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2010

Lamo 9" Fleece Boots

Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Off


A while ago CSN stores contacted me and asked if I wanted to review an item from their website.  I decided that I wanted to review the piggy paint polishes that they sold in sets but after googling around I found that the polishes did not have positive reviews so I decided to order a pair of boots instead. 

I bought these boots becauses I needed a pair of warm winter boots for Vancouver weather..not too cold but not warm, rarely snows, rains a lot..but less during the winter months, more like cold and moist but no rain during winter =)

Since the day I received these shoes I have been wearing them non stop.  I wore them in the rain and so far so good. These shoes aren't 100% waterproof but so far my socks have stayed dry. These shoes are faux suede so they are friendly to cows =)

I feel that these shoes are true to size. The fur/fuff inside the shoe is very soft and cushy. A lot of people have asked me if the shoes make my feet sweat...no it does not =)

one note, the shoes that arrived look different from the ones provided by CSN. My boots do not have a line around the toe area and the sole does not have the ridges in it seen in the photo.

You can buy the boots here:  http://www.shoesgotsole.com/Lamo-Footwear-P909W-Black-LFT1013.html

I think that the next thing I would get from CSN stores is something from their Delsey Luggage collection... I also really like the Mercury AJ sport tote bag so I may get that since it's on sale for $24.99 right now. 

Xmas snowflake Mani

Wednesday, December 15, 2010 Category : , , , , , 19

I’ve been studying like crazy for my 4 hour math exam this coming Monday..ekkk!  I apologize for my lack of posts and that I haven’t replied to the comments from my previous post yet.

I wanted to quickly post up my holiday Mani before I missed the holidays.  I think I saw this design last year (or maybe 2 years ago) so I tried to recreate it based on what I remembered.  If this was inspired form your manicure please let me know and I will credit you for it.


 

Ingredients:
  • OPI Ink (base color)
  • China glaze passion (tips) 
  • Sally Hansen xtreme white on ( for stamping and dots)
  • Covergirl boundless color disco dazzle
  • Bundle Monster plate 14 snowflake
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Thought I'd share my holiday nail wishlist:

*china glaze party hearty
*Deborah Lippmann Across the universe and Bad romance...but ATU more
*konad plate M 56
*Zoya Julieanne
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1. Don't forget that you can use my code SWNAIL  at the http://www.bornprettystore.com/  webstore to get a Free keychain flashlight + 10% off 

2.  http://store.ocnailart.com/  has a special xmas discount code, email Kathleen to get the code at:  kathleen@ocnail.com

3. New konad plates for 2011, yay or nay?




 source  (I brightened them up a bit)

Avon Urban Grey + Bornpretty store review

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Category : , , , , 13

I had bought the color vintage grey from Avon a few months ago but had never tried it  so I thought that today would be the day....Well the polish FAILS!!! Either it would not dry or it took forever to dry!
Also, it applied somewhat goopy.  ARGH! I own quite a few Avon polishes and this is the only bad one i've encountered...so. ..don't buy Vintage grey!

Here's what it looks like right now: will go into detail about this mani at the end of the post =)



 2 coats

The grey looked bland so I did some nail art on them.  I used the the 2 way nail art nail polish liners provided to me for review from the born pretty store

 
The polishes are boxed in a separate box from your other products

 These are the jelly/ cream colors. -->the sky blue leaked a bit but it didn't smear onto the other polishes
dark blue, orange, dark red, green, dark green, blue, black, yellow, raspberry red, red, yellowish orange

 Glitters: orange, blue, silver, gold, pink, purple

 Metallics/ frosts: orange, fuchsia, green, copper, pink, grey, purple

These polishes are double ended. 

1.You get a super fine metal tip. When you squeeze the bottle, polish comes out, the weird metal needle looking thing that is attached to every bottle fits into the metal tip to dislodges any polish that has hardened so that polish will always flow out of the metal tip
2. You have a thin paintbrush end. I have it compared to a 0.7mm lead pencil to show you how fine the paintbrush end is.

This is the design I came up with: 

 The thin stripes came from the metal tip of the 2 way nail art brush and the thick stripes came from the paintbrush end.


Then I used the 12 Color 3D Steel Ball Nail Art Glitter Decoration in purple (was received from  bornprettystore.com) to add more ommph to my nails..maybe too much ommph.

  Maybe I should have done them all in the same direction... or maybe I didn't need the steel balls at all..eh. =)



Disclaimer - The products were sent to me for review with no payment. My opinion is an honest one.
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What is super fun is that Jessica, the owner of bornprettystore.com has given me my own coupon code : SWNAIL, 10% off till 03/31/2011

But! If you use my code SWNAIL, on top of the 10% you also get a free keychain flashlight!


yay!

OPI Hollywood Blonde

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Category : , , 15

Yay! it's finally December!!! Actually... I'm not sure if it's going to be a "yay" since December is always the most hectic month for me.  We will see....

I've been trying to only purchase wishlist/ lemming polishes but it isn't working.  The other day I saw OPI Hollywood Blonde on sale for $8.50. Hollywood Blonde isn't a lemming of mine...but I bought it anyway.  I'm actually really glad I did because I have fallen in love with it. It's a subtle polish that is extremely sheer. Yes, the nail line is visible but the glitter/ glass flecks draws your attention away from it. This is perfect for those days where you don't want "in your face" nails.  I'll probably stamp something over it later.



So....I have read reviews saying that OPI Princess Rule! is a pink version of Hollywood Blonde.  I've been lemming for Princess Rule! for a while now....do you guys think I should get it?  Hollywood Blonde is almost like Princess Rule.....do I need both?  YES I DO, and I love them both equally!

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Here are a few items I bought on Black Friday:

1. One of the  most awesome hats ever! A DeLux Red Fox Pilot hat!  (I have a thing for hats, I have hats in the shape of a frog, a seal, and a bear).  Please note that the hat has a tail!  I think these hats would make great xmas presents!

 

You can get this hat or similiar hats here:
Punk.com (Ships to USA only, has kid sizes) <----most variety
KarmaLoop  (Ships internationally, has kid sizes)
The breckenridge hat company (Ships internationally, has kid sizes)
The great canadian gift company (Ships internationally)
berkeley hat (Ships to USA and Canada, has kid sizes)
drysdale and co (Ships internationally, has kid sizes)

***watch out for the shipping!!!! some of these sites ship internationally but the shipping charges are double the price of the hat =(


2. I bought a 75% wool coat from Suzy Shier for $21 (It is missing a button so I got an additional 10%...but the coat does come with extra buttons so it's not a problem).  This will be my cheap running errands coat =)


3.  I got these Ryder Lug Engineer Boots from Payless. They sell for $39.99 here!  I have a thing for engineer boots/ motocycle boots.  I actually have a very similiar pair in brown.  These boots look like they can kick someone's *ss and thus they will be my *ss kicking boots.

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Note: Bornprettystore.com has a 10% off coupon code: OPENTENOFF  that is valid until Dec 31
or you can get a free small LED flashlight keychain with the code PK299 valid until unknown
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**also, I have been listening to Glen Hansard's cover for Everytime by Britney Spears non stop! It sounds awesome. Have a listen here 

Rainbow Dots!!!

Sunday, November 28, 2010 Category : , , , , , , , , , , , , , 19

I have a fun french manicure for you guys today!
  1. I freehanded the french tips with a pastel color (could also use nail art stripers to get the line)
  2. I went over the pastel color with a darker related color
  3. I used a dotting nail tool to draw on the dots.


    These are the polishes I used:

     Left to Right:
    WnW Lemon drops, Cotton Candy Delight, Bubble Yum Gum, OPI Rumple's Wiggin, WnW Grape Crush, Avon Vintage Blue, SH Pacific Blue, Avon Jade, OPI Jade is the new black
    **Pale yellow was made by adding lemon drops with white since I don't have a pastel yellow

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    The dotting tool was provided by http://www.bornprettystore.com/ and it is perfect for nail art.
    I have this kit .  I used to use tooth picks to do the dotting but the dotting tool makes it easier to draw even sized dots.  If you don't have a dotting tool the toothpick still works =)
    I think the great thing about this kit is that the different dotting tools all come with different sizes so it allows you to vary your dot sizes easily compared to a toothpick.  The yellow dotting tool has a pointy tip so it can be used to pick up beads and rhinestones =)

    Disclaimer - The dotting tool was sent to me for review with no payment. My opinion is an honest one.
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    So....OPI is having a 100 000 facebook fan giveaway, they will give 100 fans 6 retired polishes if OPI reaches 100 000 facebook likes by Dec 31. Awesome right?  Not for people residing outside of USA.  Like Me =(  The 6 retired OPI polishes that OPI are  giving away are Kinky In Helsinki, Smokin' in Havana, and Parlez-Vous OPI, HooDoo VooDoo, Cheyenne Pepper, and Sahara Sapphire.


    Well..guess what? I'm going to give OPI HooDoo VooDoo Away!! ..okay that's only 1/6 but at least everyone, anywhere, can have a chance to win it, it will be part of my 300 follower giveaway!  I'm still collecting my giveaway stuff but I'm working on trying to get some more rare harder to find items, so keep your eyes open!

    ***Edit: here it is, an original Winter Resort Collection 1995 HooDoo VooDoo!  Even the labeling is different!

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    side note: how was everyone's black Friday? did you guys go shopping ? there isn't a huge black Friday shopping event here in Canada but I still ended up buying quite a few things..like motocycle boots, 2 coats, 2 pairs of jeans, nail polish. =)  I'll post pictures of what I bought up later

    I hope everyone has a great day!

    Zebra stipes and pears

    Monday, November 22, 2010 Category : , , , , , , 14

    Jessica from Bornprettystore.com sent me some wonderful nail art items to review so I decided to use a few of the items together to create my manicure today.

    I used:

     3 Sizes Nail Art Pearl Rhinestone Decoration + Wheel 
    I loved these!  It adds a little extra oomph to the manicure. I also love having 3 different sizes to choose from, when I get these from a craft store I have to buy different sizes individually and it gets pricey and annoying.

    5x 2way DOTTING Pen Marbleizing Tool Nail Art Dot Paint
    I used the tool that is rounded on one end and has a pointy tip on the other end

    12 Color 3D Steel Ball Nail Art Glitter Decoration
    I was very disappointed  with the steel balls because the colors were mixed up.   I would not recommend purchasing these, instead, purchase the individual packaged steel balls.

    1800 NAIL ART RHINESTONES Wheel Glue Glitter UV Gel.
    The rhinestones I used were not sent to me for review. I bought them from ebay but Born pretty sells a similar rhinestone wheel

    24 COLORS 2 WAY SHINE NAIL ART Nail POLISH Liner Brush

    On to the Manicure:
     

    •   I applied China Glaze 2NITE diagonally on my tips
    •  Konaded zebra stripes using image plate M57 with Wet'nWild Black creme

    I had a problem with not all the zebra print transferring so I used the black 2 way nail art brush to draw in some of the lines ( I will do another review for the 2 way nail art pens)
    • Cleaned up the nail stamping with a paint brush and pure acetone
    •   Used the 2 way nail art pen in silver glitter diagonally
    On top of the glitter line, I stuck on blue rhinestones, pearls, and silver steel balls using the dotting tool

    •  And then of course top coat to make it all shiney =)
    • you can see that a pink steel ball was placed onto my index finger, this is due to the steel balls all mixing up during the shipment. =(  It's hard to separate the colors now
     ___________________________________________________________________________________
    I live in Canada and it took 1 week for the shipment from Hong Kong to arrive. This is incredible, usually it takes 2+ weeks for anything shipped outside of North America. I was very impressed with the shipment. Everything was packaged tightly and with bubble wrap.

    I am very pleased with http://www.bornprettystore.com. In the future I would love to get the 18 Colors Acrylic System Nail Art Powder Liquid Mold set.  I hope they get more molds =)


    Disclaimer - The products were sent to me for review with no payment. My opinion is an honest one.

    Another Viva La nails review and some thoughts about life

    Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Category : , , , , , , , 6

    Hi Darlings!

    Today is going to be a very long post so sit down and grab some popcorn =)..or nuts..or whatever you like to munch on..I like gummy bears.


    I’m going to start out with something light:

    Nail review on viva la nails rhinestone stickers 

    I stuck them on with tweezers and then applied a top coat.  I went to sleep and when I woke up I found that about 3 of the tiny jewels had come off.  There is also color bleeding. The red glitter in the previous post bled and now the stickers are bleeding.Well, only one of the stickers bled, the pink sticker on the index finger/ pointer finger




    Disclaimer - The product was sent to me for review with no payment. My opinion is an honest one

    Second item of business:

    I was talking to a friend of mine and he said this:  “The way I think of it is: Your life and mine is insignificant. The entire human race is just half a blink in the eye of the universe. Why not make the most out of it as yourself, as an individual. F*ck the world - make your life your own.”

    After thinking about what he said, I pulled out my list…you know, the list we all have, literally or mentally of all the things we wanted to do and of all the places we wanted to go. 

    Here’s a bit of my list:
    1. Go dog sledding
    2.  Learn to snowboard
    3. See the Taj Mahal
    4. Gain courage to hold a reptile: snake, lizard, turtle
    5. Gain courage to hold a spider
    6. See the Northern lights
    7. Go Bungee jumping
    8. Go to Russia
    9. See a volcano: extinct/ dormant/ alive
    10. See narwhals
    11. Eat a molecular gastronomy meal
    12. etc..

    Although I have had this list for many years, I have only completed 2 out of the 100s of things listed. I am going to slowly work on chipping away at this list. Sure it will take money and time, but to make my life my own I want to do things I want or at least work towards doing things I want to do. 

    So this is what I’ve done:

    Bungee Jumping on Whistler Mountain:

    Crocodile named Lucy


    I know a lot of bloggers are having a lot of difficulties in their life and well, after talking to my friend I realized we only have the one chance to make it the life we want, so why don’t we?-->Money and time.  I think that as long as we have a goal in life/ have a desire to do something and we work towards it, we make our life much more worthwhile when we actually do reach one of our goals.


    Third item of business:

    A small favor request:

    My sister entered a contest on Cathay Pacific Canada's facebook page and I would love it if you could vote for her entry.  The only catch is that the contest requires you to have a facebook account.  It is the Art of dessert contest, what happens is you make a dessert that if chosen will be served on International Cathay Pacific flights.

    Her dessert is under Amy Choh, B.C.: Coconut Panna Cotta with Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce and Banana Chips

    Here’s a picture of it:

    It’s pretty much coconut pudding + dark chocolate hazelnut sauce + a side of banana chips.  I had a taste of it just now and the Coconut Panna Cotta is Awesome! (I’m not just saying this because she’s my sister, it really is awesome)

     
    If you guys have the time it would be great if you could vote for her. 
    Voting instructions:
    1. Just follow the link http://www.facebook.com/cathaypacificCA
    2. Click on the "Like" button page to like the Cathay Pacific Canada page
    3. Click on the“Art of Dessert” Tab
    3. The contestants should be listed a little below
    4. Scroll for “Amy Choh,B.C: Coconut Panna Cotta with Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce and Banana Chips” and click “Like” to vote   <---currently I believe she's on page 10

    I’m going to tweet it too and if you guys could help spread the word I would really appreciate it. A few clicks is all it takes to make my sister very happy =) 

    http://www.ktmakeupartistry.com/ is having a sponsored giveaway!

    Monday, November 15, 2010 Off

    http://www.ktmakeupartistry.com/ is having a giveaway sponsored by http://apothica.com/

    Apothica is offering a $25 gift card to be used on their website.  One very unique thing about their website is that they sell Duwop lip venom. Why is this unique? because they ship INTERNATIONALLY!!! you heard me!! INTERNATIONALLY!! I have been having a great problem in getting Duwop make up and deborah lippman polishes because I can't seem to find them in Canada, well now you and I can order it from apothica. 

    You should all follower Apothica on twitter beacause they seem to have a very good PR that responds to tweets and they actually do tweet. I like that best about companies when they are involved with the public.

    Konad M73 + Review for viva la nails

    Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Category : , , , , , , 19

    Hi Everyone!

    I've decided to give my nails a break from nail polish so they are naked...well as naked as they will ever be....meaning I have a french tip manicure.
    I need something on the tips of my nails to protect from chipping; thus, a french manicure. 

    I used:
    Sally Hansen Pacific Blue: for the tips
    Sally Hansen white out: konaded with M73
     Super Glitter Dust - Red from Viva la nails
    Seche Vite top coat

    ***I only have top coat on the tips of my nails, everything else is naked.

    • Freehand the pacific blue tips
    • stamp tips with konad plate M73
    • use brush and dip into acetone to clean up  smile line.  
    • Place glitter on smile line
    • apply top coat

    So...the red glitter was provided for review by viva la nails. It was very generous of them but I wasn't very happy with the red glitter at all.  The red glitter BLEEDS!!!!  You can see this on my pinky. After sticking on the glitter I covered the tips of my nails with clear nail polish...well the red glitter started bleeding and smearing..ahh!!!!

    This indicated that you cannot cover the red glitter with top coat unless you want silver glitter and smeared red
    This also indicated that the red glitter will not do well with frankening because it will turn your frankens red and the glitter will be silver.

    I guess the only use of the glitter is for acrylic nails.

    Disclaimer - The red glitter rhinestone was sent to me for review with no payment. My opinion is an honest one.


    Side note:
    1. I plan to have a giveaway soon...almost 300 readers! yay! 
    Are people okay with used nail polish being part of the giveaway? I'm thinking of tossing in some htf that I don't use anymore

    2.  Is anyone interested in OPI Escadorable Coral, Orange you from New York, Apricatcha Cheating? I believe that I may be able to obtain them for a reasonable price (less than $10 with shipping and all that) and I've been looking for them so if anyone else is interested let me know


    @Thifa : why don't you have a nail blog? Think about having one okay? I do love your recipe cooking blog though =)


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    I found this image on http://twitter.com/opinails 






    I like teenage dream but I was hoping it was a pink holo + glitter..but I will probably purchase it.
    I don't want to get into the mad as a hatter problem where I am currently looking for it everywhere and I can't find it anywhere and wish I had purchased it when it first came out. argh!!

    hello kitty image plate!!!!

    Sunday, November 7, 2010 Off

    I know a lot of you guys have been looking for the hello kitty nail stamp image plate.  You can usually buy the hello kitty nail image plate in a set of 12 image plates on ebay.

    Well, I found a distributor that sells the image plate by itself; therefore, you don't have to buy the whole set. I mean you can buy the SINGLE hello kitty image plate.



    Btw it's $3.88 so yay!

    More nail art items can be found at bornpretty.com

    sinful colors Let's Talk + green ocean

    Category : , , , 9


    Today I have a swatch of Sinful colors Let's Talk. 3 coats. I tried really really hard to capture the purple/teal duochrome but was unsuccesful =(
    Duochromes are the hardest things to capture EVER!! I have never been succesful but I have seen other blogs do a very good job capturing duochromes on their camera.




    I think this is a perfect color when you want black nails with a flair.

    Pros:
    * opacity:  good at 2 coats, but I did 3 just because...
    *duochrome is quite pretty and subtle
    *brush is similiar to china glaze's brush (which I like)
    *15 mL
    *reasonably priced
    Cons:
    *duochrome: subtle
    *drying time took a little longer than what I would have liked


    I then put on 2 layers of Sinful colors Green ocean ...A flakie =)
     
     
    Another duochrome capturing problem.
    The flakies flash from green to indigo blue

    Pro:
    *flakie brother to sally hansen hidden treasure
    *different sized flakies
    *15 mL
    *reasonably priced 

    Con:
    *drying time took longer than china glaze and OPI

    I received these from http://thephalangesfiles.blogspot.com/ so I don't know exactly how much they cost but from research I think they are reasonably priced so that would be a pro =)


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    So I had 3 exams on Saturday, 2 hours each...that was the longest day ever. On Friday I was exhausted from studying so I decided to enter http://the-lacquerista.blogspot.com's contest.  It was very last minute but I had fun.

    The theme was rock 'n' roll...so I did Avril lavigne inspired nails.. HAHAHA. i'm not a huge fan of hers but when I thought nails + rock n roll I immediately thought of avril Lavigne.

    here are my nails I entered for the contest:



    On a side note: these nails are dedicated to http://thriszha.blogspot.com/ because well....doesn't the length look like Thriszha's nails?  =)  My nails will never be able to get that long without breaking first.  I still had my Hard candy polish on so I did the very simple design on fake nails. Doing nails is very relaxing and I think that whenever I get stressed I will totally do my nails. =)

    The nail contest is here so go check it out:
    http://the-lacquerista.blogspot.com/2010/11/nail-art-challenge-vote-for-your.html

    *I like rins nails, I should have done gold + black nails!!! darn it.

    MAC mean & green and Hard Candy Mr wrong

    Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Category : , , , 5


    Hello!
    I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on my pumpkin. It was very fun to do. If anyone has time next year, why not try to carve out your own pumpkin =) Anyone can do it! I managed to carve out something and I'm not artist so I'm sure you guys can do it too. I  followed the picture tutorial provided by Ray Villafane which I linked to in my previous post.

    Onto the nail polishes for today....

    Today I am featuring 2 nail polishes that I think are somewhat similar.  We have MAC's Mean & Green (which is a dupe of Orly Space cadet) and Hard Candy's Mr. Wrong


    First is MAC's Mean and Green:
    This is 3 coats



     
      Pros: 
    • Gorgeous purple/ green/ gold duochrome
    • Did not chip for 3 days
    Cons:
    •  Expensive compared to Orly, based on price and quantity
     I would rather purchase Orly's space cadet because it is cheaper and there is a lot more in the bottle but since I live in Canada it is very difficult for me to obtain Orly; thus, I caved and bought MAC


    Next we have Hard Candy's Mr Wrong
    This is 3 coats

    Hard Candy Mr wrong is a metallic dark purple with gold flecks in it.
       I guess the only similarity it has with Mean and green is that it is a dark metallic color.

    Pros:
    • I like the color
    • I love the name
    • It comes with a cute ring (seen in the picture)
    Cons:
    • Sally Hansen xtreme has a dupe called purple gala and I believe that it is slightly cheaper than Hard Candy
    • I did not like the brush, I felt that it was a bit too thin
    • it chipped on me on the second day of wear

    And finally, a simple nail stamp design
    The base color is hard candy Mr. wrong
    I stamped using BM plate 04
    I placed on half the design china glaze passion and on the other half I placed sally hansen xtreme white on

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    On a side note, I wanted to introduce a  new nail blogger:

    She sent me a very kind email asking for a few nail ideas and color combinations, I'm not the greatest at  matching and konading (still learning here) but I tried to help her out as much as I could.  If you guys have any great ideas or tips it would be great if you could share it with her =) 

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