Author Archives: Mary S.

Nail Art: Green Fiend Nails

Green Fiend Nail Art China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Collection SwatchesHope that my readers south of the border had a great Thanksgiving. Haha, and I’m sure that many have been Black Friday shopping since the stroke of midnight.

Several years ago, I was in the States and experienced my first Black Friday. The deals were insane, but so were the crowds! (Good luck to those who are rubbing elbows with others to snag a deal. Just remember to be courteous!)

Today’s Green Fiend Nails were spontaneous. Go with the flow. Throw caution to the wind.

You see, a friend let me borrow 3 polishes from the brand-spankin’ new China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Collection – Running in Circles (glittery green), DEF Defying (snot green), and Creative Fantasy (purple)! I was so excited because green and purple are my favourite colours!

Sometimes I’m indecisive. I couldn’t decide which one to wear first. (Plus I don’t like to keep others’ polish with me for too long. Wearing each individually would take too long. Lacquers get homesick, I think. Although…if they met the numerous greens in my Helmer, I think they might make some friends, and it would escalate into something more – a relationship with long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners!) 😉

It hit me – why did I have to choose just one? This isn’t The Highlander! The more, the merrier, they say. The more greens, the “Mary-er”, I say!

The nail art you see was me trying to wear all the colours at once and still make it look somewhat cohesive and less like a mad person. 😉 (A little madness is good.)

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CND Stickey Anchoring Base Coat Review & Pictures

CND Stickey Anchoring Base Coat Review & PicturesSince getting into polish more seriously in 2008, I not only built my collection of colours, but also of base coats!

(I have way too many, but I’m determined to work through them all before I buy any new ones.)

The CND Stickey Anchoring Base Coat was the first base coat I ever used. Believe it or not, it wasn’t until 2008 that I began painting my nails properly with a base coat and top coat.

Prior to that, not only did I not bother with them, but I also used to paint over old manicures with new polish. *Shivers* (Not sure what I was thinking! Oh yeah, and I used to think myself to be very clever by peeling polish off my nails instead of using remover – really bad for the nails!)

Now, I never paint without using base and top coats. Talk about 180 degrees!

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Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle Swatches & Review

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle Swatches & ReviewRescue Beauty Lounge Recycle has been in my stash for years, yet I was a bad polish parent because I neglected it.

One day while rummaging through my Helmer to decide what to wear, I found it crying in the corner.

That’s when my heart sank. How could I let this happen? I knew just what to do.

I cradled it in my arms, and told it that everything would be okay.

A faint squeal of delight could be heard coming from my nails the second Recycle touched them. (Well, okay, maybe not, but I have a pretty vivid imagination, so let’s just roll with it. More like it was me squealing!)

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Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil LSD Swatches & Review

Urban Decay 24-7 Glide-on Eye Pencil LSD Swatches & Review smallerYou may remember that not long ago, in this Haul of Shame post, I mentioned that I had purchased the Urban Decay Ocho Loco 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil Set.

It’s a limited-edition, online-exclusive holiday set. One of the new shades in it is Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil LSD.

Glitter addicts get their fix with LSD. 😉

(When people ask what’s on your eyes, you can smile as you say LSD.)

I’ve been wearing this eye liner a lot because the colour is absolutely gorgeous. However, there are some drawbacks to this colour, which I’ll explain in this post.

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Nail Art: Vertical Stripe Nails

Vertical Stripe Nails Nail Art SwatchesDo you ever have the itch to do nail art, but you can’t think of a design? It happened to me a couple of days ago.

I didn’t want to do something intricate due to time constraints, and I wasn’t up for dealing with the messiness of nail stamping.

These Vertical Stripe Nails helped satisfy the craving for nail art without taking up much time or concentration.

Ever since doing Jack Skellington nail art, I knew that I’d have to do a manicure with vertical stripes on all the nails because I think it’s a really fun look.

(It’s a bonus that it’s also incredibly easy to do! It’s okay if all the lines aren’t perfectly straight or of the same thickness. It puts your signature on the manicure!)

Here I used two shades from the Nicole by OPI Selena Gomez Collection coming out in January 2013 – Hit the Lights (yellow) and Spring Break (pink).

This manicure is a reminder to be true to yourself and to always show your stripes! 😉

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Smorgasbord Sundays & Haul of Shame: My IMATS Toronto 2012 Haul

IMATS Toronto Haul 2012Yesterday, I went to IMATS Toronto 2012 (the Internation Makeup Artist Trade Show).

Ever since IMATS was held in Canada, I’ve been going because it’s a great place to find good beauty deals, and you can attend seminars to learn new tips and tricks from successful makeup artists.

Okay, I’m not a makeup artist, but you can still pick up interesting tidbits that apply to the average woman. 🙂 (Well, I don’t think the average woman is average. The ‘average woman’ is incredible, smart, and beautiful. We are going to take over the world!)

At last year’s IMATS, you’ll remember that I was extremely frugal. Looks like I overcompensated this year! 😉 (You can click here to see my highly detailed blog post from last year. I basically walked you through the whole event and took photos of almost everything!)

Come take a closer look at the stuff I got yesterday, and check out some of the photos I took.

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OPI On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Swatches & Review

OPI-On-Her-Majestys-Secret-Service-Swatches-ReviewOPI On Her Majesty’s Secret Service from the Skyfall Collection is a much more complex colour than I originally thought.

(It stumped my camera. Seems like I have difficulty capturing fine metallic flecks. Any camera-setting tips you’d like to share with me are greatly appreciated.)

At first glance, it looks like any other pewter polish, but upon closer inspection, there’s a variety of different colours. (Geez, I wish that I was able to capture it clearly so you could see its brilliance. It’s a very interesting polish up close.)

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