Category: Red Nails

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Sparkly Red Stamping 

I’ve been seriously digging red nails lately. They’ve been a favourite of mine for a long, long time—I almost used to exclusively wear red nails during my late teens, early twenties—so I’ve accumulated quite the stash of crimson polish. & even though my days of just wearing red are a bit behind me, that doesn’t stop me from buying good red polishes when I see them so my stash has continued to grow.

 I recently found a beautiful red at my local Lawtons (one of my favourite stores for polish steals) & I found a red shade from L’Oréal (Carmin Parisien) that seemed to me to be more opaque than most reds, so I had to buy it! Even though I love red nails, I find that a lot of red shades are not opaque & usually show some degree of visible nail line. Lucky for me, L’Oréal Carmin Parisien is completely opaque in 2 coats! This pretty much cements it as my new go to red. 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat
  • L’Oréal Carmin Parisien 
  • CND World Crimson Sparkle
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Jelly Stamper (item #38611)
  • Essence Cosmetics Stampy Set stamping plate. 

I’ve actually been thinking about buying this stampy set from Essence for a while, but I had some Optimum Points to spend so I decided to pick it up. The very first stamping set I ever bought was from Essence, & they’ve definitely upped their game since I bought that one—the images actually fit my whole nail now! For a beginner curious about the whole stamping business, this is a great little set to try it out & see if you like it (especially for under $5). 

What do you think of these sparkly red nails? What colour do you love the most on your nails? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Black & White Chevron Accent Nails


I hope I’m not the only one who takes pictures of their nails, & then totally forgets to post them. I blame it on my excitement over the exciting polishes which have come my way recently (hello OPI Iceland collection!) I did these nails a few weeks back, & totally forgot to share them! So while going through pictures on my phone, I knew I’d have to post them ASAP because who doesn’t love a good chevron design.

For this manicure, the polishes I used are:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI My Chihuahua Bites!
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Essence Back to Black
  • Snail Vinyls Single Chevron Vinyls

You can never go wrong with a good Black & white accent nail (or nails). Also this mani shows off my love for OPI My Chihuahua Bites! which is forever & always my favourite coral-y red. I’ve been so caught up with Fall colours & polishes I haven’t even thought about bright polishes, & looking at pictures of this design is making me think I might need one or two more Summer-y manicures before I officially say hello to Fall. Plus red nails are forever my favourite, even if I don’t wear them as often as I used to. 


What do you think of these black & white chevron accent nails. Do you have a favourite accent nail/colour combo you love to wear? Let me know in the comments below! 

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SUNDAY SWATCH POST: OPI Living On The Bula-vard!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently won some contests via Instagram, & one of them was a set of 4 OPI minis from their Spring/Summer Fiji collection. I wore the other 3 colours in my tropical leaves accent nail design, but hadn’t yet shown off the 4th so I thought I would do a quick swatch for you. 

OPI Living On The Bula-vard! Is a super virbrant red leaning coral that goes on opacque in 2 coats. The first coat went on a little thin, but the second coat filled in the colour well. At first I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about this colour, but as soon as it was on my nails I instantly fell in love. It’s not quite coral & not quite red–it’s honestly this perfect combination of the two in this weird way that makes me so happy.  

Living On The Bula-vard! definitely reminds me a lot of another OPI favourite–My Chihuahua Bites!–which is probably why I love it so much. & now I’m wishing I had checked to see if they were close to dupes before writing up this blog post… Whoops! Never the less, I will definitely be buying the large sized bottle of this colour. This is the kind of colour that brings out my olive undertones & highlights my tan so it’s perfect for Summer days! 

Do you have a favourite from the OPI Fiji collection? I’ve only tried the 4 minis, & I thought that Two Timing The Zones was my favourite, but after wearing it, Living On The Bula-vard! definitely has come out as the clear winner! 

I’m going to try & make swatch Sundays an ongoing thing. I’m always taking pictures of my solid colour manis, but never post them so I thought it would be a good time to start! This could be old favourites, new polishes, or just randoms from the stash. If you have a request, let me know in the comments below! ♥️

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Valentine’s Day Polish picks. 

Just in case you weren’t already aware, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. My Instagram feed has been just full of so many pretty love themed designs, and I’ve come up with a few myself. But I thought I would share a few of my favourite Valentine’s Day appropriate polishes. 

 OPI Designer Series Bold  
Pretty pink glitter. You can never go wrong with any of those things, and I love Bold because it feels super girlie to me. This is 3 glitter packed coats, which made me glad I used peel off base coat because I would not have wanted to try and remove it the old fashioned way. 

Garage Noname Neon Pink with holo micro glitters. 


First off, everyone say howdy to Cindy! Was trying to save of time by bringing her into the mix.  Way more awkward to pose though, hence the bottle shot.   

 Essie Toggle to the Top

 
I adore this beautiful Wine coloured glitter–it’s just such a sexy polish (can nail polish be sexy? Why not!) I layered my swatch over China Glaze Seduce Me (another perfect colour for Valentine’s Day!) which cut down on how many coats I needed to do. 

 ACO by Ardene Sprinkles

  
I like glitter for Valentine’s Day, have you noticed? I picked this polish because I thought it would be fun to wear, plus the name makes me think of cupcakes, and who doesn’t like cupcakes for Valentine’s Day? 

Essie A-List


My fifth and final polish is your classic red. Gosh I love red polish have, and Essie never goes wrong with a good red. I picked this up at Marshalls in a duo pack with Sparkle on Top for $5. 
So what’s your favourite Valentine’s Day appropriate polish? Let me know in the comments below. 💗

 

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Matte Chevron Moons

What are your favourite Fall colours? For me I tend to reach towards your Navy blues, deep maroons and dark purples. And matte top coat! Ohhhhh I’m so Matte obsessed right now. 

It had been a while since I’d worn any kind of moon manicure–my favourite go to when lacking inspiration–so I decided on a pretty combination of some Fall beauties.  

   

The polishes I used for this mani were:

  • Nicole by OPI Shoot for the Maroon
  • Essie After School Boy Blazer
  • Stripe Rite  Striper in Gold 
  • Seche Vite 
  • L’oreal The Matte Velvet matte top coat. 

Shoot for the Maroon was a recent buy (the husband picked it out) and holy amazingness when Matte! It’s pretty normally but add some Matte top coat and it’s a whole other level! I love it! 

  

  
Also I can’t stop obsessing about Essie After School Boy Blazer–it is by far my favourite Navy. I need to try it out with my ACO by Ardene Crystal Fog because I think the combination would be incredible!

💜