Category: Sally Hansen

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Mani Swap with @hjs_nails!


Good morning lovelies! Hope you’re enjoying your week so far, & what’s left of August. Isn’t it crazy how quickly the month is speeding by? Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond excited for Fall but it is crazy to think how quickly this Summer has speed by. 

I thought I would break up the Fall colours I’ve been obsessing over, & joint in a fun (& bright & colourful) mani swap with Hannah of @hjs_nails! For this swap I picked her super neat abstract design, & she recreated my recent watercolour lines design (& lets be honest, she did it 100x better! I’m so jealous!) 

For this design, I used: 

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Peony
  • Essie In The Cab-ana 
  • Essie Splash of Grenedine
  • Essence Back to Black
  • Small Bundle Monster dotting tool 

I thought this was such a neat design when I originally away Hannah’s so when she was looking for someone to swap with I knew already what design I was going to pick! Plus it’s such a great pop of colour which I kind of just needed in my life. You can never go wrong with a good abstract nail & the right pop of colour. 

What do you think of our swap? Let me know in the comments below! & don’t forget to head over to Hannah’s instagram & give her a follow if you’re not following her already. 💜

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Patterned Watercolour Nails Inspired by @thesammersaurus

So I’ve been feeling a little stuck, inspiration wise, & when I feel lost for ideas I love browsing through the feeds of my favourite nail artists to see what catches my eye. I was scrolling through @thesammersaurus‘s instagram feed & came across a gorgeous geometric design from 3ish years ago. I’ve been a massive fan of Sammy’s for a long time–she was one of the first nail art blogs I discovered–& I love how she comes up with awesome, creative designs & rocks those shorter nails!  It gives hope to those out there who don’t have crazy long nails. So when I discovered this gorgeous design I loved, I popped over to her blog & found all the details of her design to make painting my recreation way easier! 

For the manicure, the products used were:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Go Ginza 
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Royal Hue
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • OPI My Favourite Ornament 
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls X Stencil (I cut off the bottom) 
  • The Base Coat Triangle Pattern Stencil
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge 

Thanks to my vast collection of vinyls, I was able to cheat & skip having to place striping tape/skinny vinyls individually for a relatively easy to do manicure! (Thank god for that!) I also used a make up sponge instead of the Saran Wrap technique for my colour blending on the accent nails. But even though I didn’t follow her exactly, I feel like this recreation turned out Pretty on point. Just please ignore the shrinkage on my middle finger nail. 😂


Do you have a favourite nail art you love to turn to for nail art inspiration? Where is your favourite place to get nail art inspiration from? Let me know in the comments below! 💜

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Easy Pink Gradient Dotticure

Gradient dotticures never get old to me. They’re such a quick, easy option for nail art & sometimes I’m all about the quick & easy manicures! While I used to be able to stay up all night creating complex & time consuming design, I just don’t always have that option anymore (& when I do the next day is always rough!)

 For anyone who is just getting into nail art, I’m always quick to suggest trying out dotticures because you don’t really need any tools since a bobby pin works easily, & they’re hard to mess up! Back in the early days of my nail art journey, I probably wore a gradient dotticure twice a week if not more. There is just so many ways to do it! 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Splash of Grenedine
  • Essence Black is Back
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Essie No Place Like Chrome
  • Small Dotting Tool or Bobby Pin

Quick & easy. I’ve been looking back at super old manicures from my early nail art days & thinking about doing a whole beginner nail art series featuring some of my early nail art designs & some tips for starting out!

What do you think of this dotticure? Do you love a good gradient dotticure too? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Graphic Lines Over Watercolour 

I teased these geometric freehand nails this weekend, which you may have seen on Instagram, so I’m excited to finally share the whole look! I just needed to do some really poppy Summer nails to counter act the fact I’m craving Fall colours so bad. I also feel like I haven’t been practicing my freehand lines enough, so I wanted to play around with my black striper. This design isn’t perfect but I do quite enjoy how they turned out. 

The polishes used for this design are:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Color Club Evolution 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Wet My Thistle
  • ACO by Ardene Road to No Where 
  • Essie Cute As A Button
  • China Glaze Sun Upon my Skin
  • Art Club Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Latex Free Make Up sponge 

Bright & colourful & fun was what I was going through with these nails & I feel like I was pretty successful. Of all my nails, my thumb was my absolutely favourite (& I feel like it turned out the best of all 10 nails). I think it had something to do with my striper polish. The more I use it though, the more I’m realizing I need to try out aryclic paint. I know I keep saying that, but the more I use my stripers, the more frustrated I get with how easily they thicken up. So hopefully the next time I show off a freehand line design, I’ll be sharing my expirences with acrylic paint! 


What do you think of this design? Have you ever used acrylic paint for nail designs? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Feeling Blue… Stripes 💙

Happy Friday! It’s been so long since I played around with my stripers, which used to be one of my favourite nail art tools, so I figured why not pull them out for some fun stripes. This used to be my go-to design whenever I had nubbins, & it makes somewhat medium  length nails look even longer! (& who doesn’t want their nails to look longer?)

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: L’Oréal All in One
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik 
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Kiss Products Nails Art Striper in White
  • Jordana Cosmetics Pop Art Nail Design in Blue Abstract

After spending the majority of June not wearing any blue nails, I must say it was nice to pull out again. I purchased Sally Hansen Beatnik on clearance at Shoppers while on my no-blue-nails crusade (I know, I have a sickness), so I was excited to finally get it wear it. & it really is such a pretty colour. That’s why I thought just some simple striping would really compliment the colour & I was right! 

What are you wearing on your nails right now? Let me know in the comments below!