Category: Red Nails

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Vampy Half Moons

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! It’s a snowy Wednesday here in Halifax, which is the first snow of the season for us. Not a lot of snow, granted, but just enough to get those toasty holiday vibes swirling. & my kids were so excited for it this morning. The walk to school was definitely interesting, haha.

Today I’m sharing a design style I haven’t in a while: half moons. These have been a go to classic for me since I first fell in love with nail art, but sometimes with all the other awesome nail art designs I love to do, I forget about this classic look. I was wearing a beautiful fun red last week, & decided I wanted to do some kind of half moon look with it, so I grabbed another shade from the same collection (Sally Hansen 2018 Decadence collection) & paired them in a fun vampy design.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Garnish Attention
  • Paper hole reinforcements

As I mentioned, this is a favourite easy nail art look of mine. & a great beginner nail art technique! I feel like if you’re new to nail art, this is the perfect way to get fancy nails, without too much hassle. The hardest thing is always just waiting to make sure your base shade is dry enough (which I’m super guilty of being impatient, so definitely make sure you wait!)

This colour combination is beautiful, & I like that it’s not too Christmas-y, although you could definitely swap one of the shades out for a glittery gold, & bam! Christmas party ready.

What do you think about these vampy half moons? Are you a fan of the half moon mani design? Let me know down in the comments below which colour combination you would pair together for a fun moon mani!

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Subtle Burgundy Dotticure

Good morning lovelies & happy Friday!

Who else is excited for the weekend. I can’t believe it’s the weekend already. & the first week of November is pretty much over. The shift in the weather is definitely evident. I can feel the Winter slowly approaching. Which means let’s get crazy for jewel tones. I’ve been going through all my old holiday polishes from years past, & getting excited for the season to come.

Does anyone else have these arbitrary rules when it comes to polish? My brain always seems more drawn to darker jewel tones as the weather gets cooler, which summer I’m more likely to reach for brighter, poppy shades.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Frosted Berries
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Garnish Attention
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I’ve literally been wearing this manicure since Tuesday, & I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. My nails are super short now, so I’m not sure inspired for nail art right now, but I do love a subtle dotticure. I had originally thought about doing some gold dots, but I felt like it might be a bit too Christmas-y, so I went with darker dots.

What nail art are you loving right now during this cooler November months? Which nail polishes would you like to see me feature leading up to the holiday season? Let me know down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Cinna-Snap

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Today I’m excited because I’ve got some new polish to share. My Fall polish cravings have been out of control, & I recently went on a bit of a polish buying splurge. So I’ve got lots of Autumn shades coming up to share with you — which is perfect because yesterday was the first day that actually felt like Fall was on its way.

The first shade I’m sharing is an Insta-dri shade called Cinna–Snap — a beautiful red shade with orange-y brown undertones that invokes all the feelings of Autumn. I recently picked up this polish at my local Wal-mart, as part of the Sally Hansen Insta-dri core collection.

2 coats, no top coat

The formula on this shade is really, really nice. Sometimes reds can be tricky, for whatever reason, but this applied in two easy & smooth coats. The brush in the bottle is also really wide, which makes it easy to cover the whole nail in one swoop (depending on the size of your nail polish) . The polish had a nice opacity to it, so you get full coverage easily.

Gosh, I really love this red.

The colour kind of reminds me of bricks, but in a fashionable way. Like I’ve been saying, I’ve really been craving these Fall shades. I mean, I love red any time of the year, but I don’t (think) I have any super close to this shade in my stash currently.

What do you think about this shade? Who else is feeling the Autumn shades already?

Let me know which colours & collections you’re looking more forward to the next couple months! I have the China Glaze Autumn Spice collection on its way to me already from Beyond Polish Canada, plus some other shades I picked up from Nail Polish Canada so I think I’ll have to do a big nail polish haul post very very soon!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — L’Oréal Paris Le Vernis à l’Huile by Colour Riche 554 Carmin Parisien

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday. It’s been a busy weekend, but I can’t start a new week without a Swatch Sunday post. Quite honestly, I think they’re the most viewed posts that the blog gets, so we’ve got to keep them going!

I’ve been on a nostalgia kick this week, & that means I’ve been looking at lots of old photos. & you know what was a constant trend in my pre-nail art days? Red nail polish!

As I’ve mentioned, oh a million times, red nail polish used to be my signature during my University years — unless of course I was feeling broody, in which case I would break out the black. & even though my nail polish collection has expanded considerably over the years, red nail polish still holds my heart. Which is why I was excited to pull another red beauty from my stash to share: L’Oréal Paris Le Vernis à l’Huile by Colour Riche 554 Carmin Parisien.

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

Oh man, this is a beautiful cool toned red. The formula on this shade is really, really smooth which is lovely, & fairly opaque—I did two coats for full coverage, & I had no hint of visible nail line or anything. Very impressive!

I do find the colour brings out a bit of my yellow undertones, but I don’t mind it so much. As such, this is probably a red I would reach for more in the Autumn months, just as I feel the colour is a bit more suited to the cooler days. When it comes to Summer, I usually go for more orange-y/coral leaning reds as they compliment & enhance my tan a bit more.

This shade isn’t super vampy, but I do consider it a very “classy” red, if that makes sense. It has a nice creamy finish that just feels very luxurious. Plus I really like that the Color Riche line of L’Oréal polishes (or whatever the full name is) has oils infused into it. Because, when you polish your nails as much as I do, you’ll take any chance to give your nails some extra love.

What do you think of L’Oréal Color Riche 554 Carmin Parisien? Do you love a good red nail polish as much as I do? Would you be interested in seeing a post featuring my all time favourite red nail polishes? Let me know in the comments below!

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Red, Navy & White

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! Can’t believe this week is going by so quickly. But also, I have the next two days off work so I have big BIG plans. Cupboard organizing plans. It’s very exciting.

But first, how about some nail art? That’s what you’re all here for, right?

I finally decided to pull out my nail vinyls, because it’s been a while, haha. I was feeling coral/red with some stripe-y accent nails, so that’s exactly what I did. Actually I was inspired by this look after some Pinterest-ing, & thought it was be an excellent nail art combo.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Illamasqua Aorta
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Essie After School Boy Blazer
  • SnailVinyls straight nail vinyls (multiple thickness)

Such a classic combo, & I really like it. I feel like I’ve been neglecting my vinyls so much so it was nice to pull them out again. Plus I could never even attempt to freehand lines this straight. I also really like how simple this colour combo is, but that the red gives you that bright pop of colour. It’s definitely a fun combination. I might not wear a head to toe coral suit with striped shirt, but I can definitely achieve a similar look in my nails!

What do you think about this look? Wojld you wear a combination like this? Let me know in the comments below. & speaking of nail vinyls — I just stocked up on some mermaid vinyls from Beyond the Nail, so stay tuned for some fun mermaid nails to come!