Pink Gel & Floral Nail Art 💖🌸

Hey lovelies! I totally meant to post this manicure last week, but I got knocked out by the cold from hell which left me ravaged & not in the mood to do any posting! But my sinuses are finally recovering, & now I can finally show this fun look I did last week!

I was super curious about doing nail art over my gel manicure base, so I wanted to give it a try. I plan on also doing some nail art using all gel, but I was curious what would happen if you painted some nail art over just gel. (Including topping it with a regular top coat.)

Products used for this manicure: 

  • Olive & June Peel Off Base Coat *
  • Olive & June Gel Polish Base Coat *
  • 2 coats Olive & June Gel Polish XOXO *
  • 1 coat Olive & June Gel Polish Pink Goldfish *
  • Olive & June Gel Polish Top Coat *
  • Sinful Colors Bold Color
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple *
  • Essie Satin Sister
  • Butter London Coming Up Roses *
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool 
  • China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat

**gifted/PR

I think these are so just so pretty! I will say, the quick dry top coat I used (China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat) did dry down in a way that made the nail art flowers almost look like 3D stickers — which I thought I was very cool. I’m curious what would have happened if I had used the Olive & June Gel Top Coat — & I might have to experiment to see what happens!

As I mentioned, I’m still so new to the world of gel, so I’m enjoying playing around with it.

What do you think of this little bit of nail art? Would you like to see me do a series or feature on nail art using only gel nail polishes? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Wednesday

💖

SWATCH SUNDAY — Olive & June Gel Polish XOXO & Pink Goldfish

PR/Gifted

Hello my lovelies & happy Sunday! May is very quickly speeding along — can you believe it? Summer is almost here.

Today I’m excited to share some more polishes I was recently gifted from Olive & June. They reached out to me about trying their Gel Polish system, & I said yes! While I don’t use gel polishes a lot, I’m always curious. They sent me a beautiful PR package with everything I could need to create a beautiful gel manicure, & I’m excited to share two shades with you (& a little review) today!

Products used for this manicure:

  • Olive & June qPeel Off Base Coat
  • Olive & June Gel Polish Base Coat
  • 2 coats Olive & June Gel Polish XOXO
  • 1 coat Olive & June Gel Polish Pink Goldfish
  • Olive & June Gel Polish Top Coat

I’m not well versed with gel polishes — it’s not my usual medium — but I will say I found this system easy to use. I used the provided peel off base coat for easy removal, & then followed directions.

The gel polish itself is pretty opaque. 2 coats of the pink polish XOXO, curing for the 2 minutes between each coat, & then I topped it with the shimmer Pink Goldfish. & then I finished it off with one coat of the Gel top coat.

You have no idea how many compliments I got on this colour! I’ll probably do a quick tutorial video the next time I go to apply this polish just to show how easy the whole system is to use.

The most important steps are cleaning up your cuticles, remembering to remove any oils from your nails with acetone, & making sure not to floor the sides with gel polish. For a first try, with this system I think I did awesome! & I can’t wait to try out all the colours they sent me a— maybe I’ll do a skittle look next!

I’m also so glad for the peel off base coat, because I HATE removing gel polish, so I love an easy removal option.

What do you think of these polishes from Olive & June’s Gel Polish line? Have you tried out their new system yet? Tell me all your thoughts down in the comments below.

🖤

Purple-y Leopard Print

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! It’s hot hot hot out there — feeling close to 40 degrees C today with humidity — so going to need to keep well hydrated!

Today I’m sharing an old classic when it comes to nail art: leopard print. It’s been a while since I wore any leopard on my nails (last September) so I thought I was due!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Here to Stay
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Olive & June House of O&J *Gifted
  • Olive & June How Do You Spell Bougainvillea? *Gifted
  • Olive & June Starshower *Gifted
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Ghouls Night Out *Gifted
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (tiniest size) *gifted
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush *gifted

How cute is this leopard design? I love the colours together, the added sparkle from Starshower in the middle of my leopard spots — just everything. Plus leopard nails are so easy to do, I really should do them more often. I’ve always loved a good spotted pattern; the amount of leopard print clothing I have owned over the years is impressive.

What do you think about this leopard design? Are you a fan of patterned designs like this? As always, leave a comment down below! I love hearing what you think!

🖤

Half Moons & Nail Art Stickers

Good morning lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone had a wonderful week! It’s almost the weekend, which is looking to be wet & rainy. Not so much fun for summer. But I have a fun, bright Summery look to share with you!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Here to Stay
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Swoon in the Lagoon
  • Essie In The Cab-ana
  • Assorted nail art stickers (including some from Olive & June)

Okay, I’ll be honest — I’m not a 100% sure how I feel about this look. I love my half moons, because I always love a good half moon design, but I’m not sure how I feel about the addition of my little nail art stickers. I’m not sure if they mesh together, or clash, but I really wanted to do something different.

What do you think about this sticker half moon design? I’m really trying to come up with newer nail art designs, but after 10 years of this blog, I’m getting a bit stuck on what to do. Maybe I should break out my stamping plates again, & see what fun patterned nails I can come up with!

Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend!

🖤

Olive & June Summer Stripes

•contains pr/gifted product•

Hello beauties & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a lovely start to their day so far. It’s rainy but warm here in Halifax, so typical Summer weather for us. Today I’m showing off another fun design I did using some recently gifted nail polish from Olive & June.

I was feeling a stripe-y beach towel inspired look, & I thought the Summer collection from Olive & June would be perfect for that! For this look, I started my stripes over my bare nails & drew on the stripes for each colour individually. It was definitely time consuming, but I think the end result turned out perfect!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer
  • Top Coat: Olive & June Long Lasting Top Coat
  • Olive & June Not A Cloud
  • Olive & June House of O&J
  • Olive & June Flowerpot
  • Olive & June How Do You Spell Bougainvillea?
  • Olive & June Bocce Ball
  • Olive & June Starshower
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (I used the 11mm size)

I think this manicure really shows off how concessive this whole collection is. The colours really do all compliment each other, & I quite enjoy them! Like I said, this design was pretty time consuming to get right, but I think in the end is came together perfectly.

I also tried to sneak in some Starshower but it was much harder to draw stripes off! Next time, I would probably use it as my base shade, & draw my stripes over top with a little bit of naked sparkle peeking out from underneath.

What do you think of this stripe design? Do you like this combination of colours? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

happy Wednesday! ♥︎