Freehand – Page 80 – Coffee & Nail Polish

December 20, 2019December 20, 2019

Winter Pattern inspired by Selby’s Bunker!

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.

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

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!

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.

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? 🎄

December 18, 2019

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Poinsettias

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday. & happy week until Christmas, for those who celebrate! Is everyone else rushing around like a chicken with no head trying to finish up their shopping/organizing/wrapping, or is it just me? 😅

Today’s post is another entry into #GlamNailsChallengeDec — poinsettias. & fun fact: even though I love love love a good floral, I don’t think I’ve ever attempted a poinsettia design! Kind of crazy, but I was excited to give it a try.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
China Glaze December to Remember
China Glaze Feeling Twinkly
China Glaze Fairy Dust
Sally Hansen CSM Red It Online
Sally Hansen CSM Berry Fancy
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y
Essie Off Tropic
Essie First Timer
Essence Black Is Back
NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

So for this look, I started off by creating a super sparkly base using December to Remember, Feeling Twinkly & Fairy Dust. I really really wanted a super dense glitter for the poinsettias to pop against, I feel like the layering on these three shades really achieved that look. Next I hand painted my poinsettias using all nail polish. I know I’ve been using acrylic paint a lot lately, but I don’t actually have any red acrylic paint in my stash so I went old school & used nail polish.

It was a little time consuming, but the end result I feel like turned out really well. The only place I really struggled was with the leaves, & they’re definitely not perfect, but over all I think my design turned out pretty close to its inspiration!

Is there ever such a thing as too much sparkle during the holidays? I don’t think so. The only downside is glitter removal, but thanks to peel off base coat, if you just want extra glittery nails for a night, you are in luck! Can’t go wrong with that!

Absolutely loving these poinsettias & excited to finally mark this off my bucket list! If you like this look, hop over to Instagram & let me know. & while you’re there, check out the other beautiful poinsettia looks as part of #glamnailschallengeDec. I love going through & seeing everyone’s interpretations of the same prompt! It’s so much fun!

December 16, 2019December 15, 2019

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Christmas Decorations

Good morning lovelies & happy Monday! We’re quickly speeding through December & speeding through the prompts for #GlamnailschallengeDec! Today’s prompt is Christmas decorations! I feel like this prompt is really up for interpretation & offers a wide variety of options, so I decided to recreate a look I love to do: Christmas branches with decorations, but with the addition of holo. Because, let’s be honest — everything is better with holo!

If you’re curious to see my previous look from two years ago, you can find them here.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Quo by ORLY Kiss Me I’m Kind
OPI Pirouette My Whistle
Acrylic paint
Wrenn Polish Enchanted
Wrenn Polish Summer Sands
Color Club Eternal Beauty
Superchic Lacquer Throwing Shade
NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Who has decorated their Christmas tree? 🎄 We got ours done this week, which is about 2 weeks sooner than last year. Because of pregnancy & work last year, we managed to get our tree decorated by Christmas Eve, haha. But you know, if you haven’t gotten your tree decorated yet, you can always pretend with fully decorated Christmas trees on your nails!

I really think the holo dots are what make this design because it reminds me of the baubles on my own tree when the light catches them. Just that lovely sparkle. ✨ You don’t even need to worry about any more details, because the shift of light does it all for you.

I also think these might be the best pine needle/Christmas tree branches I’ve ever painted. I’m insanely proud of how these ended up, which is probably why I wore this look for over a week. Sometimes a look just wins, & this is definitely one of these looks for me. ❤️

What do you think about this Christmas decoration look? Don’t forget to hop on over to Instagram & check out the other #glamnailschallengeDec Christmas Decoration looks. faux tree kind of person!

December 5, 2019

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Santa 🎅🏼

Hello lovelies! We’ve got another prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeDec to share today! & yep… I’m aware that I’m a day behind, but that’s life sometime.

Our second prompt of the challenge is Santa! So in honour of that I decided to do Santa hats over my previous manicure of Icing Stores Santa Baby just to maximize the full Santa effect!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Essie Wrap Me Up
Icing Stores Santa Baby
Quo by ORLY Stilettos on the Run
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pat on the Black
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
Nailstuff.ca 4mm micro detail brush (COFFEE10 saves 10% off your purchase!)
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I remember the first time I ever attempted a Santa hat manicure… & I won’t lie, it wasn’t pretty. I’m pretty sure I used a dotting tool to try & draw my lines, which did not turn out very good at all. (Literally just went & found the picture on Facebook so if you’re curious, click here to see my masterpiece.)

I’ve come along way after a lot of practice, & these little hats turned out too cute. The jelly-like finish of Stilettos on the Run show off the glitters underneath, which is really quite cool. I’m digging it a lot.

These feel very, very Christmas-y to me for sure. The colours, the design… there is no denying these are for Christmas! So much fun!

What do you think about this Santa inspired design? Have you popped over to Instagram yet go check out the other looks for #glamnailschallengeDec yet? Stay tuned for more fun, hopefully on time, nail art looks to come!

December 2, 2019December 1, 2019

GlamnailschallengeDec — Candles

Good morning lovelies & Happy December 2nd! I thought since December is one of my favourite times of year for nail art, it would be fun to join in another round of GlamnailschallengeDec. I’ve had a ton of fun joining in on these challenges, & I thought this would be a fun way to come up with some new & creative holiday looks!

The first prompt for this month is Candles! At first I was a little stuck on what I wanted to do for this prompt, but after some Pinterest stalking I saw this manicure & decided to use it as my inspiration!

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Strengthener
Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
Maybelline Color Show Auburn Ablaze
Acrylic paint
NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush (use COFFEE10 to save 10%) {PR sample}

This was my first time attempting a design like this–maybe aside from a birthday candle look forever ago–so I was a little nervous about how they would turn out. But you know what… I absolutely am obsessed with how they turned out. The dark base colour reminds me of the early darkness that comes as we approach Christmas, & the glow of the candles in the window. It really gives me all the fuzzy feelings just staring at my nails.

What do you think about this look? Are you excited for another month of prompts for GlamnailschallengeDec?! Don’t forget following along with all the designs by checking out #glamnailschallengeDec on Instagram to see all the fun & festive designs to come!

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