Iridescent Flakie Gradient Nails

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! It’s a rainy & chilly Tuesday — very much November weather. So I thought I would break up some of the gloom with a pretty flakie look, because flakies make everything better.

I realized the other day I hadn’t played with any of my flakies or Chrome powders in my collection, & got this idea to do a look using them in a similar look to my favourite stained glass technique. & I think they turned out so pretty!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Sally Hansen Special Effects Salon Chrome Top Coat (used as a base to help my flakies stick!)
  • Dimension Nails Kronosaurus
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Flakies
  • NailStuff.ca Flat nail brush

Look at that beautiful shift! I can’t believe I’ve taken so long to use these again. I definitely go through fazes where I use nail art stuff less than others, but I’m going to make a conscious effort to go through more stash more frequently to use these items! Because they really do give such a beautiful look on the nail!

What do you think of these flakie glitter gradient nails? Can you believe the shift on these flakies? I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping on using them! Definitely will be glkng through my stash & seeing what nail art looks I can create with my little pots of glitter.

Happy Tuesday

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Poison Apple 🍎

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s a beautiful Autumn Sunday, cool & crisp. It’s also the last Sunday of October, if you can believe it. How is this month almost over?

Even though I have some really exciting shades from Ella + Mila to share with you, I wanted to close off this month with a slightly Halloween adjacent shade with Claire’s Poison Apple.

This shade was the third in the collection they released in the early 2010s as dupes for the MAC Villainous collection — click to see the swatches of Evil Queen & Venomously.

3 coats + top coat

This beautiful foil red takes a few coats for perfect opacity, but it’s worth the work (& dry time). The formula is a metallic red with micro flakies. It has a subtle gold shift, although it shows up better in the bottle on the nail (as is the trend with this mini collection). For an almost 15 year old nail polish, the formula is still great & I had no issues with application.

Look at that metallic finish—so pretty! I love colour for this time of year. I do wish that you see that gold shift on the nail like you can in the bottle, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. & I’m so happy that I have all three in my stash, especially because I didn’t original think that I did have a full set.

What do you think of Claire’s Poison Apple? Do you like this villainous red? Do you think Claire’s should do another release like this? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Evil Queen 🖤👑

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! Can you believe it’s already the middle of September. Like how did that happen? I’m in full cosy Fall mode 24/7, so obviously that means pulling out a fun Autumn shade to show off. & this shade from the early days of my nail polish stash is perfect!

This is Claire’s Evil Queen.

1 coat over Hard Candy Scam + top coat

This beautiful shimmery duochrome has thin dark maroon vase packed wth a thick sea of shimmery fuchsia & blue glass flecks. Unfortunately it does show up better in the bottle than on the nail, but it does have a beautiful finish that I’m obsessed with (& is why I’ve held onto this bottle for over 15 years!)

Check out that shimmer! It’s just so beautiful. 😍 I love how it shifts in the sunshine. Obviously, if I had applied another coat I could have had it a bit thicker. I have also worn it on its own without any undies, but I do find you need more coats than you might want to deal with to get full opacity.

What do you think of Claire’s Evil Queen? Do you remember when these shades were released, all the way back in the late 2000s? They were alleged dupes of the MAC Villainous Villains collection — although I sadly never got to compare (although Throwback Lacquer has a fantastic post about the original polishes!)

Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE AUGUST (2024) — Night Sky 🌌

Hello beauties & happy Monday. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

This month is speeding by quickly! We’re already on our third prompt of Glam Nails Challenge August, & the next prompt is Night Sky. For this look, I went with a dark base & some pretty stamped on holographic stars to complete it. & oh boy… am I in love!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie No More Film
  • Claire’s Holographic
  • Color Club Bewitched
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Jelly Stamper Set
  • Born Pretty Store Classic Patterns Stamping Plate BP-L006 (discontinued)

Hello gorgeous!

While usually I would go with a classic galaxy design for a prompt like this, I’m glad I went with the stamped stars because I just think this look turned out perfect! I love the shifty base, I love my secretly holographic stars (those Color Club holos really do stamp so well!); I love everything! This is exactly the reason why I knew I wanted to jump back into the Glam Nails Challenge game this month — I needed to get my nail art mojo back after a rough beginning to the year, & it feels like I finally am!

Just in time for my favourite nail art months of the year.

What do you think of my night sky inspired nails? Are you a fan of this design? Would you wear this nail art look? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

& as always, you can follow along with the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram with the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug24 & see all the beautiful nails that have been created!

Happy Monday!

♥︎

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE AUGUST (2024) — Moroccan Tile

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope you’re having a beautiful week. Today is the 2nd prompt of Glam Nails Challenge August & I’m very, very excited for this prompt & manicure! The next prompt is Moroccan Tile & I think this stamped design perfectly incapsulates that!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Joe Fresh Quartz
  • Essie No More Film
  • Starrily Space Debris
  • Born Pretty Store stamping plate B-12
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio

Oooooh I’m so so so in love with this manicure! It turned out so much better than I even imagined it could be. Sadly, the new base coat I used did not agree with my body chemistry so these started popping off (the full nail!) half way through work! To say I was devastated would be an understatement — I had fully intended to wear these for a few days.

Thankfully, I still got some great pictures of this design. 🖤

What do you think of this Moroccan Tile design? Do you love them as much as I do? I hope you’ll keep following along with the challenge this month & all the fun designs I’ll be sharing. You can also follow along with the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug24 on Instagram.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

🖤