UPDATE: Where have I been??

Hello everyone!!!

Sorry it's been a very long time since I've last posted. I've been super busy with life. Recently I've started 2 new jobs and both are really fun. I'm finally done my undergrad and I've got everything set up for graduation.  Also, I was working on grad school application and I'm proud to say I will be starting grad school in September!

As for now, my summer has officially started! If only the weather would catch up to my schedule! I have big plans to enjoy life, make some money and get shit done! I plan on challenging myself to put up at least half my polish collection for sale. So keep an eye out for that! I'm also going to work on lots of new jewellery pieces. Now that schools done I hope to be able to blog more often =) Also, since it's springtime, I'm going to overhaul my room and get rid of the old to make space for the new =) Wish me luck!

<3 Kim

ps. just got in the China Glaze Hologram collection and I <3 it!

Nail-Venturous Lacquers ~ Man-Maid Dreams

   Now this polish is one of my ALL TIME ABSOLUTE FAVOURITES!!! My very talented friend Amy made it over at I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous. (Also the creator of FLOAM!) This polish is truly magnificent. It may in fact be my FAVOURITE polish! That's saying a lot considering how many I have...

So WHY is it so amazing?? Well its a gorgeous seafoam-teal colour with gold/copper flakes. It shines and reflects light like a foil and it has a hint of shimmer. I have no idea how she made it, but she is a genius! It also applies like a dream!

        

I'm scared of using it up! I've already used like 1/3rd of the bottle... I also love how the lid is a bit different and the label is handwritten. I love this colour so much! It kind of reminds me of mermaids and copper roofs... lol

Isn't it lovely??

<3 Kim

Ombre Suede Swatchsicles and Duochrome Pants!!!

So this is my first official post of the year... Just haven't felt that inspired lately. I've also been super busy with school, applying to schools, work, etc., etc. Well here we go! 

Over winter break I worked on some swatchsicles. Here's a pretty ombre/gradient of some mattes/suedes:

I believe the bottom 4 are Nubars I picked up from Winners, and the top 3 are Pure Ice from the velvet collection that came out in US Walmarts. Suedes are fun because adding top coat to them completely changes the look! They also dry ridiculously fast.

I'm never actually done an Ombre... I should try one one day! Random ramble but I love it when you write a sentence and the same word comes up twice in a row...

Next up: 

I promised you Duochrome pants...

BAM! Found these babies over at H&M! Later that day I also saw someone walking down the street in em.

I love finding interesting clothing items in stores...it's very entertaining =D


Till next time, 
<3 Kim

I Don't Normally Wear Glitter, But When I Do . . . I GlitterBOMB!

Hey guys! I have something fun and exciting to show you today. I decided to do 
New Year's nails! I'm not going out partying of anything, but I am going out to dinner with the family, then having dinner again with the bf's family, Double Dinnering lol! So I'll stop holding you in suspense, here is my last mani of the year! btw, I hate the word mani and I resolve to stop using it in the new year...

ISN'T it AMAZING?!?! I decided to do a glitter gradient. I figured hey, this is probably going to take me like 2 hours to take off, so might as well make it worthwhile!

Today we actually had sun for the first time in about a month. So enjoy this lovely sunlit picture courtesy of Mr. Sun! 

For this look I started of with 2 coats of:

Butter London ~ Lovely Jubbly courtesy of GLYMM (a beauty sample subscription service in Canada). 

This is my first Butter London so that was exciting, and did I mention it was FREE?! I used my glymm points to get it ;) I chose this as my first BL because of pictures Carly from Lacquered Lover posted. Also, how fun is it to say "Lovely Jubbly"!

 Blurry shot so you can appreciate the sparkly↓  

Next up is: Nails Inc. ~ Marylebone, a lovely pink/silver glitter polish from their special effects 3D glitter line. 

I don't have that many Nails Inc. polishes. I tend to buy only the special ones like the Gossip Girl Flakies, Crystal Caps (did I mention I like sparkly things?), magnetics... they are quite pricey here ~$13. I got this one during the Sephora VIB 20% sale. 

I think what puts me off is their names. I believe they use places in London and street names and such to name their polishes, which is cool, but damn hard to remember. How does one even pronounce "Marylebone"? 

Nonetheless they have some interesting collections coming out next year so be sure to keep an eye out for Nails Inc.!

Finally, I coated the tips in 3 coats of: Finger Paints ~ Santa's Magic, my official new favourite glitter as it combines sparkly and holo! By the way, these pictures in no way do these polishes justice. They are just so sparkly! Like blindingly, distractingly, stare at them for hours on end sparkly!

At this point I felt I may have overdone it just a bit... but hey, might as well make it worth it and close the year with a bang right? 

'til next year 
<3 Kim

Ninja Polish Eye Candy and OPI LPAD Suede!

Today I decided to combine Suede and Glitter polishes! I was wearing OPI ~ Lincoln Park After Dark Suede for about a week. It's a great polish to wear if you don't have time to wait for the polish to dry! Then I got my Ninja Polish order in the mail. I had some tip wear so I decided to put some glitter on in a sort of half french, half gradient manner.

 

Eye candy is a beautiful glitter and it really goes well with the suede polish. It's more subdued then your typical glitter polishes, but just as sparkly!

Both OPI~ LPAD Suede and Ninja Polish ~Eye Candy are must haves!

Until next time <3

Ninja Polish and China Glaze Haul!

I've been waiting to get my hands on these Ninjas for a while now!I was lucky and managed to get Girly Floam, Carribean Reef, Hanukkah Floam, Eye Candy, and Shattered Star! I also grabbed my first 2 Jades: Fascinio Violetta and Energy, two lovely holos.


I was also lucky to snag all those China Glaze for $1 each! They are minis, but I love minis! The full bottles 14ml sell for about $7-8 here so $1 ($2 including shipping) for 9.6ml is a pretty wonderful deal! I also got OPI mini of Glow-Ink the Dark. I'd say this haul was a little Christmas present to myself =)

Dotty art just for funsies!

   

So I decided to do some just for funsies nail art on my Color Club Silver Holo... Harp On It? Does anyone else find the names of the Color Club Halo Hues really hard to remember??? 

Anyways lol... I actually found myself bored of the holo YES it's possible, what's wrong with me right? so I added some designs using a dotting tool with Claire's Mood Polish in Excited/Bored. I just received this polish from my amazing friend Marissa, along with many other fun colour changing polishes. It was a fantastic surprise!

The mood polish changes from orange (cold) to peach (hot) but my hands are always ice cold so all you can see is the orange.

I'm curious to see how this mood polish would work stamped over a light colour. It might have a really cool effect, especially with long nails. 

Hope you enjoyed and won't hate on me for covering up a holo =p

Warm Hands & Painted Nails

I joined 2 swap groups for this Christmas season. Here's my first one: 

Warm Hands & Painted Nails

I was paired with a lovely lady from Quebec! I've never met anyone from Quebec before and this happened to be my first domestic swap if you can believe it! Lia was super nice and found me some awesome goodies! For this swap we had to include a pair of gloves/mittens and a bottle of polish, then whatever extras your heart desired. So what are we waiting for?? Let's take a look at what I got!!

The parcel itself was wrapped in gorgeous paper!

Under the wrapping was a gift box filled with all my goodies and a lovely card =)

Awesome tetris packing skills!

All the lovely goodies! I wanted a cute pair of knitted mittens and these will go perfect with my grey jacket. The blue scarf is also of a style I've been admiring but I probably would be too scared to buy it and try it myself lol...there's also some chocolate and candies, make up wipes, nail sticker strips and oh of course we can't forget the polish!!!

Can you believe I don't have any of these?! I'm super excited to try the Jacob and Bizou as these are completely new brands to me. The OPI is also lovely and will be a great addition to my minis army =) I love all these colours, especially the Jacob one! Can't wait to try them.

And since it's always more fun to see both sides of a swap, here's a look at the package I sent her from Vancity =)

And we can't forget a close up of the pretties! She really wanted to try China Glaze and OPI so I did my best to find her some brands she's yet to try =)

I really love doing swaps! It's a great way to get to get to know people better and it's so much fun buying stuff for others! Now I just need to wait one more day to open my SPS swap package! 

Really, that stamp again??

So I was looking through some old pictures that I never ended blogging about because I tend to be lazy and disorganized...and came across this stamping design. I did it way back in August?? It was supposed to be part of my 31 day challenge that I totally failed at... =p Well anyway, I legitimately think I have a problem because out of the maybe 10 times I've actually done stamping designs, I've used this image at least 3 times...

The stamping plate I used once again is BM-315. 

 I believe this is most likely:

 Sally Hansen Insta-Dri ~ Silver Sweep 

over 

OPI DS ~ Signature

Hope you like it as much as I apparently do!

November 2012 Topbox

Here is a look at my first Topbox box! It comes is a paper wrapped cardboard tube. Definitely a different and reusable form of packaging.

Topbox is a beauty sample subscription box available in Canada. You pay $10 a month and receive a package each month with at least 4 deluxe beauty samples (Although starting in December boxes will be $12/month)

I've been on the waiting list for topbox for 6 months! So was this box worth the wait and does it live up to the hype? Read more to find out what I think =)

I received 4 items in by November box. 

A nail polish, a perfume, a mascara and a butter. 

1) Benefit ~ They're Real! Mascara

I really love Benefit products, but unfortunately I can't use non-waterproof mascara. So until I find a way to make it work for me, this will be sitting in a drawer or going to a friend. 

This is a pretty nice sample though. 
Full size = $29/8.5g
Sample size = $10.24/3.0g



2) Cuccio Naturale ~ Pomegranate & Fig Butter

This sample was interesting. When you take the lid off, you need to cut the nozzle to open it. I think there should have been instructions because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be sealed like that...Nice product though. Nice light scent and non-oily.

Full size = $18.95/240g
Sample size = $0.72/9.24g

3) Pandora's Make Up Box ~ Perfume + Polish ($24.50/pair)
These two items were interesting, they are a paired polish and perfume, both in nail polish bottles. I got Citrus Playful, a bright coral red. This is definitely not one of my go-to colours, but I'm glad I can add this to my stash. It's a really pretty colour. The formula was ok, opaque in 1 coat but I did 2 for good measure. There was a bit of streaking and pulling when I applied top coat, but the polish was pretty decent. 

The perfume has a light citrusy scent that's not bad at all. It's a neat idea having it in a nail polish bottle, definitely something different. I don't know if I would value this set at $24.50 though. 

I thought this box was ok. The benefit product was great, but unfortunately something I can't use. The butter was nice, but not even worth $1. The polish + perfume set was cool and a fun addition to my collection. I know some people got China Glaze polishes which would have also been cool. I'm glad I didn't get the Vera Wang perfume sample as I already have it. I do wish I had received the MUFE eyeliner though, or the lip stain some people got. Overall I was content with the box. Hoping for nice things next month!

Topbox is changing their prices from $10/month to $12/month as an attempt to provide better samples and also provide free shipping on their newly launched online store. Personally I think they should have kept the boxes at $10 and charge people shipping for buying extra items, but obviously it helps their business to give the discount to people spending extra money at their store. Hopefully this price increase does translate to better samples =)

Are you interested in joining? Sign up now to reserve your spot on the wait list.
Already signed up? What did you get in your box this month? Thoughts?