Category: short nails

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Blue Iguana (& some bonus sparkle ✨)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The first Sunday of November, if you can believe it! Sadly, I’m starting off November with some extra short nails thanks to a bad, bad break at work on Friday.

So I wanted to make my nails feel extra pretty, so I dug through my stash & landed on this sparkly old school China Glaze shade. This is China Glaze Blue Iguana.

2 coats + top coat

Blue Iguana was originally released as part of the 2011 Summer Island Escape collection. It has an electric blue foil finish with a great micro shimmer. The formula was fairly thin, but I had adequate coverage in 2 coats. It also appears lighter on the nail than in the bottle, which was kind of a bummer — but maybe an extra coat or two would have fixed that. I also wish you could see more of the purple duochrome flash on the nail, as much as you can see it in the bottle. But it’s still beautiful regardless.

I was feeling like my short, stubby nails needed a bit more sparkle, so I pulled another oldie (released around the same time) from Icing to add a little pizazz: Icing Radio Super Star.

1 coat over Blue Iguana + top coat

I was actually really impressed with how closely the blue glitters in Radio Super Star matched Blue Iguana. It has a clear base with blue micro glitter, fuschia hex glitters & these fun silver star glitter. What you see above is just one coat over my base — & I had great luck with getting the star glitters onto the nail with minimal fishing.

It gave me exactly the sparkle I was craving to cheer myself up!

How are you feeling up these two fun polishes both together & apart? I feel like it’s just a smidge too early for holiday polishes (although I’m keeping my eyes open!) but I may see what glitter shades I can pull out for this month.

Have a happy Sunday!

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Summer Dress Inspired Floral 🌸

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far. What is the weather doing where you are? We’ve been hot & balmy on the East Coast, a big difference from the torrential rainstorm we had on the weekend. I’m definitely happy for brighter weather.

I’m also super excited to show off today’s nail art look. You know the saying “nail art inspiration can come from anywhere”? Well I definitely took that to heart with this nail art look. Recently, I took my daughter thrifting & found the sweetest Summer dress for her, & the second I saw it, I knew I was going to need to do some nail art inspired by it. I’m a sucker for anything floral, & the simple sweet pattern was too cute not to do on my nails!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Glossy Top Coat
  • Essie White Page
  • Sally Hansen Instadri Ghouls Night Out
  • Essie Frilly Lillies
  • Essie Check Your Baggage
  • Essie Willow in the Wind
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Peony Origins
  • Sally Hansen GKP Love You Lotus
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (11mm liner brush)
  • Dotting Tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

How cute is this look! I’ll be honest, this wasn’t a super complicated design to paint, but it was a little time consuming… especially trying to make sure my horizontal stripes were straight. &, as you can see from my pointer, I wasn’t completely successful in that regard. But I think this design turned out just like my inspiration, so that’s a win in my books! Such a sweet, pretty design to match my sweet little girl.

What do you think about this floral design? Do you like this line & floral design? Where do you find inspiration for your own nail art looks? Let me know down in the comments, & enjoy your Wednesday!

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Abstract Shorties

Hello lovelies & happy first day of Summer to those in the northern hemisphere! & it actually feels very Summer like today, which is very exciting. I’m definitely here for it, & all things Summer related.

Todays look is a quick abstract design I applied over my base of OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI from my Swatch Sunday post for this week. I wanted to extend my wear another day or so, & decided an abstract look was the perfect way to do that!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Londontown KUR Nail Hardener & Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry
  • OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI
  • Essie Revenge’s A Beach
  • Essie Turquoise & Caicos
  • Essie Merino Cool
  • OPI Who You Callin’ Bossy?!
  • Small dotting tool — NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool

As you can see, I’m rocking extra shorties right now thanks to a break on my ring finger at work on Saturday.

Normally I would be upset about it, but I’m kind of enjoying shorter nails right now. I find when my nails are square, I prefer a shorter length to them. Plus I love showing off that you can rock fun nail art no matter the length of your nails!

What do you think of these abstract shorties? Are you a fan of looks like these? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & what colour scheme you would choose.

Have a lovely Wednesday ☀️

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Floral Shorties

Hello loves & happy Wednesday!

& Happy last day of May!

I swear, you’re in the right place. I just decided to switch things up a bit. I’ve been humming & hawing on Instagram for a while about going to square nails, & I finally decided to take the plunge–just in time for a new month! I know, crazy. But it’s been about 2 years since the last time I rocked some squares, so I thought why not try them out again for a while.

They’re pretty short right now, but that’s okay. I’m excited to grow them out to a nice square shape. & in the meantime, we’ll rock some fun shortie nail art. Naturally, the first manicure I did on my new short squares is floral! I mean, were you expecting anything else.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Londontown KUR Nail Hardener & Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • Franken white shade (I mixed a few whites I own with a little black to grey it)
  • OPI Is That A Spear in Your Pocket
  • OPI Living On The Bula-vard 
  • OPI Two Timing The Zones 
  • OPI Do You Have This Color in Stock-holm? 
  • OPI Getting Nadi on My Honeymoon 
  • OPI Koala Berry
  • OPI Who You Callin‘ Bossy?
  • OPI Gelato On My Mind
  • OPI Check Out The Old Geysirs
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

Obviously, I had to use my garden for a backdrop as it’s been thriving with these Summer-y temperatures. This floral is pretty simple — although it used a ton of different polishes — but I think it turned out beautiful & I’m really in love with the final look. I went with a white base, even though I’ve been iffy on wearing white lately thanks to the VPR drama & Scandoval, but I think this white base looks so pretty with the floral over top.

What do you think about this floral look & my return to square nails? This was the nail shape I had when I first started my blog, so I always return to it, even though I do love round nails as well. Sometimes, you just need a change, you know?

Let me know what you think & what nail art you’d like to see next! I have one manicure coming on Friday that I did earlier in the month for a nail art collab, but I’m excited to start Summer off with these new square shorties.


Happy Wednesday ♥︎

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER — Graveyard 🪦

Hello lovelies & Happy Halloween! I hope everyone is all ready for the ghosts & ghouls to run loose this evening. I got prepped by watching my favourite Halloween episode of Buffy, & eating my weight in sour patch kids. It’s also the last prompt of Glam Nails Challenge October, which means October is officially over. & that is crazy! We’re just weeks away from candy canes & decking the halls.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves — I have one more Halloween nail art look to share. The last prompt of Glam Nails Challenge October is Graveyard, & I decided to go with a classic graveyard scene… with a little holo sparkle added.

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
  • China Glaze Intelligence, Integrity and Courage
  • Color Club Take Me To VIP
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

This look is 100% freehanded, which I’m super proud of. Although, I do some version of this nail art look every year, so I feel like I’m really perfecting it. I also really like the addition of the holographic sparkle of Color Club Take Me to VIP because it almost looks like stars in the sky. Just lovely.

Can you believe this is the last prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October? Crazy! As always, I had so much fun doing these nail art looks. Halloween is one of my favourite months for nail art, because I feel like the nail art looks are endless. & you can check out all the nail art looks from this month on Instagram under  #glamnailschallengeOct.

I’m not 100% sure if I’ll be doing Glam Nails Challenge November yet, or if I’ll save all my energy for December, so stay tuned to see what nail art looks I have coming next month! Enjoy your Halloween, & whichever Halloween candy of choice is your favourite!