Tag: China Glaze

Posted on

(More) Freehand Tribal Print Accent Nails

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far. I’m super excited today because not only did I get the chance to do some nail art, but I managed some freehand nail art!

It feels like absolute ages since I had any time for anything more complicated than polka dots on my nails, but I had a quick minute the other night to do my nails & you better believe I took it! I had been scrolling through my Instagram feed after my Swatch Sunday post, & obsessing over some tribal/Aztec inspired designs from the past & decided I wanted no, needed to do some accent nails! So I grabbed one of my custom engraved detail brushes from nailstuff.ca, & went to work.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat
  • OPI Gelato on My Mind
  • Essence You & Me?
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik
  • Essence Black is Back
  • China Glaze Friends Forever Right?
  • Nailstuff.ca 7mm detail brush {PR SAMPLE}
  • Nailstuff.ca dotting tool {PR SAMPLE}
  • Straight nail vinyls

So my line work is definitely sloppier than previous designs, but I feel like I’m just out of practice. Plus I didn’t grab my thinnest detail brush, which definitely made a difference in my freehand work. Also I totally cut a few corners & used vinyls for my blocks of colours, just to save me a bit of time. But over all, I really like how this turned out. Obviously I wish I could have done this look on all my fingers, sometimes all you have time for is an accent nail (or two.)

Also trying out this Essie Gel Couture Top Coat again to see if the lasting power is good. I’m really on the hunt for something that will help my manicures last longer, as I’m just not able to do my nails every night like I used to. Maybe someday when my nights are more free, but right now I need something that will keep my nails from chipping after a day.

Also plan on picking up a bottle of Orly Bonder Base as I’ve heard that it can really improve Manicure lasting time as well! & that is what I need in my life!

so what do you think of these accent nails? Do you think tribal/Aztec nails look better as accent nails or a full hand design? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Posted on

Rainbow Glitter Gradient (Party on my Nails!)

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far. I’m super excited today because I finally did something other than just a single colour on my nails! 🎉 I managed to add a fun glitter gradient to my Swatch Sunday shade for this week & I’m loving how much fun this simple nail art turned out!

Seeing as it is Pride Week here in Halifax, I thought a colourful rainbow glitter gradient would be perfect for the occasion.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • ORLY Fireball
  • China Glaze Point Me To The Party
  • ACO by Ardene DAFUQ

I know I’ve written before my love for glitter gradients–they’re just so easy to do! & for those of us who might not have a lot of time, they can give you fun & fancy nails with minimal effort.

For this look, I started with my base colour & then took my first glitter (China Glaze Point Me To The Party) & after brushing off some of the polish, started at my cuticle line & brushes the glitter upwards. I went over the same spot a few times to build up the glitter amount. Finally I decided that we needed some blue, so I grabbed a blue glitter topper (ACO by Ardene DAFUQ) & dabbed on some blue glitters as well. Lastly, I sealed everything in with a thick coat of Essie Gel Setter to give this look some lasting power.

& now my nails are ready to party! 💅🏻

I’m really digging the combination of Fireball with this glitter. Makes me think of a fiesta, & feels very Summer-y to me. & even though I won’t be able to partake in any of the amazing Pride events happening this week, my nails are totally ready (just in case).

What do you think of this design? Where would you wear this design? Let me know down in the comments below! & share any nail art you’d love to see me do now that I’m (slowly) getting back my posting mojo.

🌈

Posted on

Blast from the Past — Crackle Nail Polish

I’m sure if you’ve been a part of the nail polish community for any amount of time, you’ve seen quite a few nail polish trends come & go: feather nail polish, magnetic nail polish, textured nail polish & of course… crackle nail polish.

For those who don’t know what crackle nail polish is, it was a kind of topper you would apply over already painted nails, that would crack as it dried, revealing the base colour underneath. I was first introduced to crackle nail polish back with the Katy Perry Teenage Dream collection from OPI, & though it was the most genius idea, so naturally my obsessive brain had to own as many crackle polishes as possible! Thankfully, even nail polish company & their friend seem to come out with their own version of crackle so it was easy to get my hands on a whole slew of brands, colours & finishes!

Most of my shades have long since dried up & are pretty much impossible to use, but every so often I get the urge to pull out one of my bottles still holding on & play around with it. Thank you nostalgia.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Bamboo & Green Tea Strengthener
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • My blues from my cobalt blue comparison post
  • Icing Shatter nail polish Electric Graffiti

As you can see, even though this polish is about 7 years old, it still works semi well in terms of the crackle effect (minus my pointer finger… I have no idea what happened there!) Like I said, I collected quite a few of these shades during the heigh of their popularity, but only a few of them still work to this degree. & now that my nail art techniques have improved over the years, I don’t really grab these shades like I once did.

& just for fun, I wanted to share the very first mani I ever did using this fun polish. Please excuse the awful quality in all regards (painting, photography, ect)

As you can see, the actual cracking abilities of Electric Graffiti has dwindled over the years, but for a polish way past prime, I’m impressed I can still get any crackle out of it. I feel like because the formula has thickened up a lot, that’s the reason the shatter is different. A thinner application would definitely give me a reaction much more like my throwback manicure… wondering if adding a bit of thinner to the bottle would revive it. I’m curious to find out.

what are your thoughts on the crackle/shatter nail polish trend from years past? I know some people have very strong feelings about these polishes (& how much they hate them). Let me know if you’re team crackle or hate it?

Posted on

COMPARISON POST — My Favourite Cobalt Blues (Pacific Blue Dupes)

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today I have a special post I swear I’ve been meaning to do FOREVER but just never got around to doing — a comparison post featuring a few of my favourite cobalt blue shades!

I have done a couple of these comparison posts in the past, & they always prove to be popular, so I thought that it would be fun to do another. All the shades you’re about to see are inspired by my love of one polish: the original formula Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue. If you don’t know, Pacific Blue was the most perfect cobalt blue polish that ever existed, which sadly saw a formula change in 2014… a formula change which led to serious uproar in the nail polish community. This led to mainly nail bloggers searching for dupes, & stocking up on any old formula bottles they could find… myself included. As a result, I have quite a few cobalt blues in my nail polish collection… & I wanted to compare a few of my favourites to see how they lived up to the original.

As you can see, I’ve selected 5 of my many blues for comparison… can you tell which ones are which from the above swatches? All polishes were applied over my base & finished with top coat (Essie Gel Setter).

Continue reading “COMPARISON POST — My Favourite Cobalt Blues (Pacific Blue Dupes)”

Posted on

Black & White Chevron Accent Nails

Good morning lovelies& happy Tuesday!

I know things have been quiet on the blog, but I have a good reason: baby #2 has made her arrival! Madeleine Lena was born very early last Tuesday morning, so I’ve had a busy week of readjusting to newborn life. & I’m still wearing my blue drag marble nails which ended up being my labour nails!

However, going through my phone I found a few nail art looks I haven’t yet posted, so until I’m able to actually paint my nails–which is hard when you’ve got two little ones keeping you busy… no surprise there!–I have a few nail polish & nail art looks that I can post for you!

First up I have some stacked chevron accent nails–this is a look I’ve done before a few times because it’s super easy to do & is such a cute look!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Bamboo & Green Tea Strengthener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle
  • Quo by ORLY Platina
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • The Base Coat Vinyls Stacked Chevron

First off I love love love how blinding China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle is! Such a great Summer Polish to wear for a serious pop of colour. It’s just so good! I thought the simplicity of black & white accent nails worked really well because it added some art while still letting my polish shine.

what do you think of this look? Share your thoughts down in the comments below.