{Giveaway}

Hi Sorry about being gone so long. It's the last 2 weeks of semester and then exams so just be patient.

Here is a giveaway from Sweet Jelly Bean

SJB Turns 2 + Giveaway (and yes it’s INTERNATIONAL!)

Visit her page and join the giveaway

http://sweetjellybean.com/2014/03/31/sjb-giveaway/#comment-25428

good luck :)

OPI-Black Shatter

As I stared at the beautiful silver on my nails I knew I waned to use some black for nail art with them. As I was pulling out the black and striping tape I saw my black crackle and I knew.

So I started with Lay Down that Base then used Push and Shove as my base.
When that was all dry I used OPI Black Shatter from the 2011 Spring Katy Perry Collection

I then finished with Seche Vite top coat

I really enjoyed this with the brilliant shine peeking between the black cracks.

I got about a whole 12 hours of wear from this with about 8 of those asleep...I'm beginning to think that maybe the base coat is the problem. I'll have to try Push and Shove on another base coat to see if that changes anything.

Nail Polish Remover

All right so I have some issues with the chemicals in nail polish remover.

There are 3 main types of remover

•  pure acetone 
• acetone based (acetone with other ingredients)
• non acetone (ethyl acetate based) 

So in school I am doing chemistry and math for my bachelor of science. This means that I have a bunch of Organic Chemistry classes and labs to do. (just so you realize that I do have actual knowledge on these chemicals)

This is my problem, the pure acetone type. In lab we keep acetone in the fume hood and it isn't allowed to leave, we use it to clean the glassware of organic product that is stuck, and to clean the spots that scrubbies can't reach. It also eats through the blue plastic gloves I have to wear.

I have an issue at how readily available it is for people that don't know anything about this chemical. Acetone evaporates quickly which mixes with the air you are breathing. So the girls that don't realize this and think they are just smelling the scent I worry for their lungs. It comes down to I worry about the girls that sit over top of their open nail polish remover as they clean or paint their nails. In small quantities acetone is harmless but it can do damage to your organs with large enough quantities. It also dries out your skin quite well. I know that it's not as harmful as I'm freaking out about, it's almost more of a pet peeve. I'm just worried about the girls who are unaware of what large quantities of it can do to you.

Ethyl acetate is still a harsh chemical (it has to be to remove polish nicely), but it isn't as bad as acetone, it's much less toxic. But it also doesn't work as well as acetone.

My preference is ethyl acetate

So yea a rant sorry about that, it's been bugging me for awhile :P

Fail

OPI-Alpine Snow from their soft shades collection. It's a great white. It gives full coverage after 2 coats. 

So I thought I would play with some striping tape and try some different sized lines.

I tried 3 different sized lines by putting/overlapping 2 or more tape pieces beside each other.

I then did a thick coat of polish 

So taking the tape off...fail...

the blue bled as well as I didn't overlap the tape well enough and the blue made it through the cracks 

I guess I need more practice...:)

OPI Push and Shove

Such a beautiful day out :) Its a great way to celebrate the first day of spring :3 It was even warm enough for me to wear a skirt today :D 

So it has been too beautiful to do much homework today... Lucky me ;)

Ooo...I signed up for a social research thing at school. This lady is looking for people who work in customer service to interview for about an hour. She is apparently looking for information about what it's like to deal with the public. I don't know, I do know I get a Timmies card :) Should be interesting. This one time I had a customer call and complain about how they brought the wrong product, they claimed the display was messed up. I don't get how he didn't read his product, look at his product, read his receipt or even read the screen as the cashier rang his purchase up... Crazy customers no biggie. Oh and I had one customer who as she walked up to the counter (she hadn't even stopped walking at this point) and said to me and my coworker (who hadn't even had a chance to see if anyone was at the counter) says "Hey smart asses are you going to sere me?" Oh boy I couldn't help her after that, my coworker did. She claimed she was joking when the deli and store managers came to talk to her. More crazies... yay :P

So I recently bought OPI's Push and Shove from their 2004 Gwen Stefani Collection. I may have a new favorite polish...:) Though I have heard how there is an Essie dupe. Maybe that one will last longer... 

It comes paired with a cute little base coat called Lay Down That Base

The instructions call for 1 coat of base, 2 thin coats of polish with no top coat.

It also says that it has only 1 night of wear-ability. 

I love the size of the base coats its so tiny and cute :3

So because of the beautiful weather I got some in sun and outside of sun pics

Above is in the bright light and below is in the sun.

So as you can see it dries a little streaky. 

So the base coat dries quickly.

The chrome dries quickly as well. It is opaque but it is streaky so spots get missed. 

I love how shiny it is, they look awesome :)

Just some pics of how little the bottle is

So I decided to try out why they said no top coat. Personally I can't see a difference. It's still high shine. I'm hoping that the top coat will extend its life a little bit.

I have read that some people have had problems applying top coats but I didn't experience any nor did other blogs I read. So maybe it has to do with the type of top coat used?

So this is my right hand (non dominate) the picture looks horrible since it's really awkward to hold it with my left hand.

I put the polish on about 10 am this morning and this picture was taken at around 3 this afternoon. So I've only had it on for 5 hours, during this time I had 3 hours of classes and I played cards and went online on my laptop.

On my pointer finger you can see whole tip is almost gone and if you look closely you can see chipping on the free edges on the rest of my fingers.

*New-it does rub off as well, areas get thin, but the hand with the top coat hasn't seen much of that. When it peels off it looks like really thin pieces of tin foil. Sort of neat really

I'm wondering if I were to use a LED-gel top coat (and maybe a base coat) if that would help it last longer. I'll let you all know when I do. 

Not Nail Stuff

So I know this isn't nail atuff, but I wanted to share.

So my Grandparents just got back from Cuba (they were not impressed...which is unsurprising). And they broght back for me a present. And as I opened it my Grandmother made a comment about how unoriginal her gifts are
What I opened was a necklace and it's unoriginal since she always gets me necklaces when they go away (at least once a year it seems). Plus for my 21st birthday this year she got me a necklace.
I almost never buy myself jewelry (in Canada) since I usually grab something when I go away and my parents and grandparents usually get me something and plus I have a boyfriend who can buy me stuff ;)

So these are the jewelries that I have bought or someone has brought back for me from somewhere not in British Columbia :)

So this bracelet I bought for myself in Mexico (and I got my 2 besties similar ones) in 2011 when my family and 2 family friends when on a Mexican Cruise

This necklace I bought for me (and my 2 besties again) in Mexico in 2012 when my grandparents took their kids and grandkids for a trip

This bracelet my brother bought for me when he went to San Francisco as a youth pilgrimage from church in 2012

This bracelet I bought in Amsterdam in 2010 when I went to Europe for 3 weeks with Girl Guides

These earrings I bought for myself (and a pair for my mom) in Paris in 2009 when I went to France for my youth pilgrimage from church 

This necklace my grandparents brought back from Cuba in 2014. They also got my mom and aunt similar ones

This necklace I bought in Adelboden, Switzerland from a woodcarver, you buy the carving then you can get you name burned in if you want, in 2010 when I went to Europe for 3 weeks with Girl Guides 

This necklace came from Hawaii from a friend

This necklace came from my parents when they went to Cuba in 2004 there was a matching bracelt but its been lost for ages

This came from Hawaii from a friend

These came from Hawaii from a friend

This necklace and earrings I bought in Hawaii in 2007 when I wanted some jewelry when we went to a luau.

My grandparents got me this necklace when they went on a Panama cruise in 2012

My grandparents got me this necklace when they went on a Rhine River cruise in Europe in 2013. My Grandmother got herself a similar one, the pendant is made of glass and my grandmother had the unfortunate luck to drop hers...:( It broke sadly

When I find them and get a picture of them I have a few more to add

like a bracelet I got myself in Mexico in 2011

and a necklace my grandparents brought back form New Zealand in 2005

Yea this post is boring but I really felt the urge to share these :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Ugh! Stupid Safeway ripped off another nail :( I went to take the garmage out and my finger felt weird so I looked down and the nail was almost all ripped off :(

So the wonderful green day :) I love St. Patrick's Day, not because of the drinking but because I look great in green :)

I can't believe I forgot to do Pi-Day nails (march 14 for those who don't know). I was sitting in math class on Friday and realized it was Pi-Day and pulled out my sharpies to draw pi onto my nails, but it wasn't the same :(

So I have 2 designs for St. Patricks Day.

One I did last year but I recreated onto a nail wheel
The other my mom chose.

This is the design my mom chose. It's a light green base with dark green and white stripes making a plaid pattern. Instead of using my paintbrushes I used one of my striping polish brushes cleaned it and used it with my dark green and white polishes. 

On the thumb I convinced her to use little decals (I was really wanting to try them). So I used 3 green petal shapes and formed a clover like shape, then with one of my striping polishes I added a stem. 

Base green: Essie-Shake Your $$ Maker

Plaid: Revlon-Elf Lutin

OPI-Alpine Snow

Top coat: Sehe Wite (because it is magical so I love it)

Thumb: OPI-Alpine Snow

Stem: Quo by Orly Instant Artist-Teal Green

All right and here is my second one. Its a partial plaid with a shamrock in the corner.

To do the partial plaid tape a diagonal section of your nail.

To make the tape easier to deal with and to make sure it doesn't peel your base coat off use your fingers and hands to "dirty" the tape and make it less sticky.  

 once the tape is on paint with a light green the triangular shape the tape left

before the paint dries take the tape off.

Then in the top corner with the most room create a shamrock using a dark green

for the leaves make little hearts by just drawing lines then a stem

using the same dark green draw 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines within the light green

Then to one side of the vertical and on top or below the horizontal lines add white lines.

For some flair add a glitter line along the boarder

And volia :)

Clover: Revlon-Elf Lutin

Plaid: Essis-Shake Your $$ Maker

Revlon-Elf Lutin

OPI-Alpine snow

Quo By Orly Instant Artist-Platinum Glitter

OPI Princesses Rule!

Sad face. 4 of my 5 beautiful nails broke this weekend at work :( 4 of them still look good but my thumb nail practically got ripped off :( A tear happened past the free base of my nail line. It's going to take forever for it too look good again. 

Oh well life happens...

So guess who's painting nails and blogging instead of studying for a midterm on Tuesday...So I'm going to make this a short one.

Oh I'm going to apologize for how often I say so. I keep going back to old posts and taking them out. I can't believe how often I use it. I think it's because I'm in a whole bunch of math classes that are teaching how to do proofs and they keep telling us to use connecting words like so and therefore and such as etc. I think math is just leaking into my life...

darn it! haha :)

OPI Princesses Rule!

This is OPI's Princesses Rule! from their 2006 Princess Charming. It has now been moved to their core collection under Soft Shades. Its a very soft sparkly pink. Shown is 4 or 5 coats. It works great for wanting polish on but not some bright bold colour. My mom can't wear dark polishes at work so she loves this one because it's durable, its girly and its very light. This colour is a staple for any polish collection.
OPI says "A bright sparkly pink that's tiara worthy!"

So much for being short... oh well :)

Nicole by OPI Modern Family Collection

I've been enjoying the colours in this collection. I also love how they put the characters names into the polish names :)

Nicole by OPI What's the Mitch-uation?

What's the Mitch-uation? This is a shiny blue with purple tones that come out best beside a purple object. The polish is really thin. Show is 3 coats and I probably could have done a fourth since at certain angles I can still see through it.

{Luxury Lacquers Spring Giveaway}

So the a few nail bloggers teamed up to do an amazing give away, and they would love you to enter

http://www.bloglovin.com/frame?post=2447705785&group=0&frame_type=a&blog=4085262&link=aHR0cDovL3BvbGlzaGFsY29ob2xpYy5jb20vMjAxNC8wMy8wNS9sdXh1cnktbGFjcXVlcnMtc3ByaW5nLWdpdmVhd2F5Lw&frame=1&click=0&user=0

go enter and good luck :)

OPI Hong Kong Collection

OPI's 2008 Hong Kong Collection 

(parts of it)

 I have to say I really like the colours in the Hong Kong Collection it seems since i keep stumbling onto them

Suzi Says Feng Shui. This was from my friend for my birthday. This is a perfect blue. I don't see any greens or purples in it. I rarely find streaks with the OPI colours. They go on smoothly. I just wished they dried quicker :)

OPI says "A serene cobalt blue to balance your yin yang."

Meet Me At The Star Ferry. This is such a neat purple. It looks like a mix of OPI's Significant Other Color and their Romeo and Joliet. I love the light sparkle in it. The reason it looks so much better than my usual quick rush paint job is because it was an actual manicure (I never get them since I'm a swimmer so the water always ruins them so fast and I work in a deli which is also very rough on nails). So I got a manicure form my Aunt for Christmas and it took ONLY 7 months to use since I was waiting for a week or so that I wouldn't be at work to ruin my nails. The price that my Aunt paid for the manicure had gone down so I had enough left over to buy the polish as well. BONUS!! haha :)

OPI says "A Kowloon-lit, moonlit violet"

Jade is the New Black. Its a beautiful jade green, it looks fabulous on nails and toes and works well with nail art.

OPI says "This vibrant green is the new fashion vibe"

Nicole by OPI Gumdrops Collection

Nicole by OPI

Nicole by OPI That's What I Mint from their gumdrops collection. I really like this one, it has a light blue colour mixed in with some darker and lighter colours. The textured is sorta like a light pebbly feel its not overly rough so it won't catch on anything. And because of all the glitter its very durable. I wish they had brighter colours in this collection most of the other colours are quite dark

Nicole by OPI I Lilac Gumdrops from their Gumdrops collection. I love how soft this purple is. I wish they had a green in this shade.