Inspired by. – Page 28 – Coffee & Nail Polish

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!

August 26, 2019August 25, 2019

City Sunset 🌇 for #glamnailschallengeAug

Hello lovelies! & happy Monday.

We’ve got two more prompts left for #glamnailschallengeAug, & I’m going to be honest… I wasn’t sure I was going to get this prompt done! Not only was I a bit stumped on inspiration, but I’ve had a busy last week so I haven’t been able to get my nails painted like I usually can. But thanks to some late night Pinterest-ing & a cooperative baby, I pulled out a last minute nail art success!

& I’m so super in love with the end result!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: fraken base coat combination
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Essence Indian Summer
Essie Flowerista
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
Essence Black is Back
Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in white
NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Art Brush Trio (7mm size)

I started off this design with what I’m going to call a “rustic” gradient — I didn’t go your typical route where you blend all your colours together at once, but instead sponged my layers on top of each other which kind of created the pinky cloud effect. I then brushed my top coat over & over to smear the layers together a bit. This created the perfect background because I really feel like it looks more like what you see when you see a sunset. & it reminds me a lot of this sunset I captured not that long ago (which was also kind of my inspiration for the colour combo I went with.)

I’ve done a few of these sunset with background designs, but this is definitely the most unique. (Usually I do mountains & cacti, or something similar) but with the pinky sky & the buildings it really does feel like a city sunset, maybe even my own city.

What do you think of this design? Can you believe we only have one more prompt left for this challenge… how crazy is that?

Don’t forget to hop over to Instagram & check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing city building manicures!

August 14, 2019August 6, 2019

Stained Glass Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

Good morning lovelies! Another day, another fun manicure created for Glam Nails Challenge August! I’ve really been having a lot of fun creating new designs for the challenge this month, getting out of my usual comfort zone.

Today’s manicure prompt is Stained Glass. I used to so shattered glass manicure a lot back in the day, but it’s been a while since I attempted one. Glitter placement can be a bit time consuming, so that’s probably why it’s been so long. So I was super excited to give it another try! & because the prompt is stained glass & not shattered glass, I decided to add some freehanded framing around my glitter to complete the look!

For this manicure, the polishes that I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
OPI One Heckla Of A Color {PR sample}
OPI Gaining Mole-mentum
Black Acrylic Paint
Nailstuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush {PR sample}
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio {PR sample}

First time I’ve used acrylic paint for nail art in a while. I decided to use acrylic paint because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the black framing & I wanted to be able to wash it off my base if I hated it, without destroying my base nail art. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about hating it, because the black looked really good with the glitters!

This look just makes me so happy, & makes me realize I miss doing shattered glass manicures. Could you imagine this look with holo flakes/glitters? I’m getting Fall manicure inspiration with maybe like an emerald green & maybe some negative space with the glitters.

Ooooh I can see it now! I can’t wait!

What do you think of this manicure? Have you been following along with the challenge on Instagram? Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing manicures!

August 12, 2019August 3, 2019

Paisley Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

Good morning lovelies! Today I have another fun manicure I created for the Glam Nails Challenge for August! Today’s nail art prompt was one I was a little bit scared about: Paisley.

I’ve never actually attempted a paisley pattern before, mostly because it’s always looked really intimidating, & not in my nail art wheel house. But because this challenge is all about inspiring me to try new looks, I decided to make an attempt at free handing it.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Essence Plump Power
Quo by ORLY Wrong So Right
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio

So I’ll be honest, the first attempt at starting this pattern was with a different colour & I didn’t even get one nail done before I was removing it. I’m a perfectionist, so trying something I’ve never done before (& not doing it well) can be overwhelming for me. My second attempt with this darker bronze colour was a much better attempt!

Is this a perfect paisley recreation? No. Is this paisley-esque enough for me? Absolutely! I tried really hard to get that whirly look of Paisley & I’m incredibly impressed with the design, & especially with the fact I repeated it on my Cinderella hand so I could wear these nails for a few days. & yeah, I know these aren’t perfect. But they’re beautiful enough for me, & that’s all that matters.

What do you think of this paisley design? Would you wear this manicure? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

& don’t forget to check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram to see the other pretty nails posted for the challenge! I’m definitely excited to check out what everyone has done!

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