Mani Swap with @teenynails

It’s been a long while since I teamed up for any Mani swaps, so I have a few swap collabs coming up with some of my favourite girls on Instagram.

Up first, I have a swap with the very talented @teenynails. For this Swap she recreated my leopard patterned half moons & I had to recreate her beautiful purple vintage floral!

The polishes I used for my recreation were:

  • Essie Play Date
  • CND Crimison Sparkle
  • Kiss Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Kiss Nail Art Striper in White
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in White 
  • Essie Brides No Grooms
  • My Beauty Spot unnamed pink
  • Essie Off Tropic 
  • Essie First Timer 
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Small Nail Art brush from Bundle Monster

You know how I feel about floral, & I thought these were so perfect for the Spring-y weather we’ve been having. Plus it gave me an excuse to pull out Essie Play Date again. & these are definitely some of the best roses I’ve done in a while. I just can’t stop staring at them.

What do you think of our recreations? Let me know in the comments below!

And shout out the the lovely @teenynails for joining me in this swap. 💜 Don’t forget to check out her account on Instagram & check out all her amazing nail art!

Drip Marble decals inspired by @SimplyNailogical 


I’ve tried water marbling, & it was… not my thing. I’ve tried drag marbling, & it’s usually hit or miss. But I really love marbled nails, so naturally when I picked up a silicone craft mat I knew I needed to try drip marbling recently done by @simplynailogical.


For this mani I used:

  • ORLY Decades of Dysfunction 
  • Sally Hansen Pretty Piggy
  • Nicole by OPI We Got Beiber Fever
  • Finger Paints Wanna Gogh Dance?
  • ACO by Ardene Base Coat
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat

To create my decals, I started off by dropping my polished of choice onto the mat, starting with my lightest colour (ORLY Decades of Dysfunction) as my base, then continued with my darker colours, & finished with my metallic shade (Finger Paints Wanna Gogh Dance?). Once all my colours were down, I moved my mat around to create my marbled effect. Once I was happy with one decal, I’d let it sit & dry for a few minutes before starting on the next one. When I was happy with the amount of decals I’d made, I left them to Dry for a few hours (around 2 hours).

I’m not going to lie, trying to apply these wasn’t the easiest. I started off by painting my accent nails with a base colour (again I used ORLY Decades of Dysfunction) and let dry. I then peeled off my decal & figured out which part I wanted on my nail, trimming it down to a more manageable size. When I was ready, I applied a coat of my ACO by Ardene base coat & immediately stuck my decal onto the nail. Using a brush dipped in acetone, I cleaned up around the cuticle. This was probably the least fun part–I wish I had better nail art scissors to trim off the access instead! When the decal was fully cleaned up & my cuticles were clean I sealed everything in with top coat to finish. I also surrounded my cuticles in oil to help after all that remover. No one likes wrecked cuticles.

And how does the final result look?

Continue reading “Drip Marble decals inspired by @SimplyNailogical “

Neon Cactus nails. 


Cactus nails 🌵 are having a moment right now on Instagram, so I decided to join in & create my own version. I originally did cactus nails last year, which can be found here. With my design from last year, my personal complaint was my base colour was too dark, so this time I wanted to go with something brighter. And what is brighter than neon pink!


For this manicure, I used:

  • China Glaze Hang Ten Toes
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Green
  • Essie First Timer 
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie Stylenomics
  • Essie Peach Daquri 
  • Essie Haute As Hello
  • Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Small nail art brush from this set by Bundle Monster.


Have you jumped on the cactus nail art trend yet? I absolutely love cacti. When my son was born, I didn’t wanted flowers, I wanted my mum to bring me a cactus (which is pictured above). The little guy also has a little cactus onesie that is too cute, and I’m planning on filling our house with a few more plants too! I’m a little obsessed.


And just for fun (because I’m so obsessed with this mani I couldn’t stop taking pictures), a shot of both hands:

What do you think of this mani? Are you as obsessed as I am? Let me know in the comments below!

My Spring Polish Picks


If you’re like me, your love of nail polish may run into barriers such as money & time. Being a new Mom, I can’t afford to go crazy on buying nail polish like I used to, because you know… diapers. That means when I do want to buy polish, I have to make sure it is really something special. So instead, I’ve been “shopping” my own stash instead of buying new polishes.

In that spirit, I decided to go through & pick my favourite polishes for Spring from the shades I already own! It took me a while to pick my personal favourites from all the polishes I own, but these are all shades I can see myself reaching for in the coming months, & screams Spring to me!  I’ve listed the seasons these polishes were released, but I know some are part of the permanent core collections.

Continue reading “My Spring Polish Picks”

Cactus Pattern Nails

Hello Darlings & happy Saturday!

Today I have some cute cactus pattern nails to share with you! I’ve been seeing a lot of adorable cactus manicures popping up in my Instagram feed lately including adorable manicures by @ChelseaQueen, @NailAllie, & @theBaseCoat. So with so much amazing inspiration around me, I had to try and create my own cactus design! It took two tries (my first attempt was, ahem, not the prettiest) but I think that my final design turned out quite cute!

 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • China Glaze I’ve Got A Blue Attitude
  • Sally Hansen I Love Nail Art pen in Green
  • Sally Hansen I Love Nail Art pen in Purple
  • Essence The Green and The Grunge
  • Quo by Orly Diva
  • ACO by Ardene Techno Green
  • Essie Gel Setter

 

First off, can I just comment on how perfect China Glaze I’ve Got A Blue Attitude is? I picked it & We’ve Got The Beet on payday & I LOVE it! Anytime a colour looks like it glows on my nails, I’m pretty much guarenteed to fall in love with it & I’ve Got A  Blue Attitude definitely glows on the nail. I think it’s the perfect colour to pair with my little cactus design.

What nail patterns are you loving right now & where do you get your inspiration? Let me know in the comments below!