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!

Holo Geode Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

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Good morning lovelies! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday. I can’t believe how quickly August is speeding by… Pumpkin Spice season isn’t so far off now. & we’re slowly creeping towards the end of the Glam Nails Challenge for August with only 3 prompts left!

Today’s prompt: Geode.

There are a ton of ways to do geode style nails, so I wanted to think about which one I wanted to use. I decided my abstract stripe design was my favourite way to create geode looking nails, & I decided that I wanted to use a fun holo powder that I bought from Born Pretty Store, & had totally lost in my nail polish room.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Gel Break
  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat
  • ACO by Ardene Nearly Nude
  • Born Pretty Store holo powder (no longer available)
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in White

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I had an idea in my head for how I wanted this design to look, with the pink holo popping against the black & white lines, with a nude-ish background, & I think it turned out pretty much like I imagined. I really, really like this holo powder too–sad that it’s no longer available on the Born Pretty Store site–although they do have a few similar ones like this & this.

I seriously always forget just how much I love nail art powders until I start playing with them again. Also this was my first excitement with applying the powder in just sections of the nails using my usual technique with using Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat & it turned our perfectly!

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Ooooh, I can’t stop starting at that holo. It’s especially impressive in motion with the holo flakies & pink sparkle. So much fun to wear! Also I feel like this pink is also still very Summery, which is a nice change from the darker Fall shades I’ve been craving lately.

& they’re even more beautiful in the sunshine!

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What do you think of this design? Do these look like geode to you? Remember to check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing manicures!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Wham! Pow!

Good Afternoon lovelies & Happy Swatch Sunday! I know I missed last week, so I’m back this week with a colour totally out of my comfort zone–Color Club Wham! Pow!

According to NailPolishCanada, this shade was originally released as part of the Poptastic collection. I picked up my bottle in clearance at my favourite pharmacy, for only $1.99, but you can find this shade online for a mere fraction of its original cost.

This shade is very neon, like highlighter orange neon, which obviously made for a difficult time while trying to photograph in my light box with my iPhone. For my swatches, I did 2 coats of base coat, 2 coats of polish & finished with a glossy top coat.

I was super impressed with the formula–sometimes Neons can be less than easy to apply with super thin formulas that need white undies, or they drag really bad, & need too many coats, but Wham! Pow! went on with only 2 easy coats. The first was kind of patchy, but the second coat filled everything in & levelled beautifully.

This colour is definitely out of my comfort zones–usually when I pick oranges I go for more coral shades as opposed to something so bright & neon, but I was feeling in the mood for something different! I do like how shades like this always make you look more tan than you actually are.

& below is what I did with my swatch: I added some holo glitter with both Sally Hansen Make It N-ice & Quo by ORLY Falling Star. You can also see how the colour shows more truly in the sunshine versus the photos in my light box.

what do you think of today’s Swatch Sunday pick? Would you rock this colour? Let me know in the comments below!

My Nails & My Cup — Holo Gradient Nails

Are you guys sick of the holo yet? I certainly hope not because I have another mani to share–this time I created a Holo gradient to match my new-ish tumbler that I picked up at Claire’s on clearance for $2. It came with cute little manicure tools inside, so I had to have it!

I posted on Instagram the other day what nail art I should do on my naked nails, while holding the above cup, & received an overwhelming amount of responses saying I should match my cup… so that’s what I decided to do!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze BFF
  • Color Club Eternal Beauty
  • China Glaze 2Nite
  • Quo by ORLY Falling Star
  • Latex free make up sponge
  • Creating the holo gradient may have been one of the easiest gradients I’ve ever done! I don’t know if it’s the sparkle or formula or what, but I was as to sponge on each colour separately (which kept from making a big old mess around my cuticles) & they blended together seamlessly!
  • I know the cup has a whole bunch of rhinestones, but I definitely did not have enough on hand to apply to my fingers (or enough colours that would match) so I decided a couple coats of a scattered holo top coat could give a similar look, so I grabbed Quo by Orly Falling Star because I find the glitters larger than some of my other holo toppers (like China Glaze Fairy Dust). Gave off just enough extra sparkle on the nail without being distracting!
  • so what do you think of the holo gradient? Which colour combination do you think I should try out next? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

    Blurple Holo Chevron Moons 🌙

    Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday. It is Tuesday, right? Now that I’m off work & on baby watch, I’m struggling to remember what day it is haha. All I know is it is a beautiful sunny day, & I have some more holo nails to share!

    If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen my Instastories teasing this design. I was in the mood for some chevron half moons & some holo, so I combined the two into an awesome design!

    For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

    • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
    • Top Coat: Seche Vive
    • China Glaze 2Nite
    • China Glaze OMG
    • Kiss Nail Art Striper in Black
    • TheBaseCoat Stacked Chevron Nail vinyls

    Seriously, look at that holo beauty. I feel like warmer days & sunshine are reinvigorating my love for holo. Now I just need some neon holo polishes (are those a thing? We need to make them a thing) & I will be all ready for this Summer.

    & just for fun, I got an awesome sunshine shot of this manicure which just makes me love it even more. There is nothing better than holo in the sunshine. Look at that rainbow shift 😍

    What do you think of these holo Chevron moons? Let me know in the comments below!

    Now I’m off to paint my nails… but the question remains: holo or neon?! I need both!