Tag: beauty

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Pretty & Pink Glittery Abstract Stripes

Good morning lovelies & happy Thursday!

I hope everyone’s week has been beautiful so far. Today I’m excited because I have a pretty, sparkly manicure to show off. & with everything not beautiful happening in the world right now, sometimes you just need to be distracted with something beautiful.

I recently broke my middle finger nail, badly, so that meant it was time for a big chop. Suddenly short nails always make it a bit hard for me to focus on creating beautiful nail art, but I think these pink sparkly abstract stripes were a nice start to another short nail era.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Don’t Desert Me
  • Quo by Orly Mini Pink Glitter (no name on the bottle)
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • Sally Hansen Insta Dri Luxe Finish Lavish Lilac
  • Art Club Striper Passion Flower
  • Art Club Striper Pink Pastel
  • Quo by Orly Striper Black

Oh man, I love this sparkly base so much. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed me sharing stories of a lot of glittery nails. With all the sunshine we’ve been having, I just can’t get enough of the glitter. It makes me very happy. In fact, this was the base I was wearing when I had my horrible break, so I kept it on & added the nail art over top to wear for a few more days. & I’m glad I did because I really really like how this design turned out. It’s just so pretty!

What do you think of this glittery pink abstract stripe design? Do you like glitter on sunshine-y days as much as I do? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below. & let me know if there is any specific nail art you would like to see me attempt on these new shorties of mine.

Happy Thursday!

♥︎

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE MARCH — Pastel

Good morning lovelies & happy Monday. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. This weekend was the beginning of March Break, which meant that work was pretty busy. It also means my kids are home all week during the day, which should make trying to get any nail art done a moot point haha.

But today we’re diving into the 3rd prompt for Glam Nails Challenge March, & this one was an easy one — pastel. Obviously, I had to do a pastel skittle look using a few Spring-y shades.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: China Glaze Fast Forward Top 
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Crying Out Cloud
  • Londontown USA Bell Flower
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie Chillato
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sun Shower
  • Essie Expressie FX Iced Out

Oh I love a good skittle, & I’ve really been loving the pastels lately as well. This look is an easy way to do some “nail art” that isn’t really nail art but totally passed for it. Quick, easy, super cute; all the things I look for in a manicure, to be honest. & the addition of Essie Expressie FX Iced Out gives all the nails a nice cohesive look that pulls everything together. I know the glazed nail look is kind of on its way out, but I’m kind of obsessed with it.

I’ve never been one for following trends anyway.

What do you think of my pastel skittle look for Glam Nails Challenge March? Is it beginning to feel a bit like Spring where you are? We’ve had nothing but rain upon rain the last couple days… so yeah, definitely feeling like Spring haha.

Have a great Monday.

♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Belle of the Ball

Hello loves & happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend (& staying warm if you happen to be suffering under that arctic vortex taking over right now!) Today, I’m sharing a beautiful polish I can’t believe I haven’t swatched yet!

This is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Belle of the Ball. I was originally gifted this by Sally Hansen in 2018 as part of their REDesign Collection, but as I was newly pregnant & constantly sick, I didn’t get a chance to swatch the whole collection. However, this shade found it’s way into Sally’s permanent CSM line up — & is still in rotation!

2 coats + top coat

This beautiful darkened plum is packed with a surprising red shimmer that looks beautiful depending on you move your fingers. It gives the polish a beautiful dimension which makes it more than just a simple purple nail polish. It was originally released as part of the Sally Hansen REDesign collection, but I was always confused by that as I don’t consider it a red (personally).

But it’s very, very pretty. & even after 5 years the formula in bottle is easy application perfection. Smooth, easy to build opacity. & thanks to those wide brushes, takes barely any time to apply at all. I also found the dry time, even before I applied my quick dry top coat, to be pretty speedy — I had no issues with polish bleeding onto my top coat brush when I applied it.

As mentioned, this shade is still in rotation (at least in Canada), & can be found with other Sally Hansen CSM polishes. For my fellow Canadians, Sally Hansen can be purchased c/o: Shoppers Drug Mart for $13.49 CAD. It can also be found on Amazon.ca. I’ve also seen it at my local Walmart as well.

Sadly, I didn’t find this shade listed on the actual Sally Hansen website, so I hope it’s not on the verge of being discontinued, because it really is stunning!

What do you think of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Belle of the Ball? Is this a shade that you would wear on your own nails? Are you a fan of the Sally Hansen CSM line? I do have quite a few of this line in my stash, & I’ve always been a fan.

Happy Sunday ♥︎

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My Hair Growth Journey — Tips for Growing Out Your Hair (that work for me)

Hello lovelies! I know usually I post about nails, but I wanted to change things up with a post I’ve been planning in my head for a while: my hair growth journey.

You might remember that I chopped off my hair last year, just before lockdown began. It was a fun change, but the truth is, I almost immediately missed having long hair. So around June/July of last year, I decided that I was going to grow my hair out again. It was a slow process at first, & it wasn’t until around January of this year when I made some other hair changes (which I’ll discuss) that I really saw my hair growth take off!

So I wanted to breakdown what I’ve been doing to take care of my hair, & transform it from a short bob, to what I consider the beginnings of mermaid hair!

Continue reading “My Hair Growth Journey — Tips for Growing Out Your Hair (that work for me)”
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Blue & Grey Herringbone Pattern

Good morning lovelies & Happy Wednesday. I don’t know how it’s possible that we’re already half way through the week, but we are! & Today I’ve got a cute nail art look to share that is perfect for short nails (like mine!)

I’ve always been a fan of herringbone/chevron looks, mostly because they’re surprisingly easy to do! & for a bit of a rustic look like this, you don’t need to have the most perfectly thin of straight lines. & it will still look cute! This particular design was actually inspired by this pot, although I added the splashes of blue to make it a bit more Summery.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Strong Start
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area
  • China Glaze Boho Blue
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in white
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio — I used the small one to fill in my blocks of colour! (Use COFFEE10 to save 10%)

I really really love how these turned out. My white Kiss striper is definitely on it’s last legs which led to a bit of messiness of my stripes, but I feel like it works with this kind of pattern. Truthfully, I could have used a striper nail art brush to achieve the same look, but I was short on time, & this was a bit easier. I will definitely have to try again though, maybe with a few of the Essie Summer 2020 polishes I just received! I think I could do a beautiful quatrefoil design with them too, so stay tuned for fun nail art looks!

What do you think about this herringbone look! I feel like it looks really good on my super short nails! It’s a great way to fancy them up! Let me know what your favourite short nail design is in the comments below!