Author: Shannon Rae

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Feeling 90s With Neon Spotted NailsĀ 

Too many rainy days have left me craving some neon nails, so I decided to grab some bright colours to cheer myself up. In the process I saw my bottle of Layla Bubbly in Black & thought it would look really neat over a neon-ish base colour. 

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Forumla Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat 
  • ORLY Scenic Route
  • Icing Breakfast at Tiffany’s 
  • China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin 
  • Icing Pink A Boo
  • Layla Cosmetics Bubbly Effect in Black

I’ve owned this bottle of Layla Bubbly effect for a while (I scored it on sale at Lawton’s in the clearence like 3 years ago) but this was the first time I really got it to work for me the way I imagine it’s supposed to work. I did wait until the next morning to add the black, so maybe that made the difference? Either way I’m super excited about how it turned out! Like crackle nails, it just offers an easy way to create nail art without excessive work (or mess). 

& incase you were interested in seeing what my base looked like before I added the Bubbly topper, here was the base. I tried to attempted @laqvid‘s wet dry brush design but I’m definitely going to need to give it more practice. 

What do you think of this design? Have you ever tried the Layla Bubbly Effect polishes before? Let me know the comments below! 

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Turquoise on Turquoise DotticureĀ 

Are you in the mood for another dotticure, because I definitely am! You can never go wrong with Polka dots, & unlike my last dotticure these dots turned out much more neat & tidy. I was also feeling something brighter because we’ve had a couple sunny days that always inspire my nail polish choices. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Garden Variety
  • Sally Hansen I ā™„ļø Nail Art Pen in Turquoise

Oh man, I don’t know what I would do without these Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. They make creating dotticures so damn easy, & cut the time to do them to basically nothing! Don’t get me wrong, I love my dotting tools. But sometimes you’re tired & you just want to bang out some polka dots really quick & these pens are perfect for that. 

I seriously forgot how pretty Essie Garden Variety was. I can’t even remember the last time I wore it! That’s the problem with owning an excessive amount of nail polish… you just forget sometimes the colours you own (even when you’re trying to shop your own stash). 

What’s your favourite dotticure combination? I love pairing together similar shades because they compliment each other so well. Let me know your favourites in the comments below! 

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Navy Blue Chevron Moons

I will never, ever get tired of chevron moons.  Seriously, there are just so many ways to do them! I painted my nails with one of the new polishes from Beyond The Nail’s Spring collection (that I won through Instagram) & thought they would look so pretty with some navy blue complimentary chevron moons. 

For this manicure, I used:

First off, can we just acknowledge how freaking gorgeous Glistening Fairy Wings is? I mean… look at those flakies, just look. The whole Mystical Dreams collection is beyond stunning & I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to win the whole thing! Sadly Canada Post smashed my bottle of Magical Fairy Wand (thanks Canada Post šŸ˜«) but the rest of the collection is safely tucked into my Melmer. 

Would you want to see a picture tutorial of how I did this manicure? I’m still trying to figure out video tutorials, but I could definitely do a picture tutorial if anyone was interested. I was surprised with just how easy this pattern was to create. Thank goodness for nail vinyls! What did we do before they existed?! Oh, yeah…. this. 

What do you think of these chevron moons? Let me know in the comments below! & definitely let me know if you want to see a pictorial  of how I did this mani. 

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Drag Marble DecalsĀ 


If you’ve been around a while, you’ve probably heard me mention before how I can’t water marble. I’ve tried to do it, I really have but the results never turn out quite right. So thanks to rewatching old Simply Nailogilcal videos on YouTube, I wanted to see if I can cheat at watermarble using my silicone mat, ala Cristine!

So for my first Drag Marble decal experiment, I decided to try a couple different designs that would sort of look like watermarble (if you didn’t look too closely). I did about 15 different decals using different polishes to see which colours/polish formulas worked best & picked the three best to apply.

For each manicure I used my silicone craft mat & a water marble tool from Bundle Monster. For how to apply decals, there are lots of useful tutorials on YouTube. I also topped all designs with my Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat.

Continue reading “Drag Marble DecalsĀ “

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Pink to Navy Blue Gradient Nails

I’m officially on a gradient kick… I just can’t stop! Today’s gradient is a bit more vampy than the Spring/Summer nails I’ve been wearing a lot lately. Blame it on the excessive rain & cloudy skies we’ve been having here in Halifax. It really feels like it’s never going to stop raining. šŸ˜¦ I just want to be able to wear pretty dresses. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Too Coat 
  • Essie Haute in the Heat
  • Essie Bachelorette Bash
  • Essie Under the Twilight 
  • CND Crimson Sparkle
  • Born Pretty Store Liquid Latex Peel Off Tape

Ooooooh I’m so obsessed with this gradient. I’m slowly, but surely, getting better at doing them. Using liquid latex around my cuticles definitely helps the process! The combination of pink & blue, with the added sparkle, just calls to me. I’m in love. ā™„ļø


What do you think of this gradient? What is your favourite gradient colour combination? Let me know in the comments below!