Constellations for #GlamnailschallengeAug

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Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Today I’m sharing another design for #glamnailschallengeaug!

Today’s prompt is Constellations. ๐ŸŒŒ I did galaxy nails just a few weeks ago, so I wanted to do something different enough from that design & try my best to recreate the prompt on my nails. Usually I am such a perfectionist it can cause me to get frustrated when things aren’t “perfect”. This whole prompt has been about painting my nails, stepping out of my comfort zone, & creating nails that are “perfect enough”.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture
  • OPI Miss Piggy’s Big Number
  • OPI Ink
  • OPI The Sky’s My Limit
  • White Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm Liner Brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge

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I’ve been experimenting a bit with acrylic paints for nail art lately, mostly when creating nail art in bit unsure about, like his design. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to “attach” my stars to show off the constellations, so I drew my dots & stars first, applied my top coat, & then drew my lines. By putting top coat in between the dots/stars & the lines, I could easily wash off the lines & redraw them without acetone ruining my look.

I probably wouldn’t switch to using acrylic paint for all designs, like my florals, but it certainly works really well for designs like this, & I have a feeling it would also be really useful for more different or advanced patterns. I’ve been going through some older designs & really obsessing over the swirly designs I used to do, so I feel like I’m definitely going to be trying out more of those looks coming up! I’m feeling very inspired.

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I am really really loving how this look turned out, especially in keeping the background not too busy as I normally would in a galaxy/space design. I wanted to kind of create a background that looked like those magnetic polishes I see all over Instagram, but have yet to own. Subtle, definitely there. & I feel like I managed to achieve that, especially using the polishes I picked.

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What do you think about this look? Are you loving the manicures I’ve been creating this month? Like this post & leave a comment if you’d like to see me do more of these nail art challenges!

& donโ€™t forget to check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram to see the other pretty nails posted for the challenge! I just love seeing all the beautiful & different interpretations that we’re coming up for the same idea!

SWATCH SUNDAY โ€” Essie Stop, Drop & Shop

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Good morning lovelies! Hope you’re having a beautiful day wherever you are. Today is my favourite day of the week: Swatch Sunday! & today I’ve shopped my stash to bring you another order polish perfect for Fall: Essie Stop, Drop & Shop from the Fall 2018 collection.

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This collection was released last year & I remember seeing Mani Geek’s swatches & falling completely in love with the whole collection, but at the time I only bought Fall for NYC. I actually found this bottle in the clearance bin at Shoppers Drug Mart for only $3, & knew I needed this shade in my life!

& I was totally right!

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For my swatches of Essie Stop, Drop & Shop, I did two coats of polish over my base & finished everything off with Essie Gel Couture Top Coat. The formula was easy to work with & the new thicker brushes make me so happy.

The colour itself is such a nice dusty berry & reminds me a bit of OPI Aurora Berry-alis from the 2017 Iceland Collection, only a bit darker & more red toned. Honestly, this is a fairly unique shade to my collection, which makes me happy. It gives me another reddish option to grab–as red polish is one of my favourites to wear just on its own–but is more unique than a lot of my other red polishes. & I love that.

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Do you own any of the polishes from the Essie Fall 2018 collection? Which one was your favourite? I find Essie does Fall shades really, really well. I don’t think I’ve ever not liked one of their Fall collections.

Ever!

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I must say, going through all these shades is making me very excited for all the Fall 2019 collections coming out! Which one is on your list right now?

Let me know down in the comments below!

Fall Themed Colour Block

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Good morning lovelies! As much as I’m loving doing the Glam Nails Challenge for August, I thought it would be nice to break it up a bit with some other nail art! So today I have a fun colour block design to share with you, using a couple amazing polishes from past Essie Fall collections.

I swear, I’ll try to wear some neon soon… but in the meantime, how about some fun rich Autumn nails?

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture
  • Essie Stop, Drop & Shop
  • Essie Leggy Legend
  • Essie After School Boy Blazer

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This design was surprisingly quick, all things considered. I like freehanded my colour blocking, so there no need to wait for my base to try before painting on my blocks of other shades. & the result looks awesome!

I also really like how well these colours went with each other. Some of my absolute favourite polishes have come from past Essie Fall collections, including these 3 polishes. Essie After School Boy Blazer is definitely my #1 favourite Navy blue of all time. It’s just perfection.

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Are you already thinking about Fall nails? Do you have a favourite Fall collection from years past?

Mine is probably the Essie “For the Twill of It” collection from Fall 2013, which After School Boy Blazer is a part of, as well as my all time favourite grey Cashmere Bathrobe.

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Stained Glass Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

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Good morning lovelies! Another day, another fun manicure created for Glam Nails Challenge August! I’ve really been having a lot of fun creating new designs for the challenge this month, getting out of my usual comfort zone.

Today’s manicure prompt is Stained Glass. I used to so shattered glass manicure a lot back in the day, but it’s been a while since I attempted one. Glitter placement can be a bit time consuming, so that’s probably why it’s been so long. So I was super excited to give it another try! & because the prompt is stained glass & not shattered glass, I decided to add some freehanded framing around my glitter to complete the look!

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For this manicure, the polishes that I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • OPI One Heckla Of A Color {PR sample}
  • OPI Gaining Mole-mentum
  • Black Acrylic Paint
  • Nailstuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush {PR sample}
  • Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio {PR sample}

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First time I’ve used acrylic paint for nail art in a while. I decided to use acrylic paint because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the black framing & I wanted to be able to wash it off my base if I hated it, without destroying my base nail art. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about hating it, because the black looked really good with the glitters!

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This look just makes me so happy, & makes me realize I miss doing shattered glass manicures. Could you imagine this look with holo flakes/glitters? I’m getting Fall manicure inspiration with maybe like an emerald green & maybe some negative space with the glitters.

Ooooh I can see it now! I can’t wait!

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What do you think of this manicure? Have you been following along with the challenge on Instagram? Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing manicures!

Paisley Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

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Good morning lovelies! Today I have another fun manicure I created for the Glam Nails Challenge for August! Today’s nail art prompt was one I was a little bit scared about: Paisley.

I’ve never actually attempted a paisley pattern before, mostly because it’s always looked really intimidating, & not in my nail art wheel house. But because this challenge is all about inspiring me to try new looks, I decided to make an attempt at free handing it.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essence Plump Power
  • Quo by ORLY Wrong So Right
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio

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So I’ll be honest, the first attempt at starting this pattern was with a different colour & I didn’t even get one nail done before I was removing it. I’m a perfectionist, so trying something I’ve never done before (& not doing it well) can be overwhelming for me. My second attempt with this darker bronze colour was a much better attempt!

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Is this a perfect paisley recreation? No. Is this paisley-esque enough for me? Absolutely! I tried really hard to get that whirly look of Paisley & I’m incredibly impressed with the design, & especially with the fact I repeated it on my Cinderella hand so I could wear these nails for a few days. & yeah, I know these aren’t perfect. But they’re beautiful enough for me, & that’s all that matters.

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What do you think of this paisley design? Would you wear this manicure? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

& don’t forget to check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram to see the other pretty nails posted for the challenge! I’m definitely excited to check out what everyone has done!