Author: Shannon Rae

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Squishy Marble Nails

Now that we have baby on a bit of a schedule, I have a bit more time for nail painting! My goal is to try & use polishes I don’t reach for often, & colours that aren’t my typical shades. 

On top of that, I just want all the Spring colours. I decided to pull out a few polishes from deep in the back of my stash that I haven’t worn in ages for a fun squishy marble manicure. 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Pacific Blue
  • Nicole by OPI I’ll Have the Salmon
  • OPI  That’s Hula-rious
  • China Glaze Meet Me at the Mirage
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat 

First off, trying out a brand new top coat so I hope to have a good review on that coming up soon! Secondly–how pretty is this mani?! I wasn’t so sure about pairing these colours together at first, but they ended up looking really awesome together! I’m not sure how others test mani shades, but I literally just brush my colours beside each other on paper until I find the ones that look best beside each other. I definitely need to download some of those nifty nail guides for designing manicures so I can plan more easily! 

What do you think of this manicure? What colours are your favourite to pair together? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Spring Stripe Inspiration. 

Oh yes, I’m all about the Spring colours.

 I was looking to do a manicure different from my usual colour scheme, and I was inspired by a stuffed Giraffe belonging to my son that I yellow with blue and white striped feet. I thought the colours looked so lovely together, I wanted to recreate the look on my nails!

 It took me a couple tries to find the right shades, but I really like how well these colours compliment each other. If you threw an anchor into the mix, you would have a great nautical themed design! I also love how bright and Spring-y these are! It’s time to push the winter shades away, and embrace all things sunny and bright. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin
  • OPI Angel With A Lead Foot
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • Essie Gel Setter 
  • Born Pretty Store thick striping tape. 

What do you think of this mani? Funny the places you can find inspiration! This has kind of made me think about each week (or every couple weeks) doing a manicure inspired by something baby related! I’ve already got a few ideas brewing, so stay tuned. 

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More Spring Floral

Is there anything that says Spring more than floral? Since today marks the first day of Spring, I thought I should try and summon some warmer temps with a pretty floral design on my nails. I may not be able to pull out my sun dresses quite yet, but I can make my nails feel like it didn’t just snow last night. Haha. 

For this design, I used all Sally Hansen polishes including the ones I received from the Spring 2017 collection. 

The polishes I used for this design were:

  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Montley Hue
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Peony 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Bourbon Belle
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Terra-Coppa
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Piggy
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Mellow Yellow
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Tickled Pink
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Kiwi Bikini
  • Sally Hansen I ❤ Nail Art pen in Green
  • Sally Hansen I ❤ Nail Art pen in Black. 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel top coat. 

I’m so in love with how this design turned out I don’t even want to think about having to take it off! My floral has definitely improved over the years, and I’m feeling really good about how wicked these look. 🌼🌿🌸 Just so girly, and romantic. And the perfect way to welcome Spring (and encourage Mother Nature to make it feel more like Spring!)

What do you think of this floral? Let me know in the comments below! 

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St Patrick’s Day nails with #thenailartsquad

Happy St Patrick’s Day! 🍀

Today I’ve joined with the rest of the girls in #thenailartsquad for some St Patrick’s Day themed nails in honour of today. 

The fellow #thenailartsquad members that I joined for this collab are (clockwise from the top):

For my nails, I freehanded clovers on my accent nail using a fitting tool and small nail art brush. Thankfully, baby was sleeping so I had the chance for some real nail art! I was very excited. 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Essie First Timer (light green)
  • YSL  vert d’orient (dark green)
  • Icing Icing on Top (off white) 
  • ORLY Bling (holo gold) 
  • Butter London Rock Hard top coat. 
  • Dotting tool (Bundle Monster) and small nail art brush (Born Pretty Store). 

There are few occasions where I pull out green polish, but I always look forward to St Patrick’s Day for some festive green nails. I’m also really happy with my little clovers–I wasn’t quite sure I could pull them off freehand, but I think they turned out pretty cute! 

Hope everyone is having a festive day whether it’s with green beer, or–like me–a very green stir fry! 

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Sally Hansen Spring 2017 


Hello Spring!

Okay, well Spring doesn’t technically doesn’t arrive until Monday but that isn’t going to stop me from sharing a few Spring polishes with you. Back in December, I entered a contest on Instagram that Sally Hansen Canada was hosting and ended up winning! Not only was I excited because I  literally never win anything, but it meant I would receive some of the Spring 2017 colours from the line of Miracle Gel polishes. I received my prize last week, and although it took me a week to get them swatched, I finally have them to share!

All polishes have been swatches using a base coat, coats of colour, and the Miracle Gel top coat (which I also received as part of my prize pack.)

Continue reading “Sally Hansen Spring 2017 “