Nails by Kayla Shevonne: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Swatch Comparison - Silver Foils (featuring OPI Your Royal Shine-ness)

Hey guys!

I'm trying to write his post as quickly as possible as I have an exam later today that I'm cramming for so I apologize if there's any spelling or grammatical errors along the way, haha.

Today I have a comparison of 7 silver foil polishes which I promised to do for you in my last post where I reviewed/swatches the second OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam! England duo. That duo includes a sparkly silver foil called Your Royal Shine-ness that many have been saying is a standard silver foil. However, I thought it was a little different than your average silver foil polish so I dug out most all of the silver polishes that I own that come even close to this one and compared them all on one nail wheel.

Hopefully this comparison will help you decide if this duo is one that you would like to add to your own stash.

Keep reading for the comparison!

Review & Swatches - OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam! England: Part 2

Hey guys!

Today I have the other Glam Slam! England duo from the OPI and Serena Williams collaboration. I reviewed the first duo which included Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle here so be sure to check that post out as well.

Keep reading for the swatches and review!

One Year Blogiversary Giveaway! - CLOSED

Hey guys!

I have some exciting news - my one year blogiversary was this past Sunday, June 26th! I would have liked to have this post up for that day but the Canada Post strike foiled those plans because I was waiting on the prizes to arrive, so this post is a little delayed.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you for supporting me over this past year. At first I thought this was just going to be a small hobby, but it's grown into much more than that and it's really become a big part of my life and I'm so happy to be able to share it with all of you.

To celebrate, a great company (Made You Blush) has supplied me with some really awesome prizes that I think you guys are going to be excited about. It's of course not going to be even close to as big as my 500 follower giveaway, but I'm super excited about this one. I've talked a little more about Made You Blush after the jump so be sure to take a look.

The winner of this giveaway will receive 2 brand new bottles of Deborah Lippmann nail polish from the Spring 2011 Collection - Naked & Glitter in the Air.

I've reviewed and swatched Glitter in the Air myself so you can check out that post here but I don't personally own Naked so I'm super jealous of whoever wins this prize!

Keep reading for the rules and information on how to enter!

Swatch Comparison - OPI Grape...Set...Match vs. OPI Ink

Hey guys!

First off, I have some exciting news - the Canada Post strike is over! (For anyone who wasn't aware, Canada Post had been on strike for roughly 3 weeks until the workers were legislated back on Sunday evening.)
I've got a bunch of packages on the way to me (including my very own business cards which I am VERY excited about) so you'll be seeing a bunch of new products from me over the next couple of weeks. :)

Anyways, onto the point of this post. In my recent review of one of the new OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam! England duos, I mentioned how Grape...Set...Match reminded me of a lighter version of OPI Ink, so today I dug OPI Ink out of my stash and did a comparison of these two shades for you.

Keep reading to see how these shades compare!

Upcoming Collections - Orly Happy Go Lucky Collection

Hey guys!

Quick post today to just fill you in on an upcoming collection from Orly which will be released in time for the back to school season.

From the photos I received, nothing is really standing out to me yet as being truly unique but I'll have to wait to see swatches before I really decide. Either way, who doesn't love a good creme polish?

Happy Go Lucky

ORLY Back to School 2011 Collection
Inspiring Hues to Give You a Thrill

Move over sheer nudes, brights are back with a vengeance. Just in time for a head turning season of back to school fashion, or for those having a hard time saying good bye to summer, ORLY is proud to present the new Happy Go Lucky Collection of fun, edgy lacquers.

Inspired by the carefree attitude and thrill-seeking sensibility of youth, the collection exudes uninhibited creativity that adds instant liveliness to any wardrobe. These bold hues make it easy to test-drive the bright trend overtaking fashion without committing to pricey accessories or unflattering apparel.

Each bottle delivers a vivid, chip resistant formula, while the brush glides smoothly on nails, never clumping or streaking, for maximum impact.

The lacquers in Happy Go Lucky include:

Flirty: Pink Shimmer
Frisky: Teal Crème
Fresh: Green Crème
Frolic: Purple Crème

All ORLY Nail Lacquers including the Happy Go Lucky Collection are free of DBP, Toluene and all traces of Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Resin.

The Happy Go Lucky Collection Lacquers will be available starting July 2011 for $7.50 each. ORLY Nail Lacquers and Treatment products are available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, Ulta and other purveyors of beauty throughout the U.S. and in over 100 countries worldwide.

For more information visit us online at www.orlybeauty.com.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Featured Blog - June: MaD Manis

Hey guys!

As promised in this post, every month I'm going to feature what I believe to be an up and coming beauty blog. The purpose of this monthly feature is to try to help some of you gain more viewership and get yourselves out there more.

For the month of June I'm featuring a nail blog that's actually run by a mother-daughter team. I think it's so awesome that these two ladies share a bond over a love for nail polish and that they blog together so cohesively.

Their blog features a mix of swatches, reviews, freehand nail art as well as stamping nail art. And as much as I'm not really into stamping myself, I know a lot of you really like it and I like that this blog features a mix of stamping and freehand.

Their photos are always clear and colour accurate, their swatches are always very clean and neat around the cuticle area (you all know how important this is to me), and their reviews are truly informative.

Here's one of the nail art designs that they posted that I immediately fell in love with (and I'm definitely going to try myself as part of my floral nail art series):

I switch purses a lot depending on my mood, my outfit, and the season, but I've been using this one for a while now - mostly because it's big enough to fit my school books in.

So what's inside? Keep reading to find out!

Nails of the Day - Dots and Stripes (Inspired by my Notebook)

Hey guys!

A bunch of us girls from are going to be doing nail art challenges to post on Mondays, and this week's theme is polka dots.

I may not be able to participate in every weekly challenge but with final exams today and tomorrow, I needed a simple design to do last night, and polka dots was perfect. And as I was writing up some study notes over the weekend, I found the inspiration for my polka dot mani - my notebook! Now it also has coordinating stripes on it and I wanted to add those in as well so I just did an accent nail with stripes.

(My inspiration)

Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
OPI - Suzi Loves Cowboys (base)
China Glaze - Flyin' High (teal dots/stripes)
Color Club - Soft as Cashmere (taupe dots/strips)
Orly - Green Apple (light green dots)
OPI - Who the Shrek Are You? (acid green dots/stripes)
Essie - Lapis of Luxury (powder blue dots/stripes)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Can't wait to see all of the other girls polka dot designs!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Swatches & Recipe - My Very First Franken Polish!

Hey guys!

So last night I was procrastinating my studying for final exams (which are on Monday and Tuesday) and I decided to try frankening for the first time. I found an old Wet 'n' Wild clear polish that was about half full, picked out some supplies, and just went for it.

I honestly wasn't expecting to come up with anything good since it was my first time, but something really awesome happened and I'm IN LOVE with my franken!

Keep reading for more photos, swatches, and the recipe!

Review & Swatches - Hard Candy Glossaholic Lipglosses

Hey guys!

Two makeup posts in a row?! I'm on a roll, haha.

A while back I showed you a packaging comparison of the Hard Candy Glossaholic lipglosses vs. the MAC Wonder Woman lipglasses and I promised in that post that I would eventually do a review/swatch post of the Hard Candy glosses on their own, so here it is.

These glosses are very special and if you're a polish gal like myself, you'll be excited to know that these have flakies in them! VERY cool.

Keep reading for more photos, the review, and swatches!

Review & Photos - Maybelline One by One Volum' Express Mascara

Hey guys!

Today I have a makeup related post for you, which have been severely lacking on my blog recently. A little while ago I ran out of my Benefit BADgal Lash Mascara, which I've been in serious love with ever since I tried a sample of it that came with the Her Name Was Glowla set.

In the review I said that I wasn't very impressed with it but after I ran out of my L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara, I figured that I may as well use up the rest of the sample of BADgal Lash, and I was quickly eating my own words after I tried it again.

I went out soon after and bought a full size version and used that all up as well. After I emptied that tube, I didn't really have the money to spend another $28 on a mascara so I decided it was time to try something new from the drugstore, and I picked up this one by Maybelline for my experiment.

According to the package:

"Exclusive lash catcher brush catches, coats and de-clumps every single lash for our most refined volume from root-to-tip. Instant clump-free volume."

Does it live up to its claims? Keep reading to find out!

Nails of the Day - Kiwi Fruits

Hey guys!

I was feeling completely uninspired today so I asked my polish friends of Facebook to suggest a summery nail art design for me to do tonight, and Rebecca suggested a lemon/lime mani. I decided to do just that but once I put Zoya's Apple on, which was going to be the base for my limes, I thought that kiwis would work better with that colour, so I went with that instead.

Hope you all like it. :)

Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
Zoya - Apple (base for kiwis)
China Glaze - Hey Doll (kiwi peel on ring finger)
Illamasqua - Load (middle of kiwis)
Zoya - Ivanka (darker green detailing)
OPI - Black Onyx (seeds)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Upcoming Collections - Miss Universe by OPI Collection

Hey guys!

I know there has been a lot of talk going around about this upcoming collection by OPI and I received the official press release today so I thought everyone would like to see it.

Unleash Your Inner Beauty Queen!

OPI Launches Limited Edition Miss Universe Lacquers

Pageant-pretty nail lacquers in the new Miss Universe by OPI promotion give fingers and toes added glitz and glamour. Featuring four shades packed with shimmer and sparkle, these limited edition colors capture the energy of the 2011 MISS UNIVERSE® competition, to be held September 12, 2011, in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Miss Universe is the most popular and publicized beauty pageant in the world,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “We are excited to partner with the Miss Universe Organization, whose contestants provided so much inspiration for rich, high-fashion color.”

With shades ranging from berry and golden pink to electric blue and glittery silver, Miss Universe by OPI provides high-shine lacquers, including:

Keep reading for photos and more information!

Swatch Comparison - Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos vs. Color Club Magic Attraction

Hey guys!

In my recent swatches/review post of some Funky Fingers polishes, Rebecca asked me to compare one of them (Sand and Stilettos) with Magic Attraction by Color Club.

This is for you, Rebecca!

Keep reading to see the swatches and comparison!

Nails of the Day - Uninvited Picnic Guests

Hey guys!

I've seen today's design around the web a few times but by far the best interpretation of it was done by on youtube who as I've said before, is my all-time favourite nail artist on youtube. Her design had some extra elements to it but I didn't have quite enough time to go all out on this last night so I stuck with a basic version of the design.

Nonetheless, hope you all like it!

Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
Orly - White Tips (base for tablecloth, highlight on ants)
China Glaze - Heli-Yum (darker squares on tablecloth)
China Glaze - Sexy Lady (lighter squares on tablecloth)
OPI - Black Onyx (ants)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Review & Swatches - Essie Braziliant Collection

Hey everyone!

As promised, today I have swatches of the Essie Braziliant Collection. This is Essie's summer collection and it consists of 6 shades, most of which are bright and perfect for the summer months.
For some reason, I absolutely love the name of this collection! It's just such a perfect, summery word for this collection.

Anyways, onto the review/swatches!

Swatch Comparison - Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday vs. Wet 'n' Wild Party of 5 Glitters vs. Milani Gems

Hey guys!

Some of you might remember that a few months ago I posted this comparison of Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday and Wet 'n' Wild's Party of 5 Glitters. Well, I now own Milani Gems as well, which is yet another supposed Happy Birthday dupe so I thought it would be appropriate to add a comparison of that as well.

Keep reading to see the comparison!

Review & Swatches - Funky Fingers Holographic Glitter Polishes

Hey guys!

I'm back! (Not that I was gone for a significant amount of time or anything, haha.)
But my schoolwork is done now until final exams and I'm excited to be able to post regularly until then.

And for anyone wondering, my Dad's surgery went smoothly and he's doing very well. :)

On Thursday I received nail mail from the lovely Traci who is a wonderful member of the Facebook group Polish-aholics Anonymous. Her and I did a swap recently and she sent me some Funky Fingers polishes which is a brand that I don't have access to here. The ones I received are all holographic glitter formulas and they're pretty awesome looking.

(Picture purposefully blurred to show the holographic particles.)

Let's move on to the review and swatches!

Youtuber Giving Away Rare/HTF Makeup and Nail Polish for Charity!

Hey guys!

I know I said that I probably wouldn't be able to post for the next few days but I just took a break from studying and I had to let you guys in on this, if you didn't already know.

One of my favourite youtubers, , is planning a huge raffle to benefit a charity that's going to take place in July. She's going to be accepting donations (through paypal) for the charity (which isn't yet 100% decided on) and in return for donations, she'll be giving out entries to a giveaway which is going to contain many rare and hard to find makeup and nail polish items.

Like I said, she hasn't decided on the charity yet but she does know that it's going to be one that deal with animals. As soon as she said that, I knew I wanted to help in some way.

She has been collecting some items over the past year to include as prizes in the raffle but she's asked that anyone who is willing to help out by donating (or selling to her for non-eBay prices) any of your new, unused, still in the box, HTF, makeup and/or nail polish items.

This is a completely selfless act; she's buying all of the items out of her own money (aside from any that are donated to her), and she's even going to donate a percentage of her youtube earnings for that month to the charity.

I'm going to be going through my own stash this weekend to see if there's anything I have that I'll be able to donate. As a student, it'll be hard for me to donate any sum of money when she's actually taking monetary donations but I'm going to do the best I can to help by donating any items that I can.

For more information, check out her video which explains everything. If you don't already subscribe to her, please do so so that you can keep up-to-date on this. I'll also be sure to make a post when she gets everything up and running.

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Rainbow Dotticure

Hey everyone!

Tonight I needed a really quick design because I have to watch a 2 hour presentation online for one of my classes and that starts very soon. Ugh, not fun.
So I originally just decided on a simple polka dot design but to make it a little more interesting, I went for rainbow polka dots and I'm really happy with the result. Plus, it's super simple and anyone can do this design, all you need is a dotting tool and your choice of polish colours!

Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
OPI - Alpine Snow (base)
Zoya - Jolene (pink dots)
China Glaze - Papaya Punch (orange dots)
Orly - Spark (yellow dots)
Orly - Green Apple (green dots)
Zoya - Robyn (blue dots)
OPI - Funky Dunkey (purple dots)
Seche Vite Top Coat

P.S. I might be unable to post for the next couple of days. I have both an exam and a paper due on Friday so I need to put a lot of time into that. Additionally, my Dad is going to the hospital tomorrow to have a major operation so I'm going to be spending time with him as well. I'll be back as soon as I can though. :)

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Review & Swatches - Essie Resort Collection for Summer 2011

Hey guys!

I recently picked up both of Essie's new Summer 2011 collections and I'm going to show you the smaller of them today. Based on the shade names, this one seems to have a safari-type theme and it includes softer, more muted shades than the other Summer collection - Brazilliant, which you'll be seeing swatches of soon as well.

Keep reading for swatches and the review!

Haul - Jewelry: Part 2

Hey guys!

So as promised, here is the second instalment of my big jewelry haul. You can find part 1 of this haul here and it features all necklaces while this post features bracelets and rings.

I only got 1 or 2 of these items from eBay, while the rest were either given to me as a gift or I got them from a local store. Either way, if I got something online, I've posted a link with it so that you know where you can get it.

Bird ring (adjustable): $3.00

Keep reading to see the rest of my haul!

Nails of the Day - Spring Green Cheetah

Hey guys!

I can't believe the weekend is just about over already! It feels like it absolutely flew by. Nonetheless, I hope it was a good weekend for all of you.

I'm not sure why but tonight I really wanted to do a green manicure. I picked out a few of my favourite green shades, tried to find a good way to put them together and I ended up with this fun cheetah print:

Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape (base colour)
OPI - Mermaid's Tears (cheetah spots)
OPI - Black Onyx (outline of spots)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Haul - Jewelry: Part 1

Hey guys!

I know this is a bit of a different post for me but I thought that I should share some of the awesome deals I've gotten on fashion jewelry over the past month or so. I'd never really thought about looking on eBay for jewelry before but once I realized how great it was, I was hooked!
Of course, the only downside is that it takes a while for the purchases to get to me but for the prices I've been getting these pieces for, I can deal.

I originally had one big post done for all the jewelry that I've hauled over the last month but the post was just too large so I've had to spit it up into two separate ones. This post contains all the necklaces that I've hauled and the second post will include bracelets and rings.

I've also included links to the eBay sellers/stores from where I got my stuff, as well as prices, so that if you're interested in getting any of this stuff yourself, you know where to find it/how much it'll cost you.

Once Upon A Time necklace: $5.98

Keep reading to see the rest of my haul!

Nail Art Tutorial - Cherry Blossoms

Hey guys!

So after the great success of my patchwork nail art tutorial, I decided to continue making these photo tutorials until at least the end of my intersession semester (June 22) when I can finally take the time to try to get the hang of video tutorials.

Many of you requested that I do a tutorial for my cherry blossom design which is actually a VERY simple one to execute so hopefully this tutorial will help and some of you will try this design out yourselves.

As a refresher, here's the design that I'll be teaching you how to do today:

Keep reading to find out how to do this design!

Swatch Comparison - Battle of the Mint Greens

Hey guys!

I'm SO glad that the weekend is finally here! The weeks seem to drag ever so slowly by now that I'm in class 5 days a week.

Today I have a swatch comparison for you of 5 different mint green nail polish shades. I recently stopped by a professional beauty supply store that sells Essie (I was originally looking for the Brazilliant collection, which they didn't have) and I came across some shades from some of the older collections, one of those being Mint Candy Apple. I knew that I already owned a few mint shades but I also knew that this was a really popular shade when it was released so I decided to get it anyways, if for nothing more than a comparison.

So, here it is compared with the other minty shades that I own.

Keep reading to see the comparison!

Featured Blog - May: Attacked Astoria Nails

Hey guys!

So as promised in this post, every month I'm going to feature what I believe to be an up and coming beauty blog. The purpose of this monthly feature is to try to help some of you gain more viewership and get yourselves out there more.

This month I'm featuring a nail blogger who I think does some really awesome freehand nail art. In fact, she did one of my all-time favourite manis that I still plan on trying to replicate (although I can guarantee that it'll never look as good as hers. Take a look:

Isn't that amazing!? I love it!

Keep reading to find out more about this great blog!

Nails of the Day - Girly Skittles

Hey guys!

Ever since I got OPI DS Original, I have been trying to come up with a nail art design that would incorporate it. I still didn't have a design in mind when I sat down to paint my nails last night so I just starting picking some colours that would compliment DS Original and went from there! I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with, especially because now I get to stare at both DS Original AND Mad as a Hatter!

Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
China Glaze - Spontaneous (base for thumb)
OPI - Rumple's Wiggin' (stripes on thumb)
OPI - Mad as a Hatter (index)
Zoya - Marley (base for middle)
OPI - Do You Lilac It? (stripes on middle)
Orly - White Tips (bow)
OPI - DS Original (ring)
China Glaze - Grape Juice (base for pinky)
China Glaze - Light as Air (polka dots on pinky)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Review & Swatches - KleanColor Crack Collection

Hey guys!

Yes, another brand has jumped on the crackle polish bandwagon and this time it's KleanColor. I was actually surprised to see these polishes at Lawton's Drug Mart as this is the first time that I've seen this brand in my area, so I'm hoping that this means that we might be getting more from KleanColor. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

At first I wasn't going to get all of these as I have a number of different brands of crackle polish (OPI, China Glaze, LCN) but I also wanted to show you guys the whole collection so i caved and got all 7.

Now, before you move on to the swatches, I need to let you know that it's VERY important that you read my review before you actually buy these polishes yourself. They're not your average crackle polishes and it took me a while (and a few nail wheels) to figure out the right method to use and I'll go over that in detail in my review.

Keep reading for the swatches and review!

Review & Swatches - OPI DS Original

Hey guys!

So as you all know from my last post, a very exciting package arrived for me yesterday - OPI DS Original! I started swatching it immediately but I knew that I also wanted to get some pictures of this in the sun so I had to anxiously wait until we got a little sun, which we did today (although it was still REALLY cold out).

Anyways, this polish has been on my wishlist for as long as I can remember and I'm SO happy to finally be adding this to my collection. Thanks to my bf for being so sweet and getting this for me!

Keep reading for swatches and the review!

Tag Post - The A-Z of Me!

Hey guys!

So I've been seeing this tag post around a lot lately and I love reading them so I thought I would do it as well.

A. Age: 23
B. Bed size: Double
C. Chore you hate: Washing the dishes
D. Day: Either Thursday or Saturday; Thursday because it's usually my shopping day (i.e. payday) and Saturday just because it's the weekend.
F. Favourite colour: I don't necessarily have a favourite colour but I really like purple, teal, and emerald green.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5'8"
I. Instruments: I haven't ever played an instrument but I used to sing, does that count?
J. Job title: Student/Administrative Manager/Nail Technician
K. Kids: Nope, and none in the near future either.
L. Live: Newfoundland
M. Mom’s name: Ruth
N. Nicknames: Peach, baben, potato, potato face (only my bf calls me these and they're all inside jokes, haha).
O. Overnight hospital stays: None
P. Pet peeve: I have too many of these! Just to name a couple: when drivers don't use their signal lights and when people don't clean up polish from around their cuticles.
Q. Quote from a movie/tv show: Bazinga. (The Big Bang Theory)
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: 1 brother, 3 step-sisters, 2 step-brothers
T. Time you wake up: Right now it's between 8am and 11am because I have class all week but on the weekends, I can wake up at anytime in the day. I'm a major night owl and love staying up until all hours of the night.
U. Underwear: Blue with lace and flowers
V. Vegetables you dislike: Too many to count. I LIKE lettuce and (raw) carrots.
W. What makes you run late: I'm extremely punctual and most times I show up early so I guess the only thing that would make me late would be other people.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Both ankles, both wrists
Y. Yummy food you make: Kaylaroni (yes, I make a pasta that I love so much that my bf named it after me), cookies and cream cheesecake.
Z. Zoo: Never been to one! I love animals though so I'll definitely be going to a zoo one day.

Hope you all enjoyed getting to know me a little better! And I'm going to tag all of you!

And just so this post has a little something beauty related in it, here's a sneak peak of a post that I'll be doing soon:

This is OPI DS Original and it showed up yesterday after the bf bought it for my on eBay to celebrate when I reached 1000 followers. I've already done swatches of this inside but I really want to get this baby out in the sun so I'm anxiously awaiting some sunlight.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Swatch Comparison - Silver Foils (featuring OPI Your Royal Shine-ness)

Wednesday, June 29, 2011