My Spring Polish Picks


If you’re like me, your love of nail polish may run into barriers such as money & time. Being a new Mom, I can’t afford to go crazy on buying nail polish like I used to, because you know… diapers. That means when I do want to buy polish, I have to make sure it is really something special. So instead, I’ve been “shopping” my own stash instead of buying new polishes.

In that spirit, I decided to go through & pick my favourite polishes for Spring from the shades I already own! It took me a while to pick my personal favourites from all the polishes I own, but these are all shades I can see myself reaching for in the coming months, & screams Spring to me!  I’ve listed the seasons these polishes were released, but I know some are part of the permanent core collections.

Continue reading “My Spring Polish Picks”

Blue (Chevron) Moons

It’s been way, way too long since I did chevron moons. My stash of nail vinyls is seriously dwindling so I’ve been hoarding them for special occasions until I ordered new ones (which we did this weekend so I hope they arrive quickly!) But it had just been way too long without chevrons in my life, &  I just couldn’t wait any longer to break them out. 

I’m really trying to make an effort to wear polishes I don’t wear, or don’t wear nearly enough–whether it be an unusual colour for me, or just a polish which hasn’t been pulled out in a while. With close to 1000 bottles of nail polish (I need to do a recount soon), obviously that makes for a lot of ignored polishes! I went through the other night trying to sort through favourite polishes to figure out my favourites for Spring for a future post, & it made me realize there are way too many I that don’t get enough of my love. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Essie Mint Candy Apple (the blue version)
  • Essie Strut Your Stuff
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Kiss Products Chevron Nail Art Guides
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat


An update on testing put this new top coat I bought from Cutex: it’s pretty awesome for nail art. It dries quick… like 20 minutes & you can add nail vinyls without pulling up your base colour. As much as I love Essie Gel Setter, it takes close to an hour of dry time for me to be able to apply nail vinyls without ruining my base colour. That’s a pretty big difference. Not to mention I have a 6 week old & sometimes I’ve painted my nails only to have him need to eat within 5-10 minutes. With this top coat, I’ve had no issues with messing up my colour when having to pick him up & feed him. I still need to do an official review post, but I had to share. I’m really, really impressed! In far I’m going to go stock up on more bottles while it’s on sale at Shoppers for when I start running out. 

I love, love, love the brightness of this mani! Plus the Blues just feel fun for Spring. I definitely seem to pull out my blues more often in the Summer months. Also, even though I’ve owned it for over a year, this is only the second time I’ve actually worn Essie Mint Candy Apple. I am definitely going to have to change that! It is such a gorgeous colour. 

What do you think of this mani? Are you feeling the blues (in a good way)? Let me know in the comments below. 💙

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! 

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. 

Pink and Blue dotticure. 

I was browsing Instagram yesterday, and while admiring @traceyloveslacquer‘s monthly favourites I could helped but obsess over her dotticures (because they’re gorgeous). So obviously I needed to do my own dotticure because it’s been like a week. 😂 Seriously though, dotticures are just so easy and fun. 
The colours for this mani were inspired by baby-to-be (pink and blue) who has officially overstayed their welcome. But I really think these colours would work for a variety of occasions… even a not so typical Valentine’s Day design if you didn’t want to go strictly pink. 

The polishes used for this mani were:

  • China Glaze Secret Peru-wink-le
  • Wet N Wild 2% Milk
  • Essence Cosmetics Dreaming of Love
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Tickled Pink 
  • Essie Gel Setter 

Such a simple design, but I love how it looks! And the great thing about a dotticure is it pretty much works for every occasion and colour combination.