Category: nail polish

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Cosy Autumn Plaid🧣

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! & happy Thanksgiving Weekend to my fellow Canadians celebrating this weekend. It’s officially shifted into Fall weather (almost in overdrive) & the days are feeling cool, & the leaves are feeling crunchy!

Today’s look is one I’ve done a million (plus) times, but still remains a favourite. Nothing screams Autumn to me more than a plaid nail art look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • NailStuff.ca Essentials Raven *pr
  • OPI Icelanded A Bottle of OPI
  • Color Club What’s The Matte-r
  • OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI
  • Revlon Devine
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

I wanted to start off with a super dark base, so I went with my bottle of NailStuff Essentials Raven. Such a good black! (& I’ve been loving black lately.) Then using my other colours, I layered on lines to create the woven plaid look. Super easy, & comes out beautifully.

What do you think of my cosy Autumn plaid? Do you like these seasonal designs that aren’t necessarily Halloween centric designs? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2025 — Ghost 👻

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! It’s hope your week has been as calm & peaceful as can be.

Today is our third prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October, which is ghost! I do love a good ghost design especially this time of year, so I was excited to give this a go. I wanted to create a ghost look slightly different from ones I’ve done in the past, & I think I managed to create a spooky & fun look. & I’m so in love with how they turned out.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • China Glaze Skyscraper
  • Essence Pastel Ombre Top Coat
  • OPI Alter Ego
  • Icing Store Black
  • Small Dotting Tool (NailsStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

So the trick of creating these translucent ghosties is using a really, really shear white polish (or mixing a more opaque white with a clean polish to thin it out.) I Have this Essence Pastel Ombre Top Coat from years, & years ago, & while I’ve never used it for an ombre design, it works perfectly for nail art like this! I also added a bit of OPI Alter Ego for a bit of extra shimmer/glow.

What do you think about this ghostly design? Do you like the spooky sheer effect of the ghosts. I feel like these ones are definitely more on the spooky side, compared to my ghost designs of years past — which I’m loving! Let’s go for all the spooky vibes this October — I am here for it!

Happy Wednesday

♥︎

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2025 — Sugar Skull 💀🌸

Hello lovelies — Happy Monday! Today is a beautiful start to the week, because it’s time for the second prompt of Glam Nails Challenge October! & the next prompt we have is Sugar Skull! I attempted Sugar Skull nails only once before, but wasn’t exactly super happy with how they turned out. So I had an idea to redeem myself, & I’m actually obsessed with the end result!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Icing Store Black
  • Claires Cosmic Babe Nail polish Cosmic Blue
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen Orange *pr
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen Yellow *pr
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen Blue *pr
  • Madam Glam Nail Art Pen White *pr
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Polish pen in Purple
  • Dollarama Spooky Halloween Nail Stickers (skulls)

So my original plan was I was going to hand paint skulls on my nails, but that wasn’t really working — & then I was going to stamp on a skull, but I didn’t really like the images that I had. But I remembered I recently purchased some new nail art stickers at Dollarama so I decided to use those are my base for my sugar skull design!

After I applied my skull stickers to the fingers I wanted them on, I then went in with my nail art pens one colour by one colour, & created a fun pattern on each skull face. I tried to do something bright, & eye catching, plus some fun little flowers. Then, on the two fingers I didn’t do skulls, I just added a few colourful dots in a half moon to keep them all looking fluid & cohesive.

What do you think about my Sugar Skull nails? Do you think I did the prompt justice?

Don’t forget that you can follow along with all the designs this month by checking out #glamnailschallengeoct25 on Instagram. There are so many beautiful designs to see, I definitely recommend taking a peek!

Happy Monday

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Skyscraper (Fall 2011 Metro Collection)

Good morning lovelies & happy first Sunday of October. It’s a beautiful Autumn day, I’ve been jamming to Taylor Swift’s new album for the last two days, & I’m currently enjoying my maple brown sugar coffee. It’s a good day! I’m also excited for another Swatch Sunday.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t really been in the mood to buy new nail polish. Maybe I just need a trip to Sally Beauty, but my usual haunts are not really cutting it right now. However, the plus side of me not buying new polish, is I’ve been going through my current stash a lot more often & finding long forgotten about gems — like today’s polish pick. This is China Glaze Skyscraper from their Metro Collection from Fall 2011.

2 coats + top coat

Once upon a time, purple used to be my signature colour (after red, of course) & as a result I spent many years buying every purple, or purple leaning, polish I could get my hands on. Skyscraper is a gorgeous dark blue/indigo jelly base packed full of silver & blue micro glitters. Some of the pictures of swatches of this shade I’ve seen seem more blue than my bottle, but maybe that’s the result of it being 10+ years old (I can’t remember exactly when I bought it, but I did post about it here.)

Close up shot to see all those glitters. I only did 2 coats on my nails for swatches, but you could definitely do another coat for even thicker glitter — or sponge it on to make it really glittery! I was happy with the opacity I had after two coats though, & especially happy with how easy the formula was to apply The first coat goes on very thin, but that second one saves it & gives it a beautiful finish. Will I enjoy removing this glitter? Well we will have to see.

But I do love wearing it!

What do you think about China Glaze Skyscraper? Do you own this shade? What do you think about the colour?

China Glaze has long been one of my favourite go to brands (I own a drawer & a half of their polishes!) but I feel like I haven’t really checked out the new revamp they recently did. I’m definitely going to have to go to my local Sally’s & check out the new bottles & polishes they’ve released!

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

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Deep Wine Red with Sparkly Glitter Placement

Good morning lovelies & happy Friday! & happy The Life of a Showgirl release day to my fellow swifties! I’m going to one of the showings tonight with a friend for the album, after I get off work, & we decided to go in blind without pre-listening, so today is going to be a serious test of my willpower!

But in the meantime, how about a little sparkle. We are in full October vibes now, & while I am having so much fun doing Halloween designs for the Glam Nails Challenge, I thought I would switch it up a bit with just a little dark glitter placement.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle)
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Revlon Color Stay Gel Envy Heartbreaker
  • Essie Nail Art Studio Glitter Separated Starlight

Okay I don’t want to sound too conceited, but like how freaking glamorous do these nails look? I absolutely adore how they turned out. The sparkle is kind of subtle, but not subtle. It’s definitely an everyday kind of glamour, & perfect for these Autumn October days! Also, no tools required which I always love because sometimes I’m just too tired to spend an hour on something more complex (especially when I have to be up at 5:30am to get ready for work!)

So what do you think of this design? I know it’s not a groundbreaking nail art look, but I think it just looks so pretty. Definitely my go to when I want something chic, but not complex. & just a little bit subtle.

Happy Friday!

🖤