Monday, March 30, 2015

Four Seasons Owls

Happy Monday! Today I have four adorable owls on my nails, each representing a season. I just finished an owl amigurumi yesterday, that's probably why I still have owls on my mind. I know there are people who obsessed with everything owl, if that's you, I hope you like this mani! :)

I used around 20 different shades for this mani, and silly me, I've put them all back in the drawers and forgot to write down all the names. Doh! The 2 bottles I'm holding in my pics here are OPI My Vampire is Buff and Zoya Micky. I used a bunch of shades from OPI, Zoya, and Picture Polish.


Did you notice anything missing? I've only realized it as I'm writing this post that I forgot to give them feet! Poor owls, forgive me.. Lol!

XO
Novi

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Color Burst Stamping With Born Pretty Plate BP-11

Hi guys! Today I did another colorful mani, using all piCture pOlish shades and stamped with Born Pretty Plate BP-11. The plate was sent to me for review, and I love all the large images they have on that plate, you can see it in one of the picture below or find it in this link (don't forget you can use my coupon code NVG10 to get 10% off).

The base for my stamping is a sponged mani with these following shades, Sizzle, Cyan, Paris, Whimsy, Forget Me Not, Honeymoon. I used Color Club Beyond to stamp the image I chose from this plate. I really adore the finished look, but oh my gosh.. clean up was hell! Even with the glue I used to protect around my nails, it still took a lot of time to clean up the rest. I have curved nails and deep sides, the tiny silver flakes (which all of these polishes have) were so stubborn to remove. Ok, enough rant! Lol!


And here's the sponged mani before stamping, isn't it lovely?


XO
Novi

Monday, March 23, 2015

Spring Wavy & Floral

Spring is here, and I'm so happy to be wearing bright pastel shades again! Even though the weather is so gloomy today, but at least I'm not dealing with layers of snow. Always a silver lining :) 
I consider today's mani is a 75% success, cause I kinda hate the leadlighting I did over the stamping, but I love everything else. 

My background is a gradient using OPI Where Did Suzi Man-Go?, China Glaze Feel The Breeze, and China Glaze Metro Pollen-Tin, topped with INM Northern Lights. I use Beyond The Nail wavy vinyls on my middle and ring nail (love it!)
The floral stamping is from MoYou Pro 15. I definitely could've done something better with that. But I'm just gonna leave these for now.

Have you ever done a mani that you love and hate at the same time? Did you redo them? 

XO
Novi

Friday, March 20, 2015

Pastel Gradient Blobbicure

Are you ready for the weekend? I sure do! And for my weekend mani I decided to try this new popular technique, a blobbicure. Basically, you just randomly placed a blob of polish over a wet polished nail. It's that easy. Just make sure to brush off half the liquid on the brush so you don't end up with a blob big enough to cover half your nail, yup that happened..

For my base colour I used Cirque Hudson, and 3 China Glaze pastel shades for the blobs, Feel The Breeze, Sun Upon My Skin, and Be More Pacific. Sealed with HK Girl top coat once they all dried. 


Isn't this a perfect palette for first day of spring mani?  I really love the pastels over Cirque Hudson <3

Have a fabulous weekend!
XO
Novi

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Glam Polish In Summer

Happy hump day! Today I decided to knock out another untried from my list. It's a good thing to have a long list of untried when you're in a long no-buy like me, I can still shop around in my own stash and find something that I forgot I had. 

In Summer is a super cute white crelly with a mix of glitter colours that's perfect for spring. I used 3 thin coats, but you'd get full coverage in just 2 coats. I really love this, I don't even want to cover it up with any nail art! For now..
glam-polish-in-summer

glam-polish-in-summer

glam-polish-in-summer

Looking at my nails. I imagine Olaf singing and dancing in a field of flowers..in summer :-D now I'm gonna go and watch Frozen again, for the umpteenth time..

XO
Novi

Monday, March 16, 2015

St. Patrick's Day Nails

After taking a long weekend break from my blog, which was unplanned.. I had a nail art post planned out, that I've been wanted to do. Like a series type of post. But just as I sat down and about to start painting, I realized that I'm running really really low on thinner. I use thinner to clean my brush during and after painting. It keeps my brush in a good condition than when using acetone. 
And today I'm back with a St. Patrick's Day mani! I didn't do anything too fancy, just a skitlelette and a mix of stamping, gradient, and some quick free hand.

I did a vertical gradient on 2 nails with OPI Christmas Gone Plaid, Zoya Josie, and Picture Polish Tiffany, then painted stack of gold on the tips with OPI Goldeneye and L.A.M.B. 
On my ring finger, I wear Girly Bits Selfie Bomb, stamped with a four leaf clover image from BM-H05 (Thanks Nail Polish Canada!). Free hand vertical rainbow stripes on my pinkie with gold frame. 
My favorite I think is my thumb. I use Glam Polish Elixir, and painted four leaf clover design using Winstonia Kolinsky brush #0000 and OPI Christmas Gone Plaid. 


What's your favorite greens to wear on St. Patrick'd Day? I posted mine on instagram :)

XO
Novi

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate Review - BP-L 004

Hi guys! Today I have another stamping plate review from Born Pretty Store. I created a stamping decal using one of the designs from plate BP-L 004, which you can find in this link, and you can use my code NVG10 to take 10% off your purchase.

I cannot say this for every single design on this plate, since I haven't tried them all. But the one I used picked up really easy. I used Mundo de Unas Black and Konad stamper. 
The plate has 21 designs, on a rectangular plate with a pink plastic backing and paper sleeve. 
The plate measurement is 12cmx6cm. The plastic backing add 1cm to the total measurement, 13cmx7cm. The design size is 1,5cmx1,7cm. The width is more than enough to fit my nails, even the thumb. The height is just enough for my current length, and a bit short to fit my thumb. 
I used the design on the top row, far right. 
I used more than a dozen polishes for this decals, I started with 7 polishes and find myself going back and forth to my melmer for more polish. I added half moon design after I put on the decals, wanted to use glitter instead of dots around the moon but couldn't find anything I like for it. 
Here's a list of polishes I used, by brands:
A England: Encore Margot, GLoriana, Fotheringhay Castle
Glam Polish: Fantasies Come True, Whirlwind, Polar Lights, Below Zero
Girly Bits: Our Lips are Sealed, Selfie Bomb, Mint-al Precision.
OPI: My Signature is DC
Picture Polish: Monroe, Tail Feather, Whimsy, Cyan, Kryptonite, Forget Me Not


I'm really loving this mani. So colorful and sparkly! My kind of nails :)

**Stamping plate was sent for my honest review

XO
Novi

Monday, March 9, 2015

Despicable Me Nail Art

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I'm sure when you saw the post title, it's obvious that you'll be seeing cute little minions on my nails. That's correct! But I also wanted to include Gru in it. I watched (half of) Despicable Me 2 on Netflix this weekend, and he was so adorable and sweet dressing as a fairy for Agnes' birthday. 
I have seen a lot of great minions manicures, but I don't think I've seen Gru in any of them, but I could be wrong. Anyhow, here's Gru with his minions.


This is my first time painting a face, it's not easy to get the shading right (even though it's just a cartoon face). I used Zoya Chantal, OPI Dulce de Leche, and OPI Bubble Bath for Gru's face. His striped scarf is using KBShimmer Eclipse and Julep Meryl, the same goes for my thumb and pinkie. 
Minions and the bananas are painted with OPI Good Grief! The green apron and orange wig are OPI You Are So Outta Lime! and OPI Call Me Gwen-ever, and OPI Dining Al Frisco is on the other minion. All the white is with Cirque Carpe Diem. Everything is sealed with HK Girl top coat.



XO
Novi

Friday, March 6, 2015

Lucky Stripes

Ok, so it's not really 'lucky'. I call it that because yesterday I had this thought that I need to wear a lucky polish for a meeting I went to. Since I don't have anything specific, I just chose a polish that has a word lucky in its name, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender
Today I decided to pretty it up a bit. I sponge some glitters at the tips, Cirque Chainmail and Stella. Then I did a sort of gradient lines using three shades of purple, OPI I Carol About You, Planks A Lot, and Rumple's Wiggin', with a little bit of white thrown in the mix. It was a good practice of free-handing lines. 


Although I don't see it in person, these pics make me feel like I could've used another coat of top coat. 
How about you? Do you have a lucky polish? :)

XO
Novi

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Sparkly Tie Dye Cyclone

Hi guys! Today I bust out another untried and tried out a nail art look that I've been meaning to try for a while. I'm not 100% sure if I like the result, but I don't hate it so I'm keeping it. 
I used all Picture Polish shades here. Coral Reef for the base colour, Beige and Swagger for the tie dye cylone (done with Winstonia Kolinsky brush #0000), and topped with Holiday and Gloss on Top! top coat.
I like that Holiday mellow down the base colour a bit, but it also hides the tie dye effect. What do you think? I'm lovin the sparkles though.

And here's Coral Reef on its own, 2 coats without top coat.
pitcure-polish-coral-reef
piCture pOlish Coral Reef

XO
Novi

Monday, March 2, 2015

Born Pretty Store QGirl-033 Plate Review & Nail Art

Hi guys! Recently I received several stamping plates from BornPrettyStore to review. So today I'm creating a nail art look with one of the plates, I'm also mixed it up with some chevron vinyls cause for some reason I kept messing up my stamping today and ran out of patience to keep re-doing them.


The design I picked for today's mani is the zigzag one at the bottom of the plate as pictured above. I had no problem with picking up the image itself, and I really like a few other designs from this plate. I just wish they didn't place the designs so close to each other like that. But, if you're stamping with Mundo de Unas, a quick lift with scotch tape on the stamper for the part you don't want will fix the problem. 
You can find this Qgirl-033 plate in this link, and you can also use my code NVG10 to take 10% off your total purchase. 
The polishes I used in this mani are KBShimmer Blush Money, KBShimmer Rust No One, ILNP Mega, and Picture Polish Monroe




XO
Novi