Category: Cutex

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Vibrant colour block tips. 

I was stuck on inspiration the other night, so I turned to an old favourite: colour block tips. You seriously can never go wrong with a good colour block manicure–it looks super complicated, but is actually really easy to do. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Quo by ORLY Nail Nutrition Base Coat 
  • China Glaze Purple Panic
  • China Glaze I’ve Got A Blue Attitude
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat

Now I created my blocks of colour freehand using just the brush in my polishes, but you can also using striping tape or nail vinyls to create straight lines if you don’t feel comfortable freehanding them. Just make sure you’re putting down Quick Dry Top Coat in between layers so you don’t pull up the first colour! 

This style looks so good using a variety of colours together: pinks & purple, different shades of blue, holo. Basically you can go with anything your heart desires. It’s like an updated version of the French manicure, only more fun! 

If you’re not quite sure if two colours go well together, test the two together on a price of paper first. This is how I always test my colour schemes when doing manis. 

I’m loving these two colours together. I’ve Got A Blue Attitude has been sitting untouched in my China Glaze drawer for way too long! I remember when I picked it up last summer I was so obsessed, wore it a few times, then completely forgot about it… whoops. I’ve got to stop forgetting about polishes like that! I’m working on documenting swatches of all my polishes so fingers crossed I get it finished soon, and that keeps me from losing track of my favourite shades. 

What do you think of these colourful tips? What is your favourite colour block combo? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Negative Space Abstract Stripes. 


If there are two kinds of manicures I love, it’s negative space & abstract stripes. I had this crazy idea to try & combine the two together, & the end result might just be one of my favourite things ever! These also fit in really well with the geode nail art trend happening on Instagram. 

& the best part about this design? Regardless of your line skill, it’s pretty much impossible to screw up because you want them to look abstract & imperfect. 

For this design, I used: 

  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Peony
  • Essie Lounge Lover
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in White
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat

To me, it looks like a cross between a water marble & geode nails, & I couldn’t be more smitten with them. All I can think is what other colours can I do this with! I think purples would look especially amazing, and obviously holo. For the prettiest result, I find chosing two complimentary shades, one darker & one lighter, plus your black & white for detailing, turns out best. 


If I had to chose a favourite nail, it’s a tie between my ring finger, pinky & thumb. I can’t pick just one!
What do you think about this mani–do you love it as much as I do?! Let me know in the comments below what you think! 

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Yellow Polka Dots

We’ve reached that time of year where I start craving square nails again, so I decided to take the plunge & change things up again hence the new square shorties! I just  recently cut off my very long mermaid hair after 4 years of growing it out, so why not a fresh start all around! 

For my first manicure on my new shorties, I wanted something vibrant & just happy feeling. 

This mani makes me think of that Itty, Bitty Yellow Polka Dot bikini song. It’s the only thing that played in my head the whole time I was doing these! This is definitely not my best Polka dot work (I’m a little rusty) but I love the two colours together so much, I don’t even care. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • OPI My Chihuahua Bites 
  • China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Small dotting tool from Amazon. 

How well do these polishes go together?! These definitely remind me of Summer & the beach (& yes, a bikini pattern). Summer might feel like it’s ions away–especially here in Halifax where we just had another winter storm–so why not channel Summer on your nails! Although you’ll probably want to leave the flip flops at home. 

What do you think of this mani (& my return to square nails?) 

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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!