Category: Aco by Ardene

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Tribal Stamped Accent Nail

Good Morning! & happy Saturday. ♥️ My Saturday is starting off pretty good because we actually got a sprinkling of snow last night, so things are looking pretty festive & Winter-y. It’s also starting off pretty good because I have some new nails to show off.

I wore this nail art design the other night when I was invited to a Mark’s Well Worn Media Event–the first blogger event I’ve ever been invited to! It was pretty exciting & obviously I needed to wear something fancy on my nails for the occasion. & what is more fancy than some holo glitter & a little stamping accent nail. ✨

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The polishes I used for this design were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2 Foundations
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Finger Paints Piece De Resistance
  • Essence We Will Spock You
  • ACO by Ardene Style Icon
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate m100 (no longer available)
  • Latex free make up sponge

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I just love how this design turned out. Honestly I never thought I would enjoy stamping so much, but it’s kind of become an obsession! I ordered a bunch of new plates from Born Pretty Store, so those should be here sometime in the New Year. In the meantime, I’ve been rediscovering old stamping plates I bought in the beginning of my nail art journey. I think the combination of a good liquid latex & polishes that work well for stamping has made it more fun & much less of a frustration. Also how pretty is ACO by Ardene Style Icon? I sponged it on for full glitterocity & the sparkle is hard not to stare at. Again thank god for Edge Perfection because trying to clean that glitter off my cuticles would have made me cry.

What do you think of these nails? Let me know in the comments below. ✨

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Cosy Legging Inspired Nail Art

Good morning! Don’t know where you are this morning, but here in Halifax it’s grey & rainy. Yep–still no snow in sight. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to dress my nails all cosy in hopes that maybe we will finally get some snowy weather in time for Christmas. (If not though, we’ll be driving to snow so I’ll have a white Christmas regardless haha.)

These nails are actually inspired by a pair of my favourite pair of winter leggings. I’ve been trying to come up with “short nail” designs & feeling frustrated, but I realized pretty much anything I can do when my nails are long I can create on short nails too! & this design is perfect for that. Also because I used nail vinyls & minimal freehanding, I would say this design is a good option for beginners. It looks much more complicated than it actually is.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek Foundations 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Rock My World
  • Essence Dream On
  • ACO by Ardene Daydreamer
  • Quo by ORLY The Antidote
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Straight Vinyls
  • Bundle Monster tiny detail brush

I love how these turned out. They remind me a lot of cosy sweater leggings, which is perfect for this time of year. Also like I said, these are so easy to do thanks to the use of nail Vinyls & only a bit of freehanding details. They look way more complicated to do than they actually are, I swear. For beginners, trying maybe one accent nail might be a little less overwhelming.

Oooooh these nails make me want snowy days to wear comfy leggings so bad. Is it snowing where you are yet? Do you typically get White or Green Christmas’ where you are? It’s usually hit or miss Snow wise in Halifax for Christmas–& it’s usually Christmas Eve before we see anything. January on, though, is a whole other story.

What do you think of this design? What designs remind you of Christmas? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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My New Favourite Purple & Swirly Accent Nails 

Happy Friday everyone! Today I’ve got a quick mani I did recently when I was feeling some nail art, but didn’t want to do anything too complicated. This mani was actually inspired by a design I did back in September 2016 as part of my failed attempt at the 31 Day Challenge. I loved the look of the design over a super sheer polish, so I decided that it would make for the perfect accent nail. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • L’Oréal Elusive
  • Ardene Ice Mist
  • Essie Frock N’ Roll
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

Okay can we talk about L’Oréal Elusive for a second? I found this bottle at my local Lawtons in the clearance section (my favourite place for polish finds) & I had to buy it! It’s just such a good shade of purple, & I’ve been wearing it a lot lately. Also I totally apologize for the chipping at the tip of my nails—I took these shots after 2 full days of wear so they were looking tougher than they should. But this purple…. it’s just such a good purple! 💜 I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been on a huge purple kick lately. 

What do you think of this accent nail? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. & leave some suggestions for any nail art you’d love to see! 

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Cosy Sweater Nails

Temperatures have been feeling much more seasonal the last couple days here in Halifax, which means I’ve been living in my most cosy of sweaters. & it also means I’ve been seriously digging sweater nail art! 

There is just something unnatural about rocking knit nails when it’s 18 degrees celsius outside (that’s 64 degrees fahrenheit to my non-Canadian friends!) So as soon as temperatures started to dipped, I decided to pull out my knit nail vinyls for some perfectly November-worthy nails. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Under the Twilight
  • Ardene Daydreamer
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • URSugar Nail Vinyls item #AUB39877 — Click to buy
  • NailStuff.ca gold triangle studs — Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel 
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge (for sponging over nail stencil) 
  • Edge Perfection Polish Barrier 

I’m really feeling this design using these heart/knit pattern vinyls from URSugar. They definitely remind me of a cosy sweater & just make me want to pull on my softest, most plush sweater & curl up on the couch with a peppermint mocha or gingerbread latte. This is my absolute favourite time of year & I just want to soak in every moment! Before we know it, snow will be falling & I’ll be complaining about being cold. 

What do you think of this design? Are you a fan of the sweater pattern nail? Share your thoughts with me down in the comments! 

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Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month 💜

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, I’ve lost someone I loved to this terrible disease—-when I was just a little girl, my Poppy was diagnosed & passed away from pancreatic cancer. I don’t remember much about him sadly, except from pictures & home movies. 

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

We’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