Candy Cane Stripes 🎄🎅

Happy December 1st! Can you believe we’re officially in the last month of 2023? That’s kind of insane. & it’s time to go hard on all the Christmas designs I can paint!

Today’s look is simple but festive. I wanted to create some candy cane inspired nails, as I haven’t done any in a while.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Blanc
  • Quo Beauty Green With Envy
  • Quo Beauty Velveteen
  • ACO by Ardene Dancing Queen
  • 16mm Striper (from NailStuff.ca)

Do you love candy canes? I really like those fun flavour ones (like Nerds, Warheads or Trolli) but less keen on the classic peppermint flavour ones. Maybe I ate too many as a kid? My nails are definitely calling back to those classic candy canes though.

You could definitely use striping tape or vinyls to achieve this look, but for some reason I prefer using my striper brush. With a look like this, I feel like you don’t need to have as clean lines (since candy canes don’t always have the smoothest lines). But these ones definitely turned out better than I could have hoped!

What do you think of these candy cane stripe nails? Are you ready for December & all the holiday nail art content to come? Let me know down in the comments below!

Spring-y Chevron Accent Nail (Featuring Quo Beauty)

Hello loves & happy Tuesday. I hope everyone is having a lovely start to the week. It’s March Break here which means work has been insane — but at least it makes the day go by quickly! They’re also calling for another Winter storm over night, so that’s fun.

But regardless of what it’s doing outside, I’m going to be wearing some Spring-y designs & colours on my nails. & today is no different!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Quo Beauty Tint of Mint
  • Quo Beauty Birthday Suit
  • Quo Beauty Just Peachy
  • Quo Beauty Heaven Sent
  • Snail Vinyls Stacked Chevron Vinyl
  • Small dotting tool

I had this idea in my head of a Springy colours chevron accent nail, & I think it turned out pretty spot on to what I had imagined! The pop of peach/orange are so much fun against the pale pastel of the mint & baby blue. I am pretty much in love with the whole colour pallet!

& I forgot how much I love playing with my nail vinyls. I definitely need to use them more often. I have a pretty big collection, & it makes me sad I don’t use them nearly as much as I should.

What do you think of this Spring-y accent nail? Do you think I should have done all 10 fingers with this pattern? Let me know what you think down below.

Have a killer Tuesday guys! 🖤

L.O.V.E. nails (Happy Valentine’s Day!) 💗

Good morning loves & happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s a snowy Valentine’s Day here in Halifax, after a big dumping of snow. Not super impressed with the weather, but that won’t stop me from sharing my last Valentine’s Day look for this year! I really wanted to do more hearts — like accent hearts — but at the last second I decided to write L.O.V.E in the middle of them. & I’m obsessed.

They’re like heart shaped scrabble tiles! & I love it.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • QUO Beauty Velveteen
  • ACO by Ardene Flawless
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Dotting tool (NailStuff.ca — Dotting Tool Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

I’m not sure why, but I really wants to do heart accent nails at the base of my nails. But when I finished my little pale pink hearts, they looked a little basic, so I decided to outline them in black — my go to for jazzing up a manicure. BUT THEN, I thought: what if I attempted to spell out Love in my hearts. It was a risk, but it turned out so awesome, so I couldn’t be happier!

What do you think about this love themed design? Do you like this simple nail art? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

I hope everyone has a happy Valentine’s Day, & if it’s not your thing then I hope you enjoy tomorrow which is 50% of chocolate day!

♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — QUO Loud & Proud

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautiful, sunny & slightly chilly weekend here on the East Coast. It’s also 2 days until Valentine’s Day, so I went searching for something pink to share for this week’s Swatch Sunday. Pink’s not a colour I wear very often, but one I love to buy. So I thought why not bring out one of those untouched pink’s for this week’s post.

Today’s pick: QUO Beauty Flash Dry Loud & Proud. I picked up this shade last Winter, on clearance–naturally–& have only used it in a couple manicures since. But, since it’s a sunny day, I was feeling some neon.

2 coats, no top coat.

Loud & Proud is a shocking coral neon pink which dries to a semi matte finish, as most neons do. The formula was a bit crelly, leaning on the creme side, but had almost full opacity in two coats. I was actually a bit nervous about needing a ton of coats, but 2 was perfect for me. If you had longer nails, with more of a free edge, you might need another coat, or some white undies.

This shade comes from the QUO Beauty Flash Dry line, which means it’s supposed to dry quicker than your average nail polish. The first coat was definitely quick to dry, although I found the second coat a little bit slower — maybe because I had applied my second coat a bit thicker? The shade was also incredibly hard to photograph the colour correctly, but I tried my best. Originally, it was leaning very orange, which wasn’t true to colour at all.

This were definitely as close to the true colour as I could get it to show.

What do you think about this fun pink neon from QUO? Would you bright this bright, matte pink for your Valentine’s Day celebrations? Let me know what you think & what you’re going to be wearing for any upcoming Valentine’s Day celebrations!

Glam Nails Challenge December — Christmas Decorations

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone — especially my fellow retail workers — are having a lovely & not too stressful week. It’s seriously crazy that it’s only 4 days until Christmas Day. I can’t believe how quickly this month is going by… & this year.

Next up we have a fun prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December: Christmas Decorations. I decided to go with a classic Christmas decoration, & created these beautiful sparkly Christmas light design.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-chip Top Coat
  • L’Oreal Colour Riche Eva’s Nude
  • L’Oreal Colour Riche The Magic Top Coats The Holographic
  • Starrily Nails Vantablack
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red It Twice
  • Quo by ORLY Mini Glitter Green
  • Quo by ORLY Mini Glitter Gold
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm Liner Brush)

& as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m back to my super shorties. Not ideal–& super sad because I was hoping to get to the new year with that fabulous length–but it is what it is, so I’ll just have to come up with some cute short nail looks for the rest of this month!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far, & not getting too stressed out with any last minute wrapping, or (like me) shopping they need to get done this week. Stores are busy, people are a bit crazy, so hopefully everyone has time to sit back & enjoy a hot chocolate or Irish coffee, & relax a little bit!

& don’t forget: you can see the rest of the beautiful Glam Nails Challenge December nails on Instagram!