My first ever Jelly sandwich manicureย 

Good morning and happy Spring. I don’t know where you are but here in Halifax we’ve got mounds of snow to deal with. That means I must invoke Spring via my nails! 

Recently I picked up a few awesome neon glitters from Ardene. I’m kind of in love with them.  I initially only picked up the pink glitter (called Pop to it) but after playing around with it I realized I needed all three! 

  

  

I’ve never done a jelly sandwich manicure before, but I’ve always loved the look. I decided my ACO by Ardene polishes would be perfect! I started with two coats of  Wet n Wild Megalast in 2% Milk and applied top coat to set it. Then I took my ACO by Ardene glitters Pop to it (pink), Lighten Up (yellow), and What Dafaq (blue) and applied them over my base. Next I took 2% Milk and applied a coat over the glitters. Then more top coat to seal everything in! And bam! Glitter goodness ๐Ÿ˜

On my thumb you’ll notice I’m not wearing the glitter–I broke my thumb nail bad last week (like in half) so I’m wearing a press on to protect the nubbin while it grows out. The pink colour is ACO by Ardene Mermaid with polka dots to match the colours of the glitter. 

  

What do you think of my Jelly sandwich manicure? Have you ever done one before? Let me know in the comments below! ๐Ÿ’—๐Ÿ’—๐Ÿ’— 

Fall Leaves nail art.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons–I love everything about it. Not too warm, not too cold. Plus the leaves changing color and falling brings me back to being a kid, and raking the leaves just to jump in them. A few weeks back, I did these fall leaves inspired nails in honor of my favorite season.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Zoya Piaf — Yellow base color.
  • Nicole by OPI Emerald Empowered — sponging.
  • Claire’s Poison Apple –sponging.
  • Revlon Spidey Sense — sponging.
  • ACO by Ardene Golden Luxury — sponging.
  • Essence Color and Go Mister Rusty — sponging.
  • LA Colors Art Deco Nail Art Striper — leaves outline and dots.
  • Essie Good to Go Top Coat.

I absolutely love the outcome of these nails. I think they perfectly speak Fall to me. I started these without a clear idea of what I was going to do, and they ended up looking beautiful. Don’t you just love when that happens?! =)

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So what do you think of this fall leaves manicure?

Check out my next post–I’m going to have a fun Fall/Halloween manicure to share with you. =)

“You’re the boss, applesauce.” Andy Warhol inspired nails.

I’ve been all about the floral lately. I found these Andy Warhol inspired nails on Pinterest, and knew I had to recreate them. A few years ago, I was completely obsessed with everything Warhol related–I even had a pair of Levi’s from their Warhol collection. So I knew I had to create my own version of those flower nails.

Surprisingly, they were really easy to create.

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First, I painted my nails with a base color of green. I used Sinful Colors Strapped. It’s a dark Forrest green, which dries to a Matte finish.

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Next, I created my “grass” using the dry brush technique with a collection of other green colors: ACO by Ardene in Sour Apple, ACO by Ardene in Green Peace and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Kiwi Bikini.

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After my grass was complete, I created my floral using a medium sized dotting tool and my four colors: Essence Love Letter’s collection in Rosy in Love (light pink flowers), China Glaze in Metro Pollen-tin (yellow flowers), ACO by Ardene in Lollipop Queen (purple flowers), and Revlon in Siren (orange flowers).

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Finally, I finished off with a layer of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash (yey! I finally have a new bottle and am so happy) and tada! Andy Warhol inspired floral nail art.

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And in the sunshine. =)

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So what do you think of these Andy Warhol nails? Did I do justice to my original inspiration?

#HePicksMyPolish — Floral edition.

I’m lucky, as I have a boyfriend who can put up with the fact I own so much polish,–a collection that just keeps on growing! I’m also lucky because every so often I give him the responsibility of picking my polishes when I can’t, or don’t, feel like doing it myself, and he’s always a good sport about it. A couple months ago, I read about the #hepicksmypolish challenge, and thought it was an awesome idea. So I sat him down, made him pick three colors, and created a manicure from them. I hadn’t done that in a while, so I figured another round of #hepicksmypolish was in order.

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For this manicure, the boyfriend picked the following polishes:

  • Maripose Nail Polish with no name — the teal base color.
  • Essie in The Lace is On — purple pedals of my flowers.
  • OPI in You’re So Flippy Floppy (from the OPI Brazil collection mini sandies) –Yellow middles of my flowers.

He didn’t really go through all of my polishes to find these–he chose them all from my mini’s drawer. I don’t know what it is, but he always picks a purple and yellow combination for me. The second I saw these three colors, I knew I was doing a floral! Haha. And I do love how they turned it–they kind of remind me of the 60ies, and Andy Warhol.

I ended up adding my Icing It’s a Matte World top coat, which I feel just upped this floral to a whole other level.

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Have you ever let your significant other chose your nail polish/or what you should paint on your nails? I keep trying to convince him he should actually paint my nails, but he hasn’t agreed to it… yet. Maybe someday haha.

 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 9: Rainbow nails.

I’ll start by saying this nail art was inspired by my three year old nephew.

I was babysitting the other night, trying to decide what I was going to do for my rainbow nail art challenge. I thought about doing just rainbows, but as you might have noticed, I don’t always going typical with my challenge prompts. My little nephew was looking at my stash the other night–he is adorable when it comes to my nails. He always asks to look at my nails, and is very vocal when he doesn’t like them haha–and asked him what colors I should do on my nails. And he listed them off–blue, yellow, pink, red, green. He might have just been listing off the colors he knew, but never the less I did what he told me!

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The polishes used were:

  • OPI’s My Boyfriend Scales Walls — the white base.
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow— the yellow.
  • ACO by Ardene in Techno Green — the green
  • ACO by Ardene in Lagoon –the blue
  • ACO by Ardene in Sunkissed –the orange.
  • ACO by Ardene in Strawberry Blush — the red
  • ACO by Ardene in Ardene’s Secret — the pink.
  • Stripe Rite striping brush in Black — the black outline.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

I love these nails because it looks like a coloring book to me.

This manicure was not as difficult as you’d think. After applying my base coat, I started with a blank canvas of My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then added top coat. After that had dried, I started with my black striping polish, creating a different pattern on each nail (you could also do the same pattern on each nail, but I like to shake things up a bit.

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After my outline was created, I then went with a small nail art brush (from Icing), and colored in some of the shapes with my variety of chosen colors. I did have to go back with my black, and touch up some of the lines were the colors had bled a little bit. When that was all finished, I topped with my trusty top coat and tada! Rainbow coloring book nails!

I think my nephew would be proud.