Matte Pastel Ombre

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! Hope everyone is having a lovely week. I’m still recovering from that awful cold (so. over. it) but that’s not going to stop me from painting my nails! I’ve really really really been longing for Spring which, in case you weren’t already aware, is 8 days away! I’m not excited or anything.

First up, how about a pretty matte pastel ombré look? Probably the easiest way to show off Spring on your nails!

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Mint
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Blue
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Purple
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Pink
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Coral

For this manicure, I actually grabbed my mini set of Claire’s pastel polishes because they’ve been sitting in my drawers way too long, & they remind me of Spring in the best way. The blue especially is just like Spring in a bottle! I also thought about adding some floral on my nails–because you can never go wrong with floral–but I was loving this look all in it’s own I decided to leave it be. & I got a ton of compliments on this look too!

Ombré looks are so easy to do, & look so fancy on the nails. I tried my best pair colours together so it looked like a true gradient. I’m glad that these ombre/skittlette looks are still popular & going strong, because they’re so easy to do.

Also I’m rocking nubby nails again, thanks to a couple bad breaks, so this makes me feel not so bad about how short my nails are right now. I feel like this happens at this time every year — my nails just get tired with winter & cannot handle being long anymore so I have to give them a break. Although it is always fun coming up with short nail designs!

What do you think about this pretty pastel ombré? Is this a look that you would try? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Zoya Kissy

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Hello lovelies! & welcome to not only the last Swatch Sunday of the month.. not only the last Swatch Sunday of the year… but the last Swatch Sunday of the DECADE! So obviously when selecting this weeks shade I wanted something perfect for New Years, but also something special. & I decided to dig deep deep deep into my nail polish stash & grab a very very special shade: Zoya Kissy.

This polish came into my life as a gift for Christmas 2011 & was the very first Zoya I ever owned. It was originally released as part of the Zoya Gems & Jewels collection for Holiday 2011–here is a vintage Vampy Varnish post featuring this shade (for those curious!)

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Kissy is a densely packed glitter topper with fuchsia bar glitters, Holo bar glitters & fuchsia microglitters. I believe that the base used to be more clear, but it had turned pinky over the years.

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You’re looking at 3 coats over my (almost) bare nail, which gave me pretty awesome coverage. I used a peel off base coat underneath so that they would be easier to remove. You can also use this shade over top a base shade (I thought about doing it over black or navy blue — the pink would really pop) & it will cut down on the coats of glitter you use, but will still look beautiful. I think this would also be gorgeous for a New Years Eve glitter gradient!

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Like I mentioned before, this glitter shade is about 8 years old… but you can still find it for purchase online which is amazing! NailPolishCanada currently has Kissy stocked, so if you need this shade in your life, you are in luck. It is also available on the Zoya website as well!

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What do you think about this beautiful glitter — do you have Zoya Kissy in your stash? Have you picked out what you’re wearing on your nails for New Years Eve yet? Hop on over to Instagram & let me know!

Autumn Floral 🍂🌼

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Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone had a safe & fun Halloween, & is not too far deep into a sugar coma quite yet! (Remember, leftover Halloween candy goes 50% off today!)

I’m sad that Halloween month October is over, but excited for a brand new month. November is one of those weird nail art months where Halloween is over, but it’s too early to think about Christmas, so I get stuck on what to do on my nails. I think this month I’m going to challenge myself to try one new nail art look/technique a week to see what new designs I discover. But before we just into that, how about a tried & true Coffee & Nail Polish design: floral.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Cliffhanger
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Troublemaker
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat on the Black
  • Sally Hansen CSM I Lilac You
  • Sally Hansen CSM Cherry Cherry Bang Bang
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Jelly Belly Bubblegum
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie First Timer
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio

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It feels like ages since my last floral, even though it really has only been a month or so (if you don’t count my little floral accents in my sugar skull look). Like I said, the beginning of November always leaves me at a loss for designs–too early for Christmas, too late for Halloween. I still have yet to do a classic Fall leaves look, so I will definitely have to add that to my list. But definitely the hardest time of year, aside from maybe January, to decide on designs. I might have to go through blog posts from Novembers past to find some nail art inspo!

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What do you think about this Fall inspired floral? What nail art is your favourite to do during the pre-Christmas season? Share down below what nail art you’d like to see me try!

GlamnailschallengeOct—Skull

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Good morning lovelies & Happy Monday! Can you believe this month is almost over? The countdown to Halloween is officially on & I’m both excited to celebrate, & sad for my favourite month to be over! But since we have a few more Halloween looks to go, I’m going to keep the excitement rolling with our second last #glamnailschallengeOct prompt which is Skull. A similar idea to skeleton, so I wanted to try & do something way different from my skeleton design.

& it was the perfect opportunity to use some nail tattoos by Maybelline that I recently purchased on extreme clearance at my local pharmacy (& favourite place for nail polish deals!) These nail tattoos were pretty cool, & I couldn’t think of a better opportunity to use them.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Base Coat: Duri Rejuvocate
  • Top coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Color Therapy Slicks & Stones
  • Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio

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How much fun! This was also my first time in a long time wearing Sally Hansen Slicks & Stones which is just such a pretty shade for Autumn. It also goes really well with the orange & blues of my skull tattoo. It turned out more celebratory than scary, which is fun for this time of year as well. I’m digging it! & I added roses to add to the sugar skull feel.

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Close up look at that nail tattoo. This makes me excited to use a few more of the designs that came in the packs I got. Definitely fun for fancy nails when you’re on a time limit… I definitely couldn’t draw that skull design in the 60 seconds it took me to apply that tattoo & add my top coat.

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What do you think about these sugar skull nails?  Remember you can check out the other  #glamnailschallengeOct looks on Instagram. There is just one more prompt to go!

GlamnailschallengeOct—Eyeballs

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Hello lovelies! It’s time for another prompt for #glamnailschallengeOct: Eyeballs! This look was actually inspired by an old design by Chalkboard Nails, that I found via Pinterest. I thought her look was equal parts cool & creepy, so it would be the perfect look for today’s prompt. 👁

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Base Coat: Duri Rejuvocate
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sinful Colors Leather Loose
  • Sally Hansen MG Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue
  • Essie First Timer
  • OPI How Great Is Your Dane?
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. Jelly Belly Bubble Gum
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

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This look was a little time consuming but still a super easy look to achieve. I went through a few different ideas on what I wanted my eyeball design to look like, & this one seemed the most fun (& creepy!) I also was super pumped to pull out Sinful Colors Leather Loose again, because it is such a fantastic Fall shade that I had kind of forgotten about a little bit. That brown with the shimmer–oh boy is it beautiful! & my eyeballs really popped against it.

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Totally creepy, am I right? I probably could have done a few more eyeballs on my design, but I was painting against the clock & wanted to make sure I got this look done!

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What do you think of this look for today’s prompt? Would you wear this creepy eyeball look? Can you believe we only have TWO more prompts left before the end of #glamnailschallengeOct?

 Keep following along with #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram & don’t forget to check out all the other awesome (& creepy!) eyeball looks!