(More) Autumn Abstract Stripes

*contains PR

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! & a chilly Wednesday at that. October is really speeding along, isn’t it?

Today I’m excited because I recently received some PR from Essie & they were more than generous sending me 25 polishes (!!!) from their regular line, Expressie line & Gel Couture line. Happy early birthday to me. So naturally, as soon as I received these shades I had to grab a few to do my nails with! & since it’s been a while since I rocked them, I decided to test out some new polishes with a little abstract stripe action.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Expressie Feel The Hype
  • Essie Expressie Never Skip A Beat
  • Essie Expressie Power Moves
  • Essie Expressie Take A Breakdance
  • Essie Nail Art Studio Separated Starlight
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush

Oh man, I’m so excited by new nail polish — it’s actually hard to convey via blog post, but expect to see a lot of Essie manicures over the next little while. There are some shades I received that I can’t wait to swatch for you!

What do you think about this Autumn abstract stripe design? Are you as excited for some fun Essie manicures to come? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

Happy Wednesday

♥︎

Essie Fall Skittle 🌈🍁🍂

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

I’m feeling rested from having the whole weekend off work, & ready to take on another week. Now it’s time to ready for (Canadian) Thanksgiving next weekend! Maybe I’ll sneak in some kind of Thanksgiving themed nail design sometime this week.

Today, though I’m sharing a super easy Fall design with you all. It’s been a while since I rocked a skittle look, so I thought I would pull out a few Autumn-esque Essie polishes for a quick skittle look!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Frock n Roll (thumb)
  • Essie For The Twill of It (pointer)
  • Essie Cross Body Heat (middle)
  • Essie Back in the Saddle (ring finger)
  • Essie Vested Interest (pinky finger)

How well do these shades pair together? I always find that’s my struggle when I’m trying to create a skittle look, is finding the shades that look best together. I think this collection of shades really flatter, & I love it. The colours are slightly muted, with a few bits of shimmer thrown in. I’m actually obsessed with how well they go together!

What do you think of this Essie Fall Skittle look? It’s like an Autumn rainbow!

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & I hope everyone had a lovely start to their week.

♥︎

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE SEPTEMBER (2024) — Fox 🦊

Good morning lovelies, & happy Monday! I hope you had a beautiful weekend, & got to enjoy something fun. Today, I’m continuing with my Glam Nails Challenge September posts, & the next prompt is Fox. 🦊

Now, animal designs have never felt like my strong suit, but the more I wore this look, the more the design grew on me. & considering I went into these unsure what I was even really doing, I must say I’m happy with the end result.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Claire’s Evil Queen (over Hard Candy Scam)
  • Avon Black Crackle
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Pump-kid
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Essie Cocktails & Coconuts
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Ghouls Night Out
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio

I was feeling a little self conscious about these nails when I wore them to work, but I got two compliments on them so that definitely made me feel a bit better!

Like I said, animal themed nails are not my strong suit, but doing this challenge is all about challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone. So, I can’t let myself get scared by nail art I’m not used to. I’m really proud of my little foxes, even if they’re not “perfect”.

What do you think of this design for this prompt of Glam Nails Challenge September? Do you like my little fox? What nail designs do you find the most intimidating? Let me know down in the comments below!

Are you following along with the other nail art designs for this month’s Glam Nails Challenge September? Don’t forget, you can check out #glamnailschallengesept24 on Instagram, & see all the other beautiful designs being shared!

🖤

Autumn Colour Blocking 🍁🍂

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone is having the loveliest of Fridays… the weekend is almost here! I thought I would break up the Glam Nails Challenge content with something different. I’m full into the Autumn vibes now, so a Fall inspired colour blocking was exactly what I was feeling!

As I mentioned in my Swatch Sunday post, I’ve really been digging into my China Glaze stash lately & really loving all the polishes from Autumn collections past. So I pulled out a few Autumn shades to enjoy.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Mind The Gap
  • China Glaze a Whole Latte Fun
  • China Glaze Loves ‘Em & Leaves ‘Em

Don’t mind those bit of wrinkles — I may have been rushing a smidge when I was doing this mani, so I did muck it up just a smidge. But it still turned out beautifully, & I think these colours just go together so beautifully. I’m definitely going to need to remember this colour combo so I can use it again, maybe in a stripe or chevron look!

What do you think about this Autumn colour block? Do you like this combination of colours? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

& happy Friday!

🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE AUGUST (2024) — Stained Glass

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. The weather here has been weird — cold then hot & muggy, with sporadic rain. Makes it very hard for a girl to know what to wear!

But today marks another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge August, & today’s prompt is stained glass. & obviously, I had to pull out an old favourite for this prompt — the stained/shattered glass look I love so much. This time, I used a flakie topper which gave it more of that stained glass effect I think.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • OPI Turn On The Northern Lights
  • ‘Ard As Nails Fairy Flakes

  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio

How pretty is this look! I’ll admit, fishing out the flakies vs the usual hard glitters I usually do this kind of look with was a bit more time consuming than I was expecting, but then end result is so worth it! I’m kind of obsessed with these flakies over this dark base & it’s giving straight up Autumn—& I’m okay with that. Time to pull out my over the knee socks & sip on some pumpkin spice.

I’ve been wearing this look for a few days, & I got curious how it would look matte-ified & oh man… I think I love it even more! What do you think — shiny or matte?

I love a good stained glass look, so this was a fun prompt. Plus it let me tap into those Autumn vibes I’ve been seriously craving, & I’m not mad about it at all. Over all, this might be one of my favourite designs of the challenge thus far. It’ll be interesting to see what the rest of the month holds!

& as always, you can follow along with the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram with the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug24 & see all the beautiful nails that have been created!

Happy Wednesday

🖤