Hi Everyone! I have not one but TWO nail art looks for you today featuring the Pueen 41 stamping plate. I kept the concept very simple... a pink base and with stamped designs in a white polish. Since it's February and Valentine's Day is tomorrow, I figured hearts were the best option to go with!

The base colour in both nail art looks is Pinking Out the Window from the new China Glaze Road Trip (Spring 2015) Collection. And remember I am giving away this entire collection right here!



I pulled up Pueen 41 and couldn't decide which particular image I liked so I ended up picking two! To stamp the designs I used my newly purchased Whiteout by Rica... let me tell you that it is an amazing white polish that stamps perfectly opaque! I would recommend investing in a bottle if you enjoy stamping. Both the Pueen stamping plates and the Rica polishes are available for purchase at Harlow & Co.

MLIT's 2nd Birthday - Nail Art + NEW Nail Shape + GIVE AWAY

Yes, you read that right! My Life in Turquoise (MLIT) turns 2 today and that is definitely a reason to celebrate. As the title suggests, I have a nail art look to celebrate the blog's birthday, a fresh new nail shape AND a giveaway at the end of this post! I think it is also good time to relfect on the last 2 years and appreciate all the wonderful things that have happened since I started this blog.

PS. I am going to start referring to my blog as MLIT going forward... hope the acronym catches on!

Reflecting on 2013 + 2014

I don't often share details about my personal life on this blog or spend too much time delving into my feelings. The start of a new year, however, feels like the right time to start! I feel like I accomplished a lot for MLIT these past two years but at the same time, I know I want more. Here's a quick list of all the good things that have happened to MLIT:

• I successfully completed the 31 Day Challenge for the first time in 2014!
• 2 of my designs were selected in the Bundle Monster Create Your Own 2014 stamping set!
• I have swatched and reviewed quite a few nail polishes/collections (some purchased by me, some sent to me for review)
• Some of my favourite brands chose to share some press samples for me to review!
• I hosted my very first giveaway
• I finally learnt the stamping nail art technique
• I made new friends in the nail art community (Some even created guest posts for MLIT!)
• My nail art skills and photography have improved so much sinve my first nail art post (if you don't believe me... click here to see how I started)
• AND best of all, so many of you chose to start following MLIT through various social media

Outlook for 2015

Like I said... I want more! I don't have anything defined but I do know that sharing what I would like to achieve in 2015 will help me stay accountable and achieve the goals I set out for the year. So here's a shortlist of everything I want to achieve in 2015:

• Review more nail polishes and collections to keep this blog relevant
• Create regular nail art posts! (I may need to join a challenge to find the inspiration)
• Improve my photography skills
• Create a new blog design/layout and update the graphic elements
• Post a weekly/monthly/seasonal feature or series
• Maintain my nail health by regularly caring for my nails (too make breaks and chips in 2014)
• Host more giveaway(s)
• AND Make more friends and meet other nail art/polish enthusiasts!

Nail Art

What better way to celebrate a nail art blog's birthday than create a celebratory nail art?!

Golden Bows Nail Art

Another look featuring the essie Winter 2014 Collection?! Yes, because I am really loving these pink-red girly shades paired with the white gold foil. I am loving the gradient that is the base for this otherwise simple stamped nail art.

Princess Roses Nail Art

For today's nail art post, I tried a new-to-me technique! I have really been working on improving my stamping skills and for this look I decided to try stamping with more than just 1 colour! I selected polishes that were similar in colour but ranged in terms of lightness to darkness to create the gradient stamping.

I knew right away that I wanted to use polishes from the essie Winter 2014 Collection as they are perfect for creating a beautiful gradient! And the white crelly from the same collection is the perfect base for my gradient stamping.

Pink Nail Art for Breast Cancer Awareness

Although October is almost over, as I'm sure many of you know, it is still Breast Cancer Awareness month. I wanted to help spread awareness in my little corner of the internet by sporting some pink nail art. The most shocking statistic I have read is that 1 in 9 women in Canada is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime (by the age of 90). This is definitely a touch subject that affects people in different ways so I will keep this post short and sweet.

Almost every nail polish brand releases special pink polishes in support of Breast Cancer Awareness and donate money for research. Although I didn't pick up any polishes from the 2014 collections, I did pick some up last year and used those to create this simple look.

Diwali Nail Art

As many of you may be aware, today is Diwali and I would like to wish all of you a Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year.

Diwali also known as the "festival of lights" is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year usually between mid-October and mid-November. The date changes every year because the Hindus follow a different calendar based on the lunar cycle. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. It is celebrated by lighting diyas (lamps and candles), prayers and enjoying mithai (sweets) with family and friends.

Fall Leaves Nail Art

Hi everyone! It is mid-October and we are right in the middle of cloudy skies, beautiful foilage, chilly weather, warm drinks and pumpkin-spiced everything. So I created some simple fall-inspired stamping nail art featuring the beautiful KBShimmer shade, You Autumn Know (swatch and review at the end of the post).

This shade was released as part of the KBShimmer Fall 2013 Collection and I have been admiring it ever since. I recently purchased a few shades from the KBShimmer Fall 2014 Collection (swatches coming soon) and added this shade to my order... luckily Harlow & Co had You Autumn Know in stock.

Polka Dots Nail Art

Hi Everyone,

I have a super simple nail art post for you today. My go-to nail art technique is polka dots because it looks amazing in any colour combination and it takes very little time to put together.

31DC2014 - Round Up Post + Interesting Stats

Hello Everyone!

As you all know, September was a very busy month because of the 31 Day Challenge 2014 (#31DC2014). I just wanted to share all 31 manicures in a round up post to show all of you what I accomplished in the last month. It's really cool to see how I started with nubs on day 1 and how much my nails grew over the course of the month!

I have set it up such that you can click on the thumbnail for a link to the original blog post! So please clickety-click away and I would love to hear your thoughts and comments regarding my challenge posts.

I have also set up a separate page on the top with a round up... you can access that by clicking here.

Here are some intersting stats:

• Most Liked on Instagram: Day 05 - Blue Nails - Angular French Tips
• Most Commented on Instagram: Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie - Minions
• Most Viewed on the Blog: Day 01 - Red Nails - Louboutin Rouge
• Most Commented on the Blog: Day 10 - Gradient Nails - Seashore
• MY Favourite: Day 21 - Inspired by a Color - Turquoise Ombre

These are the worst post stats:

• Least Liked on Instagram: Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag - Brazil
• Least Viewed on the Blog: Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag - Brazil
• MY Least Favourite: Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag - Brazil

I'm really not surprised since I completely half-arsed the flag nails... clearly I was very uninspired!

Since I have created a lot of nail art with the challenge... I am going to spend the next week or so posting my swatches of reviews of several collections which I have already prepared.


- Hetal

31DC2014 - Day 31 - Honor Nails You Love - Violet Watercolor Wash

It's Day 30 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Honor Nails You Love! OMG! I actually completed the entire challenge!!!

I am sure most of you recognize today's nail art. Sarah from Chalkboard Nails organizes everyone into participating in this challenge and she comes up with some of the most creative nail art designs. I was specially wow-ed by this watercolour and splatter design mix from Chalkboard Nails Day 06 Violet Nails. Here's my copy-cat version:

31DC2014 - Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial - Fall Waterfall

It's Day 30 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by a Tutorial! OMG! One more day!

I have been meaning to try a new technique that Sammy from The Nailasaurus came up with... the Waterfall nail art technique. She has created so many waterfall manicures with so many different colour combinations... it's beautiful! So you can check out the tutorial here and now you can see my version... a seasonal manicure perfect for fall.

31DC2014 - Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural - Unicorns

It's Day 29 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by the Supernatural!

This prompt can be interpreted in so many ways and I chose the happier magical creatures... unicorns! And the perfect base for this simple mani is unicorn by piCture pOlish, a recent collaboration shade by Allie from Brit Nails. You can read about Allie's inspiration and process here.

31DC2014 - Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag - Brazil + BPS Review

It's Day 28 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by a Flag!

I had some water decals from the Born Pretty Store which I got during the World Cup. At the time, I was really busy and didn't do much art work but they are perfect for today's prompt. I used the wavy flag decal on my ring finger and freehanded a black flag pole. I then painted the remainder of my nails in the colours of the flag.

31DC2014 - Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork - Painters

It's Day 27 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by Artwork!

I could have created nail art inspired by some of the best artists out there... but this challenge is exhausting and I wanted to make it simple! I found the perfect stamping image... tools required to create beautiful artwork.

31DC2014 - Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern - Damask Print

It's Day 26 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by a Pattern!

I had an idea of creating a damask print in very traditional fabric type colours so I went with something I usually don't use... brown! But I love the elegance of it and it feels very season appropriate for fall.

31DC2014 - Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion - Michael Kors Pre SS14

It's Day 25 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by Fashion!

I don't know a lot about fashion but I decided to browse the Vogue website and picked a dress that inspired me and would easily translate into nail art. Here is what I came up with:

31DC2014 - Day 24 - Inspired by a Book - The Fault in Our Stars

It's Day 24 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by a Book!

With the recent movie release, this book's cover has been super popular and I've already seen quite a few bloggers create nail art inspired by this book on Instagram. I went with the spirit of it considering that I did not have a stamp to create the newsprint background and I've never tried the method of transferring ink from newspaper.

31DC2014 - Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie - Minions

It's Day 23 of the 31 Day Challenge (31DC2014) and today's prompt is Inspired by a Movie!

I watch a lot of TV... way more TV than movies but the minions from Despicable Me are so cute and I really wanted to do that for nail art. Although creating a minion on each nail would have been fun, I was searching on Instagram and came across @veanailart's Instagram account and I loved her version of minion nail art! Instead of just focusing on minions, there are accent nails with BA-NA-NA-S!