Author: Shannon Rae

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Coral stripes & my first real striping tape manicure.

When I first read about the OMD Nail Art Challenge for this month I got excited. Even though my first attempt at the 30 Day Nail Art challenge kind of crashed and burned, I wanted another attempt at accomplishing a challenge. What I like about this challenge is you don’t have to do it every day. That makes it easier when I want to be able to do something other than the prompt.

 

Today’s prompt was Coral. As you have seen, I love coral. And I own a lot of coral nail polishes. I also really wanted to attempt something with the striping tape I received for my birthday last year. I’ve played around with it a little bit, but never accomplished a full manicure. So this was my first real attempt using it.

coralstripes

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors Easy Going — creambase color.
  • Quo by ORLY Sugar Cookie — cream base color.
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coral Reef — stripes.
  • Sinful Colors Island Coral — stripes.
  • Rimmel Salon Pro Reggae Splash — stripes.
  • Essie Go to Go Top Coat.

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For a first attempt with striping tape, I’m really happy with the outcome. The lines are definitely cleaner than when I freehand my lines, and I like that I could create thicker lines easier. Of course, it did take much longer to do my nails than it usually does, but that was mostly cutting and applying the tape, and then taking the time to pull it off. But I can definitely see myself using it again.

So what do you think of these coral stripes? I think it’s a great Summer manicure, even though I’m going to spend the majority of my day cleaning and organizing my closet and purging old clothing I never wear. Not the most glamorous way to spend my day off, but it is a great excuse to play dress up! =)

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Happy Canada Day Nails.

Just a quick post today.

So here in Canada we’re celebrating our country’s birthday. In honor of that, I painted my nails for the occasion. I wanted to try and create some maple leaves, but I was short on time as we were heading out to the boyfriend’s brother’s house for pre-Canada Day drinks, so I went with polka dots.

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 polkadots

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The polishes I used for these holiday nails were:

  • OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • ACO by Ardene Strawberry Blush
  • Essie Go to Go top coat.

These were right the right amount of red and white for my Canada Day. =)

I look forward to starting on the OMD2 Nail Art Challenge tomorrow with Coral nails. =)

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Outline Gradient Nails.

I’m kind of a little obsessed with gradients lately.

It’s only been the last little while that I’ve actually been able to get them right–after many fail nail manicures. After the gradients I did for my Bestie Twin Tropical Nails turned out so well, I really wanted to give a full gradient manicure another try.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls — white base color.
  • Sinful Colors Island Coral.
  • ACO by Ardene Forever Young.
  • LA Colors In A Flash.
  • Cherimoya Black.
  • Essie Go to Go Top Coat.

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This manicure reminds me of something, but I can’t quite figure it out. I ended up creating a black outline around the nails as I didn’t quite get my sponging of the different colors to the ends of the nails, so there was some white edges. This seemed like the perfect solution for hiding that. =)

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Pretty, purple, & polka dots.

Quick post on a quick bit of nail art.

I love purple. It’s one of my favorite colors, so I own quite a few polishes in the purple family. Today’s manicure puts to work a few of these polishes, in a cute combination. My co-worker and I decided for her last ever shift, we would do matching nails (again) and came up with this combination. This was my first time doing a freehand bow, and it turned out not too bad. I know what I would do differently next time.

purple purple2 purple3

Polishes used for this manicure were:

  • ACO by Ardene Forever Young — light purple.
  • Sinful Colors Easy Going — off white.
  • Essence Baby Baby Ooh — dark purple.
  • Essie Good To Go top coat.

I’m trying to inspire myself to do more nail art. I’ve been lacking a little in the idea department. I really need to get back to stalking pinterest to find some new ideas for fun Summer nails!

 

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‘Tis the season… for prom nails.

Tis the season for Prom. I’m long past my prom years, but my old neighbour I used to babysit is attending her grade 9 grad this year, which is pretty much a mini prom for those graduating to high school. It’s also a very big deal to them, almost as much as prom is to high school seniors. So when she asked me to do her nails for the big dance, I was more than honored. Her dress was lime green with sparkles, so I went with that theme.

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I did a glitter gradient at the bottom of her nails, with an accent nail of pure sparkle. (I also did her toes to match with a glitter gradient.) Her dress has a whole lot of glitter and sparkle going on, so we wanted to do something that would match. These are going to look awesome when the lights at the dance hit them! Just like a disco ball!

The polishes I used for her nails were:

  • Pure Ice Wild Thing
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Ice Pop
  • NOPI Inner Sparkle.
  • Color Club Platinum Record.
  • OPI I Snow You Love Me.
  • Essie Good to Go Top Coat.

Continue reading “‘Tis the season… for prom nails.”