Happy 10th Birthday Coffee & Nail Polish! ✨🌈

Hello my loves & happy Friday. Not just any Friday — we are celebrating the birthday of this little nail blog of mine. 10 years of fun nail art, pretty polish & my love of combining the two. & it’s been quite the journey since my very first blog post! We’ve seen new jobs, weddings, babies, a pandemic, & a whole lot of nail shape changes!

& if you’ve been here since the beginning — thank you!

I thought to mark this occasion I needed some pretty floral (my go to favourite since the beginning) featuring my all time favourite nail shade: red.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: China Glaze Fast Forward Top 
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Cherry Delightful
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Heather Hustle
  • OPI Sickeningly Sweet
  • OPI Nature Strong Emflowered
  • OPI Nature Strong Make My Daisy
  • Essie Muchi Muchi
  • Essie Willow in the Wind
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • BKIND Sauble Beach
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush

Obviously I had to do some floral to celebrate this next decade of Coffee & Nail Polish. My favourite back then, my favourite now! & I’m particularly in love with how these turned out over this beautiful red from Sally Hansen.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart everyone who has joined this nail journey with me. It means so much to see the likes, the comments, the love. It means so much & I hope you stick around to see what the next ten years brings.

🌸💗

Simple Peach Floral

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! It’s a sunny, albeit chilly, Monday here which gives me hope that maybe Spring isn’t as far off as it feels. Today, I’m summoning Spring with a pretty floral design because…. I’m so over Winter.

I painted this look over yesterday’s Swatch Sunday pick, & I have to say even though it’s not blatantly a Spring colour scheme, I love how it came out.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: China Glaze Fast Forward Top 
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear With The Beet
  • OPI A Great Opera-tunuity
  • Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure Rock Steady
  • Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure Almond Tan
  • Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure Black Stone
  • OPI Life Gave Me Lemons
  • Essie Willow in the Wind
  • Essie Satin Sisters
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I just love how these turned out. Usually, my go to floral is a rose design, but I’m trying to brand out of my comfort zone. Originally, I had planned just to do a few accent nails, but it looked so good I did all 10 nails instead! I really like this light peach over the dark base — it really makes it pop!

Over all, one of my absolute favourite designs I’ve done in a while.

I’ve been feeling so stupid & meh when it comes to my nails lately — especially after my serious nail break — but as soon as I did these I just few renewed again. It’s true, floral makes everything better.

What do you think of this floral design? Are you as ready for Spring as I am? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & what design you turn to when you’re feeling meh about your nails!

Have a fantastic Monday loves.

♥︎

Dark & Gloomy Hand Painted Floral

Hello loves & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. After some gross winter weather on Saturday evening, we actually had a beautiful (almost Spring-like) Sunday.

Today I’m sharing some dark & gloomy floral which I feel like are perfect for the darkest & gloomiest month. It’s been so long, too long, since I hand painted any roses on my nails & these turned out better than I could have hoped. With the dark base, I feel like they have a bit of a gothic feel to them as well.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Snake It Up + Starrily Magnet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Can’t Beet Royalty
  • Sally Hansen MG Good Cheer-y
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Society Ruler
  • Sally Hansen CSM Berry Fancy
  • Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure. Eco-Rose
  • Essie Willow in the Wind
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush

I used a lot of red polishes to achieve these roses, but I think they turned out so beautiful. These are probably my favourites florals to paint; I love how beautiful they look on the nail.

Also I’ve never actually used this Essie magnetic shade before, but I tried it with my Starrily magnet & it worked really well. My bottle was purchased at Dollarama & did not have the snake skin magnet with it—probably the reason I’ve never used it— so I was happy to have something to use with it! & I love it, even if it didn’t show up well in these photos.

What do you think about these fun floral nails? Are you getting dark & gloomy from them? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER — Mistletoe 🌲

Hello beauties & happy Monday. & happy one week could down to Christmas! The end of the year count down is officially on, & 2024 is looming. I swear I’m still in 2020 some days, & now we’re almost mid-way through the decade. Time is a crazy thing!

But I digress. We still have some prompts left for this month’s Glam Nails Challenge December & I’m so excited to share the manicures to come. Today’s prompt is Mistletoe, & I just love how my design turned out!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ORLY Garnet Luxe Shimmer
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Central Pink
  • Dimension Nails Amazonian Manatee
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Thyme is Money
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm detail brush

I was a little bit nervous about creating mistletoe nails, because I wasn’t sure how exactly to do them — & Pinterest was showing me holly nails when I typed in mistletoe, which was confusing — but I think my design turned out beautiful! I was inspired by this look on Pinterest by @tessalynnails.

& I got a ton of compliments at work for my nails, which is always satisfying. I love when people notice & love the work I put in. Just feels so satisfying for people to recognize your nails, especially when you’re super proud of them! & I’m very proud of these ( even if the lighting for these designs wasn’t my favourite.)

What do you think about these mistletoe nails? Do you like the simplicity of this design? I absolutely love how festive they turned out. Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

Have a lovely Monday! ♥︎

Instagram Nail Art Collab — Evergreen 🌲

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! & happy Hanukkah to all that celebrate! Today I’m excited to share the manicure I did for the Evergreen Nail Art Collab on Instagram, hosted by the ever so lovely @essieyall & @petitenaillover.

This month’s theme is Evergreen, & so I decided to go simple with some hand painted bare evergreen branches.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Color Club Label-less grey
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Me, My Elf & I
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Wet My Thistle
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Jazzy Jade
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Oh My Coffee
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush

I’ve done some version of this manicure every Winter/Christmas for the last couple years, but it never gets dull or old to me. This version is a bit more subdued than previous versions, but I love how it turned out. I’m always so excited to participate in this monthly challenge, & create something fun with the prompt given.

If you want to check out the other gorgeous manicures & nail artist participating, check out #evergreennailartmanicollab2023 on Instagram!

What do you think of my evergreen nails? Do they feel festive to you? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Friday! 🖤