#GlamNailsChallengeDec— Santa’s Sleigh

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Hopefully you’re week is off to a lovely start. After a busy weekend—that’s Christmas in retail for you—I’m excited for a day off filled with peppermint mocha cold brew, cleaning & hopefully some nail polish fun.

But first I have another prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeDec to share with you! Prompt #2 is Santa’s Sleigh, which I’ll admit I was super nervous about because I wasn’t 100% sure if my freehand skills were up to par.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Under The Twilight
  • Essie Starry Starry Night
  • Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Azure
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)
  • Latex free make up sponge

For this look, I decided that I wanted to create the silhouette of Santa’s sleigh against the moon, with a pretty night sky base. I sponged on a few beautiful blues as my base, & then painted a big moon on my nail. Once that was dry, I used my black acrylic paint to attempt to draw Santa’s sleigh with a few (barely visible) reindeer pulling it.

These definitely aren’t perfect, but you know what, I’m super proud of how they turned out. It’s not your traditional Santa design, but that is what makes it kind of fun.

What do you think about this design?

I’m super pumped for this month’s challenge, & can’t wait for all the prompts to come! You should definitely check out all the other beautiful designs for this month’s challenge!

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Santa’s Side Chick

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. December is in full swing, & the Christmas vibes are… starting. Haha. Truthfully, I’m still not 100% feeling Christmas yet this year, especially because the weather outside is warm & not December-y at all. But all the more reason to pull out my Christmas polishes from years past.

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick is a oldie from China Glaze The Glam Finale Holiday 2017 collection: Santa’s Side Chick.

I originally picked this shade up at Winners, in a two pack with Slay Bells Ring, post holidays. I think it was something crazy silly like $5 for the whole thing, which was an awesome deal! But I’ve never actually worn this shade before, so I was excited to pull it out this year!

2 coats.

First thing I noticed about this shade was that it dries down to a beautiful satin matte. Seriously, I love a good matte nail polish. The polish itself is a beautiful bright berry, with this stunning underlying shimmer.

The formula was pretty easy, only needing two coats for full coverage. Like I find most reds, it’s a bit more jelly, but still had great coverage on the nail. It also dried really quick, which is always nice! & it dries really evenly, which I always appreciate in a matte polish.

Check out that close up (minus the cat hair, haha 🙈) — such a pretty shade, & finish. I

’ve actually been wearing this shade for the last three days — both matte, & with glossy top coat. You know how much I love a good red nail polish, so I’m glad I finally put this one out! Plus the name just makes me laugh so much. Best nail polish name ever!

What do you think about this beautiful Christmas red? 🎄 When do you pull out your holiday collection shades — just around their intended holidays, or anytime of the year?

Let me know in the comments below.

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Presents 🎁

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Good morning lovelies! I hope everyone had the most amazing Christmas & Boxing Day. Our whole family was very spoiled, & I’ve very much enjoyed celebrating in the place I spent many a Christmas as a kid. ♥️🎄 it also means I’m super late on sharing the next prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeDec: Presents!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Dimension Nails Pygmy Sloth
  • Unnamed Mariposa metallic gold
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Goldie Rocks
  • Essence Black is Back
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)

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Is there anything more beautiful than red & gold. I love how the gold presents pop over this beautiful vibrant red holo polish! Feels very Christmas-y! Also any excuse to wear this amazing shade from Dimension Nails is a good excuse… it’s such a perfect glitter shade for this time of year I knew I had to incorporate it a Christmas design for this year.

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Was Santa good to you? Hopefully you were spoiled not just with presents under the tree, but lots of lovely family time & memories. Those are my favourite Christmas presents.

Don’t forget to hop on over to Instagram to see the other looks for #glamnailschallengeDec. I love going through & seeing everyone’s interpretations of the same prompt! So many cute versions of the same idea.

#GlamnailschallengeDec — Christmas Trees

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Good morning lovelies & happy Monday! & happy Christmas Eve Eve! We are quickly approaching Christmas & the end of GlamNailsChallengeDec! Today’s prompt for this challenge is Christmas trees! Naturally I went to Pinterest to find a look I liked, & found this tutorial originally posted on Instagram by @thebasecoat.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Icing Stores matte teal shimmer
  • Quo by ORLY Falling Star
  • China Glaze Ruby Pumps
  • Ardene Ice Mist
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 to save 10%)

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For this look I started off by applying the triangle nail stencil to my accent nail, then one at a time applied my colours to the empty spaces to create a triangle on the nail. I followed the Base Coat’s tutorial for colours. It was also way easier using a pre designed nail vinyl than attempting to position striping tape or straight nail vinyls into the same shape.

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Honestly this look was too simple to do, but turned out so cute! I think this is such a perfect Christmas Day look—who doesn’t love Christmas trees! & the mixing of colours is very Christmasy. I absolutely lovely it!

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What do you think about this design for Glamnailschallengedec? Have you figured out your Christmas design yet? Don’t forget to check out Instagram for all the other amazing look for #glamnailschallengeDec!

Winter Pattern inspired by Selby’s Bunker!

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Hello lovelies & happy Friday! It is the LAST Friday before Christmas, if you can believe that! Sending lots of good vibes to all my fellow retail works prepping for the absolute busiest weekend of the year — keep strong! You’re going to make it.

Today I’m sharing a really special manicure that I’m so excited to share that is inspired by my absolute favourite coffee & gift shop located here in Cole Harbour — Selby’s Bunker & Gifts. We go to this adorable little coffee shop daily, & love to peruse through the gift shop attached. I was there a few days ago shopping for Christmas gifts & saw the most adorable winter themed mug & immediately knew I had to recreate it on my nails as part of my Christmas designs this year.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Acrylic Paint
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Red It Online
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

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I started off with my crisp white base, & made sure to apply top coat & let it dry well just in case I needed to erase any of my paint. I went with acrylic paint just because I wasn’t sure how well my drawing would go, & I wanted to opportunity to erase any mistake I made — & honestly, I probably started over about 15 times before I felt like my design was resembling the mug enough! If you’re new to nail art & want to attempt something out of your comfort zone, I definitely recommend starting first with acrylic paint! Makes erasing mistakes so much easier!

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Honestly, this might be one of my most favourite designs I’ve done in a very very long time. I can’t remember the last time I attempted to recreate a pattern — or whether this turned out — but oh boy do I adore this! It works for Christmas, or just winter in general, & I think it is so delicate & sweet. Also I had every intention of taking a picture of my nails with the mug, but I got so caught up at looking at everything when Christmas shopping I totally forgot! Haha.

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What do you think of this look? Does it give you the Christmas feels? Would you wear this look on your nails for the holidays? 🎄