Inspired by. – Page 27 – Coffee & Nail Polish

October 2, 2019September 27, 2019

GlamnailschallengeOct — Candy

Good morning lovelies & Happy October! Can you believe it’s already the most wonderful month of the year? Also how is this year going by so quickly?!

In honour of my absolute favourite month, I decided to participate in another round of GlamNailsChallenge! I’m always up for a challenge, & I had so much fun the first time I figured this would be the perfect time for it! & all the prompts for this month sound really fun!

The first prompt for the challenge: Candy! & what is the most controversial candy of October? Why candy corn of course! When it comes to candy corn, you either love it or hate it… & I love it! So I thought a candy corn gradient dotticure was in order. (Can you tell I’m obsessed with dotticures right now?)

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Aco by Ardene Nearly Nude
WetnWild 2% Milk
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
China Glaze Stoked to be Soaked
Color Club Almost Famous
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Since I’m so obsessed with dotticures, it was a given I had to do a candy corn inspired one to kick off this prompt. I decided to go with a negative space-ish nude base, & use the three candy corn colours over top. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen someone do this look before, but I searched Pinterest under “candy corn dotticure” & couldn’t find this exact look, so if you know who did it first let me know so I can credit them properly!

Ah, this look totally reminds me of those paper dots candies… oh, candy buttons! (Yep, totally googled that) Did anyone else eat those as a kid, where you had to peel them off the paper? I haven’t seen them in years, but that is exactly what this manicure looks like. & I love it! Also this is definitely an easier candy corn look to achieve than your typical candy corn gradient, & way less messy! So if you’re like me & not in the mood for crazy clean up, this is an easy manicure idea for you!

Who else is excited for October & October manicures! I have to say, the prompts for this month are so exciting so I can’t wait to create some fun nail art looks & share them with you! Don’t forgot you can fallow along with everyone participating this month by following the hashtags #glamnailschallangeoct on Instagram!

& let me know what prompt you’re most excited about in the comments down below!

September 17, 2019September 13, 2019

Fall Inspired Abstract Nails

Good morning lovelies! Hope you’re enjoying the beginning to another beautiful week. Also how is it possible we’ve passed the middle of September & it’s creeping (quickly!) towards October?! It feels like just yesterday I was dreaming wistfully about pumpkin spice, & now it will be Halloween before we know it!

Today I have a really, really fun design to share with you that I had an extremely hard time figuring out what to call. It has a little bit of everything in it: negative space, polka dots, colour blocking, abstract lines. This look was partly inspired by a few of these looks I’ve seen popping up on Instagram & partly inspired by my daughters new soothers. But I am 100% in love with the end results!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Wet N Wild 2% Milk
Essie Fall For NYC
Essie Bobbing for Baubles
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

This look is super easy to do, even though it comes across as more complicated & fancy. Basically the hardest part is figuring out how to layer your lines of colour, but because they’re “abstract” you don’t have to worry about making them perfectly straight. & then just go in with a small dotting tool for some extra dots, & you’re finished! I originally was going to add a few random lines as well, but was worried about kiddos waking up (I literally did these at 6am while everyone was asleep) so I went the safe route. Definitely want to try them again & see if I can get even closer to my inspiration! This was a fun first attempt though!

Love love loving this look! Seriously, it feels so good to paint my nails, & even if it means waking up earlier than I might want, it’s so worth it in the end. Painting my nails is what keeps me feeling like me, & it’s important to have that “thing” that makes you feel like you, especially when you’re a new Mom.

I know I get asked a lot how I have time, with two young kids, to keep doing my nails & the honest answer is: I just make the time when I can. It’s not always easy, & sometimes it takes into the next day to finish a manicure, but sometimes that’s what you have to do. We’ll see what happens when my maternity leave is up & I go back to work, but I will keep trying as much as possible to keep the routine going & finding my times to paint & create.

What do you think of this nail art look? What kind of manicures would you like to see next? Share down below your favourite nail art look!

🧡

September 14, 2019September 13, 2019

Bestie Twin Floral Nails

Happy Saturday lovelies! Did everyone survive Full Moon Friday the 13th okay? Today I’m sharing a fun design that has been in planning for a while–bestie twin floral nails that I did with my girl Victoria over at @nailstuffca!

We’ve been talking about doing some twin floral nails for absolutely ages, so I was really excited that we finally managed to come together to create our matching looks! The inspiration for this floral comes from my favourite place for inspiration: Pinterest! I found this pattern while browsing for Fall floral & that was where we started for our manicures.

The polishes used for this manicure were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay (trying to grow out some damage on my tips)
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
ORLY Plum Sugar
Essie Stop Drop & Shop
Acrylic Paints (set purchased from Dollarama)
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Brush Trio (I used the 11mm liner brush)

This was my first time using acrylic paints to create a look like this (floral) & I was a little nervous at first, but it was actually pretty easy to do! I still had to use polish for the pinky roses, as the set of paints I bought didn’t have any red. But other than that, I was pretty impressed that a $2 set of acrylic paint could create such beautiful art on such a teeny canvas. I don’t think I’ll use paints every time I go to do nail art, but for a design like this that is supposed to be a bit rustic, I think they worked perfectly!

Ahhhh, how pretty did these turn out? Considering I was definitely feeling rusty since I hadn’t created any floral since before our baby girl was born, I feel really good about the end result.

What do you think about these floral nails? Don’t forget to hop over to @NailStuff.ca & check out Victoria’s version of this design & give her some love!

September 11, 2019September 10, 2019

Fall Ombré

Hello lovelies & Happy Wednesday! I don’t know about where you are, but here in Halifax the weather is already starting to have that gorgeous Fall chill. It also has me thinking about Fall Manicure ideas, & one design I’ve been seeing pop up on my Instagram feed is the ombré look. A few years ago, ombré designs were super popular, & one of my favourites. So I can’t lie, I’m so pumped that ombré nails are making me a resurgence!

For those wondering the difference between an ombré & a gradient, an ombré is when you wear a different colour on each nail, while a gradient blends a few colours together on each nail.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Currently wearing soak off gel to grow out my natural nail.
Top Coat: Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat
Cosmetic Arts Baby Pink (no name)
L’Oréal Jardin Des Roses
Kosmic Colours dusty dark pink (no name)
ORLY Red Rhapsody
Essie Carry On
Wet n Wild 2% Milk (to make my pinky & ring finger look more dusky)

I’ve done a few ombré manicures over the years in different colour schemes, but I was really feeling something dusky, in the rose family. This combination really felt like it suited our increasingly Autumn-like weather. On my pinky & ring finger, I applied 2% milk over my lighter pink shades so they would match closer with the rest of my colours.

Ah, this makes me so happy! I’m so glad that this design has come back into rotation & is cool again. Not that I care that much about being trendy — my love of crackle nail polish will attest to that — but it certainly gives me a great excuse to wear multiple shades at once.

(Like I need any excuse to paint my nails!)

What do you think of the ombré nail art trend–have you given it a try yet? What colour combination are you dying to try? Share what shades you’re planning on pairing, down in the comments below.

🍁🍂

September 4, 2019September 3, 2019

VACATION NAILS — ocean inspire Saran Wrap splatter.

Hello lovelies! Still on vacation, but even though I’m on vacation that doesn’t mean I’m not painting my nails! Like I wrote in my last Swatch Sunday post, visiting my parents means I get to take advantage of my Mom’s massive nail polish collection she uses for her jewelry. So I decided to take a few of her polishes to create an ocean inspired design perfect for an East Coast vacation!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Duri Rejuvacote
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Sally Hansen CSM A Bleu Attitude
Quo by ORLY April Showers
Santee ACO6433
China Glaze Cattle Drive Me Crazy
Crinkled up Plastic Wrap

Obviously, being away from my own nail polish stash & supply, I’m not going to attempt to crate one of my more complicated designs–like floral– which is why something like a Saran Wrap splatter is such a perfect design! Easy to do, minimal clean up, but still looks fancy & fun! & obviously because my nails were inspired by the ocean I had to take pictures of this look right on the beach! 🌊

Looking at these close up, I realized how much these look like the mussel shells we used to collect off the beach as kids! This colour combination is definitely one of the best versions of this design I’ve done, but I find that happens whenever I do anything in shades of blue! They always just turn out so beautiful!

What do you think of this look? What do you do about your nails when you’re on vacation–do you still paint them, or go with something like soak off gel that lasts 2+ weeks!

Let me know your vacation nail routine down in the comments below!

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