Christmas-y Abstract Stripes 🎄

Hello lovelies & happy December! We’re already three days into December, & that’s kind of crazy. & it’s feeling festive with our first bit of winter-y now (although it’s a snow/rain mix) so I guess Christmas is really coming. So naturally it felt like time to create some kind of Christmas nail art look to share with you — & what’s more Christmasy than red & green.

I wanted to create a look that was festive but I wasn’t sure what to do. These started out as some simple red & green nails, & kind of transformed from there. I ended up adding in some hints of pink as well, & I just love the whole look! Definite Christmas vibes.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Cure
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Butter London Pure Colour 21X Nail Lacquer Branwen’s Pearls *PR
  • Orly Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer
  • China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Wrapped in Love
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Living In The Presents
  • NailStuff 11mm Mermaid Tail brush

How fun are these? Kind of gives a little bit of candy vibes — like ribbon candy, or a really fancy candy cane, or maybe just ribbon. The thought of adding like bows, to give the impression of ribbon, crossed my mind but I was scared I would ruin the whole look so maybe I can try again another time with added bows!

What do you think of these Christmas-y abstract stripes? Are you feeling the holiday vibes now & ready to rock some festive designs? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & if you’re currently wearing something festive on your nails I want to know! I need all the holiday nail art inspiration I can get!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

♥︎

Jewel Toned Autumn Abstract Stripes 💎💙

Good morning lovelies & happy Monday! It’s a chilly morning here on the East Coast — I actually broke out my winter jacket. Brrrrrrr.

With Halloween now over, we’re in that inbetween nail art stage where I’m never quite sure what to paint on my nails. But I was inspired by yesterday’s Swatch Sunday post to create a beautiful jewel toned design & I’m absolutely infatuated with how they turned out.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Cure
  • China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald
  • China Glaze December to Remember
  • China Glaze Up All Night
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • China Glaze Cast A Spell
  • NailStuff 11mm Mermaid Tail brush

I won’t lie — this design was kind of time consuming. But when you look at the end result, it was totally worth it! From far away, the whole design is kind of dark, but when you look at them up close you see the details of the abstract stripes & it’s such a beautiful combination.

The colours all compliment each other really nicely, & the whole design—to me—just screams November vibes.

What do you think about this jewel toned abstract stripe design? Do you love the complexity of it, & the beautiful colours? What designs call to you during the month of November?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY—China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald (Fall 2010 Vintage Vixen Collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. The first Sunday of November! I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween. I definitely ate my weight in mini bags of Sour Patch Kids & Starbursts.

But now we’re moving on from Halloween, at least for another 363 days, & it’s time to focus on the latter part of this year! I thought for today’s Swatch Sunday post I would pull a favourite from my stash to share, that is the perfect colour story for a November day. This is Emerald Fitzgerald from the 2010 vintage vixen collection.

2 coats + top coat

The formula on this beautiful dark green was a bit on the thin side, but easy to apply. It needed two coats for full cover, but as you can see from my swatches, it covered beautifully. For a nail polish that is potentially 15 years ago — I purchased mine on clearance circa 2013 or so — she doesn’t seem affected by age at all. The dark green colour has a beautiful shimmer that’s very easy to see both in the bottle & on the nail.

Close up shot really shows of that shimmer that’s so prevalent in the formula & it’s truly stunning. It gives this colour a little bit more depth which is just stunning. & I’m not usually a green kind of girl, but I think because this one has kind of a blue-ish undertone to it, it has always drawn my eyes more than your typical green.

It really is the perfect green for this inbetween time after Halloween, but before Christmas/Holiday designs start. It’s just such. stunning jewel tone.

What do you think about this old school China Glaze shade? Like I mentioned, I purchased this guy going on 13 years ago — & it was released 15 years ago — so she’s not easily found in circulation nowadays, but I did find a few listings for it online when I was trying to find out information about it’s original released.

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — LA Colors Gel Color Craze Color Shifting Top Coat Retrograde

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! A beautiful sunny Sunday once again. I know I shouldn’t complain about the beautiful weather — especially since we’ve been having cooler morning & evenings which are giving me all the Autumn vibes — but we’re still desperate for rain on the East Coast with all the fires we’ve been having.

Today though, it’s all about nail polish & I’m excited because I found a new & fun shade while perusing my local Walmart! They’ve recently– in like the last year or two — started selling LA Colors & I always love checking out what new shades they have in the display. I noticed these Color Shifting Toppers the last time I was there, so I decided to pick up two of them. The first one I’m excited to share is this green to blue shifty duochrome called Retrograde.

2 coats applied over Essie Frock n Roll + Top Coat

For this application, I applied two coats of Retrograde over a dark base — in this case, I picked Essie Frock n Roll. The base of Retrograde is fairly thin, as you would want a topper to be, but it has a fun metallic duochrome effect that builds very nicely. I feel like you could almost wear a couple coats of it on it’s own, since the base layer definitely disappears beneath the topper.

The shift is also gorgeous — there are flashes on blue & green, as the main ones, but you also get purples as well. Very mermaid-y, which I love, but the jewel tone is perfect for this time of year. I’m not usually someone who reaches for green very often, as well all know (& I’ve said plenty of times) but a shade like this with the multichrome shift is definitely one I will wear. In fact, I wore this manicure for almost 5 days!

LA Colors shades retail at Walmart for $3.97 CAD — which is a pretty awesome deal! The Color Shifting Topper line has 10 shades to choose from, all with celestial names. I picked up Retrograde & Nova, but I’m definitely going to be going back for more shades! They are all such fun colours, & I love anything that can switch up shades already in my collection with a fun twist. Also, I bet these would look beautiful swirled into a drag marble design. That might have to be my next thing to try!

What do you think of LA Colors Gel Color Shifting Topper? Are you a fan of the LA Colors brand? Like I said, I love how affordable these shades are — &, like the crackle shades they’ve released, I find they’re really stepping up their game! So many fun options you can play around with.

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Tropic Like It’s Hot

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday. Not so much a sunny Sunday, but I feel like today’s Swatch Sunday pick makes up for that!

I haven’t really been buying much nail polish— seeing as I have quite the stash already — but I’ve been working hard lately & needed a little pick me up so I headed to my local Walmart & decided to treat myself to a couple new Summery China Glaze shades I don’t yet own.

Today’s pick — Tropic Like It’s Hot 🌴☀️

3 coats + top coat

The first thing I thought when I picked up this shade was “that’s a fun shade, but it’s not me.” However, my husband’s immediate reaction was “whoa that’s really cool” — & he rarely has reactions like that to polishes like that — so I decided to bust out of my comfort zone & pick it up — & I’m really glad I did!

This beautiful neon yellow had a surprisingly smooth & un-patchy. I did find I needed 3 coats to really make the colour pop though, but thankfully they dried fairly quickly thanks to thin coats.

The polish itself is a funky highlighter yellow, with just a touch of green to it. If I had to compare it to anything, I would say it reminds me a tennis ball for sure. & how Summer-y is that?

Tropic Like It’s Hot is absolutely a sunglasses necessary neon, in the best possible way. It’s blinding! & I love that. The perfect colour to show off your Summer tan & invoke all the beach vibes you can handle!

I purchased my bottle at Walmart 2 for $14 CAD (I also bought Summer Reign which I’m currently wearing on my toes.) I believe outside the deal, they are $7.97 CAD each.

What do you think of China Glaze Tropic Like It’s Hot? Do you love this punchy neon shade as much as I do? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

Happy Sunday!

🖤