GlamnailschallengeOct—Spiders 🕸

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We are almost halfway through the month, can you believe it? & Happy Thanksgiving to all my Fellow Canadians celebrating today with Turkey, Tofurky or whatever else you’re making for the occasion.

Today I have another look for GlamnailschallengeOct! Today’s prompt is Spiders, which is quite possibly my least favourite thing in the whole wide world, but a popular choice this time of year for nail art. & I do seem to do some kind of Spider web look each year, as it’s a time honoured Halloween classic.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Nicole by OPI Totally in the Dark
  • White Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

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Okay, so regardless of my phobia toward legit spiders (& their sticky webs), I am really loving how these turned out. These turned out much more delicate than some of my previous spider web attempts, which I’m very happy about. Turns out good nail art brushes really make a huge difference in how nail art turns out! My nail art brushes from NailStuff.ca has really improved how my nail art looks & has brought my freehanding to another level… even when I’m on a nap time time crunch. Also I fought it for a longtime, but using acrylic paint also really helps with upping the look, probably because it doesn’t dry as quickly as nail polish does.

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Halloween manicures make me so happy, even ones involving spiders (ick). This would definitely be a fun manicure to wear for a witchy Halloween costume, or something like Mortica. I have quite decided what I’m being for Halloween, although Kenneth tells me I’m being a princess, but if I go with a spooky look I may have to recreate this! I did end up wearing this manicure for a good 5 days.

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What do you think about this spider design? Are you already planning your spooky Halloween designs? Don’t forget to keep checking out #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram for everyone else’s amazing designs this month!

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month 💜

The month of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, & my fellow girls in #thenailartsquad & I wanted to create some manicures to bring awareness to this terrible disease that has touched so many of us. 

The color for Pancreatic Awareness Month is purple, so we grabbed a selection of our favourite purples. 

 For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Plur-ple 
  • ACO by Ardene Ice Mist
  • Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Essence Nail Art Stampy Set stamping plate. 

For my design, I picked to go with purple hearts. Like so many, I’ve lost someone I loved to this terrible disease—-when I was just a little girl, my Poppy was diagnosed & passed away from pancreatic cancer. I don’t remember much about him sadly, except from pictures & home movies. 

This is why I think it’s such an important cause to bring attention to because I feel like so many people have lost someone they love way too soon. 

We’d love for anyone out there who would like to bring awareness to Pancreatic Cancer to join us in posting a purple design using the hashtag #pancreaticcancerawarenessmonth

 Silver Chevron Claws 

I did not fall off the face of the planet, I swear. This weekend was busy with family Thanksgiving, trying to get our apartment ready for showing (we’re moving soon!) & dealing with a super upset stomach that left me with no energy for blogging. I decided to take a little break to recoup, wear some glitter on my nails. I’m finally feeling a little bit better, so I wanted to get a blog post up! & what’s better to blog about than chevron claws! 

For this manicure, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Nails INC St Martian’s Lane
  • Nicole by OPI Phil’s Paradise 
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Snail Vinyls Deep Single Chevron Nail Vinyls

This design is very reminiscent of my very first chevron moon design, colour wise. Comparing the two, I’ve definitely come a long way since those early days! Thank goodness for nail vinyls—I no longer have to create my own triangles in order to get the design right! But hey… it worked. & those first chevron moons are what started my all out obsession with the design, which has obviously lasted all this time! 

I’m feeling like I’m in a bit of a nail art lull right now. Even with Halloween approaching, I’m just struggling to be in the mood to paint my nails anything other than a solid colour (&, even then, I can barely make up my mind on what to wear.) My birthday is coming up on Sunday, so I’m dedicated to doing a fun design in celebration—maybe birthday cupcakes? Good thing I have 5 days to make up my mind! Off to Pinterest I go. 


What do you think of these chevron claws? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! & if you have any birthday nail suggestions for me, please share! 💜

More Fall Leaves! 

Oh yessssss. I swear I’ve been just waiting for September to come back again so I could pull out my Fall leaf nail vinyls. You know my obsession with nail vinyls knows no bounds, & I love that you can pretty much find vinyls or stencils for every occasion & season. These particular leaves vinyls are from The Base Coat (whose site is currently on hiatus) but you can definitely find a ton of different versions of these Autumn themed vinyls with a quick search online.  Xroma Polish & Vinyls sells these uniquely beautiful Autumn stencils while What’s Up Nails sells the more classic Fall leaf stencil.

  • Base Coat: OPI Natual Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat
  • ACO by Ardene Jacob Green
  • Essie Leggy Legend
  • ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry (aka ORLY Space Cadet)
  • Nicole by OPI Best Pink Ever 
  • Revlon Spidey Sense
  • The Base Coat Fall Leaves Vinyls
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge

I love the shiftiness achieved by combining all these shades together & I think they look really great over my base of my swatch of Jacob Green. The shimmer of these metallic shades really pops over the dark green base colour. It’s literally Fall on my nails & just makes me wish I had a pumpkin spice latte & plaid blanket scarf to go along with them. 


What do you think of these Fall Leaves? Would you rock this design while drinking your favourite Fall drink? Let me know what you think (& what your drink of choice is!) in the comments below. 🍂

Gradient Psychedelic Pattern Nails

Am I the only one who does their nails & immediately dubs them “my new favourite nails”? I do it a lot, but in my defence most manicures I do are my favourite. Maybe it’s in part to the fact my nail art skills used to consist of occasionally being able to create semi-straight dots. Either way, these sideways gradient nails featuring the psychedelic pattern vinyls from Xroma Polish & Nails are definitely my new favourite! I don’t think I’ve ever created a gradient so flawless. 

For this manicure, I used: 

  • Base Coat: L’Oréal All In One
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Hard Candy Sky
  • Nicole by OPI Love Son
  • Deborah Lippmann Groove Is In the Heat
  • Essie Under the Twilight
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge 
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Psychedelic Stencils

This gradient just makes me so happy… the colours & the blending just turned out so perfect! & the use of the pattern over top just brings the whole design together (I think at least). Trying to wear as many Summer-y designs as I can before I start feeling the call of Fall, which thanks to my years in retail usually starts around early-mid August. Haha. But in the mean time, I’ll try to stick to a purely Summer pallet. 

What do you think of this gradient/nail vinyls combo? Let me know in the comments below! I have to say, these psychedelic vinyls are definitely my new favourite pattern.