Category: Manicure

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Starrily Diamond Rain

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

We’ve almost reached the end of November, which is kind of insane, & Christmas is less than a month away. So you know what that means… gimme all the glitter! I figured for today’s Swatch Sunday I would pull out a gorgeous glitter gifted to me a few months back (by my nail fairy godmother Victoria at NailStuff.ca!): Starrily Diamond Rain.

2 coats + Essie Gel Setter Top Coat

Starrily Diamond Rain is a beautiful dark sapphire blue shade packed full of holographic flakes. It was released as a collab shade between Starrily & Kelli Marissa & apparently inspired by the Diamond Rain of Neptune.

The formula of this polish is very, very nice. I applied two coats for my swatches above, & I found it was the perfect opacity for me. The glitter is very thick & dense, which means it sparkles from every angle.

I don’t know about you, but the holiday season just makes me crave glitter in every colour, but blue is definitely one of my favs. As you can see in the above macro, the polish is very dense with glitter. That’s exactly what December needs… all the glitter. Our area has recently gone into stricter restrictions, & Christmas is… up in the air. So I definitely need some fun, beautiful glitter to cheer myself up! & this is the perfect polish for that.

For my Canadian friends, NailStuff.ca is currently having a Black Friday Sale, with deals on all the polishes (including this one!) so I definitely recommend checking it out! & you can even use my affiliate code COFFEE10 to save a little extra!

What do you think about this shade? Do you love glitter this time of year? What is your favourite glittery shade? Let me know in the comments below!

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Matte Knit Pattern (inspired by xglitzandpolishx)

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! We are quickly approaching the end of November, if you can believe it — Christmas is officially one month away!

Today I’m sharing another nail art look inspired by one of my favourites on Instagram — @xglitzandpolishx! I was inspired by one of her old designs, & decided it was perfect for this time of year. & it would look amazing over my base of Zoya Ray from Sunday’s Swatch Sunday post.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Zoya Ray
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio — I used the 9mm size. (COFFEE10 saves 10%)

This design took a bit of patience, but was actually super easy to paint! It kind of reminded me of a doing a dotticure, but instead of polka dots, you’re doing dashes instead. The end result just looks like knit, & I’m totally obsessed with it. I’ve actually been meaning to recreate this look for a long time, so I’m glad that I finally did! & I’m totally going to do it again with some more colour combinations.

What do you think about this look? Would you wear this knit pattern on your nails? Was nail art look have you been meaning to recreate lately? Let me know in the comments below!

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Cozy Plaid & Reindeer Nails

Happy Monday Lovelies!

Hope everyone is having a nice start to their week so far. I’ve already enjoyed a nice vegan nog latte, & got our shopping for the next few weeks done. Today, I have some more festive nails to share with you, this time inspired by an older manicure by an older manicure by @nbnailart (which I rediscovered via Pinterest.) I really really liked the mix of the plaid, & the gold & the reindeer head, so I decided to create my own version of it!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Orly Decades of Dysfunction
  • Essie After School Boy Blazer
  • Essie Mosaic On Down
  • Color Club Art Club Pink Pastel
  • Unnamed Kozmic Kolours Pink (from Dollarama)
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 to save 10!)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

First off, I’m really feeling this colour combination, which gives me cosy Winter vibes. While I’m definitely feeling the shift towards holiday & Christmas inspired nail art, I don’t want to go Full Christmas just yet (aka red & green everything) so I feel like this colour scheme is a good start. You still get holiday vibes, without going overboard. That being said, I’m still going to be adding coconut Nog to my coffee & listening to Glee Christmas albums on repeat haha.

Second, I am really in love with how this plaid turned out. I always feel like my plaid attempts can get a little busy, so I was impressed with how these turned out following the original. Definitely how I’m going to be approaching my plaid nails from now on! & I will totally be doing a green & red plaid using this method…. soon. Probably after December 1st.

What do you think about this design? What Christmas/Winter/Holiday designs are you planning on doing this year? With the world being so scary, & uncertain, I’m definitely going to spend a good amount of time calming my brain by coming up with fun looks to share! I don’t know if I’ll be able to do 1 a day, but I’m hoping to do a great variety for the month of December, plus GlamNailsChallengeDecember, so stay tuned!

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Criss Cross Freehand Pattern

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. It’s definitely a very, very chilly Wednesday here on the East Coast, & I don’t think I’m quite ready for it! I’m naturally a person who is always cold, so when the weather shifts, there is not enough layers or tea in the world to keep me warm!

But even if I’m cold, I still have cute nails to show off! I picked up a couple nail art stripers on clearance at Lawton’s a while ago, but hadn’t really played with them, so I decided to play around with some line work. I originally intended to do a kind of x-pattern look, which so of shifted as I was doing it. I’m not sure what to call this kind of pattern, but I absolutely love it. & it’s a look that even looks good on nubby nails like mine!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Clean Slate
  • Color Club Art Club Pink Pastel

Oh man, I think this pattern turned out so neat! It actually wasn’t super difficult to do either; I started with painting an X on my nails, then when it each triangle section to repeat the same pattern over & over so you would get this interlocking/woven effect. It sounds complicated, but it really wasn’t. Just required a bit of a steady hand, & a little concentration, but the end result is totally worth it!

Also yes I’m totally obsessed with using my matte top coat again. I saw that Sally Hansen has a new Miracle Gel matte top coat, so I’m going to see if I can pick some up the next time I’m out. I also think I’m due for another “battle of the matte top coats”, so maybe I’ll have to add it to the mix!

What do you think about this look? Is this something you could see yourself rocking?

Also now that we’re hitting mid-November I was thinking of starting to post the occasional Winter/maybe Christmas look? Do you want to see that, or do you think it’s too soon?

Let me know down in the comments below!

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Pink Stamped Reindeer Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

Hope everyone is well caffeinated. Today I’m starting off the beginning of this week with some fun stamped sweater nails. It’s been quite a while since I last pulled out my stamper, & this time of year always makes me want to use it more often.

Today’s stamping plate combo is one I’ve used before, but I love the sweater print with the reindeer head. I also pulled a polish shade from deep, deep in my stash (definitely pre 2009) but it still applies like a dream! You’ve got to love that.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • NYC Color Lexington Lilac
  • Revlon Iconic
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L018 (item #19373)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper (COFFEE10 saves you 10% site wide!)

I had totally forgotten about this pretty polish. I picked it up years & years ago, I think at Zellars (for my fellow Canadians, who remembers Zellars?!) & probably only wore it once or twice. I also really like this untraditional sweater colour scheme. Sometimes, even this time of year, I just really feel these pale muted colours.

Also be prepared to see this stamped reindeer head over the next couple months, because it’s one of my favourites!

What do you think about this stamped design? Do you love this colour scheme as much as I do? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a happy Monday!