the weather outside is frightful

We have reached the darkest of days. And I yearn to hibernate.

Once it gets close to nine in the evening I'm much too out of it to do anything. 

Crochet puts me to sleep. German? Forget about it.

Feels like lost time.

But I always try to look on the bright side.

In a week it will all be in reversal. 

This moment is fleeting.

I finally tried out my first half moon manicure after being inspired by the mercurial magpie.

 One word of caution though, don't use the plastic binder reinforcements, pain in the ass!

That's what I get for pinching work supplies (；一_一) 

It all worked out so wonderfully in the end though.

Essie - Gold as Gold & OPI - Incognito in Sausalito 

----

This mani I actually named - Snowfall at Twilight

Nail Pattern Boldness - Texas Tea is AMAZING!! 

This is only TWO coats of a glitter sensation. There is zero pigment in the base. Mind blown.

The colours remind me of Christmas lights, and the iridescent blue flakies lend the perfect glow.

Completely and utterly in love. 

I stamped with Bundle Monster & A-England Excalibur.

I think snowflakes have to be my favourite Christmasy theme. 

I'm not a big Christmas person. Every year that goes by it feels less and less special.

What I wouldn't do just to be able to sleep until the new year.

Ipsy December Glam Bag

I recently signed up with Ipsy , a monthly make up subscription box. 

For $15 ($10 in the US) you get 5 items picked out for you in a cute little bag. 

I didn't exactly know what to expect, but I'm impressed.

Now I'm not a beauty blogger, nor do I aspire to be, so I just have a couple photos and that's it.

In my bag...

Nicka K New York - Ripe Apple

Pop Bauty - Brighten Up Your Life (ha!) Eye Shadow Trio in Naturally Bare

Be A Bombshell - The One Stick in Girl Crush

Nxy - Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in B52

Demeter - Perfume Oil Roll On in Snow

Well I love the eye shadow that will brighten up my life. 

Still waiting for that, but the copper tones look great with my green eyes. Score!

The One Stick I will NEVER use on my lips, since it's frosted bright pink. 

However it's a very natural blush on my fair face. Score!

The lipstick is nice and subtle, creamy understated sophistication. Hat trick!

The roll on oil in Snow wasn't my thing at first. But after wearing it for a few hours it really grew on me.

The oil is such a wonderful, mellow scent experience, I like it a lot. 

In fact... I've already ordered another one of their scents. Major score!

And the Nicka K Nail Polish? (Have you ever heard of them before??)

Well here's a swatch for you. 

Perfect shade for the holidays!

I did another snowy-ish stamp job with it and some Northern Lights Topcoat.

I must have tempted fate because a day after painting this it snowed.

And it doesn't do that all the time here. I'm loving it, it's so beautiful.

But soon enough it will all be slushy disgusting. Yay. (._.)

Puddle jumping my way to my Saturday overtime.

What fun.

jeebjeeb

You Know What Day It Is

 Hey All,

Happy Halloween! What are you doing tonight?

I'm at home blogging （　ﾟ Дﾟ）

 I used to love Halloween as a child, but like a lot of things, I no longer care.

I will concede to themed manis though. I haven't turned into that much of a witch.
And to make it more of a treat, it's a double dose.

But there's something I totally forgot to mention! (；一_一)
(and no, not my passionate love of emoticons)
I started a facebook page for the blog.
https://www.facebook.com/injeebjeebwetrust
Come on down and give me a like, if you like.

First up, I wanted to try out another textured gradient.

Doing a gradient with textured polish makes it incredibly textured. Like stucco.

I used Konad Black and really had to jam it in there, but it held beautifully! 

Zoya - Dahlia & Beatrix come together in the perfect Halloween combo.

What do you think? Little bro said  he loved them , yay! :)

Next up, a wonderful Halloween themed polish.

Glitter Guilty - Bag Snatcher

Bag Snatcher is a white creme loaded with yellow, black & orange shards and orange micro glitter.

Loving it! Ok, so I'll only wear this about once a year, but come on! It's cute.

I stamped with OPI - Uh Oh Roll Down the Window, the perfect ghoulish sludge green.

Lucas picked out the skulls from the Viva Mexico plate. I love this mani. 

I'll be wearing it for twice as long as usual. :)

And to make your night that much better, here's something very dear to my heart.
One of the best theme songs ever.



I LOVED Tales from the Crypt as a child.
So much fun. I'll have to watch a few tonight.
I suggest you do to. :)
Have a Happy Halloween!
jeebjeeb

Studs & Gleequins, Oh My!

Hey all,

Happy Wednesday :|

I went on a work field trip today. To deal with thousands upon thousands of postcards.

Organizing, labelling and counting. Lifting a ton of boxes. Jamming my hands into paper. 

3 wonderful hours. And save for one ugly chip, my manicure held up!   

It was a great workout. Not to mention it seemed to keep my creeping cold at bay.

No complaints here. Just body tired. My mind is active though. 

The same song still going through it like it has all day.

Just brewed up a mug of... lemon myrtle tea...

I'm getting comfy...

Dancing with Mylie...

Doing whatever we waaant...

...woah.

Did that just come out? :P

Pardon me!

Anyhoo...

I got some new toys recently. So I tested them out with a few simple (a nice word for boring) manis.

First up... Studs!

All I can say is sexy, sexy, sexy.*clap clap* 

Everything I wanted them to be!

OPI - In the Cable Car Pool Lane (2 Coats)

Such a beautiful deep burgundy. The formula has just a hint of jelly to it.

And then.. Gleequins!

I was compelled by the silver holographic diamonds.

In indirect light they look like pieces of mirror, and make me think of the Indian fabrics my mother loves.

And in direct light   *KABOOM*   Holographic fantasy.

I took this photo a day or so after painting, and a few of the gleequins had curled.

Cult Nails - Discipline (3 Coats)

This is such a lovely delicate grey. The shimmer is outstanding, flashing from pink to blue to purple.

It's a bit sheer, but regardless, the formula was splendid.

Maybe it's the gleequins lending this mani a space age feel, 

but I couldn't help thinking that Discipline must be what alien flesh looks like.

I kept seeing flashes of Roger from American Dad.

What the hell brain?!

Well I hope you enjoyed my boring manis. :P

I really enjoyed wearing them.

Have a great night and an awesome manicure!

jeebjeeb

Testing my MoYou

Hey all,

Happy Saturday!

I wanted to post my hockey mani today, but the game ended terribly. 4-1 San Jose :(

So forget it. They have to win a game before I show off my team spirit.

Thankfully I do have something that I'm really pleased with.

MoYou London stamping plates!

I discovered MoYou a few months ago. And holy crap! So many themes to choose from.

The variety is just amazing! I fell in love with a few plates from the Sailor & Suki Collections.

 As soon as they arrived in the mail I had to test them out.

I used Sailor Collection - 05 and just look at that glorious detail! Crisp and fantastic.

I had to try the tentacles first. They're so fricken cool! Everything I wanted them to be :)

My base is OPI - Incognito in Sausalito. 

It's hard to tell with the stamping on top, but it's actually a very dark navy blue.

AND! This is only ONE COAT!! Can you believe it? 

Mad props to OPI for this one. So vampy, Iove it.

I stamped with my good old A-England - Excalibur (old version)

I cannot wait to try my more of my MoYou images. So far I'm very pleased.

If you're into stamping I highly recommend checking them out.

They just keep releasing awesome collections! So brace yourself ;)

There's another hockey game tonight. 

So fingers crossed that they win and I can show of my fantastic tribute soon.

Have a great day and an awesome manicure!

jeebjeeb

Striped Gradient Accents

Hey all,

How was your weekend? I've had a good one. Donuts with the girls on Friday was awesome. Two big cups of tea, fries and gravy, a pork torta, followed by 3 donuts (that I scarfed in one sitting in the of privacy of my home). It was all so delicious that I'm already planning my next visit. :)

I just realized this last week was the two year anniversary of my work relocating to my side of town. It was quite an awesome thing for me because it allowed me to start walking to work. I love my walk. It's just far enough to be good exercise but not so far that I'm exhausted. Being out in the elements everyday has made me feel more connected with nature. I actually know what temperatures feel like now. That statement may sound dumb, but when I see it's 11° I know exactly what to wear that will keep me comfortable. (I've spent a lot of my life being over or under dressed, it gets to be a real pain.) Then of course there's the obvious benefit of exercise. I walk 4.6km a day (2.85 miles for my American friends). Over the  last 2 years I've walked around 2254km or 1400 miles. I think that's pretty cool.

On to the nails! Here's the manicure I had for most of last week.

A dark green shimmer with two gradient and striped accent nails.

I was originally going to cover most of the dark green. I've used it only once before and wasn't very keen on it.

But this time, as I waited for it to dry, it really grew on me. There's a lot of depth and shimmer to it, with just a touch of blue.

I felt bad for my previous disdain and decided it was time for it to shine.

I think the silver and khaki gradient nicely highlights the shimmer.

Not a very spring time colour combo. I think it has a military vibe going.

What do you think? 

I used China Glaze - Gussied Up Green as my base and placed two pieces of striping tape

 then sponged a gradient with A-England - Excalibur & OPI - Uh-Oh Roll down the Window

Muse-ic

Last night I went out to a metal show. Pretty rare for me, I'm more of a punk girl. But it was fun none the less. It was an album release gig for Magnus Rising. We're friends of a friend so we were there to show support and get drunk in the process. 

If you like metal, check them out. 

As I watched them play I kept thinking, jesus the bass player has the most amazing mane of curls. 

I wonder what conditioner he uses. I wanted to scream "You're hair is beautiful!!!" Cause that's metal, right? 

Have a great night and an awesome manicure!
jeebjeeb

OPI - The Impossible

Hey all,

Hope you've been doing well. I, on the other hand, have been sick the last few days. I hate these late winter colds. You watch them go round, praying that you'll be skipped. But eventually that tell tale sore throat takes hold. And try as you may to deny, the sneezing does not lie. 

I'm trying to spend as much time snuggled in a blanket as I can. So this post is going to be short and sweet.

Since I wasn't feeling well I only had energy for a lazy manicure. What a perfect time to try out another OPI Liquid Sand polish. I absolutely loved Stay the Night. So a few weeks ago I broke down and bought The Impossible. 

It looks peachy in the photos, but in real life it's a much bolder coral red. 

Packed with tiny glitter, hexs and stars, there's a lot of visual interest. 

The bottle had a ton of stars in it, but I was only able to get one on each pinky.

I love the matte sand finish. It looks so cool and feels so interesting. It never snags on anything.

Although I must note, I work with paper all day, and since there's no top coat I did leave a few streaks of colour.

Here's a picture with flash, which shows a truer colour

 and really makes the texture and star pop.

It's like lava stone or something.

I'm totally digging it. 

What do you think? 

I hope everyone's having a good week and is in good health. I'm going to get this sickness over with tonight. Tomorrow, by the time I go for a nice evening tea, I'm promising myself it will be gone. (begone evil demon! christ compels you!) Next post I will probably have some more textured polishes for you :D I'm so excited!

Until then, have a great week and an awesome manicure.

jeebjeeb

OPI - Jade Is The New Black

Hey all,

I'm guess it's about time that I tell you the story of my relationship with nail polish. I think it's interesting to know the hows and whys behind everything. Or rather, the emotional  reasons, the thoughts and feelings. I dwell within that inner world. And I like to take people there with me. 

I can't remember the first time I painted my nails. All I know is that by age 10 I was obsessed. I would sit in the living room, using a little table on wheels while I watched tv. I painted my nails all the time for years. Bright green, yellow, even a bright orange matte that smelled like oranges.

Then high school happened.

I learned fairly quickly that everything about me was not cool. What I know now is that being a "loser" actually meant I was interesting and different. But sadly, you have to go through hell and back to figure that out. So I got rid of all the things that made me me, and one of those things was my "weird nail polish" (I guess my colour choices were bad, I don't know man, it's hard being a 13 year old girl)

The years slowly went by. 

But eventually I graduated and took back everything I once loved about myself. But no, not nail polish. I work as a shipper/receiver. All day long I'm packing boxes and jamming my hands between stacks of paper. I use my hands HARD. What would be the point of putting on polish so it could get ruined right away? It just seemed like a waste. 

Once I got to be 25 I realized it was now or never. Why deny yourself? If it chips, so be it. C'est la vie. It was Feb 2012 and for some reason I just felt an urge. It was an Essie polish that did it. At the drug store I spotted A Cut Above, a pink glitter, and something in me shifted. I bought it. Things just snowballed after that.

Last summer I discovered Nail Polish Canada. I cannot go on enough about their amazing online store. I swear, I will talk endlessly to people that don't even wear polish. Their selection opened up a whole new world to me. I researched endlessly. Swatch after swatch. It became more like hunting than shopping. I'm already a tea snob, and now, thanks to NPC, I'm a polish snob too. And unlike anywhere else they offer rewards points for every dollar you spend! Just recently used some points to get my first free polish. <3

And here it is! OPI - Jade Is The New Black

Jade is a beautiful medium/dark green creme polish with just the tiniest hint of blue. It is such an elegant, intriguing colour. I thought it was so nice I didn't want to distract from it. Well, not too much.

I also picked up a pack of Cats & Hearts nail decals by Cala with my free polish and was eager to try them out. The decals have both brown and white cats,with balls in random colours. So I chose brown and red to perfectly contrast. I really like these decals. Look at how cute that cat is!

You can also see how unhappy my skin is about winter. Paper cuts and dry skin, yay! 

These decals remind me of the Archie Comic manicures I did as a kid. I would cut out speech bubbles, heads, etc. and then stick them to my nails with multiple layers of topcoat. It looked very cool. But these decals are so much easier to get off.

What do you think? Digging the cats? 

And how did you start painting your nails, or get into any of your other hobbies? I'd love to know.

Have a goodnight and a great manicure!
jeebjeeb

Saran Wrap Manicure

Hey all.
Hope you had a great weekend. I had fun. Took my little brother for his first haircut from one of my oldest and dearest friends. It was very sweet. Not that long ago we were teenagers wrestling around at my brother's first birthday. What do you mean he's a tween now and we're adults? What do you mean one is cutting hair and the other is doing perfect impressions of me?! Growing up is very cool.
I also got to hang out with my two other favorite people and watch a really crappy hockey game. : (  Losing 7-3 is not the best way to start a season. We had a good time though, so let's get over it. On to the manicure!

I wanted to try something new and I remembered the Saran Wrap technique. I'm using the method as explained by TheCraftyNinja.

It was super quick and easy and I think the results are awesome. What do you think?

When I looked outside this morning it was a very grey, foggy day, which inspired my colour palette. I was feeling muted, mellow earth tones. My base colour is OPI - Uh Oh Roll Down The Window (I hate the name, but it's a great shade of army green) & Zoya - Dove 

I love how it looks like smoke or mist billowing through the air. Mysterious and mesmerizing!

I will definitely be trying this technique again soon. It's so simple and versatile. So many colour and texture combinations to play with. I'm fantasizing about shimmers, matte polishes, lots of depth. : ) 

What kind of art day dreams are you having?

here's the pre-saran mugshot :)

Anyone drinking amazing tea? I'm still on my Earl Grey kick. I have at least 5 types of Earl Grey. JUST Earl Grey. It's magical, what can I say. 

Thinking about this manicure, and it's smokey look, has got Smoke in the Water by Deep Purple stuck in my head. Do you know it? It's a fun song. And this live performance from 1974 is even funner. Check it out! Great guitar riff, high pitched screeches, organ solo, you name it.

Another manic Monday tomorrow. Rest up and let's start this week off right.
Have a good night and a great manicure!
jeebjeeb

OPI Liquid Sand - Stay the Night :D

Hello nail lovers,
I'm very excited about today's post. When I first saw the new liquid sand texture I didn't quite know what to make of it. But the more I saw it the more it intrigued me. If Stay the Night didn't make me fall head of heels in love than I'd just dismiss it as a passing trend.

 Well I'll tell you... I've fallen in love <3

I applied two coats over Seche Clear base coat and it was perfectly opaque. The formula is a little on the watery side so my application was a bit sloppy. I use an eyeliner brush to clean out my cuticles and although it was stubborn to tidy up, like most glitters, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

It applies watery, but dries fairly quickly to a matte gritty finish. It is so addicting to touch. Not scratchy, just sandy and pleasing. I feel like I could light matches off of these babies! 

Despite this polish being matte the pink glitter still shines through! It's beautiful and mysterious. I read one blogger write "like embers in a fire, if embers were pink" and she was right. (sorry, I read so many blogs, totally forget which one it was)

the mugshot

embers glowing from within

If you think this looks even half interesting, try it out! You may be surprised. I think textured matte glitter may be the most exciting nail trend in along time. And I'm so happy that other brands are jumping on the band wagon. Like Zoya! My go-to brand. I'm impatiently awaiting their Pixie Dust collection. They all look so amazing. I'm already planning gradients <3

What do you think of this trend? Will you try it? Any other brands coming out with interesting versions?

In a few days I'll post and let you know how the tip wear and removal goes.(wish me luck :S)

Have a good night and a great manicure!
jeebjeeb