Category: Freehand

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Fall Inspired Floral Accent Nails 🌻🍁

I am not one of those people that thinks floral should exclusively be worn only in the Spring/Summer. Seriously, I don’t think there is a season that can’t use a little floral inspiration. For today’s design, I used some Fall inspired shades to achieve my look.


For this design, the polishes I used are:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Cashmere Bathrobe
  • Essie Wrap It Up
  • Essie The A List
  • Essie Too Too Hot
  • Essie Peach Daiquiri 
  • China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Green
  • Essie Off Tropic 
  • Dotting Tool from Bundle Monster
  • Small Nail Art Brush from Bundle Monster

Floral nails always take a few (dozen) polishes to get right, but I never seem to mind because of how beautiful they look. My flowers still aren’t as perfect as I dream about them being, but I still always have fun painting them on. Hopefully if I keep practicing, some day I can get my floral up there with the likes of @polishpeach & @just1nail! They’re serious floral nail goals–I wish I knew the secrets to painting such realistic & beautiful designs!


& just for fun, here is a shot of my nails & my sons sippy cup that is inspired by a Starbucks cup! When I was pregnant my Mom & my Aunt both bought me one so now the whole family can match with our coffee cups. Haha I think it’s too cute & I figured why not borrow it for a “coffee shot” since I had forgotten to take one with my own coffee.


What do you think of this Fall floral design? Do you think floral nails are perfect for any time of year? Let me know your thoughts on this mani in the comments below!

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Graphic Lines Over Watercolour 

I teased these geometric freehand nails this weekend, which you may have seen on Instagram, so I’m excited to finally share the whole look! I just needed to do some really poppy Summer nails to counter act the fact I’m craving Fall colours so bad. I also feel like I haven’t been practicing my freehand lines enough, so I wanted to play around with my black striper. This design isn’t perfect but I do quite enjoy how they turned out. 

The polishes used for this design are:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Color Club Evolution 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Wet My Thistle
  • ACO by Ardene Road to No Where 
  • Essie Cute As A Button
  • China Glaze Sun Upon my Skin
  • Art Club Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Latex Free Make Up sponge 

Bright & colourful & fun was what I was going through with these nails & I feel like I was pretty successful. Of all my nails, my thumb was my absolutely favourite (& I feel like it turned out the best of all 10 nails). I think it had something to do with my striper polish. The more I use it though, the more I’m realizing I need to try out aryclic paint. I know I keep saying that, but the more I use my stripers, the more frustrated I get with how easily they thicken up. So hopefully the next time I show off a freehand line design, I’ll be sharing my expirences with acrylic paint! 


What do you think of this design? Have you ever used acrylic paint for nail designs? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Happy National Sunglasses Day with #thenailartsquad 🕶

Good Morning! Today I’m sharing some fun sunglasses themed nails I did after teaming up with my fellow girls in #thenailartsquad in honour of National Sunglasses Day. 😎 Quick fact about me: I LOVE Sunglasses. In fact I usually have at least 3 pairs in my purse at any time. My favourite are those big bug eye classes (think Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen circa 2004) but coming in second? My pink sunglasses! & those are what I used as my inspiration for my sunglasses mani!

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: L’Oréal All in One
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie In the Cab-ana 
  • Sally Hansen Hard to Get
  • Maybelline Audacious Asphalt 
  • OPI Two Timing the Zones
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Fine Black
  • KaylaRayLoves Zig Zag Nail Stencil 
  • Small Nail Art Brush from Bundle Monster

I actually have 3 pairs of pink sunglasses I wear on the regular–my generic pink sunnies, my Hello Kitty pink sunnies & my Starkid pink sunnies. This particular design makes me think of the beach–the grey & white zig zags on my accent nail make me think of a beach towel which I love. I haven’t yet had the chance to go to the beach, but little Bubs & I are going on vacation next week to my parents so maybe I’ll get a little beach time! & of course I will have my pink sunglasses handy for the occasion. 

Are you celebrating National Sunglasses Day? Do you have a favourite pair of Sunglasses you can’t live without (or would inspire your own mani)? Let me know in the comments below! 

& don’t forget to get out the other amazing manis by my fellow girls by checking out the hashtag #thenailartsquad. 🕶 

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Jade Abstract Stripes

Today I’ve got some abstract stripes to share with you featuring another untried polish from the stash! I’m ashamed to admit I have way too many untried polishes, so I’m trying really hard to pull them out & actually wear them. Except it’s me, & I just end up going out & buying a new one that then adds to the collection haha. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Problem? I don’t have a nail polish problem. 

But today I’m wearing Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy which is a pretty jade green shade which my Mom picked up for me at Marshall’s.  The colour is obviously gorgeous, but I felt like it definitely needed something added, so I came up with these abstract stripes over top. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: L’Oréal All in One
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in White
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Quo by ORLY Nail Art Striper in Gold

This design never gets old to me.  It’s like floral or polka dots–easy to pull out when I’m too tired to think about what to do on my nails. It’s all about the colour palate. You have to make sure your secondary colour (in this case Essie Mint Candy Apple) falls within the same colour family as your base for the stripes to really just look awesome together. Also I need to stop forgetting to do a tutorial for this design because I keep promising one. Blame it on the fact I do my nails on the couch in my pjs  (bottle balanced between my knees) & not at a table like a normal person haha. But now that I have this fancy new iPhone, maybe I’ll finally be able to film a long promised tutorial. Crazier things have happened! 


Am I the only person who buys nail polish then proceeds to forget to wear it? What polishes do you currently have waiting to be worn?

I recently went through & reorganized my stash so I’m really trying to make a point to pull out those forgotten shades that I forgot I owned! Hopefully I’ll be able to incorporate more into my blog posts before I end up buying more! 

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Hug Your Cat Day Collab! 😸


Happy Hug Your Cat Day! Did you know that June 4th was Hug Your Cat Day? I didn’t until @highchanceofpolish announced on Instagram she was organizing a collab for it, so obviously I had to join in on the kitty love. 

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat 
  • Colour Club Peppermint Twist
  • OPI Who You Callin’ Bossy
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Mellow Yellow
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Kiwi Bikini
  • Small Nail Art Brush from Bundle Monster
  • Small Dotting Tool
  • Kitty vinyls from The Base Coat 

For my design, I was inspired by my own kitties Abbath & Hades. It’s been a long time since I tried freehand kitty nails, but I think they turned out so lovely! 

So what do you think of my kitty cat nails? Are you celebrating Hug Your Cat Day? I feel like wearing my kitty cat shirt just for the occasion. 😸 & just for fun, how about my inspiration for this mani? Who doesn’t love kitty pictures?