Northern Humidity Sends Its Love

Happy Canada Day, friends!  Because it’s hot as beaver balls in my neck of the Canadian woods (hotter and more humid than Orlando, Florida, whose summer weather I’m convinced occupies its very own circle of hell) I am celebrating this national drinking day holiday indoors, as close to my air conditioner as humanly possible.  I see a lot of Trailer Park Boys in my immediate future, as well as the possibly ill-advised plan, given the humidity, to have a roast turkey dinner at my parents’ house tonight, because apparently we are masochists (or are we?  My parents’ house boasts some very nice central air, and I think there’s no foodstuff more Canadian than gravy; we will put it in and on anything, including, but not limited to, toasted sandwiches, fries and cheese curds, and pizza.)

I didn’t do any new nail art to commemorate the 1st this year, but I thought it would be fun – and, let’s face it, easy! – to look back at these Canada Proud manicures I’ve done over the years.  They feature a wide range of beloved Canadiana, from Timmy’s and 50s, to traditional maple leaves (not to be confused with the Maple Leafs) and the almighty beaver.  Happiest of days, Canadian pals!

Finger Candy Gets a .ca

Trailer Park Mustard Tiger

Timmy Ho

Beaver or Dog?

Team Canada

Mr. Dressup’s Tickle Trunk

One-Fiddy

Halloween Polish Picks

Halloween is the time of year when even the makeup-phobic (or simply makeup-hesitant) start rifling through their stashes looking for that ancient black lipstick or that perfect glow-in-the-dark nail polish to put the final finishing touch on their costume (although last time I did that, I discovered that somehow, my rarely-used glow-in-the-dark polish had completely dried up.) Those are the all-in kind of looks (you’ll figure that out the first time you wear black lipstick) but Halloween is also a fantastic opportunity to try out some mild-wild looks that you might otherwise pass up the other 364 days of the year, because who wants to wear zombie green nail polish to the office (lots of people, actually; it’s more that the offices don’t want THEM to wear zombie green nail polish.)

And so here are some fun polish picks for the Halloween season for those people who either can’t or don’t wish to go The Full Costume.  Sure, it’s no Sexy Freddy Krueger (hands down my favourite “sexy” costume of all time, it’s so inappropriate) but sometimes just a little flash and sparkle – and some very odd colour combinations – are all you need.

Look at the Flowers, Lizzie – Dollish Polish

Blood Hound – Cupcake Polish

Fantasia – Whimsical Ideas by Pam

Entwined – Enchanted Polish

Rust No One – KB Shimmer

Dead Man’s Toe – Girly Bits Cosmetics

Not Your Mama’s Easter Grass – Smitten Polish

Ghostess With the Mostess – China Glaze

Such a Vlad-Ass – KB Shimmer

The Dessert Tray

Around these bloggin’ parts, I don’t just love nail art designs that put the candy in Finger Candy, I also adore all of the many, many polishes that remind me of sweets, which, in fairness, is most of them – I can find (non-edible) yumminess in just about any tiny-n-toxic bottle of lacquer!  For your Sunday perusal, here is a photo gallery of some of my favourites. No nibbling on your delicious-looking nails, now. 🙂

The Leftovers

Happy Thanksgiving, American friends!  In honour of your big day (already gave myself away as Canadian with that O-U) I have put together this gallery of nail art featuring some of my favourite feasting foods.  Foods you probably shoved into your faces some hours ago, which naturally means you are all now in the throes of your post-feast comas, which means I’m talking to myself! Again.

We’ll start at the top with the king of the Thanksgiving feast, the turkey. This manicure actually features chicken drumsticks, but semantics, yeah?

Although I would do no such thing myself (CARBS FOR LIFE!), we’ll skip over the carbohydrates for now.  I’ve yet to tackle a mashed potato mani, and I’m not about to start!

Pigs are the other animal to get the shaft at Thanksgiving, with ham featuring prominently on many a holiday table.  For this years’ old manicure, I used a favourite homemade polish, Hawaiian Ham.  In retrospect, it’s kind of sick that I have the pigs – jumping the gun a bit on the Christmas thing there, lads – overseeing the ham on my thumb. Those are some hard truths to be covering in nail art.

Don’t forget to eat these.

Somewhere, there will be a plate of Deviled Eggs.

And a dish of cranberry sauce, hopefully still in the shape of the can and bearing its rings (as a small aside, this is one of my favourite manicures ever!)

Some jerk will bring one of these.

They might even bring two.

You may have very optimistically started one of these in the afternoon. DO NOT EAT IT – you’ve had enough today!  Some things have to be off limits (gingerbread houses should always be off limits.)

If your uncle won’t shut up about Obamercare, you may need to consume one or two (or 12) of these candy apple martinis.

After which the guacamonut may start looking like a real viable option.

Or this.  Not sure which one is more frightening!

Then you’ll come home, pass out on the couch and the circle of Thanksgiving will be complete!  But whatever shape your holiday took (I certainly hope it didn’t go down the guacamonut path – no good can come of that) I hope you had a happy one, friends. 🙂

31 Days of Pretty Great: An OMD3 Wrap-Up Post

If I may toot my own horn (toot toot!) I thought I made quite a good showing of this year’s Oh Mon Dieu Nail Art Challenge, given the month’s rather inauspicious start. That set me back a few days right from the very beginning, and that’s where I resolutely stayed until the very end of the challenge – one or two days firmly off the pace. But scheduling issues notwithstanding, I’m really quite proud of the nail art work I did during this challenge. I tried out a new-to-me product (nail stickers), I matched my nails to a favourite pair of glittery shoes in look AND texture, I used 3D nail art embellishments (twice!) and I did a ton of super detailed free-handed work. I’d say that puts me squarely in the win column!

The 10 manicures I’ve highlighted in the photo gallery above are my favourites from the past month. If you’d like to see all 31 of my challenge entries, you can find them here under the tag OMD3NAILS. But if you’re simply curious as to which are my preferred manis from the challenge, they would be the following 10, in no particular order of fondness:

1. Little House on the Prairie-inspired foodie nails.

2. Glittery stiletto-inspired textured nails.

3. Adventure Time princess nails.

4. Lush, vibrant seaweed nails.

5. Simpsons nails, featuring the drunken fish of the Duff Gardens Beerquarium.

6. Opal ring-inspired nails.

7. Tinkerbell-inspired nails.

8. Skull and crossbones glitter nails.

9. Knuckle duster, tattoo-type nails.

10. Refreshingly simple, blue-on-blue branch nails.

And for the third year in a row (although I have only participated the last two), thanks go out to the ladies of Craftynail, Eeeek! Nail Polish!, Brijits Digits and Nail That Accent for hosting the challenge, creating some really fun themes and putting together some very tempting prizes, which I of course am hoping I will win. See you all next year!

Gallery of Canadiana

I popped over to the Weather Network for a moment to check on tomorrow’s forecast for Canada Day. I live in the nation’s capital, and as such, there’s always tons of patriotic parties and one huge blowout of music and fireworks on Parliament Hill, seat of our good nation’s government. It’s quite the event if you’re into crowds, heat, road closures, Blue Rodeo, sunburns and moderate public intoxication. I’m actually not into any of those things (Blue Rodeo excepted; 5 Days in May is a favourite song) so I tend to stick pretty close to home come Canada Day, but it still bums me out to see that tomorrow’s forecast is calling for thunder storms and rain. Take it from a person who may have spent a bit of time doing precisely this, but there’s nothing worse than trying to get your public drink and sun stroke on in a humid downpour. Heh, although one year when Mr. Finger Candy and I lived just a few blocks away from Parliament Hill, we stood on our balcony and laughed uproariously at all the red and white-clad tourists ineffectually pelting down the street to avoid a massive rainstorm that just sort of spun itself out of nothingness. I’m not sure we come out looking so well in that story, but at least we stopped short of taunting, right? Because we’re polite Canadians like that.

This little gallery encompasses some of my more patriotic posts and manis, from the traditional (redwhitemapleleaf) to the not-so traditional (Mr. Dressup’s Tickle Trunk and the Trailer Park Boys.) There’s also a bit of nail art that never fails to make me laugh, last year’s attempt at beaver nails, which I joked at the time really came out looking more like dogs with conjunctivitis. And indeed they still do!

Rainbow Wrap-Up

‘Round about Wednesday of this nearly-completed week, just as I was putting the finishing touches on a yellow-hued manicure, I realized that the two preceding manicures I had done were red, and then orange (well, coral, which is a type of orange!) Seeing as I was already halfway there, I decided to go on ahead and seek out the end of the rainbow, and planned the rest of the week’s manis in accordance with the new colour themes. A happy accident that led to a lot of fun new nail adornment, including some long overdue Sims nail art and the reemergence of a favourite textured polish. I’d highly recommend falling into an accidental pattern of some sort every now and then; this one certainly prompted me to stretch beyond the usual, while still giving me a nice little framework within which to work. Here’s what I got up to this past week!

Monday started with a simple swatch of a mega juicy jelly, Models Own Rhubarb Custard. Squish, squish, squish – this polish looks like a jiggly cube of Jello.

Tuesday‘s nails were quite popular; tone-on-tone holographic corals in a free-handed type of knit design.

Wednesday‘s mid-week nails were also a hit; bumblebee-inspired, black and yellow (and blue) nail art.

Thursday I honoured my favourite video game (or most obsessed-over video game), the Sims, with a neon green mani rich in Vitamin Plumbob.

Late Thursday evening I posted a second mani, this time a simple brushed-on gradient in peacock blue shades from a favourite collection of jelly polishes, Mentality’s Glazing Art Set.

Friday I got punny with it, drawing inspiration from a friend’s corny joke for some perfectly purple floral chive nails.

And Saturday saw the end of the rainbow with another super popular swatch, this time of Nicole by OPI’s pink sugar-dusted Candy is Dandy, a textured beauty I don’t show nearly enough love.

The A-Team

Without getting too nihilistic on you, friends who come here to see nail art but instead get lured into 1,200-word diatribes on my cats and/or The Lost Boys, 2014 was a bad, bad year. To be sure, there were some lovely, wonderful moments – new babies! an unexpectedly fun road trip! the discovery of Misfits! – but for my family at least, and a distressingly large number of my friends and acquaintances, 2014 was a year defined by loss, grief and hardships great and small. I won’t be sorry to see it go.

Okay, so 2014 sucked. But do you know what didn’t? These nail polishes! Which seems like the ultimate in ridiculous non sequiturs, but really, in a year that’s been as unpleasant as the past one, why shouldn’t we take a moment to appreciate the things that gave us a bit of joy, even those as immaterially material as silly old nail polish? No good reason that I can think of! And so I present to you this photo gallery of the polishes that rocked my world this year, a motley assortment of holos and flakies and industrially chunky glitters that prove that good things – and sometimes good, don’t-hate-the-world feelings – truly do come in small packages. 😉

Sitting atop the heap and not included in this gallery is my pick for polish of the year, Candy Lacquer’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink glitter, Candy Cane Fiesta. I’ve expounded on its loveliness – some may say at length! – so I’ll say no more before it develops a swelled head.

The following nine are presented in no particular order or ranking – they’re across-the-board beautiful and so well made, I’ve found uses for them in multiple manis this year, and will continue to well into the new year. Here’s to the little lacquered things!

1. Polish Me Silly’s pink, white and blue glitter topper, Mr. Bubble.

2. Smitten Polish’s red shimmer-infused purple jelly, You Saucy Minx.

3. KB Shimmer’s Hawaiian Punch-in-a-bottle, Belle of the Mall.

4. KB Shimmer’s grass green glitter jelly, Get Clover It.

5. Orly’s silver holo of the year, Mirrorball.

6. Dance Legend’s cobalt blue jelly flakie, Sun Still Sleeps.

7. Candy Lacquer’s super fruity matte glitter, Citrus Smoothie.

8. KB Shimmer’s Frozen-in-a-bottle, Snow Much Fun.

9. Polish Me Silly’s pink-to-gold-to-green chrome flakie, Stop Flaking on Me.

Polish Me Silly’s polishes are available through their Etsy shop. You can find KB Shimmer’s wares through their own site if you’re an American customer, or through Harlow & Co.’s site if you’re an international customer. Smitten Polish’s goods are available through their Big Cartel site, as are Candy Lacquer‘s. Orly polishes are available at brick and mortar Sally Beauty Supply shops, as well as their website. Finally, Dance Legend polishes are best and most reliably acquired through international stocklist Llarowe’s website.

Joyeux ‘Ween, One and All!

I’m taking a break from my usual nail art and blogging activities today on account of the fact that it is my 10th wedding anniversary! Ten years doesn’t seem like a particularly long time (and my husband and I are thankfully both on on the same page that it doesn’t feel like a long time), but when I think about all of the couples, married or not, that I’ve known over the years that are now no more, I realize what a very rare accomplishment a decade of marriage truly is. Plus there’s that part where we’ve co-existed now for over 10 years without completely losing our minds, which is a tremendous achievement in and of itself! He also fixes my computer, which means we can’t ever part – do you know how hard it is to find quality IT support that will work for homemade mac and cheese? VERY.

So while I’m off being all nostalgic and lovey dovey with Mr. Finger Candy (around here that means I swear furious blood vengeance on the player that scooped his special holiday box in GTA V this afternoon – screw with my man’s avatar, will you?!), I thought I’d acknowledge the other importance this day has, namely ghosts and goblins, oogies and boogies and, of course, sweet candy greed with a gallery of some of my favourite Halloween manicures from the past two years. Perhaps you’ll find the perfect one to adorn your nails this evening, whatever spooky fun you get up to. As always, stay safe tonight, gang, and Happy Halloween!

31 Day Wrap-Up

Phew, that was a wild month of all Disney manis on your all Disney station, all the Disney time. DisneyDisneyDisney! Disney.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I thought it would be a fun and useful exercise to look back over the Disney-centric manicures I entered in the now-completed 31 Day Nail Art Challenge to see what worked, what didn’t and how I can make life easier on myself the next time I enter one of these month-long nail art challenges (and here’s hoping I learn any lessons quickly, because I’m taking part in two in October on Instagram. No one ever said I like to make things easy on myself.)

The main lesson I’m taking away from this experience is that unlike the last month-long challenge I participated in, I was actually able to keep pace with this one. I credit that with a blessed reprieve from some of the personal silliness that has dominated my life for the past six months, to say nothing of the fact that I didn’t have to travel during this challenge. Because do you know what really doesn’t work very well as a portable hobby? Nail art. Creative nail art. And nail art challenges that call for a mani a day. And so I was perpetually behind and always playing catch-up. So I guess what I’m saying is don’t let pesky things like life get in the way of your nail art challenges? No, I’m kidding – but really, don’t try to travel and keep up with your nail art. Plan ahead and sock a few manis away for a rainy day.

In hindsight, I also think I was able to more easily keep pace with this challenge because I set a fun sub-challenge for myself (31 days of Disney-influenced manicures) that kept me inspired and entertained and gave me a constrained, but still pretty vast, framework within which to mess around. As a result, I tackled all sorts of manicures I’ve toyed around with trying, only to put off until my skill improved. Well, my skill wasn’t going to improve without me actively putting brush to nail, and so with this challenge as my excuse, I finally did, ultimately creating two of my favourite manicures to date (I’ll let you guess, but given my propensity for creepy theme park rides, you already know it’s this one and this one) and surprising myself with some improved detail work I’m not the least bit ashamed of.

I also really loved the opportunity to think outside the Disney box and find challenge-appropriate sub-themes, be they book, movie, character, ride or attraction, that weren’t the most obvious of choices. Sure, there’s nails inspired by Elsa’s gotta-be-everywhere-by-now coronation dress, but there’s also a manicure inspired by a 1954 storybook and a geodesic sphere and an in-the-dark roller coaster! Simply aiming for the unexpected opened up a whole new world of fun possibilities, and kept me coming back with a new manicure every day with pleasure, instead of viewing it as a bit of a creative burden.

I’ll wrap up this wrap-up (in the publishing biz they call it a post-mortem) by taking a look back at a gallery of nine of my favourite designs from the past 31 days. But for a couple of duds (Frankenweenie), I loved nearly every mani I did over the past 31 days, with these nine emerging as my most favouritest. I hope you like them, too. 🙂