Tag: Glitter

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Quick & Easy Summer Nails

Happy Summer lovelies! & Happy Friday! I hope everyone is as excited for sunny days as I am! ☀️ seriously, the last few months has felt like a never ending Winter with a little fall thrown in for good measure. I’m very excited for sunshine & beach days… even if I spend most of my time hiding out within the walls of the Mall.

I just got over a very busy couple of weeks, which meant my nail designs needed to be fairly simplistic (since I had no time to do my nails!) That means I’ve been wearing either solid colour nails or going with simple accent nails. I’ve had these nail stickers from Icing in my nail art collection for a few years now, but I felt like I haven’t worn them in a while. I really wanted to have a contrasting colour to my base shade, so I decided to pick one of these turquoise starfish stickers as my accent.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea + Bamboo Strength
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Sunday Funday
  • Deborah Lippmann Make Someone Happy
  • Icing Stores Nail Art Stickers (beach themed circa 2015/2016)

Originally I was planning on just wearing Essie Sunday Funday on its own with the starfish sticker, but it really felt like it needed something extra which I why I added the glitter gradient on my other nails…. & I LOVE how it turned out. Like, seriously love. It gives the design that Beachy feel I was hoping for without too much work. Like I said, it’s been a CRAZY few weeks with a lot of late nights at work, so nail art has taken a bit of a back seat. Thank goodness I have a huge back stock of nail art stickers & decals & other goodies to make doing my nails so much easier!

I think coral & turquoise is going to be one of my favourite colour combinations for Summer. After seeing them together here, I’m definitely going to need to do a half moon design featuring them… like now! (Or whenever I recover enough to actually function for nail art haha.)

what do you think of this simple design? Do you use nail art stickers to fancy up your nails? Share your thoughts down below!

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Pretty Pink Gradient & Stamping

Happy Tuesday everyone!

We’re quickly speeding through February, can you believe we’re already half way through? Kind of crazy! Today I have a super fun gradient design to share. I’ve been kind of obsessed with gradients lately–I go through fazes, & now that I’m all stocked up on my Edge Perfection I’ve been a little gradient crazy.

For today’s design, I was feeling pink. I wanted something a little Valentine’s Day-esque without being too over the top. I started out with the gradient, then added some holo glitter. & then I thought–why not some stamping too? I was a bit scared it was all going to be too much, but I think because I didn’t use contrasting colours, the whole design really works together.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by Orly Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Joe Fresh Cotton Candy
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mauve Over
  • China Glaze Life is Rosy
  • Quo by Orly Falling Star
  • Essie No Place like Chrome
  • Born Pretty Store Image Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier

I’m really loving this gradient!

& obviously I took some macro shots! You see the holo glitters much better this way, since my desk lamp doesn’t show them off as well as I would like. Also it shows off the blend on this gradient, which I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of. Especially since my early gradients looked something like this.

 

I’m so happy with this whole design! I know it’s not oh my god Valentine’s Day, but it’s pretty & pink & what is more lovely than that?

What do you think of this design? Do you like all the layers, or do you think it’s too busy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Valentine’s Day Chevron Accent Nails

Another day, another fun Valentine’s Day appropriate design to share with you! The day is quickly approaching, so I’ve been trying to get creative while I have time. Last year with having a newborn (& spending extra days in the hospital) I wasn’t able to do anything Valentine’s Day related on my nails, so I’m definitely making up for it this year!

For this design, I decided to grab a few of the colours I picked from my “6 Polishes I’m Loving for Valentine’s Day” post on Sunday. To pair all these shades together, I decided on son stacked chevrons to show off all these pretty shades! This is definitely a design that is all about Valentine’s Day–it might be too flashy of a design to wear, for example, to the office (depending on where you work) but would be awesome for date night, or a Valentine’s Day themed party!

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Christian Louboutin Beauty Rouge Louboutin
  • China Glaze Seduce Me
  • L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses
  • ACO by Ardene Ice Mist
  • Quo by ORLY Nail Art Striper in Gold
  • NailStuff.ca Heart Stud — Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel
  • UR SUGAR Stacked Chevron Nail Stencils item #AUB39877 — click to buy
  • Dotting Tool

I think these turned out so cute with the mix of colours together!  Next time I might use the stacked chevron vinyls upside down so it matches the V-shade of the heart. But I’m really happy with how these turned out, & the addition of the little heart stud just makes it even more perfect! ♥

Do you like these Valentine’s Day themed nails? Have you figured out what you’re doing on the day yet? My hubby & I usually stay in–because trying to make reservations is hell on Earth–& make heart shaped gluten free pizza or something else delicious. & of course, cupcakes! It’s become holiday tradition for me to make him cupcakes for special occasions.

 

Let me know your thoughts on this design in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — 6 Nail Polishes I’m Loving for Valentine’s Day!

Happy Sunday lovelies.

Since we’re into the first week of the month of love, I thought it would be fun to dedicate Swatch Sunday to some perfect polishes for Valentine’s Day. I own a lot of pink & red shades so I had fun going through my stash to find 6 polishes that I will definitely be loving this month in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day (okay & pretty much always because pink & red nail polish always have my heart). I actually did a post like this a few years ago, so I thought it would be fun to do another one!

So here are my 6 polish picks for Valentine’s Day 2018.

 

CHINA GLAZE — SEDUCE ME

Firtst up is China Glaze Seduce Me, a deep berry red that applies in 2 coats, although if you’re careful you might be able to get away with one careful coat. My bottle is pretty old, so I went with two. I chose this colour for Valentine’s Day because I feel like it’s a really grown up colour: it has pinkish undertones but it’s not bubblegum pink & it’s also not that classic candy apple red shade either. It’s a little bit different, & I honestly feel like this shade is one that will look great on everyone! It also pairs really well with other pink & reds for nail art (like some zig zag chevrons perhaps?)

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L’OREAL VERNIS A L’HUILE — JARDIN DES ROSES

L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses is my first pink choice & it’s a pink I’ve really been loving lately. This is two coats for full coverage of this soft romantic pink & it applies really well. This pink is great because of how soft the colour is–you won’t look like you’re Barbie when you wear it.

 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN BEAUTY — ROUGE LOUBOUTIN

If you’re looking for a classic red to wear on Valentine’s Day, I feel like you don’t need to look any further than Christian Louboutin Beauty Rouge Louboutin! I received this beautiful red nail polish from a family friend the night before my wedding, & because it is so special to me I tend to save it for special occasions. I used two coats for coverage — it’s pretty good after one, but I wanted to make sure there was no hint of visible nail line. This is definitely the perfect classic red for a Valentine’s Day date, & if your significant other forgets about Valentine’s Day, you can always stab them with the bottle!

 

ACO BY ARDENE — BOUDOIR

Valentine’s Day is a special occasion, & sometimes I want a little glitter & Ardene Boudoir is a fun glitter choice. It a clear base stuffed full of berry glitters. I used 3 coats for my swatches (thank god for peel off base coat) but normally I would either apply it over top a complimentary shade or sponge the glitter onto my nail. You can build close to opacity though, although I couldn’t imagine the dry time. I just love the colour of the glitter in this polish–sometimes you just need to sparkle a little (or a lot)!

 

OPI — FIRE ESCAPE RENDEZVOUS

Next up we have OPI Fire Escape Rendezvous. This is 2 coats of this metallic ruby red polish with glitters–both shard glitter & hex glitter. The glitters are interesting, but I really dig them.  They give this polish an interesting texture which makes it unique, although I definitely prefer it top coated (Seche Vive). If you’re looking for something a little more than just red, this would be a great choice.

SINFUL COLORS — BLOOM BLAST FLOWER POWER

Last, but definitely not least, is Sinful Colors Bloom Blast in Flower Power. This milky pink shade is stuffed full of large & tiny matte pink metallic & white glitters. I belive it’s supposed to be worn on it’s own but I think it looks best over top other pink polishes. This is one coat over OPI Two Timing the Zones. How cute does this look? I know not everyone is a nail art person, so a topper like this is a great way of zazzing up your nails without having to worry about freehanding anything! It’s almost a dotticure without any of the work!

 

So those are the six polishes I’m loving for Valentine’s Day this year? What shades/polishes are your Valentine’s Day favourites? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

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Gold Flakie Glitter Placement

Happy Saturday lovelies! Hope everyone is having a wonderful first week of 2018. Today I am super excited, not only because I have these super cute flakie nails to share, but I created a tutorial for you… a VIDEO tutorial! I’ve been toying with the idea of creating videos for a while, but kind of nervous how doing it. But 2018 is all about challenging myself when it comes to this blog! & honestly, it turns out wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be! It’s actually kind of fun. ♥️

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oducts used for this manicure:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Morgan Taylor Don’t Toy With My Heart
  • Nailstuff.ca gold foil flakies
  • Dotting tool (mine is from Bundle Monster)

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I always love a good glitter placement, & I thought these gold foil flakies from Nailstuff.ca paired so well with the red base of Morgan Taylor Don’t Toy With My Heart. It’s a little different trying to place flakies verses glitter from polish, but the end result looks just as gorgeous. I’ll definitely be trying this look with a few of the iridescent flakies I own.

A close up of these nails shows how cool the flakies look. I’m definitely going to be using this technique more often!

what do you think of this glitter placement design? I plan on making more tutorial videos, so let me know what you’d like to see & anything I can do to improve!

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*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own.

<These polishes were all gifted to me by Morgan Taylor as part of the Preen.Me #PreenMeVIP program>