Syl and Sam

Vivienne Tam Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

***FYI, If you'd like to catch up on ALL our updates on Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week chronologically start by CLICKING HERE and when you get to the bottom, click on Newer Post!***

Our Chictopia Editors meetup was a bit smaller than it was originally supposed to be. While there were 4 of us there, we were missing Amethyst, our Editor in Chief & Heather aka headbandit.

Samantha & Monique aka PetiteAvenue. They're both equally petite, if you ask me ;)

Samantha & Odelia aka Looney Lovegood

Sam & Syl, Monique & Odelia.
We went over to the Starbucks nearest the Lincoln Center to grab a couple of drinks & to get acquainted with each other. It was really interesting talking to these girls cause we were all in NYC for the same reasons-- we have the common ground of being fashion/style bloggers but we all come from different places in North America. We were all such chatterboxes too, so we hit it off great :)

we had a good laugh at this spelling, tbh.

petite princesses~

you're a doll monique! go check out her blog!

We were supposed to go see the NOMIA presentation at 6:30 (just before the Vivienne Tam show) but the presentation started late & we couldn't miss the next show, so we had to dash :(

[ VIVIENNE TAM, WEDNESDAY @ 7PM ]

Not to overshadow the brilliance of this dress but in the background of this picture are: Bebe Neuwirth, Russell Simmons and someone's pet pomeranian in front row! ahaha

A beautiful collection of understated Asian influences! Looking to Mongolia and Nepal for inspiration, the fall/winter layers and warm furs were nothing short of luxurious.

For more photos of the collection and a review of the show, check out Vivienne Tam Fall/Winter 2012 at Chictopia.com
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Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Nanette Lepore Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-20T16:54:00.000-05:00

***FYI, If you'd like to catch up on ALL our updates on Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week chronologically start by CLICKING HERE and when you get to the bottom, click on Newer Post!***

On the rainy Wednesday, on our last day of shows, we went to check out the Nanette Lepore Collection & then had a meetup with some of the other Editors from Chictopia!

leatherette jacket from h&m; purse by treesje; colourblock dress by lipgloss and black, belt by betsey johnson; shoes by jeffrey campbell

rayban wayfarer glasses in havana; leather motojacket by ub; chambray button-up by bluenotes; beaded bustier with peplum, vintage; bamboo mini skirt by lipgloss and black; nightwalk shoes by jeffrey campbell, from solestruck; pashmina borrowed from sam

[ NANETTE LEPORE, WEDNESDAY @ 11AM ]

Nanette walked down the runway for her bow with her daughter Violet!
The collection was beautiful & saturated with rich, sophisticated hues of purples and reds, contrasted with punches of chartreuse and fuchsias. With pretty bohemian patterns and girly cuts, this runway was full of playfulness that the audience loved.

rufus & lily from gossip girl and kristin chenoweth, sitting just 7 rows in front of us!

stanley tucci

arianna huffington
yeah, these are creepy pictures. haha

tyson beckford. fave model when i was like, 12. nbd.

For more street style photos of guests at the show, check out our article on Street Style at Nanette Lepore Fall/Winter 2012 at Chictopia.com
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Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Emerson Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-20T15:10:00.000-05:00

***FYI, If you'd like to catch up on ALL our updates on Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week chronologically start by CLICKING HERE and when you get to the bottom, click on Newer Post!***

[ EMERSON, TUESDAY @ 9PM ]

can you see shenae grimes in front row? haha

eric west & leigh lezark (wearing emerson!) in front row.

designer of emerson, Jackie Fraser-Swan, gives kisses to her bbs! :)

& that's the end of Tuesday ♥

Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Lars Andersson Fall/Winter 2012 at NYFW

2012-02-20T14:15:00.000-05:00

We had a huge gap between shows on Tuesday, so we decided to fit in all of the super-hustle-bustle tourism stops that we wanted to fit in.

times square

nbc studios

the observation deck at the top of 30 rock

We had gotten used to shows starting about 15 to 20 minutes late and presentations going on for longer than they were scheduled for, so when it was time to head over to the Lars Andersson Presentation at the Soho Grand, we ended up pushing it a bit late, especially since it was super FAR from our hotel.

[ LARS ANDERSSON, TUESDAY @ 6PM ]

We had really pushed it though & by the time we had told our names to the doorman, raced up a spiral staircase & sidestepped through a crowd, we only caught a glance at the collection for about two minutes & then the models walked away.

Despite missing much of the show, we were still able to take in the environment. The venue was gorgeously opulent and everything about the setting, lighting, guests and the collection was gloriously gothy. Everyone & everything was so dark and moody that it was intimidatingly cool.

& then we hurried back to the hotel to get ready to go to another show at the Lincoln Center

Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Norisol Ferrari Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-20T11:35:00.000-05:00

Tuesday started off with us being SUPER tired. We polished off two bottles of red at dinner the night before, not thinking about the fact that we still had to write some articles about our shows. It resulted in a VERY slow writing process (while watching late night sitcoms all night) and then sleeping in a bit in the morning.

neon fishtail dress by lipgloss and black; dany platform sandals by jessica simpson; leather motojacket from ub; leather driving gloves from le chateau; prescription wayfarers from zennioptical; purse from aldoshoes; pashmina borrowed from sam.

drapey black dress by lipgloss and black; leatherette jacket from H&M; rainbow galaxy leggings from black milk; clinic wedges from jeffrey campbell; purse from aldo.

Thankfully our first show was a presentation & it stays open for about an hour and a bit so you can just drop in. & luckily we made it too because this was one of our favourites:

[ NORISOL FERRARI, TUESDAY @ 9AM ]

For more photos of the collection and an article about the show, check out Norisol Ferrari Fall/Winter 2012 at Chictopia.com
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Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Reem Acra Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-17T23:00:00.000-05:00

Outside the Lincoln Center at night

[ REEM ACRA, MONDAY @ 3PM ]

met Coco! ahhhh, I was such a nerd when asking for this picture! Sam basically had to force me to approach her because I was too awkward and nervous.

& then we met Shenae Grimes (who is also an Ontarian) & she interviewed us about fashion and hair. ahahaha

& then had dinner at gaga's parent's new restaurant (amazing food!) and talked with Papa G about the Grammys, where he had just flown back from! [I blinked, fudgesicles.]

For more photos of the collection and an article about the show, check out Reem Acra Fall/Winter 2012 Show at Chictopia.com
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& all of that was only MONDAY! haha

Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Zang Toi Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

[ ZANG TOI, MONDAY @ 1PM ]

petra nemcova in front row

waited for the next show:

& spotted lara stone. amazing.

Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Negarin Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

At the big tent at the Lincoln Center, there's 4 main "rooms" within that stage each of the shows.
The runway shows happen in STUDIO, STAGE and THEATRE (in order from smallest to largest in terms of seating). and one smaller room called BOX that houses presentation shows.

We had never been to a fashion presentation before, but they exhibit for about an hour or an hour and a half-- and if you're lucky & your runway show lets out just at the right time, they invite you to come take a look at what they have showing in BOX! We had just stepped out from the Jenny Packham show & decided to check out Negarin.

Unfortunately, this last minute drop-in meant that we didn't read anything about the designer previously & the leaflet didn't provide much information about the inspirations for the collection. It was trippy walking into a room full of living mannequins-- it's really cute that the models spot you taking photos & will pose just for you! I found myself taking a picture, bringing my camera away from my face & then giving them a smile and a silent "thank you" & getting cute smiles back :)

[ NEGARIN, MONDAY @ 9AM ]

Sam getting interviewed after the show? I have no idea by who & about what.

Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

more soon.
xoxo
&

Jenny Packham Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-17T12:14:00.000-05:00

SO Sunday's update was pretty simple-- we got to New York, checked ourselves into our hotel & then went to one show! Falguni and Shane Peacock Fall/Winter 2012.

But Monday, we really kicked off our trip! We're going to try to roll out all of our updates in a few different posts so that things are organized. So let's do this in chronological order! :)

leather motojacket by ub; fur vest from forever21; spike necklace from forever21; dress shirt, old school uniform; cathedral leggings from black milk; nightwalk shoes by jeffrey campbell, from solestruck.

cropped sweetheart shirt by lipgloss and black; fishtail sheer skirt by lipgloss and black; purse by treesje; leg bones leggings from black milk; litas by jeffrey campbell.

Not sure if it was because we were in & out of the Lincoln Center so much that day or because of what we wore but we were street-style-spotted the MOST on this day!
chictini.com
nyc street cred
wreak havoc ny
realbeauty.com
vintage slang
fashionmunster

[ JENNY PACKHAM, MONDAY @ 9AM ]

fave look! ps, it's a jumpsuit!

spotted: kaylee de fer (from gossip girl!) and DITA VON TEESE. *died*

The looks were all inspired by a 1940's film noir vibe. Sleek silhouettes, figure hugging fabrics and glamourous silvery detailing. This collection was seriously lady-like & I see why Dita was sitting in the front row! All pieces were so wearable for a chic cocktail hour and the jazzy dubstep music really set the mood for the modern-day-old-hollywood-starlets walking down the runway!

And how amazing was the beauty?! The hair styles were so proper and the deep red "ombre lips" were stunning. Definitely a look I would want to work.

More photos of all our shows from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week are coming along :)
Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

xoxo
&

Falguni and Shane Peacock Fall/Winter 2012 at MBFW

2012-02-13T02:22:00.000-05:00

Much of today was spent in a car-- in fact, it took us about 11 hours to make it from just outside of Toronto to NYC! We had anticipated 8.5 hours of travel plus a few hours in there for rest stops and food too... but we ended up running so late because of some strange weather conditions in New York State. :(

We were hoping to do this:
- 3:00 - Check into hotel
- 4:00 - Buy unlimited 7-day metropass & subway to Lincoln Center
- 5:00 - Attend Falguni and Shane Peacock Show

Instead this happened:
- 4:30 - Arrive at hotel & frantically try to figure out valet parking and the logistics of bringing up a billion bags
- 4:45 - settle with wearing gross boots with salt stains from the snow
- 4:50 - walk full speed to the Lincoln Center instead of messing around with the subway we were unfamiliar with.
- 5:00 - make it exactly on time (but looking like bums)

Of course, being exactly on time is silly when everyone else is fashionably late!

[ FALGUNI AND SHANE PEACOCK, SUNDAY @ 5 ]

The fierce looks at Falguni and Shane Peacock with accessories by Ben Amun

Insane amounts of media coverage!

Check out our full coverage of Falguni and Shane Peacock Fall/Winter 2012 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, all made possible by Chictopia! Click on image to read it:

Photos by Sylvia and Samantha courtesy of Chictopia

The show was great though & we really got to take in the scale of things in New York. We saw our first few celebs at the show (Ashanti, Michelle Williams and Petra Nemcova haha) and we had an amaaaazing dinner at an Australian restaurant. Pretty low key day compared to what's coming up, so stay tuned & let us know what you think!

xoxo
&

MBFW packing list

2012-02-11T13:24:00.000-05:00

So in about 24 hours, we'll be in New York City c/o Chictopia for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week! We're going to primarily be posting on the Everybody is Ugly blog & we'll also be tweeting, instagramming & blogging about our own outfits here!

To start, we've been packing all day today! I'll spare us the shame & not show you a full shot of how our rooms really look-- the contents of our closets are on the floor & our bags are somehow still empty. gah!!

NEXT UPDATE SHOULD BE FROM NEW YORK STATE! ♥
I'm actually getting really shaky & sweaty. SO EXCITEDDDDD.

xoxo

baci + L&B giveaway winner!

2012-02-11T12:07:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Sam for winning our Baci Chocolates & Lipgloss & Black Giveaway! We'll be contacting you for your address today! Your Chocolates will be coming via snail mail & your gift certificate via email :)

xoxo
&

prepping for MBFW

2012-02-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

So as most of you guys know, we're being sent to NYC this week c/o Chictopia & we're covering a bunch of shows as we attend them! We're going to primarily be posting on the Everybody is Ugly blog & we'll also be tweeting, instagramming & blogging about our own outfits here!

I was so beyond excited when I first found out that it's been hard to process my emotions! I flip flop between complete indifference (because the reality hasn't sunken in yet) and moments of complete panic when I realize the number of designers, models & celebs I'll be breathing the same air as! hahaha.

We just received our schedule of what shows we'll be going to & I wanted to show you guys so you know what you'll be getting updates about!

all photos and graphics courtesy of www.mbfashionweek.com

For a full schedule of times & locations check out the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week site. I'm off to continue packing (aka surfing the internet for inspiration while occasionally typing a random word onto my packing list on excel. oh god, I'm never going to finish.)

xoxo

giveaway - baci chocolate + L&B (CLOSED)

2012-02-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a Baci Chocolate?

It's one of my favourite chocolates in the world! It's a traditional Italian treat that is made from gianduia chocolate (chocolate mixed with hazelnut creme) with chopped hazelnuts, a full hazelnut placed on top & dipped in rich dark chocolate. It's a chocolate that we all see every Christmas & Valentines day-- and for good reason! Baci means "kiss" in Italian & every single chocolate is wrapped with a special love note inside :)

I've had the pleasure of watching an Italian Master chocolatier make fresh Baci & I've been addicted ever since. There's a reason this recipe has been around for 90 years! I've been told that Baci was actually created by a chocolate maker, Giiovanni Buitoni & his wife Luisa Spagnoli, a fashion designer. Oh snap. Maybe we should start working on a chocolate recipe too! haha

Baci is having a massive giveaway right now on their website, facebook and twitter. Right now you can win a trip for two to ITALY in their Love Note Contest! You can enter up to 3 times daily (once on each platform!) and there are secondary prizes of gift certificates to Bed and breakfasts Canada!

In promotion of the HUGE giveaway above, Baci wants to show the readers of Syl & Sam a little bit of love too! In honour of Valentine's Day, they want to send you a prize pack of chocolates & a little something special from the L&B shop too!

THE PRIZE:
♥ 2 Baci Gift boxes (300g)
♥ 2 Baci magnetic tin hearts
♥ 1 Baci necklace
♥ $25 Lipgloss and Black Gift Card

MANDATORY ENTRY:
♥ follow Baci on twitter and leave a comment on this post with your twitter handle
OR
♥ follow Baci on facebook and leave a comment on this post with a link to your profile

(we ask for this information just so we can contact you if you win!)

HOW TO GET EXTRA ENTRIES:

♥ on twitter, RETWEET THIS TWEET and post the link to your tweet in a new comment
♥ on facebook, SHARE THIS POST & post your facebook name in a new comment
♥ you get ONE EXTRA entry for each promotion, but it MUST be posted as a new comment on this blog post (yes, we will check your links!)

DETAILS:
♥ open to contestants in Canada only!
♥ entries will be accepted until 11:59PM EST on Friday February 10, 2012
♥ the winners will be selected using a random number generator and contacted on February 11th via email.
♥ only comments on this blog post will be counted as official entries; we need each comment to be properly numbered in order use the random number generator!
♥ gift certificate will be distributed in the form of a coupon code via email. Your emails will not be saved or used for any other purpose.
♥ prize is not redeemable for cash value and cannot be returned or exchanged for any other prizes. Entire gift card value must be used in one purchase.
♥ Baci contains NUTS! hazelnuts! This is an allergy alert!

GOOD LUCK!

xoxo

tutorial - chocolate covered strawberry nails

2012-02-06T18:25:00.000-05:00

So I was trying to think up a cute Valentine's Day themed nail for this monday & I really wanted to stay away from the pink+red+hearts obviousness... I ended up thinking about the food (particularly the candies & chocolates) of V-day & I figured I'd paint up my favourite romantic treat-- chocolate covered strawberries :)

Here's the look we're going for:

You'll need:
- base coat nail polish
- any red nail polish
- any bright green nail polish
- a chocolatey brown nail polish
- a white nail polish & striper brush
- quick dry top coat
- toothpick

Start with a base coat & a couple coats of red polish

Next, take your green polish and either use a tooth pick or striper brush to paint the "leaves". With a toothpick, I just dabbed about 4 or 5 points at the base of the nail to form the strawberry hat :)

The take your chocolatey brown & paint the tip of the nail. This doesn't have to be a super straight line, as real chocolate covered strawberries aren't perfect either!

Then take your white polish & a striper brush and make little seeds all over the red that is still showing.

& there you go! Valentines-y & kitschy without being too obvious of a reference to the day we all love to hate (or love to love?)!

and while we're on the topic of delicious Valentines treats... we're going to be doing a quick Valentines giveaway this week, so check back soon & enter to win something delish!

xoxo

tutorial - tuxedo nails

2012-01-30T17:49:00.001-05:00

Last week, a girlfriend of mine (hello Mary Luz!) brought some cool nails to my attention. Apparently Zooey Deschanel posted a photo of her nails on her instagram. She captioned it “I am wearing a gown but my nails are wearing tuxedos!!! #goldenglobes”. Kudos to Zooey for being awesome & not doing a standard french tip for the red carpet! Since it's awards show season, I decided to do a look inspired by her nails today:

and here's what Zooey's looked like!

you'll need:
- base coat nail polish
- white nail polish
- black nail polish
- quick dry top coat
- black nail art pen

Start with a clear base coat and a couple coats of white polish

then take your black nail polish and paint each side of the tips of your nails at a diagonal angle. You should be forming a triangular shape-- this part is kinda like the "blazer" of your tux :)

Depending on the size of your brush & how skilled you are-- you might make a bit of a mess on your nails. If you worry about precision, you can easily use the tape manicure method to make the triangular shape.

Use a q-tip and some nail polish remover to take off any mess on the sides of your nails.

Now, using your nail art pen or brush, draw the bow tie by making a wide "X" shape & filling in the sides. Then draw 3 dots for buttons!

Do the rest of your nails :)

Top coat with some quick dry top coat & you're done!

Voila! & now you're ready for the red carpet too! Or maybe just your next award show watching party at home!
Thanks for the cuteness Zooey! ♥
xoxo

tutorial - fish tail skirt

2012-01-26T18:14:00.000-05:00

Want to make yourself a fish tail skirt? Revamp any old maxi skirt. Just check out our newest tutorial on Everybodyisugly.com!

meet the editors...

2012-01-26T15:04:00.001-05:00

When Sam & I began blogging for the Chictopia blog, we were told that the initiative was increased traffic to our blog, some tweets & emails promoting our articles & a trip to New York Fashion Week if we were in the top 3 bloggers after whatever time period.

Really, we were just excited to gain some new readers and expand our audience! We did our thing & made a DIY post every other Thursday since about October... and then last Thursday we received an email telling us that we came in the top THREE for receiving the most overall votes, comments, favorites, likes and tweets from the Chictopia community. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!?

Samantha and I will be heading down to NEW YORK CITY for our first time & checking out Mercedes-Benz fashion week FW2012! We're currently working on how we're going, where we're staying, & what we want to see while we're there. We're going to try our best to work out the phone data plan or free wifi thing so that we can tweet and blog while we're there to keep you guys in the loop! How much do you love it?! We are beyond excited & are SOOO thankful to Chictopia and to all of our amazing readers who were doing all the commenting and tweeting etc! ♥

xoxo
&

tutorial - chinese new year nails

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Lunar new year to all those out there celebrating this year! I went with a couple of pretty simple techniques for this manicure & I have a surprise at the end of the post for you too! Here's the look we're going for:

What you'll need:
- a base coat & top coat
- a red (opi mat-adore red)
- a golden yellow (la colors yellow)
- a makeup sponge
- a black nail art pen

start with a clear base & a couple coats of red, letting each coat dry in between. Let the colour completely dry before continuing.

then rip off a piece of your makeup sponge & apply some yellow onto it. Sponge the colour onto the tips of your nails in thin coats. For a full detailed tutorial for this ombre effect check out the post here

Use the sponge to do single thin coats of yellow. Build up your colour so it's darker at the tips & don't worry about the texture and the mess on your fingers.

Use a q-tip dipped in nail polish to clean up the yellow off the sides of your nails!

We just grabbed this nail art pen by sally hansen a couple weeks ago but never really tested it out yet.

Since it's in the form of a pen rather than a brush, the application is quite precise & really easy to handle. The formula is not supposed to go on bare nails or skin, so it's not the same consistency as actual nail polish. It's a bit more inky (watery) so I had to go over a couple of parts more than once.

On my nails, I wrote "Xin Nien Kwai Lo" (新年快乐) which means "happy new year"... but you can write other lucky sayings like "kung hay fat choi". YUP. Just let that dry and then swipe on a quick dry top coat in single, quick strokes.

There you go!

& just because it's the year of the dragon, I did a quick Chinese dragon on Sam's nails! (She's a dragon!)

恭喜发财!

tutorial - polka dotted nails

2012-01-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

It's manicure monday! Today's tutorial is going to be a pretty simple one. However, simple doesn't necessarily mean quick! It was a bit time consuming but the results are cute. I do admit that I needed a bit of help from Sylvia in the process but it was mainly for little things like...opening nail polish bottles that I didn't think of opening ahead of time!

So here is the look we're going for!

Syl & I looked around the house and found some random objects. Toothpick, dull pencil, dressmaking pin and paint brush. Basically pointy items of differing sizes...You can use as many tools as you would like. I used four but ended up with seven different colours of nail polishes...so you could probably imagine how many times I had to wipe my tools of the excess nail polish

Get some nail polish to dab on to a sheet of paper to prepare for dipping

You can test each tool to see if you're happy with it's "stamping" ablity and to test the size of the dots

Base coat and then coat your nails with your favourite nail polish. I decided to work with white but any light or maybe even dark colour will work!

These are the colours that I decided to stamp my nails with (excluding the white).

I don't have photos of the step by step stamping but basically dip and stamp all ten nails one or two times. Then move onto the next tool & colour. Continue until you're happy with the density and placement of the dots. Don't get too excited and create a big pallate of colours; work with one colour at a time because you don't want to work with half-dried polish.

This is my final result! I didn't want to stamp too much or little but don't be afraid to overlap some dots! Don't forget to top coat your spottie dottie nails!

Simple, fun...slightly time consuming. But cute!!

the x-out dress!

2012-01-13T20:15:00.001-05:00

To recap our previous post about X-Out, we were contacted by the people at Guthy-Renker to participate in a reconstruction project. They contacted a bunch of Fashion, Style and DIY bloggers to reconstruct a plain white American Apparel dress. The idea was to take inspiration from the bottle & the product's manifesto. All the dresses will then be sold via eBay auction & all proceeds will be donated to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center... so we'll let you know when the sales start to happen ;)

The bottle, with a simple colour palette of purple, black & white

The white dress that was our blank canvas to work on!
We were asked to pick from 3 different American Apparel white dresses & I went with the one above. I've always been a huge fan of making clothes with major details focused on the back. Not being a very chesty girl, I like to think that showing some skin at the back is an unexpected type of sexy. It was an easy choice!

After about a dozen sketches with "X" inspired details, I ended up going with a fabric weaving along the inserted side panels. The panels are made from black, purple and blue bamboo rayon fabric & are just attached at the seams, so they're left to drape naturally-- taut where the dress hugs your curves & loosely towards the hem. Since X-Out is a product dedicated to confidence & putting your best face forward, I decided to go with elements of reconstruction that I experimented with when I first started t-shirt reconstructions. Way back in high school, I remember taking my first shirt & shredding a corner to basket weave in a contrasting fabric. I sloppily used fabric glue to give it structure & keep the fabrics in place. It was a bit of a hack job but I remember being so proud of my first clothing DIY that I still wore it around with proudly. Fashion and reconstruction of fashion has been my passion for so long because of the confidence it gives me to stand tall & face the world. All it takes is throwing on a new dress!

So what do you think? I can't wait to see what other bloggers participated & what their dresses looked like! I'll keep you up to date with when the dresses go up for auction. :)

xoxo
&

galaxies & night walks

2012-01-12T13:49:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, how's it going?! This is my first blog post of 2012 so I thought that I would make it a enjoyable one :)
I hope the new year has been good to you so far! It's been a busy January for us but all is well!

On that note - just thought that I would share some photos of Jeffrey Campbells as well as my amazing new Black Milk Rainbow Galaxy Leggings!! (Which I have two pairs of - I need to try to sell my size Extra Smalls haha)

Just to list my shoes...starting from the top right: Tapestry Foxy Fab, Raid Wedges, Leopard Pixie Fur, Velvet Lita, Black Suede Night Walk, Silver Glitter Lita, Tick NS, Blue Leather Lita, Black Suede Mary Roks, Clinic & Grey Suede Meeker

The AMAZING Night Walks.

So I thought that I would mention that my beautiful Rainbow Galaxy Leggings are my second Black Milk item that I own. I'm on a roll, one item per year! Last January Syl and I posted a Outfit photos (I think it was our second one ever)

I was wearing the Black Milk Ribs Swimsuit but mine is in a deep navy. Not black. I love this swimsuit to death but I'm thinking about selling it because size Medium is too big for me. :(

Anyways, are you a Black Milk and/or Jeffrey Campbell fan? If so, what do YOU own?!?

tutorial - diy blanket poncho

2012-01-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

Wanna learn how to turn a blanket into a cozy winter accessory without looking like you're wearing a snuggie outside? Check out our fun & easy tutorial this week on the Chictopia blog!

tutorial - tape manicure

2012-01-10T00:10:00.001-05:00

Hi guys!

Please excuse our lack of posts (especially tutorials) over the holidays! It's been a crazy busy time for us & it's definitely one time of year that we really take some time to spend with family & friends. We're hoping to get back on track now & I just wanted to share an easy manicure technique today! It's quite similar to our half moon manicure but you can try more variations with this method! Here's the look we're going for:

you'll need:
- base coat polish
- any colour nail polish (I used OPI louvre or louvre me not)
- a contrasting colour nail polish (I used Sally Hansen Lilac)
- quick dry top coat
- tape

Start with a coat of base coat & a couple coats of your main colour.Make sure that this coat is *completely* dry before continuing! seriously, be patient!

Grab a couple pieces of tape

Then take the two pieces and form a triangle shape at the base of your nail

and then paint a couple of thin coats onto the nail

Let it dry a bit & peel off the tape!

An alternate method is to use a single piece of tape (cut it with scissors to get a clean edge) and cover the base of the nail and paint the rest of the nail. Got it?

Ta-da!

Do the same to the rest of your nails & finish with your quick dry top coat!

xoxo

the x-out project

2012-01-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

We were recently contacted by Guthy-Renker to participate in a project! The makers of Proactiv have a new product called "X Out".

They've enlisted a handful of Fashion, Style and DIY bloggers to create a dress inspired by X Out. All the dresses will then be sold via eBay auction & all proceeds will be donated to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center. We just received the package in the mail...

X Out stands for confidence and putting your best (breakout-free) face forward with just one simple step, like putting on a dress!

There's 3 methods for using this one-step product, as shown above!
Since I personally have SUPER sensitive skin, I'll be trying out this product as a spot treatment :)

We were also provided our choice of a white American Apparel dress to reconstruct. Using the bottle & the company's manifesto as inspiration, we're gonna start giving that blank canvas a makeover! We have a week to complete it, so look forward to the final photos soon!

xoxo
&

happy new year!

2012-01-05T15:51:00.004-05:00

On January 1st of last year, we decided that our new years resolution was to write a blog post per day for the entire year. The point was to find our place in the blogosphere & really find what we loved to blog about. We started off documenting our personal style, then focused more on DIY & by the last couple of months, we mainly blogged about nails. By the end of the year, we made it to 277 posts, so we were only 88 short! haha.

The point is, we had a wonderful year & racked up sooo many new followers and online friends. THANK YOU! Here are some of the top posts & highlights this year at Syl and Sam:

JAN:

FEB:

MAR:

APR:

MAY:

JUN: moved to our new studio!

JUL:

AUG:

SEP:

OCT:

NOV:

DEC:

Thanks for an awesome 2011, readers! We hope you stick with us through 2012 ♥

xoxo
&

277: tutorial - snowflake nails

2011-12-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

Tired of all that Christmas shopping yet? I sure am. So why not take a moment and slow down and do your nails? Time to be festive; today's manicure will be snowflake nails with the help of Konad of course!

Here are the completed snowflake nails. Perfect for the holidays!

What you need: Base coat, Red Nail Polish, Konad Special Nail Polish, Quick Dry Top Coat, Konad Stamp Plate, Konad Stamper, Konad Scraper

Today we'll be using the snowflake stamp!

After a basecoat - do one to two coats of red (or any colour of your choice!)

Wait for nails to dry and prepare to be quick at stamping!

Apply Konad Special Nail Polish to Konad Plate

Scrape away excess nail polish

Quickly stamp plate

Make sure that the nail polish has transferred onto stamp with no imperfections

Transfer stamp to nail - do not centre

This is the challenging part. Stamp second snowflake directly beside other one try place it as close as possible without overlapping the first stamp. Repeat on all nails, wait for the polish to dry completely. Apply quick dry top coat as fast as possible. If you apply top coat too slowly, it will smear the detailed Konad stamp.

There you go, amazing Konad Snowflake Nails! Now you can throw on your Ugly Christmas Sweater and attend your next Family Potluck dinner!

276: tutorial - gift box nails

2011-12-12T12:54:00.003-05:00

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT CONTINUED!
This week, I'm working on finishing all of my Christmas gift giving-- so I wanted to keep my nails festive to go with it & did this look:

pretty little packages!

Here's how we do it:

Start with a base coat, a light base colour, red, white striper and a top coat

I started with a base colour of turquoise

The taking the deep red, I drew on some squares at the corners of my nails

Continue drawing boxes on all of your nails

I randomized the directions of the boxes so they weren't too uniform

Take your striper brush and draw crosses on your boxes

Then draw a bow on top by drawing a super wide & short "X" shape

Then topcoat with a quick dry & you're done!

Festive right?!

Are you done your holiday shopping yet?! eek!

xoxo

275: diy shoeaholic christmas stocking

2011-12-09T15:40:00.000-05:00

Check out our new tutorial on Everybody Is Ugly!

Learn how to make your own stylish shoe stocking!
Check it out, make it your own, share your art, comment, vote, and favourite!

274: tutorial - peppermint candy nails

2011-12-05T23:55:00.000-05:00

It's the holiday season and I absolutely love the candy canes and peppermint candies involved. Who doesn't? So with the holiday season upon us we thought that peppermint nails would be a more than suitable tutorial.

You'll need:

-Base Coat
-Orly Instant Artist polish (or another thin brush nail polish)
-Red Nail Polish
-Quick Dry Top Coat

Apply base coat, let dry and then paint nails red

Let red coat dry, start painting diagonal lines

Continue painting lines in various thicknesses

Allow nails to dry and apply Quick Dry Top Coat

Voila! Perfect nails for any holiday get together. It's so simple but we're sure you'll love the results!!

263: cake balls

2011-11-29T09:31:00.001-05:00

So it was my bff's engagement party this past weekend. She told us a bit last minute that we could bring baked goods for the desert table because it's a greek tradition... so I whipped up my first ever batch of cake balls (just like cake pops, minus the sticks) & it was actually really easy! The recipe is insanely simple, it's mainly the chocolate coating and decorating that take a bit more dexterity and patience! Check out the process:

Start with baking some cakes. I made a pack of Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake, which is pretty much foolproof! Bake 'em & let them cool too!

Throw all of the cake into a big bowl & mix them until they're crumbly

Grab a matching frosting!

Spoon in about half the tub of frosting and keep mixing

The cake & frosting mix should be a bit pasty & moldable now!

Scoop up some teaspoon-fulls into the palm of your hand and form some balls.

Do that about 85 times. ahahha
& refrigerate for a couple of hours so that they're dippable

Now grab a handful of molding chips & put them into a bowl. You can microwave them for about 20 seconds at a time, taking them out and stirring to make sure the heat is evenly distributed.

Once you have the chocolate melted, just dip your cake balls into it & drip off the excess and place them onto some wax paper to set. I don't have any photos of that process because it was sorta time-consuming and labour intensive & I just forgot :(

Then you can take any extra chocolate & melt it in a ziploc bag, cut off the tip & decorate!

They're so delicious & really rich too! Make sure to make each ball pretty small so that you don't OD on sugar after eating just one. They were a hit with my girlfriends too! Congrats to the happy couple on their engagement! Love you J&J!

xoxo

262: tutorial - nail care basics

2011-11-28T15:35:00.005-05:00

This post is all about the basics of nail polish application & a bit of nail care too! Things in here are pretty simple & I do think some of you nail-pros will already know all of the following, but I've been getting questions about it, so here it is & I'll be adding more tips to this post in the future! Hopefully it's helpful to some of you!

NAIL PREP

When trimming your nails, a square cut nail is pretty standard & is a good shape for avoiding ingrown nails from cutting too deep. Cut your nails & file any uneven or rough spots in long strokes in ONE direction.

Before applying any nail polish, wash your hands and nails thoroughly with soap to make sure they're clean & then towel dry. Then with a cotton pad, use some nail polish remover to get rid of any excess oils on your nails. Coat your nails with a basecoat to protect your nails from turning yellow and make your mani last longer.

NAIL POLISH APPLICATION

Start by taking your brush and resting it near the base of the nail. Push the polish towards your cuticle, being careful not to touch your skin. Leave a tiny gap right by the cuticle.

Keeping the brush parallel to your nail, float the brush to the tip in a single, smooth stroke.

Then starting at the center base of the nail again, and pull the brush along the side for your nail, contouring the edge.

Do the same on the other side of your nail, in a single smooth stroke.

With only 3 smooth strokes, you should have one THIN coat of nail polish on your nail now. Try your best to apply the polish in thin layers & allowing each layer to dry in between. With most nail polishes, a coat or two is enough & some cheaper ones may take 3 coats, so it will take some time... just have your computer or tv nearby so you have something with you to kill the time :)

When applying any nail art on top of your base colour, try to keep coats thin or let all thicker polish (like dotting or drawings) dry thoroughly because it can smear when you top coat.

Finish with a fast dry topcoat and reapply the top coat a few days into your manicure to make it last longer.

CUTICLE CARE

Cuticles are a layer of skin at the base of your nail that act as a seal and protect your body from nasty stuff like bacteria & fungi. That's why it's important not to cut your cuticles! I used to cut mine, but one of my nails actually started forming deep horizontal ridges from the damage at the base of the cuticle. There are ways to keep your cuticles looking good and being healthy without having to snip them off !

- moisturize cuticles nightly with a cuticle cream or with an oil. Vitamin e, jojoba, coconut or olive oil are all great choices. I personally use a body balm that contains jojoba, beeswax, avocado, hemp & peppermint. Burt's Bees Lemon cuticle butter is awesome too!

- when pushing back cuticles, make sure not to do it while they are dry. You can soak your nails in a bowl of warm water or just do it after you shower. Grab some cuticle remover oil and an orange stick and gently push back your cuticles & then move the stick in small circles around the base of the nail to take off the dead skin that clings onto your nails.

- avoid using nail polish remover more than once a week & always wear rubber gloves when using harsh cleaning chemicals!

If you have any more tips, product recommendations or questions, leave us a comment!

xoxo

261: 12 days of chic

2011-11-28T11:30:00.001-05:00

Have you written down your shopping list for Christmas yet? Or are you spoiling yourself this Cyber Monday before shopping for others?

Well, we're part of another great campaign with Chictopia & instead of focusing on us as bloggers, this time we're actually promoting Lipgloss and Black! For the next 12 days, we're listing our items on the Chictopia shop with special theme days & the items will be on sale for 30-50% off!

The theme for DAY 1 is "pretty little thing", so we've listed the following:

& more! So go check out all the other pretty little things at the Chictopia shop & get in on the sale!

xoxo
&

260: ombre nails on EIU

2011-11-24T14:53:00.004-05:00

I know I've done an ombre nails tutorial before but I've done a new one with some on-trend colours for the Chictopia blog. Go check out the tutorial here & lemme know if you try it out!

& to our American friends-- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Enjoy your amazing turkey feasts, we're thankful for all of you readers!

xoxo

259: tutorial - half moon manicure

2011-11-21T16:31:00.004-05:00

For as long as I can remember doing my nails, I've used the half moon manicure as my default "fancy" mani. It's a great classic look and I prefer it to a classic manicure because you don't necessarily need to have long or consistent lengths of nails to get this look.

I usually freehand this look but here's an easy & foolproof method that won't require a steady hand! Here's the look we're going for:

You'll need:

- two colours of nail polish
- top coat
- paper reinforcement stickers

Start with your base colour that you want on the half moon of your nails

grab your paper reinforcement stickers. These are a basic school supply that you can find at any office store. They only cost a couple dollars for a few hundred.

When your nails are completely dry, stick a sticker on each of your nails. position them carefully so that you have nice even sized 'moons'

Paint on your other colour!

Peel the stickers off & top coat

& there you go! An easy way to get a perfect half moon manicure :)

Some of you had some general nail polish questions for me, so I'm working on some tutorials on nail polish basics for you guys for next Monday!

xoxo

258: chictopia - week of giving

2011-11-16T14:45:00.001-05:00

As you all know, we've just started blogging for Chictopia & we love it there so much because there's such a great sense of community. This year, they've started a campaign to give back to some deserving charities and organizations.

Chictopia is encouraging its' members to submit outfit posts that represent or embody your favourite charities. Once you submit your photo and blurb about why it's important to you, the community will vote on their fave! The "winning" charity will receive up to $1000 from Chictopia. How awesome is that?

So go enter now! We did! and we're promoting Movember...

If you want to vote for Movember to receive the proceeds of the contest, make sure to favourite our nomination:

Read more about the contest here! Every entry contributes another dollar to the chosen charity, up to $1000! Blog for a cause today!

xoxo
&

257: tutorial - nail art roses

2011-11-14T16:37:00.000-05:00

I love when our readers & customers write emails to us! It's awesome to get feedback directly & sometimes we get suggestions and tips. A couple weeks ago, Carly wrote to us & she told me to try out a simple method of drawing roses on your nails & so I thought I would try it out & show you the results. Thanks for the tip, Carly! This is awesome :)

Here's the look we're going for:

You need:

-a base colour
-two colours for the roses; white and either red or pink
-a colour for leaves
-a toothpick

Start with a couple coats of your base colour

Open your two colours for your roses.
Drop a small blob of each colour right next to each other (it doesn't have to be perfect)

Then taking your toothpick, just swirl the two colours into each other! You don't have to be neat about it, just create some swirling patterns. Don't swirl too many times though, or you'll just end up with the colours mixing together.

Then take a small amount of green on your toothpick and draw on some leaves.

Then draw a bunch more roses on your nails & top coat!

Cute yes? Thank you again Carly!
Try it out!

xoxo

256: my week with marilyn winners!

2011-11-14T13:52:00.003-05:00

Thank you so much to all of the entrants in the latest giveaway for premiere screening passes to My Week with Marilyn

We were initially going to give out only ONE pair of passes for Ottawa/Winnipeg/Halifax, but we received a pair for each, so we did individual draws for each city using www.random.org & two draws for Toronto!

Congratulations to the following winners:
Vivian in Toronto
Leeanna in Toronto
Gabriella in Ottawa
ARussell in Halifax
Kimberly in Winnipeg

You will all be contacted by email shortly with information on how to redeem your passes! See you at the Toronto screening, lovelies!

xoxo
&

255: diy ombre fringe necklace

2011-11-11T10:54:00.000-05:00

HEY! Check out our second post on Everybody is Ugly!

We teach you how to make your very own Ombre Fringe Necklace!
Take a look, try it yourself, share your masterpiece, leave a comment, vote for it, and favourite it!

<3

254: die for diy contest winners

2011-11-08T20:28:00.004-05:00

The moment I saw her, I knew. I JUST KNEW.
She stole my heart as a giant dynamite roll & rocking those jeffrey campbell nightwalks at the same time. Not just that though-- her nails were done in salmon & wasabi patterns. Be still our sushi-loving hearts!

Check out ONETWOTRINA the winner of the Chictopia I DIE FOR DIY Contest! & the rest of winners here

We had an awesome time looking at the amazing costumes entered in this contest! It was so fun judging alongside Geneva from A Pair and a Spare, Jenni from I Spy DIY, and our EIU DIY co-editor Arianna from Runway DIY! Great job judging DIY ladies!

xoxo

253: giveaway - my week with marilyn premiere screening passes (CLOSED)

2011-11-08T12:45:00.008-05:00

Exciting news guys! We've teamed up with Alliance Films to giveaway tickets to premiere screenings of "My Week with Marilyn"! We have tickets for the Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg or Halifax screenings. But before we get down to the details here is some info about the ("Oscar-worthy" !!!) movie:

In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’. The film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott).

Nearly 40 years on, his diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as My Week with Marilyn – this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.

Doesn't Michelle Williams look amazing?! Marilyn was & will always be an amazing fashion icon and inspiring woman, so we're really excited for this movie! Come join us at the Toronto premiere, won't you? Here's how to enter:

THE PRIZES:
♥ TWO draws for a pair of premiere screening passes to see "My Week with Marilyn" in Toronto (at the Varsity Theatre on November 17th at 7pm)
♥ one draw for a pair of premiere screening passes to see "My Week with Marilyn" in Ottawa (Nov 23rd at 7pm at Empire 7), OR Winnipeg (Nov 23rd at 7pm at Polo Park), OR Halifax (Nov 23rd at 7pm at Bayer's Lake)
♥ this means THREE PAIRS of tickets will be awarded!

MANDATORY ENTRY:
♥ comment ONCE in this post telling us what CITY you would go see the screening at (Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, or Halifax)
♥ & leave your email address (just so we can contact you if you win. if that's not cool just leave us a twitter handle so we can dm you)

HOW TO GET EXTRA ENTRIES:
♥ on twitter, RETWEET THIS TWEET and post the link to your tweet in a new comment
♥ on facebook, SHARE THIS POST & post your facebook name in a new comment
♥ you get ONE EXTRA entry for each promotion, but it MUST be posted as a new comment (yes, we will check your links!)

DETAILS:
♥ open to contestants in Canada only! You must be able to attend the screenings in either Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg or Halifax.
♥ entries will be accepted until 11:59PM EST on Monday November 14, 2011
♥ the winners will be selected using a random number generator and contacted on November 15th via email.
♥ your "pairs of passes" will be distributed to you as links and PIN codes for your e-tickets via email. Your emails will not be saved or used for any other purpose.
♥ prize is not redeemable for cash value and cannot be returned or exchanged for any other passes or prizes.

GOOD LUCK!

252: tutorial - newspaper nails

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

So this particular nail-do was requested by one of our readers! It's a simple process that's easy for beginners in nail art and the results are pretty cute.

Here's the look we're going for:

All you need is:

- A light colour of nail polish
- a piece of newspaper (you can use the comic section if you want!)
- some rubbing alcohol
- a small container (I used a shot glass)

Start with a base coat of your light colour. I used white, but any light colour will work! Let it dry completely.

Take your newspaper clipping and cut it into 10 bigger-than-your-nail sized pieces.

Take your rubbing alcohol and pour a bit into your small container.

Now dip your finger into the alcohol for a second. No need to let it soak in there or anything, you just need to have a wet coat of alcohol on your fingernail.

Then grab one of your newspaper scraps and press it down on your nail. The alcohol will act to transfer the print onto your nail.
NOTE: You can also choose to dip the newspaper into the alcohol instead of dipping your finger. This makes the newspaper a bit more floppy & accommodating to your nail shape and I found that sometimes it transferred the print better.

Then top coat your nails to seal in the print!

& you're all done! Instant nail art without needing a steady hand :)

It does take a bit of practice to get a perfect transfer, but it's easy to just rub off the transfer and re-do it! Try it out!

xoxo

251: c'est l'halloween

2011-11-03T15:16:00.003-04:00

Hello ladies,

Welcome to all our new readers! Our apologies for being MIA on the blog for a few days now! We've been crazy busy finishing up Halloween costumes for our wonderful customers & then working on our own last minute ones. We had a craaaaazy fun Halloween weekend filled with tons of creepy little details (like dry ice!) and fun with our close friends.

Here's just a quick picture post:

it was our 8th anniversary :)

Our past two days have been filled with cubing and grating 6 large pumpkins and trying to find different recipes to use them on. ahaha, crazy. So far the faves are the deep fried pumpkin pakoras and the spicy pumpkin corn chowder! :) We'll continue with regular posting soon! I'm working on a reader-requested manicure for Monday :)

xoxo
&

250: everybody is ugly

2011-10-27T14:05:00.004-04:00

GUESS WHATSIES!
Our first post on Everybody is Ugly is UP!

In it, we teach you guys how to make a faux fur stole. Check it out :)
Go and leave a comment, +1 it, or favourite it! We're so excited, eeee!

xoxo

249: DIE FOR DIY

2011-10-24T09:00:00.002-04:00

Announcement time! Guess who the new DIY editors of the Chictopia blog are? THESE GUYS. (We're pointing at ourselves right now.)

Are any of you gals members of Chictopia? Have you ever checked their blog out? It's called Everybody is Ugly and is an awesome source for runway fashion, diy, trends, advice & even some controversial topics. We've been long time readers & have even been featured in the past for our scalloped leather & glitter shoes tutorials.

and guess what our first order of business is?
JUDGING YOU.
(seriously though, check out the contest page, we're judges!)

Who doesn't love a costume contest? Do you think you're dressing up as something prize-winning this year? Go to Chictopia and enter your photos for a chance to win a cash prize or gift certificates to American Apparel!

We're judging the contest alongside DIY heavyweights A Pair & a Spare, I Spy DIY, and our new co DIY editor on Chictopia Runway DIY.

The contest ends on November 4th, so you can get some good photos on Halloween night & have plenty of time to enter! So get creative & blow our minds please. You know what we like.

xoxo
&

248: tutorial - skull nails

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

Our apologies for the lack of posts this week! Sam and I have been fulfilling Halloween costume orders & we've actually walked to the post office every single day to get orders out in time for the big weekend. We're feeling Halloweeny & have already started decorating the house with even more creepy stuff than usual, so here's another Halloween themed manicure monday.

This is the look we're going for:

Skull Nails!

Start with a black, white & top coat.
I chose to use all matte finish polishes but you can use regular shine!

Base coat your nails in white & let them dry

Take your black polish & make rounded edges at the sides off each of your nails. This part is the hollow of the cheek.

Do the same with all your nails & you're ready to start drawing on a face!

Taking a bit of black, apply it to a toothpick & then very carefully draw 3 or 4 parallel lines for teeth. You could also do this with a striper brush!

Now with the same toothpick, just dip the tip & apply little nostrils to each nail.

A toothpick is a bit too thin for applying a larger dot so grab a thin paintbrush and use the wrong end of it & dip it into the black polish. The larger tip is perfect for a wider dot & makes it easier to just dab on the eyes!

Then you're all done the art part! Just top coat & clean up the mess on the sides with a q-tip and some nail polish remover :)

and there you go!

skull nails!

What are you guys dressing up as this weekend?!?

xoxo

247: tutorial - spiderweb nails

2011-10-17T14:46:00.003-04:00

I know everyone's just getting into the Halloween mood now... you know how? Because we're getting all those last-minute Halloween costume orders coming in this week! yay!

This tutorial is really simple & cute and will look great with any creepy Halloween costume, or if you're like us, it's a great everyday look ;)

Here's what we're going for:

spiderweb nails!

you'll need: a black basecoat, white striper brush & a top coat.
We're doing a matte look today, so the top coat is a flat finish :)

Start with a base coat in a dark colour & let it dry

then grab your striper brush to start the nail art!

Spiderwebs are super easy to draw-- just start from a corner of your nail and draw lines jutting out, like you're cutting a pizza

then connect those straight lines with some "drooping" lines

a couple of rows of lines should do it!

and do the same to all your nails

and then top coat to seal it in

there you go!

What are you gonna do to your nails this Halloween? Are you dressing up?!

xoxo

246: giveaway winners!

2011-10-17T00:09:00.003-04:00

drum roll please...

Winners will be contacted by email to work out delivery of prizes!
For full rules and disclaimers, please see the original post for the Lipgloss and Black Giveaway and the Unknown Boutique Giveaway.

Thank you guys so much for participating in our giveaways! The response was fantastic & on behalf of Shaunie from Unknown Boutique & us, we wanted to thank you all for your amazing comments! Super flattering :)

Make sure to shop for your Halloween costumes THIS WEEK at Lipgloss and Black to make sure they still arrive in time for your big party

&Don't forget that Shaunie would like to offer readers of Syl and Sam a discount of 15% off your next order at Unknown Boutique with the coupon code "ShhhDiscount"

xoxo
&

245: better with age

2011-10-15T14:44:00.004-04:00

We're working on our final rushes of halloween costumes this weekend & we've been slowly trying to get a start on getting our vintage & reworked vintage collection into our shop!

For a long time, we've been lovers of vintage shopping & reconstructions but we haven't had much in store for you guys, so we're trying to pump out a TON of it for you this fall.

We've already done all the pre-washing, cleaning and repairs on things & we're working on the photos now! We will be slowly listing them in the next week or so! Expect tons of leather & repurposed leather in accessories, sheers, chunky/flashy sweaters & other amazing finds :) Check out some of the looks!

Lemme know what you think!!

& LAST CHANCE! Don't forget to go & enter for our TWO giveaways going on right now. All you have to do is comment!
win a halloween pumpkin bowl from Unknown Boutique HERE!
win a skull tee & skeleton hand barrettes from Lipgloss and Black HERE!

xoxo

244: clearly

2011-10-11T20:40:00.003-04:00

I've been a wearer of bold, thick plastic glasses for at least 6 or 7 years now & it seems that every new pair of glasses has to be larger or thicker or bolder than the last... so I had a phase of wearing clear frames only, but now I'm back to big ones.

Remember the last time I tried to buy smaller glasses frames? I tried out my glasses for a day & said... "That's not me."

Well, my current everyday glasses are these:

Derek Cardigan 7004 Shadow

My cousin Shellie gave me a code for a free pair for my Birthday this year so I decided to get a pair that was a bit more subtle. I was starting to fell like the above frames were just so BAM on my face... so I went for a smaller, rounder frame in a lighter colour too:

Derek Cardigan 7012 Birch

I hated my choice :( I was going to try them for longer than the last pair & I was even considering asking people to vote on whether I should keep them... but I decided to go with a return. It's over between us & I'm probably gonna go back to clear glasses. ah!

OH & Don't forget to go & enter for our TWO giveaways going on right now. All you have to do is comment!
win a halloween pumpkin bowl from Unknown Boutique HERE!
win a skull tee & skeleton hand barrettes from Lipgloss and Black HERE!

xoxo

243: Unknown Boutique Giveaway (CLOSED)

2011-10-10T22:00:00.002-04:00

Looks like we're all getting into the halloween spirit this year & one of our sponsors, Shaunie from Unknown Boutique wants to join in on the giveaway fun! We're so excited to host this giveaway for her & hope that you gals love this sweet Halloween decor as much as we do! Good luck!

THE PRIZE:
♥ Black Lacquered Pumpkin Bowl from Unknown Boutique!

MANDATORY ENTRY:
♥ comment ONCE in this post telling us your favourite item at Unknown Boutique!
♥ & leave your email address (just so we can contact you if you win)

HOW TO GET EXTRA ENTRIES:
♥ on twitter, RETWEET THIS TWEET and post the link to your tweet in a new comment
♥ you get ONE EXTRA entry for each promotion (yes, we will check your link!)

DETAILS:
♥ open to contestants worldwide! Shaunie will ship anywhere :)
♥ entries will be accepted until 11:59PM EST on Sunday October 16, 2011
♥ the winner will be selected using a random number generator and contacted on October 17th via email.
♥ prize is not redeemable for cash value and cannot be returned or exchanged for store credit.

GOOD LUCK!

xoxo
&

PS, have you taken advantage of this special offer yet? Shaunie would like to offer readers of Syl and Sam a discount of 15% off your next order at Unknown Boutique with the coupon code "ShhhDiscount"

242: tutorial - apple nails

2011-10-10T18:15:00.003-04:00

It's thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada & that always puts me in the mood for delicious root vegetables, turkey, squash & apple pie! I decided to do a bit of a themed manicure this week & went with apples! Here's the look we're going for:

Start with a base colour, apple colour, stem colour, leaf colour, white & a topcoat!

base coat your nails with whatever. I used a sheer manicure colour so that the focus would be on the nail art!

now using your apple-y red, draw a top-of-heart shape at the tip of your nail

It's pretty easy to draw it on in just two rounded swipes! Do the same on all your nails.

Then take your brown colour & use a toothpick to pick it up & draw a stem on each apple.

Now use the other end of the toothpick & dip into your leafy green. Drop a dab on your nail and drag with the tip of the toothpick to make a leaf shape.

Alternate which side the leaf is on... cause you're fancy.

and then use your striper brush & white polish to make a bit of a shiny spot on each apple. *ting*

& that's pretty much it! top coat them & you're done!

& then eat your apple after! This tutorial made me so hungry for one :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo

241: L&B - bones giveaway (CLOSED)

2011-10-07T13:01:00.008-04:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, it's time for a new giveaway!
It's thanksgiving weekend here in Canada & we're feeling generous, so here's a Halloween inspired set of items that are up for grabs for our readers & fans! It includes a couple of our best-selling items--

THE PRIZE:
♥ SKULL CUT OUT TEE (in black, white or grey in size s, m or l; based on availability at end of contest)
♥ PAIR OF SKELETON HAND BARRETTES (in your choice of the "pulling hair" or "pushing hair" style)

MANDATORY ENTRY:
♥ comment ONCE in this post telling us your favourite item at Lipgloss and Black!
♥ & leave your email address (just so we can contact you if you win)

HOW TO GET EXTRA ENTRIES:
♥ on twitter, RETWEET THIS TWEET and post the link to your tweet in a new comment
♥ on facebook, SHARE THIS POST & post your facebook name in a new comment
♥ you get ONE EXTRA entry for each promotion (yes, we will check your links!)

DETAILS:
♥ open to contestants worldwide! we will ship anywhere :)
♥ entries will be accepted until 11:59PM EST on Sunday October 16, 2011
♥ the winner will be selected using a random number generator and contacted on October 17th via email.
♥ prize is not redeemable for cash value and cannot be returned or exchanged for store credit.

GOOD LUCK!

xoxo
&

PS, just cause we love you: get an ADDITIONAL 50% off anything in the sale section of our shop for the duration of the giveaway. Use coupon code "THANKSFORSALES" at checkout to apply discount!

240: tutorial - dry water marble nails

2011-10-04T22:34:00.004-04:00

Remember the water marbled nails tutorial? What a pain in the butt, eh? I got some great tips from my last post but it's still a bit of a chore to
do the whole water technique...

Well, I decided to try out the dry method which is similar to last week's diy nail decals technique and I feel like it turned out a bit better than the water method...

I don't know why I keep trying this look though because I don't even like the results. hahaha, but see for yourself if you think it's worth it!

here's what we're going for!

start with a few colours and a ziploc bag

Start with drawing a glob.

Then start drawing rings around the glob...

Alternate colours, drawing a target on the ziploc baggie

Then take a toothpick and start pulling the wet nail polish into the center.

You can drag the polish inwards or outwards to form that "marbled look"

I decided to do a bunch of circles of designs just in case I ran out!
And then since it's probably a bit thick, let it dry for a few hours (I left it for 24!)

after it's completely dry, you should be able to peel the nail polish off of the plastic. If it's a bit stuck, you can stretch the plastic a bit or use some tweezers to work on lifting a corner. Try to keep it in a single piece.

Then you'll have these weird flaps of nail polish!

Taking some sharp scissors, cut some pieces that are generally the size of your nails. It's better to cut them a bit larger than your nails than smaller!

Continue cutting up your patterned nail sheets & you'll have your own DIY nail appliques, just like the ones you can buy! :)

To apply, just put on a single coat of nail polish...

and stick the nail applique onto your nail & press into place. You can use a toothpick to press it down around your cuticles.

Do the rest of your nails & let them dry for a minute or two.

Then just press the remainder of the nail applique off of your nail.

You'll be left with a bit of a bumpy nail job & some messy cuticles but you can clean up the edges with a q-tip & polish remover.

Then just top coat & you're done!

What do you think? Does dry marbling look easier than water marbling?! Is this even worth it? I'm not diggin the look that much but it's finally a way to get the water marbled look on your toes! hahaha

xoxo

239: sylvia pereira photoshoot

2011-10-04T12:39:00.004-04:00

Last night we had a creative photo shoot with a crew of awesome gals.
Our dear friend Rebecca, who is usually a photographer, asked us to provide some clothes for a photoshoot she had been planning on modeling in/

Her talented friend Sylvia Pereira would be shooting & Katie Marie was our makeup artist... & Amanda would be doing hair on her first creative shoot!

Check out some behind the scenes shots:

craft services by Sylvia, woo!

(it was so confusing having another Sylvia around!That never happens to me!)

Rebecca's muffins, yum.
Check out her vegetarian cooking blog!

We were going through Sylvia's gorgeous collection of photo books... from the McQueen Savage Beauty book (OMG), Nick Knight, David Lachapelle, to Vogue portraits etc...
we found Sylvia's portfolio books! SO STUNNING.

can you believe that no one has EVER told Katie that she looks like Kate Lanphear?! (one of my style idols!)

Also... guess how many of us girls had shaved heads.
FOUR out of six! that's 66.666%. haha

more from Sylvia's portfolio! Seriously, check out her site! or go like her facebook page!

a sneaky shot of one of the shoots! she was sitting in an open window without a screen on the 2nd floor! ah!

Can't wait to see the shots! We had such an awesome time working with so many creative girls.

xoxo

238: jeffrey campbell leopard pixies

2011-09-30T15:01:00.000-04:00

So I know in Syl's last post she talked about her poor Jeffrey Campbell Litas being damaged :( but we have nothing against JC and will continue wearing JCs =)

That being said I'm super excited about my Jeffrey Campbell Pixies that arrived to my doorstep today! I'm very pleased with them!

Now to put together an outfit to wear them out with =)

Syl actually has the same pair of shoes but hers are dark grey suede!

Happy weekend!!

237: lita damage :(

2011-09-29T14:22:00.003-04:00

So I used to treat all of my material possessions with great care & was always trying to keep things in super-perfect condition. My friends were scared to ruin anything that belonged to me & would laugh at me because I would return their items in even better condition than they came in. As I got older, I learned that it was more fun to just wear out my shoes or clothes & have fun instead of fearing the elements or worrying about looking picture perfect all the time.

That said, I'm not SUPER careful with my shoes. Of course, I spray them with weather protectant & polish them when necessary... but I also stomp around & let myself get messy sometimes. My shoes have battle scars of scuffs & scratches and sometimes some spilled drinks and barf. It's okay with me! My litas are probably my most-worn heels & they've been to plenty of parties... but I was really shocked to see that they were starting to split in the strangest spot!

The sole is peeling off under the curve of the heel :( on BOTH shoes!

my damaged litas :(

I'm sure I can fix this with some Goop but I just need to figure out how I should bind them while the glue dries.

Has this happened to anyone else's litas...?! or am I just super unlucky?

xoxo

236: tutorial - diy nail decals

2011-09-26T15:53:00.007-04:00

I used to love buying nail decals and 3d nail stickers because they were such an easy way to jazz up a plain nail polish job. I just learned a way to make your own home nail decals & wanted to share with you!

It's an awesome alternative to doing hand-painted nail art on your nails. You can work on a flat surface instead of on your nails & you don't have problems with applying on your dominant hand! So your left hand & right hand nails will be equally neat :)

Check it out! All you need are your nail polishes and a sandwich bag!

Just start drawing on your sandwich bag with your nail polishes. use whatever tools you would typically use to achieve the details, like striper brushes, toothpicks etc.

I decided to start with simple hearts & just doodled more things on the sheet as I went.

eventually I started drawing sanrio characters. haha

A helpful tip that I learned was to do a topcoat of clear nail polish over & around your decal design.

Let your decals dry for SUPER long, like a few hours.
After they're dry, it should be easy to just bend the sandwich bag and then peel the corner of topcoat with some tweezers! The topcoat acts as a border that you can start peeling from so that you don't ruin the actual design of your decal!

You now have decals!

To apply, just put a coat of fresh nail polish on & stick the decal on your still-wet nail. Make sure to press all the clear edges down so that you don't have any bubbly spots.

Then put on some topcoat & you're done!

Pretty cool right?

xoxo

ps, don't forget to check out our September sponsors!

235: september sponsor highlight!

2011-09-25T19:45:00.003-04:00

You all know that Syl and Sam are independent shop owners of Lipgloss and Black right? Well, we believe in supporting independent artists, designers and bloggers too! Have you noticed our lovely sponsors hanging out on the right sidebar this month? If you haven't given them a click or two yet, I encourage you to check each of them out... or keep reading to learn some more about all of the lovely ladies that have joined us. We have some exclusive coupon codes for our readers, so check it out!

________________________________

Cherry Red Boutique

Cherry Red Boutique is a small one girl run, DIY shop which opened its virtual doors in May 2005. The original idea for the store was conceived after failure to find a decently priced cute tote bag. Since 2005, the store has expanded greatly – we now carry all kinds of adorable, yet edgy accessories!

Cherry Red Boutique is owned by me, Liz DeTino, a 20-something year old Queens resident. By day, I am an IT consultant for a small consulting firm in midtown Manhattan, but by night, I'm a crazy seamstress! When I'm not sewing or crafting, I enjoy photography, upbeat music, cooking, baking, programming, and other nerdy activities.

- SHOP - BLOG - TWITTER - FACEBOOK -

Liz would like to offer readers of Syl and Sam a discount of 10% off your next order at Cherry Red Boutique with the coupon code "sylandsam"
________________________________

CandiWare

Hi my name is Candice Ware and I am the owner of CandiWare. It is an independent online shoppe established in 2008. I am a graduate of Seneca College from the Advanced Animation Program. As a child I loved small toys such as Polly Pocket, so miniature food jewelry just happened to fit my style perfectly! I started making mini food jewelry for myself. It wasn't long before people started asking me where I got my jewelery and that was when I decided to share my creations with the world. Thank you everyone and have a wonderful day.

- SHOP - BLOG - TWITTER - FACEBOOK -
________________________________

Unknown Boutique

I'm just a girl obsessed with anything French, feminine, bad ass and design related.

I grew up in Denver and spent a lot of my childhood picking through junk drawers, finding the little treasures no one wanted or remembered they had. Whenever we had breaks from school, my mom would take my brothers and I to garage sells, community pools and the world famous GOODWILL. It was effing Christmas when we went there and she always smiled before saying, "Pick whatever you want.". To me it felt like a
shopping spree and I laugh now knowing she gave us the world....on a budget. Smart lady.

Now that I'm older, I'm in loooove with thrift stores. I've been scouting, buying and redoing furniture for years but now I want my own little piece of the pie. I want my own store front. The online shop has been a great intro to the world of small businesses and I can't wait to take the final leap Summer 2012.

The furniture pieces I've collected, the DIYs I've learned and all the inspiration along the way should make for an interesting journey, one I hope you'll share with me. I'll smile and cry along the way but I WILL succeed.

Thank you for your support,
Shaunie

- SHOP - BLOG - TWITTER -

Shaunie would like to offer readers of Syl and Sam a discount of 15% off your next order at Unknown Boutique with the coupon code "ShhhDiscount"
________________________________

The Demure Muse

HI EVERYONE!! I'm Katrina! You may have seen me lurking around here on Syl & Sam's blog a few times now. (Oh, how I miss these girls and living in Toronto already...) I recently relocated to the Pacific North West and have been trying to figure out how to convert myself into a west coast city girl. A lot of my blog documents the things I do in my spare time: craft, experiment in the kitchen, and play dress-up with the contents of my closet.

Feel free to stop by and say hi! I promise I don't bite. ;)

- BLOG - TWITTER - SHOP -
________________________________

Welcome our sponsors by checking out their shops & blogs & remember the following exclusive discount codes!

10% off your next order at Cherry Red Boutique with the code sylandsam
15% off your next order at Unknown Boutique with the code ShhhDiscount

Hope you all had a great weekend!

xoxo
&

234: show your bones

2011-09-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

Here it is ladies! Our Halloween 2012 catalog!
Almost ALL items are made to order in custom sizes. Order soon to ensure arrival by your big Halloween Party.

& if you view the catalog full size, you'll see little hearts pop up! You can click on those & it'll take you directly to the item listing :)

Let us know what you think!

xoxo
&

233: crystal head

2011-09-22T00:39:00.004-04:00

If you've been spying closely on us, you may have already seen Sam's face all done up a la Rick Genest (zombie boy). If not, well, you should know that I'm not the only one here that's been hanging out in crazy makeup.

Later tomorrow-- our Halloween lookbook will be posted!
:)

xoxo

232: what a drag

2011-09-20T19:51:00.003-04:00

I totally "jo calderone-d" half of my face today. & I may or may not look completely insane.

For now, I'm just gonna say that this was indeed halloween related.
& it's okay if you have a crush on my male alter-ego. hahaha

xoxo

231: tutorial - top knot hair

2011-09-20T14:00:00.003-04:00

So lately I've been doing my hair in this big fat bun on the top of my head.

Basically, I've been doing it because it's one of only 2 or 3 hairstyles that I can actually achieve with my weird lengths of hair. Seriously, I have been trying to grow out a hairstyle in which about 50% of my head was shaved bald!

The strange thing is, I feel like this is a pretty normal hairstyle but it's been getting a LOT of compliments from strangers. Maybe it's cause my bun is green. Maybe it's because it seems like I suddenly grew a shitload of hair. But people have been asking me how I do it... & I tell them there's a sock in there... & then my friend Suzanne goes & tells me to stop telling my "secrets" to everyone.

BUT I'M GONNA TELL YOU ANYWAY.
This tutorial is a two-parter so pay attention!

First make your "hair donut"...

Grab any sock that is close to your hair colour.
You can use any old sock. Seriously, look at this embarrassing ass sock, it's so linty.

then cut off the toe with some sharp scissors.

Now grab it from the end you just cut off & start rolling it up!

LIKE THIS.

So that you have a donut. AMAZING.
This calf-length sock makes a decent sized donut but if you want a gigantic bun, just get a longer sock.

PART TWOOOOO:

start with clean hair... actually, you can start with dirty hair cause it's easier to work with.

put your hair in a pony tail on top of your head.

This is the hardest part for me cause my hair is so short so it involves braiding the back of my hair while lying face down on my bed so I look like I'm planking. You can just do a normal ponytail.

Now take the hair donut you just made & slip it onto your ponytail! It's stretchy so it's easy to plop on there.

fan out your ponytail over the donut.

and then just tuck the remaining hair under the sock in a 'spiraling' sorta way. I dunno, just tuck it.

Then I just take another hair tie & loop it on over the base!
You can use bobby pins to keep it in place as well if your hair is longer.

Give it a quick hairspray & that's pretty much it! you now have a cinnamon bun on top of your head!

Woo hoo! Now it looks like you have luxuriously thick hair piled on there instead of a weak ass looped ponytail. yay!

xoxo

230: tutorial - glitter tip nails

2011-09-19T15:31:00.004-04:00

Today's manicure monday is all about glitter tipped nails!

If you follow along every Monday & saw last week's ombre nails tutorial, the method is the same but this week's results are a bit easier to achieve!

This is the look we're going for!

Start with a dark base, a glitter polish & some top coat.

You'll also need a small piece of a makeup sponge. Just rip a piece off to use.

Start with a few coats of your base colour. Let it dry thoroughly!

Then, take a small amount of your glitter polish & apply it to the sponge.

Gently dab the glitter onto the tip of your nails, keeping the glitter layer thick at the top of your nail & dabbing slightly less as you go further down the nails. Only put glitter on the top half of your nail.

Continue with the rest of your nails & don't worry about the sloppy texture for now.

& then topcoat!
I like to topcoat twice over glitter so that it's sealed in there & my nails aren't textured.

voila!

xoxo

229: some help?

2011-09-18T01:00:00.003-04:00

I've been asking for the past week for votes & it's the LAST day for voting in the solestruck contest to win $200 towards a pair of shoes :) I already posted once about the details in THIS POST & am so thankful for everyone who has taken a minute to vote for me!

Just to summarize again-- you just need to go to the Photobooth App and find my picture on the page of Voteable Entries & click on the RED "VOTE NOW" button.

My entry is called "lita, lita, lita" by Sylvia!

Oh the shoes I would get with that gift certificate ♥

jeffrey campbell nightwalk, jeffrey campbell benched,
jeffrey campbell warning, jeffrey campbell rockin,
senso delilah, senso wilma

THANKS BABIES :)

By the way, we've been busy working on some cool Halloween stuff for the shop & I'm so excited to share it with you-- later this week, I hope!

xoxo

228: school gals

2011-09-15T11:48:00.004-04:00

Wanna see how we rock the "school girl" look? Our guest post on uniform fashion is up at The Demure Muse! So go check it out & leave a comment!

xoxo

ps, if you get a chance, remember to vote for me for that solestruck contest, pretty please? :)

227: solestruck!

2011-09-12T13:36:00.002-04:00

You know how we love our shoes?! You know how we love solestruck?
Well, they're having a contest on their facebook page right now & I could win $200 towards a pair of shoes :)

The contest runs every few weeks & currently submissions are all in & it's time to vote. It would mean the world if you guys would take a minute to put in your votes for me! You just need to go to the Photobooth App and find my picture on the page of Votable Entries.

My entry is called lita, lita, lita!

You can vote everyday & the contest ends on the 18th!
Thanks in advance princesses! ♥

xoxo

226: tutorial - ombre nails

2011-09-12T11:44:00.007-04:00

In keeping with our recent ombre theme on the blog, I've decided to go with an ombre manicure tutorial today!

Recently, my friend Steph told me how she did her amazing ombre nails & gave me some great tips! Mine didn't turn out quite as well as hers do, but I'll share what I've learned :)

here's the look we're going for!

Start with a base coat of a light colour & let it dry.
(I definitely did mine before bed so they're a bit sheets-imprinted lol)

Choose a dark colour. I used two but you can use three colours for a smoother gradient.

Take a makeup sponge & rip off a piece to use as your "brush"

dab some nail polish onto your sponge

and then dab it on your nails in a thin coat!
CAREFUL NOT TO BE TOO HEAVY HANDED!

start by dabbing a very thin layer on & build from it so that the tips are the darkest.

do each of your nails the same way & don't worry too much about the mess!
they might be a bit textured at this point....

but a coat or two of clear top coat should cover up the texture!

and there you go! ombre nails!
it's pretty easy to get the look, try it out with different colours!

xoxo

225: suit up!

2011-09-08T21:43:00.003-04:00

a) I made detachable collars. IN LEATHER. dream come true. they're for sale at our .com and etsy
b) my hair is still short... but long enough that I can pretend it's long. with like 5 bobby pins and half a can of hairspray. wooooooooo

anyone have good wig recommendations? kanekalon? does it look 'real'?!

xoxo

224: tutorial - ombre denim

2011-09-08T16:30:00.000-04:00

All summer we've been hearing about "ombre"! From hair to clothing, the gradient dye-jobs have been everywhere & admittedly, I've been wanting to work on my own ombre project for a couple of years now but I've been putting it off.

I've got an all-white denim motojacket that I love... but I just don't wear it that often. I figured it would be the perfect victim for this project! You can also do the same using some light-wash jeans or cut-offs!

my white motojacket

for this project you'll need RIT tint and dye.
I used Petal Pink!

The full instructions for use are inside the packaging. Other than all the precautions and figuring out what you can/can't dye, it's pretty straightforward. Powder dye + HOT water = dye!

The first thing you need to do is SOAK your item in water. This is an important step because the water helps in creating a gradual gradation of the dye (instead of a solid line where the dye ends, get it?)

wring out the jacket.
(obviously, this project is best done near a sink, haha)

Grab your measuring cup & hot water, some rubber gloves & your dye.

Prep the dye in your bucket according to the instructions.
& make sure that you STIR WELL. I didn't stir well (and was unable to see tiny flecks of unmixed dye because of the red bucket lol) and I ended up with a lot of reddish specks.

Then start dipping your jacket or shorts into the dye.

The instructions say to try to constantly agitate your fabrics in the dye for an even dye job. Just keep the bottom half dipped in & shimmy it around, avoiding dipping the ENTIRE thing in.

Pull it out, checking to see that you've dyed enough... if not, continue dipping a bit higher.

Then without wringing it out, hang it up to drip dry!
Over the laundry room sink is an appropriate place :)

& there you go! ombre denim!
in short... dip something in water, then dip it in fabric dye. haha

pink & white ombre is what I chose to do but you can also dip dye light denim with darker colours like blues and purples :)

Lemme know if you try it out!

xoxo

223: musings

2011-09-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

Katrina from The Demure Muse is one of our fave blog buddies. She lives on one side of the big city & we live way on the other side, but we intentionally try to cross paths every so often. She's come to visit us, we've met up on purpose & accidentally too!

We were seeing off Kat because she's moving soon, so we decided to meet somewhere in between & go out for lunch & did a bit of shopping. We hit up a Korean/Japanese/Chinese place & had bento boxes and also showed her the absolute cheapest outlet shopping strip in Toronto (Orfus Road, if you're from the area.)

Katrina, Toronto will miss you! You're one of the coolest gals we know & such a sweetheart too... can't wait to hear about your adventures while you're away! Come back to visit soon!? :)

xoxo

222: tutorial - rainbow galaxy nails

2011-09-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

just another manic(ure) monday!

A lot of my friend & e-friends clearly know my tastes well & have showed me some awesome galaxy nails online. I thought I'd give it a try because the results look SO amazing & surprisingly, it was really easy to achieve the look!

Here's what we're going for.

start off with a rainbow of colours. most importantly, a black & a white.
I used a light green, yellow and pink to create my "rainbow nebulas".

your paintbrush for this project will be a makeup sponge!

start by base coating your nails in any black colour & letting it dry completely.
I chose one with some silvery shimmer to it.

then take your makeup sponge and apply a dab of nail polish to one corner of it.
(this isn't the green I ended up using because it was a bit too sheer)

Then take the nail polish and just dab it on your nail in a few random spots.

Do the same with each of your nails! Just randomize where you dab the green so that each nail is different. A good alternative for this colour would have been a light blue (but I didn't have one, hah).

Next, grab your next colour and using the same process with the sponge, dab it on your nails INSIDE the green colour.

so you should have sorta "nebula" spots on random places.

then take your pink polish & apply to the sponge
& dab it on your nails on any remaining black spots (but don't cover the black completely)

You might have pretty textured nails at this point, but that's okay!

take your white nail polish out.
hopefully you have a striper brush, but if not, a toothpick will work as well.

dot your nails with "stars" and make a few random "starbursts" too.

& continue with the rest of your nails!
you'll probably have dabbed nail polish on your fingers as well, so use a q-tip to carefully remove any excess & then topcoat!

& voila!
I found this manicure to be REALLY easy & the results look amazing, if I do say so myself! Using a makeup sponge as a brush is definitely a useful trick :)

xoxo

221: social networking

2011-09-01T12:48:00.004-04:00

Sorry we've been MIA for a while! The two of us are usually cooped up at home all day, working in front of our sewing machines and computers and, to be totally honest, we're a bit anti-social. I mean, we love to get together with friends and family and we love to talk, obviously, but we don't tend to make the time for it.

Because my birthday recently happened, I ended up talking to so many friends who I didn't get to see. We ended up planning a half-dozen meet-ups with close friends this past week! There were lotsa visits to our place, coffee shop hangouts & even some outlet shopping with a blogger friend.

We're also trying our best to change our blog content a bit now. What initially started this year as a blog-everyday goal has fine tuned itself a bit. Now that we're 8 months in, we are trying to blog mostly about the stuff that our readers want to read! So that means, no blog posts every single day... but more "good content" instead of fillers.

We'll update you on our date with Katrina of The Demure Muse tomorrow!

xoxo

220: tutorial - water marbled nails

2011-08-29T14:40:00.000-04:00

I wanted to start a new feature called "manicure monday" just because we tend to do our nails a lot! I'm gonna try to accompany most with a how-to but if it's just simple, I'll just do photos! COOL?? WELCOME TO MANICURE MONDAY~~

We're gonna start this feature with a pretty complex technique called "water marbling". I remember learning a similar technique in the 90's for colouring paper... but recently, I saw that our friend & past model, Rachel had tried it out & it looked really cute! It seems like a pretty long process & it does require both patience and a lot of time, but the result turns out unique.

This was our first time trying it & some nails were ugly & some looked awesome. So I'll preface this with telling you that it may require a bit of practice to achieve a nice look.

you'll need a bunch of nails polishes. 3 at minimum!
one for a base coat (we used the peach) and the others for the marbling.

tools you'll need:
- room temperature bottled water (apparently it works better than tap water)
- a cup or bowl that is disposable (the nail polish will ruin it)
- toothpicks
- nail polish remover
- cotton balls/makeup remover pads/q-tips for cleanup

first, base coat your nails with a light colour. then set up your work area!
fill the glass with the water (i'm using a disposable shot glass), put down the paper towel in case you spill and have all your nail polishes open so you can access them quickly.

Now taking a generous brush full of polish, drop a drop (ummm) on the surface of the water. I found that I really had to load up the brushes by tipping my bottles to the side. You'll instantly see the polish disperse across the surface.

Working quickly, grab another colour and drop it in the center of the first colour. It will spread as well...

Then quickly drop another colour in (or if you're only using two colours, you can just alternate)

Continue dropping as many colours as you would like, I typically did about 5 or 6 drops.

Then grab your toothpick & begin dragging the tip through the surface of the nail polish, pulling the design.

these are some designs I was able to create by just dragging the polish across to a single point.

Now take one of your fingers & dip it in at an angle.
Make sure to hold your fingernail UNDER the surface of the water. JUST HOLD IT THERE.

You'll notice that there's a bunch of nail polish still surrounding your finger.
You have to take a toothpick & pick up the rest of that nailpolish so that your finger doesn't end up looking double-dipped. get it? :)
take what's left on your toothpick & just wipe it on the papertowel.

Now when you pull your finger out, your nail is marbled!
but so is your finger... a lot of people like to tape their fingers to avoid that, but I didn't want to waste tape :(

I'm debating whether using tape or nail polish remover is less wasteful though!

So continue the process with all of your nails!

It's a ridiculous mess on your fingers, but a quick cleanup with nail polish remover is easy!

Then just topcoat!

At first, I was a bit discouraged because the first few nails were kinda ugly. It's quite a bit of work for an okayyyyy result and it wastes quite a bit of product too, but I'll give it another try with some different colours before I say that it's more trouble than it's worth.

Have you tried water marbling yet?

xoxo

219: call for sponsors!

2011-08-25T14:30:00.003-04:00

photo by carrie jade

We're looking for sponsors for our blog!
As a promotion, we want to give all our first-time sponsors a special bonus... anyone who signs up before Sept 1st, will receive an extra month FREE OF CHARGE. Simply sign up for a month or two at ANY size & your second month is free. Try us out-- our prices are reasonable!

Check out our sponsorship page for more details on how to participate & how to maximize your presence! :)

218: birthday party

2011-08-23T23:16:00.003-04:00

I turned 20-something a couple days ago & celebrated all weekend long. My parents took us out for dinner on friday & a bunch of my friends came over to celebrate on saturday! I had an amazing time with them all & even got a bunch of unexpected gifts! Feeling super lucky to have such great friends & family :)

quick photo summary:

xoxo

217: galactic

2011-08-22T20:09:00.002-04:00

thanks for the encouraging comments on our galaxy shorts, guys!
i'm pretty excited to have them all listed on our etsy shop now:

click to check em out in detail!

216: la ink

2011-08-19T08:30:00.002-04:00

Do you guys remember us talking about meeting Kat Von D? About a year ago, she bought some items from our shop. It came as a total surprise that she found us & liked our stuff, so we wanted to thank her in person during her book tour. Read the full entry here.

Well, I got a tweet from Katrina (aka The Demure Muse) that said:
Omg Kat Von D is wearing a @lipgloss_black skull cutout tee on tonight's episode of LA Ink!!!

WELL HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO ME :)
I got Matt to pvr the episode so I could take pictures of the TV screen. bahahha. She only wore it in this one scene where the doctor makes a housecall. lol.

kat von d in our skull cut out tee!

Isn't it cool to kinda have something 'immortalized' into a tv show? I'm just thinking about the fact that this'll end up on DVD eventually and people may or may not watch it for years to come...? I mean, of course I've got my own photos and blog constantly chronicling our lives and our projects... but the celebrity factor. and the fact that we love Kat Von D. OMG, I should stop because I'll end up revealing how starstruck I get around celebs.

From the previews of next week's episode, it looks like she wears the tee again but has cut off the sleeves & made the collar bigger! I'll take pics of my tv again when it happens. hahaha. and we're waiting anxiously to see the rest of the season to see if she wears anything else we've made ♥

xoxo

215: never-nude

2011-08-19T00:46:00.003-04:00

Today I decided to take my own advice in my galaxy print tutorial & put it to use. I painted 6 pairs of cutoff shorts. hahaha

Sam was getting rid of a BUNCH of pairs of pants. some too big, some too small... so we decided to reconstruct them into some teeny shorts. There's still some studding and leather patching that I intend to do but I hope to have a bunch of them posted up in the next couple of days :)

YOUR THOUGHTS?
do you love or hate trashy/destroyed fashion?

xoxo

214: omg sale!

2011-08-17T22:03:00.002-04:00

we've gone crazy. we're holding on to tooooo much inventory and we seriously need room for our new stuff in the works. so take advantage of this mad clearout, ok? we only usually ever do 20% off but this is serious.

go:

50% is taken off at checkout with the use of the discount code. shipping is free on orders over $150 and this offer is only for a LIMITED time! ♥

xox

213: tutorial - cupcake nails

2011-08-17T14:52:00.006-04:00

This week is my birthday! Have I told you that already? This Sunday! So the nails of the week shall be birthday themed. < :)

cute right? it's pretty easy to make a cupcake on your nails, whether you've got short or long ones.

colours used: china glaze pink underground (that I got from loose button, orly instant artist white, la colors atomic, opi mat-adore red.

start with a contrasting base coat (i'm gonna do it on my ring finger)

draw the "cup" part. it's a rectangle. woooo.

using a striper, draw the stripes on the cupcake liner

glob on a 'muffin top'. any general round scoop shape will do. haha

put a cherry on top!

using a toothpick, you can dot on the sprinkles!
if you're fancy you can do rainbow sprinkles.

I didn't particularly want cupcakes on EVERY nail so I alternated nails & decorated the others with stripes, dots & chevrons.

xoxo

212: yoü and i

2011-08-16T21:45:00.004-04:00

Today the video for Gaga's song yoü and i premiered (two days early!) & I lovelovelove it. I get really teary eyed when I hear her perform this song, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT IT THOUGH. I pretty much died at how amazing the scene was with her & 'jo calderone', almost as perfect as her dancing with rick genest in born this way. ugh.

Anyway, I noticed the gorgeous leather harnesses in this scene & was wondering if they were made or inspired by Zana Bayne.

Luckily, Nicola Formichetti posted fashion credits on his blog & I was able to confirm that they were made by her! I'd been following Zana's store on etsy (called garbagedress) for a while & was wanting to buy a leather harness for FOREVER. I was just looking at her fall collection a few days ago, so I'm so happy to see her doing well with them because they're so amazing. here are my faves:

So gorgeous.
All can be found at the zana bayne leather online shop

xoxo

211: jack & jill

2011-08-15T22:45:00.000-04:00

This weekend I went to my first "jack & jill" party. They're sometimes called "stag & doe" or "buck & doe" or whatever, but basically it's a big drinking-fest held by a couple before their wedding to help raise funds for the big day! You pay a cover charge & then most of the profits come from drinks, playing casino games & buying raffles tickets for prizes.

It was Hawaiian Luau themed & was at a gorgeous backyard backing onto Lake Ontario. GORGEOUS. We had a blast & even won some prizes. Check out some pics:

Hawaiian stuff!

Matt & I are part of the wedding party so we were helping out all night

the gorgeous venue!

there were TONS of prizes. amazing job guys.

pulled pork, chicken, quinoa & sweet potatoes, tomato & mango salad, zucchini & yellow zucchini salad. omg delish.

Sam, Sue & Syl! Sue's the bride-to-be!
I've got my prize in hand, which was a pair of day passes to the Scandinavian Spa & Sam won the grand prize which was a friggin BBQ. WHAT THEEEE. hahaha and the whole time she was sad about not winning anything.

xoxo

210: branching out

2011-08-15T17:41:00.002-04:00

There's been this branch sitting in our backyard for weeks. It fell off of our oak tree with no leaves on it or anything... I've been ignoring it for a while but it hasn't gone away.

Today, after throwing my shoe at a squirrel, I had to go retrieve it & I decided to grab the branch too. For some strange reason I felt like it would look nice nailed to our studio wall.

...it didn't. It's kind of a naked branch and it looks a bit awkward.

So I decided to just make it sorta cherry blossom branch inspired & started glue-gunning on some random silk flowers we had laying around. It's a bit strange cause they're rose buds, but whatever.

and when I ran out of roses, I expanded to carnations and others. hahah

& now.... I'm happy with our studio wall decor.
It's a bit random but it's 3 dimensional and sits far off the wall & looks pretty fab.

xoxo

209: bring me the moon

2011-08-12T16:49:00.003-04:00

new crop top... it's a tee reconstruction so there's only one. ever. find it here

happy friday beauties :)
xoxo

208: tributes

2011-08-11T23:58:00.003-04:00

About a month ago, I first laid eyes on these gorgeous velour curved wedge heels by Alexander McQueen.

via ssense

I instantly fell in love, telling a friend that I would save money on everything just so I could get these & wear them on my wedding day. But at a price tag of $1050, I should probably have started saving a while ago.

Enter Jeffrey Campbell's new NIGHTWALK.

via solestruck

at $169.95, these inspired shoes are a pretty good substitute... but how do you feel about "knockoffs"?

Is it different buying a "designer inspired shoe" vs buying a "designer inspired purse"? and at what point does it stop being okay? For example: The JC Lita is inspired by a Charles Anastase boot... and then from a quick search on ebay, you can find tons of Lita knockoffs from Hong Kong. Is the unethical part when the knockoffs are being made for cheap in Asia?

Understandably, fashion works in a way that the trends kinda trickle down until you can find looks for cheaper & cheaper as they get older, so aren't knockoffs of ALL designs bound to happen? As a designer, I've been both copied and accused of copying other designers, but at what point can things be considered coincidence?

I could go on & on about the little guy knocking off the big guy & vice versa, but where is the line between inspiration and 'copying'?

I'm in no way knocking JC, you guys know that Sam & I are collectors & love their shoes to death, I just wanted some opinions!

xoxo

207: hot diggity

2011-08-11T15:03:00.002-04:00

today's lunch! i hate making lunches :(
breakfast is so awesome & dinner is so delish. lunch is just up in the middle of the day, interrupting my flow & being random.

Anyway, I just wanted to apologize for the lack of blog posts lately! We're supposed to be doing one a day for the year & we're behind by a lot! This should actually be post 223 & we're only at 207 :(

The point of our new years resolution was to blog daily so that we would get into the habit of it-- which i think we have! But I feel bad when we throw in "filler" posts instead of real & useful content. We'll still be trying to blog daily, but at this point, I think we've kinda failed the challenge. haha.

I have some photos I'm gonna share later & I hope to do a quick DIY later this week.

xox

206: birthday wishlist!

2011-08-08T16:28:00.004-04:00

Every year before my birthday, I throw together a greedy little wishlist! This year I'm wickedly poor cause we're living on our own for-realsies so I really only need cash to pay my bills, but I thought I'd still put together a list for funsies :)

itec strapless the most amazing bra, for real. (32b!)
customized jewelry. so badass.
vintage moschino belt
contact lenses (seriously, i need some & they cost so much :( )
makeup forevs hd foundation 117, i think.
52mm close-up filters for macro photography
canon lens mug (don't get me this, it's just here for novelty. lol)
black classic toms, size 7
jeffrey campbell benched ♥
(don't get me anything sam! seriously.)

other things i want:
- a tattoo
- a plate of a million salmon rose sushis
- longer hair (or an expensive wig)
- abs (lol, won't happen with all the sushi)

OKAY, THANK YOU!

xoxo

205: tutorial - detachable collar

2011-08-05T18:19:00.004-04:00

So I've been wanting to make a detachable collar for a while now but I've been having trouble sacrificing a shirt for the project. Just recently though, my aunt has been in the process of completely purging her condo. She was my idol in the 80's and 90's and I always loved her style. Being only a decade and a half older than myself, I always saw her outfitted in the coolest swag. Luckily, she was one of those gals that kept EVERYTHING in her closet in case it ever came back in style, so this week I inherited a bunch of awesome denim shirts, body suits, "friends" style clothes and this ridiculous shirt:

a lot of tutorials are making collars from scratch, but let's be serious here... it's more fun to recycle &... be lazy.

cut the collar off making sure not to cut the straight-stitch off! That way you don't have to sew anything.

Now, you've got this random piece of fabric.

Give her a quick iron...
& use some starch if you have some on hand!

and she'll take form :)

And really, that's it! You've got yourself a detachable collar! But I'm sure you're going to want to decorate it a bit. You can grab some RIT dye & make it a fancy colour OR ombre dye it. You can take a sharpie or fabric paint & draw some crosses on it... or you can stud it like I did!

et voila! It's as simple as that!
It only took me two episodes of teen mom to stud it!

This cutie can be worn with a tank top or dress as a "necklace" type of accessory or you can wear it under a tee or sweater as a "dickie" so it seems like you're wearing a full collared shirt underneath :)

ENJOY!!

xoxo

204: ORLY instant artist review

2011-08-04T16:03:00.002-04:00

We were looking at buying a bottle of ORLY Instant Artist nail polish online & were trying to research it before buying. It was SUPER confusing because it seems that "instant artist" refers to a full set of nail art accessories that ORLY sells, so it was tough to figure out what this product was.

Basically, it's a nail polish with a striper brush instead of a regular applicator, so it's perfect for super-detailed drawing.

Sam started with a couple coats of ORLY cosmic girl

the striper brush is long & thin so it's easy to draw thin stripes-- but it's also really sensitive to shaky hands. I would compare it to a liquid liner brush.

I wanted to try out a complex design so I used this AA tribal printed dress as inspiration

It was pretty easy to control straight lines & dots, but curved lines were a bit more difficult. The nail polish is nice and opaque though so there's no need to go over designs twice.

basically, I just made a few stripes & then filled each row in with geometric patterns :)

I think the amount of detail you can achieve is awesome & so far I really like the instant artist polish... I'm thinking about getting a black one as well!

The same effect could be achieved if you bought a striper brush to use with all of your nail polishes, but this packaging makes cleanups easy. cool right?

xoxo

203: killbear

2011-08-02T21:12:00.003-04:00

You may or may not have noticed that I've been missing for a few days! Sam's been picking up the slack here at the blog & keeping you updated, while I've been away on a mini-vacation for 5 days!

I went camping up at Killbear Provincial Park here in Ontario with Matt & some friends from Stratford. Being from the most densely populated part of Canada, I love that Northern Ontario is SO beautiful and scenic. It's just awesome to get away from the bustle of the city to go enjoy nature for a little while... even if it means sleeping on an air mattress in a tent ;)

This was our 4th annual camping trip with these friends & I think our trips stand out just because we always cook amaaaaazing meals. We do the usual camping things, like taking hikes & checking out beaches, and the boys usually canoe around & fish.

Check out some of my photos from my weekend away!

the drive up through the Canadian Shield is so gorgeous because of the rock formations at the sides & dividing the highway. Not only that, but people have built hundreds of "inukshuks" from rocks that greet you on the way :)

mini mouse!

big breakfasts are my FAVE. mmmm.

there are awesome rocks up there. The cliffs that look grey & slate black just have stripes & sections of white & pink quartz crystals peeking out.

doe, a deer!

glamping ;)

the boys caught a ton of crayfish in their minnow traps to use as live bait!

marinated cajun chicken, prosciutto wrapped asparagus & potatoes with onions and garlic.

gorgeous clouds

matt & i during the sunset!

I basically took today off to sort through the photos to post on facebook & to send to friends, but back to the grind tomorrow! Missed you, internets ♥!

xoxo

202: just my luck

2011-08-01T21:00:00.000-04:00

I own a pair of Marc Jacobs' inspired flats. I picked these up from Market Village in Markham, Ontario. They're adorable and I love them!

Cute shoes eh?...

welll...not so much anymore

It seems that I wear shoes in a strange manner...
Why does all my footwear fall apart?

What is this? It's like that weird cotton ball-y faux halloween spiderwebs!

I don't even...

I'm going to attempt to repair these shoes that I can actually wear them again. Maybe I'll share my mini project sometime soon!

Do you ever wear your shoes until they fall apart? I guess I can say that it happens to me a lot.

201: cracked & chipped

2011-08-01T18:32:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I blogged about my freshly painted nails using China Glaze Crackle Glaze & Kleancolor Crack nail polishes.
Today...I looked at my nails and noticed something:

The polish on my right hand is SO chipped! Kleancolor crack polish managed to chip off...even under the Kleancolor Madly Matte top coat. Very upsetting.

My left hand with China Glaze Crackle Glaze is still in good condition!

I know that I work a lot with my hands but really it's been less than 24 hours!

200: shatter, crackle, & ...pop?

2011-07-31T17:38:00.002-04:00

Alright alright, I'm doing it up for post number 2-0-0 since it's the long weekend and I'm not at a cottage like my fellow Canadians out there :(
Also, I think that's enough of my recent hack food posts but can you blame me? I just love food...haha

So I was able to buy some shatter and crackle nail polishes pretty recently. I've been putting off really looking into where they sell them around here but I was finally able to look up some ebay listings. I didn't want to spend too much on OPI polish so I figured I'd look up some reviews of other good brands.
I ended up buying a "China Glaze: Crackle Glaze" online and because I'm not the most patient person ever; while waiting for the China Glaze Crackle Glaze to be shipped to my house from the USA I went out and picked up two "Kleancolor: Crack Nail Polishes" from the local Urban Planet.

I'm going to be a brief review of my thoughts and comparisons of China Glaze's: Crackle Glaze and Kleancolor: Crack Nail Polishes

Beware of tons of photos below and be warned that I'm not a professional nail polish applicator and some of the results are a little messy!

These are the colours I decided to work with. Rainbow fingers! I ended up taking out the orange since I only have 5 fingers...but I thought I could form a nice rainbow for the photo

I did my nails maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago using the awesome Konad system. I love it!!

Clean nails ready to be painted

Just letting my nails breathe for a bit =)

Starting with my left hand. I bought this polish from Shoppers Drug Mart for pretty cheap. It's Sally Hansen Insta-Dri #4917-25 and it has a nice sort of metallic glow to it.
I really love the size of the brush and the fact that is does dry fast!!

I bought this nail polish from Urban Planet for $2 on sale. It's L.A. Colors Color Craze: Atomic Np420. It's pretty good for the price but it is hard to get away with one coat. The brush is just an average size.

I bought this nail polish from Urban Planet for $2 on sale as well. It's Kleancolor Nail Polish #17 Neon Green. Again, it's good for the price but it is hard to get away with one coat. The brush is just an average size.

I bought this nail polish from Urban Planet for $2 on sale too. It's L.A. Colors Color Craze: Current Np413 and it has a slight glitter to it. Again, it's pretty good for the price but it is hard to get away with one coat. The brush is just an average size.

This is China Glaze 87-2086 Pink Underground. I really like the milky pink look of it but it also has a very slight glitter to it. It's hard to tell but this is a smaller bottle of polish but the brush is average sized.

My nails done with one coat of each colour. Looks like Easter!

Two coats done and now ready for the shatter polish.

After my nails were completely dry, I applied one coat of China Glaze's Crackle Glaze #980 Black Mesh on my left hand. As you can see on my middle finger, I ran the brush horizontally across my nail and it caused the shatters to run lengthwise. I don't like that look as much on top of the fact that I didn't do a great job of it. I love the fact that the Crackle Glaze itself is matte.

I finished off my nails with Kleancolor's #90 Madly Matte Top Coat. It turns any polish matte and I absolutely love it!

Complete nails with assorted colours, China Glaze Crackle Polish and Matte Top Coat

Moving on, first coat on my right hand in preparation of for Kleancolor's Crack Polish. My plan is to just alternate between the Kleancolor Teal & Purple Crack Polishes. I ended up doing two coats of the base colour (no photo).

I bought this nail polish from Urban Planet for $2 on sale. It's Kleancolour's Crack Polish #239 Teal Crackle. I had to apple with before the base colour was completely dry

I bought this nail polish from Urban Planet for $2 on sale. It's Kleancolour's Crack Polish #241 Purple Crackle.

This is an "Crack in progress" photo. As you can see Kleancolor's Crack Polish takes more than a few seconds to crack. You have to wait a couple of minutes for the coat to completely dry before you can see an cracking.

Complete nails with assorted colours and Kleancolor's Crack Polish

More detailed shot of the crackle.

Assorted colours, China Glaze Crackle Polish and Matte Top Coat VS. Assorted colours and Kleancolor's Crack Polish (no top coat)

China Glaze Versus Kleancolor. Both finished with Matte Top Coat

A major difference with Kleancolor's Crack Polish application is that it requires you to apply the Crack Polish to partially wet nails

China Glaze requires you to apply Crackle Glaze to completely dry nails

I will have to say that I absolutely love China Glaze's Crackle Glaze but It really depends on what you would like your final you are looking for. I find that with China Glaze I was able to keep the look of my rainbow colours of nail polish thanks to the manner in which the China Glaze was able to not act like a coat of nail polish but more like a secondary layer.
Kleancolor's Crack Polish is a little less friendly in terms of application. It's hard to tell if your nails are "partially wet" without have to touch your nail and potentially damaging your coat. I don't like the fact that when I applied the Kleancolor it cracked like a mini desert. You can barely tell that I painted my nails in rainbow colours really...it just looks like I went and painted the most random colours on each of my fingernails.
China Glaze's Crackle Glaze is fantastic; it's simple to apply, instant results, matte finish, and quick drying! Kleancolor's Crack Polish is difficult to apply because of the fact that it needs to be applied to partially wet nails. I have experienced accidents in which I applied the polish too soon and mixed it with my base colour of nail polish. The end results are okay but I think that I would have looked better if I chose basecoat colours that don't contribute to the Crack Polish colour, I think white would be ideal. Also, it takes too long for the Crack Polish to show any signs of cracking and the finish of the polish is very shiny.

I know that I sound in love with China Glaze over Kleancolor but there is one thing that I like about Kleancolor over China Glaze though. When using China Glaze I made an error in the coat and when I went to fix it; the shatter effect was affected by my error and it did not turn out as planned. With Kleancolor because it does take a few minutes to dry and then crack: I was able to fix errors in the coat before letting it dry and not having any noticable affects in the final result.

All in all, China Glaze's Crackle Glaze gives you a matte shattered glass look while Kleancolor's Crack Nail Polish gives you a shiny cracked snakeskin look. The price difference was $10 and $2 respectively and I think that for the difference in price, Kleancolor is a very affordable alternative!

Thanks for reading my review! What do you think about shatter and crackle polishes? Have you tried any? Which ones do you prefer? What color combinations are your favourite?

199: ikea breakfast

2011-07-30T17:29:00.002-04:00

Recently, Syl & I visited an Ikea right before 11am. We didn't mean to time it out that way but we dashed for the food court and were able to grab the last two plates of breakfast. I'm not sure if it's the same in other countries but have you ever tried the $1.00 Ikea breakfast? If yes, what do you think?
I think for the amount it costs, why not? It's filling and a good start to a long shopping trip. As long as you're not making a mission out to Ikea daily to eat the breakfast minus the shopping. :P

My breakfast. Check out that ice cream scoop of eggs...

Syl's breakfast. mmm lots of Frank's Red Hot Sauce.

198: fast eddie's

2011-07-30T10:26:00.001-04:00

I haven't planned much this long weekend but I made a trip out to Waterloo, Ontario today and I'm so guilty of going on a little shopping trip. I bought some great things that I'm sure I will blog about in the near future. But during my shopping trip I was very surprised by the fact that I ran into Katrina of thedemuremuse! Katrina if you are reading this, I know it was brief but it was great to see you again!!

On the way from Waterloo, I made a stop at Fast Eddie's in Cambridge, Ontario. If you've never been to one; it's a drive-thru, or walk-thru only, burger place. I've never really been a fan of drive-thrus because there aren't many of those types of restaurants around here. I really prefer to walk in to pick up my food and if I want to eat at home, I do. But Fast Eddie's is the type of place where you go to pick up your food and then park your car to eat in it.

I had a great experience and I will definitely return when I go back out west =)

My chicken burger, it was very hot

Fast Eddie's has what they call "CrazyFrys". mmm, they were good!

Hey you Canadians, what are your plans for the Civic long weekend? (although I just found out that It is not a statutory holiday in Manitoba)

197: the bachelorette

2011-07-29T21:34:00.000-04:00

I'm at that age. My friends are done school, they're settling in & some of them are even getting MARRIED. So this past weekend I went to my THIRD bachelorette party of the year! whoa.

We went up to Collingwood, which is one of my favourite places in Ontario because of all the great memories I have there. The plan was to go to Le Scandinave Spa (featuring outdoor 'baths', steam rooms, saunas etc) and then go out for an amazing Italian dinner at Trattoria Azzurra & then for a crazy night out in Blue Mountain at Kaytoo! Here's the photo summary!

The bride refused to wear any ridiculous "accessories" when we went out, so I made some cute little birdcage veils for everyone from some tulle & mismatched vintage laces :)

They did the trick & everyone knew we were a bachelorette party! ...and without being those other girls who were walking around with pink penis accessories all over themselves. lol.

Of course, that doesn't mean we didn't get crazy though. We went home wasted & planked all over our chalet.

xoxo

196: my green thumb

2011-07-28T21:30:00.001-04:00

I talked in an earlier entry about how much of a grandma I am because of my love for vegetable gardening. I posted photos of my garden when it was still very young & green but lately, some more tasty treats & bright colours have been appearing! Here's another peek into what's been keeping me busy!

a little harvest of cherry tomatoes & yellow pear tomatoes

cayennes. they are SUPER hot! YAY!

these are some form of heirloom tomato, but we have no idea what kind yet!

aren't these little signs cute? they're from ikea!

our pot of lettuce hasn't been giving us huge salads but we've been able to garnish burgers with it :)

brussels sprouts, which we'll see sprout out in october.

stay fresh, babies.
xoxo

195: summer hair

2011-07-27T21:30:00.004-04:00

Just a quickie post, lovelies. Sorry for the lack of real riveting content lately! We've been working on shooting & posting our new summer accessories in the shop. If you're into it, click on either of the photos below to check them out!

Also, today in fashion: I magically acquired a wedding dress, a black leather varsity football jacket from 1986 & a school blazer with a cassette tape still in the pocket. WEIRD RIGHT? Today was weird.

xoxo

194: beat the heat

2011-07-26T23:56:00.003-04:00

Are you getting sick of all the talks about heat lately? It's been a pretty serious heatwave in the Greater Toronto Area & it's only just let up today! We finally have been able to give our air conditioning a break & open up the windows. I won't complain about the sun & humidity though, we suffer some loooong winters waiting for this weather!

So I wanted to ask you guys, what do you wear on those ridiculously hot days?!

What runs through my mind when I'm getting dressed is usually:
- expose as much skin as possible (and go for strapless to avoid tanlines if it's sunny out!)
- wear my hair off of my face with either a braid, hairband or hat
- wear flat shoes or sandals (because for some reason I associate heels with effort & effort with sweating more. haha)
- SUNGLASSES always. (& then i'm that douche at the mall wearing sunglasses inside because I need the prescription to see)
- sunscreen!

I guess it's true about the heat making you feel a bit lazy. I find myself most often reaching for dresses or rompers because they're a one-piece outfit that doesn't require much thought!

& how do you guys beat the heat?
Sam's been making us lots & lots of fruit smoothies with the magic bullet. yum ;)

xoxo