Rifle Paper Co Style Floral

Yesterday was a beautiful Spring day, I had the day off, & I took full advantage of it. In honour of the occasion, I decided some floral nails were in order. Originally I was going to just do some more negative space nails with pastels, but I discovered a bottle of Essie 5th Avenue in my stash I bought a few months back at Lawton’s, & decided red nails were in order. I’ve been loving all the Rifle Paper Co inspired nails that pop up on my Instagram feed, & while these are not even close to an exact recreation, I was inspired by this pattern initially.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie 5th Avenue
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sweet Tea
  • OPI I Eat Maine-ly Lobster
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Piggy
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Orchid-ing Around
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Magenta
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Black
  • Essence The Green & The Grunge
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Wet My Thistle
  • Bundle Monster detail brushes
  • Bundle Monster dotting tools

This design definitely looks very similar to this manicure I did a few months back. Something about floral on a red base just looks so good to me. & red nail polish in general… I’m so glad I found this gorgeous polish (& did I mention I scored it for only .99 cents?)

There is something just so lovely about floral. The more I paint them, the more I want to do them again. It was totally worth staying up the extra hour & a half to create them. I’m also going to keep attempting to recreate more patterns from Rifle Paper co. Their brand is such a floral loving girls dream! I pretty much want one of everything on their website (especially the phone cases… all of the phone cases!)

Where do you find your nail art inspiration? What do you think of this floral design? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 🌸🌿

Zig Zag Chevron Accent Nails

Happy Monday lovelies! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. ♥️ Mine was… short! But it’s a brand new week & I have a brand new manicure to start it off with. I’m still obsessing over these new Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polishes, so I have yet another design to share with you featuring them. This time, I used some brand new (to me) vinyls from The Base Coat to create some funky chevron zig zag accent nails.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen MG Lilac Insomniac
  • Sally Hansen MG Little Peony
  • Sally Hansen MG Sugar Fix
  • Sally Hansen MG Sweet Tea
  • The Base Coat Nail Vinyls Chevron/Zigzag (wide)
  • NailStuff.ca square stud from mixed decoration wheel (gold).
  • Small dotting tool.

First off, these nail vinyls are so much fun & I love how they look. I’ve been obsessed with shopping from throw pillows lately (as we continue to decorate our new house) & this colour combination & pattern looks a lot like the patterns I continuously find myself drawn to. & obviously I had to throw some studs as an accent in there because it’s been a while since I used my favourite nail stud wheel from NailStuff.ca!

I have to say, I just love how cleanly the lines on these chevrons came out. The vinyls from The Base Coat definitely stick to the nail very well when you use them. No flooding under the vinyl & creating a big mess! Really, really just loving this whole look from the chevron zig zags, to the colours. It feels Summery & fun… which I think all of us need right now.

What do you think of this chevron design? What is your favourite nail nail vinyl pattern? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Freehand Ikat Chevrons (Happy Birthday Coffee & Nail Polish! 🎈🎉)

Happy Thursday! & happy 4th birthday to this little nail blog of mine! It’s so crazy to me that I’ve been posting here for 4 years already. From the early days when I hadn’t yet discovered cuticle oil (& majority of my nail polish came from the clearance bins) to now it’s been quite an exciting journey. I thought I’d mark the special occasion with one of my favourite styles & some beautiful nail polishes I was recently gifted from Sally Hansen Canada!

Music Festival season is just beginning (Coachella starts next weekend) & this nail design would fit right in… you know, if I wasn’t in chilly Nova Scotia currently dreaming of sunny days & summer dresses!

For the design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Little Peony
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Lilac Insomniac
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Orchid-ing Around
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sweet Tea
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sugar Fix
  • Bundle Monster detail brush.

I just love how these turned out. I also love that even though I freehanded my chevrons, they actually look fairly even! I guess practice really does make perfect. 💗 also I’m completely in love with these new Sally Hansen Miracle Gel shades from the Travel in Colour collection. I’ve been playing around with them since I received them late last week & they are just so perfect for Spring. Makes me wish I had somewhere fancy to wear them rather than just while I’m putting out stock at work. Definitely one of my favourite Spring 2018 collections I’ve seen this season so far. & don’t worry I’ll have swatches of the whole collection up on the blog soon!

I just want to take a minute to stop & just say THANK YOU to everyone who reads this blog, who leaves comments & likes my posts. When I started this blog years ago, I did it because I loved nail polish & I just wanted a place to be able to share my silly designs with other people. 4 years later, things have certainly changed & grown & improved, but when it comes down to it this blog is still here for the same reason: I love nail polish & I love connecting with others who love nail polish. & those people are the reasons why this place just feels like home for me.

So thanks for joining in on the fun & here’s to years & years more of this blog sharing the nail polish love.

💗💗💗

Festival Ready Nails with NailStuff.ca!

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. Who else is ready for the weekend already? & not just because the Easter bunny will be dropping off all sorts of delicious goodies! In the mean time, I have some pretty Spring inspired nails to share with you.

I’ve never been to a festival before (like Coachella) but I feel like these would totally fit right in with the music & fashion. It really makes me want to pull out my maxi dresses & flower crowns.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Rose to the Occasion
  • Zoya Blu
  • China Glaze Sun Upon my Skin
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Feeling Free
  • NailStuff.ca Dreamcatcher-1 Nail Art Stickers
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier

These stickers are just so cute, I love them. Obviously I love to freehand my designs, but I could never imagine free-handing something this complicated on my nails ever! Even stamping, I don’t think I could make this work. But I love how they turned out so much. The feathers, especially, are just so pretty.

What do you think of these festival inspired nails? Would you rock them at Coachella? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! & share what Spring polishes your wearing on your nails this week!

Spring Splotches & Geometric Lines

Happy Monday Lovelies! Today is a super exciting day for me because I’m officially starting at my new job after my week away training, which is both nerve wracking & a brand new adventure for me. Also exciting is today’s manicure which was inspired by a few make up cases I stumbled across at Superstore while grocery shopping.

I love when I find inspiration when I’m not looking for it. This pattern just screams nail art, so obviously I had to snap a picture for future nail designs. I loved the imperfect splotches of colour against the white background & loved how well it paired with the other make up back.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLYBreathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Essie Flowerista
  • Essie Too Too Hot
  • Essie Garden Party
  • Essie All the Waves
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • Quo by ORLY Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Medium size nail art brush

I just love love love how these turned out! The pretty spring colours, the splotches of colour with the geometric lines. It just turned out as perfect on the nail as I pictured in my head. I feel like I don’t do my freehand lines as often as I used to, so I’ve been trying to practice more!

What do you think of this design… do you think I stuck close enough to my inspiration? Where do you get your nail art inspiration from? Let me know your favourite place to find inspiration (or who inspires you) down in the comments below!

Happy Monday everyone 🌸