Author: Shannon Rae

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Gold & Blue Holo X-Pattern Nails

After a bit of an impromptu hiatus, I’m back with some new nails! Today I’m showing off these gold & blue holo nails featuring more of the great vinyls from Xroma Polish & Vinyls. 

For this manicure I used: 

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat 
  • ACO by Ardene La Luna mixed with Nicole By OPI Make A Comet-ment
  • Color Club Dirty Money 
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls ‘X’ Stencil
  • Small dotting tool from Bundle Monster 


First can I mention how much I love this polish combination? ACO by Ardene La Luna is such a pretty cruelly, & it occurred that it would show off some holo really well so I took a risk & mixed it with some of my bottle of Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment. & it turned into an absolutely perfect blue scattered holo. I’m kind of in love. So I wanted to create a design that would compliment this colour & I think these x pattern stencils are perfect for that. 


I need to start coaxing myself into wearing colours other that blue. Maybe that will be my goal for June! Although I did just pick up Revlon To The Chapel which is… you guessed it! A pretty baby blue. Haha. But after I wear that it’s going to be a blue free month! Think I can do it? Guess we will have to see. 

What do you think of today’s design? What’s your favourite colour to wear? Let me know in the comments below! 💙

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Simple Rose Accent Nails

Sometimes a polish is so pretty, it doesn’t need much in tens of nail art. That’s how I felt about the combo of CND Vinylux in Dazzling Dance & Nicole by OPI Love Song. It looked so dang pretty on its own I didn’t want to ruin it by overwhelming it with too much. So what would be the perfect simple nail art? Roses of course! 

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance
  • NOPI Love Song
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Peony 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Bourbon Belle 
  • Essie Brides No Grooms
  • Essie First Timer
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Kiwi Bikini
  • Dotting Tool from Bundle Monster
  • Small Nail Art Brush from Bundle Monster 

First off, check out the holo glitter in Dazzling Dance! I’ve worn this polish before a couple years ago, but without any undies & it took way too many coats (4+ with visible nail line.) So undies we’re necessary. I picked out NOPI Love Song to bring out the purple undertones. I bet a gray base would be beautiful too. 

These roses make me happy. So simple but beautiful. I will never get tired of roses & floral designs in general. They’re just the perfect pop of nail art for when you don’t want (or don’t have time for) something more complex. 

What do you think of my roses? Don’t forget to comment below & let me know you thoughts! 

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Simple Geometric Nails Featuring Essie Watermelon 🍉

Do you remember what your first was? Nail polish I mean! Do you remember your first Essie, first China Glaze, & first OPI? What were the polishes that started the obsession? I was looking through my stash the other night, trying to find a colour to paint my nails, & picked up my bottle of Essie Watermelon which was the very first Essie I ever owned. I can’t ever remember the last time I put it on, so it seemed like a good day to pull it out. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat 
  • Essie Watermelon
  • Essie Strut Your Stuff
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls ‘X’ stencil (I used the inside part). 

I love how these turned out! I wanted a simplistic design to compliment this juicy pink, without overpowering it. I though the blue tones of Strut Your Stuff & Mint Candy Apple complimented it well. 

I really enjoy how Summery these ended up being. I decided to use the inside angles from my X stencils from Xroma Polish & Vinyls because they were a sharper angle than my other Chevron Vinyls. They worked really well to create these little blocks of colours. 

Do you remember what your very first nail polish was? I don’t remember what my very first polish was, though I can guarantee it was probably white. I do remember what the polish that was the beginning of my nail polish addiction was though! Claire’s Evil Queen.

Let my know your first in the comments below. 

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SUNDAY SWATCH POST: Essie In The Cab-ana

First off, Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums out there! 🌸 

Continuing my Swatch Sunday trend with one of my all time favourite blues! You might remember last Summer I had a bit of a love affair with Essie In The Cab-ana & used it frequently (if not, check out the end of this post for a refresher haha). But it occurred to me I had never swatches the polish on its own so I knew I needed to!

Originally from the 2013 Resort collection, In The Cab-ana is the prettiest vibrant blue cream than leans slightly turquoise. It also has a great formula that only requires 2 squishy coats for full opacity.

But most importantly it’s just so pretty! I mean, I love blue in general when it comes to nail polish, but In The Cab-ana is extra special. You can bet I’ll be wearing this polish a lot again this coming Spring/Summer.

And a few more manicures featuring In The Cab-ana:

What do you think of Essie In The Cab-ana? It is part of your nail polish stash? What polish can you not live without? Let me know in the comments below!

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Craving Spring with Wavy Pattern Nails

TGIF! I mean I’m on maternity leave so sometimes I forget what day it actually is. But it’s supposed to be semi-warm & sunny this weeekend & some what Spring-like so I am very excited for the weekend to come! So in honour of the sunny days to come, I did this wavy design using some Spring shades & wavy nail vinyls from Xroma Polish and Vinyls. 

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • China Glaze Ever Glaze Don’t Grape About It
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • ORLY Gumdrop
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Babe Blue 
  • Xroma Polish and Vinyls Skinny Waves Nail Vinyls
  • Dotting tool

I’m loving these vinyls from Xroma Polish and Nail Vinyls! They’re just so easy to use. This manicure only took me about 1/2 hour to do (after my initial polish had dried) including placing all my vinyls. & no issues with polish bleeding under the vinyls, which I hate so much. Even better, these wave vinyls were long enough I could cut them in half on some nails which meant I used less. 


This colour combination looks so pretty together, I love it. What is it about purple & mint that looks so stunning when paired? Definitely just feels like Spring-time to me. 💜 

What do you think of these wavy patterned nails? What colours are you wearing most lately? Let me know in the comments below.