Category: Glitter

Posted on

Throwback Thursday Halloween Nails

October is quickly speeding by, so I need to amp up my Halloween designs! 🎃

 This time I decided to recreate a design I did all the way back in 2014 (originally done with @mynailpolish_addiction as part of a bestie twin nail collab.) Even though I had spiders, I always thought this design was adorable so I wanted to recreate it. 

For this manicure, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • L’Oréal Orange You Jealous?
  • Color Club Wham! Pow!
  • OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI 
  • Sally Hansen Hard To Get Black Heart
  • Essie No Place like Chrome
  • Revlon Holographic Pearls
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue
  • The Base Coat Spiderweb nail stencil 
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge 

I thought these nails were super cute when I did them originally, & I still think they’re super cute. & I definitely feel like they turned out a little less wonky this time around. Sometimes when I feel like my nails suck & I have no talent & I’m feeling especially hard on myself it’s nice to do these recreations to see how far I’ve come. I may not be the most insanely talented nail artist, but I’m hugely proud of how far I’ve come. 

What do you think of this Halloween design? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

Posted on

Happy Birthday Nails! 🎉🎈🎂 

I know, it’s Sunday which means normally I would be sharing a swatch with you. But today is not just any Sunday… it’s my birthday! So obviously I had to do something fun on my nails in honour of the occasion & I couldn’t think of anything more fun to put on my nails than a glittery purple cupcake nail (which are a few of my favourite things.) After perusing Pinterest searching “cupcake nails” I had an idea of how I wanted my design to look, & I’m so happy that they turned out exactly how I imagined! 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • ORLY Plum Sugar
  • Nails INC Cherry Road
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Color Club Evolution
  • Cosmetic Arts Unnamed Baby Pink
  • Color Club A Warm Place
  • URSugar Zig Zag Nail Vinyls item #AUB39877 
  • Dotting Tool
  • Small Detail Brush


I really really love my birthday cupcake nails. I feel like it’s been ages since I freehanded anything & I was a little nervous about my cupcake but it turned out so cute! These are going to be fun to wear for my birthday celebrations with my family later this afternoon. Last year I spent my birthday in a dark room with an eye infection, so I’m determined to make up for that this year! 

Have a great Sunday everyone! 💜

Posted on

Halloween Glitter Gradient 

Who else is super excited for October? I am! Obviously I love Fall & the fact the weather has cooled down to much more seasonable temperatures (I got to wear my Uggs the other day!) has me pumped for the month to come. Thanksgiving, my birthday, & especially Halloween! 🎃 October is full of lots of fun, & I’m ready for all the accompanying nail art designs. So I thought I would start off with a quick & easy Halloween-esque glitter gradient. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash
  • OPI Lincoln Park After Dark
  • Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge

Please excuse the bubbles in my mani… my top coat is reaching the end of its life & starting to get a little thick & bubbly. Thankfully the glitter hides a lot of the bubbles. Even still, I love this combo—it just screams Halloween to me without being too over the top! It’s also a super easy design that anyone can do without too much fuss. 

Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice is such a great Fall glitter shade, & not just because it caters to my latte loving inner basic white girl! I bought my bottle a few (I think close to 3) years ago, but I saw it at my local Lawtons yesterday so definitely check in store if you’re looking for it! I believe it’s a seasonal shade that Sinful Colors releases every year. 

I have a whole list of Halloween manicures I’m planning (thank you Pinterest!) so stay tuned for lots of fun nail art designs. Also still trying to come up with something fun to wear on my birthday. So if you have any design suggestions, let me know in the comments below! 

Posted on

Sparkly Red Stamping 

I’ve been seriously digging red nails lately. They’ve been a favourite of mine for a long, long time—I almost used to exclusively wear red nails during my late teens, early twenties—so I’ve accumulated quite the stash of crimson polish. & even though my days of just wearing red are a bit behind me, that doesn’t stop me from buying good red polishes when I see them so my stash has continued to grow.

 I recently found a beautiful red at my local Lawtons (one of my favourite stores for polish steals) & I found a red shade from L’Oréal (Carmin Parisien) that seemed to me to be more opaque than most reds, so I had to buy it! Even though I love red nails, I find that a lot of red shades are not opaque & usually show some degree of visible nail line. Lucky for me, L’Oréal Carmin Parisien is completely opaque in 2 coats! This pretty much cements it as my new go to red. 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat
  • L’Oréal Carmin Parisien 
  • CND World Crimson Sparkle
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Jelly Stamper (item #38611)
  • Essence Cosmetics Stampy Set stamping plate. 

I’ve actually been thinking about buying this stampy set from Essence for a while, but I had some Optimum Points to spend so I decided to pick it up. The very first stamping set I ever bought was from Essence, & they’ve definitely upped their game since I bought that one—the images actually fit my whole nail now! For a beginner curious about the whole stamping business, this is a great little set to try it out & see if you like it (especially for under $5). 

What do you think of these sparkly red nails? What colour do you love the most on your nails? Let me know in the comments below! 

Posted on

Geometric stamping over Sally Hansen Mermaid’s Tale 

Yesterday I featured a swatch of Sally Hansen CSM in Mermaid’s Tale–a beautiful teal jelly glitter shade. Today I have the mani I did using that shade as my base colour! I’ve really had a lot of fun getting into stamping, & practicing, so I decided to try stamping a pattern over the glitter. I knew black wouldn’t show up over such a dark base, so I decided to grab something fun & bright (Turquoise) & the end result turned out perfect. 

For this manicure, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat for Glitter
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Under the Twilight 
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Mermaid’s Tale
  • China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Jelly Stamper item #24059
  • Older Born Pretty Stamping Plate that’s no longer available — this plate contains the same image. 

Can I just say how impressed I am with how well Turned Up Turquoise stamps? I was shocked with how opaque it was on the nail, especially over such a dark base colour. I wasn’t sure how it was going to look, but it turned out awesome! I always find myself so drawn to dark shades in the Fall months, but the pop of colour over top works well for a transitional manicure–just enough of Summer & just enough of Fall, all in one design. 


What do you think of this stamping? What polishes do you love for stamping? Share all your secrets in the comments below! I’m going to be ordering a bunch of new stamping plates (especially Halloween/Christmas themed plates) in the next couple days so I’m looking for all the best stamping polishes for playing.