Author: Shannon Rae

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Autumn-esque Horizontal Accent Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! & Happy October 1st. It’s officially the first day of my birthday month & Halloween month! October is definitely my favourite month of the year & the BEST month for nail art!

Starting things off with some horizontal Autumn inspired accent nails. I’ve really been loving accent nail designs lately because sometimes you just don’t have time to do all of your nails. & lately, that has been my life. So accent designs are my lifeline!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Beet It
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Pink Cardamom
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Thyme is Money
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • China Glaze First Mate
  • Straight Nail Vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

For this look, I used some straight nail vinyls to create my initial blocks of colour. Then I went in with my NailStuff striper brush to create more lines, kind of overlapping each other which gives the lines of a bit of a fuller look (& it’s way easier to create straight lines when you’re following already straight lines!).

This look & colour combination is giving me 90s retro vibes — it’s giving me some serious Willow from Buffy sweater vibes, & I’m loving everything about it. I’ve definitely been spending too much time stalking the BuffytheOutfitSlayer instagram! Haha. But I am not complaining, because this nail art design turned out too cute!

What do you think about these stripe-y accent nails? What colour combination would you chose for an accent nail look like this? Let me know what you think down in the comments below (& let me know what October activities you’re looking forward to!)

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Navy & Bronze Dry Brush

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope everyone has a lovely start to their week so far. Today I’ve got another nail art technique to share with you (that I haven’t done in a while): dry brush!

Dry brush is such an easy technique that anyone can do. It’s a great option if you can’t quite figure out what to do on your nails— which is exactly what I was going through the other night when preparing to do my nails. I just love how the way you layer the polishes overtop of each other can create such a fun & unique look!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • L’Oréal Le Vernis a L’Huile Bleu Royal
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Essie Spice It Up
  • Essie Cliffhanger
  • Essie Leggy Legend
  • Sally Hansen MG Black-y O
  • NailStuff.ca Gold Metallic Flakes (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Look at that dry brush layering! I added some fun gold foil over top to complete my look, but dry brush is definitely a fun beginner design because it doesn’t require any nail art tools! You can just use whatever polish you have on hand. & the colour combinations are absolutely endless—you can do one for every season, or holiday. Also you can let it dry a bit so the colours don’t blend too much, or brush them together to create a fun almost watercolour effect. I love doing both!

What do you think of the dry brush nail art technique? How do you feel about this Autumn colour scheme? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Dam Nail Polish Sapphire

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s been a while since my last Swatch Sunday post, which is a shame because I’ve been meaning to post this beautiful for too long!

Today’s polish was purchased in July from NailStuff for a very special reason. Some of you might know that September marks my wedding anniversary, & September’s birth stone is Sapphire! So I really wanted this polish in honour of our 5th wedding anniversary. 💙

Dam Sapphire is a gorgeous deep blue liner holographic nail polish. The colour reminds me of the ocean, which is perfect when it’s mimicking a sapphire. The holo is strong, especially in sunshine, & just makes your nails sparkle! ✨

2 coats + top coat

The formula on this shade is really good, & I had full even coverage in 2 coats. I did use my Essie Speed Setter over top, because I was wearing it over the course of a few days.

The holographic glitters are dense, which gives that liner holographic effect. You can see from my below macro how much holo is actually packed into the polish! Just beautiful!

For those wanting to add this shade to their collection, you can buy Dam Nail Polish in a couple of places: for my Canadian friends, you can buy it from NailStuff.ca (like I did) & used my affiliate code COFFEE10 to save 10% off your purchase. For non-Canadians, you’re able to purchase directly from the Dam Nail Polish website.

What do you think about this beautiful blue? Let me know down in the comments below & let me know what your favourite gemstone is!

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FASHION FRIDAY — What I’ve Been Wearing Lately (Fall Edition)

Hello lovelies & Happy Friday. It’s been a while since I posted a Fashion Friday post, which is a shame because I feel like Autumn is when my style really shines. I’m a girl about layers, & Fall is when I really come alive!

We’ve been changing rooms around at home, among other craziness, so I haven’t done a dedicated OOTD post, but I thought it could be fun to do a snapshot of what my Fall wardrobe has looked like so far this September. I definitely have plans to do a favourite Fall clothing item post coming up too!

Continue reading “FASHION FRIDAY — What I’ve Been Wearing Lately (Fall Edition)”
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Fall Waterfall Design

Hello lovelies, & happy Thursday! Lots of new manicures for you thousands week! Also still absolutely obsessed with Fall shades & colour schemes right now. I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to start decorating my house for Autumn, & I really need to get to Dollarama to stock up on cute Fall decor. But at least I can rock Autumn on my nails!

It’s been a while since I last painted some waterfall nails. I really wanted to wear this pretty dusty salmon pink shade (Sally Hansen So Much Fawn which I scored for $1 on clearance at Shoppers recently) & I really wanted to pair it with some darker, complimentary shades. & I’m obsessed with the end result!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat On The Black
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Eco-Rose
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

It’s been a while, but my lines are too shakey (thank goodness!) I’m really loving this hint of colour on the pale base. All the polishes are perfect for Autumn! 🍂 & you can never go wrong with a little hint of gold. Plus this is a surprisingly easy look to achieve!

What do you think about this Fall inspired waterfall? I’m absolutely loving this darker colour scheme.

Also it’s almost October which means it’s almost time for Halloween mania to begin! Share down below what designs you might want to see.

(I’m also participating in GlamNailsChallenge October so stay tuned!)