Hey guys!

Today I have a makeup post for you! I've basically transitioned my blog to be primarily a nail blog but every once in a while, if I find a makeup product that I'd like to share with you, I'll still do so. So this will be a review for MAC's newly released foundation called Matchmaster.

According to the press release, here's what MAC had to say about this new foundation:

"With our all races credo, we’re redefined what a perfect match should be with new Matchmaster Foundation SPF 15 technoloigy, using translucent pigments to create a formula that enables a fully personalized finish influenced by the subtleties of your own skin tone. Adding to Matchmaster’s true-to-life appeal is its moisturizing demi-matte finish, medium buildable coverage, and line-reducing soft focus powders. Add the fact that this formula reduces excess shine-creating oil, and who could resist?"

The reason I was so intrigued by this new foundation is that I'm super pale, so the new 1.0 shade (comparable to a NC/NW 10) really excited me. I've been using the NC15 shade from MAC (the lightest they offered until now) for a couple of years, but even that is just a smidge too dark.

However, I've come to really love the formula of MAC's Prolongwear Foundation, so I was still hesitant to try a new one, despite the fact that Matchmaster was offering a shade better suited to my skin colour. In the end, I decided to give it a try.

How did Matchmaster do? Keep reading to find out!

Hey guys!

Today I have a Fall 2011 Collection from Color Club for you - the Foiled Collection, which consists of 6 foil (obviously) polishes and 1 topcoat.

I'm always happy to add Color Club sets to my stash since they're usually of high quality and they're well priced, so whenever I'm able to find them at Winners (the only store in my area that carries Color Club), I snatch them up.


Keep reading for the review and swatches!

Hey guys!

Recently LCN launched a crackle collection that consists of 7 new, heavy metal inspired crackle shades. As much as I have been saying that I'm over the crackle trend, these new crackles by LCN are actually different than any of the other crackles we've been seeing and they're the first ones in quite some time that have actually peaked my interest.

Out of the 7 shades released, I only picked up the 2 that I was most interested in. However, my interest is even more peaked now that I've tried these 2 shades so I might go back to my supply store and see if the others are still available!




Keep reading for the review and swatches!

Hey guys!

Today I have another instalment of my Manicuring 101 Series for you! I keep receiving comments/emails about how you're all really enjoying this series so far and that you're excited to learn more and I'm really glad to hear that.

For any of my newer followers who haven't seen any of the Manicuring 101 Series yet, check out the Tutorials tab at the top of the page and you'll find links to all of the other instalments from this series.

Today's post will be a discussion of the different types of nail shapes that you can have and how you should go about achieving them. Today's post will tie in with the next post in the series which will be a discussion of the many different types of nails files available and how to use them properly.


Keep reading for a info on nail shape!

Hey guys!

I want to quickly thank you all for the birthday wishes yesterday! I had a great day and it was made even better when I came home and read all of the awesome comments you left for me.

Sadly, there was a bit of a damper on my day because I had an exam this morning so it was haunting me all yesterday while I was trying to celebrate my birthday. I'm pretty much used to that now though since my birthday is always during midterm exams. Luckily, this is my last year of University so I won't be having that issue any longer!

Anyways, because these past few days have been pretty hectic, I only have a short comparison post for you today. As I said in my review post for the new Revlon Fall 2011 glitter polishes, I had a comparison in mind for two of the three polishes. I already compared Facets of Fuchsia with Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance and today I'll be comparing Blue Mosaic with OPI's Gone Gonzo! from the Muppets Collection.



Keep reading for the comparison!

Hey guys!

Today is my 24th birthday! I'll be pretty busy today so this post is a scheduled one which means that I won't be able to respond to any comments until later tonight or early tomorrow. So thanks in advance for the birthday wishes!

I took a break from my Halloween Nail Art Series to do this birthday mani and although I didn't really have a solid idea of what I wanted to do, I knew I had to use the most birthday appropriate nail polish - Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday!

Enjoy!



Products:
OPI Chip Skip
CND Stickey Base Coat
Zoya - Jolene (base)
China Glaze - Something Sweet (base for ring finger)
China Glaze - White on White (cupcake frosting)
Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday (sprinkles on cupcake frosting, over base on the rest of the nails)
Nicole by OPI - Step to the Beat of my ♥ (heart on top of frosting)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Hey guys!

Today I have a Halloween tutorial for you! A number of you have requested that I do tutorials for some of my Halloween designs from last year so I decided to start with my favourite one - my Jack-O-Lantern design.
This design is probably one of the most intricate and time-consuming designs that I've ever done but don't get discouraged, it's actually not too difficult if you're willing to put in the time and effort.

Now, for my original design I did 5 separate Jack-o-Lantern faces (one for each nail) but today I'll only be showing you how to do 1 of the 5 faces (the one that's featured on my thumb in the original design). However, once you know the basics of how I went about one of the designs, you should be able to apply this tutorial for the other faces.

So to refresh, here's the design I'll be showing you how to do:



Keep reading for the tutorial!

Hey guys!

One of the reasons the new Revlon glitters polishes are so popular is that one of them is a supposed dupe for the coveted Deborah Lippmann shade Bad Romance.
Luckily, I already own Bad Romance so today I'll be doing a comparison for you to determine if these two are in fact dupes.



Keep reading for the comparison!

Hey guys!

A couple of days ago my friend Rebecca did a tag post that I really enjoyed, so I decided to go ahead and do this as well.

The point of this tag is to post a photo of what your nails used to look like and what they look like now. The photo I'm going to show you is one that I have never posted anywhere before and honestly, I'm quite embarrassed by it. However, I want to show it to you guys to hopefully offer some inspiration for beginners in the area of nails and nail art.

This photo was taken on April 10th, 2010 which was about a month before I started my blog. It was my first try at cheetah print and I obviously thought at the time that it was good enough to take a photo of.


Look at the mess around the cuticles! You all know how anal I am about that now so it's really hard for me to look at this photo. And look at the awful shape of my nails! This was long before I really learned how to care for and file my nails properly and the now-certified manicurist in me is horrified by this photo. Furthermore, the photo in general is really awful and I'm so happy that I got better at photographing my nails.

Now let's move to a more recent cheetah print mani:


Ahhhh, much better. Clean cuticles, smooth polish application, my freehand has very clearly improved, the photo is clear and showcases the nails well, and best of all, the shape of my nails is a million percent better.

So there you have it, a look at how everyone has to start out somewhere! As embarrassed as I am to post that photo, I hope it will show some of you guys that if you're not confident with your nail skills right now, with time, effort and practice, you can - and will - improve!

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Hey guys!

Today I have a very exciting post for you! Do you remember the piCture pOlish Blog Fest that I participated in back in July? Well at the end of the Blog Fest, piCture pOlish announced that all of the bloggers who participated would be able to host a giveaway sponsored by piCture pOlish!
It's taken a while for it to be my turn but it's definitely better late than never, so here it is!

The winner of this giveaway will win 3 piCture pOlish shades of their choosing. How awesome is that?! I really loved the shade that I tried (Vegas) and I really want more piCture pOlish shades myself so I'm going to be totally jealous of whoever wins this giveaway!


Keep reading for the review and swatches!

Hey guys!

Today marks the beginning of my Halloween Series! I have a few ideas for this series myself but if any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Fill out the request form in the Nail Art Requests tab at the top of the page to send me your ideas.
Remember though, I did a Halloween Series last year as well and I'd like to not repeat any of those designs.

Today's design was actually something that was suggested to me last year (well, the idea "zombies" was suggested and this is just my interpretation of that idea) but I was never able to get to it, so I thought it would be nice to start out the series with this one.

I really like how this turned out but the self-critic in me thinks that in my efforts to make the flesh look as rotten and dead as possible, I may have made it look too much like a camo print.
Nonetheless, I think the idea still came across pretty well so I hope you all like it!



Products:
OPI Chip Skip
CND Stickey Base Coat
OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window (base)
China Glaze - Westside Warrior (sponged over base)
American Apparel - California Trooper (sponged over base)
Nicole by OPI - Deeply in Love (cuts)
China Glaze - Velvet Bow (outline of cuts to deepen the colour)
Wet 'n' Wild - Black Creme (stitches)
Seche Vite Top Coat

Good afternoon!

Today I have yet another haul for you!

I've been hauling quite a lot of polishes lately and although it's been a lot of fun, I 'm definitely going to need to take a little break during the month of October.


OPI Muppets Collection: Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, Gone Gonzo!, Excuse Moi!, Fresh Frog of Bel Air, Divine Swine, Rainbow Connection


OPI Muppets Collection: Pepe's Purple Passion, Meep-Meep-Meep, Designer... de Better!, Wocka Wocka!, Warm & Fozzie, Animal-istic
More Christmas polishes! I got these before they were even put on the shelves (in fact, they were sold to me in the boxes they were shipped in and I even got the 2 displays with them)!


Revlon Edge Elegance Collection: Innocent, Punk, Aloof, Fierce, Girly, Princess
I have been eyeing this collection at a number of drug stores but I never actually made the step to get them until a few days ago when I noticed the displays starting to disappear. I didn't want to regret not getting them so I picked up the 6 that were left. However, I know I'm missing 2 other shades from this collection so I'm going to try to track those down asap.


Revlon Fall Glitters: Facets of Fuchsia, Blue Mosaic, Starry Pink
I have been seeing these polishes around the blogging community a lot lately and I didn't think they would ever show up here but I spotted them a couple of days ago at a drugstore! I was pretty darn excited!


Nfu-Oh Flakies: 50, 51, 52, 56
Who doesn't love flakies? A couple of weeks ago I caved and bought these and now I want more! SO pretty! If I wasn't about to start my Halloween Nail Art Series, I would definitely try all of these out as full manis.

Look out for swatches of these polishes in the future!

Hey guys!

Any Dexter fans out there? The sixth season premieres tonight and I'm really excited!
I did a Dexter themed nail art design about a year ago but I know that most of you weren't following me at that time so I decided to pull this picture out again to show it to you.

As you can see, my nails were a bit differently shaped and I wasn't as knowledgeable about caring for them/filing them as I am now, but I still really enjoy this mani. I also wasn't as good as taking photos (the background here is my washing machine, haha) so I'm glad to see that that's also improved.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this mani! And enjoy the premiere of Dexter tonight!


Products:
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
China Glaze - White on White (base)
Nicole by OPI - Deeply in Love (letters, blood splatters)
Seche Vite Top Coat