Category: Essence

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Easy Navy & Neon Half Moons 

I’m sure I’m not the only one whose first nail art involved those paper hole re-enforcements. This design is very reminiscent of those early nail art designs when all I had at my nail art disposal was those little sticky circles & a $1.99 dotting tool by Essence. & even though it’s a relatively simple design, I think it looks so classy & chic! 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • China Glaze Purple Panic
  • China Glaze Sleeping Under the Stars
  • Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Lo
  • Paper Hole re-enforcements (I buy mine from the Dollar Store)
  • Small dotting tool (like this one from Essence!)  

If you’re looking for an easy, simple nail art design this would be a great option! The hardest part is waiting for your base colour to dry (& thanks to quick dry top coat, even that comes pretty easy.) I really like this colour combination–you have Purple Panic with all its neon beauty topped with Sleeping Under the Stars which has that very pretty pink shimmer that compliments the neon pink really well. This is a great in-between mani. & a little more sparkle by adding those gold dots. 


What do you think of this mani? What is your favourite old school nail art technique? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Easy Pink Gradient Dotticure

Gradient dotticures never get old to me. They’re such a quick, easy option for nail art & sometimes I’m all about the quick & easy manicures! While I used to be able to stay up all night creating complex & time consuming design, I just don’t always have that option anymore (& when I do the next day is always rough!)

 For anyone who is just getting into nail art, I’m always quick to suggest trying out dotticures because you don’t really need any tools since a bobby pin works easily, & they’re hard to mess up! Back in the early days of my nail art journey, I probably wore a gradient dotticure twice a week if not more. There is just so many ways to do it! 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Splash of Grenedine
  • Essence Black is Back
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Essie No Place Like Chrome
  • Small Dotting Tool or Bobby Pin

Quick & easy. I’ve been looking back at super old manicures from my early nail art days & thinking about doing a whole beginner nail art series featuring some of my early nail art designs & some tips for starting out!

What do you think of this dotticure? Do you love a good gradient dotticure too? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Easter Zig Zag Chevrons

Happy Easter! Was the Easter bunny good to everyone? Did you get lots of chocolate & maybe a few polishes of choice in your basket too? 🐰 I went out earlier in the week & picked up my husbands Easter treats (& a few goodies for my self in the clearance polish section at Lawton’s.) We’re also heading to my Mother in Law’s later for an egg hunt for the kiddos and dinner. 

 I thought in honour of Easter I’d share these zig zag chevron nails that look kind of like Easter eggs! Outside of Easter, these could definitely work as just a fun Spring mani as well. 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin
  •  Essie Lounge Lover
  • OPI Getting Nadi On My Honeymoon
  • Essence You Let My Heart Skin A Beat 
  • Kiss Products Nail Art tips (Chevron vinyls) 

This colour combination works so perfectly for Easter & totally looks like Easter eggs. This would be a great design to go with when you need a quick Easter inspired mani, but don’t have the time (or patience) to do something freehand. 

What are you wearing on your nails today? Did you go with a simple Easter mani, or something more fun? Let me know in the comments below! & don’t forget to enjoy all that chocolate the Easter bunny brought you! 

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Pink and Blue dotticure. 

I was browsing Instagram yesterday, and while admiring @traceyloveslacquer‘s monthly favourites I could helped but obsess over her dotticures (because they’re gorgeous). So obviously I needed to do my own dotticure because it’s been like a week. 😂 Seriously though, dotticures are just so easy and fun. 
The colours for this mani were inspired by baby-to-be (pink and blue) who has officially overstayed their welcome. But I really think these colours would work for a variety of occasions… even a not so typical Valentine’s Day design if you didn’t want to go strictly pink. 

The polishes used for this mani were:

  • China Glaze Secret Peru-wink-le
  • Wet N Wild 2% Milk
  • Essence Cosmetics Dreaming of Love
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Tickled Pink 
  • Essie Gel Setter 

Such a simple design, but I love how it looks! And the great thing about a dotticure is it pretty much works for every occasion and colour combination. 

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Negative space stripes. 

I’ve written before about my love for all things involving negative space nail art, and today I have a quick negative space accent nail to share. I’ve been trying to do my nails as much as possible while I still can, while also coming up with ideas for quick nail art I may be able to do after baby comes. Thank god for nail vinyls, am I right? Going to need to order a bunch before baby comes for those days I can actually do my nails! 

These negative space stripes are definitely perfect for a quick accent nail. They look way more complicated then they actually are! Thankfully you don’t have to wait near as long to use tape or vinyls when you’re only applying it over base coat. 

For this manicure I used: 

  • Essence Rock Your World!
  • Sally Hansen Cherry Cherry Bang Bang 
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black. 
  • Striping Tape
  • Essie Gel Setter 

I really love the combination of grey and pink–they just always go so well together! 

What are your favourite accent nail designs? Let me know in the comments below! I’ve also been thinking about maybe starting to do some tutorials, so if that is something you’d be interested in seeing, let me know.