Tag: nail art

Posted on

Geometric stamping over Sally Hansen Mermaid’s TaleĀ 

Yesterday I featured a swatch of Sally Hansen CSM in Mermaid’s Tale–a beautiful teal jelly glitter shade. Today I have the mani I did using that shade as my base colour! I’ve really had a lot of fun getting into stamping, & practicing, so I decided to try stamping a pattern over the glitter. I knew black wouldn’t show up over such a dark base, so I decided to grab something fun & bright (Turquoise) & the end result turned out perfect. 

For this manicure, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat for Glitter
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Under the Twilight 
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Mermaid’s Tale
  • China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Jelly Stamper item #24059
  • Older Born Pretty Stamping Plate that’s no longer available — this plate contains the same image. 

Can I just say how impressed I am with how well Turned Up Turquoise stamps? I was shocked with how opaque it was on the nail, especially over such a dark base colour. I wasn’t sure how it was going to look, but it turned out awesome! I always find myself so drawn to dark shades in the Fall months, but the pop of colour over top works well for a transitional manicure–just enough of Summer & just enough of Fall, all in one design. 


What do you think of this stamping? What polishes do you love for stamping? Share all your secrets in the comments below! I’m going to be ordering a bunch of new stamping plates (especially Halloween/Christmas themed plates) in the next couple days so I’m looking for all the best stamping polishes for playing. 

Posted on

Icy Blue Chevron Moons

You can never go wrong with Chevron Moons… that’s pretty much my nail art motto. But seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever met a Chevron moon I didn’t like–they’re relatively quick & easy & they always look beautiful. For this design I used a few more of the beautiful shades from OPI Iceland collection, this time featuring some of the beautiful blues of the collection. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI Check Out The Old Geysers 
  • OPI Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots
  • OPI Suzy & the Artic Fox 
  • Snail Vinyls Single Chevron Vinyls

These shades look great together, don’t you think? The coolness of these blues compliment each other really well & work well in a design like this. I liked this design so much (& the colour combination) I wore them for a full 5 days, which is almost unheard of for me. I just didn’t want to change them! 

With September here, I’m craving those cool tones to match the coolness in the air. Seriously, it was like as soon as the calendar flipped over to September Fall pushed its way into the weather forecast. Not that I’m complaining too much… gives me the perfect reason to wear my new plaid dress I picked up this Summer specifically for cooler days. 


What do you think of these Chevron Moons? What is your favourite Fall colour combination? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments below! 

All of these lovely polishes were all gifted to me by OPI as part of the #PreenMeVIP program. 

Posted on

Fall Argyle Sweater Nails šŸšŸ‚

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but here in Halifax Fall weather has been slowly creeping into the air. & when I think of Fall, I think of over the knee Argyle socks. They’re pretty much my fashion staple when the days get cooler, so I thought I would translate one of my favourite thing about Fall fashion to my nails using a few the OPI Iceland shades.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI Krona-logical Order
  • OPI Icelanded a Bottle of OPI
  • OPI Less Is Norse 
  • OPI Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Diamond Stencils (turned horizontal)
  • Striping Brush (from Bundle Monster)
  • Small Dotting Tool (also Bundle Monster)

These nails make me so beyond ready for Fall & all the things that come along with the Fall season. Colourful leaves, plaid, & pumpkin spice EVERYTHING. In fact, they’re giving me the serious urge to pull out my favourite pair of over the knee argyle socks just for the occasion! 

What is your favourite Fall fashion accessory? Would you ever recreate it on your nails? Let me know (& what you think of this design!) in the comments! 

All of these lovely polishes were all gifted to me by OPI as part of the #PreenMeVIP program. 

Posted on

Purple Butterflies with #thenailartsquad


Today I have a very special manicure to brought to you by The Nail Art Squad. We got together to create beautiful purple butterfly designs in honour of Epidermolysis Bullosa. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare genetic disease that causes the blistering of skin, & has no known cure & in severe cases can be fatal. Children with Epidermolysis Bullosa are often called “butterfly children” which is why we chose butterflies to create (purple is the colour used for the awareness of the disease). This was a personal manicure for our group to take on as one of our members recently lost a friend to the disease. 

For my manicure, the products I used are:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Go Ginza
  • Essie Play Date 
  • LA Colors Color Craze Orchid
  • Essence Black Is Back
  • Unknown stamping plate (which I bought as part of a set at Dollarama years ago.)

These nails were simple to do, but turned out so beautiful. I thought about freehanding butterfly wings, but didn’t think I could do them justice & because we were creating these nails for such a special reason I wanted them to be as perfect as possible. The stamping plate I used was found in a set at the Dollarama years ago, but as you can see the image stamped perfectly clear. 


I feel so honoured I could join in bringing awareness to such a special cause. šŸ’œ to see the other purple butterfly manicures, don’t forget to check out the hashtag #thenailartsquad on Instagram. 

Posted on

31 Day Nail Art Challenge ā€” Day 10: Gradient nails.

So you’ll recognize the base of my gradient from my swatch post of Rimmel Salon Pro in Reggae Splash.

I’ve just started doing gradients in the last little while. I got discouraged because I’ve never been the best at getting my colors to blend the way that I want. But I’ve been working on getting better at the technique, and my blend between colors seems to be getting more seamless.

gradient

gradient3

gradient2

The polishes used were:

  • Rimmel Salon Pro in Reggae Splash — my lighter peach base color.
  • Relvon Nail Enamel in Siren — the darker orange gradient.
  • Layla Soft Touch Collection in Golden Touch — gold polish layered on accent nails.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

Not only am I really impressed with how my gradient turned out, but the colors totally remind me of a sunset–especially with the added gold on my accent nails. I thought about adding the gold to all the nails, but the boyfriend told me I should just leave it as accent nails. (He may, or may not, have just said it so I would come to bed haha.)

These were the perfect burst of color on what was a dreadful, grey day. It may have been raining like heck outside, but I just had to look at my nails and I was instantly somewhere warm and sunny. It makes me even more excited for what will (hopefully) be a gorgeous summer, full of bright colorful manis! Plus I love wearing orange–it brings out my Olive under tones, and instantly makes me look SO tanned.

So what’s your technique for getting gradients just right? I’m always looking for tips and tricks, so I’d appreciate any wisdom the internet has to offer.