Category: Personal

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Remembrance Day Poppies

Hello lovelies. Hope everyone is having a good week so far. We’re officially half way to the weekend! Today in Canada though, it’s Remembrance Day which a solemn day where we stop to remember those who have served in the military & sacrificed their own lives during War.

This year is strange because most of the Remembrance Day ceremonies that we would attend are now, understandably, being presented online because of COVID precautions. This is also the first Remembrance Day without my grandfather, who was a veteran. So I really wanted to do something special to mark the day, & I decided to recreate a poppy design I did a few years back.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essence Miracle Stone
  • Sally Hansen CSM Warm Regards
  • Sally Hansen CSM Red My Lips
  • Sally Hansen CSM Red Over Heels
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

I like this design because it’s subtle, respectful & not too in your face. The poppy can be such a controversial item to wear (& where you decide to wear it) so I didn’t want to paint a nail art look that could offend anyone. Coming from a strongly military family, I’ve always made sure to stop & acknowledge the day, & pay my respects to those whose sacrifices ensured my freedoms.

What do you think of this look? Do you honour Remembrance Day in your part of the world? Let me know in the comments below.

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Recreating my Wedding Nails (Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!)

Happy Wednesday lovelies! Not only is today the middle of the week & halfway to the weekend, but today marks 3 years since I married my best friend. If you’ve been around originally, you may remember my original post featuring the nails on our special day.

Naturally, I wore a floral design–which is a surprise to no one. & in honour of this day, I decided I really wanted to recreate my original design. & spoiler: I love it just as much today as I did on this date 3 years ago.

For my recreation of this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Suite Retreat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel After Altar
  • L’Oréal Getting Kilty
  • Julep Vivien
  • Sally Hansen CSM Killer Heels
  • Sally Hansen CSM Red It Online
  • Sally Hansen CSM Rose To the Occasion
  • Sally Hansen CSM Blush Against The World
  • Quo by ORLY the Antidote
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Quo by ORLY Diva
  • Essie Sew Psyched
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Art Brush
  • Dotting Tools

I’ve written before how much I love going back to recreating my manicures, & I’m so glad I got to do the same for this one. I know some people go for more classic wedding & bridal manicures, but it just felt more “me” to do a full floral look (with something blue & a gold accent nail.) & no matter how much time passes, I don’t see myself ever getting “over” floral nail art. It’s just too perfect.

How did you wear your nails for your wedding day? Did you go more classic or a little more fun? (& for those planning to get married soon, do you know how you’re wearing your nail yet?)

& for fun, a few pictures from our wedding day ♥️

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My Husband Paints my Nails for Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day lovelies!

Today I have a special & fun post I’ve been hoping to do for a while. I’ve been trying to convince my husband he should paint my nails FOREVER (probably as long as we’ve been together), & he finally agreed to do it in honour of Valentine’s Day!   I really wanted to record to whole thing, but I figured it was enough that he was doing them all at so I didn’t want to push my luck too much.  But I did manage to take a few pictures of the whole experience, just for fun! After all, it’s not often someone else does my nails!
Continue reading “My Husband Paints my Nails for Valentine’s Day”

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Bestie Twin Baby Boy Birthday Nails with @hjs_nails

Happy Tuesday lovelies! Today I have a very special nail collab to share with you. One of the most amazing things about the nail community is the way it brings people together. Last August I did a mani swap with Hannah from @hjs_nails & we bonded over the fact we both had baby boys in February. Since our beautiful little guys share a birthday month we decided to team up & do some Bestie Twin Baby Boy Birthday Nails in their honour.

How handsome do our little guys look hanging out beside their special birthday manicures! For our designs, Hannah & I created a fun celebratory design featuring a gradient dotticure (to represent confetti), some balloons & the number one. Hannah had painted her nail design first, so I followed her polish picks to match the best I could.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • ORLY Decades of Dysfunction
  • Essie Strut Your Stuff
  • Essie Too Too Hot
  • L’Oreal Feeling Kilty
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster
  • Small dotting tool from Bundle Monster

How cute did this design turn out?! The colour combination reminds me of a race car, which is perfection when celebrating baby boys. My little guys birthday isn’t until Thursday, but it still works because on this day last year I was on day 2 of my 54 hour labour! It’s kind of crazy to believe that I am almost the Mom of a one year old. This year has certainly been a whirl wind, & it definitely hasn’t been easy to balance Mom-life with non-Mom life (like blogging & doing my nails) but I wouldn’t trade it. It’s been a very interesting adventure.

My nails & my 9 pound baby boy.

Hope you liked this design! & don’t forget to pop over to Hannah’s instagram (@hjs_nails) & give her mani some love too!

Have a happy Tuesday! 🎈🎉🎁

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Christmas Cookie Mani Swap

Happy Monday!

Today is National Cookie Day & I have a super exciting post to share! Sarah aka @25sweetpeas brought together 8 nail bloggers to create a Christmas cookie & mani swap! Christmas is the time of year for swapping cookies with friends & Sarah brought us all together to create our favourite Christmas cookies & a manicure based on them! Below you can see all the nail bloggers that were involved:

Such a great group of girls & we all came up with such unique Christmas cookies! & even better Sarah gathered everything together into a downloadable magazine to feature our recipes & our nails. This is definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever been apart of & Sarah went beyond in creating this cool magazine featuring all these recipes & nail designs. Down below I’ve featured 2 different ways you can check out this magazine!

Download Here
Continue reading “Christmas Cookie Mani Swap”