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!

SWATCH SUNDAY — QUO by ORLY Wrong So Right

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Good morning lovelies! It’s the beginning of another week & that means it’s Swatch Sunday. Today I grabbed a fun Fall shade from my stash to share with you.

This shade has also been in my collection for a long while, & I don’t think I’ve ever actually worn it in a manicure: Quo by ORLY Wrong So Right. This shade came to me as part of the Quo by ORLY 18 Piece Holiday collection from 2013 that the hubby gifted me.

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For my Swatches, I’m wearing 2 coats of Wrong So Right over Essence Plump Power. The polish itself is very sheer (which I find with a lot of shades like this) so I always choose to wear undies instead of layering 4+ coats to get the polish opaque. It also can give you a different look, depending on what colours you choose to layer it over.

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For those looking at this polish going “hmmm, that shade looks very familiar”, you would be right. Wrong So Right is the Quo by ORLY version of ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry (aka ORLY Space Cadet) which is also a dupe for MAC Mean & Green (from the Venomous Villans collection) & dupes of Finger Paints Surreal Sunset & Claire’s Venomous). Turns out I must really like this finish & shade, because I own all of the above except Mean & Green. What can I say… I’m a duochrome addict.

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Look at that shift! It just screams Fall to me, & Fall is my favourite nail polish season. 🍁 & no, I don’t care that it’s only August. Give me plaid & pumpkin spice & all the jewel tone nail polishes I can handle.

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What do you think of this polish pick? Do you have any dupes for the shade? Let me know down in the comments below!

Deep Purple Leopard Print

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Hello lovelies! Today I have some more nail art to share with you, this time outside the Glam Nails nail art challenge I’ve been participating in this month! It’s been absolute ages (a year!) since I last created a leopard print design, so it felt really, really overdue. & since I’ve been seriously drawn to Fall colours lately, I decided that colour scheme was what I needed right now.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo by ORLY Staycation
  • Essence Plump Power
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art Pen in Black
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool

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So painting my nails right now is still a bit of a struggle right now. Mostly, I’ve been trying to paint my nails when both the babes sleep, either during nap time during the day, or at night after bedtime. Sometimes it works out for me, & sometimes it takes me two days to create a design. For this particular design, I wanted to do something less complicated but still fancy. My secret weapon for a quick leopard print nail art is always my Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art Pen in Black as it seriously cuts down on time when drawing the outline of my leopard.

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Someday I’ll attempt a classic leopard print colour scheme, but today is not that day. It’s just way more fun playing around with unusual colour schemes. Plus I really love the dark purple on the grey-ish base. I feel like this colour combination is going to be used a lot as Autumn creeps closer–it would look so good together in a dotticure or as a chevron moon design!

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What do you think about this leopard print design? Would you rock this design? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY— OPI Gelato on My Mind

Good morning loves! Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday & well caffeinated! ☕️ Today I have another oldie but goodie swatch to share with you: OPI Gelato on My Mind.

This minty shade was originally released as part of the OPI Venice collection for Fall/Winter 2015 & was the first shade I bought from that collection as you know I’m a sucker for any shade of blue. Also I remember that the name was just too cute, which was part of the reason I NEEDED to own this shade. (It’s also the reason I had to own OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too.)

For my swatches I did two coats over my base, followed by top coat (Essie Gel Setter). You have great coverage in two coats, but like a lot of light/pastel shades the levelling on this shade wasn’t great, so I needed that top coat to give you a nice glossy finish & eliminate any potential streakiness. Maybe if you’re more careful you can get it to level out, but I couldn’t & needed my nails to dry quickly so a glossy top coat always works for me.

As I mentioned, this shade was originally released as part of the OPI Venice collection, which was for Fall/Winter 2015. Personally, to me this is more of a shade I lean towards for Spring but I can also see pairing this with a few darker/vampy colours for a fun Fall design as well. I definitely can see myself doing another fun tribal design (similar to this look) but with much darker, vampier colours.

What colour are you currently rocking on your nails? Which polish do you think I should pick for next week’s Swatch Sunday feature–something Summer-y or Fall-esque? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!