Category: Nail Art

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SUNDAY SWATCH POST: OPI Living On The Bula-vard!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently won some contests via Instagram, & one of them was a set of 4 OPI minis from their Spring/Summer Fiji collection. I wore the other 3 colours in my tropical leaves accent nail design, but hadn’t yet shown off the 4th so I thought I would do a quick swatch for you. 

OPI Living On The Bula-vard! Is a super virbrant red leaning coral that goes on opacque in 2 coats. The first coat went on a little thin, but the second coat filled in the colour well. At first I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about this colour, but as soon as it was on my nails I instantly fell in love. It’s not quite coral & not quite red–it’s honestly this perfect combination of the two in this weird way that makes me so happy.  

Living On The Bula-vard! definitely reminds me a lot of another OPI favourite–My Chihuahua Bites!–which is probably why I love it so much. & now I’m wishing I had checked to see if they were close to dupes before writing up this blog post… Whoops! Never the less, I will definitely be buying the large sized bottle of this colour. This is the kind of colour that brings out my olive undertones & highlights my tan so it’s perfect for Summer days! 

Do you have a favourite from the OPI Fiji collection? I’ve only tried the 4 minis, & I thought that Two Timing The Zones was my favourite, but after wearing it, Living On The Bula-vard! definitely has come out as the clear winner! 

I’m going to try & make swatch Sundays an ongoing thing. I’m always taking pictures of my solid colour manis, but never post them so I thought it would be a good time to start! This could be old favourites, new polishes, or just randoms from the stash. If you have a request, let me know in the comments below! ♥️

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Blue on Blue Heart Accent Nails 💙

What’s your favourite colour to wear on your nails? Mine is definitely blue. For some reason, whenever I’m reaching for polish to paint my nails I’m always immediately drawn to blue. It calls to me. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI Give Me Space
  • OPI Gelato On My Mind
  • KaylaRayLoves vinyls Tumbling Heart Vinyls

Once again played around with some of my vinyls won from @kaylarayloves on Instagram. These tumbling heart vinyls are lovely, & so easy to use! Definitely check out her shop–she has a great unique selection of vinyls & decals to choose from! 

Also loving the combination of Give Me Space & Gelato on My Mind. 💙💙💙 still having fun shopping my own stash. They may not be brand new polishes, but they’re lovely none the less. 

What’s your favourite vinyl pattern? I particularly love quatrefoil designs & hearts. Mermaid nails are especially fun in the Summer too. They’re just so pretty & easy to do! 

What do you think of this mani? What polish colour are you drawn to most often? Let me know in the comments below!

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Mani Swap with @nailsbybivian


Today calls for another awesome mani swap with another awesome nail art girlie:  @nailsbybivian! For this swap, she recreated my Chevron tips & I went Summer-y with her fun pineapple design. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI I Jist Can’t Cope-acabana
  • China Glaze Shore Enuff
  • Essie Cocoa Karma
  • Small Nail Art brush from Bundle Monster.

As soon I saw Bivian’s bright & Summery pineapples, I wanted to recreate them. The vibrant colours, & pineapple design just feels so refreshing & makes it feel like Summer on my nails. Bivian has such a gorgeous account full of beautiful designs, so it was a little hard to pick one to recreate…  I must have saved 6 or 7 designs while trying to choose. But in the end it just HAD to be the pineapples!

 

So what do you think of this recreation? Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you to @nailsbybivian for joining me in this swap & don’t forget to check out her beautiful nail art on Instagram!

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Chevron Accent Nail featuring Pacific Blue. 

I’ve written before about my unrelenting love for the original formula Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. So much so I still search for back up bottles when I’m looking through clearance. I don’t wear it a whole lot, but when I do I am reminded why I love this polish so much.  The other night I was looking for something to put on my nails, & immediately reached for my old trusty favourite. 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Pacific Blue
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • Sally Hansen Montley Hue
  • OPI Angel With A Lead Foot (under Montley Hue)
  • Snail Vinyls Staggered Chevron Nail Stencil

Sometimes I love wearing a simple colour & sprucing it up with a simple accent. If I’m remembering correctly, Pacific Blue was one of my very first Sally Hansen X-treme Wear polishes. I’ll never not love it. Even if it didn’t have this elusive Unicorn status, it would still be one of my favourites. 

What do you think of this mani? Do you have Pacific Blue in your stash? I’ve been going through my stash &  found some potential dupes, so I’m going to post a comparison post coming up! 💙

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Smooshy accent nails using a silicon mat! 

I’m getting so much use out of my silicone craft mat! I understand now why people love their nail art mats so much–the options are endless. I wanted to try out some smooshy nails, & I saw this technique some on Instagram before (I just can’t remember by who unfortunately) so I decided to give it a try. 


For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formula Pink Gel coat 
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat. 
  • My Beauty Spot unnamed green colour.
  • Essie Wrap Me Up
  • Essie Bobbing for Baubles
  • Essie Cocktail Bling
  • Nicole by OPI A Phil’s Paradise
  • Born Pretty Store Peel Off Tape
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Stamper
  • Silicon Craft Mat

For this look, I started by dropping different colours onto my mat, & moving them around some to spread around the colour. I then took my clear stamper & pressed down, smooshing the polishes together. I immediately then pressed the stamper down on my nails to create the marbled look, & finished everything off with top coat.

I really love how these turned out. You can never go wrong with marbled nails. I don’t know if I could consider this an easier way to create smooshy nails, but it was definitely fun! You still want Liquid Latex around your cuticles to keep your clean up minimal! 

What do you think of this mani? What is your favourite design to create on your silicone mat? I’m always looking for inspiration, so share your nail art ideas in the comments below!