GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER — Mistletoe 🌲

Hello beauties & happy Monday. & happy one week could down to Christmas! The end of the year count down is officially on, & 2024 is looming. I swear I’m still in 2020 some days, & now we’re almost mid-way through the decade. Time is a crazy thing!

But I digress. We still have some prompts left for this month’s Glam Nails Challenge December & I’m so excited to share the manicures to come. Today’s prompt is Mistletoe, & I just love how my design turned out!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ORLY Garnet Luxe Shimmer
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Central Pink
  • Dimension Nails Amazonian Manatee
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Thyme is Money
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm detail brush

I was a little bit nervous about creating mistletoe nails, because I wasn’t sure how exactly to do them — & Pinterest was showing me holly nails when I typed in mistletoe, which was confusing — but I think my design turned out beautiful! I was inspired by this look on Pinterest by @tessalynnails.

& I got a ton of compliments at work for my nails, which is always satisfying. I love when people notice & love the work I put in. Just feels so satisfying for people to recognize your nails, especially when you’re super proud of them! & I’m very proud of these ( even if the lighting for these designs wasn’t my favourite.)

What do you think about these mistletoe nails? Do you like the simplicity of this design? I absolutely love how festive they turned out. Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

Have a lovely Monday! ♥︎

Freehand Snowflakes (Recreation from 2015)

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! Can you believe we are 10 days away from Christmas Day? This month is literally speeding by so quickly!

Today I’m excited to share a design I did early last week. I was looking through old Facebook memories, & this blue design popped up & I knew I needed to recreate it! I always say I am going to redo certain designs, & get distracted. But I’m so glad that didn’t happen this time!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI Blue My Mind
  • White acrylic paint
  • Starrily Space Debris
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm detail brush
  • Small dotting tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

As you can see, I took these pictures when we had a fresh coat of snow on the ground. sadly, after a massive rainstorm, our actual Christmas is looking more green than white, but at least we had snow for a minute.

I’m so beyond in love with how these turned out. They colour, the design — it just all makes me so happy. I did use acrylic paint for the design itself, but had to add some sparkle obviously!

& just for fun, my original inspiration versus my updated version.

What do you think of my new blue snowflake design? Do you like the original 2015 design or the updated 2023 version better? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Have a lovely Friday. 💙

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER—Poinsettia

Contains PR/gifted product from NailStuff.ca

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start. I’m excited today because not only do I have the next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December to share, but it’s featuring some goodies from my favourite nail art site NailStuff.ca!

She recently added some new nail art stickers to her site for Christmas. I’ve used her stickers a ton, so I knew I needed to added some fun Christmas ones to my stash. & Victoria was so kind as to send me 6 new sheets of nail art stickers to play with!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

How cute are these little poinsettia stickers?!

I was so happy these arrived in time for me to be able to use them for this prompt. I already had my nails painted with this base colour (Dimension Nails Hooded Seal topped with Starrily Space Debris) so it was super easy just to pop these stickers on top of my existing manicure! & once I topped them with top coat, you couldn’t even tell they were stickers.

What do you think about these poinsettia nails for Glam Nails Challenge December? Are you enjoying the manicures so far? Are you a fan of nail art stickers for quick & easy nail art?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER — Christmas Cookies

Hello beauties & happy Monday! It is feeling like Spring toady, which I’m not keen on to be honest — it does not feel like Christmas at all.

But today I have another Glam Nails Challenge December design to share & the prompt is Christmas Cookies! I love making Christmas cookies– my favourite thing to do at Christmas is make Gingerbread cats–so I was excited to create a cute Christmas cookie design on my nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI In The Moon for Love
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Oh My Coffee
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel A Moo Point
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm detail brush
  • Small dotting tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

Doesn’t this design just make you want to eat some Christmas cookies? I’ve been so busy with work I haven’t had a ton of time to make cookies, like my granny’s shortbread cookies, but I’m definitely going to use the next couple days to do a bit of Christmas baking!

What do you think about this cute Christmas cookie design? Do you like this design? What is your favourite holiday treat to make/eat this time of year? My granny’s scotch cookies are definitely top of this list, but we also use to make something called Oh Henry Bars which are definitely a bit favourite! I made them gluten free a couple years ago, & they were incredible. I definitely need to make them again soon.

Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengedec for all the other beautiful designs!

Have a beautiful Monday loves! ♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY —OPI Sleigh Parking Only (Holiday 2014)

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! I hope everyone has been enjoying the weekend so far! Mine has been busy with work — Christmas in retail, am I right? — but I did have a chance to go through my stash & find a fun throwback Christmas shade from almost 10 years ago!

This is Sleigh Parking Only from the OPI 2014 Gwen Stefani Holiday Collection.

2 coats + top coat

This shade was originally gifted to me by a coworker, as part of a set featuring two of the glitters in the collection (more on that later). The shade itself is a dark plum purple, very appropriate for this time of year. The formula was easy to apply, with just a smidge of pooling towards the cuticle — you might be able to see where I had to do some clean up around the cuticle on my pinky nail.

The colour itself is very beautiful, even though I don’t know how “Christmas-y” it is just on its own. Definitely a winter shade though, with that dark plum colour.

However, as I mentioned I received this shade in a set that also contained two of the glitter toppers from the collection: Comet in the Sky, & Snow Globetrotter. I decided to apply a coat of Comet in the Sky over Sleigh Parking Only, & oh boy do I love how it looks! Definitely gives more of that holiday vibe — as glitter usually does!

Do you remember the OPI 2014 Gwen Stefani Holiday collection? Do you have shades from this collection? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & what your all time favourite Holiday nail polish collection is!