Beauty Swellness: My comic-book KAPOW manicure for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco

Nail-job craving: A few days before my manicure appointment I sent the above image, which is Roy Lichtenstein, to Leeanne at Tips Nail Bar, and said it’s what I was thinking I’d like for my mani.

“Dear god” was her text reply.

“That’ll take an entire day with all the layers to it,” she said to me once I got into Tips.

How I satisfied that craving: We went with a slightly simplified (but not really) version of this comic book look. Leanne started working on a few nails and it all came together as she worked. We knew were doing “Kapow” on two fingers, and I thought dots on one or two fingers, like the pixelated comic book print would work well, too (so that a few nails would be less complicated).

By the time we did one nail, Leeanne had her next client coming in, so the amazing Naomi Misu continued on the other nine nails. I (along with some of the other Tips nail artists) pretty much watched her do my nails with our mouths hanging open. When she outlined the words Kapow and Booyah (Leeanne’s idea!) in black, I think I held my breath.

When she decided to add a kiss on one of my thumbs, I thought it was cute exactly the way she painted it on…and then she took it to the next level by adding the delicate little lines that made it look like a real lip print! Whoa.

The colours used include a mix of soak-off gels and regular polish (all the detail nail art is in regular polish) including Cream Puff, Wildfire, Wham, Bicycle Yellow, Superstitious and Black Pool. Including the nail work to prep my nails, the manicure took three hours to complete.

How this nail-art makes me feel: Like I totally had to ROCK that Nike Women’s Marathon. I could hardly have “Booyah” on my nails and run my slowest marathon ever could I? And whaddyaknow, I ran my fastest marathon to date!

Love it or hate it: LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. This is up there amongst my most favourite manicures ever.

I run the Philadelphia Marathon in 17 days…can’t wait to get my manicure (and, oh yeah, cross the finish line, too).

6 Comments November 1, 2013

Beauty Swellness: Balmain-inspired manicure how-to on ElleCanada.com

A few weeks ago I took part in an ElleCanada.com nail-art video shoot with Revlon Nail Expert Leeanne Colley. All of the looks shot that day were inspired by the runway (I scored the nail art that pays tribute to the intricate fabrics from the Balmain S/S 2013).

The final manicure is bananas, but even cooler is how Leeanne achieved the look. To see my manicure and the three other runway-inspired manis, click on over to ElleCanada.com to watch the how-to for the basketweave manicure!

1 Comment June 3, 2013

Beauty Swellness: Art-deco-y Vancouver Marathon manicure

Nail-job craving: For my third (what!) marathon, this Sunday in Vancouver, I wasn’t thinking themed (like my Las Vegas half-marathon Strip at Night mani) or neon (my usual go-to for running a race, like my nails for the Toronto Women’s Half-marathon). I just wanted something stylish that would make me feel good. Cuz when I hit those last five kilometres or so, I’ll need anything and everything to help me feel better.

How I satisfied that craving: After a quick brainstorm with Leeanne Colley at Tips Nail Bar, we decided on a graphic design created with a mix of triangles. It’s a little bit Art Deco, but the colours and the graphicness also makes me think of the Aztec prints I love from Mara Hoffman, like this dress.

I let Leeanne choose the colours, and here’s what her crazy good artistic nail mind chose: the new pale pink Entity gel polish as the base, followed by four regular nail polishes meticulously painted on by her (and Naomi pitched in, too): Revlon in Posh (green), CND in Anchor Blue (blue), China Glaze in Surreal Appeal (coral) and Recycle (grey).

How it makes me feel: Like I might miss out on Vancouver’s gorgeousness as I run through the city because I’ll be too busy mani-gazing. In fact, I might even miss Channing Tatum waiting for me at the finish line, tee hee.

Love it or hate it: Love. In fact, let’s have a look at both hands…

4 Comments May 2, 2013