Winter-y Sweater Nails 🩵❄️

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. It’s after Remembrance Day here in Canada, which means it’s officially — well, in retail anyways — holiday season go time. The Christmas music is blaring, the red cups are being served, & I’m wearing 2-3 pairs of pants to work thanks to the cold weather. So maybe it’s okay to start creeping a bit more into Winter/Christmas nail art.

Today’s look I started simple with some more sweater inspired nails. This time, I wanted to go with a more winter-y colour scheme, so I picked a grey/blue polish combination–with a little bit of subtle shimmer for good measure.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Thinking Out Cloud
  • Sally Hansen MG Make it N-Ice
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area
  • Born Pretty Store Christmas Stamping Plate (discontinued)
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set

The last time I used this particular stamping plate, I went with a red/silver theme, so it was nice to try something different. This is giving less Christmas, & more just Winter, & I like that. It definitely works for our current chilly days. Also, I really like that I switched things up a bit & went with the shimmer-y light base with a darker creme for stamping. Usually I do the opposite.

& if this was an actual Winter/Christmas sweater, I would totally wear it. I do love a good fair isle patterned sweater.

What do you think about this Winter-y sweater design? Do you like these kinds of designs?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below. I definitely have a few freehand design ideas floating around in my head (maybe a recreation of this design from 2017?) so stay tuned!

Have a beautiful start to your week loves! ♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Is it too early to start sharing some very holiday appropriate nail polish shades? I mean — the holiday parties are already starting, aren’t they? So some jewel inspired red nail polish is just what I need in my life. Today’s pick is another oldie from the stash, from the now defunct ORLY Color Blast line: Garnet Luxe Shimmer.

2 coats, no top coat!

This stunning shimmery cherry red applied to the nail beautifully in two smooth coats. The formula was smooth, & easy to apply, & self levelled without any need for top coat. It also had a beautiful shine without any need for top coat.

This shade is 100% a Christmas red if I ever saw one. I’m not even sure where I originally picked this polish up — I don’t see a Winners/Marshall’s tag on it, so I’m assuming (maybe) Sally Beauty, but I honestly don’t remember. All I know is it is a great red, & I’m sure happy to have it as part of my collection.

Sadly, as mentioned, the Color Blast line is no longer in production — however I did find a few similar ORLY shades on their website which are very similar: Stronger than Ever, Crawford’s Wine, & Cran-Barely Believe It. I only have Stronger Than Ever in my own stash, so I’ll have to do a comparison to see how close they really are!

What do you think of ORLY Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer? Are you feeling the holiday vibes with this shimmery red polish? Are you ready to jump head first into all the Christmas/Holiday polishes I can share?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Halloween Ooze Nails 🧪

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! Only a couple more days until Halloween is here — can you believe it? & only a few more days to squeeze in some Halloween nail art!

I’m calling today’s look Halloween ooze nails because it’s the best description for them! I didn’t want to do your classic blood dripping design — these look much more spooky!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI Green On The Runway
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Belle of the Ball
  • URSugar dripping nail vinyls

I like these because I feel like the drips work both ways — the dark blurple dripping down, or the green dripping. The perfect Halloween design that’s not too over the top! I’ve literally been wearing these for 3 days now, & I don’t want to take them off. But I do have a few more Halloween designs to squeeze in, so I guess I’ll have to say goodbye to them tonight.

What do you think of these Halloween ooze nails? You could definitely get away with doing these without nail vinyls if you didn’t have any — I was just feeling lazy. Haha.

Happy Friday 🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER — Black Cats 🐈‍⬛

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! It’s already mid-week, & I’m super excited for this weekend because not only am I going to a wedding on Saturday, & then it’s my birthday on Sunday. So it will be a good weekend.

Today, though, we have another fun prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October — Black Cats. Now, I’ve got a soft spot for black cats so I was very excited to create a black cat themed manicure. This time I decided to go with a bit more glam look, instead of scary & spooky.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • Essence Beam Me Up
  • Starrily Eclipse
  • Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (11mm liner brush)

It’s been a while since I last painted nail art with acrylic paint, & I kind of forgot that it makes nail art so much easier (sometimes) compared to nail polishes, especially for something like this. It also makes for fixing mistakes a lot easier too.

& I just love my little peeking black cats. Reminds me of my own black kitties — who have both sadly passed away. But I definitely want another one, eventually. Black cats are just the most special.

What do you think of my black cat design? Already 4 prompts in — that’s super exciting. This month is going to be very, very fun for nail art, I can feel it already.

Have the best Wednesday loves! 🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER — Spider Web 🕸️

It’s that time of year my loves! It’s Glam Nails Challenge October!

I haven’t been doing these challenges a lot recently, just due to time constraints, but I couldn’t let October pass by without joining in. For those who don’t know, Glam Nails Challenge is a monthly challenge hosted by @nbnailart where they post a series of prompts for the month. I find it’s an awesome idea to jump in when I’m feeling stuck for nail art inspiration, or when it’s a month like October with a holiday theme.

& the first prompt of this month: Spider Webs.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • Cadillacquer Aghast
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Electri-Lime
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Liner Brush

As soon as I put on Cadillacquer Aghast for yesterday’s Swatch Sunday post, I knew it would be the perfect base for this spider web look (with green spider webs). Obviously, my nails were in the cold state for these pictures, as they usually are, but I like how it makes the lime green spider webs pop. If I had been thinking, I could have added some glow in the dark to the spiderwebs, but it didn’t occur to me until after.

But It would make for an awesome Halloween night design!

What do you think about this fun spider web Halloween design? Are you excited for a whole month of Halloween-y designs? Have you decided what you’re dressing up as for Halloween yet? Let me know down in the comments below!