Tag: Manicure

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

Good morning lovelies & welcome to another rendition of Swatch Sunday. Today’s polish is brought to you by my 2 year old who decides what colour I needed to wear. & his pick? China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise!

Turned Up Turquoise is a neon shade that dries to a very matte finish. For my swatches, I applied 2 coats over my base. The coverage was perfect but like any matte shade, it gets a little goopy the older it gets because matte polishes do dry faster than regular (in my experience) & my bottle is going on 5 years old.

Usually I apply a glossy top coat to my matte shades & then finish with a coat of matte top coat, but I really wanted to show off the true finish of this shade. As you can see, it dries down pretty well on its own, although it doesn’t hide the rough state of my current nails. If I was wearing this for a while, I would definitely top coat it & then either add my matte top coat or leave it glossy.

& speaking of glossy, I had to add some top coat to show off how gorgeous Turned Up Turquoise looks with Essie Speed Setter added.

As you can see, glossy top coat really adds to the shine of this shade. It also shows off the shimmer that gets kind of hidden when it’s matte. But honestly–I love this polish either way! It’s so pretty while left matte & it’s gorgeous when glossy.

My only complaint about this shade? It’s just so hard to photograph the true colour! It’s slightly more green-ish than you see in my photos, but from browsing the Internet I don’t think anyone can capture the shade truly. I think that just comes with it being a neon, as neon polishes can be difficult to photograph.

So what do you think of this shade? Do you have it in your polish collection? Which do you prefer — glossy or left matte? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

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Purple Saran Wrap Splatter Nails

Good morning & happy Saturday! & happy March as well (how crazy is that?) Today I have another fun nail art look to share & it’s a super easy design that I just love: Saran Wrap splatter nails.

I think this is one of my favourite easy nail art looks, mostly because I literally takes no talent at all. Or tools for that matter! You just need polish, & some crinkled up Saran Wrap/plastic wrap, or even an old plastic shopping bag.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Splash of Grenadine
  • Color Club Disco Dress
  • Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d City of Angels
  • Crinkled up plastic bag

This technique honestly is one of my favourites & return to designs as it’s just so easy & relatively mess free. One of these days, maybe I’ll manage to do a video tutorial to show the just of it, but in the mean time you can check out my previous Saran Wrap designs for a run through of how to do them!

What do you think of this design? Have you tried the technique yet? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

(Also guys… sorry about the picture quality… work lighting is not nail art friendly!)

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{Yet Another} Spring Floral

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday. Hopefully wherever you are right now it’s feeling like Spring is around the corner. Here in Halifax, sadly, it seems like Winter has finally hit & it’s been bitterly cold. So naturally that means it’s time for floral! Seriously, anytime I remember that it’s still winter, I just have to create some floral nails again.

Today’s nail art look was done while watching the Oscars on Sunday night & inspired by the Valentino dress worn by Keira Knightley in 2015. I remember wanting to create Nails inspired by that gorgeous dress 4 years ago… but you know, I always get distracted haha. So I decided while watching this year’s show that it was finally time.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel In the Sheer
  • Sally Hansen MG Make It N-Ice
  • China Glaze Life Is Rosy
  • Sally Hansen MG Orchid-ing Around
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Sally Hansen MG Sugar Rush
  • Sally Hansen MG Just Maui’d
  • China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in green
  • Essie Off Tropic

I’ll be honest–I used so many polishes, that I probably forgot some. But that’s the gist of what I used. I always use a ton of polishes when feeehanding my floral & I never think to write all of them down. Maybe someday I’ll remember.

I really love how this turned out, especially over the light almost nude base (with hint of holo.) A little pop of colour.

what do you think of this design? Who else is craving Spring weather hardcore? Ooooooh dreaming of maxi dresses & jean jackets & counting down the days (weeks… months…)

💗

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Spring-ish Chevron Moons

Good morning lovelies & happy Saturday! Today I’ve got a brand new design to share with you because I was finally able to do some real nail art. I know… I’ve been lacking in the nail art blogging work. Work & winter have been killing my nails so I’ve got some serious shorties to contend with & no real motivation to do my nails other than a single colour.

But I’ve started using Nail Envy (again…) so hopefully that will bring my nails to life again! & I’ll actually feel like creating some lovely nail art looks again.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie High Class Affair
  • Essie Peach Daiquiri
  • Essie Cashmere Bathrobe
  • Essie Where’s My Chauffeur
  • The Base Coat Nail Vinyls Stacked Chevrons Vinyls.
  • NailStuff.ca small 7mm liner brush

Ooooh this look reminds me why I love chevron moons so much. Also, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this colour combination — I wanted to try & do something that channeled Spring but also worked with all the snow we currently have — & I’m actually just so in love with how these colours compliment each other.

It makes me so sad that they chipped like an hour into work. Like, why is it always the nail art looks I love? I mean, it gives me an excuse to paint my nails again, but then I also need to get the energy to do them again, & that’s the true struggle.

Does anyone else struggle with nail art slumps? How do you cope? Let me know down in the comments below!

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Pretty in Pink Holo Valentine’s Day Nails

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday. Also happy 2 days until Valentine’s Day… if you’re into that kinda thing. Haha.

I’m into any holiday that encourages pretty nails & I was feeling a little bit of holo. Especially since I have been a bit out of the nail art routine lately. So it felt like a good excuse to pull out a few of my favourite Wrenn Polish shades for some pink heart nail art! 💕

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Claire’s Miracle Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Wrenn Polish Passionfruit Pink
  • Wrenn Polish Enchanted
  • UR Sugar Nail Vinyls (Heart Pattern)

I really love the subtlety of this look. You have the pop of holo with Enchanted over the more soft base of Passionfruit Pink so the design really comes out best in motion. You get that little bit of rainbow which shows off your heart pattern. & even best… it’s super easy! All it takes is two polishes, a few nail vinyls, & bam! Easy & fancy nails.

This is a really fun look to wear for whatever your Valentine’s Day plans may be, whether it’s a romantic date with your love, margaritas with your besties, or eating an entire box of chocolate with your cat. Who doesn’t want to have pretty nails?

what do you think of this Valentine’s Day look? Do you already have your manicure planned? Share what you plan on wearing down in the comments below!