Easy Nude & Gold Ruffian

Good morning lovelies! It’s currently 6:33am as I write this & I’m sitting here waiting for my bright & early flight to Ottawa–my first time on an airplane in 9 years & my first time being away from the little guy. I figured I would distract myself from reality by posting! I have quite a few manis saved up that I haven’t posted yet, so even though I won’t be doing my nails this week I’ll still have lots of content to share.

Today’s design is a design that I’ll be thinking about in my head for a while. I did them when I started out my job search & was trying to come up with interview/office appropriate designs. Sometimes you just want a little more than plain nude nails, but don’t want to push it too far.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Topless & Barefoot
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • Quo By ORLY Fallen Star
  • Paper Hole reinforcements

Oh man, I love ruffian designs but sometimes they can be tricky to get right. Using the paper hole reinforcements means you can create the look with barely any trouble. This was the first time I’ve tried it this way, & I’ll definitely be “cheating” & using them from now on. Just like my favourite half moons, it’s just so much easier. & I like easy.

What do you think of this design? Have you tried this technique for creating ruffian designs? Do you find freehand or nail vinyls/guides easier? share your thoughts in the comments below!

Now I’m off to Ottawa, so I will see you later! Have a great Monday!

Simple Vintage Roses

Happy Wednesday lovelies! I hope everyone is having an excellent week so far. Today marks the second post of my all floral week! & yes, I’m still obsessed. I went shopping yesterday for new work clothes (because I start training at my new job next week) & I kept having to tell myself to not buy all the florals, since I already have a closet full of floral patterned shirts. However, you can never have enough floral on your nails.

Today’s design is you classic vintage floral design. When I got my first ever dotting tool, I was obsessed with these simple kind of designs & nothing has changed in the last 6 years. They’re still one of my favourites, especially because they’re just so easy to do! Plus they always look so pretty & girlie on the nail.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Nude Glam Iced Strawberry Cream
  • Essie Bachelorette Bash
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Tickled Pink
  • OPI Two Timing the Zones
  • Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art Pen in Green
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Dotting Tool from Bundle Monster
  • Small Detail Brush from Bundle Monster

Who else remembers my very first ever floral posted on here? Almost 4 years & I’m never bored with these designs. I don’t think I could ever be bored by a floral design. According to the “floral nails” tag, I’ve done 46 designs so far. That’s a lot of flowers! Haha, you’d think that after 46 different floral designs I would be tired, but going through that tag just makes me want to do more. I think I’m addicted. But honestly, is there ever such a thing as too much floral? I just want Spring so badly.

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What do you think of this simple vintage floral? Have you ever/would you ever try this design yourself? Share you thoughts in the comments below, & let me know what you think!

Matte Greyscale Ring Pattern Nails

Happy Friday!

Today’s nails are definitely matching the weather in Halifax–completely greyscale. Cloudy skies, rainy,  & lacking any colour what-so-ever.

I thought after all that pink & red for Valentine’s, a palate cleanser manicure was in order. Pink is nice, but I don’t think I’m used to wearing so much of it on my nails. I’ve also been doing house planning (figuring out room paint colours & putting together some prints for our walls) & completely obsessed with everything grey. So naturally that means it will end  up on my nails eventually!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by Orly Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: Butter London Matte Finish
  • OPI My Pointe Exactly
  • Essie Cashmere Bathrobe
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Ring Vinyls
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge

I love colourful manicures, don’t get me wrong! & I really enjoyed wearing all that pink for Valentine’s Day. But sometimes I just want to wear something a little more monochromatic & simple on my nails. Plus any time I get to wear Essie Cashmere Bathrobe–which is my ALL TIME favourite grey–is a good day & matte top coat just makes it look even better. To me, this design is just absolutely perfection.

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I feel like with all the stamping I’ve been doing, I’ve been neglecting my nail vinyls a bit! I’ve been organizing my nail room though, so hopefully I will be starting to use them more often. But not next week… next week I have a special theme planned for all my manicures, but you’ll have to stay tuned to see what it is!

What do you think of this greyscale manicure? What is your favourite palate cleanser manicure or polish? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

5 Cute Valentine’s Day Designs (inspired by Pinterest)

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Are we getting excited for Valentine’s Day? T-minus one week until the big day! & even if you’re not a fan of the holiday itself, it’s always fun to have an excuse for cute nails. I decided it would be fun to browse my nail art inspiration folder on Pinterest for some fun Valentine’s Day nails. I decided to pick 5 relatively easy nail art designs & recreate them for you, just in case you need a little last minute inspiration.

DOTTICURE HEART — original design (by @majikbeenz) pinned here

First design I picked to recreate is this adorable dotticure heart design that was originally done by @magikbeenz. I’ve actually recreate this design before (pre-this blog & instagram) but I loved it so much I wanted to give it another attempt. All you need for this design is a couple of polishes (pink, white, red, coral) & a dotting tool. It looks super complicated, but it really isn’t. If you weren’t sure if you can get the heart shape right, you could always use a heart stencil & fill the dots inside.

My main pink is Essence Perfect Match.

TIC TAC TOE HEART ACCENT NAIL — original design (by @nailstorming) pinned here

The next design I attempted was this tic tac toe heart design originally done by @nailstorming. I thought this design was super cute & a little bit more challenging. Your best bet for you accent nail is to use acrylic paint, so that if you make a mistake you can wash it away easily. For this design you’ll want a striper brush, detail brush & small dotting tool. I have this set from Bundle Monster, which was actually a Valentine’s Day gift from my hubby a few years ago.

Main pink is L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses & main red is L’Oreal Carmin Parisien.

PINK HEART & POLKA DOT ACCENT NAIL — original design pinned here

I found this cute simple heart nail design on Pinterest & loved how girlie it was. I wish there was a proper Instagram account to link to, but sadly I couldn’t find one. (I guess my Veronica Mars sleuthing skills aren’t as up to par as I thought). This is a great design for a nail art beginner to wear on their nails! I created my heart using a larger dotting tool & a small detail brush (you can see how I create hearts by checking out my tutorial here) but again if you’re not comfortable with freehanding, a nail stencil also works!

Main pink is L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses.

VALENTINE’S DAY LEOPARD PRINT — original design (by @mayasnailart) pinned here

If you’re not in the mood for a super obvious Valentine’s Day design, but still want to feel festive, this design originally done by @mayasnailart is a super cute option! Again this is a design that is not super complicated to do, even though it looks super complicated! I like the contrast of the leopard hearts against the neutral base colour. All I used for my leopard print was a red & black nail art pen (Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art)  & it was just as easy as drawing on paper. You just have to make sure your base is dry.

My main beige is OPI You’re So Vanilla.

BLUE VALENTINE NAILS –originaldesign (by @karrisabianco) pinned here

Not everyone is a fan of pink or red, so this is a great Valentine’s Day nail art option. This design was originally done by @karissabianco & what drew me to it was the fact it wasn’t your typical colour scheme. For this design, I also used a Sally Hansen Nail Art pen (this time in Silver) but for your heart you could use a stamping plate or nail stencil, & create your polka dots using a dotting tool.

Main Blue colour is Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Beatnik

So that’s 5 cute Valentine’s Day designs inspired by Pinterest! I hope I’m not the only one who can spend hours on pinterest saving nail art design (& style idea, & home ideas & food ideas). Do you have any fun nail art designs you’re planning on creating for Valentine’s Day? Share your favourite designs in the comments below!

If you’re interested in checking out my favourite saved manicure designs on Pinterest, my username is xcoffeeandnails.

Bestie Twin Baby Boy Birthday Nails with @hjs_nails

Happy Tuesday lovelies! Today I have a very special nail collab to share with you. One of the most amazing things about the nail community is the way it brings people together. Last August I did a mani swap with Hannah from @hjs_nails & we bonded over the fact we both had baby boys in February. Since our beautiful little guys share a birthday month we decided to team up & do some Bestie Twin Baby Boy Birthday Nails in their honour.

How handsome do our little guys look hanging out beside their special birthday manicures! For our designs, Hannah & I created a fun celebratory design featuring a gradient dotticure (to represent confetti), some balloons & the number one. Hannah had painted her nail design first, so I followed her polish picks to match the best I could.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • ORLY Decades of Dysfunction
  • Essie Strut Your Stuff
  • Essie Too Too Hot
  • L’Oreal Feeling Kilty
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster
  • Small dotting tool from Bundle Monster

How cute did this design turn out?! The colour combination reminds me of a race car, which is perfection when celebrating baby boys. My little guys birthday isn’t until Thursday, but it still works because on this day last year I was on day 2 of my 54 hour labour! It’s kind of crazy to believe that I am almost the Mom of a one year old. This year has certainly been a whirl wind, & it definitely hasn’t been easy to balance Mom-life with non-Mom life (like blogging & doing my nails) but I wouldn’t trade it. It’s been a very interesting adventure.

My nails & my 9 pound baby boy.

Hope you liked this design! & don’t forget to pop over to Hannah’s instagram (@hjs_nails) & give her mani some love too!

Have a happy Tuesday! 🎈🎉🎁