Category: Summer

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Glam Nails Challenge August — Pineapples

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! & happy long weekend to those who are celebrating.

This month I decided to do something I haven’t done in what feels like forever: GlamNailsChallenge! This month’s theme is fruit, which is a fun summery theme, so I’m excited to participate. I feel like it’ll be a fun way to get back into my nail art groove.

& the first prompt: pineapples. 🍍

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Royal Hue
  • OPI Just Can’t Cope-acabana
  • OPI How Great is Your Dane?
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art Pen in green
  • Cosmetics Arts Lime Green (name has long since worn off)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

I thought a pineapple pattern look with be super cute, & I love the brightness of the yellow over the blue base. They just pop so well! It’s been a long, long time since I did a fruit themed manicure, but I think the first of this challenge is adorable. Haha I’m not sure how the rest of this challenge is going to go, but I’m excited to get planning for all the different (fruit themed) looks. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for sure!

What do you think about my first look for GlamNailsChallengeAugust? Don’t forget, you can follow along with everyone’s looks by using the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram. I’m definitely excited to see all the cute looks that everyone comes up with this month!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Grape Juice

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! & happy first day of August!

How is everyone’s weekend — is it a long weekend where you are? It is here in Nova Scotia, & (I think) most of Canada? It also always feels like the beginning of the end of Summer. I know that we still have 4 weeks left, but man, there is something about August which always gets me in an Autumn mindset.

Today’s polish pick for Swatch Sunday still feels Summery enough though! & it was originally released as part of the China Glaze Summer Days (2009) collection: China Glaze Grape Juice.

2 coats

This polish went on easily in 2 coats, although the formula went on a little thicker for coat #2. The colour is a really vibrant, although slightly darker, purple with a beautiful silvery shimmer — I also saw some flecks of blue in there too.

You can really, really see all the shimmer in the macro shot. It’s very densely packed, which I really like! I also can’t believe I haven’t featured this yet for Swatch Sunday! It’s been in my stash for years, but with the exception of nail art, I haven’t worn it a to. Which is actually a travesty, because it is such a fantastic colour! It’s also just dark enough to keep me from full out craving Autumn, while also keeping bright-ish for Summer.

Sadly, it looks like this shade has been discontinued, but I did find a few listings online for it like Sparkle Canada but I don’t think it’s an easy find. However, if you do happen to come across it, you should totally pick it up because it’s such a lovely shade.

What do you think about China Glaze Grape Juice? Do you have this purple beauty in your stash? Which shades are you loving as we inch towards Autumn? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to know what you’re wearing right now.

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Recreating Tribal Roses (from 5 years ago)

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! The weekend is almost upon us — & so is August! How crazy is that? We’re almost in the last month of Summer. I swear this year is rushing by way faster than 2020 did. I feel like Summer just started, & now Fall collections are already popping up in the stores. & I’ve already started thinking about what Fall fashion items I want to add to my closet…

But in the mean time, let’s concentrate on nails. More importantly, this tribal & roses design which is actually a recreation of a design I did 5 years ago. This time, though, I decided to go with a reverse colour scheme with the darker shade as my base, & the white for my line work.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Essie Stop Drop Shop
  • Essie Gel Couture Princess Charming
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art pen in green
  • Cosmetics Arts Lime Green (name has long since worn off)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

How lovely is this combination? The beautiful blue, the line work — that I’m very, very proud of! — & the cute, cute roses. I feel like I did a very good job of recreating my original design, but making it even better! These turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Also the white pops so we’ll over Sally Hansen Beatnik, as does the floral. Just everything about this look makes me so happy.

It just feels so good to be getting back to my roots, & doing my favourite kinds of nail art again. Feels like I’m me again! Also, while having short nails is always a nice change, I’m very happy to have returned to my rounded my nails again. They’re so much more me.

What do you think about this look? Did a do a good job recreating my original? Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & let me know if you’d like to see me do more of these posts recreating old manicures!

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Negative Space & Neon Leopard Print

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday!

Today is a beautiful sunny day, & I’m excited because I have some fun nail art to share. It feels like a long time since I was truly inspired to do my nails, but I did this manicure early last week & was OBSESSED. Some nights it feels like I have no energy to come up with creative nail art looks, but I feel like this one turned out perfect.

Plus it combines some of my favourite things: neon, leopard print & negative space!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Violet Voltage
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Miami Nice
  • Sally Hansen Miracle GelElectri-Lime
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Fuchsia Fever
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art pen in black
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

Seriously, how cute is this look? I was really feeling something involving negative space — I recently returned to rounded nails, since square nails stopped working for me — & since they’re so short right now, they’re my favourite length for negative space peak-a-boo nail art.

For this look, I started off by freehanding my white space with just the polish brush, then used my smaller sized dotting tool to create my blobs of neon. Then I used my black nail art pen to draw the leopard spots around them. Finally I finished everything off with my black stripes! A little time consuming — I think it took me an entire episode of Dr. Death — but the end result just pops so well!

What do you think of my leopard print nails? Are you still feeling bright & Summer-y shades? I’m in a weird faze right now where I am going between being obsessed with neons, & more muted shades. But for the first time, in a long time, I’m not craving Fall as August starts, so I think I’ll enjoy what is left of Summer & get out a bunch more Summer-y nail art looks too!

Have a fantastic day lovelies!

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Summer Colour Block

Morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! Time for some more nail art!

I was feeling a bit uninspired for a while, but I think I might be breaking out of my funky fully now! Today it’s all about these funky freehand colour block nails. I love these colour combo nails, mostly because the colour combinations are endless, & they can be worn in any season.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sensationail Nailtural Cactus Me Outside
  • Sensationail Nailtural Born to Explore
  • Sinful Colors Hip To Be Square

This look is super simple — no tools needed. Just three fun nail polish shades & a steady hand. I had actually been wearing Sensationail Nailtural Cactus Me Outside (how fun is that name?) the previous day, with some chipping, so I decided to add some nail art on top to hide the chipping & it turned into such a cute look! Like I said, I love love love a good colour block!

What do you think of these nails? What three colours would you combine in a colour block design? Let me know in the comments below!