Cozy Plaid & Reindeer Nails

Happy Monday Lovelies!

Hope everyone is having a nice start to their week so far. I’ve already enjoyed a nice vegan nog latte, & got our shopping for the next few weeks done. Today, I have some more festive nails to share with you, this time inspired by an older manicure by an older manicure by @nbnailart (which I rediscovered via Pinterest.) I really really liked the mix of the plaid, & the gold & the reindeer head, so I decided to create my own version of it!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Orly Decades of Dysfunction
  • Essie After School Boy Blazer
  • Essie Mosaic On Down
  • Color Club Art Club Pink Pastel
  • Unnamed Kozmic Kolours Pink (from Dollarama)
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 to save 10!)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

First off, I’m really feeling this colour combination, which gives me cosy Winter vibes. While I’m definitely feeling the shift towards holiday & Christmas inspired nail art, I don’t want to go Full Christmas just yet (aka red & green everything) so I feel like this colour scheme is a good start. You still get holiday vibes, without going overboard. That being said, I’m still going to be adding coconut Nog to my coffee & listening to Glee Christmas albums on repeat haha.

Second, I am really in love with how this plaid turned out. I always feel like my plaid attempts can get a little busy, so I was impressed with how these turned out following the original. Definitely how I’m going to be approaching my plaid nails from now on! & I will totally be doing a green & red plaid using this method…. soon. Probably after December 1st.

What do you think about this design? What Christmas/Winter/Holiday designs are you planning on doing this year? With the world being so scary, & uncertain, I’m definitely going to spend a good amount of time calming my brain by coming up with fun looks to share! I don’t know if I’ll be able to do 1 a day, but I’m hoping to do a great variety for the month of December, plus GlamNailsChallengeDecember, so stay tuned!

Dainty Matte Freehand Tribal Print

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to their week. We’re almost mid-way through November, which is crazy, & I’m going through a bit of a nail art lull.

The other night I decided to play around with some freehanding, & came up with this fun, dainty tribal print look! I also pulled out my matte top coat, because it’s been so long since I used it! I feel like it really finished this look off perfectly!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Orly Decades of Dysfunction
  • Quo by Orly Breatheable Aloe, Goodbye!
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ruby Do
  • Color Club Art Club Pink Pastel
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

Honestly, this was just one of those kind of designs where I sit down unsure of what I’m going to do, & just stay playing with lines. Originally I had wanted to do a sweater kind of pattern, but it took on a life of its own, & I love love love how they came together. Plus it gave me a chance to practice my line work, which I haven’t done in a while. The end result was something dainty & beautiful, that I’m kind of in love with. & super proud that I managed to make both hands match!

Also check it out — all the snow is gone. In fact, the weather has been downright balmy the last few days. From snow to almost 20 degree days! It’s so crazy. Guess putting my coconut nog in my coffee was a little premature!

What do you think about this design? What are you wearing on your nails for November? Let me know in the comments below!

#GlamNailsChallengeOct — Black Cats

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today I’m sharing another design for the GlamNailsChallenge for October which is Black Cats 🖤

If you don’t know, I absolutely adore black cats, & I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful black furry baby. So I was very excited to create some black cat inspired nails. I thought about going full spooky Halloween with this look, but I decided to go a little understated & more glam (but still channeling Autumn.)

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry (aka ORLY Space Cadet)
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Starrily Nails Vantablack
  • the Base Coat cat vinyls
  • MyNailsDid Black Cat Decal
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

Again, I know I say this all the time, but I’m totally obsessed with how these nails turned out! My little accent kitties just make me so happy, & I like the minimalistic look of the cats against my base of Essie Ballet Slippers. I have to say, I think I’m going to need it pick up a big bottle of it because it’s becoming one of my favourite bases for nail art. The pale base just makes my little kitties jump out!

Also loving the black & white against the shiftiness of ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry. I honestly own a few bottles from different brands that are all dupes of this shade, but it’s such a good reddish/burgundy duochrome that I can’t help but buy more!

What do you think about my black cat design? Would you rock this design on your nails? Let me know down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Oh Cabana Boy

Hello lovelies & happy Swatch Sunday! I hope you have your sunglasses ready, because you’re going to need them for this one! After way too much Winter, I need some sunshine in my life. So I thought for this weeks Swatch Sunday I’d channel Summer & Valentine’s Day all at once with the perfect neon pink: ORLY Oh Cabana Boy! 🕶

2 coats, no top coat.

The polish itself is the most amazing neon fuchsia hot pink, with this underlying blurple shimmer that you see when you move your fingers. It is very bright, almost blinding! Which, let’s be honest, you want when it comes to a neon. It also dries down to a satin finish, that isn’t quite shiny & isn’t quite matte. Even though I didn’t apply top coat for my swatches, I do feel like it’s coming across shiner than it was in person.

According to my Google research, this shade was originally released as part of the Hot Stuff collection (at least that’s what NailPolishCanada tells me), & the earliest posts I could find online were dating back to around 2011. I picked up this polish for myself at Winners or Marshall’s circa 2015 (I think) as I do with most of my ORLY shades.

You know, pink isn’t really a shade I wear on it’s own very often — usually, if I’m going to wear it, it’s part of nail art. BUT this pink is one I could definitely make an exception for! It’s nice to change things up sometimes & break out of your comfort zone.

What do you think about ORLY Oh Cabana Boy? Do you have this beautiful neon in your collection? What do you plan on wearing for Valentine’s Day (if you celebrate)?

Let me know in the comments below! 💗

Messy Stripes

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Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! Today I’m sharing my first official nail art of 2020! Crazy isn’t it? I’ve been slow to share nail art so far this year, not because I haven’t been doing any (I have), but because I’ve really been reflecting on where I want Coffee & Nail Polish to go this year.

Obviously nail polish is the first first love of this blog, but it’s not only where my heart lives. For a while, I’ve been thinking about expanding my content & sharing my other loves beside nail polish & my favourite caffeinated beverages — for example: fashion, other non polish beauty products, etc. & I’ve been kind of scared about expanding my content & my blog identity. But this year is all about taking chances so that is what I’m going to do! But don’t worry, if your here for nails I promise that majority of my posts are still going to be nails! Going to start off slow & see what you think!

& now to the nails!

Today’s post is all about stripes. I love a good stripe manicure. Today’s look went a little messy — I was feeling stripes but I’m out of my usual quick dry top coat so I decided to try & freehand them.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Treat Love & Color Gloss Fit (cleat)
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • ORLY Decades of Dysfunction
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable The Antidote
  • Revlon Iconic
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Sheer Luck
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush(COFFEE10 to save 10%)

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For my thicker stripes I used the polish bottle brushes & for the thinner stripes I used my detail brush from NailStuff. They’re definitely not perfect, but I feel like the imperfection of the stripes kind of makes the whole look come together. It’s the kind of stripes you would see on a cute boho pillow or something, which is a vibe j can definitely get behind & adore. Also the grey & pink & wine combo is one that just feels so perfect for January when life just feels so much more muted, you know?

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I also feel like these stripes would be the most perfect beginning to a tribal/Aztec look. Had I had more time, I probably would have tried it. But these nails were on a time crunch — which I feel like most of my manicures are lately — so I created my stripes, applied my top coat, & then hoped I didn’t ruin them as I went to sleep. I do love the lasting power of Sally Hansen MG top coat, but it really doesn’t have the super quick drying power of some of the other top coats I used. Definitely need to pick up my OG favourite, aka Essie Gel Setter, ASAP.

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I’m seriously digging this look. I’m not sure what direction I want to take my nail art this year — I definitely want to create more fun looks, if you know what I mean. & floral. There is nothing more I love in the dead of winter, than a good floral design!

Have a lovely Tuesday darlings! 💜