REVIEW: NUBAR Scented Cuticle Oil

Happy Holidays everyone!

Hope this review finds you doing well and enjoying time with your friends and families.

Here is a review of NUBAR's cuticle oil.  I purchased it quite some time ago at Winners here in Canada.  Other than shopping online i'm not sure where else to find NUBAR products in Canada.  If you know of a retailer who sells NUBAR products please leave a comment below.  I'd love to try out more products from this company if only i could see them in person before purchasing.

enjoy!

Feels like Warm Holiday Craftiness

I'm not the most crafty person in the world, but I definitely do enjoy hands-on activities that allow me to be a bit creative.

I found this Yarn Wreath how-to on a blog ( I think it may have been featured on MarthaStewart.com.... I'm not sure)  But I had to re-create it.
Check out the images below and if you want the full how-to tutorial, check it out on my Cut Out + Keep projects page

Hope Everyone's having a Great Holiday season so far!

NOTD: Done Out in Audrey

OMG.  I finally got my hands on the famous China Glaze nail polish: For Audrey!
It's as pretty as expected!

I gave it a shot with a konad stamp M57.
It showed up quite faint, but not too bad considering it was a medium toned polish being stamped on another medium toned polish.
I'll have to give it another shot with a regular manicure

Base color is OPI's Done Out In Deco.  China Glaze's For Audrey is

stamped on using Konad's M57 mesh image plate.

Why do my fingers always look so dry, or squishy or old in photos?  argh!  :@  lol..  note to self: moisturize hands before photographing my next manicure.

Emerald Sparkled - Born Pretty Giveaway!

Hey Everyone!

Emerald Sparkled is having a blog giveaway for five $20 coupon codes for Born Pretty's store.
There's lots of nail art related things you could get for $20.

So if you're interested, and don't already follow her blog, you should check out her generous giveaway!

NOTD: Melon of Treasure

Teehee.  I like to think that my NOTD titles are kind of clever mash-ups of the polishes I used for each manicure.  I'm sure they could be more unique, but whatevs.  This is me.  :D

This NOTD is one from about a month ago.

I think it's GORGEOUS!

The base color is OPI's Melon of Troy.  And of course the top layer is
the famous Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure.  I think the flakes in
HT complement MOT beautifully!
Maybe not the most seasonal winter manicure, but still gorgeous
none the less.
And of course, I used a base coat, and finished the manicure with
Seche Vite Top Coat.

Have a Great Weekend Everybody!

oh!  p.s.  Have you all heard about Coty (the brand that owns Sally Hansen) purchasing OPI? what do you think about it?

NOTD: Just Winging It On My Cell

Hey All!
Here's a quick post.  My Nails of the Day.    It's from the beginning of the month, yet I'm still amazed at how much I love this color combo!

I'm wearing OPI's Yodel Me On My Cell (from the Swiss

Collection) as the base color.

On top of that I sponged on OPI's Wing It (from the

Summer Flutter Collection).

And I finished it off with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

I love how the pink tones down the teal and turns it into

more of a blue/purple manicure. 

My Halloween Costume - Chihiro from Spirited Away

Ok, I know this post is uber late, but i've been procrastinating.  yup.  that's my only excuse.

So for those of you who follow my YouTube Channel you already know that my roommate and I had a Halloween Party that was animated themed.  So you had to dress up as something that's been animated.  My roomie went as Princess Peach (from Nintendo's Mario Brothers), there was an awesome looking Duff Man there, we also had a teal ghost that chases Pac Man, as well as Jane Jetson.  We had Jack Skeleton and Boba Fet (is that how you spell it?  lol..) as well as some non themed party goers, such as the devil, Robin Hood (which I guess both have been animated at one point in time)  and many more!

I dressed up as Chihiro/Sen from the amazing movie Spirited Away.

Cellulose Nail Art Tutorial

Hi Everybody!
{Response from crowd: Hi Dr. Nick!}  hehehe..  ahhh the Simpsons...

I had a follower request that I show how I created this nail design (that was featured in my blog last month)
It's pretty simple to do and would look great in lots of different colors!

Here's the list of products I used:

OPI Nail Envy Strengthener
OPI Base Coat
Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro - Black Satin
Rimmel French White Tip Pro - French White Nail Tip Liner
Essie - Wicked
Seche Vite - Top Coat


Hope you all like this tutorial, and hope you give the design a try!

Have a great weekend!

Family & Friends Coupon Code for Skin Care

Hey Everyone!

I just got a coupon code I thought I'd share with you all!

For those of you who like shopping for cosmetics and skin care products, this is for you!
Some of you may have already heard of the e-tailer www.SkinCareRX.

If you already shop there, or want to check it out, you can get 25% discount by using the coupon code: FF25
The coupon expired December 1st, so shop early!  Apparently the fine print is that some brands are not included in this discount but there are lots of great brands like Kinerase, La Roche-Posay and SkinMedica.  So shop smart and have fun!  I'm definitely excited and am looking to try some new skin care products myself (having recently just moved to a city with a different climate than my last place) and my skin is stressing out!  :@

Do any of you already shop here?
What are your favorite brands?

REVIEW: Bundle Monster Image Plates vs. Konad Image Plates

Hey all!  I wrote this review a while ago, but wanted to add comparison pictures.  But haven't had the chance yet.  But I felt like I had waited too long to keep postponing this blog post.
*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *  
I've had a chance to try out some of the Bundle Monster Image Plates and as promised I have my full personal review of the product.
This will be a general overview of the product, and it will also be compared to the more famous Konad Stamping Image Plates.

The Criteria that I will evaluate this product will be based on the following:

• The price
• The accessibility (how easy is it to find this product)
• The usability of the plates (general ease of use, how it transfers, how it cleans)
• The variety of images
• Overall opinion

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *  
PRICE

• So the cost of 21 Bundle Monster Image Plates is $17.99 USD + shipping (which may vary depending where you purchase them.  I think that unless the majority of the plates were unusable, this is a great value for the number of plates (and images) you're getting.
• Konad Image Plates are usually priced around $5.99 USD each + $2 shipping (or less).  Again, this varies by seller.  So to compare, if you were to purchase 21 Konad plates it would cost $125.79 USD + shipping.

Bundle Monster Stamping Image Plates - Photos

Hey Everyone!

A little while ago I caved and bought the bundle monster image plates (fauxnad) from amazon.com (if you're looking for it just search for "nail art" in amazon)

First are the close ups of the images on each of the 21 plates with the review to follow.

OBVIOUSLY THIS POST WILL BE VERY PICTURE HEAVY.

SO TO SEE ALL THE PICS >>>

Street Style - Konad Tutorial - M64

Hey all!

This is the most recent video tutorial of mine.
It's another Konad stamping tutorial.

It wasn't necessarily inspired by anything but definitely reminds me of the lines on the street.

'Read More' to see the video tutorial.
Enjoy!

The Cheshire Cat's Cousin

Hey all!

So I loved the look of my Cheshire Cat nails so much I decided to do it again with different colors.
Here I used Joe Fresh's Gun Metal with Rimmel's Black Satin on top. (of course I also applied a top coat - I used Seche Vite)
I love how this turned out!!!

Also: FYI:  I just checked out Joe Fresh's website b/c I couldn't remember the name of the polish I used and apparently they have a matte top coat!  For those CAnadians looking for an affordable matte top coat for this fall season, apparently you need to check out your local Joe Fresh boutique - or your local SuperStore that has a Joe Fresh section.
Happy Matte Hunting!

Graded Pink - Konad Stamping Tutorial

Helloooo

Hope everyone's doing well.  I'm just chillin at my parents place.  Came home this week for an interview.  It's on thursday morning.  Wish me luck!

In the meantime, I got a comment/request for more konad tutorials on my youtube channel.  and voila!  I managed to do a couple the night before my flight.

I will say that I prefer the second one (that will be posted this weekend) but the first one is also very girly and pretty.  So if you're into that kind of nail design, you're in luck!

Click the 'read more' below to see the video tutorial!
Have a great week everyone!

Cheshire Cat Nails

Hey All!

Here's my newest video tutorial!
Not actually inspired by the cheshire cat, unless you count post-rationalizing its influence ;)
Basically the end design reminds me of the cheshire cat from alice in wonderland.

Of course you can definitely try this in different colors too.  I think black and grey or silver would look wicked too!
For the tutorial keep reading...

GIVING THANKS

HAPPY

{CANADIAN}

THANKSGIVING!

I'm giving thanks to my friends, family and the fortune in my life.

As much as sometimes things in life can suck, there's always something that's great about it too.  

For those Canadian followers, I hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving long weekend!  and for those of you international followers, I hope your weekend was wonderful also!

Cheers

Tutorials from the Recent Past

So I kind of feel like I'm putting my less beautiful stuff on my blog lately.  and I feel like that's unfair.
Although Youtube is my primary public place where I post my nail designs, my blog followers shouldn't get any less right?  If anything you should get more!
So here's a couple tutorials to catch you up to what i've been doing lately!

Of course, as always, to stay tuned in to my most recent nail art tutorials please subscribe to my Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/miss80million.
If you don't have/want to get your own youtube channel to follow me there, by all means just stay tuned here and I'll post here as often as I can :D

This one's one of my faves!
Like most of you, my abstract nail designs are my faves too!
TO SEE THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL AND 3 OTHERS KEEP READING >>>

More Random Doodling - Doodle Dots

Hey all!
Here another little doodle.
Not really sure where I was trying to take design, but thought I would post it anyway.
What do ya think?

Lets say these ones are called "Doodle Dots"

I think this one is my favorite (minus the imperfect dots)

NOTD: Blue/Purple Doodling

Hi All!

Here's an old NOTD that I photographed but forgot to post.  This was a quick design trial that I wore as a manicure for a few days in September.  The background color was Black Satin by Rimmel.  The white in all cases was French White Nail Tip Liner by Rimmel.  The Purple was a Nicole by OPI's Virtuous Violet and the blue was Peacock by Joe Fresh, and the green was Emerald City by Sally Hansen.

This design on my left thumb and pinkie was a precursor to Green Octopus.

One Recent Nail Design Trials I forgot to post last time

Hey All!
I thought I had posted all of the nail tips that I had done trial designs on last time, but it turns out that I forgot one.  This one I did quite a while ago.  Around the time I did the candy striped one and the blue bubbles one with the rhinestones.

I really like how this one turned out.

This one is called "Deep Blue".  It definitely has references to the
ocean in it, even though, like the "Green Octapus" and
"Cellulose" it was originally inspired by a computer image.
This was was based on a powerpoint background or something
like that.

Recent Nail Design Trials

Hey All!

As promised on one of my recent YouTube videos I said I'd post up some of the design that I've tried out on my blog.
Video tutorials of them may or may not be forth coming.  But we shall see.
If there are any of them that you'd like to see me do a tutorial on please leave a comment below :D



TO SEE MORE OF THE NAIL DESIGNS KEEP READING...

Imperfectly Painted's 500 Subscriber Giveaway

Hey all! Imperfectly Painted is having her 500 follower giveaway!  Congrats Steph!  I love reading your blog, and thanks so much for having a giveaway!     Everyone should check out her blog.  If you like what you see, follow her blog and enter her 500 Follower Sparkle + Duochrome Giveaway.  She's giving away some wicked polishes.

Prizes I Won from THE NAIL POLISH M.D.

Whoot Whoot!

Time for the best kind of haul!
...the kind that I won!

Big shout out and thanks to The Nail Polish M.D. for the fantastic polishes she gave away!

I've already got one of them on because I was having such a crappy day that the multicolored glitter in OPI's Mad as a Hatter just gave me the jumpy claps :D

KEEP READING TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS:

Ruffian - yes, again

So apparently I'm all obsessed with Ruffian's Reverse French.  I think it's because I'm reading so many blogs and articles on New York Fashion Week.

Well, the one I did this time is extremely similar to the one I did last time.  I basically did it because I was sick of the color on my nails but didn't want to remove it... so Ruffian it is!  Here it is in step by step photos.

I started by applying my base coat and allowing it to
completely dry.

The base color I used was Sally Hanson's Golden
Nights.  I applied two coats and allowed it to dry.

The top color I used was Peacock by Joe.  (Found in
Canada only - at SuperStore or Joe retail stores.)
I applied it carefully 2-3mm (1/8") away from my
cuticle.  Allow it to completely dry.

Of course finish with a top coat of your choice.
This time I used my Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat.

TA DA!
A Manicure that's fit for the runway!

Current Score: Nail Fails vs. My Nails: 6-7

NOTD: Ruffian Winter 2010 NYFW Counterfeit

Hey All!

Here's my Nails Of The Day.

I've been meaning to do this since I got China Glaze's Passion a few months ago.

Here's my Counterfeit Nails of the moon manicure  - that's now ubiquitously being called the "Ruffian" manicure - with a matte black nail with shimmery gold "french" by the cuticle.
(For a refresher, check out All Lacquered Up's blog post on the manicure from New York Fashion Week)
So re-reading her post now makes it clear that they used a gold chrome base with CND's Inkwell, which is a really dark midnight blue.  But apparently I got it into my head that it was a matte black with gold base.
Hopefully it's close enough.  And, realistically, since this is what I imagined it was in my head all this time, it's pretty perfect still for me.  :)

The application of the black by the cuticle is a little rough on a couple nails - and definitely a smidge rougher on my dominant hand - but it's still pretty damn good :)

I'm happy!

Products used:
Barielle - Instant Liquid Nail Hardener (as a base coat)
China Glaze - Passion
Rimmel - Black Satin
Essie - Matte About You (top coat)

Current count
Nail Fails vs My Nails: 6 - 6

Stripes and Bubbles

Hey All

Here are a couple of nail designs that I tested out on nail tips.  I actually really like them both.
The Candy Stripes one is a really simple yet slightly unexpected mix of colors that made me think of hard candies.

Candy Stripes.

Polishes used (L-R): SH Crushed, Art Deco White, Art 

Deco Yellow, Art Deco Mint Green, Art Deco Red Glitter,

SH Crushed, Art Deco Yellow, Art Deco Sky Blue, SH

Crushed.

I liked it on the artificial nail so I decided to try it out on my own nails... with less success.

Home Sick

I was supposed to do the Grouse Grind today with a friend but my stomach had other plans.  I woke up with a mild stomach ache and a feeling of dread of risking going up a mountain and finding myself needing a rest room mid-hike.

So instead I'm home with my hot water bottle and my cup of hot lemon water (in lieu of herbal tea) sending out some resumes, helping my sister with some Adobe Illustrator stuff for her work and about to do some more nail polish swatches.  <- because I'm too lazy to do another tutorial right now.

Hope everyone else is feeling better than I am today.  :D

A couple of recent NOTDs Here

Hey All!

Here are a couple of the designs that I've had on my nails lately.

This started out as a simple black french tip nail, but
then I decided to spice it up a bit.  The thin white lines
certainly took some concentration, and of course turned
out better on my left hand than they did on my right...
but hey.  I was still pleased with how it turned out.

This NOTD was influenced by one of my favorite nail
bloggers - Michelle Mismas aka. All Lacquered Up.
She recently revisited the gradient manicure - also
known as the Ombre manicure.  It inspired me to do
a toned down barely there Ombre.
Here I started with OPI's Done Out in Deco and graded
all the way over to Sephora by OPI's Under My Trench
Coat.
The application was a bit uneven - which is a personal
challenge every time I do any major nail polish mixing -
the nail polish always seems to dry too quick.  But in
the end, it evened out nicely especially with a top coat
of Seche Vite layered on top to seal it all.

To see Michelle's recent post on the Ombre Manicure click [HERE]

my fails vs nails count: 5 - 5

Keri Hilson's Nails at the Grammys 2010 - My Counterfeit

Hi All!

So it's been a while since I did a post on My Counterfeit nails.  And back when I recreated my own versions of Beyonce's nails at the grammy awards I had said that I was also going to try to recreate Keri Hilsons' nails too.

I have finally done what I could, but I gotta say that without a stamping plate or a robot arm, it's pretty impossible to recreate the centered rows of silver on a white manicure like Keri had that night.  [For a refresher, check out All Lacquered Up's post of Rihanna, Beyonce and Keri Hilson's Minx Nails and My Counterfeit of Beyonce's Minx Nails.]

A Day in the Life of Dollface is having her 500 followers giveaway!

Hey All!

If you don't know of her already, Dolly is another nail art blogger.  She's just reached 500 followers and is celebrating by giving away a prize!

CHECK OUT HER CHANNEL AND ENTER TO WIN YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF THESE PRIZES!!

 

Lacquerized is having a Kiko Nail Polish Giveaway

Michele is having a giveaway of some Kiko nail polishes!

I've never seen this brand but am extremely curious!
Check it out by clicking on the title of this blog post.

It goes til the end of the month!

I Heart the Daily Nail

So recently Melissa |aka. The Daily Nail| posted paint swatch inspired manicure called On The Dot
I thought it was so fun and summery I had to recreate it!

Here's my version of her cute mani!

For more and Larger pics:

OPI & China Glaze Swatches... finally

Hello!

So quite some time ago after a disastrous hair cut i purchased some nail polish and posted a haul.  with that post i had promised swatches... eventually.  and with a reminder from a reader i have posted those aforementioned swatches... finally!  :)

This post is PIC HEAVY!  :D

Rainbow Zebra Stripes using KONAD

It's been a while since i've posted one of my youtube tutorials on here....
so here's one from a few weeks ago :)

enjoy!
and, as always, for more, check out my YouTube Channel

Nail Fails vs. My Nails v4

Dear Bloggers,

It's been a while.  I've been busy and pseudo lazy.
Still on the job hunt.  I've been putting up videos on YouTube relatively regularly though, and I've got a giveaway for my Youtube subscribers happening now too!  It's part a a series to thank my subbies for reaching over 1000!  It's giveaway #2 right now (out of 3 or 4.. still haven't decided)
So if you follow/find my blog and have a youtube account too, check out my channel, and if you like what you see, subscribe and enter my giveaway :)

So, back to the point of this post.
Here are some of the nails i've designed lately!

For this simple French tip with a twist, I used OPI's Wing It, and 

Art Deco's striper polishes in White and Silver Glitter.

Retail Therapy

So I happened to buy two bottles of OPI just on a whim, and then a couple days later (post haircut trauma) I ended up getting another three bottles of polish - two OPI and one China Glaze.

I'm in LOVE!

CANADIANS!!! GO TO YOUR LOCAL CHATTERS FOR AN OPI SALE

Hello Blog world,

For those Canadians who follow/find me.  I was recently at a couple of my local Chatters and they're having a sale on OPI polishes.  2 for $14.95.  (Regular price: $9.95 each)
I have no idea how long this sale will last.

find your local chatters salon here: Chatters Store Locator

and yes, i went to two separate stores and got a total of 5 polishes (one china glaze) plus mini packs for my next youtube giveaway/contest.

I will do a haul post in a bit.
And if you want in on some of the goodies that I'm not keeping for myself, make sure you subscribe to my channel on youtube: Miss80Million

Oh yeah.  and I got a hair cute.  yikes.  what an experience.  I wonder if i'll ever like getting my hair cut???  Vlog probably coming soon on my youtube channel about that too.  yeesh!

Happy Father's Day everyone!!

Nail Fails vs. My Nails v3

So I was feeling a bit bland (probably because it was raining all last week) so I painted my nails black and topped it off with Matte About You by Essie.  But then suddenly the sun came out and so did my nail design cheer!

I was still feeling simple and was pressed for time.  so I did a simple polka dot nail.  by the time i had added the polka dots, the matte finish was wearing off a bit so it photographed as more of a suede or satin finish on the black.

Its unoriginal.  it's been done.  yeah i know.

but I'VE never done it.  

so like a used car... it's new to me :D

dang my hands look old when they're dry!

eech.  note to self:  apply cuticle oil before taking photo!

Fails vs Nails: 3-2

Konad Nail Stamping Art Tutorial: Spring Konad M66+ Red Black Lace M57

Just in case non-Youtubers are finding this.


Here are a couple of my recent nail tutorials.
They're both using the Konad Stamping system. (check out my yt channel for my konad playlist for more info)

Nail Fails vs. My Nails v2

So this is a nail design that I did a while back.  It was supposed to be for  lololicious69's prom nail art contest.

I didn't submit it because I lost half the footage of the end part of the tutorial.  Also, even though it looks much nicer and prettier in person, it simply didn't photograph well.  Even in these photos, it looks pretty clear, but it still just looks like a big black and pink mess.

Fails vs. Nails score: 3-1

First Personal Encounter with Deborah Lippmann Polishes

Last week my sister took me out to diner as a thanks for helping her out with a grant application she was working on.  We went to Linda (a fabulous Thai restaurant somewhere far away from her place)  --for those of you that don't know Linda -- You Should!  the more affordable version of Linda is The Salad King, tentatively still located by Ryerson University on Gould street.  Unfortunately the building that The Salad King was in had encountered some unfortunate brick work failure on the building facade.  So temporarily, The Salad King is closed until further engineering inspection and evaluation for structural stability.

So, since the Salad King was out of order, we drove out to Linda to satisfy our curry cravings.  

the food was Great!  My sister says it's the same as at the Salad King, but the prices are twice as high.  :(  but it was a nice place.   Dinner was great.  (even though they mixed up our levels of spicyness.  they fixed it within literally 5 minutes!  And when my sister asked for "every last drop" of her curry to be boxed up, so she could take it for lunch the next day, the server even brought the place it was on to show it truly was "every last drop"  :D  we all had a chuckle.

After dinner we drove out to an outdoor mall type of complex just because we were in the area.  We went into a cosmetics store called Murale.   They're Sephora-like, but not exactly the same.  They pretty much only carry higher quality cosmetics.  

Naturally I wandered towards the nail polish sections of each brand.  At the back of the store was two shelves full of SpaRitual polishes as well as Deborah Lippmann.  (still currently called Lippmann Collection)

I was first drawn to the SpaRitual Believe Collection polishes until I saw the Lippmann glitter polishes, which I must say are TRULY UNIQUE.

When I went into the store I was already wearing OPI Ink!  

Applied on top of it is Lippmann Collection's Happy birthday.  Whoa man!  Check out that glitter.  Multi-colored and multi-shaped in a clear polish.

I also ended up wearing this for about a week WITHOUT top coat.  it did have a texture (naturally) but in 7 days i lost maybe 3 pieces of glitter!  AMAZING!  [but, i gotta say, it was hell getting it off.  especially on my ring finger where i had clearly put on too much glitter]

This is Ruby Red Slippers ontop of OPI Ink.

Whoa man!

I just got Lubu Heels by China Glaze, and it doesn't even compare to this!

Both Lubu Heels and Ruby Red Slippers have red glitters in a sheer black polish.  but RRS has large square glitters PLUS Hex glitters!  LH only has small red glitters.  

I wish I could go back and get this but since I already have LUBU heels (for $6.95) i can't justify getting RRS which is similar (albeit so much better) for $20.

yup.  in Canada Lippmann polishes cost $20.  (I believe you can get them for about $16 in the US depending on where you get it)

Oh Deborah.  I wish your polishes were more affordable.  :(

I guess i'll still have to wait a bit longer to own my own Lippmann Polish.

Do any of you have Lippmann polishes?  What colors?  And do you think it's worth the extra money?

Oh yeah. and I'm gonna count this as a "My Nails" post too.  So the Fails vs. Nails count is now 2-1

M80M