Abstract Colour Blocking (& covering up a chipped mani!)

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday. This week is speeding by quickly, isn’t it? Crazy! Today I’m showing off a fun look I did earlier this week.

Full disclosure: I had painted my nails, went to work, chipped the hell out of them, & had ever intention of repainting them. Then I fell asleep at 7pm. When I woke up the next morning, I didn’t want to go to work with still chipped nails, so I thought of the easiest way I could cover up the “damage”, & decided to create this almost abstract colour blocking. & I think it turned out pretty cool for something that was painted on the fly. Haha.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Frosted Berries
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • Essie Mosiac On Down
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Silver

The colour choices — especially that silver — is giving me a bit too much of a holiday vibe, but I really do think this is a fun quick design. It was way easier than taking everything off, & repainting from scratch.

What I did was paint some base coat on the sections that a chipped, to protect the naked parts of my nails, then swiped the polishes over to cover up the chipping. I also used my bottle of Seche Vite, because I wanted to make sure they dried quick. & it turned out pretty neat! Also, in a weird way in kind of reminds me of argyle, or at the very least makes me want to do some argyle sweater print nails ASAP. Already playing the colour combination in my head as we speak.

Also, we totally got hit with a early winter storm, so I’m in full winter knit sweater nail mood when it comes to my nails. So that is your early warning there will probably be A LOT of sweater inspired nail art to come!

Have you ever tried to save a manicure or cover up some chipping to extend your nails another day? Any tricks you want to share? Let me know in the comments below!

Gold & Purple Autumn Half Moons

Hello lovelies! How is everyone coping after Halloween & Daylight Savings Time? I’ll be honest — between a bit of a sugar coma, the increasingly cold weather & the change time, I’m a mess. I’ve literally been falling asleep at 7pm, which doesn’t help me get my nails done!

This design is actually from a few weeks back, when my nails were still longer, but I thought it would be fun to share. You all know how much I adore a good half moon, & I thought these would be perfect to share. Plus they’re just so easy!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Mosaic On Down
  • Essie Kimono Over
  • Hole Reinforcement Stickers

Ahhhhh love this colour combination. You can never go wrong with dark purple & gold. Also even though it’s such a simple look, half moons always have my heart. They make me so happy. Also I’m always so envious of people who can freehand half moons. I’ve been using the sticker method as long as I’ve been painting my nails, & it just makes the process so easy! (I have an old post here featuring my step by step process, in case you’re curious.)

I just feel like this is such a classy combo appropriate for almost every occasion. Birthday? Wedding? The Oscars? The opportunities are endless! ( & now I totally want to do a post where I create a half moon look for different occasions… definitely adding it to my notebook of ideas!)

What do you think about these half moon nails? Would you wear this look? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Don’t Let The Dead Bite (Halloween 2014)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Today I thought I would pull out a Halloween oldie from my polish stash for this week’s Swatch Sunday! This is China Glaze Don’t Let The Dead Bite from the China Glaze Apocalypse Of Color 2014 Halloween collection.

Don’t Let The Dead Bite is a milky jelly pinky polish that is packed full of multi sized & shaped red glitters.

2 coats + top coat

I am a sucker for a good Halloween collection, so I remember being very excited about finding this shade on clearance a few years ago. If I remember correctly, I bought this shade for Valentine’s Day, because I thought the glitters would be perfect for that.

My bottle has definitely changed a bit over the years, with the glitters bleeding a bit & making the base darken. It’s still a beautiful shade, but not quite in its original form. The formula, however, remains just as easy to work with as when I first bought it, which I appreciate.

I really like this shade, & to be honest, I kind of forgot I owned it until I was looking for something Halloween-y to adorn my nails with! I can’t believe October is almost over! How crazy is that?!

Do you remember this China Glaze collection from 2014? Did you get your hands on any of the shades? What is your favourite Halloween polish collection? Let me know down in the comments below!

#GlamNailsChallengeOct — Blood

Hello lovelies & Happy Monday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to their week. Can you believe how quickly October is speeding along?

The countdown to Halloween is officially on, & I’m fully embracing spooky season. Which means we have another fun design to share for #GlamNailsChallengeOct! Our next prompt is Blood & I decided to go with a blood splatter look using my favourite Saran Wrap Splatter technique!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • ACO by Ardene Tea Party
  • Sally Hansen CSM Cherry Delightful
  • Sally Hansen CSM Red Over Heels
  • Crinkled Saran Wrap

I absolutely love when people rock those blood splatter nails, using a straw, for Halloween, but I never have enough time for clean up, so I decided to take a shortcut & use my Saran Wrap Splatter technique to get a similar effect that still gives off the blood splatter look. I decided to go with a pretty pastel base (ACO by Ardene Tea Party) because I loved the contrast between the pretty & the gruesome.

Halloween always makes me feel extra creative when it comes to nail art. Even if I don’t have a lot of time, I can still come up with a fun look!

What do you think about this blood splatter look? Would you rock these Halloween nails? Let me know down in the comments below, & stay tuned because the next manicure I have to share for this challenge might be my favourite Halloween nail art I’ve ever done!!

(Unintentionally) Wonder Woman Nails

Hello lovelies! Switching things up a bit & posting on a Saturday because I’m starting to feel better from my head cold, & really wanted to show off the nails I wore for my birthday on Thursday!

I really wanted to do some chevron moons, because it’s been a while, & after a paired the shades together I realized the colour scheme reminds me a lot of the movie version Wonder Woman costume! & even though I didn’t set out to create Wonder Woman nails for my birthday, I thought it was very fitting for my birthday!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Birthday Girl
  • Essie In Hot Purse-uit
  • Essie Tote-ally in Love
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Chevron nail vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush(COFFEE10 to save 10%)

Oh man, I seriously always forget just how much I adore a good chevron until I haven’t worn one in a while & then I’m reminded why they are my favourite kind of design! & the colours are just so perfect for Autumn (& you know, meeting up with the Justice League to save the world.) It was the perfect choice for celebrating my 34th year.

What do you think about this look? Do you usually chose a special look for your birthday nails? Let me know down in the comments below!