Category: Dollarama

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Holo Stars

We’ve come to that weird time period betweeen Christmas & Valentines Day where I always feel like I have zero inspiration & it feels just a little too early for hearts. I actually created this design before Christmas & a potential New Years design but never shared it so today felt like a good day! ✨

For this manicure, the products I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Pat on the Black
  • ORLY Mirrorball
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Star print stamping plate (no idea where from)
  • Clear Jelly Stamper from Born Pretty Store (item #24059)
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier

I really loved how these turned out, so much I wore them for a couple days before I thought to take a picture (hence the tip wear.🤦🏻‍♀️) I found this stamping plate in my collection of plates & had never used it before so I gave it a try & it turned out really nice. I think it’s from the Salon Express Nail Art Stamping Kit which I found at Dollarama almost 5 years ago (before this blog even existed!) & was my first foray into stamping.

What do you think of this design? What designs do you like to do this time of year when it’s too early for Valentine’s Day? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Purple Butterflies with #thenailartsquad


Today I have a very special manicure to brought to you by The Nail Art Squad. We got together to create beautiful purple butterfly designs in honour of Epidermolysis Bullosa. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare genetic disease that causes the blistering of skin, & has no known cure & in severe cases can be fatal. Children with Epidermolysis Bullosa are often called “butterfly children” which is why we chose butterflies to create (purple is the colour used for the awareness of the disease). This was a personal manicure for our group to take on as one of our members recently lost a friend to the disease. 

For my manicure, the products I used are:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Go Ginza
  • Essie Play Date 
  • LA Colors Color Craze Orchid
  • Essence Black Is Back
  • Unknown stamping plate (which I bought as part of a set at Dollarama years ago.)

These nails were simple to do, but turned out so beautiful. I thought about freehanding butterfly wings, but didn’t think I could do them justice & because we were creating these nails for such a special reason I wanted them to be as perfect as possible. The stamping plate I used was found in a set at the Dollarama years ago, but as you can see the image stamped perfectly clear. 


I feel so honoured I could join in bringing awareness to such a special cause. 💜 to see the other purple butterfly manicures, don’t forget to check out the hashtag #thenailartsquad on Instagram. 

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Unicorn Inspired Gradient 🦄

So by now you’ve probably been introduced to the Unicorn Frappuccino that Starbucks released yesterday. I know it completely blew up my Instagram & Facebook feeds… everyone & their grandma was showing off the drink on social media. Personally I have no interest in trying it–not a fan of frapuccinos (too much sugar), I can’t have any dairy so no whip cream, & there isn’t even any coffee in it! But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to join in the unicorn fun, so I took inspiration from the colours of the drink to create a Unicorn inspired gradient! 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat 
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Orchid Around
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Royal Hue
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • Latex Free cosmetic sponge (purchased at Dollarama)
  • Born Pretty Store Peel off Liquid Tape

It’s been so long–too long–since I played around with a gradient, so I’m a little rusty. But I’m pretty happy with how these turned out. The colours might not exactly match its inspiration, but I thought it was a good attempt. It would have been more fun if I had one of those cute unicorn stencils (I think they’re by Twinkled-T) to add a holo glitter unicorn on my ring finger, but with a little Fairy Dust added it still has that magical feel. 

Have you tried Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino yet? Does it taste as magical as it looks? Part of me wants to order one just to take a picture of it with my nails (because I’m silly like that) but that would be a serious waste of money that could be better spent (on coffee, for example). Oh well, when you can’t drink it, why not wear it in your nails!

What do you think of this gradient? Do you see the inspiration? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 🦄

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Freehand Tribal Accent Nails. 

I’ve been slacking on the blog front thanks to work stress and an impending move. No time to sit down and concentrate on blogging. Hopefully I’ll have more time soon, but in the mean time I thought I’d share some tribal. 

I love tribal/Aztec print… I might even almost love it more than floral. It’s been a while since I shared a tribal print mani, so I knew I needed to do some! I adore how these turned out. 

  
The polishes I used for this mani were:

  • OPI Gelato on my Mind
  • OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI
  • Essie In the Cab-Ana
  • China Glaze Plur-ple
  • Essence Back in Black 
  • Essie Gel Setter 
  • Circle stickers from Dollarama
  • Born Pretty Store small detail nail art brush. 

   

Finally weather in Halifax is getting warm and Spring like! I can finally break out the Spring dresses… Even if I still need some tights for the mornings. Makes me excited for warm summer days and pretty bright nail polishes! 

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New polishes, and a perfect combo.

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This moon manicure was honestly just an excuse to wear multiple new polishes at once haha. On Payday I went out, and scored some new pretty beauties, and couldn’t wait to wear them!

The polishes used for this manicure were:

  • Essie The Girls are Out — found at the Dollarama of all places. For $3 how could I ever say no? (I also picked up Sunday Funday as well.)
  • Essence Color and Go Best Dressed — went to a Shoppers that wasn’t my usual shoppers and found the biggest collection of Essence polishes I’ve never seen before. As much as I wanted to buy them all, I went with this gorgeous purple with pink glass flecks. Sooooo pretty. I will have to do a full swatch post on this color because it’s so pretty.
  • Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

 

I realize this is not the first time I’ve rocked the pink and purple moon manicure, but The Girls are Out and Best Dressed just go so well together. I couldn’t stop staring at my nails all day, which is a little distracting when you’re supposed to be working. =)

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