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Blue & Grey Herringbone Pattern

Good morning lovelies & Happy Wednesday. I don’t know how it’s possible that we’re already half way through the week, but we are! & Today I’ve got a cute nail art look to share that is perfect for short nails (like mine!)

I’ve always been a fan of herringbone/chevron looks, mostly because they’re surprisingly easy to do! & for a bit of a rustic look like this, you don’t need to have the most perfectly thin of straight lines. & it will still look cute! This particular design was actually inspired by this pot, although I added the splashes of blue to make it a bit more Summery.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Strong Start
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area
  • China Glaze Boho Blue
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in white
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio — I used the small one to fill in my blocks of colour! (Use COFFEE10 to save 10%)

I really really love how these turned out. My white Kiss striper is definitely on it’s last legs which led to a bit of messiness of my stripes, but I feel like it works with this kind of pattern. Truthfully, I could have used a striper nail art brush to achieve the same look, but I was short on time, & this was a bit easier. I will definitely have to try again though, maybe with a few of the Essie Summer 2020 polishes I just received! I think I could do a beautiful quatrefoil design with them too, so stay tuned for fun nail art looks!

What do you think about this herringbone look! I feel like it looks really good on my super short nails! It’s a great way to fancy them up! Let me know what your favourite short nail design is in the comments below!

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Subtle Vertical Stripes

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Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! We’re back into our nail art routine & I have another fun look to share. Two things I’ve been trying to do this year: wear more of my polishes from deep in my stash, & bring my manicures back to the beginnings. Sometimes it’s fun just to go a little more simple. I’ve been seeing a few looks of simple vertical stripes — @xglitzandpolishx & @apolishedcolleen recently did beautiful versions that I’m obsessed with.

So I decided to do my own version!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Treat Love & Color Gloss Fit (clear)
  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • China Glaze Jungle Queen
  • China Glaze Up All Night
  • Straight Nail Vinyls

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For this look, I decided on two shades that would compliment each other really well, but was kind of a subtle look. First I grabbed Jungle Queen because it’s a gorgeous shade which I don’t wear nearly enough & the grey-ness of it is something I love in the depth of January. It is a bit of a darker shade, so I needed to find something dark that it would still pop against. China Glaze Up All Night has been in my stash for a long time (since before baby #1) but I haven’t worn it… ever. That’s kind of crazy because it’s SUCH a pretty shade.

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I think my only regret with this look is a wish I had gone with skinnier nail vinyls/striping tape. But I think these single stripe nails are so chic, & they end up making your nails look SO long. Such a fun look to wear, & there are so many different ways to wear it & so many different colour combinations.

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Have you done this single stripe design yet? What do you think about this subtle version of this look? Hope over to Instagram (since my blog comments don’t seem to want to work), & let me know what you think & what colour combinations you would rock.

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Stamped Sweater Nails

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Hello lovelies! & happy Tuesday! I’m super pumped to share this manicure with you, because we recently had a nice splattering of snow fall & winter-y sweater nails just seemed appropriate. I also really, really wanted to use a couple old stamping plates of mine that are Christmas/Winter themed that I always feel like I forget to use when the season comes around!

I don’t do a lot of stamping, but I have been doing it more often & I like how quick it can be. So you can probably expect to see more Christmas-y stamped looks coming up so that I can use a bunch of stamping patterns I never have before. & there definitely needs to be some ugly Christmas sweater nails happening.

But in the meantime, let’s take a look at today’s manicure!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Pat on the Black
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen MG Make It N-Ice
  • Revlon Iconic
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L018 (item #19373)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

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Oh man, I can’t believe how much I love love love this manicure. The colours work so well together, & this looks gives me all the cosy feelings. The weather has definitely taken that winter-y turn if always does in November & there is nothing I love more than wearing cosy sweaters & drinking copious amounts of warm drinks when that happens. &, okay, maybe all the holiday decorations that are increasingly popping up in stores may be giving me the Christmas feels. Last year I was too sick with never ending morning sickness to even think about Christmas nails, so I’m really excited to make up for it this year!

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What do you think about these winter-y sweater nails? What is your favourite kind of Christmas design to wear? Share all your thoughts down in the comments below & let me know what designs you’d like to see me do coming up!

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Geometric Chevron Claws

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Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having a lovely week. I’ve been MIA this week, but it’s just been one of those weeks. I do have some new nail art to share, although I’ll be honest these looked better in my head. I had this cool idea about doing these funky geometric shatter pattern, but the colours just didn’t match up properly to make it pop.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie For The Twill Of It
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Lilac Insomniac
  • Deep Chevron nail vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
  • Black Acrylic Paint

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Gosh, I wanted to love this design so much, & I did wear them for 4+ days, but they just didn’t turn out how I had pictured in my head & it made me sad. Made if my base colour & chevron colour was lighter, the black paint would have popped better. I also thought about adding a few blocks of gold, but I just didn’t have enough time so I left them plain. Maybe next time I try this look, I’ll go with some lighter colours so my design pops more.

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What do you think about this design? What colour combination would you like to see me do next? Let me know in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie For The Twill Of It

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to this new month. Today I decided to pull an old favourite from my stash & one of the first Essie shades I ever owned: Essie For The Twill Of It. This polish was originally released as part of the Fall 2013 collection & I picked it up back then in a set of 4 minis at my local Marshall’s.

Now I have featured this shade before in my original China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You Post, but it’s long overdue for me to give this gorgeous polish its own spotlight!

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For my swatches, you’re looking at 2 coats of polish over my usual base coat. I skipped top coat for my photos so you could see For The Twill of It in its natural state. There are a few bumps in the polish once dried, but that could be chalked up to this polish being A. 6 years old & B. being a mini bottle, which I always find let’s to the polish getting gloopy or dried up faster. However, a nice coat of thick top coat (like Essie Gel Setter) will smooth any issues out.

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Look at the silver to fuchsia & green/turquoise shift… how gorgeous! Depending on the light it can be very apparent & pops off the nail! I also really love the tiny micro shimmer that is almost Holo-esque in the sunshine. It really gives this polish an amazing dimension that is unlike most other grey metallic polishes I own. I saw someone refer to it as an “oil slick” nail polish, & that really is the perfect description.

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For once, I picked a Swatch Sunday polish that was still available for purchase! You can find For The Twill Of It available in a few places like…

If you don’t already have a bottle in your stash, I definitely recommend picking one up. Also who else thinks that this shade would be the perfect base for an over the top glitter gradient? Holiday party ideas are brewing!

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What do you think of Essie For The Twill Of It? Do you own this beautiful shade? Let me know down in the comments below!