GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE APRIL — Rainbow 🌈

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope your day is starting off beautifully. Today I’m in a great mood because I’m sharing another beautiful manicure for Glam Nails Challenge April.

& what is the next prompt? Rainbow 🌈

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • Holographic Top Coat: Starrily Eclipse
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Cerulean (pinky)
  • Sinful Colours Fitspo
  • OPI Nature Strong Make my Daisy (middle)
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fiery Island (pointer)
  • Essie Too Too Hot (thumb)

How pretty is this rainbow? I thought about hand painting a rainbow, but there is just something about a skittle design. I totally could have freehanded little white ‘s’ in the middle of each nails, & they would have been legit skittles! Simple, but effective.

Also the kiddos loved the look so much, they asked me to give them both rainbow nails! So here is a bonus shot of their fun rainbow nails. Even though I sometimes get a little on edge painting their nails — mostly because they hate sitting still — I do adore anytime they ask for me to paint their nails!

What do you think of these rainbow nails? Are you a fan of a rainbow skittle look? Let me know down in the comments below!

& just for fun: what is your favourite skittle flavour. I’m controversial because I will die on the hill that the green apple skittle was the best, especially in sour, but I know not everyone shares that opinion.

Have a lovely Monday!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Sunday Funday

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautifully sunny, albeit freaking chilly, Sunday here on my part of the East Coast. Winter seems to be lingering now. So I thought I would remind myself of better, warmer days with an old favourite Essie shade for this week’s Swatch Sunday post — Sunday Funday.

It was originally released as part of the Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection.

2 coats + Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat

For a polish which has been in my stash for (I think) at least 8 years, she applied like a dream. I needed to shade my bottle a bit, since it had settled leaving the colour weird, but I found it had no effect once it was on the nail — you can see in the bottle there is still some colour separation showing.

The polish itself is a beautiful pinky coral, with a gold glass shimmer. It gives it a nice sparkle. I had a bit of trouble with photographing, as everything was photographing really yellow, but I think that’s a phone camera issue rather than a polish issue. These pictures are definitely as colour accurate as I could get.

As mentioned, this shade was originally released in 2013. It was part of the core collection for a while, I do believe, but Essie lists it as no longer available on their website sadly. I did find a listing for it on Sparkle Canada, but I’ve never bought from them so I’m not sure how legit that is. Obviously, if it’s a shade you need to have, Ebay always might have it, as well as any nail polish clearance bins.

What do you think about this punchy Essie shade? Are you are ready for Spring & Summer shades as I am ready to share them? Let me know what you think of Essie Sunday Funday! & I hope you have a Sunday Funday (that’s just fun to say) too!

♥︎

Nail Art Warriors for Maria (@so_nailicious)

Hello lovelies.

Today’s post is a special one for a very special member of the nail art community. Maria, aka @so_nailicious, has been a huge inspiration in the nail art world for a long time, & a personal nail art inspiration to me since I really started painting my nails. Over the last year, she has been facing some really tough health battles as she was diagnosed with MS, & as a result been forced to stop doing things that once brought her joy… like painting her nails. So Magda (@redheadnails) banded a group of us together so do some very special manicures in her honour, & I absolutely had to jump at the opportunity!

The colours orange & blue were chosen — orange, which is the colour for MS awareness, & blue which is a colour Maria loves. We also went with a “power” theme, to inspire & show off the strength that Maria is showing in her fight against this heart wrenching disease.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue (the original formula)
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure One in a Melon
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Pump-kid
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
  • Essence “Stamp It!” plate
  • Unknown stamping plate (bought as part of a set of Dollarama in my early nail art days)

As I mentioned, I was super proud to do these nails in honour of Maria, as her nails & nail art has been an inspiration of mine for a long time, & I wanted to show even though she may be struggling right now & unable to do one of the things she loves, she’s still inspiring her friends in the nail art community everyday!

Check out #nailartwarriorsformaria on Instagram to see all the other beautiful & empowering manicures!

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER— Scary Pumpkins

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! & happy prompt #2 of Glam Nails Challenge October! I’m loving this challenge so much already — it really plays into my spooky heart.

Today’s prompt is Scary Pumpkins. 🎃 Although, my pumpkins definitely turned out a little less scary, & a little more cute. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts haha.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fast Dry Top Coat
  • China Glaze Spice to Meet You
  • Starrily Eclipse
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

I had this idea about holo pumpkins, & I really like Starrily Eclipse over China Glaze Spice to Meet You from last years China Glaze Fall collection. It gave me the perfect holographic base for my “scary” pumpkin faces. I also love the sparkle. I’m definitely going through a holo & sparkle faze right now.

& my thumb, because I really like how his face turned out.

Are you following along with Glam Nails Challenge October, & the prompts so far. You can follow #glamnailschallengeoct on Instagram for all the fun prompts to come. I’m really looking forward to creating some new nail art looks for this year, so stay tuned! There is a reason October is my favourite month!

Have an awesome day lovelies!

SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI First Date at the Golden Gate

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely & enjoyable weekend. I’m excited because I’m really embracing all the Autumn vibes with today’s Swatch Sunday pick. I know, I know… it’s still Summer. But my pumpkin spice loving heart is ready for more, & today’s polish pick is definitely filling the void.

Today I’m rocking OPI First Date at the Golden Gate which was originally released as part of the 2013 Fall/Winter collection (so perfect for Fall almost 9 years later!) This shade came to me during a Chatters sale, although I can’t exactly remember. The bottle is dusty though, so she’s definitely been around a while.

3 coats, no top coat.

The formula on this shade is soft & smooth, & applied to the nail easily. I did have to go with 3 coats of polish, as it was a bit on the thin side, but they dried surprisingly fast. This is always a bonus when you have to apply anything more than 2 coats.

I also like how syrup-y the finish looks, even without top coat.

The colour of this one seems absolutely perfect for Fall & I can’t believe I haven’t really reached for it much this time of year. First, it’s a not-quite-red — & we all know I adore read nail polish! But the shade has this burnt quality, with brown undertones, which reminds me of when the leaves shift around the end of September, beginning of October.

& that’s my favourite time of year!

What do you think about OPI First Date at the Golden Gate? Do you have this beauty in your collection? Do you enjoy me posting these throwback Fall collection shades? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!