GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE AUGUST (2024) — Night Sky 🌌

Hello beauties & happy Monday. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

This month is speeding by quickly! We’re already on our third prompt of Glam Nails Challenge August, & the next prompt is Night Sky. For this look, I went with a dark base & some pretty stamped on holographic stars to complete it. & oh boy… am I in love!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie No More Film
  • Claire’s Holographic
  • Color Club Bewitched
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Jelly Stamper Set
  • Born Pretty Store Classic Patterns Stamping Plate BP-L006 (discontinued)

Hello gorgeous!

While usually I would go with a classic galaxy design for a prompt like this, I’m glad I went with the stamped stars because I just think this look turned out perfect! I love the shifty base, I love my secretly holographic stars (those Color Club holos really do stamp so well!); I love everything! This is exactly the reason why I knew I wanted to jump back into the Glam Nails Challenge game this month — I needed to get my nail art mojo back after a rough beginning to the year, & it feels like I finally am!

Just in time for my favourite nail art months of the year.

What do you think of my night sky inspired nails? Are you a fan of this design? Would you wear this nail art look? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

& as always, you can follow along with the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram with the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug24 & see all the beautiful nails that have been created!

Happy Monday!

♥︎

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!

Instagram Space Collab 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone’s having the most lovely week. I had yesterday off, & the kids had their first day of school, so it was a nice relaxing day where I caught up on laundry & blog stuff.

Today, though, I’m excited to share a new design I did as part of the monthly Instagram collaboration hosted by @Essiyall & @Petitenaillover. I’ve been having so much fun with these large collabs, & this month’s theme was SPACE. It’s been a bit since I did a galaxy design, so I was pumped.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Top Coat
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • Icing Mermaids Have More Fun
  • Ardene La Luna
  • Sally Hansen Buffalo Nickel
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

For this look, I went with the classic sponge effect for my design. I used two shades I thought suited each other well, especially the shifty base of Mermaids Have More Fun. Then I added the little details of the stars, for that fun galaxy effect. I really like how everything came together.

Don’t forget to hop on over to Instagram, & check out all the amazing beautiful designs that my fellow nail artists did. Everyone interpretation for this theme, & I absolutely love everyone’s manicures!

Have a lovely day!

♥︎

Glazed Donut Stars ✨

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, & your Monday is off to a wonderful — or, at the very least, caffeinated — start.

Today I’m really excited because I have a really striking manicure to show off. I know glazed donut nails are so 2022, but you know what — I’m still loving them. I picked up a clearance bottle of Expressie FX Iced Out at Lawtons a few months ago, & have been itching to do some glazed nails with it. & oh boy — the results are stunning!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Londontown KUR Nail Hardener & Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Essie Expressie FX Iced Out
  • Essie Dive Bar
  • Born Pretty Store Classic Patterns Stamping Plate BP-L006 (discontinued)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Jelly Stamper Set

How freaking gorgeous is the glow on this look? I’m actually stunned by how well the shift hits. It actually looks like there is a blue light behind my nail polish & I can’t get over it. I decided to apply some stamped stars over this base (using Essie Dive Bar) & I like the fact they’re not quite opaque because the glow shows through them as well.

They look ethereal. I can’t get over it.

What do you think of this take on the glazed donut trend? I know glazed nails are still having a moment, so I feel like I’m not too behind on the times. Or maybe we need to come up with a new name for these — like alien glow nails?

Either way, I’m very much obsessed.

Have a fantastic beginning to your week loves!

Glam Nails Challenge September — Night Sky 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. Today I’m pumped to share with you another design for Glam Nails Challenge September: Night Sky. I can’t even remember the last time I did night sky/galaxy nails, so I was really excited for this prompt. It’s been too, too long. Plus my nails are feeling super long right now, & I always think galaxy designs look amazing on long nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Insta-dri Midnight Drive
  • CND Vinylux Lost Labyrinth
  • Zoya Devin
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-Ice
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • Latex free make up sponge

How cute did these turn out?! Plus I got to try out a bunch of my new shades that I’ve purchased recently — I’ve been on a bit of nail polish buying spree — so I combined they into this look. I love the different levels on blue, & that the blues are most complimentary. It gives it more of the appearance of an actual sky you could be looking at from your backyard, rather than being in space. Also how adorable is this little crescent moon that I hand painted? It definitely took me a second to get it perfect-ish, but I love how it turned out.

I just love them!

How are we feeling about this manicure? Do you like how they turned out? Are you excited about the prompts to come? Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeSeptembe on Instagram to see everyone else’s awesome nail art looks for this prompt as well!