Category: Inspired by.

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Remembrance Day Poppy Nails

It’s November 11th & here in Canada that is Remembrance Day. 

For those who might not know, Remembrance Day represents a day to reflect on all those who have fault & served in the military. At 11am, of the 11th day, of the 11th month we pause to remember. Growing up & coming from a military heavy family, this day has always held extra meaning to me—from a great grandfather who served as a sniper in the First World War, to cousins & family friends who served in Afghanistan, I always make sure no matter what I am doing to stop & take those moments to pause. 

In honour of today, & the poppy, I created a special design. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Icing Steel My Heart
  • ORLY Decades of Dysfunction 
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • L’Oréal Carmin Parisien
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Skinny Wave Vinyls
  • Small & large dotting tool 

I hope you too will also take a moment to Remember today.  ♥️

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My New Favourite Purple & Swirly Accent Nails 

Happy Friday everyone! Today I’ve got a quick mani I did recently when I was feeling some nail art, but didn’t want to do anything too complicated. This mani was actually inspired by a design I did back in September 2016 as part of my failed attempt at the 31 Day Challenge. I loved the look of the design over a super sheer polish, so I decided that it would make for the perfect accent nail. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • L’Oréal Elusive
  • Ardene Ice Mist
  • Essie Frock N’ Roll
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

Okay can we talk about L’Oréal Elusive for a second? I found this bottle at my local Lawtons in the clearance section (my favourite place for polish finds) & I had to buy it! It’s just such a good shade of purple, & I’ve been wearing it a lot lately. Also I totally apologize for the chipping at the tip of my nails—I took these shots after 2 full days of wear so they were looking tougher than they should. But this purple…. it’s just such a good purple! 💜 I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been on a huge purple kick lately. 

What do you think of this accent nail? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. & leave some suggestions for any nail art you’d love to see! 

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Happy Halloween with Wonder Woman Nails! 💫

Happy Halloween everyone! I can’t believe it’s already Halloween 🎃 — how crazy is that? This year I was dedicated to doing a family Justice League costume with the hubs & our little Bubs so I could wear my Wonder Woman costume again! & obviously that means I needed to have nails that matched. 

Originally I was going to try for full on Justice League Nails with all the hero symbols but… my freehand skills are just not that good. I started & realized it would probably take me 14 hours & multiple attempts so I decided to go the easier route & just go Wonder Woman. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Boho Green Make Up Pacific Ocean
  • L’Oréal Color Riche Carmin Parisien 
  • Color Club Almost Famous
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • UR Sugar Star Nail Stencil item #AUB39877 — Click to buy
  • NailStuff.ca gold triangle studs — Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel 
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

I love, love, love how these turned out. I had a bit different idea going into this mani but even though these are different than who I originally planned, I think they turned out WAY better than what I was thinking I was going to do… & say Wonder Woman much more! I was super scared to attempt that W symbol, but I think it turned out great. & these are going to compliment my costume perfectly. 


 🎃 whether you plans involve trick or treating, handing out candy or just hiding inside with a box of mini candies (or anything else!) I hope you have the best Halloween ever. For those who follow me on Instagram I’ll make sure to post a picture of my nails & my costume together later on! 

🖤

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Mermaid Inspired Glitter Gradient using NailStuff.ca Flakies

Guess what! I have anothe review of one of the items sent to me from Nailstuff.ca. This time I’m sharing these beautiful irredentist flakies. 

Now I know I said I would share more Halloween looks & these aren’t spooky, but I thought this would be an awesome look for anyone going with a unicorn or mermaid look for Halloween! I know I can’t be the only one whose costume (or outfit in general) isn’t complete until her nails are done!

Okay, I’ll be honest—I’ve never used loose flakies before so I was going into this as a newbie. I knew I wanted to create a glitter gradient with them, so I glanced around at a few posts on Pinterest & Instagram until I felt confident enough I could achieve the look I wanted.

  1.  I started off by painting my nails with a base of Essence Out of Space Stories Intergalactic Adventure & let it dry. I chose this shade because I thought it would compliment the shift in these gorgeous flakies. 
  2. Apply liquid latex around cuticles. I used Edge Perfection to keep the flakies from spreading to my skin during application. 
  3. After about 10ish minutes, I took a little bit of clear polish & applied it at the base of my nails so they would be a bit “sticky”. Like I said I’ve never used these before so I wasn’t sure if this was a necessary step. 
  4. Next I opened up my little pot of flakies & using the little eyeshadow sponge provided, pressed the flakies down at the base of my nail. I also brushed lightly up the nail to create the gradient effect.
  5. Peel off your liquid latex & seal in your whole nail with top coat—I used Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat. I think using Matte top coat would also look beautiful! 
  6. Time to get distracted by your pretty shifty mermaid-esque nails. 

These flakies were a lot easier to apply than I thought they would be! You can see I got the hang of things are I went along with my pinky being my first nail & working towards my thumb. I think using a light touch really makes a huge difference on how they turn out. Also, I’m definitely going to try not applying the clear polish this time to see how well they go on. I feel like it made an extra step that wasn’t necessarily needed, so I’ll keep you updated!

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Check out that shift! 😍 Had to include a shot of these nails in action because you really see how gorgeous they are in motion. & this mani totally matches my Starbucks multichrome “nail blogger” cup from a couple of years ago. Which is obviously the perfect excuse to fill up on iced lattes! 

If you’re curious about checking out these flakies for yourself, you can order these (& many more) straight from the NailStuff.ca website! Don’t forget that all Canadian orders over $29 have free shipping, & all US & International orders over $49 are free shipping. 

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own

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Halloween Skull Nails 💀 

We are only FOUR days away from Halloween which means I only have a couple more days to get in a few more spooky designs. My next Halloween design is one that is quite popular on Instagram—Jack Skeleton’s face (or just a skull since I don’t want any Disney copyright person coming after me!) 

For this design, I wanted to do something quick & easy for those who may be looking for a last minute Halloween nail design that isn’t too complicated to do. 

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Revlon Elusive
  • Ardene Ice Mist
  • Sally Hansen Hard To Get 
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black 
  • Bundle Monster small nail art brush
  • Bundle Monster dotting tool 

This design was super simple to do! I decided to freehand my stripes because I wanted my stripes to look somewhat imperfect. I also like that they’re over such a sheer base colour. These really are super simple to do & I feel like you can accomplish them at any nail art level. My eyes/nose were the hardest to get right but even though they’re not perfectly symmetrical, they still turned out fun & Halloween-y. 🎃 For the eyes, I just created blobs using my larger size dotting tool & the mouth length using my striper. I then went in with my smaller brush & created the teeth & nose. 

What are you wearing on your nails for Halloween? Do you have any Halloween designs you’d like to see me take a stab at before Tuesday? Leave your suggestions here or on Instagram & I’ll try my best! 🖤