Holly Jolly Dotticure 🎄

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope your week is off to a lovely start so far — & if it’s not, well we’re halfway to the weekend!

Today I’m officially kickstarting the Christmas & holiday nails with this Christmas inspired dotticure. I wanted red & green, & festive, & I think I captured that look idea perfectly.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel has Central Pink
  • Sally Hansen MG A Moo Point
  • Sally Hansen MG Me, My Elf & I
  • Sally Hansen MG Red It Twice
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

This look was super, super easy to achieve. I started with my semi-sheer base of Central Pink, & then one by one added dots of each colour to my nails, trying my best to make it not look too crowded. Then after I gave the dots a few minutes to dry down, I finished off everything with a thick coat of top coat.

It’s important to wait a few minutes between dotting & adding top coat, just so your dots don’t get smeared. There is nothing worse than a beautiful clean dotticure, & you mess it all up by smearing the polka dots with your top coat.

What do you think of this festive dotticure? Do you like the simplicity of the small polka dots over the sheer base? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & what nail art looks you’re exciting to see upcoming over the next few weeks!

Enjoy your Wednesday loves. 🖤

Autumn Abstract Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone has had a lovely week so far. I’ve been busy with work, but I did managed to get some cute new short nail art done this week. I found a set of Color Club shades I bought at Marshals last year (no names on them) & really wanted to combine the colours into a pretty nail art look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Color Club blue-ish grey
  • Color Club grey
  • Color Club dusty rose
  • Color Club wine
  • Color Club dark rose
  • 16mm Striper (from NailStuff.ca)

I did a previous skittlette design using these back in August, but I really wanted to combine them in another look. Originally I had wanted to do something with nail vinyls, but after mucking that up, I decided on this cute look. Abstract stripes never do me wrong.

What do you think about this Autumn inspired abstract stripes. I think the grey base gives that frosty feeling, so it works for a November design. I’m still feeling a bit of lack of inspiration lately, being between holiday seasons, but I feel like I’ll be back into my groove in no time!

Have a fantastic Friday loves! 🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Blue Iguana (& some bonus sparkle ✨)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The first Sunday of November, if you can believe it! Sadly, I’m starting off November with some extra short nails thanks to a bad, bad break at work on Friday.

So I wanted to make my nails feel extra pretty, so I dug through my stash & landed on this sparkly old school China Glaze shade. This is China Glaze Blue Iguana.

2 coats + top coat

Blue Iguana was originally released as part of the 2011 Summer Island Escape collection. It has an electric blue foil finish with a great micro shimmer. The formula was fairly thin, but I had adequate coverage in 2 coats. It also appears lighter on the nail than in the bottle, which was kind of a bummer — but maybe an extra coat or two would have fixed that. I also wish you could see more of the purple duochrome flash on the nail, as much as you can see it in the bottle. But it’s still beautiful regardless.

I was feeling like my short, stubby nails needed a bit more sparkle, so I pulled another oldie (released around the same time) from Icing to add a little pizazz: Icing Radio Super Star.

1 coat over Blue Iguana + top coat

I was actually really impressed with how closely the blue glitters in Radio Super Star matched Blue Iguana. It has a clear base with blue micro glitter, fuschia hex glitters & these fun silver star glitter. What you see above is just one coat over my base — & I had great luck with getting the star glitters onto the nail with minimal fishing.

It gave me exactly the sparkle I was craving to cheer myself up!

How are you feeling up these two fun polishes both together & apart? I feel like it’s just a smidge too early for holiday polishes (although I’m keeping my eyes open!) but I may see what glitter shades I can pull out for this month.

Have a happy Sunday!

Instagram Coffee Nail Art Collab ☕️🤎

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! This has been quite a week, so I’m a little happy it’s over — even if it does mean saying goodbye to spooky season. But I did join the monthly nail art collab hosted by @essieyall & @petitenailslover again this month, & I’m super excited to share my design… especially because the prompt is COFFEE!

& if there is one thing I love as much as nail polish , it’s coffee.

The polishes I used for this manicure are:

  • Base Coat: Essence Colour Grip Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Matte Top Coat
  • Essie Expressie Cold Brew Crew
  • Wet n Wild 2% Milk
  • Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca 9mm Mermaid Tail Liner Brush

I was going for a latte art design, so I used acrylic paint because I knew that I was going to need to be able to erase any mistakes — & I was right! This look took longer than expected to do, but I think it turned out just like the coffee art I used to do when I was a barista.

& I hope when you look at it, you can totally see what it’s supposed to be!

Don’t forget, you can check out the other designs through the hashtag #coffeenailartmanicollab2023 on Instagram. & down below, you can check out all the fun coffee themed designs collaged together. Everyone did such an awesome job!

What do you think of my coffee design? Does it totally scream latte to you? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

& let me know what your favourite holiday coffee drink is!

🖤

Batty Thermal Halloween Nails 🦇

Hello lovelies & happy Halloween! I couldn’t not try to sneak at least one more quick design in before Halloween was over. After all, Halloween is my most favourite holiday.

This look is a quick & easy one, using those Dollarama nail art stickers I’ve been gushing about all month. I had this idea of doing dark bats over a thermal polish — & I just love how they turned out!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essence Colour Grip Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Cadillacquer Nostalgia
  • Dollarama Halloween Nail Art Stickers

This is a super simple Halloween look — the thermal effect of Cadillacquer Nostalgia really does all the work. It’s been particularly cold recently, so I had to rest my hands against some hot coffee in order to show off the shift between colours — & you can kind of see how it transitions back to cold in these shots which is cool.

I hope everyone has a happy, happy Halloween! I’m looking forward to trick or treating with my kids tonight, & soaking in every last minute of my favourite holiday. & there will definitely be some sour patch kids enjoyed this evening!

♥︎ Stay safe & have fun!