Category: Inspired by.

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Happy Birthday Nails! šŸŽ‰šŸŽˆšŸŽ‚Ā 

I know, itā€™s Sunday which means normally I would be sharing a swatch with you. But today is not just any Sunday… itā€™s my birthday! So obviously I had to do something fun on my nails in honour of the occasion & I couldnā€™t think of anything more fun to put on my nails than a glittery purple cupcake nail (which are a few of my favourite things.) After perusing Pinterest searching ā€œcupcake nailsā€ I had an idea of how I wanted my design to look, & Iā€™m so happy that they turned out exactly how I imagined! 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • ORLY Plum Sugar
  • Nails INC Cherry Road
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Color Club Evolution
  • Cosmetic Arts Unnamed Baby Pink
  • Color Club A Warm Place
  • URSugar Zig Zag Nail Vinyls item #AUB39877 
  • Dotting Tool
  • Small Detail Brush


I really really love my birthday cupcake nails. I feel like itā€™s been ages since I freehanded anything & I was a little nervous about my cupcake but it turned out so cute! These are going to be fun to wear for my birthday celebrations with my family later this afternoon. Last year I spent my birthday in a dark room with an eye infection, so Iā€™m determined to make up for that this year! 

Have a great Sunday everyone! šŸ’œ

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Dripping Blood French Featuring URSugar Vinyls


Ready for some more Halloween inspired nails? Today I have what Iā€™m calling a dripping blood ā€œFrenchā€ Manicure that has just the right amount of scary & sparklesā€”which is just how I like my Halloween designs! 

The few times Iā€™ve tried to do a dripping design, Iā€™ve always done it using a dotting tool (which isnā€™t always easy to accomplish the right look.) These drippy nails were made much easier by using URSugar Vinyls which were kindly sent to me for review. 

For this manicure, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Gosh Holographic Hero
  • China Glaze Ruby Pumps
  • URSugar Drip Nail Vinyls item #AUB39877 ā€”click to buy. 

These URSugar vinyls are great for a design like this. You have two optionsā€”you can paint your nails a base shade & apply the stencils & paint over with a second shade, pull off & reveal or you can use the other half to paint inside (like a stencil). I find the second option works best for a design like this, done at the tip of your nails. 

What do you think of this Halloween-y take on a French manicure? Would you wear this design? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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

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Halloween Glitter GradientĀ 

Who else is super excited for October? I am! Obviously I love Fall & the fact the weather has cooled down to much more seasonable temperatures (I got to wear my Uggs the other day!) has me pumped for the month to come. Thanksgiving, my birthday, & especially Halloween! šŸŽƒ October is full of lots of fun, & Iā€™m ready for all the accompanying nail art designs. So I thought I would start off with a quick & easy Halloween-esque glitter gradient. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash
  • OPI Lincoln Park After Dark
  • Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge

Please excuse the bubbles in my mani… my top coat is reaching the end of its life & starting to get a little thick & bubbly. Thankfully the glitter hides a lot of the bubbles. Even still, I love this comboā€”it just screams Halloween to me without being too over the top! Itā€™s also a super easy design that anyone can do without too much fuss. 

Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice is such a great Fall glitter shade, & not just because it caters to my latte loving inner basic white girl! I bought my bottle a few (I think close to 3) years ago, but I saw it at my local Lawtons yesterday so definitely check in store if youā€™re looking for it! I believe itā€™s a seasonal shade that Sinful Colors releases every year. 

I have a whole list of Halloween manicures Iā€™m planning (thank you Pinterest!) so stay tuned for lots of fun nail art designs. Also still trying to come up with something fun to wear on my birthday. So if you have any design suggestions, let me know in the comments below! 

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September Monthly Mani Favourites


Crazy to think that another month has gone by! & that means itā€™s time to round up my favourite Fall manicures from the last month. This month saw lots of Fall designs & colours & Fall coffee drinks. 

Did your favourite manicure from the last month make the cut? Itā€™s always so hard for me to narrow down my favourites, but I have to admit Iā€™m really in love with how my coffee nails turned out! 

Now onto the October (& Halloween šŸŽƒ) designs! 

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Happy National Coffee Day Nails! ā˜•ļø


You know I love a good excuse to celebrate a holiday & what better holiday to celebrate than National Coffee Day! I joined my girls in #thenailartsquad for some caffeine inspired manicures in order to celebrate this day in style! 

Obvious if weā€™re doing coffee inspired nails, I had to do something Starbucks inspired! I also thought I would pull out some of the acrylic paints I recently picked up for my freehanding details. 



For this design, the products I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash
  • Essie Mochacino
  • Essie Cocktails & Coconuts 
  • Sally Hansen Hard To Get
  • Acrylic Paints (black, white, brown & green)
  • Silicone Mat
  • Tiny dotting tool 
  • Small Detail Brush

I had this idea of how I wanted this design to turn out, & it turned out exactly how I imagined in my head… I love when that happens! I used my pink silicone mat to create my ā€œlatte artā€ drag marble decals which (I think) turned out really good. I also tested out my acrylic paints for the first time, & they were so easy to use for nail art! I definitely understand why they are such a popular option for nail artā€”I would have had a much harder time creating my little Starbucks cup using just regular nail polish. Now I want to buy even more colours to test out designs! 

What do you think of these coffee nails in honour of National Coffee Day? Whatā€™s you favourite coffee drink of choice? Obviously I love pumpkin spice this time of year, but if weā€™re picking favourites I absolutely canā€™t wait for Gingebread lattes to return! 
Donā€™t forget to check out the hashtag #thenailartsquad to see all the coffee themed designs, as well as our past collaborations!