GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER — Ghosts 👻

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday. I know I usually post my Glam Nails Challenge Sunday prompts on Monday, but we were on a long drive yesterday & I totally forgot to write down what shades I used for my nails before we went away haha. So I had to wait until I was back home before I could write up my post — silly, silly me.

The next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge is ghosts! & I was super pumped for this prompt. I always have fun coming up with ghosty looks, & this manicure was no different.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Chocolate
  • CND Crimson Sparkle
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • OPI After Alter
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

How cute did these little ghosties turn out? I’m absolutely obsessed with how they turned out. Ghosts are one of those nails are you can do in so many different styles, but I really like the contrast of the white over the burgundy base, with those sparkles & flakes — gives it a ghostly appearance. Plus the colour is just lovely — even if it’s not traditionally Halloween.

Oh man, I’m having so much fun with this prompt, even if this month is turning out to be a bit busier than I had originally intended. But that’s okay! This is definitely the nail art challenge I did to get my creative nail art juices flowing.

& don’t forget to keep following along with #glamnailschallengeoct to see all the other fun nail art looks that are being posted!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Joe Fresh Quartz

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope you’re all having a beautiful & fantastic weekend so far. The weather here has been beautiful so far, & I got to enjoy a lovely Saturday off work (that never happens) so I’m feeling refreshed for the week ahead.

So lately I’ve been rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer — I’m on season 2. Which mean, obviously, I’ve been obsessing about her nail polish. In particular, I noticed this metallic grey shade she’s been wearing a lot this season. So I decided to take a look into my stash, & found this beautiful Joe Fresh shade I’ve owned since 2015-ish or so: Quartz.

3 coats + Essence Extreme GEL Top Coat

Yes, so this shade is pretty sheer upon first, & even second, application. I ended up with three thin coats for full opacity. However, they applied with minimal streaking & brushstrokes, so I was pretty happy with that. You can also apply this over a darker shade with lesser coats as well. I do believe that will bring out the duochrome effect a bit more dramatically as well.

A macro shot for good measure. The shift is very good on this shade, depending on which was you move your fingers. I love the purple to green shift on this — it’s beautiful.

But just for a fun, I thought I’d add a little sparkle to this beauty which has been in my stash just as long: CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance. This shade has a similar colouring, but with some added holo sparkle! & the results was perfect.

Adding Dazzling Dance definitely changed the switch from a greenish to a blue/silver, but I love the end result. That sparkle definitely makes up the duller duochrome shift. But I totally think this polish is giving me late 90s, early 2000s vibes & I’m totally here for it.

What do you think about this week’s Swatch Sunday pick: Joe Fresh Quartz. Do you prefer it on it’s own, or with the the added sparkle of CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Glam Nails Challenge September — Night Sky 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. Today I’m pumped to share with you another design for Glam Nails Challenge September: Night Sky. I can’t even remember the last time I did night sky/galaxy nails, so I was really excited for this prompt. It’s been too, too long. Plus my nails are feeling super long right now, & I always think galaxy designs look amazing on long nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Insta-dri Midnight Drive
  • CND Vinylux Lost Labyrinth
  • Zoya Devin
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-Ice
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • Latex free make up sponge

How cute did these turn out?! Plus I got to try out a bunch of my new shades that I’ve purchased recently — I’ve been on a bit of nail polish buying spree — so I combined they into this look. I love the different levels on blue, & that the blues are most complimentary. It gives it more of the appearance of an actual sky you could be looking at from your backyard, rather than being in space. Also how adorable is this little crescent moon that I hand painted? It definitely took me a second to get it perfect-ish, but I love how it turned out.

I just love them!

How are we feeling about this manicure? Do you like how they turned out? Are you excited about the prompts to come? Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeSeptembe on Instagram to see everyone else’s awesome nail art looks for this prompt as well!

Sparkly Red Stamping 

I’ve been seriously digging red nails lately. They’ve been a favourite of mine for a long, long time—I almost used to exclusively wear red nails during my late teens, early twenties—so I’ve accumulated quite the stash of crimson polish. & even though my days of just wearing red are a bit behind me, that doesn’t stop me from buying good red polishes when I see them so my stash has continued to grow.

 I recently found a beautiful red at my local Lawtons (one of my favourite stores for polish steals) & I found a red shade from L’Oréal (Carmin Parisien) that seemed to me to be more opaque than most reds, so I had to buy it! Even though I love red nails, I find that a lot of red shades are not opaque & usually show some degree of visible nail line. Lucky for me, L’Oréal Carmin Parisien is completely opaque in 2 coats! This pretty much cements it as my new go to red. 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat
  • L’Oréal Carmin Parisien 
  • CND World Crimson Sparkle
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Jelly Stamper (item #38611)
  • Essence Cosmetics Stampy Set stamping plate. 

I’ve actually been thinking about buying this stampy set from Essence for a while, but I had some Optimum Points to spend so I decided to pick it up. The very first stamping set I ever bought was from Essence, & they’ve definitely upped their game since I bought that one—the images actually fit my whole nail now! For a beginner curious about the whole stamping business, this is a great little set to try it out & see if you like it (especially for under $5). 

What do you think of these sparkly red nails? What colour do you love the most on your nails? Let me know in the comments below! 

Simple Rose Accent Nails

Sometimes a polish is so pretty, it doesn’t need much in tens of nail art. That’s how I felt about the combo of CND Vinylux in Dazzling Dance & Nicole by OPI Love Song. It looked so dang pretty on its own I didn’t want to ruin it by overwhelming it with too much. So what would be the perfect simple nail art? Roses of course! 

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance
  • NOPI Love Song
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Peony 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Bourbon Belle 
  • Essie Brides No Grooms
  • Essie First Timer
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Kiwi Bikini
  • Dotting Tool from Bundle Monster
  • Small Nail Art Brush from Bundle Monster 

First off, check out the holo glitter in Dazzling Dance! I’ve worn this polish before a couple years ago, but without any undies & it took way too many coats (4+ with visible nail line.) So undies we’re necessary. I picked out NOPI Love Song to bring out the purple undertones. I bet a gray base would be beautiful too. 

These roses make me happy. So simple but beautiful. I will never get tired of roses & floral designs in general. They’re just the perfect pop of nail art for when you don’t want (or don’t have time for) something more complex. 

What do you think of my roses? Don’t forget to comment below & let me know you thoughts!