Author Archives: Mary S.

Nail Art: Flocked Manicure & Caviar Manicure…on a MAN!

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Caviar Nails Flocked Nails on a ManThere have been two extreme nail trends that I’ve wanted to try, but found them very intimidating: the Flocked Manicure and the Caviar Manicure.

Flocked nails have a crazy monster-fur texture. It’s almost like having turf on your nails. (If you use grass-green flocking powder, you could totally do some really fun golf nail art! The sport is a snooze to me, but I could get down with a nail design.)

And, I’m pretty sure that by now, every nailphile knows about Caviar nails. It consists of tiny little beads that completely cover your nails.

So, since I was a General Tao chicken *bawk bawk bawk*, what did I do? I turned one of my wild stallion male friends into a guinea pig, of course! 😉

You may recognize his thumb. Yup, he’s the same dude who I did freehand sheep nail art on in a previous blog post.

He went from a firm “No!” to an “Okay, but I want you to choose which colours to use!” within literally a minute of my convincing, pleading, and sticking out of my lower lip for maximum pouting power. Haha! (This is the only time I resort to such infantile tactics. It’s probably also the only time that they’d work. Plus my friend doesn’t take himself too seriously. The dude’s cool like that.)

My friend’s bravery encouraged me to try the flocked manicure on myself. When I do, I’ll share swatches of it on here as well as a detailed review plus application tips in a separate post. Expect that soon-ish. (I won’t be sporting a caviar manicure, though.)

Edit: I ended up trying a flocked manicure. Click here to see my blue flocked nails!

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Mariah Carey by OPI Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures

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Mariah Carey by OPI Collection Press Release & Promo PicturesYesssss, songbird Mariah Carey teamed up with OPI! Will it be a high note in her career? We’ll find out soon enough!

The Mariah Carey by OPI Collection contains 8 limited-edition shades with a unique texture they’re coining ‘Liquid Sands’. (Read all about it in the press release!)

There are 2 subgroups in this collection: the Studio Shades and the Stage Shades.

I’m a fan of Mariah Carey because, damn, that woman can blow!

Mainly, though, I’m a fan of her earlier work (i.e. her self-titled album, Emotions, Music Box, and Daydream), although I do like a lot of her newer songs. (Back in the day, I feel like her voice was clearer, and she did less ‘whisper-singing’.)

To date, I have all of her albums (except for Glitter or Greatest Hits), and as long as she keeps putting out new songs, I will keep buying her CDs. She’s so talented, and although there are other great voices in the industry, she has an undeniably unique gift.

Out of all the colours in this collection, I’m most drawn to the Stage Shades. 😉 Stay the Night and Get Your Number are making me drool from just the bottle images!

Once again, OPI’s PR has something en route to me, and it’ll be a surprise. I wonder which one(s) they sent! 🙂 Of course I’ll wear them and share my thoughts with you all!

P.S. This is unrelated, but…I wish that Lana Del Rey would team up with OPI and have a nail-polish collection. That would be incredible!

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OPI Euro Centrale Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures

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OPI Euro Centrale Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures smallerYesterday, OPI’s PR team sent me the OPI Euro Centrale Collection press release and promo pictures. From the moment I saw the bottle images, I got really excited because it looks like there’s a good assortment of colours!

Although this is the Spring/Summer 2013 collection, some of the polish names sound like they belong in a Hallowe’en collection – e.g. Vant to Bite My Neck? and My Vampire is Buff. But that’s okay by me because Hallowe’en is my favourite holiday.

Some of these colours are on their way to me, courtesy of OPI’s PR. I don’t know which shades, but you can be sure to expect upcoming reviews. Haha, probably within just hours of me opening the package, I’ll be painting my nails with one. 😉 Brand new polish is way too tempting!

From just looking at these bottle images, the ones I’m most curious about are Polka.com, You’re Such a BudaPest, Can’t Find My Czechbook, OY–Another Polish Joke!, and A Woman’s Prague-ative. But the other colours also look appealing. (A lot of times you can never tell just how gorgeous it’ll be until you see the bottle in person. I’m expecting to see some amazing shades, though, because even the bottle images look good!)

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Nail Art: Red Fiend Nails

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Red Fiend Nails Nail Art SwatchesToday’s Red Fiend Nails feature China Glaze Bend Over Backwards (red), Whirled Away (black and white), and Get Carried Away (black, silver, and red), all of which are from the incredible new Cirque du Soleil Collection.

You may know that red isn’t my favourite nail colour (although I sometimes crave it), but when it’s combined with black and white, I’m crazy about it!

I was inspired by the artistry, fun costumes, and unpredictability of the Cirque du Soleil shows when I designed this simple look. (I’ve never been to their live show, but I’ve seen some of their specials on TV. Brilliance can’t even begin to describe the talent in that production!)

The Cirque du Soleil polishes in this post were lent to me by the same friend I mentioned in the previous two posts. (She’s saving me a lot of money right now, haha, but I do plan on buying a few bottles to add to my collection! Can’t be a complete polish mooch, right?) 😉

This design includes Bend Over Backwards (red), Whirled Away (black and white), and Get Carried Away (black, silver, and red).

Out of the nail-art designs I’ve done so far with the Cirque du Soleil shades, I think this is my favourite because it’s the most cohesive.

Also, a lot of people accent the ring finger, but I chose to accent the middle finger with black. Thought it was appropriate. 😉

P.S. At the end of this post, I’ll provide mini reviews for each Cirque du Soleil polish.

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Nail Art: Blue Fiend Nails

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Blue Fiend Nails Nail ArtMy friend was nice enough to lend me these blues from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Collection: Water You Waiting For and Hanging in the Balance!

Just like with my Green Fiend Nails, I decided to wear more than one shade as my manicure for these Blue Fiend Nails so that I could return her precious bottles sooner.

The bonus? It was easier to remove when you have glitter on just two fingers.

In this post, not only will I share some more photos of this design, but I’ll also give quick mini reviews on both polishes in case you’re curious if they’re must-haves or not.

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Smorgasbord Sundays: Garage Clothing & Black Friday Deals

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Rainbow Tiger Shirt Garage ClothingDid you do any Black Friday shopping? What were the best deals you scored?

The only Black Friday shopping I did was online and for Garage Clothing! (I really didn’t feel like hitting up the mall after a full work day.)

Garage is one of my favourite clothing companies not only because they’re Canadian (they started in Montreal), but also because they offer a lot of casual attire that fits my body.

You can always find fun prints and designs at extremely affordable price points. But they do carry staples like basic solid t-shirts and tank tops, too.

I really hope that one day Garage Clothing will start carrying dress clothes, too, like blazers and trousers. Then it will be my all-around go-to clothing store!

For a few days, they had a special online offer for 40% off sitewide and just $1 shipping! It’d be criminal if I didn’t get something, right? (Right!) 😉

In this post, I’ll show you a few of the things I snatched up. And if you like anything, just so you know, they’re having a new sale for 30% off sitewide and $1 shipping. It’s valid until Monday November 26 at 6 am (Eastern)!

(No, I’m not affiliated with Garage yet, but I’ve been purchasing clothing and accessories from them for probably 7 years or more, so I should be!) 😉

Edit: For my American readers, please note that the same offer is running on the US site, which you can find here.

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Blog News: My Glittery Manicure Featured on beautylish

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The beautylish team whipped up an article about holiday manicure ideas. They included photos of manicures done by fellow members. I was honoured to have been included among such a talented group of women!

Below is the screenshot. Check it out, and get inspired by the others’ nails that are full of personality! (And if you’re not already a member, sign up – it’s free!)

To go to the original article, you can click on the screenshot or here.

Beautylish SwatchAndLearn Holiday Manicure Ideas

Holiday Manicure Ideas Beautylish SwatchAndLearn

To achieve this look, I layered two nail polishes from the Nicole by OPI Selena Gomez Collection due out in January 2013: Kissed At Midnight (gold glitter) and Pretty in Plum (purple).

If you’d like to see my swatches and review of each, click on the below links:

As usual, when I receive wonderful news like this, I like to thank all my readers (new and old) for making blogging a very rewarding journey! I know that we all lead very busy lives, so the fact that you’ve taken the time to leave comments means the world to me. Thank you for encouraging and inspiring me! The nail-polish community is a very creative and welcoming place. 🙂

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