GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER (2024) — Christmas Tree 🎄

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! & happy day after Christmas. I hope everyone who celebrates had a peaceful holiday, however they chose to spend it. I know this has been a hard year for so many, & so whatever peace you need, you’ve found it.

Today I have another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December — Christmas Tree. & I wanted to turn my sparkly base into a tree, so I added some cute simple ornaments. & I think this look turned into perfection.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Essie Off Tropic *
  • Icing Stores Under The Mistletoe
  • Essie (Un)Guilty Pleasures *
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny *
  • Essie Not A Phase *
  • Sally Hansen 5 Golden Blings
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

    *pr/gifted

I thought this was such a fun look. It kind of reminds me of the Andy Warhol Flowers painting/print, but with Christmas ornaments instead. A little Christmas twist & different from the Christmas tree looks I usually go for. Plus the green glittery polish is so beautiful! I didn’t realize how much glitter coverage it actually had. So pretty!

Again, merry Christmas. & happy Hanukah to those who are currently celebrating.

& don’t forget that you can see all the beautiful designs using the hashtag #glamnailschallengedec24 on Instagram. Only a few more prompts to go until this year is over!

🖤

Under the Sea Stamped Nail Art 🪸🌊

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. Sorry for a quiet week so far — with the kids being off school, sometimes it’s hard to get my posts done!

But I’m really excited to share my nails today, because I feel like these are really fun! I originally started out with just my gradient nails, but felt like something was missing so I added some fun stamping—that reminded me of sea weed—over top.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Here to Stay
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • CND Vinylux Lost Labyrinth
  • Icing Stores Starlight
  • Icing Stores Black
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate BP-L026
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set

Does that not look like seaweed, under the water? If only I had some cute fish nail art stickers strategically added, then I would really sell the ocean vibes! But I still think the stamping gave the look I was going for.

What do you think of these stamped nails? Did you guess ocean? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — Icing Stores Chips n Dip

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! After some rainy & chilly days we’re finally back to beautiful sunshine, & I couldn’t be happier.

For today’s Swatch Sunday post, I decided to do some serious digging through my stash & found a very throwback shade circa 2013 (I’m guessing). I wanted something bright & vibrant & Summery, & I think that I was very successful.

This is Icing Stores Chips n Dip.

3 coats + Top Coat

This beautiful fiery coral applied in 3 thin coats, which usually would be a no for me, but because the formula is quite thin, it dried down very quickly so I didn’t have to worry about wait time — especially after applying a quick dry top coat. It’s a cruelly formula, definitely leaning more on the jelly side of that occasion which I like.

The colour is bright & I love that. I’m always drawn towards anything in the red or red leaning family, & this is a fantastic Summer option. Like could you imagine this as a pedicure colour? So perfect for the beach.

Look how bright this is! Definitely looking more on the red side in these photos, but the coral really comes through in person.

My only complaint — & it’s probably an issue due to how long I’ve owned this shade — is handle of the brushes on the bottles have kind of melted over the years so they’ve gotten really sticky & I absolutely hate it. Not sure what to do to fix the stickiness, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Because I would love to use this shade (& others from this brand in the same style of bottle) but the sticky issue keeps me from reaching for them.

What do you think about Icing Stores Chips N Dip? Does this shade scream Summer to you as much as it does to me? Have you ever tried an Icing brand polish? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

Happy Sunday! ♥︎

Mermaid Sparkle Nails ✨🧜‍♀️

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday!

It’s a beautiful sunny day & it’s lovely. Definitely feeling like Spring more & more, & I’m just soaking it up. Today I’m sharing a really pretty manicure with you that I did recently, which was actually super easy to do! A while ago — probably sometime last year—I picked up these pretty iridescent glitters from Dollarama, & I’ve had yet to use them! So I was so excited to finally pull them out. 

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: LA Girl Rapid Dry Top Coat
  • Nailtural Keep Palm, & Swim On
  • Icing Mermaid Oil Blue
  • Dollarama Nail Art Glitters iridescent shard glitters
  • Small nail art brush (to pick up glitters)

How pretty did these turned out?! I feel like with my new blue hair, I’m all about the mermaid vibes lately. Mermaid hair just needs mermaid nails.

These were so easy to apply the glitters to my nails, & it turned out so beautiful. I really really love how they look. Of course, I did have some little peices sticking up on my nail, but I feel like a thicker top coat might help with that issue. Either way, I wore the heck out of this manicure!

What do you think about these mermaid glitter nails? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I’d love to know all your thoughts on this design!

Happy Thursday 💙

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Blue Iguana (& some bonus sparkle ✨)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The first Sunday of November, if you can believe it! Sadly, I’m starting off November with some extra short nails thanks to a bad, bad break at work on Friday.

So I wanted to make my nails feel extra pretty, so I dug through my stash & landed on this sparkly old school China Glaze shade. This is China Glaze Blue Iguana.

2 coats + top coat

Blue Iguana was originally released as part of the 2011 Summer Island Escape collection. It has an electric blue foil finish with a great micro shimmer. The formula was fairly thin, but I had adequate coverage in 2 coats. It also appears lighter on the nail than in the bottle, which was kind of a bummer — but maybe an extra coat or two would have fixed that. I also wish you could see more of the purple duochrome flash on the nail, as much as you can see it in the bottle. But it’s still beautiful regardless.

I was feeling like my short, stubby nails needed a bit more sparkle, so I pulled another oldie (released around the same time) from Icing to add a little pizazz: Icing Radio Super Star.

1 coat over Blue Iguana + top coat

I was actually really impressed with how closely the blue glitters in Radio Super Star matched Blue Iguana. It has a clear base with blue micro glitter, fuschia hex glitters & these fun silver star glitter. What you see above is just one coat over my base — & I had great luck with getting the star glitters onto the nail with minimal fishing.

It gave me exactly the sparkle I was craving to cheer myself up!

How are you feeling up these two fun polishes both together & apart? I feel like it’s just a smidge too early for holiday polishes (although I’m keeping my eyes open!) but I may see what glitter shades I can pull out for this month.

Have a happy Sunday!