L.O.V.E. nails (Happy Valentine’s Day!) 💗

Good morning loves & happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s a snowy Valentine’s Day here in Halifax, after a big dumping of snow. Not super impressed with the weather, but that won’t stop me from sharing my last Valentine’s Day look for this year! I really wanted to do more hearts — like accent hearts — but at the last second I decided to write L.O.V.E in the middle of them. & I’m obsessed.

They’re like heart shaped scrabble tiles! & I love it.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • QUO Beauty Velveteen
  • ACO by Ardene Flawless
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Dotting tool (NailStuff.ca — Dotting Tool Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

I’m not sure why, but I really wants to do heart accent nails at the base of my nails. But when I finished my little pale pink hearts, they looked a little basic, so I decided to outline them in black — my go to for jazzing up a manicure. BUT THEN, I thought: what if I attempted to spell out Love in my hearts. It was a risk, but it turned out so awesome, so I couldn’t be happier!

What do you think about this love themed design? Do you like this simple nail art? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

I hope everyone has a happy Valentine’s Day, & if it’s not your thing then I hope you enjoy tomorrow which is 50% of chocolate day!

♥︎

Pink on Pink Valentine’s Hearts 💗

Hello lovelies. It’s officially one week until Valentine’s Day, so I figured that a good enough time as any to start with a little love-ly nail art. Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day… minus to opportunity to make cupcakes. But I do like the excuse to pull out all of my pink nail polishes at once, so I’m hoping to share a few nail art looks over the next week.

First up, a simple & slightly rustic heart design. I was inspired by my base polish pick, & decided to build my manicure around it.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • OPI DS Extravagance
  • OPI Koala Berry
  • OPI Pinking of You
  • OPI Chiffon My Mi
  • Dotting tool (NailStuff.ca — Dotting Tool Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm Liner Brush)

How cute did these little hearts turn out? I feel like free handing hearts can be kind of hit or miss, so I was a bit scared how they would turn out — especially because I was not in the mood to start my design all over again. I did like the hearts just solid colours, but I wanted to try outlining the hearts, & I’m so glad I did because I feel like it made them pop off the nail so much more vibrantly! & they don’t seem so one dimensional. Absolutely adorable.

What do you think about these adorable pink on pink heart nails? Have you been playing around with some Valentine’s (or anti-Valentine’s) Day designs for this year? I’m definitely thinking pink (duh) & maybe a gradient dotticure? I can’t wait to share what design I end up choosing!

♥︎

New Years Eve Golden Dotticure ✨

Hello Beauties & happy New Years Eve! I told you I would sneak in one more manicure before the year was over. Obviously, it being New Years Eve, I needed to give it my all, & decided to go with gold, silver & black for the full effect.

I also didn’t want to go too crazy because I am still exhausted from working through Christmas, & honestly by 10pm I’m just wrecked. So I decided to go with a classic dotticure… but with a NYE twist.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • OPI Rolling in Cashmere
  • Essie Hors d’Oeuvres
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Dotting tool (I always use mine from NailStuff.ca — Dotting Tool Trio)

I like how I flipped the colours I would usually do. Normally, I would go with black (or another darker colour) as my base, & use the lighter colours as my dots. But I thought I needed more gold & silver, so I decided to use it as my base instead, & use black as my accent… & I love how it turned out! Very glam, with a hint of glitter. Perfect for New Years Eve celebrations, both over the top, & simple.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has visited this blog, liked my designs, & especially commented this last year! You make it worth it to keep posting, & make me excited to keep posting — especially as other social media changes so much! 2022 was a fantastic year for me, albeit challenging & full of change, but this blog was my happy place to come to, & I’m very excited to see what 2023 has in store!

Have a happy New Year Lovelies! Wishing everyone peace, calm, & joy.

♥︎

Glam Nails Challenge December — Christmas Decorations

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone — especially my fellow retail workers — are having a lovely & not too stressful week. It’s seriously crazy that it’s only 4 days until Christmas Day. I can’t believe how quickly this month is going by… & this year.

Next up we have a fun prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December: Christmas Decorations. I decided to go with a classic Christmas decoration, & created these beautiful sparkly Christmas light design.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-chip Top Coat
  • L’Oreal Colour Riche Eva’s Nude
  • L’Oreal Colour Riche The Magic Top Coats The Holographic
  • Starrily Nails Vantablack
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red It Twice
  • Quo by ORLY Mini Glitter Green
  • Quo by ORLY Mini Glitter Gold
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm Liner Brush)

& as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m back to my super shorties. Not ideal–& super sad because I was hoping to get to the new year with that fabulous length–but it is what it is, so I’ll just have to come up with some cute short nail looks for the rest of this month!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far, & not getting too stressed out with any last minute wrapping, or (like me) shopping they need to get done this week. Stores are busy, people are a bit crazy, so hopefully everyone has time to sit back & enjoy a hot chocolate or Irish coffee, & relax a little bit!

& don’t forget: you can see the rest of the beautiful Glam Nails Challenge December nails on Instagram!

Glam Nails Challenge December — Candy Cane

Good morning lovelies & happy Monday! & happy 6 days until Christmas Day! I worked a very busy weekend, & the Christmas shopping rush is real. Now if only it would actually feel like Christmas was on its way. Currently, they’re calling for 10 degrees (Celsius) & thunder & lightning on Christmas Eve.

So festive.

You know what is festive though? My nails for the next Glam Nails Challenge prompt, which is Candy Cane. I was really excited for this prompt, because I had this idea of doing a Candy Cane French Manicure. This idea has been floating around in my head for a while, & I was so excited my nails were finally long enough I could!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-chip Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Ski Bunny
  • Sally Hansen MG Red It Twice
  • French Tip Guides
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm Liner Brush)

I know I say this almost every time, but how cute are these?! I got some many compliments on this design at work! It’s super simple, but just the right amount of festive. Which fits with retail style because I’ve been all about the Christmas Sweaters, fuzzy socks, & any head band that feels a little Christmas-y. After a long time in retail, I’ve accumulated quite the Christmas work wardrobe.

Also this was the last manicure I managed to do before a very tragic break on my middle finger nail. You can kind of see there was a little spot in it that I had previously hit. It wasn’t a break or a crack, but it was enough that I hit it off my fridge door & now I’m back to big time shorties.

Are you following along with Glam Nails Challenge December on Instagram? Are you enjoying the manicures that you’ve seen so far? We have a few more prompts to go… 3 I think? That’s crazy!

& I hope you’re ready for some super short nail looks! Because that’s what we have coming up for the remainder of the month.

Have an awesome rest of your Monday!