Geometric ultra-chrome flakie and right angle madness

Further to my swatches of new ILNP ultra-chrome flakies and subsequent flakie porno, I went to town and you could say I had more than a few flakie-gasms. Here's some eye-blinding in-your-face-shiny and colourful nail art that is perfect for new year's eve celebrations, or if you're like me then obnoxious nails any time of the year! I used right angle nail vinyls along with 6 of ILNP's new ultra-chrome flakie polishes to create this eyeball stimulating look, which actually kind of speaks sparkling garbage hooker, but I love it so, that's a good thing.

 

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ILNP Ultra-Chrome Flakies: Not for the faint-hearted

OH MAH GAWD it's a miracle. There is such a thing as ultra-chrome aka multi-chrome flakies and they are going to get you drooling in all the colours of the rainbow. These new ultra-chrome flakies from ILNP are 100% opaque in a clear jelly base, can colour shift beyond imagination, and remove like regular nail polish! I've got the first 6 of a 13-piece collection to showcase for you today, let's get drooling!

Nude-toned edgy holo reciprocal-V gradient

Here's an edgy but simple enough look I did in early November and I think it'd be perfectly suited for New Year's nails! Striking, simple and holo - all necessary to ring in the new year! This reciprocal gradient (see my Gradient Guide for more on terminology and variations) was inspired by Mélanie of iparallaxe's silver and black holo version, who was inspired by @supinaileuse on Instagram. Mélanie is an amazing French blogger and her photography - especially holo photography - is just to die for.

I used two new Colors by Llarowe polishes to me that I've lusted over for a long time now, Blonde Ambition and Final Fantasy. Together they could be Final Ambition? Blonde Fantasy? Whoa, okay. Nevermind.

 

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Christmas throwback: Candy cane nails

So I'm on vacation right now in Florida and yes I'll be slacking on my posts cause the sun here is this magical thing I rarely get to see living in Canada. I also broke my middle nail a few weeks ago so I've had to slow down my reserve stash posts in order to catch up to myself once I can resume doing nail arts and swatches. Expect shorter nails when that happen though! In honor of this, here's a throwback to last year around this time when I had shorter nails (but also just less taken-care-of nails, worse photography, clean-up, etc.)! For what I've done in the past year to bring my nails to their usual better condition you're used to seeing on my blog, check out my Nail Care page.

Abstract dark Christmas chevron nails

'Cause who takes holiday nail art literally? I love me some dark moody nails, and I got these two new Orly polishes from Tracey of @missbellatracey on Instagram the other month so why not dress them up in some simple nail art. I'm basically just posting this as 'Christmas nail art' cause its close in colour to Christmas, but I actually haven't had time to do real Christmas manis cause my stupid nail broke, soooo yeah, let's just pretend I actually intended to have these nails be specifically for Christmas. Mmhmmm.

 

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Bestie twin nails: Colourful ikat chevron

Fun freehand nail art today! I never do many freehand nails, so today is a much needed break from my usual order of gradients, nail vinyls, and striping tape (check out my Gradient Guide for more on that!). I teamed up with Nia of @trendynailzofficial on Instagram and we were inspired by this very retro-feel ikat chevron (is that what this is called anyway?) pattern Nia found while browsing the net. Pretty neat indeed and super colourful!

 

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Holo Christmas Jellies from Beyond the Nail

It's holo jelly time - Christmas style - with Beyond the Nail! You may recall I swatched their summer galaxy collection a couple months back. The two polishes I have to show off today are the same in formula - a linear holo jelly that go on sheer and can be built up to full opacity in 2-3 coats! Below are 2 of the 10 polishes in Beyond the Nail's Christmas collection. On my accent nail I've re-created a cross-hatch plus gradient look I did a while back - it uses the 'lead-lighting' technique by layering colourful holo jelly polishes over a pattern of white and black I made with striping tape.

 

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Winter snow glitters over blue to white gradient

Winter snow glitter nails I did an entire 2 months ago cause September snow, yeah! I totally just whipped these up for my weekly nail art challenge 'snow' themed post, right! I'm holding a custom bottle of white iridescent glitter polish (look at that shift!) by my friend Tracey aka @missbellatracey on Instagram. I first showcased these multi-faceted babies in swatch form here.

 

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Shit Nail Artists Say: A whole new meaning for 'nail collab'

How many times do you get strange looks from others (think significant other, relatives, friends, co-workers) when you comment on how beautiful the holo on your nails is? What about when you basically have a funeral for your broken nail? When you blab on about bestie twin nails and mani swaps? Or squishy jellies and almond shapes? People think we're weird. We accept it. But we also have to admit we are kind of ridiculous. 

This unique nail collab involves no actual nail painting *shocker* and puts our strange behaviours into context by showcasing 12 of your favourite active online nail artists making fun of the things we all say and do. It's Shit Nail Artists Say (aka SNAS), that's what it is!!

Read more below for the full story behind this production!

Geometric square colour-blocking easy nail art

Some random modern-ish nail tip colour-blocking thing going on here! I made this using a white polish plus new polishes from Color Club's Made in New York and Seven Deadly Sins collection. Some of these are now available from Live Love Polish, a new online polish retailer (great for those in Canada and the US but they also ship internationally!). I used striping tape to mark off the 'grid' sections, and filled in some of the squares, then removed the tape. Super easy and great in any colour combo!

 

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Painted Polish releases four new holo glitters

More holo glitters brewing in the Painted Polish sparkly lair!! Check out these new brilliant babies the indie shop has added to their main line of 'under the holo influence' holo glitters. You can see my first round of swatches of the first of 'drunk on holo' phenomenon here, and some newer releases including - my faves - teal and a radiant orchid coloured holo glitter swatches here! As of right now, there's a total of 19 different holo glitters sold in the Painted Polish shop (and I have, erm, all of them... I don't have a problem).

Glam Polish: Holos from the December 2014 collection

Winter is here to stay! For most of the year! Well for me anyways, being in Canada and all, summer is like the shortest season ever to actually see the sidewalks. Whatever, new seasons mean new nail polish collections to me, so there's that. Especially holo ones like Glam Polish's limited edition Mid-Winters Dream Collection, inspired by icy winter at its finest! This December 2014 collection boasts whimsical holo-day hues galore. I've got 5 of the 9 total polishes in the collection here for review. The whole collection will be available for purchase on December 4th directly from Glam Polish (based in Australia), or one of their international stockists. If you're in Canada or the US be sure to check Harlow & Co.'s website first, they will be stocking them soon!

 

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Badass black, holo and flakie colour-block triplet nails

Kristin from Lacquerstyle + Tracey of @missbellatracey on Instagram + me = epic edgy bad ass colour-block nails for the final weekly nail art challenge of November! The theme is metallic and the prompt is colour-block, check out what we came up with! Not to mention we used all Joe Fresh nail polishes, a Canadian brand which stocks its polish smack in the middle of a massive grocery store retailer in Canada, Loblaws! If if were not for its massive nail polish selection, I would refuse to go grocery shopping.

 

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Neon rainbow reciprocal scaled gradient

I'm back to my old ways with this mind-bending gradient business! I've been doing a lot of holo glitter looks these days, partially because I'm on a glitter kick and partially because I've been given a lot of glitter and holo polishes recently. If you're not already a nail blogger of sorts then you may not know that when polishes are provided to you, you must make use of them as agreed upon so the generous companies who provided them get the product showcasing their unique creations deserve. But now back to what one of my favourite things to do ever is, come up with crazy gradient designs, notably the scaled gradient and the reciprocal gradient! Check out my Gradient Guide for more on these concepts.

 

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It's a warm glittery Christmas with FUN Lacquer

I have an epic Christmas 2014 collection for your viewing pleasure today, brought to you by the one and only FUN Lacquer! The best part is that not only is this 8-piece rich and oh-so-unique Christmas collection available directly from FUN Lacquer (shipping out of Singapore), but they are newly stocked out of Live Love Polish, a US-based nail polish shop that ships out internationally as well! Exciting news for the indie polish addict in all of us.

 

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Insane holo glitter scaled gradient

I've combined two of the things I love most: holo glitter and elaborate gradients, notably the scaled gradient, and now I've officially gone insane. I've used three FUN Lacquer polishes from their 1st anniversary collection, some of which are newly available from Live Love Polish, a new nail polish retailer that features core must-have brands like China Glaze and Color Club, but now they're carrying an increasing number of brands like FUN Lacquer!! Very exciting news for you, but not for your significant other.

 

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Abstract one-stroke nails with loose glitters

~Le français suit~

I'll admit I have no idea what I was trying to achieve with this one. I can't paint a flower to save my life, and so this 'one-stroke' mani is anything but the traditional one-stroke floral beauties you see on nail accounts like Tartofraises or Lucy's Stash. In any case, I was trying out a couple of new brushes I got from Winstonia store, the 'something blue' 15 piece nail art brush kit. A couple of the brushes are flat and therefore suited for one-stroke, so let's just call this a very beginner's take on what you can do with these brushes when it comes to one-stroke :)

 

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Textured fishtail braid nails

Wow, it's not holo glitter?! Nope, but still kinda sparkly, so s'all good. Today's nail art features three of the new Color Club textured polishes from the Seven Deadly Sins collection. I posted a couple others and some macro brush shots of the entire collection here, and today I have a particularly dark but nonetheless edgy look for you!

 

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Glam Polish: Four new rich holo glitters to drool over

It appears as if the holo glitter army has taken posession of my blog, but I'm okay with it.

Today I've got four new holo glitter polishes from Glam Polish to show off, all from the Broadway collection, available now from Glam Polish or one of their international stockists! They should also be available soon from Harlow & Co. for my fellow North American (US & Canada) friends! Glam Polish is a new brand to me, and I'm loving their multi-faceted formulas! Check it out!

It's holo glitter time with Painted Polish again

Cause you all know how much I love my holo glitter!! (Exhibit A and Exhibit B for Painted Polish, see also Exhibit C.) Lexi of Painted Polish sent me these glittery babies and although most of them are core stock and not collectively a 'collection', any excuse to do up some holo glitter swatches with a twist is good enough for me. Cause after all, I do suffer from HGDD (Holo Glitter Dissociation Disorder) and so when I see the shiny things in life it's pretty much impossible to bring me down to earth/reality. People keep trying though.

 

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Abstract starburst rainbow foil nail art

~Le français suit~

I'm a first timer! First time nail foiler that is, if that's such a verb - I don't know. I was going for an abstract look for a metallic-themed weekly nail art challenge I'm co-hosting on instagram with talented nail artists Kristin of Lacquerstyle and Tracey of @missbellatracey, and 'abstract' was the prompt for this week. I got this awesome rainbow nail foil and foil glue from nail art shop Née Jolie, but having never foiled before I kept things simple and stuck to a single-coloured deep burgundy creme base accented with the metallic rainbow goodness. Me likey the foilies!

 

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Edgy purple and black holo fishnet gradient combo

Nails can be sexy too okay. This mani is ready for a scandalous night on the town... either that or I couldn't decide between a reciprocal gradient or basic gradient with black overlay. Nail blogger problems, I suppose, but at least my nails are sexy. Featuring three glorious A England polishes - a very unique blend they are, their holos are more subtle but have oh so much depth - and fishnet nail shields from Love, Angeline.

 

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Halloween nails throwback: Sea-foam sponging clouds and creepy silhouettes

Throwback! To May of this year (2014) when I did these Halloween nails with summer just around the corner and I was all like I don't even know what Halloween means at this time of year. I did them for an issue of Nail It Magazine, and turns out they were included, woohoo! Evidently these nails are wayyyy different from nails now, so much so that they don't even look like my nails. Visit my Nail Care page to see what I've done in the past half-year or so that has completely changed my nail length and durability!

Epic nail goodies giveaway on Instagram!

I reached 124,954 followers on Instagram the other day (what does the number matter anyway, am I right?) and so I thought it was time for a giveaway! An epic one at that, sponsored by four awesome nail companies, all of whose products I use and LOVE!

Enter my giveaway on Instagram!

Glowing Halloween cat nails

~ Le français suit ~

Apparently today is National Cat Day, and Halloween is in a couple days, so here's some Halloween cat nails 'cause I totally just whipped these up today. In any case I'd also like to introduce you to a French nail art company, Née Jolie. They were kind enough to send me some items for review and obviously I picked some super sweet cat decals! Née Jolie has an extensive selection of nail art supplies and they ship internationally. You can use my code SIMX10 for 10% off your order! As I live in Canada, I have many francophone ladies following my nail arts and so that explains why I've teamed up with a French nail company as well as why I'm translating this post in French (not good French, but still French).

 

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Fall-toned holo reciprocal X round gradient

... title is a mouthfull, once again. Meghan of Will Paint Nails for Food featured some fall nail arts on her blog today, and I'm happy to say she thought mine was worth including! Meghan is known for her detailed nail arts (and she actually paints her nails unlike me who just tends to blend colours all over the place), so be sure to go check her out! My submission was maybe a bit of a stretch from fall-inspired, but I got the colour scheme right cause I used three new holos from ILNP's fall collection, so, yeah.

 

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Holo and creme intricate reciprocal gradient with striping tape

Gradient + holo + striping tape = meeeee! I had some fun with this one, that's for sure. Thanks to Live Love Polish, a new online polish retailer, I got to try out one of the infamous Color Club holographic hues (Kismet) along with a teal China Glaze creme I've been lusting over (Shower Together - what a name btw). 

 

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Fall-toned asymmetrical colour-blocking with matte textured glitters

Colour-block cause why not! A simple asymmetrical colour-block featuring three new polishes from Colour Club's Made in New York and Seven Deadly Sins Fall 2014 collections. These three colours just go so well together and are fresh and fit for this fall weather we're having over here in Canada. Although with our luck, it will be snowing next week and I'll be reaching for deep blues and iridescent white flakies. Enjoy fall manis while they last!

 

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Copper tweed nails with black chevron accents

'Cause why not! Actually because Nail It! magazine put out a call for tweed nail art recently, so I gave it a go and was inspired by Karen of @sharingvu on Instagram's take on it with random black accents over the tweed. Here goes!

 

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