Category: nail polish

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Dark & Simple Dotticure

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today’s look is one of my favourite easy nail ideas–a simple dotticure. Seriously, is there any easier way to add a little fun to other wise boring nails then with a few carefully placed dots? (Especially when you stay up too late binge watching Netflix & forget all about doing your nails…)

For this manicure, I pulled out one of my beloved Sally Hansen nail art pens. I’m not sure if you can still purchase these (I haven’t looked in a while) but a few years ago I picked them up & they’re one of my favourite & easiest ways to create polka dots! There is something so easy about using a pen instead of a dotting tool for creating teeny, tiny polka dots.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • OPI Cosmo With A Twist
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Silver

What I love about this look is how easy it is. Paint nails. Let dry a few minutes. Dot with nail Art pen & seal with top coat. Bam, done! No tools even needed. & you don’t even need to worry about cleaning off your dotting tool & then re-dipping it into the polish, so finishing your nails is a whole lot faster. & the dots seem to end up being more similar than when I try to do the same look with a dotting tool.

so what do you think of this look? Are you a fan of dotticures? Share your thoughts down in the comments below! ♥️

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Pantone Nails with Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Malibu Peach(& a new matte top coat!)

Hello lovelies & happy 2019! I hope everyone had a fantastic start to the new year… I certainly enjoyed having two days off in a row! Today I’m starting off the new year not only by blogging (oh how I’ve missed you) but with a post featuring a shade inspired by the Pantone 2019 shade of the year Living Coral — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Malibu Peach.

I have to be honest, I’m not always drawn to these specially selected shades, but I am seriously in love with everything about this shade. It’s such a bright, happy shade, & I want to pain my house in in.

For my swatches, I did three coats of Malibu Peach followed by the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat to seal it in. The formula was a little bit tricky on this guy, which is why it took so many coats to have the polish not look streaky, but the end result was definitely worth it. & the top coat left the polish looking shiny & fabulous.

However, this time of year always leaves me craving matte nails, & Sally Hansen is releasing a BRAND NEW matte top coat, this time in their Miracle Gel formula! I am always impressed with how long I can get the Miracle Gel shades to last on my nails (especially when I’m so hard on my nails… that’s retail life for you!) So to say I was excited to see how well this matte top coat would last was an understatement.

Matte perfection.

In my original test run of this combo, I had my manicure last 5 days during Christmas craziness before any major chipping happened, which for a matte manicure is pretty impressive. There was the unavoidable tip wear, but as far as the whole nail it remained relatively intact. The only thing I did notice was that I seemed to have some cracks on the nail when I looked closely, but other than that it held up really well!

If you want to check out this new topcoat, Sally Hansen will be releasing this Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat in Canada stores this month & should retail for the same price as the other Miracle Gel shades.

Are you a fan of matte nails–are you excited to try out this new Matte Top Coat? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

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Christmas Penguin accent nails!

Good morning lovelies! I’m back again, & I have another Christmas-y design to share… after all it’s only 3 more days until Christmas. (When did that happen?) Today’s look is a surprisingly easy look that I’ve done & redone over the years & always come back to.

I actually did this nails last weekend, but anyone else who works in retail this time of year probably understands the craziness which is my life right now… barely any time to breathe, let alone write a blog post… just counting down the days to my two days off over Christmas. It’s going to be GLORIOUS!

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sprinkled With Love
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-ice
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Let’s Snow
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fiery Island
  • Small dotting tool
  • Small nail art brush (obsessed with my collection from www.nailstuff.ca

First I started off by laying Make It N-ice over Sprinkled with Love for a little extra sparkle…. because tis the season. & then I freehanded my little penguin over top on both my ring fingers to make my look more festive. I first saw this look on Pshiiit Nails (via Pinterest) & just loved how it looked so I needed to recreate. & obviously I had to add a little a festive Christmas-ness with some Santa hats!

My only complaint is that my top coat smeared my penguins a little. I’ve been testing out the Essie Gel Couture Top Coat & while the lasting power is amazing, it’s not my favourite top coat for putting over nail art because it does seem to smear designs. Guess I’m still on the hunt for the perfect one!

what do you think of this penguin design? Have you figured out what you’re wearing for Christmas? Let me know down below!

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Red Plaid Holiday Nails

Good Morning Lovelies! Can you believe it’s only 13 days until Christmas… where has this year gone?! Even though I’ve been insane at work with Christmas coming, I’ve been trying to do my nails when I can–& trying to get in as many Christmas-y designs in as often as I can.

(Not going to lie… painting them has been a struggle, but having time to take pictures is another story all together!)

Today I have some pretty red plaid nails that are a combination of stamping & freehand. I LOVE plaid nails, but sometimes they can be time consuming depending on how many lines you have to free hand. By combining a plaid stamping pattern I had with a bit of freehanding, I managed to come up with a cute & relatively easy plaid look that’s perfect for this time of year!

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y (from the Decadence collection)
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • L’Oréal Getting Kilty
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

I’m not going to lie–I’m a little rusty, & my nails & cuticles have seen better days. But it feels so good to be painting my nails again, & it always feels nice when people randomly compliment me on how pretty my nails are. Of course, then stock comes & they end up a mess… but still nice to have them done in the first place! (& more than just a since colour.)

Going to try & cram as many Christmas designs in as possible over the next week or so, since I’ve been so bad at actually posting the last few months. But January is coming… & things are going to slow way down so I’ll be able to get back into my regular posting life soon. For everyone who has stuck around (& continues to stick around!) thank you so much! It means so much to me.

Now the most important question remains… should I do Christmas tree, snowman or penguin nails next? Let me know in the comments below!

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Fall Houndstooth Accent Nails

Happy October 2nd! Can you believe we’re already a day into Halloween month?! Are you as excited as I am? I’m definitely going to need to start planning my Halloween designs soon.

But in the mean time, maybe some Fall themed nails? With the weather shifting quickly, I’m already digging out some of my favourite scarves, so I figured why not some nails inspired by the coziness of Fall.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Lets Snow!
  • Essence Black is Back!
  • Born Pretty Store Classic Patterns Stamping Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
  • Born Pretty Store Color Flame Rhinestones colour #2 (item #41753)

First off, can we talk about this Essie shade from the Fall 2018 collection? It’s absolutely amazing. The second I saw the swatches, I knew it was so different from all the other polishes I own & that meant I had to have it! & since it feels so Fall to me, I knew I had to pair it with this stamping plate from Born Pretty Store (which I haven’t had the chance to use yet!)

Also check out these crystals also from Born Pretty Store (item # 41753). I needed something to jazz up my plain nails, & I love the iridescent shift they have. You can kind of see how the shift of your hand shows different colours, which means these crystals will match with so many different polishes & manicures!

what do you think of this Fall inspired manicure? What Fall shades are you wearing on your nails right now? Let me know in the comments below!