Category: Essence

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Tribal Stamped Accent Nail

Good Morning! & happy Saturday. ♥️ My Saturday is starting off pretty good because we actually got a sprinkling of snow last night, so things are looking pretty festive & Winter-y. It’s also starting off pretty good because I have some new nails to show off.

I wore this nail art design the other night when I was invited to a Mark’s Well Worn Media Event–the first blogger event I’ve ever been invited to! It was pretty exciting & obviously I needed to wear something fancy on my nails for the occasion. & what is more fancy than some holo glitter & a little stamping accent nail. ✨

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The polishes I used for this design were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2 Foundations
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Finger Paints Piece De Resistance
  • Essence We Will Spock You
  • ACO by Ardene Style Icon
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate m100 (no longer available)
  • Latex free make up sponge

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I just love how this design turned out. Honestly I never thought I would enjoy stamping so much, but it’s kind of become an obsession! I ordered a bunch of new plates from Born Pretty Store, so those should be here sometime in the New Year. In the meantime, I’ve been rediscovering old stamping plates I bought in the beginning of my nail art journey. I think the combination of a good liquid latex & polishes that work well for stamping has made it more fun & much less of a frustration. Also how pretty is ACO by Ardene Style Icon? I sponged it on for full glitterocity & the sparkle is hard not to stare at. Again thank god for Edge Perfection because trying to clean that glitter off my cuticles would have made me cry.

What do you think of these nails? Let me know in the comments below. ✨

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Cosy Legging Inspired Nail Art

Good morning! Don’t know where you are this morning, but here in Halifax it’s grey & rainy. Yep–still no snow in sight. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to dress my nails all cosy in hopes that maybe we will finally get some snowy weather in time for Christmas. (If not though, we’ll be driving to snow so I’ll have a white Christmas regardless haha.)

These nails are actually inspired by a pair of my favourite pair of winter leggings. I’ve been trying to come up with “short nail” designs & feeling frustrated, but I realized pretty much anything I can do when my nails are long I can create on short nails too! & this design is perfect for that. Also because I used nail vinyls & minimal freehanding, I would say this design is a good option for beginners. It looks much more complicated than it actually is.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek Foundations 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Rock My World
  • Essence Dream On
  • ACO by Ardene Daydreamer
  • Quo by ORLY The Antidote
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Straight Vinyls
  • Bundle Monster tiny detail brush

I love how these turned out. They remind me a lot of cosy sweater leggings, which is perfect for this time of year. Also like I said, these are so easy to do thanks to the use of nail Vinyls & only a bit of freehanding details. They look way more complicated to do than they actually are, I swear. For beginners, trying maybe one accent nail might be a little less overwhelming.

Oooooh these nails make me want snowy days to wear comfy leggings so bad. Is it snowing where you are yet? Do you typically get White or Green Christmas’ where you are? It’s usually hit or miss Snow wise in Halifax for Christmas–& it’s usually Christmas Eve before we see anything. January on, though, is a whole other story.

What do you think of this design? What designs remind you of Christmas? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Christmas Tree Branch Nails 🎄

December is speeding by & I’m seriously attempting to fully embrace everything about the Christmas season.Have you put up your tree yet? We’ve been meaning to the last couple days, but still haven’t managed to… sadly I’m allergic to pretty much all trees so we have to stick to an artificial tree. But I did go out & buy a Christmas tree scented candle so the house would smell somewhat seasonal. 🎄 I also decided to create some Christmas tree inspired nails & oh my I’m so in love with how they turned out!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek Foundation 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Give Me Nude, Baby!
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Green
  • Essence The Green & The Grunge
  • Essie Stylenomics
  • Essie Butler Please
  • L’Oréal Carmin Parisien
  • China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Bundle Monster Detail Nail Art Brush

Sometimes I get really excited about how a manicure turns out & this is one of those times. This isn’t the first Christmas Tree/Tree Branch manicure I’ve attempted, but it’s definitely the best I’ve ever done. I’m just so beyond in love with how it turned out.

I love that you can see the individual needles on my “branches”. It reminds me of our own sparse little artificial Christmas tree. True story: it’s the same tree my parents used when I was a kid, & the box still has the K-mart sticker on it from when it was purchased. & K-mart left Canada in 1998 I believe, so this tree is at least 20 years old. Haha. But it’s okay because it’s well loved, full of memories & is still going strong all these years later.

What do you think of this Christmas tree design? Do you have your tree up yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Candy Cane Accent Nails

Hello Internet! After two weeks of packing & moving & unpacking & lacking the internet I am finally back! & oh boy am I happy to be back! Its officially December now, & that means it’s time for some serious Christmas-y nail spam. First up? These candy cane accent nails that have been sitting on my phone for the last week.

The polishes used for the design were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Quo by ORLY The Antidote
  • Essence Dream On
  • Essence Perfect Match
  • Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy
  • Layla Cosmteics Soft Touch Golden Touch
  • UR SUGAR Nail Stencils item #AUB39877 — click to buy

Who doesn’t love candy canes at Christmas — whether it’s an actual candy cane (my favourite are those sour patch kids ones that used to sell years ago… not sure if you can still buy them) or in the form a candy cane hot chocolate or mocha. There is something about those extra sweet & sugary sticks that bring out your inner elf… even if you don’t really like Christmas all that much.

What do you think  of these candy cane accent nails? Is this something you would wear for any of your holiday occasions. These would be super cute to wear to a Christmas party or Christmas concert! Let me know what you think of this design in the comments below, & let me know any Christmas designs you’d like to see this month!

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Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month 💜

The month of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, & my fellow girls in #thenailartsquad & I wanted to create some manicures to bring awareness to this terrible disease that has touched so many of us. 

The color for Pancreatic Awareness Month is purple, so we grabbed a selection of our favourite purples. 

 For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Plur-ple 
  • ACO by Ardene Ice Mist
  • Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Essence Nail Art Stampy Set stamping plate. 

For my design, I picked to go with purple hearts. Like so many, I’ve lost someone I loved to this terrible disease—-when I was just a little girl, my Poppy was diagnosed & passed away from pancreatic cancer. I don’t remember much about him sadly, except from pictures & home movies. 

This is why I think it’s such an important cause to bring attention to because I feel like so many people have lost someone they love way too soon. 

We’d love for anyone out there who would like to bring awareness to Pancreatic Cancer to join us in posting a purple design using the hashtag #pancreaticcancerawarenessmonth