Gold & Burgundy Colour Block

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

Myself — I worked all weekend, so it was very busy. The holiday season is full effect, especially in retail, so I’ve really been feeling somewhat pre-Christmas vibes. & I’m showing it off on my nails! Today’s look was really me just feeling some holiday colours. I wanted to pull out some of my more holiday-esque shades, but without going to fall into Christmas land. This feels like a good balance between Fall & the holidays.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Screen Vixen
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Pat On The Black
  • Finger Paints Piece De Resistance

Who doesn’t love red/burgundy & gold paired together? I think it’s such a beautiful combination. I also haven’t worn one of these colour block looks in a long time, & it’s such an easy look to pair together. &, like so many nail art designs that I love, an unlimited amount of colour combinations. You know that I’ll be doing a full Christmas colour block once we get into December (or at least slightly closer to December).

What do you think of this colour block design? Leet me down in the comments below, & let me know what colours you would like to see me do next!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Fingerpaints Gorgeous Graffiti

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. The weather here has been a bit grey (at least compared to the balmy weather we’ve been having) so I felt like I needed to make up with it on my nails! & the best way to do it is a good neon polish! So for today’s Swatch Sunday pick, I knew we needed neon.

Today’s pick is FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, a neon fuchsia with blue flakie microglitters. This guy was one of the first FingerPaints shades I ever picked up back in 2015 (I think) so sadly I don’t think still available, at least online. But there are definitely similar shades to be found.

2 coats (no top coat)

I really wanted to show off this shade in its natural glory, which is this beautiful satin matte finish. It took two coats for full opacity, & like any matte shade, it dries quickly so you want to apply your coats quickly. The formula is a bit trickier, but again, that’s a matte polish thing. Usually what I would do is apply my polish, apply a thick top coat (like Essie Gel Setter), & then finish everything with matte top coat. That would smooth out those bumps & lumps you can see, & give you a smooth finish.

Ahhh, I just love this shade! The fuchsia shade is pretty on its own, but then you add in those blue micro flakes, & it just takes it to another level. I love it! It’s one of those shades which is just so striking on its own. I’m actually a little sad my bottle is getting low.

& a close up of this look because I think it’s absolutely stunning. Just look at those flakes! I’m obsessed. I need a topper with those flakies I can add to every manicure!

What do you think about Gorgeous Graffiti by FingerPaints? Would you wear this vibrant shade? Tell me what you think in the comments below! & share your favourite neon.

Gorgeous Galaxy Nails 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! Today I have what might possibly be my favourite & most gorgeous nail art ever to share with you.

Today’s look is a galaxy design, which I haven’t done in over two years! After browsing all my duo & multichrome polishes (while thinking about my favourite Fall shades), I decided it would be fun to pair a few in a galaxy design. 🌌 & oh boy did it turn out beautiful!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat
  • Essie Spun in Luxe
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Power Packed
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure
  • FingerPaints Surreal Sunset
  • FingerPaints Hues Blue
  • Claire’s Venomous
  • Claire’s Poison Apple
  • Claire’s Chromance
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail detail brush
  • Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge (ripped into small pieces)
  • Tweezers

Look at the close up & those glitters! How gorgeous! It really does look like some far off galaxy.

I always forget how easy Galaxy nails can be until I start doing them. I love the fat they don’t have to be perfectly crafted, you kind of just go in with your collection of colours & see how they turn out, maybe adding some polka dots for stars. I actually created a tutorial for galaxy nails in the very early days of my blog which can be found here. I will definitely say that the longer your nails are, the better your galaxies will turn out.

Again, just check out that close up action & those glitters! Have you ever seen anything more beautiful? I’m just so, so happy with how this design turned out. Which, let’s be honest you can probably tell because I took about 1000 pictures of this look to share!

I just can’t stop staring… why has it taken me so long to do another galaxy design? I never want to take these off!

So what are we thinking about these galaxy nails?

Do you have favourite polishes for creating a galaxy look?

Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Born Pretty Store Purple Holographic Pigment Powder (item #41436)

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday. Couldn’t be more excited for the chance to relax & have a day off… & share something special with you! I recently received some gorgeous PR samples from Born Pretty Store for review, & that includes a couple new nail art powders. I’ve been seriously obsessed with nail powders & flakies lately, so I couldn’t wait to jump in & try them all.

The first one I picked, for today’s post, is a dark purple liner holo powder (item #41436).

For application, I took the following steps.

  • Apply base coat.
  • Apply base colour (I picked Essie Under the Twilight) & top coat.
  • Apply Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat — let dry for about 5 minutes. If it’s not dry enough, you won’t be able to rub on the powder.
  • To minimize clean up, you can apply liquid latex around your cuticles. I forgot this time, which is why you can see a bit of holo scattered.
  • Using the name eyeshadow applicator that comes with the powder, pick up a small amount of powder & rub onto your nail.
  • Brush off excess powder from nail & around cuticle (or peel off latex if you used it)
  • Top with top coat & stare at your nails in wonder.

Look at that holo! Seriously obsessed with the dark holo over the dark base. I’ve been absolutely obsessed with my NailStuff.ca holo, but it’s nice to have a darker, vampy option (especially with Halloween quickly approaching).

Application was super simple & easy using my regular nail polish method. I don’t often use gel on my nails, but I feel like if I can easily apply it using regular polish, gel would be no problem. I’ll definitely have to try using it on my toes soon.

if you’re looking to try this powder for yourself, you can pick it up from the Born Pretty Store here.

Also remember, if you use COFFK31, you can save 10% off any regular priced items!

So what do you think of this dark purple holo powder? Do you have a favourite nail powder that you can’t live without. Share down in the comments below!

Freehand Tribal Print Accent Nails

Hello lovelies! & happy Saturday!

Today I’m sharing the most amazing design with you. It feels like absolute ages since I created any kind of tribal design. (I went back & checked–it was December!) So it felt like the perfect time for a new tribal design.

I’ve done tribal a lot in the past, but sometimes I struggle creating the line work. I love my prepolished stripers, but they end up junky & chunky so quickly. Thankfully I received some new nail art brushes from NailStuff.ca & couldn’t wait to see how they would work for freehanding!

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essence Let’s Get Lost
  • Sally Hansen CSM Let’s Snow!
  • Sally Hansen CSM Ruby Do
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essence Black is Back
  • Nailart.ca Mermaid Tail nail art brush trio
  • Born Pretty Store Aurora Rainbow Nail Striping Tape in purple (item #40423)

I cheated a little bit & used striping tape to create my thicker lines of colour & then use my smallest detail brush from Nailstuff.ca to go in & create my print details with black polish. & I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly proud of myself for how this design turned out! Especially the chevron/zigzag line work on my ring finger. This design just ended up looking exactly how I hoped & I feel so accomplished. My new nail art brushes were definitely the main reason this look turned out so well–not only were they so easy to use, but how find the brush was meant my line work didn’t end up looking like a blobby mess!

This look turned out so lovely, & I like the hint of Fall it’s giving off. These colours are such good jewel tones & just what I need in the inbetween time before Fall really hits!

So what do you think of this design? Shade your thoughts down in the comments below. ♥️