Category: Manicure

Posted on

My Nail Care Routine featuring Mont Bleu 

It’s been a really long time since I posted a nail care post, & since I’ve recently incorporated some new products I’m in love with, I thought I would share what I do for nail care. For me, I like to do my full nail care routine once a week but I obviously file & moisturizer more often than that. 

Recently I was sent some products from Mont Bleu to review. They produce Czech made crystal nail files & other nail care products. For review, I received a three piece crystal nail set, crystal cuticle pusher & cuticle scissors. I’ve always been a major fan of crystal nail files, but it wasn’t until I started using the Mont Bleu products I realized what a difference good quality product can have! 

For my nail care routine, after removing my nail polish with nail polish remover I always start off by giving my nails a good file. If I only need to tidy up my nails a little I use the medium sized filed from Mont Bleu. If I need to trim any considerable length from my nails, I prefer to use the larger size. (The mini sized file from the set I keep in my purse for potential nail emergencies!) I’ve used crystal nail files for years, but these are a step above. I find they file so easily & smoothly & leave my tips feeling much smoother. I’ve been using these files for over a month now, & they have made a huge difference in the health of my nails. They don’t leave any cracks at my tips which I’ve found can happen with other files I’ve used. Also when it comes to filing down significant length, these files do it in less than half the time of other files I’ve used. 

Next step, I used a good cuticle remover. Right now I’m loving Butter London Melt Away which I find is gentle but effective. I start by applying it along my cuticles, & then push back my cuticles gently using the Mont Bleu glass cuticle pusher before rinsing them off. This was my first time using a glass cuticle pusher & I was nervous because glass ( & the edges feel kind of sharp to the touch) but this pusher is surprisingly gentle. It doesn’t take much pressure at all to push back your cuticles, unlike using my previous rubber pusher. Also I was happy to see it cleaned & washed easily without being ruined by the product. Next, I always make sure to apply cuticle oil after using remover & pushing them back. 

Next I like to use a good hand/cuticle scrub on my nails. My Mom gave me this Mary Kay scrub years ago, & I’m still using it. I tend to concentrate on my nails/cuticles with it so I don’t end up using a lot of product. (If you have any recommendations for some good cuticle scrubs, let me know!) 

Next step of my routine is to clip off any loose skin/potential hang nails. I don’t snip my actual cuticles, but I do make sure to clip off any spots that are potential problem areas. These cuticle scissors are great because they’re sharp & precise. They’re also the perfect scissors for applying nail decals, which I’ll have a post showing soon! 

Final step? Moisturizer moisturizer moisturizer! The bottle I’m showing above is a mixture of a whole slew of creams I like including Vaseline Healthy Hands & Nails, Vaseline Intensive Care Advance Care, & even some of my sons baby cream! I make sure to always have cream on me or near me, and apply it as much as possible. 

So that’s my nail care routine! Like I said I only do the full routine about once a week but I make sure to file my nails a few times a week, & moisturize & oil my nails daily. 

If you’re looking for some quality nail care products, you should definitely check out the products offered by Mont Bleu. I thought that all crystal nail files were the same, but after using these products I know now that is definitely not true! In the month I’ve added these products to my routine, there has been a great change in my nails. On top of that, the product itself is just gorgeous! You can check out Mont Bleu by clicking the links below:

As well, you can use the code BLOG to save 20% off your purchases at their E-shop! 

What is your current nail care routine must have? Let me know in the comments below! 

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

Posted on

Pink Negative Space Chevron Moons

So have you noticed the abundance of pink lately? Haha I guess when I stay away from blue I wear all the pink. I decided to pull out a few of those Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d shades for some nail art. & what better nail art than some chevron moons! 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Flexible Sealcoat
  • Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Summer Bisou
  • Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d J’adore
  • Snail Vinyls Single Chevron vinyls 

These nails are perfect for the balmy Summer weather we’ve been having! These shades from the Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Summer 2017 collection couldn’t be more perfect for sunny days. Now if only I was wearing them on the beach, with some kind of fruity drink, instead of to go stock up on groceries. Haha. If you haven’t checked them out yet, remember that you can find these fun shades at your local Shoppers Drug Mart! 

What do you think of my Chevron moons? Let me know in the comments below! 

Posted on

Turquoise Marble Stone Nails


Happy Friday! Today I’m sharing a gemstone/Turquoise stone design. I attempted a similar design three-ish years ago so it felt like a good chance to revisit this design! This is is also the first post using my brand new iPhone 6s. I just can’t get my over the picture quality–it’s awesome! 


For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • My Beauty Spot unnamed Teal
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Golden-I 
  • Layla Bubbley Effect in Black 

For this design, I kind of made up the technique on the fly. I started off with my base of teal. I then took a piece of crinkled up plastic bag, and dabbed on Mint Candy Apple & Golden-I & finished off with some top coat to seal in the base. After I felt like my base was dry enough (about 5-10 minutes) I grabbed my bottle of Layla Bubbley effect & added splots of the polish on each nail. I then went & ran that nail under water to remove some of the polish which left the black bubbles on the nail. Depending on how it turned out, I would add more black again and repeat the process. When I was happy with each nail, I finished off the whole design by sealing in with top coat. 

This is a super simple design, & it ended up being relatively quick to do. & definitely less clean up than using the traditional water spotted technique that you see for creating stone nails. However, because Layla Bubbley is a special effect polish, I’m not sure how well it would work with normal polish (I’m guessing probably not very well.) However, I’m thinking it might work out with acrylic paint which I’ll have to add to my list of things to do! If you try it out, let me know how it works out! 

So what do you think of these turquoise stone nails? Would you wear these? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

Posted on

Rockstar Nails 

Happy Wednesday Everyone! So I recently upgraded my little iPhone 5c to the much more impressive iPhone 6s so expect my photos to start looking much more awesome! However, I still have some old pictures on my 5c left for posting in the mean time so I might mix them up. It all depends on how easily I can transfer the pictures. But for right now, I have these fun star nails to share! 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • China Glaze Ever Glaze Optimal Opal 
  • Revlon Gwen’s Crush
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Star Spiral Stencils

Once again, I pulled out my Xroma vinyls for these nails. These star spiral stencils are great because you get two vinyls in one! I also grabbed my bottle of Revlon Gwen’s Crush which I haven’t worn longer than I can even remember. Gwen’s Crush is from the 2014 Amazing Spider-Man 2 collection Revlon released & one of the collections in the early days of my blog I freaked out about. It’s such a pretty colour–why oh why do I let these colours get lost in my stash for so long? It makes me sad. 

What are you wearing on your nails on this Wednesday? Let me know in the comments below! 💗

Posted on

SWATCH POST: Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Summer 2017

I know, it’s not Sunday. But I do have some super exciting swatches to share today featuring the new Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d colours for 2017. As you might have noticed, I’ve got quite the affinity for the whole Quo by ORLY brand so I was beyond excited when these beauties showed up at my door for me to play around with. Just look at these colours! If you’re looking for some perfect Summer neon-esque shades, that need no white undies, look no further. 

Quo by ORLY  Je T’Aime L’Ocean

Holy Moses, just look! That blinding Mint is 2 coats plus the Color Amp’d flexible sealcoat. All these Summer shades are impressively saturated, & covered the whole nail easily. The brush on the Quo bottles are my favourite–they’re so wide that it only takes a few strokes to fill my whole nail. I also just love the blinding-ness of this shade. I feel like I should be wearing sunglasses while staring at them. When I think about Summer nail polish, this is what comes to mind. 


Quo by ORLY J’adore

I’m going fine honest, my camera did not want to accurately capture this shade. At all. It’s much more Coral-y in person, but my iPhone absolutely freaked out & showed it much more pink so you’ll have to trust me. Either way, this polish only needs to easy coats & its blinding neon-ness makes me want to wear it all day, everyday. These shades are perfect for me, because they really bring out my olive undertones to make me look so tanned (or compliment my tan when deeper into Summer.) 


Quo by ORLY Summer Bisou

The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this polish is juicy, like fresh raspberries. Seriously this is the hot pink of my dreams & I love everything about it. Again all it needed was 2 coats, plus the sealcoat for this dreamy perfection & lasting power. Toes, fingers… this is definitely a great shade for the whole Summer. I usually have hot pink shades on my own toes for the Summer months, so I can see myself putting this on soon! I have a pair of sandy brown gladiators this shade would look awesome with! 

If you’re a Canadian girl & looking for some perfect Summer colours, you can find these polishes right now at your local Shoppers Drug Mart for $10.99 each. If you’re wondering my personal favourite, I think I’m going to have to go with Summer Bisou but Je T’Aime L’Ocean is definitely a close second. 

Has anyone else tried out these shades yet? Let me know your thoughts & which one is your favourite in the comments below! 

*PR SAMPLE* These items were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.