FASHION FRIDAY — OOTD: Knits & Layers

Ardene sleeveless burgundy turtleneck sweater (similar sweater here.) Ardene long sleeve burgundy sweater (similar sweater here). Ardene knit leggings (here.) Nine West Knee High Boots. Black Knit Beanie from Dollarama.

Hello lovelies & happy Friday!

It’s been a long, long while since my last Fashion Friday post, & the weather has certainly shifted since my last OOTD post. We’ve gone from light Fall breezes to full on snowstorms, which means my fashion choices have transformed as well.

& how would I describe my fashion style for the current Autumn weather? It’s all about layers!

This look is definitely one I’ve been repeating, featuring different the different sweaters in my closet. I’m all about the layers, & keeping warm, so I’ve been piling knits on top of knits from head to toe. & for some odd reason, late Fall/Winter is the only time where I actually reach for leggings. But don’t worry—I’ve got an extra pair of tights on underneath, because I am always way too cold.

& my current favourite accessory right now, aside from these Nine West Knee High Booties I’ve own since University? The beanie! Not going to lie, Mary Kate & Ashley are once again inspiring my fashion choices with their flawless New Yorker style. But, to be honest, when aren’t they?

So what do you think about this look? I’d say oversized sweaters, leggings, & excessive layers are definitely my Fall uniform. What about you? What are your current style staples? 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!

#GlamNailsChallengeOct — Black Cats

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today I’m sharing another design for the GlamNailsChallenge for October which is Black Cats 🖤

If you don’t know, I absolutely adore black cats, & I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful black furry baby. So I was very excited to create some black cat inspired nails. I thought about going full spooky Halloween with this look, but I decided to go a little understated & more glam (but still channeling Autumn.)

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry (aka ORLY Space Cadet)
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Starrily Nails Vantablack
  • the Base Coat cat vinyls
  • MyNailsDid Black Cat Decal
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

Again, I know I say this all the time, but I’m totally obsessed with how these nails turned out! My little accent kitties just make me so happy, & I like the minimalistic look of the cats against my base of Essie Ballet Slippers. I have to say, I think I’m going to need it pick up a big bottle of it because it’s becoming one of my favourite bases for nail art. The pale base just makes my little kitties jump out!

Also loving the black & white against the shiftiness of ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry. I honestly own a few bottles from different brands that are all dupes of this shade, but it’s such a good reddish/burgundy duochrome that I can’t help but buy more!

What do you think about my black cat design? Would you rock this design on your nails? Let me know down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Like A Charm (Blue Moon Halloween 2020 Collection)

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday! Today I have another really fun nail polish to share with you!

For those who don’t know, Essie released a Halloween nail polish collection, for the first time ever! So naturally when I saw the shades at my local Shoppers Drug Mart, I knew I had to pick at least one shade up (I was being good). All the shades were pretty beautiful (@apolishedcolleen has full swatches on her Instagram) but the one that caught my eye most was Like A Charm.

There is something about a shifty dark purple that just makes me so happy, especially during Halloween season.

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

Like A Charm is a dark navy with scattered teal & blue & silver flakies to give it a fantastic colour shifting effect, which you can really see in the above macro shot. The formula was nice & not too thick, but did off a good amount of coverage. I did two coats for even application & opacity.

I definitely was really excited to see Essie come out with a fun Halloween collection this year, & even though this isn’t a completely unique shade in my nail polish collection over all, it is a unique shade when it comes to the Essie shades I own, & for that I am so, so glad that I picked it up!

Truthfully, I haven’t even gotten that excited about Halloween yet, just because this year has been such a rough year, but starting to paint my nails with Halloween polishes (especially one so witchy!) definitely gets me pumped to start thinking about my favourite holiday!

Next up will be Halloween decorations!

Have you picked up any of the shades from the Essie Blue Moon Halloween 2020 collection? Do you have a favourite? What do you think about Like A Charm? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below & if you’ve already started decorating for Halloween! 🎃

Autumn-esque Horizontal Accent Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! & Happy October 1st. It’s officially the first day of my birthday month & Halloween month! October is definitely my favourite month of the year & the BEST month for nail art!

Starting things off with some horizontal Autumn inspired accent nails. I’ve really been loving accent nail designs lately because sometimes you just don’t have time to do all of your nails. & lately, that has been my life. So accent designs are my lifeline!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Beet It
  • Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Pink Cardamom
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Thyme is Money
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • China Glaze First Mate
  • Straight Nail Vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

For this look, I used some straight nail vinyls to create my initial blocks of colour. Then I went in with my NailStuff striper brush to create more lines, kind of overlapping each other which gives the lines of a bit of a fuller look (& it’s way easier to create straight lines when you’re following already straight lines!).

This look & colour combination is giving me 90s retro vibes — it’s giving me some serious Willow from Buffy sweater vibes, & I’m loving everything about it. I’ve definitely been spending too much time stalking the BuffytheOutfitSlayer instagram! Haha. But I am not complaining, because this nail art design turned out too cute!

What do you think about these stripe-y accent nails? What colour combination would you chose for an accent nail look like this? Let me know what you think down in the comments below (& let me know what October activities you’re looking forward to!)