SWATCH SUNDAY — Starrily Diamond Rain

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

We’ve almost reached the end of November, which is kind of insane, & Christmas is less than a month away. So you know what that means… gimme all the glitter! I figured for today’s Swatch Sunday I would pull out a gorgeous glitter gifted to me a few months back (by my nail fairy godmother Victoria at NailStuff.ca!): Starrily Diamond Rain.

2 coats + Essie Gel Setter Top Coat

Starrily Diamond Rain is a beautiful dark sapphire blue shade packed full of holographic flakes. It was released as a collab shade between Starrily & Kelli Marissa & apparently inspired by the Diamond Rain of Neptune.

The formula of this polish is very, very nice. I applied two coats for my swatches above, & I found it was the perfect opacity for me. The glitter is very thick & dense, which means it sparkles from every angle.

I don’t know about you, but the holiday season just makes me crave glitter in every colour, but blue is definitely one of my favs. As you can see in the above macro, the polish is very dense with glitter. That’s exactly what December needs… all the glitter. Our area has recently gone into stricter restrictions, & Christmas is… up in the air. So I definitely need some fun, beautiful glitter to cheer myself up! & this is the perfect polish for that.

For my Canadian friends, NailStuff.ca is currently having a Black Friday Sale, with deals on all the polishes (including this one!) so I definitely recommend checking it out! & you can even use my affiliate code COFFEE10 to save a little extra!

What do you think about this shade? Do you love glitter this time of year? What is your favourite glittery shade? Let me know in the comments below!

Pink Stamped Reindeer Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

Hope everyone is well caffeinated. Today I’m starting off the beginning of this week with some fun stamped sweater nails. It’s been quite a while since I last pulled out my stamper, & this time of year always makes me want to use it more often.

Today’s stamping plate combo is one I’ve used before, but I love the sweater print with the reindeer head. I also pulled a polish shade from deep, deep in my stash (definitely pre 2009) but it still applies like a dream! You’ve got to love that.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • NYC Color Lexington Lilac
  • Revlon Iconic
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L018 (item #19373)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper (COFFEE10 saves you 10% site wide!)

I had totally forgotten about this pretty polish. I picked it up years & years ago, I think at Zellars (for my fellow Canadians, who remembers Zellars?!) & probably only wore it once or twice. I also really like this untraditional sweater colour scheme. Sometimes, even this time of year, I just really feel these pale muted colours.

Also be prepared to see this stamped reindeer head over the next couple months, because it’s one of my favourites!

What do you think about this stamped design? Do you love this colour scheme as much as I do? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a happy Monday!

#GlamNailsChallengeOct — Haunted House

Oh my gosh, we’ve made it! Today is the last prompt of GlamNailsChallengeOct & I can’t believe that October is almost over! It’s crazy.

The last prompt for this month’s challenge is Haunted House. I wasn’t 100% sure how I wanted to approach this prompt, but I decided a darkened sky haunted house landscape was the way to go. Just the right level of spooky, plus it gave me a chance to practice my freehand skills some more.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Go Ginza
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • Essie All The Wave
  • Essie Under The Twilight
  • Essie Blank Page
  • Essie Check Your Baggage
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10)
  • Latex free make up sponge

This look was actually so much fun to paint! I started off by sponging on my colours one on top of each other, then topped everything with top coat. Next, I freehanded my design over top, one nail at a time. I was sort of inspired by this look, originally by @lieve91, but obviously I went with a blue background instead of the orange-y shades. I also added some ghosties flying around my haunted house, just cause I thought it would cement the whole haunted idea.

I’m actually really happy with how these turned out! They’re not perfect, but I’m definitely proud of hand painting these little details. & my spooky little tree might be my favourite part!

What are you pandemic Halloween plans. Because our province is doing pretty well, cases wise, our health authority has said that as long as we remain careful & distance, we can trick or treat. So we’re going to do some kind of trick or treating with the kids, & maybe settle in after bedtime for some scary movie watching!

What do you think about this manicure? Let me know in the comments below!

#GlamNailsChallengeOct — Witches

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday.

Today I have another fun design I created for #GlamNailsChallengeOct, which are quite possibly my most favourite Halloween nail art of all time! The prompt for today was Witches, so I decided to go with a witchy hat & some witchy stripes. & I absolutely adore how everything came together! The combination of my accent nail with the witchy hat & the drippy stripes are just so much fun. & everything was totally freehanded.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Color Club Pucci-licious
  • Ardene Jungle Green
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush(COFFEE10 to save 10%)

First off, Starrily VantaBlack is officially my favourite black nail polish for nail art. It freehands so well, & makes drawing so easily (almost as easy as using acrylic paint!) I even found it so easy to use for drawing my black stripes, which makes me so happy. Secondly, look how cute that little witch hat is! I love it so much. I actually didn’t want to take this manicure off at all, but it started to chip (& I have other Halloween manicures to plan!) so I did. But seriously, I am so in love with this look!

What do you think about this Halloween design? Do you love it as much as I do? Share all your thoughts down in the comments below!

#GlamNailsChallengeOct — Black Cats

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today I’m sharing another design for the GlamNailsChallenge for October which is Black Cats 🖤

If you don’t know, I absolutely adore black cats, & I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful black furry baby. So I was very excited to create some black cat inspired nails. I thought about going full spooky Halloween with this look, but I decided to go a little understated & more glam (but still channeling Autumn.)

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry (aka ORLY Space Cadet)
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Starrily Nails Vantablack
  • the Base Coat cat vinyls
  • MyNailsDid Black Cat Decal
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

Again, I know I say this all the time, but I’m totally obsessed with how these nails turned out! My little accent kitties just make me so happy, & I like the minimalistic look of the cats against my base of Essie Ballet Slippers. I have to say, I think I’m going to need it pick up a big bottle of it because it’s becoming one of my favourite bases for nail art. The pale base just makes my little kitties jump out!

Also loving the black & white against the shiftiness of ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry. I honestly own a few bottles from different brands that are all dupes of this shade, but it’s such a good reddish/burgundy duochrome that I can’t help but buy more!

What do you think about my black cat design? Would you rock this design on your nails? Let me know down in the comments below!