Freehand Stripes

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. ♥️ I’ve been mostly stuck in bed or on the couch because I messed up my neck somehow, but at least that gives me a chance to work on some blog stuff!

Now I know I said I wasn’t going to start thinking about Fall quite yet, but man… I had one sip of Pumpkin Spice latte & now it’s all I can think about! Haha. I kid, but I’ve definitely been finding myself drawn more to darker colours the last few times I’ve painted my nails. In fact, I’ve already switched my pedicure over! Today’s manicure was a combination of both; a little bit Autumn, with some lighter shades thrown in as well.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat On The Black
  • Essie Kaf-tan
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Sheer Luck
  • Dimension Nails Blue Morpho Butterfly
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush(COFFEE10 to save 10%)

Stripes make your nails look longer, right?

As you might have noticed from Sunday’s swatch post, I’ve rounded my nails off again. I’m really trying to get them to grow a bit better, & I find an almond/rounded look suits me better for healthier nail growth. So we’re back to rounded, & hopefully with some serious nail self care, we can grow them super long again! (Like circa 2017 long!)

I really like the pop of colour on the dark base colour. Pat On The Black is such a perfectly dark burgundy shade, I love wearing it in the Fall. & when you add the stripes of lighter shades overtop, they really pop! It also lightens things up, so I’m not fully committing to Fall just yet. However, I’ll drink Pumpkin Spice if I want to… that I’m not budging on! Haha.

What do you think about this striped look? Do you prefer a square or rounded nail shape? Let me know down in the comments below!

Stamped Sweater Nails

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Hello lovelies! & happy Tuesday! I’m super pumped to share this manicure with you, because we recently had a nice splattering of snow fall & winter-y sweater nails just seemed appropriate. I also really, really wanted to use a couple old stamping plates of mine that are Christmas/Winter themed that I always feel like I forget to use when the season comes around!

I don’t do a lot of stamping, but I have been doing it more often & I like how quick it can be. So you can probably expect to see more Christmas-y stamped looks coming up so that I can use a bunch of stamping patterns I never have before. & there definitely needs to be some ugly Christmas sweater nails happening.

But in the meantime, let’s take a look at today’s manicure!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Pat on the Black
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen MG Make It N-Ice
  • Revlon Iconic
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L018 (item #19373)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

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Oh man, I can’t believe how much I love love love this manicure. The colours work so well together, & this looks gives me all the cosy feelings. The weather has definitely taken that winter-y turn if always does in November & there is nothing I love more than wearing cosy sweaters & drinking copious amounts of warm drinks when that happens. &, okay, maybe all the holiday decorations that are increasingly popping up in stores may be giving me the Christmas feels. Last year I was too sick with never ending morning sickness to even think about Christmas nails, so I’m really excited to make up for it this year!

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What do you think about these winter-y sweater nails? What is your favourite kind of Christmas design to wear? Share all your thoughts down in the comments below & let me know what designs you’d like to see me do coming up!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie For The Twill Of It

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to this new month. Today I decided to pull an old favourite from my stash & one of the first Essie shades I ever owned: Essie For The Twill Of It. This polish was originally released as part of the Fall 2013 collection & I picked it up back then in a set of 4 minis at my local Marshall’s.

Now I have featured this shade before in my original China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You Post, but it’s long overdue for me to give this gorgeous polish its own spotlight!

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For my swatches, you’re looking at 2 coats of polish over my usual base coat. I skipped top coat for my photos so you could see For The Twill of It in its natural state. There are a few bumps in the polish once dried, but that could be chalked up to this polish being A. 6 years old & B. being a mini bottle, which I always find let’s to the polish getting gloopy or dried up faster. However, a nice coat of thick top coat (like Essie Gel Setter) will smooth any issues out.

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Look at the silver to fuchsia & green/turquoise shift… how gorgeous! Depending on the light it can be very apparent & pops off the nail! I also really love the tiny micro shimmer that is almost Holo-esque in the sunshine. It really gives this polish an amazing dimension that is unlike most other grey metallic polishes I own. I saw someone refer to it as an “oil slick” nail polish, & that really is the perfect description.

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For once, I picked a Swatch Sunday polish that was still available for purchase! You can find For The Twill Of It available in a few places like…

If you don’t already have a bottle in your stash, I definitely recommend picking one up. Also who else thinks that this shade would be the perfect base for an over the top glitter gradient? Holiday party ideas are brewing!

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What do you think of Essie For The Twill Of It? Do you own this beautiful shade? Let me know down in the comments below!

Autumn Floral 🍂🌼

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Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone had a safe & fun Halloween, & is not too far deep into a sugar coma quite yet! (Remember, leftover Halloween candy goes 50% off today!)

I’m sad that Halloween month October is over, but excited for a brand new month. November is one of those weird nail art months where Halloween is over, but it’s too early to think about Christmas, so I get stuck on what to do on my nails. I think this month I’m going to challenge myself to try one new nail art look/technique a week to see what new designs I discover. But before we just into that, how about a tried & true Coffee & Nail Polish design: floral.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Cliffhanger
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Troublemaker
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat on the Black
  • Sally Hansen CSM I Lilac You
  • Sally Hansen CSM Cherry Cherry Bang Bang
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Jelly Belly Bubblegum
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie First Timer
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio

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It feels like ages since my last floral, even though it really has only been a month or so (if you don’t count my little floral accents in my sugar skull look). Like I said, the beginning of November always leaves me at a loss for designs–too early for Christmas, too late for Halloween. I still have yet to do a classic Fall leaves look, so I will definitely have to add that to my list. But definitely the hardest time of year, aside from maybe January, to decide on designs. I might have to go through blog posts from Novembers past to find some nail art inspo!

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What do you think about this Fall inspired floral? What nail art is your favourite to do during the pre-Christmas season? Share down below what nail art you’d like to see me try!

GlamnailschallengeOct—Jack o Lanterns 🎃

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Oh my gosh, we did it you guys! It’s the last day of GlamnailschallengeOct! Another month of fun designs that I might not have done otherwise! & I’ve had a blast celebrating my favourite holiday with this challenge… now it’s time for one more design!

The last prompt is Jack o Lanterns. Now there are a lot of different ways you can do Jack O Lanterns on your nails, & I searched through many minutes of Pinterest for inspiration, but in the end I decided to just start painting & see what I got.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Base Coat: Duri Rejuvocate
  • Top coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • LA Girl Rock Star Groupie
  • Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio

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For this look, I took my base colour which I was already wearing (LA Girl Groupie) & used a few orange acrylic paints to create my pumpkins. I went with acrylic paint (again) because it’s easier to erase if you’re unhappy with how it turns out & I find can’t paint on a bit easier than nail polish — & I was working against the clock.

I liked the idea of doing a couple smaller pumpkins on each finger with a larger “accent pumpkin” on my ring finger. I thought it turned out kind of cute! I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of actually carving pumpkins–& truthfully I haven’t done it in like 10 years–but I’ll paint cute Jack o lanterns on my nails any time!

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What do you think about my Jack o lanterns for GlamnailschallengeOct? Have you figured out what you’re dressing your nails as yet?

Don’t forget to pop over to  #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram & see all the final designs for this month!