nail art – Page 101 – Coffee & Nail Polish

October 15, 2019October 14, 2019

Birthday Nails with Essie Birthday Girl 🎉

Hello lovelies & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a beautiful start to their week. Today I’m breaking up my usual posting schedule because TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! That’s right, today marks 33 years around the sun. So obviously I needed to do something fun on my nails to mark the occasion.

In years past I’ve done some obvious birthday nails, but this year I decided to let the polish do the talking. When I saw that Essie had released a polish called Birthday Girl, I knew that I was going to need to own it & incorporate it into my birthday mani this year! I also wanted to do something fun, as I snapped a nail just in time for my birthday, so I am back to some serious shorties.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Duri Rejuvocate
Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
Essie The A-bliss {PR sample}
Essie Birthday Girl
Color Club Pucci-licious
Color Club Eternal Beauty
Essie Play Date
Sally Hansen Pat on the Black
Nailstuff.ca 11mm Liner Brush {PR sample}

For my base, I applied two coats of Birthday Girl over one coat of The A-bliss. I then did a whole bunch of Pinterest stalking to see what kind of design I wanted to do overtop my base of Birthday Girl & in the end I decided a Waterfall look was the way to go! Do you remember when Waterfall designs were all the rage? I feel like this design needs to make a comeback!

For this look I decided to pick a few purples that I thought would compliment my pink base. Then o used my liner brush from NailStuff to brush thin streaks of polish at my cuticle line, & bam! An low effort design that looks super fancy & fun. Kind of reminds me of sparkling fireworks at the base of my nails which is perfect for celebrating, even if my idea of celebrating is drinking my free birthday drink from Starbucks & playing with the new stamping plates my Mum bought me for my birthday! I can’t think of a more perfect day. ☕️💅🏻

Hope everyone has an amazing day! Let me know what you think about this look & what colour combination you’d love to see me do in a Waterfall look next! 💙

October 14, 2019October 9, 2019

GlamnailschallengeOct—Spiders 🕸

We are almost halfway through the month, can you believe it? & Happy Thanksgiving to all my Fellow Canadians celebrating today with Turkey, Tofurky or whatever else you’re making for the occasion.

Today I have another look for GlamnailschallengeOct! Today’s prompt is Spiders, which is quite possibly my least favourite thing in the whole wide world, but a popular choice this time of year for nail art. & I do seem to do some kind of Spider web look each year, as it’s a time honoured Halloween classic.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Nicole by OPI Totally in the Dark
White Acrylic Paint
NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

Okay, so regardless of my phobia toward legit spiders (& their sticky webs), I am really loving how these turned out. These turned out much more delicate than some of my previous spider web attempts, which I’m very happy about. Turns out good nail art brushes really make a huge difference in how nail art turns out! My nail art brushes from NailStuff.ca has really improved how my nail art looks & has brought my freehanding to another level… even when I’m on a nap time time crunch. Also I fought it for a longtime, but using acrylic paint also really helps with upping the look, probably because it doesn’t dry as quickly as nail polish does.

Halloween manicures make me so happy, even ones involving spiders (ick). This would definitely be a fun manicure to wear for a witchy Halloween costume, or something like Mortica. I have quite decided what I’m being for Halloween, although Kenneth tells me I’m being a princess, but if I go with a spooky look I may have to recreate this! I did end up wearing this manicure for a good 5 days.

What do you think about this spider design? Are you already planning your spooky Halloween designs? Don’t forget to keep checking out #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram for everyone else’s amazing designs this month!

October 9, 2019October 1, 2019

GlamnailschallengeOct—Ghosts 👻

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! The week is certainly speeding by! Today I have another fun look designed for #glamnailschallengeOct–ghost inspired nails! & be still my Halloween loving heart, because these turned out so much fun. I decided to try out a look I’ve always wanted to try, using watered down acrylic paint.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Joe Fresh Gel Look Gothika Blue
China Glaze Fairy Dust
White acrylic paint
Black acrylic paint
Thick nail art brush (I used an old one from Bundle Monster)
Small dotting tool (Mine are from NailStuff.ca)

First off, loving this base of Fairy Dust over Gothika Blue because it really does look like the night sky. Also why do I always forget how amazing China Dust Fairy Dust is over pretty much everything, but especially over dark polishes. I don’t wear it nearly as much as I should. Could you imagine it over a dark red to black gradient?! Okay I’m getting some nail art ideas for more Halloween designs! Definitely going to need to try that out in the next couple weeks before Halloween. It would look so good!

Okay back to this design, haha.

This design turned out pretty much how I imagined, although I kind of wish I had watered down my acrylic slightly more to give my ghosts a more ghostly appearance, but I think the trick is the try & only do one coat of white vs. a few coats. My thumb kind of turned out my favourite, because you can see the the base peeking through his ghostly body. & I love how it looks. Next time I try this technique, I’ll know what works a bit better & I’ll be able to get them all perfect.

What do you think about today’s ghostly look? Have you started planning your Halloween looks yet? Let me know down in the comments below what you think about this design, & as always check out #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram for everyone else’s amazing designs this month!

🎃

October 7, 2019October 3, 2019

GlamnailschallengeOct — Stars ⭐️

Good morning lovelies & happy Monday!

Hope everyone is having a beautiful start to their Monday! Today I have the second challenge for #glamnailschallengeOct: stars. I was trying to come up with the most witchy star manicure I could–because it’s October, & that means every manicure needs to be Halloween related, naturally.

I decided that yesterday’s Swatch Sunday pick China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You was so magical, it would be the perfect base for this star design, that kind of came out reminding me Wizard robes.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You
China Glaze Sleeping Under the Stars
L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
Born Pretty Store Classic Patterns Stamping Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper

Latex Free Make Up Sponge (for the gradient)

I’m really digging the gradient of China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You & Sleeping Under The Stars, I feel like they really compliment each other well. But I also feel like there is this grungy quality (in a good way!) when Choo Choo Choose You is sponged that makes me so happy. Add in the stars, & I really am getting a wizardly vibe… & I dig it.

Oh look, a cat hair… are you even really a nail blogger if you don’t occasionally get cat hair in your manicure.

Also this gradient combination is just soooo good. I wasn’t sure how well these two colours would blend, but I think it turned out really really awesome. & I ♥️ it. So much so I wore this manicure for a full 4 days before having to change it due to a whole lot of top wear happening.

Are you excited for the manicures to come this month thanks to #glamnailschallengeOct? We’re two prompts down, & 7 more to go! Don’t forget to keep track of all the manicures by following the above hashtag, & stay tuned for some fun designs that will be coming! & let me know down below if you like these challenges & want to see me take on more!

October 6, 2019September 30, 2019

SWATCH SUNDAY—China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You

Happy Sunday everyone! Can you believe it–the first week of October is finished–how crazy is that? It also means we’ve got our first Swatch for October & today I went with an older Fall polish that I just absolutely love: China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You.

If you’ve been around the blog for a while, you might remember I posted this polish over 5 years ago, so if you’re in the mood for some hilarious throwback, definitely check out that old post.

& now for an update swatch post for this gorgeous shade.

For my swatches, I did my usual base coat, applied two coats of colour, & finished off with my go to top coat (Essie Speed Setter). Looking at my pictures though, I probably should have done three, because I can see a bit of nail line peeking through. The base is this Smokey grey, with a gorgeous bronze-y shimmer that transforms depending on which was you move your hand, with even the occasional flash of green.

It’s very pretty.

For a 5 year old polish, the formula on this one is still as good as the day I bought it. The first coat goes on a bit streaky, as most polishes like this do, but you have almost complete opacity on the second coat. & shorter nails could definitely get away with just two, I just think it’s longer nails that might need 3 for full coverage.

& naturally because I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between China Glaze Cowboy Bye (from the Gone West collection) & Choo Choo Choose You, I needed to pair the two side by side. Obviously Cowboy Bye has that beautiful holo scattered glitter, but I feel like the two bases of the shades are very very similar, which could explain why I love Cowbye Bye so much.

What do you think about this shade? Do you own Choo Choo Choose You? What is your favourite older Fall shade that you return to year after year?

Let me know down below in the comments!

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