Category: The Base Coat Vinyls

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Blue Shimmery Chevron Accent Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! The weekend is almost here — who else is excited? Today I’m also excited because I have some fun & funky chevron accent nails to show off! It feels like ages upon ages since I pulled out my nail vinyls, but after a coworker gifted me a few beautiful polishes — including this lovely shimmery blue, Sally Hansen InstaDri Cosmic Blu — I knew I needed to pull out some vinyls for some fun!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essence Colour Shine Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Cosmic Blu
  • Essie Suite Retreat
  • The Base Coat Vinyls Chevron/Zig Zag (Wide)

How pretty is Cosmic Blu paired with Suite Retreat? I feel like my nails have been so boring lately — still painting frequently, but at least 60% of the time, I’m just sticking with single colours/no nail art. It’s partially a time thing, but also I think life has just sucked lately, so my inspiration is lacking. I need to find my inspiration again, & that’s been the hard part.

& I won’t even get into how disappointed the Instagram algorithm leaves me. Ugh.

Never the less, I am still painting my nails, & this nail art brings me back a few years, to when I was nail art obsessed. That’s the nail art obsession I need to find again. Also, maybe a super fast drying top coat will help too.

What do you think of these blue shimmery chevron accent nails? Do you love how well these two colours paired together? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & if you’d like to see me creating more fun nail vinyls look again!

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Golden Leaves

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! Switching things up with some Friday nails.

I was really feeling some leaf nails, especially as the Fall weather continues to be beautiful. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, which is always feels fitting for some leaf pattern nails. I have a few of my leaf pattern nail stencils left from The Base Coat, so I thought they would be perfect to use over a base of China Glaze Loves ‘Em & Leaves ‘Em.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Loves ‘Em & Leaves ‘Em
  • OPI Designer Series DS Classic
  • The Base Coat Fall Leaves Nail Vinyls (no longer available)

Check out that sparkle.

It’s been a while since I pulled out my bottle of OPI DS Classic from my stash — it’s such a beautiful gold & you get that bit of holo with it as well. It definitely pops against the darkened base of Loves ‘Em & Leaves ‘Em. It just works so well in this very Autumnal design.

What do you think about this Fall leaves design? Is it perfect for some Thanksgiving celebrating? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

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#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!

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Purple Fall Leaves 🍁

Hello lovelies & Happy Tuesday!

We’re eight days into September & I’m in full dark polish swing. While Summer shades are awesome, I feel like Fall polish makes my heart the happiest. I’ve also really been looking forward to pulling out my Fall leaves nail vinyls again! It’s been forever since I played around with vinyls, & I’ve missed them for sure.

For today’s look, I knew I really wanted to grab my bottle of Sally Hansen Slicks & Stones because it is such a lovely campus shade for this time of year. & I wanted to add some Fall leaves but I didn’t want to do gold or bronze or anything like that.

So I decided to go an untraditional route.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Color Therapy Slicks & Stones
  • Essie For The Twill Of It
  • Quo by ORLY Kaleidoscope Haze
  • The Base Coat Fall Leaves Nail Vinyls

Seriously living for this purple-y colour combination. The shift in For The Twill Of It is just so gorgeous, & it really suits the dark purple of Slicks & Stones. I’m really loving the combination so much.

What do you think about this Fall mani? Are you loving the dark shades now? Let me know in the comments below!

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Rainbow Easter Egg Inspired Accent Nail

Good morning lovelies & happy Thursday!

I hope everyone is having a lovely week, however you’re spending it. I did a fun yoga class last night (via zoom) so I’m feeling refreshed this morning. If there is one thing this home isolation has been doing for me, it’s been inspiring me to work out almost daily, which is awesome!

Today I gave an Easter inspired design to share with you. I wanted a look that would be perfect for Easter celebrations, but could also be worn just to celebrate Spring!

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Blue
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Mint
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Purple
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Pink
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • TheBaseCoat Chevron/ZigZag (regular) Stencils

I really, really wanted to do something Easter-y on my nails, without going your typical bunny ears/Easter egg design. I started off on my ring finger by applying 2 coats of Ballet Slippers & my Essie Gel Setter to dry. Then I took my nail vinyls, & applied them to my ringer finger. Using a dotting tool, I started from the bottom of my nail, I worked quickly applied the alternating colours. All my shades were matte, which dry quickly, so I actually pulled off the vinyl one I had filled a section. Next up, I decided outlining would bring the look together, so I went through with my tiniest brush, & outlined all my chevrons with my white polish, as well as the outside of my nail.

& I feel like the end result looks so cool, & dainty, & just Easter-y enough. Like a “grown up” Easter egg design.

Seriously, I’m obsessed. It’s been a while since I pulled out the zig zag chevron nail vinyls, & oh man have I missed them! I guess one thing I can thank this whole situation for, is that I’m really putting more effort into my nail art, & love rediscovering all these old tools of mine. It’s a fun way to distract myself from all the craziness happening outside of the house — or from the fact that I really miss my extended family. Hopefully the world returns to some form of normalcy again, so we can all get together & celebrate all the events we’re missing out on.

Do you have a special manicure planned for your Easter? What is your favourite Easter candy? Let me know down in the comments below! (Mine are Peeps by the way, I know… I’m strange but I LOVE them!)