Tag: nail polish

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Half Moons & Gold StudsĀ 

Happy Monday! How was everyone elseā€™s weekend? Weā€™ve been starting to pack for moving which is about as much fun as it sounds… I hate packing & I hate moving. (& I havenā€™t even starting thinking about moving my 1000+ nail polishes yet.) 

So what am I sharing to cheer myself up after a packing haze? One of my favourite go-to designsā€”the half moon. & thought Iā€™d share a quick pictorial on how easy these actually are to create! & no special vinyls are needed!

The products used for this manicure were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Fancy Pants
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • NailStuff.ca gold Mixed Decoration Nail Wheel

Paint your base colour & apply quick dry top coat. Let dry completely, roughly about 20 minutes depending on the top coat you use. 

Once your nails are completely dry, pull out your pack of paper hole reinforcements & apply at the base of your nail. Make sure to press down at each end. 

Repeat on all 5 nails. I always do one hand at a time. 

Press down each side of hole reinforcement (to make sure polish wonā€™t bleed under) & then quickly paint second colour over top. A one coat polish works best, but she make sure base colour is covered. 

Immediately remove your reinforcement. 

Repeat steps on all fingers & then seal in design with top coat. Bam! Almost instant half moons (with a few steps in between). I loved the blue with purple but I wanted to add a little more of a snazzy finish to my nails. Iā€™ve been obsessing about this wheel of nail studs lately adding it to a lot of my manicures lately so I figured it would be the perfect addition to this design. 

For my accent nail, I applied some blobs of coat, then picked up my studs with a wet nail art brush & arranged them. I always make sure to pull my studs out of the wheel ahead of applying them, as it takes less time trying to find them. Also, sometimes you will have to dab on more clear polish/top coat to make sure the studs stick. Also I always seal my studs in with top coat so no edges catch & get pulled off. 

What do you think of this half moon? How do you create your half moon designs? Let me know in the comments below! šŸŒ™

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Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month šŸ’œ

The month of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, & my fellow girls in #thenailartsquad & I wanted to create some manicures to bring awareness to this terrible disease that has touched so many of us. 

The color for Pancreatic Awareness Month is purple, so we grabbed a selection of our favourite purples. 

 For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze Plur-ple 
  • ACO by Ardene Ice Mist
  • Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Essence Nail Art Stampy Set stamping plate. 

For my design, I picked to go with purple hearts. Like so many, Iā€™ve lost someone I loved to this terrible diseaseā€”-when I was just a little girl, my Poppy was diagnosed & passed away from pancreatic cancer. I donā€™t remember much about him sadly, except from pictures & home movies. 

This is why I think itā€™s such an important cause to bring attention to because I feel like so many people have lost someone they love way too soon. 

Weā€™d love for anyone out there who would like to bring awareness to Pancreatic Cancer to join us in posting a purple design using the hashtag #pancreaticcancerawarenessmonth

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Happy Halloween with Wonder Woman Nails! šŸ’«

Happy Halloween everyone! I canā€™t believe itā€™s already Halloween šŸŽƒ ā€” how crazy is that? This year I was dedicated to doing a family Justice League costume with the hubs & our little Bubs so I could wear my Wonder Woman costume again! & obviously that means I needed to have nails that matched. 

Originally I was going to try for full on Justice League Nails with all the hero symbols but… my freehand skills are just not that good. I started & realized it would probably take me 14 hours & multiple attempts so I decided to go the easier route & just go Wonder Woman. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Boho Green Make Up Pacific Ocean
  • Lā€™OrĆ©al Color Riche Carmin Parisien 
  • Color Club Almost Famous
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • UR Sugar Star Nail Stencil item #AUB39877 ā€” Click to buy
  • NailStuff.ca gold triangle studs ā€” Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel 
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

I love, love, love how these turned out. I had a bit different idea going into this mani but even though these are different than who I originally planned, I think they turned out WAY better than what I was thinking I was going to do… & say Wonder Woman much more! I was super scared to attempt that W symbol, but I think it turned out great. & these are going to compliment my costume perfectly. 


 šŸŽƒ whether you plans involve trick or treating, handing out candy or just hiding inside with a box of mini candies (or anything else!) I hope you have the best Halloween ever. For those who follow me on Instagram Iā€™ll make sure to post a picture of my nails & my costume together later on! 

šŸ–¤

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Kitty Cat Nails šŸ–¤

Happy Halloween Eve everybody! šŸŽƒ

So confession time: Iā€™m the queen of the last minute Halloween costume. Seriously I was the girl always looking for something to wear the day before Halloween (or worse, the day of Halloween). This year Iā€™ve got our Halloween all ready, but if it wasnā€™t already prepared, then I would probably go with last minute Halloween costume go to: a kitty šŸ±. & if I were going as a kitty for Halloween, these would be the perfect nails to go along with that costume!

Polishes used for this design:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Wrap Me Up
  • Essie Merino Cool
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen I ā™„ļø Nail Art Pen in Red
  • Small detail brush & dotting tool from Bundle Monster

These nails were surprisingly easy to achieve. The leopard print is just blobs of colour outlines with black using your small detail brush. The cat is a bit harder to do, but not by too muchā€”just takes a little bit patience to get it done. & if you feel like you canā€™t freehand a kitty, you can just as easy wear leopard print on all your fingers instead or use a sticker or decal. 

Yep, thatā€™s a onesie & what inspired my colour choices for this leopard print. Who else has totally worn a onesie for a Halloween costume? I mean, theyā€™re pretty perfect for Trick or Treating! Keep you warm & then you immediately can hop into bed (with a chocolate bar or two or fifteen!)

What is your favourite Halloween snack? Iā€™m totally a gummy candy girl. The hubs & I are taking the little guy trick or treating a few places & we already have the candy situation figured out… he gets any chocolate as Iā€™m lactose intolerant, I get the gummy candies & weā€™ll split the chips. & the little guy… well he gets to be adorable in his baby flash costume. 

ā™„ļø

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SWATCH SUNDAYā€”China Glaze Cast A Spell

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope youā€™re not too hung over from whatever Halloween shenanigans you got up to this weekend! (& hey candy bar hangovers count too!) I thought for Swatch Sunday this week, I would delve deep into my stash & grab a Halloween shade to share with you! 

This is China Glaze Cast A Spell which the internet tells is from the 2012 Wicked collection. I picked up my bottle a year or two ago in a clearance bin at Chattersā€”one of my favourite places to find lost polish treasuresā€”so itā€™s relatively new to me. 

Cast A Spell is a blacky green thickly packed full of golden flecks of shimmer. The formula was fantastic, & it applied in two super easy coats. Itā€™s one of those shades that glows on the nail, & I can see why it would be part of a Halloween polish collectionā€”itā€™s the perfect shade for the modern Witch who cares about her mani while out casting her spells or buying eye of newt from her local Trader Joes. 

Seriously though, this polish is gorgeous. I only own a few Halloween shades in my extensive stash, & I think 90% of them are from past China Glaze collections. They just do extremely well when it comes to Halloween collections & you canā€™t help but just love them. Cast A Spell is outside my usual polish comfort zone colour wise, but there is just something about it that makes me not want to take it off. Itā€™s a great Autumn shade that I donā€™t think exclusively needs to be kept for Halloween night. 

& for fun I added some pumpkin stickers I purchased at the Dollar Store on vacation for an instant accent nail! šŸŽƒ


Do you have a favourite Halloween polish/collection either from this year or years prior? Let me know in the comments below!