Pink Vintage Roses

Good morning lovelies & I hope you’re having a lovely Thursday. The weekend is so close you can’t almost taste it!

Today I’ve got some brand new nail art that I haven’t done in a while–roses! I was feeling inspired by this pretty pink polish & decided that some vintage rose inspired nail art would look so pretty over it! (& maybe I was feeling slightly girlie & romantic.)

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Bamboo & Green Tea Strengthener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ACO by Ardene Flawless
  • Kiss Nail Art Striper in White
  • Essie Peach Daiquiri
  • China Glaze Life is Rosy
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Racing Rose
  • QUO by ORLY Breathable The Antidote
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie First Timer
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool set & nail art brushes

So very in love with how these turned out, even if it’s been so long since I created roses that I’m a little rusty. But it’s like riding a bike: you never really forget how to do it, just takes some practice to get steady again.

I will say, having teeny tiny detail brushes really does make a huge difference in creating your petals, so a micro detail brush like THIS can give you a very realistic finished product! Same thing goes for your leaves–I feel like my floral designs have gotten so much better since I got amazing brushes. So it’s definitely worth it to invest in fantastic brushes & I’m lucky enough that I have received some fantastic detail brushes from NailStuff that have brought my floral designs to another level!

What do you think of this floral design? Would you like to see me attempting more florals again? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Wham! Pow!

Good Afternoon lovelies & Happy Swatch Sunday! I know I missed last week, so I’m back this week with a colour totally out of my comfort zone–Color Club Wham! Pow!

According to NailPolishCanada, this shade was originally released as part of the Poptastic collection. I picked up my bottle in clearance at my favourite pharmacy, for only $1.99, but you can find this shade online for a mere fraction of its original cost.

This shade is very neon, like highlighter orange neon, which obviously made for a difficult time while trying to photograph in my light box with my iPhone. For my swatches, I did 2 coats of base coat, 2 coats of polish & finished with a glossy top coat.

I was super impressed with the formula–sometimes Neons can be less than easy to apply with super thin formulas that need white undies, or they drag really bad, & need too many coats, but Wham! Pow! went on with only 2 easy coats. The first was kind of patchy, but the second coat filled everything in & levelled beautifully.

This colour is definitely out of my comfort zones–usually when I pick oranges I go for more coral shades as opposed to something so bright & neon, but I was feeling in the mood for something different! I do like how shades like this always make you look more tan than you actually are.

& below is what I did with my swatch: I added some holo glitter with both Sally Hansen Make It N-ice & Quo by ORLY Falling Star. You can also see how the colour shows more truly in the sunshine versus the photos in my light box.

what do you think of today’s Swatch Sunday pick? Would you rock this colour? Let me know in the comments below!

My Nails & My Cup — Holo Gradient Nails

Are you guys sick of the holo yet? I certainly hope not because I have another mani to share–this time I created a Holo gradient to match my new-ish tumbler that I picked up at Claire’s on clearance for $2. It came with cute little manicure tools inside, so I had to have it!

I posted on Instagram the other day what nail art I should do on my naked nails, while holding the above cup, & received an overwhelming amount of responses saying I should match my cup… so that’s what I decided to do!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze BFF
  • Color Club Eternal Beauty
  • China Glaze 2Nite
  • Quo by ORLY Falling Star
  • Latex free make up sponge
  • Creating the holo gradient may have been one of the easiest gradients I’ve ever done! I don’t know if it’s the sparkle or formula or what, but I was as to sponge on each colour separately (which kept from making a big old mess around my cuticles) & they blended together seamlessly!
  • I know the cup has a whole bunch of rhinestones, but I definitely did not have enough on hand to apply to my fingers (or enough colours that would match) so I decided a couple coats of a scattered holo top coat could give a similar look, so I grabbed Quo by Orly Falling Star because I find the glitters larger than some of my other holo toppers (like China Glaze Fairy Dust). Gave off just enough extra sparkle on the nail without being distracting!
  • so what do you think of the holo gradient? Which colour combination do you think I should try out next? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

    Red Floral Nails for World Hemophilia Day

    Good morning lovelies! Today I’ve got some brand new nail art to share with you, which was created with a special cause in mind. Today, April 17th, is World Hemophilia Day & my friend Victoria from @hitchingsandstitchings reached out to her friends in the polish community to wear red nail polish (or nail art!) today as her two beautiful little guys have this condition. Even though my nail art has been sparse at best the last few months, I know I had to join in the help spread awareness for this cause!

    & obviously I couldn’t just wear red polish… there had to be some nail art involved. & what looks better with red polish than roses.

    For this design, the polishes I used were:

    • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
    • Top Coat: Seche Vive
    • China Glaze Seas the Day
    • Essie Blanc
    • Sally Hansen Red it Online
    • Sally Hansen Berry Fancy
    • China Glaze Life is Rosy
    • Sally Hansen Terracotta
    • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Black
    • Essie First Timer
    • Essie Off Tropic
    • Quo by ORLY Detox my Socks Off
    • NailStuff.ca dotting tool
    • NailStuff.ca detail brush

    I love this combination of reds & even more I love that this nail art was done 100% with love for a great cause. ♥️ & if you’re wearing red nails (or just red in general today!) don’t forget to tag it with #redforHemophilia on Instagram!

    have a lovely Wednesday! ♥️

    Neon Coral Chevron Claws

    Good morning & happy Wednesday. Although we had a freak snowstorm Monday night, so my April is feeling more like a blah January. Never less, I decided that I needed to brighten up my day (& my nails!) & some neon coral chevron claws felt like a good start.

    Anything to shake these snow day blahs. Seriously, it’s April. I need to be able to wear dresses on a daily basis.

    For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

    • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
    • Top Coat: Seche Vive
    • Quo by ORLY Breathable Aloe, Goodbye
    • Claire’s Nail Polish Sorbet Coral
    • Snailvinyls Deep Chevron Vinyls (discontinued)

    As you can see, there are a few bubbles around my coral chevrons, but that’s a result of the matte polish drying before I had a chance to remove the vinyls which left the polish lifted slightly, hence the bubbles. But oh well! I just love how these turned out! The pop of coral over the grey base really makes them stand out.

    I seriously love this look & I love how easy it was. I used to use straight vinyls & line them up on my nails in order to make my claws, but these deep chevrons are so much easier & faster! Sad that SnailVinyls has moved on, but I do know What’s Up Nails & TwinkledT also have some deep V vinyls to make this look super simple.

    what’s the weather like where you are? Is it feeling like Spring? What are you wearing on your nails right now? Share in the comments below!