Posts Tagged ‘Essie’
Manicure Monday: White Hot
White is 2013′s favourite neutral. Come spring/summer black on black is now white on white and that goes for everything, even polish. I initially thought Essie’s stark white polish, Blanc, was too white. But here’s what I’ve learned, at first you will find it tacky and white-out-like, without a doubt. Give it a chance — a day — and soon it will also be your favourite neutral nail colour. Not to mention the fact that it compliments your soon to be tan bod and a boy complimented me on my manicure, which must mean something.
Styled: Coachella pt. 2
What is Coachella without florals? Nothing, but really what is life without florals – moving forward we should consider all floral and leopard print a neutral. It’s all about the prints on prints (on prints), don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Manicure Monday: Down by the Bay
There’s no better way to celebrate summer than with a big ol’ slice of melon. I could eat watermelon all day until the seeds I’ve ingested begin to sprout and take over my body and this blog. But really, the best thing about summer is to make use of your brights. Don’t be afraid to mix and match summer hues, and update the classic French manicure.
To create a watermelon design, choose a medium pink for the base, like Essie Secret Story. Once the base colour is completely dry, place on French manicure strips and paint your tip colour on. For best results, with the most straight edges, I find it best to remove the strips immediately after applying the polish. I alternated using Zoya Arizona and Wednesday (used for watermelon rind).
Create the watermelon seeds using a toothpick dipped in black polish — alternate the size of the dots by blotting the toothpick on a piece of paper.
Manicure Monday: Marble
It’s important to me to keep my manicures simple. Since I paint my nails around twice a week the simpler and quicker the nail art design, the better. Efficiency is key in my life — why waste hours on your nails if you’ll just be disappointed when they start to chip 5 to 7 days later (only with Sèche Vite top coat of course!).
The marble mani will take you 10 to 15 minutes, and it’s a great design choice to fix up your week old manicure that has started to chip. This week I’ve been wearing Essie Splash of Grenadine — I have been searching for the perfect purple, and this one looks great and even better with the tan I acquired last weekend. Keep your favourite polish alive for a few days longer with this design.
You’ll need: two complementing lacquers & plastic wrap. Cut the plastic wrap into ten small squares and scrunch them up a little bit. If your nails are not already painted, choose a base colour and let it dry completely. Next, paint your second polish on top (I chose OPI Fly) and quickly blot your nail with plastic wrap a few times to remove the top colour, revealing the original base. You don’t want the top polish to dry so work one finger at a time.
If you think you have removed too much of the top colour, simply paint on your second polish where needed and blot again.
Manicure Monday: Ombre Watercolour
I seem to have collected a pile of “must to do manicure” photos, and this one was somewhere near the top of the pile. Found on Lauren Conrad & Co.’s beauty blog, this is an easy ombre style that uses a makeup sponge to apply the polish.
To ensure you have even distribution of the colours, choose polishes with a thicker consistency (one that would typically only need one coat). Because I did not listen to my future self’s advice (see one sentence above), I used China Glaze in Secret Peri-wink-le as a base since the lacquers were inconsistent. Before applying the lacquer to the makeup sponge, soak the sponge in water, and squeeze out about 80% of the water from sponge. Next, apply the colours from darkest to lightest, or vice versa, to the sponge, applying two coats of each colour and then blotting the excess off on a piece of paper. Apply to nail with the end of the sponge meeting the tip of your nail. Unless you put tape around your nail to protect your skin, use a Q-Tip soaked in polish remove to clean up your fingers.
Colours I used (starting at the tips): Essie in Midnight Cami, Crush in Indigo, China Glaze in Secret Peri-wink-le, Saint Germain in Seafoam.
Manicure Monday: Egg Hunt
This Easter Sunday, (Happy Easter Monday!) I opted for painting polka-dotted nails instead of eggs. Quite frankly, I don’t have the patience to poke a pin hole through the shell, remove the yolk and white from the egg, and decorate the shell ornately, attempting to compete with my 6-year-old creative self. I also own an approximate ratio of 1:28 of acrylic paint to nail polish, so the odds were in my fingertips’ favour.
For this simple design I alternated using (from thumb to pinkie) Saint Germain in Sea Green, Zoya in Wednesday, Zoya in Shelby, Essie in Action, and Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect in Sorbet. To dot nails, use the tip of a toothpick — I used Essie in Blanc to create the polka dots.
Overall, I think this weekend was well deserved, and I spent most of it relaxing. With my parents and friends visiting Toronto for the weekend, dinners at my sister’s new apartment were assumed and slumber parties were necessary for BFF catch up. How did you all spend your long weekend?
Manicure Monday: Essie Neon
Essie’s Neon collection is made up of a few different pink/orange shades, that are perfect for summer. The brand supplies a white polish in the line to act as a base and to help each colour pop. Because the lacquers are very translucent, each colour appears differently when used with the white and on its own. I used the White base with Action and Bazooka, to create a striped look that I now realized, because of the orange tendencies, quite resembles candy corn.
To create the lines I used a Kiss Nail Art Paint, that provides a thin brush. If you have a shaky hand (like me) I might recommend trying out nail tape, that is thin and rolls on easily.
Styled: Blue & Green
Blue and green should never be seen unless they’re in the washing machine. This saying used to scare me back in grade 8, always wondering if jeans were considered blue and whether or not I should risk wearing a green top with denim. Oh the juvenile things you’ll believe. Even if that were true, isn’t it much more fun living your life by doing what others don’t?
These bold primary colours perfectly suit one another. If they are placed beside eachother in a rainbow they can’t not look good together, right? In my love for ankle boots, please examine below — Opening Ceremony has designed a perfect suede booty, and the curved heel is what makes the Western style just kill it.
- BaubleBar, Atari Glam Cuff – $36
- StyleMint, Venice – $29.99
- Opening Ceremony, Coachella Suede Ankle Boot – $489
- Nobody, Skinny Jean -$285
- Essie in Pretty Edgy and Mezmerised
- Marc by Marc Jacobs, Top Handle Satchel – $698
