GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE APRIL — Birds 🕊️

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! This post probably finds you late in the day — especially those of you not in North America. But this morning was a busy one, so my posting got messed up a smidge. Today, I have another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge April to share & it’s the second to last one of the challenge!

It’s almost May, how crazy is that?

Today’s prompt is birds. I looked through my stamping plates, because I wasn’t sure I was up to free handing a bird, & surprisingly I don’t really have many plates with bird images on them. BUT I did have an Essence one with a flying sparrow design, so I thought that would look pretty.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • Kozmic Colours shimmery blue (no name — bought at Dollarama)
  • Kozmic Colours teal (no name — bought at Dollarama)
  • Kokie Professional Rock Star
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Essence “Stamp It!” plate (no longer available)
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set

I started off this design by creating a kind of “smoosh” design. My base shade was originally just the Kosmic Colours blue, but I found it a bit thin & patchy, so I decided a kind of marble base would look pretty. I smooshed a few other colours using my stamper & then sealed everything in with top coat. Then one by one, I stamped on the bird image, trying to give it the effect of them kind of flying. Simple, for sure, but I think over all the design turned out really cute.

What do you think of this bird design for Glam Nails Challenge April? Are you a fan of a simpler look like this?

I also have to say I enjoyed taking these pictures in my own garden, listening to all the birds finally fluttering around. Spring is such a beautiful time of year, & I’m excited about these warmer days!

Have a lovely day! ♥︎

Crystal Drag Marble (featuring Black Dahlia Lacquer Frozen Twilight & Winter Dusk)

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Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s week is off to a not too stressful start. Today I’m excited because I’m sharing a stunning nail art look that I’m really, really excited about using the beautiful shades from Sunday’s Swatch Sunday post.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Black Dahlia Lacquer Frozen Twilight (NailStuff.ca exclusive)
  • Black Dahlia Lacquer Winter Dusk (NailStuff.ca exclusive)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio — I used the thinnest one to make it easiest to create my drag marble

Look at the close up! I adore the look of Frozen Twilight against Winter Dusk.

I’m not going to lie — I was a bit nervous about how well these two shades were going to marble together. & quite honestly, this might be the most successful (& beautiful!) drag marble I’ve done in longer than I can remember. It sort of reminds me of when you find rocks that have geodes & crystals running through them.

It just turned out so pretty!

The jelly formula on Frozen Twilight being a bit on the thinner side meant it was also a lot easier to get the polishes swirling without things starting to dry too quickly. Nothing worse than trying to do a drag marble, & your polishes are drying as your trying to marble them! Then you get weird bald patches & have to start over. Ugh, the worst! But these two shades marbled together like a dream & I’m super happy with the end result.

What do you think about this drag marble featuring Frozen Twilight & Winter Dusk? Do you like how I paired these two shades together? Do you love the Autumn vibes that these shades are giving off? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Products featured in this post were provided in exchanged for content.  All thoughts are honest & my own.

Neon Drag Marble

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope you’re having a lovely start to your week.

Today I’m showing off a fun drag marble design I wore recently. I haven’t really done a drag marble in a while, & I thought one featuring a few neon-ish shades would be beautiful.

The polishes I used for this manicure are:

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen MG Floresc-pink
  • Sally Hansen MG Electri-Lime
  • Sally Hansen MG Violet Voltage
  • Sally Hansen MG Sugar Fix
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I’m kind of obsessed with how these turned out! They remind me a bit of jawbreakers, which marble nails can do. I like the neon colours popping against the white base. They turned out exactly how I imagined in my head & I’m so happy about it!

Drag marble nails are one of those looks which I always think are going to be so easy, but then surprise me with difficulty, haha. In this case, I had to swirl my four polishes in the while before things started to dry… & I had to work fast! But, you know, I think in the end it gave a really cool effect, & I got lots of compliments on the finished look which always makes my day.

If I had to pick a favourite nail? Probably my middle nail. I think my swirling turned out best on that nail for sure.

What do you think about this drag marble look? Are you a fan of the neons against the white base?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & what colour combination you would do for a drag marble look!

Smooshy Marble Nails (inspired by @grapefizznails)

Hello lovelies & Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. Here on the East Coast you can feel that Winter is quickly approaching — it was downright cold this morning. & I am not a girl who enjoys the cold! Especially because it absolutely wreaks havoc on my nails if I get busy, & forget to keep up with my nail care routine!

But enough about the cold, let’s concentrate on the good stuff: this icy smoosh design inspired by @grapefizznails! Anne is a fellow Canadian nail guru who creates the most stunning smoosh nails I’ve ever seen! Literally, it’s like witchcraft I swear. As soon as I saw her latest smoosh design I knew I needed to attempt a recreation ASAP.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Under The Twilight
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Tutu Ballet
  • Sally Hansen MG Get Mod
  • Essie Getting Groovy
  • Sinful Colors Twilight Twinkles
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

How absolutely gorgeous did this turn out? Obviously nothing compared to the original, but I think I channeled my inspiration very well. It gives me a nice Fall Icy feel, which works well with these chilly November days. It was also pretty easy to create as well. Anne has some pretty awesome tutorials on her instagram on how she creates her smoosh marbles, as well as drip marbles & other nail art! So definitely check them out, especially if you want to recreate this look as well.

What do you think about this smooshy marble design? Do you think my recreation lived up to its inspiration? Would you wear this look on your nails as well? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Minimalistic Marble

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the first full week of 2021 & there have been no zombies or aliens yet, so things are feeling promising. For my first real nail art of this year, I was feeling some minimalist marble. Something that felt very clean & fresh, but with a little glitz.

This nail art actually reminds me a bit of a nail art look I did last year, even though it was totally unintentional haha. There is just something about marble that you can’t go wrong with!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Shiny Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Heather Hustle
  • Essie Bobbing for Baubles
  • Essence Rock My World!
  • L’Oréal Color Riche Blanc De Lune
  • Nailstuff.ca Gold Metallic Flakies (COFFEE10 to save 10%!)
  • Latex Free make up sponge.

I started this look off just by thinking I would do a simple sponge manicure, but the colour combination looked so much like marble, I decided I had to go with it! Naturally, that meant I needed to add a few of my gold foil flakes from NailStuff because they bring the whole look together! It’s also a little bit of sparkle against an otherwise monochromatic background.

I really love the overall look, so much I’ve been wearing these since Sunday night! I just haven’t wanted to take them off. They’re so pretty.

What do you think about this nail art look? Would you wear these marble nails? What nail art looks are you excited to try this year? I think this might be the year I try water marbling again… maybe 😂😂