something to dress up an outfit this was my go to piece. I purchased this faux leather moto jacket from Dynamite and I am just in love with it! It fits me perfectly and adds a certain sophistication to the basic of outfits. (Let's pretend the jacket is an off white, soft grey colour... they are currently sold out of the one I have but this colour is new for fall)

Until next month...

Hay Loft!

In case you haven't already noticed...As in previous years on my blog, this month will be dedicated to 31st of October, Halloween! This means exclusive content, polish and nail art inspired by Halloween.

Today to kick things off I have a hardcore lemming if mine from last year, China Glaze Rest In Pieces layered over Zoya Charlotte. I could not locate the Apocalypse of Color collection last year, I had to call around to get some of my favorites. And by the time that happened October was over. That is just one of the reasons it was too on my list to wear this year.

You want another reason? Take a look at that glitter! Rest in Pieces is a mix of matte black, copper and holo hex and bar glitter. It reminds me a of glittery hay!

Application was awesome, one blobbed coat was required and is shown in my swatches. It dries to a high gloss shine unlike other glitters. I love glitters on a neutral base, and this was no exception.

I will definitely be pulling this one out again before the end of the month!

Halloween Haul! - Photo Heavy

Today I have my picks from China Glaze's Ghouls Night Out collection for Halloween this year. Something must have aligned perfectly for me to obtain these pre-Halloween this year. I usually get my hands on these collections just after. Last week I knew I would be passing by Sally's on my way home from work so I called to see if they had it in stock (this location happens to be particularly late receiving the latest collections). Not only did they have it in stock, but they had buy one get one free! BONUS!

Left to right is Something Brewing, Cackle if You Want To and Ghostess with the Mostess.

Something Brewing is a glitter topper made up of matte black and pastel green hex glitters of various sizes in a clear base. One coat is shown in the swatches below.

Cackle If You Want To is similar to Something Brewing, a glitter topper made up of matte black and violet hex glitters of various sizes in a clear base. The key difference is the largest violet hex glitters, can you see the little stripes on them? They remind me of ruffled chips! One coat is shown in the swatches below.

And last, but not least, my top must have from this collection, Ghostess with the Mostess. This is a combo of the above polishes with some pastel orange glitter thrown in there! One coat is shown in the swatches below.

Swatches!

So remember how I said it was buy one get one free? Well I have a bonus polish to share, Star Hoping. The funny thing is this was yet ANOTHER polish I was wanting. I had vaguely heard about the Star Hoping collection, and didn't know that it was now apart of the core line at Sally's. Lucky me!

Star Hoping is a gorgeous deep indigo jelly with densely packed blue and holo glitter. This is so pretty! Literally space on your nails!

Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

This is a thirsty glitter, for a nice glossy shine you will probably need a few coats of top coat. It is worth it though!

More Halloween to come this month on the blog, stay tuned!

Dia De (Los) Muertos

Happy October!

You know in this post when I mentioned that I had worn Sinful Colors, Blue La La for over two weeks? Well this is how I dressed it up in to the second week.

Enter Funky Fingers, Dia De Muertos (although I feel like it should be Dia De Los Muertos?).

Funky Fingers polishes have me soooo hooked, especially their glitters. I can't help but purchase some of them based off of the name alone. I can just picture what they are going for with the name and colour/glitter of the polish. In this case, in my head I see a black light lit sugar skull!

Sinful Color's Blue La La matching the translucent base of Dia De (Los) Meurtos was the perfect combo. DDM has a sheer cornflower base with various sizes of shiny blue glitter and matte, hot pink hex and bar glitter. Did I also mention that it glows in the dark?!

DDM applied so well to the nail, glitters were evenly distributed, what you see is one coat! I blobbed a bit on the nail to move the glitters around with surprisingly little effort. The glow of this polish in the dark is AWE-SOME! Considering I only applied one thin (blobby) layer, the glow factor is  bright, especially over a darker colour! I am super impressed with this polish, I can't wait to try the other I purchased with this, Oggie Boogie.