Recreating Tribal Roses (from 5 years ago)

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! The weekend is almost upon us — & so is August! How crazy is that? We’re almost in the last month of Summer. I swear this year is rushing by way faster than 2020 did. I feel like Summer just started, & now Fall collections are already popping up in the stores. & I’ve already started thinking about what Fall fashion items I want to add to my closet…

But in the mean time, let’s concentrate on nails. More importantly, this tribal & roses design which is actually a recreation of a design I did 5 years ago. This time, though, I decided to go with a reverse colour scheme with the darker shade as my base, & the white for my line work.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Essie Stop Drop Shop
  • Essie Gel Couture Princess Charming
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art pen in green
  • Cosmetics Arts Lime Green (name has long since worn off)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

How lovely is this combination? The beautiful blue, the line work — that I’m very, very proud of! — & the cute, cute roses. I feel like I did a very good job of recreating my original design, but making it even better! These turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Also the white pops so we’ll over Sally Hansen Beatnik, as does the floral. Just everything about this look makes me so happy.

It just feels so good to be getting back to my roots, & doing my favourite kinds of nail art again. Feels like I’m me again! Also, while having short nails is always a nice change, I’m very happy to have returned to my rounded my nails again. They’re so much more me.

What do you think about this look? Did a do a good job recreating my original? Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & let me know if you’d like to see me do more of these posts recreating old manicures!

Neon Green & Floral

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! A beautiful, sunny Tuesday at that. Today I’m going back to my comfort zone with some floral nails — but jazzing things up with a neon base!

Lately I’ve been seeing all this neon green manicures, & I really really needed to paint some neon green on my nails. But obviously I couldn’t leave them plain, so I added some floral overtop!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Be More Pacific
  • Sally Hansen Good.Kind.Pure Peony Origins
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Fuchsia Fever
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri VaVa Violet
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art in purple
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art in green
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Lately I haven’t felt super inspired, nail art wise, which kind of sucks. Trying my best to get out of my funk with simple looks, but sometimes it’s hard. I’m working particularly long hours right now (like 10 hour days) so when I get home from work, I’m feeling pretty tired, so there is not always enough time for fun nail art looks. Trying my best to inspire myself, but it’s not always easy. Guess I’m going to have to spend a little more time perusing Pinterest for inspo.

What do you think about this floral over neon green? It’s so funny because I’ve just featured 2 neon green manicures back to back, which isn’t a colour I usually reach for. Guess the sunny days are inspiring me… now if only they could shake me out of my nail art funk!

Have a lovely day!

Simple pink & blue floral.

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday.

Can you believe it? we’re midway through June! Which means I’m in full all-floral-all-the-time mode. I’m sure you’re not surprised. Today’s nail art look was actually a quick nail art design. I had painted my nails, & wanted to add a little something using my nail art pens, which turned into a full floral mani. Sometimes, I just can’t be stopped haha. But I actually really like how these turned out; usually I go for a more rose centric floral design, but I wanted to create these almost daisies, & I think they turned out really beautiful. & I did them completely without any true nail art brushes.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Zoya Blu
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen Fuchsia
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen Purple
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen Green
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen White
  • Art Club Nail Art Duo Neon Green
  • OPI Where Did Suzi’s Man-go

First off, I know these are not my most perfect floral, but I’m really kind of digging them. My little daisies turned out so colourful & cute. I would totally wear this pattern as a full sundress too. It’s all floral, all the time over here. Also, I feel like these nail art pens are so underrated & deserve a comeback. While my nail art brushes will always be the best for nail art, using these pens can still create an awesome pattern! Also they are still number one for dotticures.

What do you think about this cute little floral design? Is there anyone else who loves these nail art pens like I do? The Sally Hansen ones were always my go-to (I have so many), but I haven’t found them for sale in a very long time. Does anyone know of any else nail art pens you can buy? I’d totally be down for adding more to my collection for quick designs like this! Let me know down in the comments below.

Pink & Cactus 🌵🌸

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! It’s hot & balmy here on the East coast (our second day of heat warnings) but that’s exactly my kind of weather. As someone who is always cold, I live for this kind of weather! So I though, why not paint some bright, poppy nails to match the weather!

It’s been way too long since I rocked some cactus print nails, & I thought they would look gorgeous over a base of Essie Pucker Up.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Pucker Up
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie Watermelon
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Oh man, these are so bright & colourful! They are definitely giving me Summer vibes. I got so many compliments on them at work as well (which always makes me feel awesome). I’m also not sure why I haven’t painted any cactus nails in a while, but it was definitely an oversight. I won’t be waiting this long again!

What do you think about this cactus pattern look?

I’m absolutely loving this Essie shade, which is from their Summer 2021 collection! I had planned to share swatches this past Sunday, but real life got in the way. So hopefully this coming weekend!

Easy Groovy Floral with Essie!

Hello lovelies & happy sunny, beautiful Thursday! I’m finally feeling excited about Summer — because it’s finally starting to feel like Summer! & what is more summery & fun than an easy floral look using some very Summery shades?

On Tuesday, for National Nail Polish Day, I was invited to participate in a Zoom event with Essie Canada with Rita Remark, who is Essie’s global lead educator. This was my first opportunity participating in an event like this, & it was super fun to hear about Summer trends, & polish shades, manicure tips, & even follow a live tutorial on how to create a very cute (& very easy!) floral look created by Rita. They even sent each one of us who attended a selection of polishes so we could follow along while we watched!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Tangerine Tease
  • Essie Pucker Up
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie Blanc

How seriously adorable are these colours together? Two shades (Tangerine Tease & Pucker Up) are from the Summer 2021 collection, & the other two (Mint Candy Apple & Blanc) are core shades, but all 4 go so beautifully together to create this fun, groovy, poppy nail art look. I really love it!

In fact, I can already picture some more Summery nail art looks that I’ll be creating using these shades. I need some brightness in my life.

What do you think of this super cute, super easy nail art look? This was my first time following a live tutorial, & I think it turned out really awesome! Also stay tuned, because I’ll be sharing swatches of Tangerine Tease & Pucker Up! this weekend.