Brown & Gold Shattered Glass Glitter Placement

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday!

Can you believe we’re in the final days of September? It’s kind of crazy. Where has this month gone already? It’s certainly been a busy month at our house with school starting. I can’t believe that we’re already a month in… & Summer is already feeling like a distant memory. Although, I cannot lie — I’m super pumped for my favourite month: October!

Now that we’re officially deep into Autumn, & the late September weather is in full force, I’m really feeling the Fall nail art. I realized the other day I haven’t done a shattered glass nail art design in way, way too long. I was wearing this beautiful brown shade, & realized it would be the perfect base for some gold shatter glitters, so I decided that was just the nail art look I needed in my life.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sinful Colors Essen-chills Smoky Palo Santo
  • Sinful Colors Twilight Twinkles
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

First of all, how absolutely beautiful is this brown shade? This is another one of the Sinful Colors Essen-chills scented shades that I picked up at Walmart earlier in the month. I really love the dense silver shimmer with the dark, dark brown base. & I know I keep saying this, but I’m just absolutely obsessed with brown nail polish, which is such a weird thing for me because I was not expecting to be a brown nail polish girl. But I totally am!

Second, this gold shard glitter goes so well over top. I used to be absolutely obsessed with these style of manicures a few years ago, & I think I need to bring them back again. It’s such an easy look to achieve, because it requires minimal tools. Sure, it does take a bit of time to do… but not nearly as much as you would expect! I think I’ll have to keep my eyes out for more of these style of glitter polishes

What do you think about this nail art look? Are you feeling these shattered glass nails? Have you ever tried a glitter placement look like this? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below — & get excited because Halloween designs are coming very soon!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Into The Unknown

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday!

Hope you’re excited for another new Swatch Sunday pick! Now that we’re reaching end of September, I’ve really been feeling these darker jewel tone shades lately. After browsing the Essence display, I was immediately drawn to this blackened navy blue shade: Into the Unknown.

2 coats, no top coat

I feel like you can never have too many navy blues, so I was excited to pick up this shade. I’ve loved Essence for years, especially because the price point is great — these Essence Shine, Last & Go shades retail for $2.99 CAD each.

For my swatches, I applied two coats of polish over a generous extra coat of base coat, heeding the warning on the back of the bottle. The formula itself was really easy to work with, & smooth to apply. & the polish bottle has a wonderfully wide brush that makes it easy to get the whole nail in one swipe — especially nice when I’m in a rush to paint my nails at night.

What do you think about Essence Into the Unknown? I’m really adoring this darkened navy, & I’m just dreaming of putting a good coat of shimmer or flakies over top of it. Maybe a coat of liner holo? I think it would be so beautiful over this navy shade.

What are you wearing right now? Let me know what shades you’re loving for the season, & any shades you’re dying to pick up from current collections.

Autumn Plaid 🍂🍁

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! & happy first day of Fall! It’s true — Summer is officially over. Which means we are just that much closer to Halloween.

Today I thought I would celebrate the occasion with some plaid nails. This has basically become a yearly tradition (in fact, I posted another plaid on this date last year), & this year I decided on some neutral toned plaid.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze The Snuggle is Real
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Zip Wine
  • Color Club Art Club Pink Pastel
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

I decided to go with China Glaze The Snuggle Is Real for my base shade, because bit is such a lovely neutral, & then added the little bits of pink & maroon for accents. I think this colour scheme is a perfect every day plaid look, & I got so many compliments on it when I wore it to work! It was very exciting.

What do you think about this plaid look? Do you enjoy plaid nails for Fall? What plans do you have to celebrate Autumn? Let me know in the comments below!

Purple Metallic French Tips

Hello lovelies & happy Monday… it’s been a while! Sorry for my bit of an absence—this last couple weeks have been a little crazy, & I was trying to accomplish too many things at once, & my head ended up not in a great place. So I decided to pause doing the challenge for this month, & take a little breather.

I did miss posting my nails though.

I did these easy metallic French tips last week, when I needed an easy to do look. I used to love French manicures circa 2002 — inspired by Kaley Cuoco on 10 Rules… who always rocked a classic French manicure on the show. The classic French still remains too boring for me now (sorry) but I have been loving the updated versions I’ve been seeing on Instagram, so I wanted to try them myself! Of course, we had to give it an updated Fall feel.

& easiest part was no tools needed.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Arabian Nights
  • Zoya Devin

Oh man, long nails look so good with these kinds of designs. This was pre-me breaking a few nails last week & needing to trim my claws back. I really adore how this looks so I’ll definitely be doing it again in a variety of colours when I need an easy go to nail art look — a nice change from my usual dotticure. & again, this look was so so easy to do, with no tools needed. I just carefully used the brush from Zoya Devin & ran it along the tip of my nail ever so carefully.

Of course, if you were feeling uneasy about trying to freehand this look, you could definitely use French tip guides, or my favourite: paper hole reinforcers.

What do you think about this nail art look? What are your feelings on this new version of the French manicure? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & which colour scheme you would love to see next!

Glam Nails Challenge September — Squirrel 🐿

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I had a weekend off from work to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, which was lovely. But busy. But today we’re keeping GlamNailsChallenge September going with another prompt: squirrel.

& I’m going to preface this with: I tried really hard. But woodland creatures are not my specialty.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Satin Sister
  • Acrylic Paints
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Okay so I definitely will not be winning any awards for my artistic talents anytime soon. But you know… he’s an okay, albeit wonky, squirrel 🐿. I was super nervous about this prompt because I really didn’t think I could pull it off. Haha. & while it’s yet to be determined if I did in fact pull it off, I still managed to make something! & next time I will make sure I have some stamping plates with all possible animals so I don’t have to deal with this stress again. Haha.

What do you think about this squirrel design? Do you see a woodland creature? Haha. Let me know what you think down in the comments below! & please, be nice. Haha.

Don’t forget you can get following along with all these designs for this months challenge using the hashtag #GlamNailsChallengeSept on Instagram. & see way better looking squirrel nails than mine!