Category: Blue Nails

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

Good morning lovelies & welcome to another rendition of Swatch Sunday. Today’s polish is brought to you by my 2 year old who decides what colour I needed to wear. & his pick? China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise!

Turned Up Turquoise is a neon shade that dries to a very matte finish. For my swatches, I applied 2 coats over my base. The coverage was perfect but like any matte shade, it gets a little goopy the older it gets because matte polishes do dry faster than regular (in my experience) & my bottle is going on 5 years old.

Usually I apply a glossy top coat to my matte shades & then finish with a coat of matte top coat, but I really wanted to show off the true finish of this shade. As you can see, it dries down pretty well on its own, although it doesn’t hide the rough state of my current nails. If I was wearing this for a while, I would definitely top coat it & then either add my matte top coat or leave it glossy.

& speaking of glossy, I had to add some top coat to show off how gorgeous Turned Up Turquoise looks with Essie Speed Setter added.

As you can see, glossy top coat really adds to the shine of this shade. It also shows off the shimmer that gets kind of hidden when it’s matte. But honestly–I love this polish either way! It’s so pretty while left matte & it’s gorgeous when glossy.

My only complaint about this shade? It’s just so hard to photograph the true colour! It’s slightly more green-ish than you see in my photos, but from browsing the Internet I don’t think anyone can capture the shade truly. I think that just comes with it being a neon, as neon polishes can be difficult to photograph.

So what do you think of this shade? Do you have it in your polish collection? Which do you prefer — glossy or left matte? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

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Spring-ish Chevron Moons

Good morning lovelies & happy Saturday! Today I’ve got a brand new design to share with you because I was finally able to do some real nail art. I know… I’ve been lacking in the nail art blogging work. Work & winter have been killing my nails so I’ve got some serious shorties to contend with & no real motivation to do my nails other than a single colour.

But I’ve started using Nail Envy (again…) so hopefully that will bring my nails to life again! & I’ll actually feel like creating some lovely nail art looks again.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie High Class Affair
  • Essie Peach Daiquiri
  • Essie Cashmere Bathrobe
  • Essie Where’s My Chauffeur
  • The Base Coat Nail Vinyls Stacked Chevrons Vinyls.
  • NailStuff.ca small 7mm liner brush

Ooooh this look reminds me why I love chevron moons so much. Also, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this colour combination — I wanted to try & do something that channeled Spring but also worked with all the snow we currently have — & I’m actually just so in love with how these colours compliment each other.

It makes me so sad that they chipped like an hour into work. Like, why is it always the nail art looks I love? I mean, it gives me an excuse to paint my nails again, but then I also need to get the energy to do them again, & that’s the true struggle.

Does anyone else struggle with nail art slumps? How do you cope? Let me know down in the comments below!

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Pink Purple Blue Holo Gradient

Good morning everyone & happy Wednesday! Today I’m showing off some holo nails with this pinky purple blue holo gradient. Sometimes you just need to do something a little fun on your nails to jazz up your Wednesday!

This gradient was a spur of the moment decision & because of that I couldn’t find my usual sponges so I decided to try using a make up applicator. It didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted (or how I’ve seen other nail artists do it) but that’s okay because the holo kind of hides that fact! ✨Another reason everything is better with holo.

The polishes I used for this manicure:

  • Essie Grow Stronger
  • Essie Speed Setter Top Coat
  • Wrenn Polish Mesmerizing
  • Color Club Eternal Beauty
  • OPI Give Me Space
  • Small Sponge make-up applicator

Look. At. That. Holo. Also please ignore the cat hair on my finger haha. Even though my sponging if the gradient was kind of a fail, the holo really hides that fact which I love. Next time I would probably try this colour combo the old fashioned way, but for a quick spur of the moment design, I still think these turned out great. Plus it was super easy, & when you’re tired & doing your nails at 11:30 at night, sometimes that’s the only thing that really matters.

what do you think of this gradient. What is your favourite holo polish? Let me know down below in the comments!

💕

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Dark & Simple Dotticure

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today’s look is one of my favourite easy nail ideas–a simple dotticure. Seriously, is there any easier way to add a little fun to other wise boring nails then with a few carefully placed dots? (Especially when you stay up too late binge watching Netflix & forget all about doing your nails…)

For this manicure, I pulled out one of my beloved Sally Hansen nail art pens. I’m not sure if you can still purchase these (I haven’t looked in a while) but a few years ago I picked them up & they’re one of my favourite & easiest ways to create polka dots! There is something so easy about using a pen instead of a dotting tool for creating teeny, tiny polka dots.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • OPI Cosmo With A Twist
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Silver

What I love about this look is how easy it is. Paint nails. Let dry a few minutes. Dot with nail Art pen & seal with top coat. Bam, done! No tools even needed. & you don’t even need to worry about cleaning off your dotting tool & then re-dipping it into the polish, so finishing your nails is a whole lot faster. & the dots seem to end up being more similar than when I try to do the same look with a dotting tool.

so what do you think of this look? Are you a fan of dotticures? Share your thoughts down in the comments below! ♥️

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Hearts & Zig Zags

You know when you get a nail art look in your head & you want to try & make it work on your nails… there is nothing more satisfying than bringing it to life & it turning out better than you expected!

This look was one I wanted to try but I wasn’t sure what colours to go with. Thanks to some Pinterest stalking, I figured out exactly the colour combination I wanted! I wanted something that would fit my January mood, especially since I didn’t want my nails to look too Valentine-y.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Ardene Day Dreamer
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Quo by ORLY Diva
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Fairy Godmother
  • The Base Coat Regular Chevron/Zig Zag Vinyls
  • The Base Coat Heart Vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool set

I seriously think these turned out so, so cute! It feels like absolute ages since I pulled out my Vinyls & I have to admit… I missed them. I also love this combination of dark teal, grey & mint. I never know what colours to wear on my nails this time of year, but darker shades are definitely calling my name more often!

What do you think of this look?

You could definitely adapt it & turn it into a Valentine’s Day look with some pink & red polishes. & it was surprisingly easy (if a little bit time consuming) to do. ♥️