Autumn-esque Horizontal Accent Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! & Happy October 1st. It’s officially the first day of my birthday month & Halloween month! October is definitely my favourite month of the year & the BEST month for nail art!

Starting things off with some horizontal Autumn inspired accent nails. I’ve really been loving accent nail designs lately because sometimes you just don’t have time to do all of your nails. & lately, that has been my life. So accent designs are my lifeline!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Beet It
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Pink Cardamom
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Thyme is Money
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • China Glaze First Mate
  • Straight Nail Vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

For this look, I used some straight nail vinyls to create my initial blocks of colour. Then I went in with my NailStuff striper brush to create more lines, kind of overlapping each other which gives the lines of a bit of a fuller look (& it’s way easier to create straight lines when you’re following already straight lines!).

This look & colour combination is giving me 90s retro vibes — it’s giving me some serious Willow from Buffy sweater vibes, & I’m loving everything about it. I’ve definitely been spending too much time stalking the BuffytheOutfitSlayer instagram! Haha. But I am not complaining, because this nail art design turned out too cute!

What do you think about these stripe-y accent nails? What colour combination would you chose for an accent nail look like this? Let me know what you think down in the comments below (& let me know what October activities you’re looking forward to!)

Blue Plaid Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday!

Here in Halifax we’re currently bracing for a big tropical storm to hit, but I still wanted to share some fun Fall nails I did recently. My posting has been a bit sporadic the last few weeks because of work, & family stuff, but I’m really trying to get back into regular posting again! Especially since next month is my favourite Month of the year!

But first: nail art. I always like to do a plaid design at least once a year, & I was really feeling this dark blue shimmery shade that I found hiding in my stash. It was just screaming for some nail art! After glancing at my favourite Fall dress hanging in my closet, I knew exactly what design I wanted to recreate on my nails. I was a little nervous about free-handing stripes, but I was so happy with how they turned out!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze New Year, New Boo
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Essie Mosaic On Down
  • Quo By Orly Breathable The Antidote
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

How gorgeous is this China Glaze shade? It was original released as part of the Glam Finale 2017 Holiday collection. it’s so stunning, & it’s the first time I’ve ever worn it. I can definitely see myself wearing this shade a lot in the new few months — can you imagine it paired in a gradient with some silver holo glitters! Ahhhh, it’ll be so pretty for the holidays.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Because we still have so many Fall & Halloween looks to come!

Down below: a shot with my favourite Fall plaid dress & the inspiration behind this nail art look. They go so perfectly together!

What have you guys been wearing on your nails lately? Do you have a particular shade or design you’re loving right now? Let me know down in the comments below!

Freehand Stripes

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. ♥️ I’ve been mostly stuck in bed or on the couch because I messed up my neck somehow, but at least that gives me a chance to work on some blog stuff!

Now I know I said I wasn’t going to start thinking about Fall quite yet, but man… I had one sip of Pumpkin Spice latte & now it’s all I can think about! Haha. I kid, but I’ve definitely been finding myself drawn more to darker colours the last few times I’ve painted my nails. In fact, I’ve already switched my pedicure over! Today’s manicure was a combination of both; a little bit Autumn, with some lighter shades thrown in as well.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat On The Black
  • Essie Kaf-tan
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Sheer Luck
  • Dimension Nails Blue Morpho Butterfly
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush(COFFEE10 to save 10%)

Stripes make your nails look longer, right?

As you might have noticed from Sunday’s swatch post, I’ve rounded my nails off again. I’m really trying to get them to grow a bit better, & I find an almond/rounded look suits me better for healthier nail growth. So we’re back to rounded, & hopefully with some serious nail self care, we can grow them super long again! (Like circa 2017 long!)

I really like the pop of colour on the dark base colour. Pat On The Black is such a perfectly dark burgundy shade, I love wearing it in the Fall. & when you add the stripes of lighter shades overtop, they really pop! It also lightens things up, so I’m not fully committing to Fall just yet. However, I’ll drink Pumpkin Spice if I want to… that I’m not budging on! Haha.

What do you think about this striped look? Do you prefer a square or rounded nail shape? Let me know down in the comments below!

Pastel Geometric Dry Brush

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! I hope the weather is more beautiful where you are — here in Halifax we have rain, & clouds & an overall dreary day. Well at least yesterday was beautiful!

How about I brighten things up a bit with some new nails? I actually did this look a few weeks ago, but (again) didn’t get around to posting it. I’m really feeling this coral/purple/turquoise colour scheme right now, & I have been putting out these shades a lot. This look was kind of me just playing around, but it turned out to pretty I decided to wear it!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Malibu Peach
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Essie Where’s My Chauffeur? 
  • Essie Play Date
  • Claire’s Matte Sorbet Blue
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)

I’ve been a little bit obsessed with dry brush designs lately, just because they make such a pretty back ground for nail art. I really like how the clean white lines stand out so much against the blurred pastel background. Originally I had thought about doing some more complicated tribal print, but I think the simplicity of a few geometric lines works way better. You see both the background & the graphic lines as well. I like it a lot. Plus it was a great excuse to work on free-handing straight lines, which is definitely something I find tricky.

Please excuse my horrendously dry hands. I’ve been struggling through finding the right hand creams to help under these extreme circumstances! I think I may have found my new favourite one, but I want to give it a couple weeks of real hands on testing before I make any posts about it. It’s actually one my Dad recommended to me. Got to love suggestions from Dad! Haha.

 

So what do you think about this design? Have you ever worn a dry brush design before? Do you like them on their own, or with nail art added on top. Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & for fun, share what hand cream is currently saving your dry hands right now!

♥♥♥

Leopard Print Inspired by @hottmama_of4

Hello lovelies how are you guys today?

Happy Cino de Mayo! Honestly, I didn’t even think about the fact it was coming up — I haven’t drank tequila in a good 5 years — so I kind of wish I had done something a little more festive! But I do have a super cute nail art look to share with you, that was actually inspired by a fellow nail artist on Instagram — @hottmama_of4! Heather posted this super cute blue & pink leopard print a few weeks back, & I knew I totally had to recreate it immediately!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Fuchsia Fever
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

I feel like I haven’t worn a fun leopard print look in a really long time, so I really liked wearing this one! The colours worked so well together — which is why Heather’s caught my eye in the first place! It was a fun pop of colour to wear, & it felt nice to wear a few polishes I haven’t reached for in a while. I’ve been wearing a lot of pastels lately, so I think what I really need is a big pop of COLOUR in my life. This is inspiring me to pull out my neons again… I might need to do a neon rainbow stripe or leopard print look very, very soon!

phonto-2

I’m so happy I decided to recreate this look — Heather’s Instagram feed has so many fun & creative nail art looks. She always goes for colour, which makes me happy! I definitely have a few more looks of hers saved in my “to do” nail art file for the future!

Where do you get your best nail art inspiration from? Clothing, patterns, pinterest, other nail artists? I feel like nail art inspiration is everywhere, but I’ve been especially inspired lately by mugs & pots lately. Maybe it’s because my plant obsession is in overdrive right now, who knows!

 

Have a lovely day! ♥