Author: Shannon Rae

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Half Moons & Gold StudsĀ 

Happy Monday! How was everyone elseā€™s weekend? Weā€™ve been starting to pack for moving which is about as much fun as it sounds… I hate packing & I hate moving. (& I havenā€™t even starting thinking about moving my 1000+ nail polishes yet.) 

So what am I sharing to cheer myself up after a packing haze? One of my favourite go-to designsā€”the half moon. & thought Iā€™d share a quick pictorial on how easy these actually are to create! & no special vinyls are needed!

The products used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Fancy Pants
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • NailStuff.ca gold Mixed Decoration Nail Wheel

Paint your base colour & apply quick dry top coat. Let dry completely, roughly about 20 minutes depending on the top coat you use. 

Once your nails are completely dry, pull out your pack of paper hole reinforcements & apply at the base of your nail. Make sure to press down at each end. 

Repeat on all 5 nails. I always do one hand at a time. 

Press down each side of hole reinforcement (to make sure polish wonā€™t bleed under) & then quickly paint second colour over top. A one coat polish works best, but she make sure base colour is covered. 

Immediately remove your reinforcement. 

Repeat steps on all fingers & then seal in design with top coat. Bam! Almost instant half moons (with a few steps in between). I loved the blue with purple but I wanted to add a little more of a snazzy finish to my nails. Iā€™ve been obsessing about this wheel of nail studs lately adding it to a lot of my manicures lately so I figured it would be the perfect addition to this design. 

For my accent nail, I applied some blobs of coat, then picked up my studs with a wet nail art brush & arranged them. I always make sure to pull my studs out of the wheel ahead of applying them, as it takes less time trying to find them. Also, sometimes you will have to dab on more clear polish/top coat to make sure the studs stick. Also I always seal my studs in with top coat so no edges catch & get pulled off. 

What do you think of this half moon? How do you create your half moon designs? Let me know in the comments below! šŸŒ™

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Fall Leaves inspired by @cashmere_dreams

One of my favourite things about Instagram is that it constantly introducing new & talented people. I love that we have a community that we can come together & inspire each other & enable… I mean support each otherā€™s nail polish addictions. & that weā€™re all continually inspiring each other. 

 One of the nail artists Iā€™m currently obsessed with @cashmere_dreams! Daniela hails from Israel & creates such cute, clean, chic designs. I have quite a few of her designs saved to my ā€œseriously, you gotta recreate thisā€ list but when I saw her most recent design it jumped to the top! I was looking for a beautiful Fall design, & it was just too perfect! 

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI My Private Jet 
  • OPI A Great Opera-tunity
  • Small Dotting tool from Bundle Monster 
  • Maple Leaf vinyl from The Base Coat (from last year)  

Iā€™ve been using Seche Vive for my top coat lately & Iā€™m really loving the shine that it gives. I scored mine at Walmart of all places  & Iā€™ve been really impressed so far so Iā€™m going to go through this bottle & see how I feel. I have no top coat locality… Iā€™m all about the top coat that will dry the quickest & look the best. 

Also Iā€™m loving this design & how well it pairs with a cosy sweater. Itā€™s just finally beginning to cool down enough for sweaters which makes me really excited! I wore a turtleneck the other day, & it made me so happy. Fall is absolutely my favourite time of year, & Iā€™m glad itā€™s finally decided to show up! 


Whatā€™s your favourite Fall nail design? Let me know in the comments below! I have a whole month of pre-Christmas designs to figure out, so share some of your favs for me! 

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Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month šŸ’œ

The month of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, & my fellow girls in #thenailartsquad & I wanted to create some manicures to bring awareness to this terrible disease that has touched so many of us. 

The color for Pancreatic Awareness Month is purple, so we grabbed a selection of our favourite purples. 

 For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Plur-ple 
  • ACO by Ardene Ice Mist
  • Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Essence Nail Art Stampy Set stamping plate. 

For my design, I picked to go with purple hearts. Like so many, Iā€™ve lost someone I loved to this terrible diseaseā€”-when I was just a little girl, my Poppy was diagnosed & passed away from pancreatic cancer. I donā€™t remember much about him sadly, except from pictures & home movies. 

This is why I think itā€™s such an important cause to bring attention to because I feel like so many people have lost someone they love way too soon. 

Weā€™d love for anyone out there who would like to bring awareness to Pancreatic Cancer to join us in posting a purple design using the hashtag #pancreaticcancerawarenessmonth

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October Monthly Mani Favourites šŸ’…šŸ»


Can you believe that October is over? I feel like I just blinked, & suddenly it was over! Now comes November & the beginning hints of the Christmas season. But before we start thinking ahead… letā€™s look back on my favourite manicures from the last month! 

Did you favourite make the cut? What designs  are you looking forward to seeing in November? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Happy Halloween with Wonder Woman Nails! šŸ’«

Happy Halloween everyone! I canā€™t believe itā€™s already Halloween šŸŽƒ ā€” how crazy is that? This year I was dedicated to doing a family Justice League costume with the hubs & our little Bubs so I could wear my Wonder Woman costume again! & obviously that means I needed to have nails that matched. 

Originally I was going to try for full on Justice League Nails with all the hero symbols but… my freehand skills are just not that good. I started & realized it would probably take me 14 hours & multiple attempts so I decided to go the easier route & just go Wonder Woman. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Boho Green Make Up Pacific Ocean
  • Lā€™OrĆ©al Color Riche Carmin Parisien 
  • Color Club Almost Famous
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • UR Sugar Star Nail Stencil item #AUB39877 ā€” Click to buy
  • NailStuff.ca gold triangle studs ā€” Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel 
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

I love, love, love how these turned out. I had a bit different idea going into this mani but even though these are different than who I originally planned, I think they turned out WAY better than what I was thinking I was going to do… & say Wonder Woman much more! I was super scared to attempt that W symbol, but I think it turned out great. & these are going to compliment my costume perfectly. 


 šŸŽƒ whether you plans involve trick or treating, handing out candy or just hiding inside with a box of mini candies (or anything else!) I hope you have the best Halloween ever. For those who follow me on Instagram Iā€™ll make sure to post a picture of my nails & my costume together later on! 

šŸ–¤