Category: Claire’s

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2025 — Sugar Skull 💀🌸

Hello lovelies — Happy Monday! Today is a beautiful start to the week, because it’s time for the second prompt of Glam Nails Challenge October! & the next prompt we have is Sugar Skull! I attempted Sugar Skull nails only once before, but wasn’t exactly super happy with how they turned out. So I had an idea to redeem myself, & I’m actually obsessed with the end result!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Icing Store Black
  • Claires Cosmic Babe Nail polish Cosmic Blue
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen Orange *pr
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen Yellow *pr
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen Blue *pr
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen White *pr
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Polish pen in Purple
  • Dollarama Spooky Halloween Nail Stickers (skulls)

So my original plan was I was going to hand paint skulls on my nails, but that wasn’t really working — & then I was going to stamp on a skull, but I didn’t really like the images that I had. But I remembered I recently purchased some new nail art stickers at Dollarama so I decided to use those are my base for my sugar skull design!

After I applied my skull stickers to the fingers I wanted them on, I then went in with my nail art pens one colour by one colour, & created a fun pattern on each skull face. I tried to do something bright, & eye catching, plus some fun little flowers. Then, on the two fingers I didn’t do skulls, I just added a few colourful dots in a half moon to keep them all looking fluid & cohesive.

What do you think about my Sugar Skull nails? Do you think I did the prompt justice?

Don’t forget that you can follow along with all the designs this month by checking out #glamnailschallengeoct25 on Instagram. There are so many beautiful designs to see, I definitely recommend taking a peek!

Happy Monday

🖤

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Lover Inspired Nails (in honour of my little birthday Swiftie)

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today is a very special Wednesday because it is my baby girls 6th birthday. 🎉 🎂

So crazy to believe that she’s 6 already!

I wanted to create some special nails in her honour, & since her favourite thing right now is Taylor Swift — well obviously taut is where my inspiration came from. She also told me I should do nails that were pink, blue & yellow with hearts — & as soon as she told me that, Taylor’s Lover era popped into my head. & since Cruel Summer has been playing on repeat at our house, it fit perfectly.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter Top Coat
  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • Butter London Coming Up Roses *pr
  • Claire’s Scented Nail Polish Orange
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Violet Voltage
  • Essie Gel Couture Gossamer Garments *pr
  • Nails INC Heartfelt Holidays
  • Claire’s Mini Glitter Shade (no name)
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush

How pretty does this manicure look? I love the Lover vibes it’s giving. If this isn’t the perfect manicure to wear while belting out Cruel Summer, I don’t know what is.

& my little girl was so excited to see these nails! She’s having a Taylor Swift inspired birthday party with her friends next month, & she is already planning her nails for the occasion.

What do you think about these Taylor Swift inspired birthday nails? Do you love them as much as I do? Would you wear them? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

Happy Wednesday lovelies — enjoy some cake today in honour of my little girl.

🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER (2024) — Holly

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. & happy one week until Christmas Day. I don’t know how it happened, but it’s almost here. & that’s just crazy.

Today, we’ve got another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December: Holly. Holly has such endless options, but I went with a simple freehand look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Essie Gel Couture Polished & Poised *
  • Claire’s Mini Polish shimmer (no name)
  • Essie Off Tropic *
  • Color Club What’s The Matte-r
  • Essie Bordeaux *
  • Sally Hansen Good Cheer-y
  • NailStuff Essentials White Dove *
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

*pr/gifted

It’s been so long, it feels like, since I did any freehand floral, so these felt nice to do. My inspiration was the holly bush in our front yard, although as you can see in my photos, the birds are all the berries off our bush.

So hard to believe we’re so close to Santa being here! I’m definitely looking forward to the few days off spent with my family. Who knows what Santa is going to sneak into my stocking — hopefully some nail polishes!

What do you think of my Holly design? Don’t forget to pop on over to Instagram & follow all the amazing designs using #glamnailschallengedec24.

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Poison Apple 🍎

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s a beautiful Autumn Sunday, cool & crisp. It’s also the last Sunday of October, if you can believe it. How is this month almost over?

Even though I have some really exciting shades from Ella + Mila to share with you, I wanted to close off this month with a slightly Halloween adjacent shade with Claire’s Poison Apple.

This shade was the third in the collection they released in the early 2010s as dupes for the MAC Villainous collection — click to see the swatches of Evil Queen & Venomously.

3 coats + top coat

This beautiful foil red takes a few coats for perfect opacity, but it’s worth the work (& dry time). The formula is a metallic red with micro flakies. It has a subtle gold shift, although it shows up better in the bottle on the nail (as is the trend with this mini collection). For an almost 15 year old nail polish, the formula is still great & I had no issues with application.

Look at that metallic finish—so pretty! I love colour for this time of year. I do wish that you see that gold shift on the nail like you can in the bottle, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. & I’m so happy that I have all three in my stash, especially because I didn’t original think that I did have a full set.

What do you think of Claire’s Poison Apple? Do you like this villainous red? Do you think Claire’s should do another release like this? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Evil Queen 🖤👑

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! Can you believe it’s already the middle of September. Like how did that happen? I’m in full cosy Fall mode 24/7, so obviously that means pulling out a fun Autumn shade to show off. & this shade from the early days of my nail polish stash is perfect!

This is Claire’s Evil Queen.

1 coat over Hard Candy Scam + top coat

This beautiful shimmery duochrome has thin dark maroon vase packed wth a thick sea of shimmery fuchsia & blue glass flecks. Unfortunately it does show up better in the bottle than on the nail, but it does have a beautiful finish that I’m obsessed with (& is why I’ve held onto this bottle for over 15 years!)

Check out that shimmer! It’s just so beautiful. 😍 I love how it shifts in the sunshine. Obviously, if I had applied another coat I could have had it a bit thicker. I have also worn it on its own without any undies, but I do find you need more coats than you might want to deal with to get full opacity.

What do you think of Claire’s Evil Queen? Do you remember when these shades were released, all the way back in the late 2000s? They were alleged dupes of the MAC Villainous Villains collection — although I sadly never got to compare (although Throwback Lacquer has a fantastic post about the original polishes!)

Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

🖤