Floral & Gold Nails inspired by @thelittlecanvas

Happy Saturday! & Happy Royal wedding day! Who else was up early watching all the Royal wedding coverage? The Bubs had me up at 5:30am, but I was already planning on getting up to watch coverage of the event.

I don’t have royal themed nails to share with you today, although personally I think this floral design would be perfect for any wedding! Today’s design was inspired by a manicure @thelittlecanvas posted back in March. I loved everything about it (Alaina always does the prettiest accent nail designs!), so naturally I had to recreate. Plus it was an opportunity to pull out one of my favourite vibrant blues that I haven’t worn in a while.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • ACO by Ardene Whacky
  • OPI My Favourite Ornament
  • OPI Chiffon My Mind
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Piggy
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Super Charge
  • Essence The Green & The Grunge
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Black
  • Bundle Monster detail brush
  • Bundle Monster large & small dotting tools

I love that event though this is a relatively easy design to create, the combination of everything just makes your nails look so fancy. Plus they look way more complicated than they actually are. I’m still trying to find more floral designs to do that aren’t just my typical roses that I can pull out when I’m feeling floral on my nails. Which, lets be honest, is 95% of the time.

What do you think of this floral? Do you think I stayed true to my inspiration? & if you’re on the hunt for new nail art inspiration & haven’t already discovered Alaina, definitely check out her Instagram & blog because she always come out with the most amazing patterns & designs!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pastel Punk Collection! 💀💅🏻

Good morning lovelies! & happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow Moms out there. I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to their Sunday! I was up early enjoying so cold brew & finishing up today’s very special blog post featuring swatches of the brand new Sally Hansen Canada Pastel Punk Collection! This is a Canada Exclusive collection so apologies in advance to my international & American friends.

I received this 6 polishes collection from Sally Hansen themselves & the packaging was awesome. Not only were my polishes & Miracle Gel Top Coat wrapped up in the funky fanny pack you see above, but they included the cassette tape you see above… which is actually a USB! One of the cutest PR packages I’ve ever gotten in the mail!

Also that fanny pack is all kinds of nail art inspo!

PR SAMPLE

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pastel Punk Collection! 💀💅🏻”

SWATCH SUNDAY — Gelish Royal Temptations Spring 2018 Collection

PR Sample — sent to me free for testing & review.

Happy Sunday lovelies! I feel like it’s been ages since my last Swatch Sunday post, even though it’s only been 2 weeks. We’re currently under a snowfall warning here in Halifax (yes, in April…) so it felt like a good time to share the swatches of the Gelish Soak Off Gel Spring 2018 collection! The Royal Temptations collection is inspired by the lavish life of Marie Antionette! The colours are described as opulent pastels & according to the press release “help convey the romantic fantasy we convey with being a queen”.

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — Gelish Royal Temptations Spring 2018 Collection”

Pretty Pink Gradient & Stamping

Happy Tuesday everyone!

We’re quickly speeding through February, can you believe we’re already half way through? Kind of crazy! Today I have a super fun gradient design to share. I’ve been kind of obsessed with gradients lately–I go through fazes, & now that I’m all stocked up on my Edge Perfection I’ve been a little gradient crazy.

For today’s design, I was feeling pink. I wanted something a little Valentine’s Day-esque without being too over the top. I started out with the gradient, then added some holo glitter. & then I thought–why not some stamping too? I was a bit scared it was all going to be too much, but I think because I didn’t use contrasting colours, the whole design really works together.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by Orly Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Joe Fresh Cotton Candy
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mauve Over
  • China Glaze Life is Rosy
  • Quo by Orly Falling Star
  • Essie No Place like Chrome
  • Born Pretty Store Image Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier

I’m really loving this gradient!

& obviously I took some macro shots! You see the holo glitters much better this way, since my desk lamp doesn’t show them off as well as I would like. Also it shows off the blend on this gradient, which I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of. Especially since my early gradients looked something like this.

 

I’m so happy with this whole design! I know it’s not oh my god Valentine’s Day, but it’s pretty & pink & what is more lovely than that?

What do you think of this design? Do you like all the layers, or do you think it’s too busy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — ACO by Ardene Twilight Zone

There has been a lot of pink & red happening on the blog in preparation for Valentine’s Day,  so I thought it would be fun to break it up with something a little different! So today’s Swatch Sunday is all about this beautiful multichrome from Ardene called Twilight Zone that’s been in my stash for a good 2-3 years now. I’m not sure if it’s still available in store, although I do know they come out with different (similar) duochrome & multichrome shades every so often, so I would recommend popping into a store near you to see what hidden beauty you might find!

For this swatch, I applied two coats of Twilight Zone over a dark base of Essie Under the Twlight because the polish itself is fairly sheer & would require more coats than I have patience for.

As you can see from the bottle, the base of the polish is a sheer-ish green blue with iridescent blue shimmers. You could definitely try & build it up to opacity, but I’m not sure how many coats that would be. If I had to guess, I’d say you’d be looking at least 4. & besides, I really find these shades work best with undies–it makes the change that much more apparent. You can see above that it flashes between blue & pink/purple depending on how you move your hand.

Ugh, it’s just so pretty! Why do I always forget how much I love shifty shades until I’m wearing them again? I’ve been reorganizing the nail room because I got some new storage, & gushing over my old school shades so much, like this beauty & my Claire’s Villain shade dupes from 2010. I keep trying to figure out how to best share my stash on the blog, but with 1000+ nail polishes I’m not sure the best way to document them. Any suggestions on the best way/app to organize what I have & be able to share?

 

Like I said, I don’t believe that Ardene Twilight Zone is still available for sale in store (unless you check out a Outlet perhaps) but I know that they’re always coming out with new & interesting shades so I would definitely recommend checking out what they have. I’ve bought some pretty fun polishes there over the years that are still favourites of mine.

What do you think of this shade? Have you ever bought an amazing polish in a surprisingly place? Let me know your thoughts on the comments below.