GlamnailschallengeOct—Graveyard

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Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! This has been a busy week for manicures & it’s not over yet. Today I’ve got the next prompt for GlamnailschalleneOct: Graveyard! For this look, I wanted to channel the look of gravestones as my background sky & then create a little landscape graveyard near my cuticles.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Duri Rejuvocate
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area
  • Maybelline Audacious Asphalt
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Essence Black is Back
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush

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I had this idea in my heart to create this grungy grey background, I feel like it was kind of successful? Not exactly how I pictured in my head, but I still really like it. Next time I would probably add a dark dusky purple or blue to add a bit of colour to the mix. But over all, I think this design captures the spookiness of a graveyard, & when it comes to Halloween designs that’s what is most important, am I right?

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I think my dry brush background might be one of my favourite parts of this look. Instead of doing short brush strokes, I brushed the polish brush up almost the entire length of my nail. It really helped capture the haunting quality of gravestones/graveyards, which I am really excited about. I will say though, next time I would probably pull out my What’s Up Nails graveyard stencils for the gravestones.

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what do you think about this grungy graveyard design? Are you already planning your Halloween nail art looks?

& don’t forget you can keep up with #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram for everyone else’s amazing designs this month! There are still a few more fun design looks coming up for the rest of the month!

SWATCH SUNDAY—China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You

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Happy Sunday everyone! Can you believe it–the first week of October is finished–how crazy is that? It also means we’ve got our first Swatch for October & today I went with an older Fall polish that I just absolutely love: China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You.

If you’ve been around the blog for a while, you might remember I posted this polish over 5 years ago, so if you’re in the mood for some hilarious throwback, definitely check out that old post.

& now for an update swatch post for this gorgeous shade.

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For my swatches, I did my usual base coat, applied two coats of colour, & finished off with my go to top coat (Essie Speed Setter). Looking at my pictures though, I probably should have done three, because I can see a bit of nail line peeking through. The base is this Smokey grey, with a gorgeous bronze-y shimmer that transforms depending on which was you move your hand, with even the occasional flash of green.

It’s very pretty.

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For a 5 year old polish, the formula on this one is still as good as the day I bought it. The first coat goes on a bit streaky, as most polishes like this do, but you have almost complete opacity on the second coat. & shorter nails could definitely get away with just two, I just think it’s longer nails that might need 3 for full coverage.

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& naturally because I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between China Glaze Cowboy Bye (from the Gone West collection) & Choo Choo Choose You, I needed to pair the two side by side. Obviously Cowboy Bye has that beautiful holo scattered glitter, but I feel like the two bases of the shades are very very similar, which could explain why I love Cowbye Bye so much.

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What do you think about this shade? Do you own Choo Choo Choose You? What is your favourite older Fall shade that you return to year after year?

Let me know down below in the comments!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour 513 Black Pearl

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Good morning lovelies & Happy Sunday! Today is a really exciting edition of Swatch Sunday because I’ve been sharing a polish from my Mom’s nail polish stash I’ve been dreaming of getting my hands on: Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour 513 Black Pearl.

I looked this shade up online, & found posts about it all the way back to 2010. Sadly it looks like it has been discontinued, although I did see more than a few listings for it on EBay if you’re dying to get your hands on this shade.

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For my swatches I did my base, 2 coats of colour, & finished off everything with top coat (Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat).

Black Pearl is a dark steel grey shimmer which has this very pretty dark teal shimmer that comes through in certain light. It’s very, very pretty & very perfect for this Fall weather. The formula was kind of thin on the first application, but the second coat definitely levels things out for perfect application. & even though this is the kind of polish that you think would be slightly streaky, I avoided too many brush strokes.

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This is definitely the kind of shade I find myself drawn to as the days get cooler–darker shades that capture the Fall mood perfectly. & I’ll admit: I wish this beauty could come home with me, but I’m pretty sure if it disappears from my Mom’s stash, my bags would be the first ones searched. Haha.

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So what do we think about this shade? Are you loving dark moody colours are much as I am right now? Let me know down below! & let me know what your favourite Chanel shade is because I think I might need to add one to my own collection.

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Tribal/Aztec Print for #GlamNailsChallengeAug

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Hello loves & happy Wednesday! Today marks the last prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeAug, can you believe it? We made it! & I am so excited to have completed this challenge, because it really did inspired me to try out more nail art designs than my usual go to designs. That being said, I’m also itching for some Fall inspired floral & half moons, so stay tuned for some of those coming up next month!

The last prompt for this month is Tribal/Aztec, which is one after my own heart, so I couldn’t wait to draw some new tribal inspired nail art. & obviously I had to use some of the next China Glaze Gone West polishes for a Fall colour scheme.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used are:

  • Base Coat: Fraken Base Coat combination
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Settter
  • China Glaze Cowboy Bye
  • China Glaze Prairie Tale Ending
  • China Glaze Take The High Rodeo
  • China Glaze Gold Mine Your Business
  • China Glaze Cattle Drive Me Crazy
  • Essence Black is Back
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm Nail Art Brush
  • Small dotting tool

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So I know I’m totally biased, but how cute did this look turn out? The colour pallet is just so perfect for Fall weather & I think goes really well with the tribal prompt. I mean, I can’t stop obsessing about these colours anyways, but combined with one of my favourite kinds of designs, it’s hard not to just keep staring at my nails. & it satisfies my craving for Fall just enough.

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I’ve really had so much fun doing this challenge this month, & I’m super excited that I completed all 8 prompts! Still deciding if I’ll be joining in again next month, as the prompts look quite fun, but if I don’t do all of them, I will definitely take inspiration from some. & I definitely plan on getting more creative this month in my nail art! So who knows what designs you will see coming up! I definitely feel like pumpkins are going to need to happen!

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Don’t forget to check out the other manicures for #glamnailschallengeaug & let me know down in the comments below if you’d like to see me do more challenges like this in the future!

Deep Purple Leopard Print

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Hello lovelies! Today I have some more nail art to share with you, this time outside the Glam Nails nail art challenge I’ve been participating in this month! It’s been absolute ages (a year!) since I last created a leopard print design, so it felt really, really overdue. & since I’ve been seriously drawn to Fall colours lately, I decided that colour scheme was what I needed right now.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo by ORLY Staycation
  • Essence Plump Power
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art Pen in Black
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool

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So painting my nails right now is still a bit of a struggle right now. Mostly, I’ve been trying to paint my nails when both the babes sleep, either during nap time during the day, or at night after bedtime. Sometimes it works out for me, & sometimes it takes me two days to create a design. For this particular design, I wanted to do something less complicated but still fancy. My secret weapon for a quick leopard print nail art is always my Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art Pen in Black as it seriously cuts down on time when drawing the outline of my leopard.

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Someday I’ll attempt a classic leopard print colour scheme, but today is not that day. It’s just way more fun playing around with unusual colour schemes. Plus I really love the dark purple on the grey-ish base. I feel like this colour combination is going to be used a lot as Autumn creeps closer–it would look so good together in a dotticure or as a chevron moon design!

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What do you think about this leopard print design? Would you rock this design? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!