Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

I could not be pushing the deadline for this manicure any further. To be honest, I completely forgot about this contest until tonight... apologies to any readers who are just finding out now but do not have time to complete a manicure themselves.

Effie over at Paper Thin Nails is hosing a nail art contest for a chance to win the full set of Models Own Beetlejuice Collection! :D    So of course the rules of this contest were to create a Beetlejuice inspired manicure using polishes only... it also had to be a new manicure (and believe me it is.. I finished it about 20 minutes ago).

So without further ado (and because I want to get to bed) I give you my contest entry...

It has been a long time since I did a really intricate freehand design and boy am I proud of this one! :D The very thin black lines outlining his face were done after the rest and they were tricky!

Below you can see a picture before top coat and how thick all the polish was :P   Clearly this is also before cuticle oil..
Tid-bit of info about me: I always start with the most difficult nail first and work my way to the other ones. It helps me keep my sanity, if the first nail doesn't work out I don't have to scrap an entire mani.

I used a fair number of polishes, you can see them all below, if you would like to know a specific color just ask in the comments.. I also forgot to include the white (it was China Glaze).

Wish me luck in the contest!! :D Since it is US only I asked ahead of time that if I were so lucky to win could I send it to a US address, Effie said that wouldn't be a problem. Just in case anyone was worried.

Glequin Week Day 7 (It's my Birthday!!)

All week I have been showing off my new glequins to all of you lovely readers... building up to today. The final day of glequin week... and MY BIRTHDAY!! :D

I have been stuffing my face with cake ever since the weekend and have just now officially changed my profile (on the sidebar) to state that I am no longer 21, but a 22-year-old addicted to nail polish/art :P

And what better way to celebrate my birthday than with a scorpio and animal print manicure, featuring glequins of course!

I used China Glaze Pelican Gray, Jordana Black, and stamped with BM-223 (zebra), Mash-34 (Scorpio M), Mash-35 (scorpion), and Mash-40 (leopard).

Although this manicure isn't full of many colors, it is very "me". I can't really explain it but it just suits me.

Sadly, that is all for glequin week... but this will not be the last you see of these gorgeous hexagonal glitters on my blog. If you want to recap all of the manicures from this week at any time you can check them out under "nail art challenges" at the top of the page.

Lastly, if you wanted to pick up some of these super cute glitters yourself, or other nail art supplies, check out www.bornprettystore.com and don't forget you get 10% off with my code RTL91

Glequin Week Day 6

I have a really quick manicure to post tonight, I'm running behind schedule again. This is day 6 of glequin week.. only one day left (and tomorrow is a real treat!)

I used Jordana Boy oh Boy (turquoise), Smooth Blue, and Gemstones (glitter) for this manicure and added blue and turquoise glequins :)   To be honest, this one is my least favourite of glequin week, but I didn't get around to doing an extra manicure to post instead so I decided to share it anyway.

And.. stay tuned for the last day of glequin week tomorrow.. it's a really special day! ;) 

As I have been promoting all week, you can pick up your own 12-pack of glequins at www.bornprettystore.com and receive a 10% discount with my code RTL91.

Glequin Week Day 5

As promised and just before midnight.. I give you day 5 of glequin week.

I've been feeling a little winter-y lately, even though the grass is still green here :(   So this manicure reminds me a little bit of snow and reflects my chilly mood.

The base is Jordana White (I have a haul post coming up that will include A LOT of Jordana's if you've been following my twitter/intagram). The glitter is Jordana Silver Glitter. I stamped with konad special silver stamping polish and BM-322... then placed the navy blue glequins accordingly.

Although the grass is green, the temperatures are dropping fast and the cold weather always has a noticeable impact on my skin and hair.. dry cuticles, lips and damaged hair are just a few of the unfortunate side-effects. Do any of you change products in the winter to make up for the extra dry-ness?? If so please comment below, I'd love any tips you might have..

I hope you like today's manicure, I may add a photo or replace one when I can take a few pictures in the sunlight tomorrow morning. It gets dark so early here now I'm often photographing under artificial light.

Anyways, stay tuned for more of glequin week! :)

AND right now you can pick up this set of 12 glitter containers for $5.35 (14% off!) and get an additional 10% if you use my discount code RTL91

Glequin Week Day 4

Sorry that this post is going up late. I started it sometime yesterday and then got distracted and completely forgot, I was out with friends last night and suddenly realized that I didn't post it lol.

Today I have a manicure that I did for my roommate last week, as soon as the glequins came in the mail :) I usually do her nails every couple of weeks when I have some spare time.

This manicure features Cult Nails Iconic! (Everytime I use this shade I remember how much I love it)
I stamped with Konad Silver stamping polish and BM-310 and then placed the glequins over each of the little "flowers" on the stamp.

Later tonight I will have a manicure of my own for Day 5 :) 

Don't forget, if you wanted to pick up some glequins of your own you can check them out at www.bornprettystore.com and receive 10% off with my coupon code RTL91.

Glequin Week Day 3

Right about now I am studying (cramming) like crazy for a midterm tomorrow morning at 10am. So this will be short and sweet.

I hope you are all enjoying glequin week... I've had a few ups and downs.. one manicure I did last night was a complete failure in my opinion. I might include a post at the end of the week that features my failures (like a blooper reel). However, this one I have for you today is my favourite thus far!

 I only have two photos to show you today because the glequins kept reflecting light and it was hard to get a photo where you could see the spiral clearly.

I used China Glaze Liquid Leather as my base and then while the ring finger was still tacky I placed all of the glequins, starting in the center and working my way out. There were a few casualties but all in all it was a quick, simple, and might I add gorgeous manicure :)

Although orange, this is a fairly clear picture of the silver vs. blue glequins in the spiral design :)

With christmas just around the corner, I think this design would be adorable with red and green!

Pick up your glequins today at www.bornprettystore.com &

Stay tuned for more glequin fun tomorrow!! 

Glequin Week Day 2

I'm so pleased my inspiration seems to have returned... as I'm writing this post several ideas for more glequin manicures are going through my head... along with some ideas for December ;)  So stay tuned...


As for today.. I have for you day 2 of glequin week... also featuring a new-to-me polish.

This lovely purple is Sinful Colors Let's Talk... which is VERY camera shy.. in some light it photographs a deep purple, in others it looks completely blue. The one above is the closest I could get to color accuracy. I LOVE this shade.

The glequins are silver (center of flowers) and pale purple, unfortunately they look too similar in photos to see the difference.

The glitter accent nail features Sinful Colors Frenzie.

Here you can see just how difficult it is to accurately photograph this shade: Both are indoor photos, the left is warm lighting, the right is fluorescent.

Again the 12-pack of glequins retails for $6.45 at www.bornprettystore.com and you can get 10% off with my discount code (which you can find on the right hand side of my blog).

Stay tuned for more glequin manicures to come! :D

Review: Born Pretty Store Hexagonal Glitter (and Glequin week!)

Glequins (as dubbed by Sammy @ The Nailasaurus): are small hexagonal glitter pieces that can be used to create an infinite number of gorgeous manicures.

They have been on my wishlist for quite some time now, but I was avoiding all online shops in an effort to save money. When Born Pretty Store contacted me for review I knew the exact product I wanted to try!

12-pack multi-colored hexagonal glitter (or Glequins!)

To start I have a few tips & tricks for how to apply the glitter:

You can apply the glitter straight to a wet base color, or you can use a clear polish or non fast dry top coat. 

The glitter picks up easily with an orange stick (some people dip the end of the stick in clear polish, I tend to dab it on the tip of my tongue, does the trick just fine).

Here you can see how I pour the glitter into the small cap and pick the pieces up from there. I thought the glitter would be messy but it was really easy to use. The individual containers are fabulous!  

Continuing with inspiration from Sammy, I wanted to recreate one of her glequin designs. I just wanted to incorporate as many different colors out of the 12 as I could:

The black polish is China Glaze Liquid Leather. I created the half moons with hole punch reinforcers and then stuck the glequins onto the black polish and topped it off with seche vite.

The 12 pack of hexagonal glitter retails for $6.45 and can be found HERE. The Born Pretty Store has tons of nail art supplies (even stamping plates) for super cheap, with free shipping!

AND... don't forget you can get 10% off if you use my coupon code:

Let me add that these Glequins were worth the wait! So much so that I have decided to do a Glequin themed week! Starting today you will be treated to a new Glequin manicure every day for 7 days... because I just freakin' love these!

Two Bottles o' Polish.. Infinite Possibilities

Nailed It is hosting an awesome nail art contest... and you have until friday at noon (MST) to enter!

The rules are simple... participants can only use 2 bottles of polish (note: not limited to two colors) to create a manicure. The polishes must be named in the post. Aside from that stamping, rhinestones, decals and other decorations are also off limits.

So here's what I came up with:

The base is Essie Bikini so Teeny. The darkest stripes were freehanded using NYX Ink and the medium stripes were a mixture of the two polishes!

I really enjoyed this design you may see it again :)