Half Moons & Gold Studs 

Happy Monday! How was everyone else’s weekend? We’ve been starting to pack for moving which is about as much fun as it sounds… I hate packing & I hate moving. (& I haven’t even starting thinking about moving my 1000+ nail polishes yet.) 

So what am I sharing to cheer myself up after a packing haze? One of my favourite go-to designs—the half moon. & thought I’d share a quick pictorial on how easy these actually are to create! & no special vinyls are needed!

The products used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Fancy Pants
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • NailStuff.ca gold Mixed Decoration Nail Wheel

Paint your base colour & apply quick dry top coat. Let dry completely, roughly about 20 minutes depending on the top coat you use. 

Once your nails are completely dry, pull out your pack of paper hole reinforcements & apply at the base of your nail. Make sure to press down at each end. 

Repeat on all 5 nails. I always do one hand at a time. 

Press down each side of hole reinforcement (to make sure polish won’t bleed under) & then quickly paint second colour over top. A one coat polish works best, but she make sure base colour is covered. 

Immediately remove your reinforcement. 

Repeat steps on all fingers & then seal in design with top coat. Bam! Almost instant half moons (with a few steps in between). I loved the blue with purple but I wanted to add a little more of a snazzy finish to my nails. I’ve been obsessing about this wheel of nail studs lately adding it to a lot of my manicures lately so I figured it would be the perfect addition to this design. 

For my accent nail, I applied some blobs of coat, then picked up my studs with a wet nail art brush & arranged them. I always make sure to pull my studs out of the wheel ahead of applying them, as it takes less time trying to find them. Also, sometimes you will have to dab on more clear polish/top coat to make sure the studs stick. Also I always seal my studs in with top coat so no edges catch & get pulled off. 

What do you think of this half moon? How do you create your half moon designs? Let me know in the comments below! 🌙

October Monthly Mani Favourites 💅🏻


Can you believe that October is over? I feel like I just blinked, & suddenly it was over! Now comes November & the beginning hints of the Christmas season. But before we start thinking ahead… let’s look back on my favourite manicures from the last month! 

Did you favourite make the cut? What designs  are you looking forward to seeing in November? Let me know in the comments below! 

Happy Halloween with Wonder Woman Nails! 💫

Happy Halloween everyone! I can’t believe it’s already Halloween 🎃 — how crazy is that? This year I was dedicated to doing a family Justice League costume with the hubs & our little Bubs so I could wear my Wonder Woman costume again! & obviously that means I needed to have nails that matched. 

Originally I was going to try for full on Justice League Nails with all the hero symbols but… my freehand skills are just not that good. I started & realized it would probably take me 14 hours & multiple attempts so I decided to go the easier route & just go Wonder Woman. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Boho Green Make Up Pacific Ocean
  • L’Oréal Color Riche Carmin Parisien 
  • Color Club Almost Famous
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • UR Sugar Star Nail Stencil item #AUB39877 — Click to buy
  • NailStuff.ca gold triangle studs — Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel 
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

I love, love, love how these turned out. I had a bit different idea going into this mani but even though these are different than who I originally planned, I think they turned out WAY better than what I was thinking I was going to do… & say Wonder Woman much more! I was super scared to attempt that W symbol, but I think it turned out great. & these are going to compliment my costume perfectly. 


 🎃 whether you plans involve trick or treating, handing out candy or just hiding inside with a box of mini candies (or anything else!) I hope you have the best Halloween ever. For those who follow me on Instagram I’ll make sure to post a picture of my nails & my costume together later on! 

🖤

Mermaid Inspired Glitter Gradient using NailStuff.ca Flakies

Guess what! I have anothe review of one of the items sent to me from Nailstuff.ca. This time I’m sharing these beautiful irredentist flakies. 

Now I know I said I would share more Halloween looks & these aren’t spooky, but I thought this would be an awesome look for anyone going with a unicorn or mermaid look for Halloween! I know I can’t be the only one whose costume (or outfit in general) isn’t complete until her nails are done!

Okay, I’ll be honest—I’ve never used loose flakies before so I was going into this as a newbie. I knew I wanted to create a glitter gradient with them, so I glanced around at a few posts on Pinterest & Instagram until I felt confident enough I could achieve the look I wanted.

  1.  I started off by painting my nails with a base of Essence Out of Space Stories Intergalactic Adventure & let it dry. I chose this shade because I thought it would compliment the shift in these gorgeous flakies. 
  2. Apply liquid latex around cuticles. I used Edge Perfection to keep the flakies from spreading to my skin during application. 
  3. After about 10ish minutes, I took a little bit of clear polish & applied it at the base of my nails so they would be a bit “sticky”. Like I said I’ve never used these before so I wasn’t sure if this was a necessary step. 
  4. Next I opened up my little pot of flakies & using the little eyeshadow sponge provided, pressed the flakies down at the base of my nail. I also brushed lightly up the nail to create the gradient effect.
  5. Peel off your liquid latex & seal in your whole nail with top coat—I used Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat. I think using Matte top coat would also look beautiful! 
  6. Time to get distracted by your pretty shifty mermaid-esque nails. 

These flakies were a lot easier to apply than I thought they would be! You can see I got the hang of things are I went along with my pinky being my first nail & working towards my thumb. I think using a light touch really makes a huge difference on how they turn out. Also, I’m definitely going to try not applying the clear polish this time to see how well they go on. I feel like it made an extra step that wasn’t necessarily needed, so I’ll keep you updated!


Check out that shift! 😍 Had to include a shot of these nails in action because you really see how gorgeous they are in motion. & this mani totally matches my Starbucks multichrome “nail blogger” cup from a couple of years ago. Which is obviously the perfect excuse to fill up on iced lattes! 

If you’re curious about checking out these flakies for yourself, you can order these (& many more) straight from the NailStuff.ca website! Don’t forget that all Canadian orders over $29 have free shipping, & all US & International orders over $49 are free shipping. 

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own

Nail Art Goodies from NailStuff.ca & my first experience with Water Decals. 

I’m back from my vacation, & while I enjoyed being away I definitely missed home! I was also excited to arrive home because I knew I had some nail mail waiting for me! My hubby was sweet enough to open my packages for me on a video Facechat, which added to my excitement. I couldn’t wait to get home & play with these goodies.

One of the parcels I received was from the new nail art site in town: nailstuff.ca! I’d recently seen items from them popping up on my Instagram feed, & when they offered to send me a few items to try out I couldn’t say no! I received a sheet of nail water decals, a sheet of nail stickers,  a wheel of nail art studs, & three little tubs of glitter (silver, holo pigment & flakies.)

First up, I had to try out the Halloween themed water decals!

This was my first expirence using water decals. I’ve bought them before, but never actually used them. Thankfully these decals came with very clear instructions to make applying them easy. Here’s what I did to apply the water decals (as a first time user):

  1. I started off by painting my base shade (China Glaze Swanky Silk topped with Revlon Holographic Pearls) & letting dry.
  2. While my polish was drying I grabbed a cup of room temperature water & scissors.
  3. Once my Base was dry, I cut out my desired designs & dunked them in the water for 10-20 seconds. I recommend doing this with tweezers.
  4. Pull out your design & using a dry finger pick up the design carefully. Make sure your finger is dry, or else your decal will crinkle up.
  5. Immediately press the decal down on your base. You only get one try with this, so make sure you’re putting it down where you want it.
  6. The instructions recommend using a blow dryer to dry your decal, but I found if you wanted a minute or two it also worked.
  7. Seal in your decal with top coat. I used Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat.

These decals were surprisingly easy to use even though I had no prior experience with them. They sit so flawlessly on the nail, you don’t have to worry about them sticking up or peeling off (after you seal them in with top coat). They are a quick & easy way to spruce up a basic colour & would look even more awesome over a gradient! There are also a whole variety of different design options in a variety of shapes & sizes for whatever look you’re craving.

Nailstuff.ca is based out of Canada, so shipping is a lot faster some than those other nail art companies, & it’s free shipping for Canadian orders over $29 & US & international orders over $45.

Even better, they’re currently having a promo that if you use coupon code SCARYNAILS you’ll save 15% off all scary nail items for all your Halloween nail needs. So if you haven’t checked out them yet, I definitely recommend giving their site a look & stocking up!

Stay tuned because I have lots more goodies to review!

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own