Category: China Glaze

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Cactus Accent Nails 🌵💅🏻

Happy Thursday! It’s been a while since I rocked any cactus nails, & I was craving some vibrancy. I don’t often reach for green polish when painting my nails, but I’ve been trying to get out of my comfort zone. Keeping with that, I decided to pull a green (textured) polish from deep in my stash that I haven’t worn in too many years to count, & paired it with some cute cacti on my accent nails!

Polishes I used for this design were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • LA Girl Sand Blast Nail Polish in Green Island
  • China Glaze What’s She Dune?
  • Essie First Timer
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy
  • Essie A-List
  • OPI I Eat Maine-ly Lobster
  • Small detail brush (from Bundle Monster)
  • Small dotting tool (from Bundle Monster)

Sadly I kind of hid the texture of LA Girl Green Island with my top coat, but it came through a bit. This was my very first textured polish, back in the very early days of my nail art. It was also the beginning of my obsession with finding nail polish deals at Lawton’s—I remember scoring it & a blue Sand Blast Polish for only a dollar. & so began my obsession with finding old polishes at awesome deals. & I still hate spending full price for polish to this day!

Also I love creating these little freehand cactus. Still on the search for some cactus nail vinyls, because I’m a little cactus obsessed, but in the meantime I don’t mind freehanding my cacti. I also just picked up a new stamping plate from Essence with a cactus on it, so stay tuned as I plan on trying it out soon (hopefully this weekend!)

What do we think of this design? Do you still have any textured polishes in your stash? Let me know down in the comment below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Seas the Day

Good Morning Lovelies & Happy Sunday. Today I’m sharing another red polish because I’ve recently been LOVING wearing red polish!

Today’s red shade of choice is China Glaze Seas the Day which is from the Summer 2014 Off Shore collection. This was the first full nail polish collection I ever purchased (thank you Winners clearance section) & even 4 years later I’m still loving these shades.

Seas the Day is a vibrant cherry red polish that applied well in 2 coats (+ top coat.) Like most reds, I find you can still see a hint of nail line, but the application was smooth & covered well. The pink undertones means that this shade leans different in different light–sometimes it looks more pink, sometimes it looks more coral. It reminds me a bit of Revlon Cherries in the Snow although that polish seems to lean more pink than Seas the Day. & now I’m wishing I had thought to do an official comparison between the two!

As I’ve mentioned before, red polish is one of my favourites. I’ve managed to accumulate quite the collection over the years thanks to literally only wearing red nail polish between 2003 – 2006. Even though my nail polish repertoire has increased since then (& love of nail art has grown!) my heart still swells for a good red polish. & this is a beautiful red! ♥️

Do you have a favourite red polish? Do you have a nail polish colour that you used to wear religiously? Let me know down below which colour you love the best! & let me know what shades you’d love to see me feature on here for Swatch Sunday!

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Rainbow 🌈 Nails

Good Morning Lovelies & Happy Monday. Today I have a special manicure to share with you in honour of it being Pride Week in Halifax right now — some rainbow nails. This past weekend, I went out to celebrate & attended my very first Drag Show ever! So in honour of that, I wanted to create a design bright & colourful, & with a touch of glitter.

For this design, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen CSM Let’s Snow
  • Sally Hansen MG Just Maui’d
  • Sally Hansen MG Bourbon Belle
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
  • Essie First Timer
  • Quo by ORLY Pep in Your Step
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge
  • Wet n Wild Clear Polish

  • This design was super simple to create. I started off with a plain white base (my current favourite White polish!) & then sponged each colour over top of the white. Next I took a clear nail polish that would streak the colours together & repeatedly brushed over the nail so they blended. This is a trick I like to use with gradients, sponged looks & dry brushes because it blends them together really well (especially good with gradients!) & then I finish with actual top coat after. I also felt like this design needed a little bit of glitter, so I added some fairy dust as well.

    I really love this combination of colours & the rainbow-ness of it. It was the perfect design for the awesome night I had out dancing! I’m very proud to live in a city which can celebrate Pride with such festivity & inclusivity. There really is an event for everyone!

    What do you think of my rainbow nails? 🌈 Have you ever attended a drag show before? Share you comments down below & let me know what you think!

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    Summer Vibes Magazine Spread & My Summer Inspired Nails

    You may remember back in December, Sarah from @25sweetpeas created the most amazing holiday magazine. While once again she has gathered together some of her blogger friends to create another awesome magazine, this time focusing on all things Summer. There are recipes, pretty nails, & even a travel guide!

    The magazine has been broken up into two parts for you — part one, which holds the recipes (including 2 of mine) & pretty nails! Part two has some awesome fun things including places to travel this Summer & other bonus goodies!

    You can click below to go to the PDF & download!

    For my nails, I decided to create a pretty & bright tropical leaf pattern design which was inspired by a mix-n-match bikini I saw few months back (& didn’t buy sadly). Once if my favourite things about Summer is the colour! I love pulling out all the colourful clothing that has been sitting way back in the depths of my closet, waiting for sunnier days.

    Continue reading “Summer Vibes Magazine Spread & My Summer Inspired Nails”

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    Rustic Floral Pattern Nails

    Can you never have too many floral manicures in your life? Personally, I don’t think so. We all know how much I adore flowers–from clothes, to shoes, to cellphone cases to my nails, I can never have enough! Recently I found a Rifle Paper Co. phone case at Winners on payday, so I decided to attempt to recreate said pattern on my nails.

    My attempt definitely turned out a little more rustic than its inspiration, but I think that is why I love the end result so much!

    For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

    • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
    • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
    • Boho Green Make Up Moonlight
    • Quo by ORLY Breathable Pep in my Step
    • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Piggy
    • Sally Hansen MG Pretty Peony
    • Sally Hansen MG Off the Shoulder
    • Essie A-List
    • China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin
    • China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin
    • YSL Vert D’Orient
    • Sally Hansen Insta-dri Thyme is Money
    • Essie First Timer
    • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Black
    • Bundle Monster detail brush

    I’m kind of excited for Summer because it means I can change up my backgrounds & use outside. How lush does this design look with green grass in the background? Definitely throwing my pictures back to my pre-light-box days with these photos & I’m loving it! Seriously, staged photos are awesome but something about natural light makes your manicures look that much better.

    If that doesn’t say Summer, I don’t know what else does! Also I’m never, ever going to get sick of doing floral. Never. How could you ever get sick of something so pretty! Hence why I keep filling my closet with more & more floral clothing pieces. The obsession continues! 🌿🌼🌱

    what do you think of this design? Are you feeling Summery? Leave a comment down below & let me know!