Double your Dose

Hey all!

Happy Sunday!

As soon as I'm done this post I'm going to cook myself up a hot dog and enjoy a noon hockey game.

Sounds pretty luxurious to me ;)

And I'm very happy to say I'm almost done my crochet project! 

I've been really lazy with it this last week because I know our time together will be over soon.

Another baby to set free into the universe. Damn post-partum.

  

Today I've got two manicures featuring polish I scored at  AuttyW's blog sale.

:D (thanks girl!)

First up I have a gradient with Zoya - Neve, a beautiful sapphire metallic.

I can't believe I didn't pick this up when it was first released, this colour is right up my alley!

 I paired it with Zoya - Richelle, a bronze leaning gold with holographic particles.

And that was that! Give me a simple metallic gradient and I'm satisfied.

Keep it simple has always been one of my mottos ;)

All you really need is bold simplicity.

_ _ _

When the China Glaze textures first came out I thought they were the worst.

But It's been a year and my opinion of them has mellowed. Now I'm intrigued.

Autty's sale was the perfect chance to try one out. So I grabbed Bump & Grind, a bright dark pink.

This is three coats, it's a bit on the sheer side. But the texture spreads like a dream.

I love how matte and stucco-y it is. It's a nice contrast to my usual Pixie Dusts.

With Color Club - Kismet & Cosmic Fate using MoYou Fairytale Plate 04 

I stamped some very cute little stars. I would have loved this mani as a little girl. <3

I'm glad I decided to give China Glaze textures a try.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Any polishes you initially hated, but then grew to love?

Uh oh, got to go, game's on!

Have a good one!

jeebjeeb

Porcelain Pop

Hey all,

I have been a very lax blogger as of late. My bad.

I've been feeling a shift in my life. A refocusing.

It's about time.

 

And I've been watching a lot of playoff hockey.

Like every night.

And my team isn't even in it.

But it's such good hockey!

It's like watching a singer you're not into but still awed by their talent.

Any who. . . manicure pour vu.

 

 

 The Lady Varnishes - Porcelain Doll stamped with China Glaze - Grape Pop

 Porcelain Doll is a very sweet lilac base, though my pictures are leaning bluer,
With stunning gold fleck and maybe a bit of pink shimmer (?)
The Lady Varnishes really knows how to make intriguing polishes.
They always surprise me with the little details, that little extra zazz you didn't expect.

I stamped with Pueen Buffet Plate 54 :)

 

Well, that's all folks.

Have a great night and watch some playoff hockey one of these days!

It's the best soap opera around!

jeebjeeb

Dipping my Toe into Water Marble

Hey all,

I'm going to be having a bit of a busy week next week, so I thought I'd get another post out today :)

And I have a feeling that if I read or crochet I'll fall asleep, like Lucas on the couch.

So here I am again! 

You may notice I don't water marble often. It's been a love hate technique for me.

What started out easily more often became a frustrating mess.

But! All that may change.

I was reading ErinZi's Nails water marble tutorial and learned an ingenious and simple tip! 

Do your water marble in a shot glass!

Why have I never thought of this?? Absolutely brilliant!!

I had to test it out right away.

the two fingers on the left are my favourites :)

And I have to say, it worked perfectly! Although, working in such a small space requires patience.

 You will notice I dinged a few of my tips on the glass. Even so, I'm very pleased.

The polish nicely filled the circumference of the glass, and didn't dry out quickly, allowing for easy manipulation. 

This hand reminds me of sedimentary rock.

If you have trouble with marbles I 100% recommend trying out a shot glass.

 It makes me feel like an amazing water marble is once again achievable! :D

You can bet on seeing many more in the future. This was just a test.

I painted a base of Zoya - Purity, then marbled with China Glaze - Solar Power

Sally Hansen - Lickety-Split Lime & Grape Going!

Lucas actually picked out the colours for me, and I think he did a great job.

But right now he's sleeping on the couch.

And the cat is snoring on the chair.

And I'm wide awake.

6:17pm on a Saturday. -_-

Party time. Excellent.

Well for those of you who are awake, here's a clip for you.
From one of my favourite movies, The Big Lebowski.
A co-worker and I watched this a few days ago and laughed our asses off.
John Goodman is so amazing.

"This isn't Nam, this is bowling. There are rules."
Have a great night and an awesome weekend!
jeebjeeb

Dagadelic's Poison Dart Frog Mani

Hey all!

I'm super excited to be celebrating Dagadelic's birthday tomorrow!

I've got a lot of good times planned for her.

Ok, well most of the good times revolve around food. 

But you can't beat home cooking!

As a little pre-birthday ode to D I tried my hand at her Poison Dart Frog Tutorial.

I really like how they turned out. Toad-ally awesome!

It was super fun to create. And I recommend the tutorial to anyone. 

Poison Dart Frog is THE latest animal print.

Get with the times!

I loved D's original in blue, but I just had to try it in green.

And it's perfect, though I think it would work in any colour.

I'm especially interested to see it in orange/yellow or purple :)

What do you think?

I used Nubar - Into the Wild as my base. 

Sponged on Zoya - Neely and just a hint of China Glaze - Unpredictable to give it that touch of shimmer

Then I dotted on China Glaze - Gussied Up Green

I'm waiting for my fresh birthday mani to dry before I pass out.

I've got presents wrapped and chicken wings ready for the picnic.

It's going to be a good day tomorrow.

Have a great night and an awesome mani!

jeebjeeb

Summer Dots

Hey all,

How's your weekend going? I'm hanging out with my little brother today. Not sure what we're going to do since the weather has taken a wet turn. He's been on his ipad all morning, me on the computer, Lucas reading a book. Sitting in the same room, we have barely spoken to each other, aside from some hockey talk. Soon we'll have to emerge from our inner worlds. Play a game. Watch a movie. Something. It's hard to find motivation on a grey day. 

Tonight is the last NHL game day before the playoffs start. It's exciting. Anything could happen. My Canucks are in. But we wont know who we're playing in the first round until the end of the night. Fingers crossed.

So I had no idea how to follow my last spectacular manicure. 

I was feeling blasé and enlisted my Dad to help. 

I asked him to pick a colour and he went with China Glaze - Solar Power. 

It was a beautiful sunny day when I painted so I felt like a bright and summery dotticure.

I love these colours together. So cheery and fun.

Dotticures always make me think of candy.

For the dots I used Essie's dazzling pink beauty Off The Shoulder

& Ruby Wing's baby blue Moonstone.

Did you know Ruby Wing polishes change colour in the sun? :O

In UV light Moonstone turns from blue to purple!

The day after I painted I walked to work in the sunshine and watched the magic happen.

I was all set to take pictures right after work when a bunch of dense clouds rolled in. :(

This morning they still haven't budged so I had to break out the black-light.

I'm just glad I can still show off the change, I was worried my post would be super lame.

It is definitely a noticeable change.

Especially when you compare them side to side. 

What do you think? Yay or nay UV polish?

I can't wait to try it out when the sun decides to stick around.
It was pretty damn cool watching it change in front of my eyes.
I feel a bit ripped off by the weather gods. But I'll get over it.

 

Here's another happy cat shot for you.

Everyday should be a happy cat day.

Muse-ic

When it starts to get nice outside I start to get a little more country.

Just in the last year or two I discovered that I love bluegrass. 

Especially good old fashioned bluegrass. Even gospel. 

I'm a banjo and vocal harmony fiend. I just can't get enough.

So here's a classic performance by The Stanley Brothers.

They've really got it going on.

Have a great weekend and an awesome manicure.

And if you're following the NHL I wish your team luck :)

jeebjeeb

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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

Chinese New Year - Fortune & Firecrackers

Hey all,

Happy Chinese New Year!

Year of the Snake!

It's my little brother's year <3 Yesterday I spent the day with him and planned to take him out to celebrate. I've been dying to go to my tea house so we bused across town. Once we got there, now super hungry, it was closed. :| A whole hour till opening. Ayah! I felt so dumb, since I've already done this once before. Thankfully my brother was a good sport about it.

Once we were done about town it was manicure time! 

What would my inspiration be?

Well I thought about being young and going to the annual New Year Parade. What I remember most, other than the magnificent dragon costumes, were the firecrackers.

What a perfect time to finally try Nailside's Explosion Design tutorial. Check her out, her nails and tutorials are amazing!
And on my accent finger I stamped the Chinese symbol for Fortune.
(At least that's what my half Chinese boyfriend said it meant after checking on the internet :S)

Nothing says New Years like Fortune & Firecrackers!

I  really tried to take my time on this and not get impatient and ruin it like I usually do. Slow and steady won the race I think. I love the explosions! I need a bit more practice but I can't wait to try this with other colours. What do you think? 

I used China Glaze - Solar Power & Quo by Orly - Red Hot

Anyone have any new year plans? I'm going to eat treats, drink lots of green tea and take it easy! :D

Hope everyone has a wonderful year of the snake full of good health and good fortune!

Have a great weekend and an awesome manicure!

jeebjeeb

Gradient All Splattered On

Hey all,

How's your week going and how was your weekend?

I had a pretty uneventful weekend. I did make my 11 year old brother insanely happy though. Hooked him up with live NHL hockey on his ipad. Any and every game. I swear his face looked like Christmas Morning <3

Despite my lazy weekend I was feeling very motivated last night. I wanted a fun art project to work on while I watched hockey. So I decided on a bright gradient with neutral splatter.

On The Other Hand...

I love this manicure so much. The yellow to blue gradient is fantastic. So bright and vivid, with just a hint of shimmer in the yellow. I added the splatter to really make it pop. What do you think?

I used China Glaze - Solar Power, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Brisk Blue & Nubar - Velvet Silver

and my trusty makeup sponge and straw

Today I would like to share a live performance by a band I just started listening to, The Sheepdogs. My boyfriend got me into them, oddly enough. We haven't really enjoyed the same music for like 4-5 years now. Hopefully this is ushering in a change of more musical bonding. Check it out, there's a trombone solo! And I love the fact that the singer and I have the exact same hair. XD

I hope everyone has a great week. I will. There's lots planned. Two friends are having birthdays on Friday! Two nights of dinners, drinks and goofy fun! So you can expect my next manicure to be birthday themed somehow. Evil plans currently underway ;)

Have a good night and a great manicure.
jeebjeeb