The Lacquer Legion: Reinvention

Totally pumped to be sharing my first post for The Lacquer Legion! If you haven't heard about the LL yet, check out my introduction post. Basically, once a month me and my LL pals (Chalkboard Nails, Work/Play/Polish, and The Nailasaurus) put out a theme for a mani challenge for everyone to do! And of course, we do it too.
This month's theme is Reinvention.

The idea I had for reinvention was to finally try the reinvented version of stamping - making decals with stamping images!
A lovely tutorial was recently posted by my girl heartNAT, and once I saw it I had to do it ASAP.
But with bows. Obvi.

It's a little confusing to explain without watching the video, but here's the quick explanation:
1. Pick up an image on your stamper and let it dry.
2. Fill in the parts you want to color while it is still on the stamper. It doesn't have to be neat because you're actually working on the back of the design. But be careful not to bleed outside of the outermost areas. Let that dry.
3. Coat the whole thing in topcoat and let it dry again.
4. Carefully peel the fully-dried decal off of your stamper, trim the edges if need be, and apply to your nail on top of a coat of wet topcoat.
5. Add more topcoat to seal it in. Tada!

I did the base gradient using Lime Crime - Parfait Day and Lime Crime - Once In A Blue Mousse.
For the decal I used Konad Black, and filled it in with China Glaze - That's Shore Bright.
The studs are from Dollar Nail Art.
I'm loving all the components of this manicure and it is very me. Girly, but with studs also. Ha!

I freakin' love this method because it opens up a lot of possibilities. It is definitely a reinvented nail technique! I'm probably going to be obsessed with this now because I just want this bow on everything. Everythingggggg.

Have you guys done a Lacquer Legion manicure yet? It's not too late! Be sure to tag your posts on social media with #LLreinvention so we can see them! And share 'em on our Facebook page.
Hope you liked this post and I'll see you again shortly for the next Lacquer Legion challenge!

Influenster + Sally Hansen Total Knockout VoxBox #CSMTKO

Hey guys! I've got a pretty cool post today for you! I received a VoxBox to review from Influenster, and it just so happened to be a Sally Hansen review box!

However I kinda have quite a few complaints about the box, but I did make one kick ass mani with the polishes. So take what you will from this review.



I was really looking forward to this box but I have to say I was a little disappointed upon opening my box. First of all, the blue polish had leaked all over itself and the other polishes. This seemed to be a common complaint on Instagram from other people posting photos of blue messes. And there was also some complaints about the way the polishes were bubbled wrapped, or the lack thereof. Mine were all together in one small piece of bubble wrap, which wasn't great, but some people had none at all! I think this was a pretty big blunder for a review box being sent to a lot of big polish fanatics like me.

Besides the packaging problems, my other complaint is about the colors they picked for the box. Based on the teaser emails and stuff they were sending, I was expecting greatness! New colors, new collections! Something exciting! But inside my box I found three of the most common colors you'd find in anyone's polish stash. Red jelly and tiffany blue? REALLY?
I know that the Complete Salon Manicure line has some fun colors (especially the new glitters!) and some excellent formulas. But the chosen colors were lackluster and the formulas were completely mediocre.

Jaded, the tiffany blue/turquoise, is extremely sheer. (And looks just like China Glaze's For Audrey, color-wise, not to mention the 4,000 dupes.)
Red My Lips, the red jelly, isn't horrible but it isn't spectacular. (And it's just like every other red jelly ever.)
Pat On The Black, the blackened-purple, is a nice color but it is not as opaque as it should be. Two coats should be enough for a color this dark but that is not so. (And it's just like OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark among many others.)

That being said, I have a couple other CSM polishes that I adore! So I don't wanna just hate on the brand entirely. They have some with amazing formulas and fun colors. Plus I do seriously love their brush and find it super easy to paint with. I think with better color choices, this box could have had far better reception.

Buuuuut like I said, I made a great manicure with the polishes!

I chose to do a messy-gradient with Jaded and Red My Lips, and then accent it with some basket weave striping done with Pat On The Black.

I'm actually really in love with the results so overall I am happy with this VoxBox because it allowed me to create a really fun manicure! I've always wanted to try the basket weave look.

I used a medium striper brush to do the detail and I had to go over the lines twice to get them opaque enough. I did the gradient using a sponge but I didn't want to blend them seamlessly, I wanted it to be rough. Not sure why but that is what I was feeling! Haha.

I feel kinda mean to be making so many complaints but hey, that's the nature of honest reviews right?
And it all turned out okay because it made a nice manicure!




Watch the Instagram video I posted with the manicure above!

Hope you guys liked this post! Did you guys get this VoxBox? Lemme know what you thought!

Product provided for honest review.

rebecca likes nails turns 3! + GIVEAWAY!

Hey guys! Get excited! It's time for the...

The time has come for another blogiversary celebration! Three whole years and I still can't thank all you lovely people enough for supporting me all this time! Even when things become a bit... Sporadic. Haha!

I'm feeling great about what the year has in store for RLN, so let's start the year off right with some giveaway goodies!

One lucky winner will receive the following prize package!
- piCture pOlish Siren Song (created by yours truly!)
- OPI Fit to be Tied Gift Set (with Russian Navy & Polka.com + hair tie bracelets!)
- OPI Fingerless Gloves (for warm hands while polishing!)
- Layla Hologram Effect - Coral Glam (super holo goodness!)
- Joe Fresh - Iris (a favorite Canadian polish!)
- GOSH - Ashy Grey (from the adorable Oh My Gosh line!)
- Benefit Bad Gal Lash (cute deluxe travel size for your purse!)
- Pop Beauty Eyeshadow Trio in Smokin Hot (we all love a good smokey eye!)
- Mica Beauty Tinted Lip Balm in Natural (girls need their lip balm!)

I hope you guys like the little prize I put together. I can't wait to send it to one of you!
This giveaway is open internationally and will run through February 6th, 2014.
Entering the giveaway is simple! Use the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dermablend Cover Creme Foundation Review!

And now for something completely different...
A makeup review!! What the what?!

That's right, I'm branching out. I am somewhat hesitant in this new endeavor because it means posting pictures of my face (gasp) which means taking 4,001 photos before deciding one is decent enough for the internet to see. I truly don't know how you veteran makeup bloggers do it all the time! I feel so self conscious doing it but hey, let's jump in with both feet.
I'm pretty excited about it too because I recently have become a total makeup junkie. Nail polish is a GATEWAY DRUG.

Here's what has prompted this whole thing: I was sent a really cool product to try out: Dermablend Cover Creme Foundation from Nail Polish Canada. (Me and NPC, branching out together! Haha! Watch out, makeup world.)

Read my review after the jump.

sprinkle all the way

Heeeeello! As I sit here trying to locate textbooks for yet another semester of university, I stumbled upon something different: a really old manicure I never posted.
I'm pretty sure it's over a year old. What's funny is that I know exactly why I never posted it - I kept wanting to swatch all of these Sprinkles polishes from Nails Inc before posting a mani but then I just never got around to it! Maybe someday...

For now, a cute mis-matched-mani!

My dear friend Jini sent me three of the Nails Inc Sprinkles ages ago and I wore these right away!
The pink is Nails Inc - Topping Lane and the blue is Nails Inc - Pudding Lane.

One look at these bottles and you know I need them, right?
I've got all four of the full size colors and I really want the little limited edition Ice Cream set with the mint sprinkles polish but it was neverrrrr in stock at Sephora when I was ordering. Boo.

Seeing as it was so long ago, I don't exactly remember the formula on these. But it looks like it was good? Haha!

Makes me want to go put one on right now! That, or eat some ice cream. Or both.

Zoya - Giovanna

Leave it to me to break three nails just as I start blogging (almost) every day again. My nails are shorter right now than ever!! And oh man they are painful too. They're not used to being stubs. Sad face.
So until they grow back in a little I'll have to round up some photos from the past few months that I haven't posted yet!

Today I've got swatches of a pretty green polish from Zoya.

Zoya - Giovanna
I have a total soft spot for greens, especially emerald green. So naturally I love this shade!
I got this bottle in my Ipsy bag for October and I was totally pumped that I got the green and not red or blue.

The formula is flawless, just two coats to cover evenly and I had no issues with staining.

I wore this color alone for a couple of days, and then I added some green glitter!

Adding Shimmer - Linna on top was like the magic touch! It was so pretty. But the reflective nature of Giovanna made it impossible to capture how good the glitter looked on top. It blended in great and I had wonderful sparkly green nails! Just how I like it.

distressed nails à la chalkboard nails!

As soon as Sarah from Chalkboard Nails gave me a sneak peek of her Distressed Nails, I pretty much recreated them instantly. Like, within the hour.
The design and the colors were just perfect for me and I had to do it!

I even used some of the same colors that Sarah did because we share a mutual L.U.V. for the China Glaze pastel neons from the Sunsational Collection.

The purple is China Glaze - That's Shore Bright.
The turquoise is China Glaze - Too Yacht To Handle.
The pink is China Glaze - You Drive Me Coconuts.
For the white base I used Color Club - French Tip and for the black I used Color Club - Where's The Soiree?

The trick to getting this look is brushing almost all of the polish off of the brush and then adding random strokes to create almost smudge-like areas of color. It's simple and quick and fun! The best part is that you don't have to be neat at all so you truly can't mess it up.
And it's really easy to get your non-dominant hand to look just as good!

I totally love this look. Thank you Sarah for all the inspiration, girl!
 Now if only I could get my photos to look as good... Haha!

Welcome to The Lacquer Legion!

Hey everyone! I'm really excited to be sharing this post with you today - get ready for a new nail art initiative!
As a community, nail art and nail polish enthusiasts love helping each other out and being a part of group projects! I could name a bunch off the top of my head (such as the 31 Day Challenge) and they're definitely a favorite of the participants and readers alike.  We all know how hard it can be to get inspired for nail art, and collaborating definitely helps us keep going, makes us push ourselves to try new things, and we all work better when we work together!
So when my friend Sarah of Chalkboard Nails came to me about wanting to start a new community nail project, of course I was in.

With the help of two other lovely ladies - Leslie of work / play / polish and Sammy aka The Nailasaurus - we have formed The Lacquer Legion, and we hope you'll join in and be as excited as we are!

The Lacquer Legion will be a once-a-month, no-pressure endeavor, where we will put out a theme/prompt for your interpretation. On a set day, we all will post our resulting manicures! And we will use a hashtag to keep all our posts together and make them easy to find across social media.

And hey, we all find ourselves in a slump sometimes - no biggie if you don't wanna participate every month. The commitment is low but the end results should be great!

So what's the first theme?

Reinvention! This theme is really perfect for me especially, considering the blog reinvention I am working on. I really couldn't be more excited about all that is going on! And I'm delighted to be sharing this great opportunity with the rest of the Lacquer Legion and all of you guys!

If you have any questions, pop on over to facebook.com/thelacquerlegion for more info (be sure to “Like” it for updates)! The four of us will be watching the page to answer any questions.
We really hope you will participate in this awesome opportunity to have some fun with fellow members of the nail community!

OPI - Baby Please Come Home

Hey everyone! If you're reading this on a blog reader you might not have noticed, but I have a new blog layout! And I am pretty darn fond of it. Yet another step into the new year of blogging for me!

Another thing to note - OMG I hate the winter and I never leaving my house again! If you're in Canada or the parts of the US suffering from this storm you probably know all about it. So much snow... And so little electricity. We lost it for most of yesterday and we froze our butts off. And now they keep shutting it off to different places periodically throughout the day to "conserve" the power so we don't blow it all again. I feel like I am living in the dark ages! HA! Energy conservation? What is that?! iPad, iPhone, laptop, camera, charge charge charge!
I think we are in for a loooong, hard winter.

Today while I've got some power I decided to post about another Liquid Sand from OPI.

OPI - Baby Please Come Home
This is another polish from the Mariah Carey holiday collection from OPI which was a giant collection with 12 shades plus 6 Liquid Sands and a special white gold/silver flake topcoat. 
I've picked up my fair share of products from the collection and I will definitely be posting about all the sands because that's how I do.

It's hard to tell from my photos but this has a bit of a lilac hue to it, and can look really purple in certain lights.

I think I photographed this late at night so the purple wasn't coming out to play, and just the rich gunmetal tones. It looks gorgeous either way. I really like wearing this one because it's not neutral but it isn't crazy either. Feels a little luxurious.

Not to mention how cool the metallic + textured finish is. It's so sparkly and reflective that you almost forget that it is matte! All of these Liquid Sand releases were huge hits for me!
Also check out my swatch of Kiss Me At Midnight, with more to come soon.

Urban Decay - Vice

Hey guys! Today I'm going to be posting about one of Urban Decay's new relaunched nail polishes!
A couple of months ago they released two shades and then two more have come out for the holidays. So far I own three... I gotta get that last one but I have spent so much money on UD in the last few months, I need a break! (Plus it ain't on Sephora...)



Aren't these the most badass bottles you've ever seen? I'm in love! They're the kind of bottle that does not hide away in my drawers of polish, and they get to sit on a shelf and look purdy! Not to mention the beautiful polish within them.

Urban Decay - Vice is a deep dark purple with multi-tonal shimmer showing sides of pink or blue depending on the way you look at it. The formula is dreamy, needing just two coats to look nice and smooth and rich. 

The bottles are so detailed, it feels like they really put a lot of effort into creating this product and I just love seeing that from a brand. That's one of the reasons I am so obsessed with everything by Urban Decay - you can just tell they love creating their products and spend a lot of time making them perfect.

I legit think I should work for Urban Decay. Dreamssssssss.

I am an Urban Decay hoarder and I am not sorry! Do you own any of these beauties?
I'll be posting the other two that I have in the near future to keep up my new-year-new-posts attitude! Hehe!

december haul 2013

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!
Have you guys been making any resolutions for 2014? I know I have one big one that is always on my mind... My blog! 2013 was a bad year for me and my blog, because for a while I was just too sick to give it any attention, and then the habit just... stuck. I always promise my readers and myself that I will be back, but this time I really want to mean it.
I plan to start posting as much as I can, with the best stuff that I can. At least twice a week to start out but hopefully more!
I really love blogging and all that it has done for me and I'm sure not ready to quit. My three year blogaversary is coming up in 2 weeks - let's get this party started again!

So we will begin 2014 with a post about how much polish I hauled in December. And it wasn't very much because I have been showing such restraint! No more 80-polish-a-month hauls for me, folks.

With some help from a blog sale, I added four polishes to my Canadian Collection by OPI, so now I have half of the collection. I must finish it!! (Plus I got one other polish for good measure.)
OPI - Don't Wine, Yukon Do It!
OPI - Nice Color Eh?
OPI - Van-couvered In Snow
OPI - Canadian Maple Leaf
OPI - Grape, Set, Match



I found a lot of Essence goodies in December at my local Shoppers Drugmart. There were two new displays and I came across both when they were full! One was a Justin Bieber collection which was not something that interested me much but I really wanted the paperprint manicure set! And a purple polish came home that day also... The rest are from the Metal Glam collection, which seem like great stamping polishes! Plus a "gold" leaf topcoat so I can stop rationing my real gold one! Ha!
Essence - paperprint manicure solution + transfer papers
Essence - Baby, Baby, Ooh! (...lol)
Essence - Steel-ing the Scene (gold topper)
Essence - Steel-ing the Scene (I have no idea why two have the same name)
Essence - Petal to the Metal
Essence - Gold Digger



I bought myself some more pricey goodies as a Christmas present... Ha! (Also check out that backdrop in my photo... It's a bandeau from Victoria's Secret. I had an awesome haul there during their semi-annual clearance... But that doesn't get counted here!)
Urban Decay - Zodiac
Formula X for Sephora - Hyped 



A polish came in my December Ipsy Glam Bag but I don't think I'll keep it. It's just like some old stand bys such as OPI's You Don't Know Jacques.
Nicka K - Classic Taupe

That's fourteen if you include the paperprint solution. Not bad! And most of them were cheapie cheapie!
Next month is already looking a little worse considering this is only the 3rd and I bought 14 already... Ha! I'll slow down.

Here's to 2014, everyone!