Tag: nails

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Holiday Inspired Red & Gold Velvet Dotticure

Hello loves & happy Friday!

It’s officially (pretty much) the weekend which means I’m in full holiday haze. It also means, I have been thinking about holiday manicures a lot. Even though I no longer attend many holiday parties — I’m more of a homebody these days — that doesn’t mean I don’t mind if my nails have somewhere special to go.

Today’s look is totally something I would wear to a fun holiday party, paired with the perfect little black dress.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Santee Magnetic 04 Metallic Tropical Rose
  • Starrily Magnetic Wand
  • Santee Magnetic 21 Sand Burst
  • Smallest sized dotting tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

First off, I apologize for how difficult these were to photograph. Apparently using flash on these particular magnetic base gave it almost this blurry effect in some pictures.

I’ve had these magnetics in my stash for… a while haha. Apparently I picked them up for 99 cents at my local Lawton’s on clearance… & just never tried them out! I used my Starrily Magnetic Want, & it gave this red base the coolest crushed velvet effect. It’s absolutely gorgeous! I wish I had pulled them out sooner.

What do you think about these holiday nails — are they giving you Christmas vibes? We have our first Tax Free Event this weekend at work, & it’s going to be crazy, so I need all the festive spirit I can get! I would much rather be drinking egg nog & nibbling on Christmas cookies with my pretty nails.

Enjoy your weekend loves, however whatever you’ve got planned. 🖤

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Broken Mirror Glitter Placement

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! It’s already midweek, isn’t that crazy? I feel like it’s going to be New Year’s Eve before we even realize.

Today’s look is a favourite of mine, that I’ve repeated a few times over the years, but never gets old to me. I love a good shattered glass glitter look, & so naturally when I painted my nails with this beautiful dark purple, I knew I wanted to add something glitter placement. I decided to grab a glitter I haven’t used in forever, & I’m glad I did because they turned out perfect!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Kimono Over
  • OPI Infrared-y to Glow
  • Medium sized dotting tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

I tried to capture the little holo glitters that accompany Infared-y To Party, but for whatever reason my phone & my nails were not cooperating to really show it off. I thought this glitter was a nice alternative to the usual gold glitters I create this look with, & gives off more of a shattered mirror design because the glitters are silver.

I definitely do miss my bottle of Color Club Diamond Drops as it was perfect for this kind of design thanks to the holographic shards of glitter. I anyone knows a similar glitter topper, let me know, because I really need to expand my glitter collection for these kinds of looks!

What do you think of this broken glass/mirror design? Have you ever tried one of these designs before? If not, I definitely recommend giving it a try! It’s a bit time consuming, obviously, but other than that it’s super easy to do & is such a fun effect! I guarantee you’ll get lots of comments & compliments on your nails too!

Happy Wednesday ♥︎

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Winter-y Sweater Nails 🩵❄️

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. It’s after Remembrance Day here in Canada, which means it’s officially — well, in retail anyways — holiday season go time. The Christmas music is blaring, the red cups are being served, & I’m wearing 2-3 pairs of pants to work thanks to the cold weather. So maybe it’s okay to start creeping a bit more into Winter/Christmas nail art.

Today’s look I started simple with some more sweater inspired nails. This time, I wanted to go with a more winter-y colour scheme, so I picked a grey/blue polish combination–with a little bit of subtle shimmer for good measure.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Thinking Out Cloud
  • Sally Hansen MG Make it N-Ice
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area
  • Born Pretty Store Christmas Stamping Plate (discontinued)
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set

The last time I used this particular stamping plate, I went with a red/silver theme, so it was nice to try something different. This is giving less Christmas, & more just Winter, & I like that. It definitely works for our current chilly days. Also, I really like that I switched things up a bit & went with the shimmer-y light base with a darker creme for stamping. Usually I do the opposite.

& if this was an actual Winter/Christmas sweater, I would totally wear it. I do love a good fair isle patterned sweater.

What do you think about this Winter-y sweater design? Do you like these kinds of designs?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below. I definitely have a few freehand design ideas floating around in my head (maybe a recreation of this design from 2017?) so stay tuned!

Have a beautiful start to your week loves! ♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Is it too early to start sharing some very holiday appropriate nail polish shades? I mean — the holiday parties are already starting, aren’t they? So some jewel inspired red nail polish is just what I need in my life. Today’s pick is another oldie from the stash, from the now defunct ORLY Color Blast line: Garnet Luxe Shimmer.

2 coats, no top coat!

This stunning shimmery cherry red applied to the nail beautifully in two smooth coats. The formula was smooth, & easy to apply, & self levelled without any need for top coat. It also had a beautiful shine without any need for top coat.

This shade is 100% a Christmas red if I ever saw one. I’m not even sure where I originally picked this polish up — I don’t see a Winners/Marshall’s tag on it, so I’m assuming (maybe) Sally Beauty, but I honestly don’t remember. All I know is it is a great red, & I’m sure happy to have it as part of my collection.

Sadly, as mentioned, the Color Blast line is no longer in production — however I did find a few similar ORLY shades on their website which are very similar: Stronger than Ever, Crawford’s Wine, & Cran-Barely Believe It. I only have Stronger Than Ever in my own stash, so I’ll have to do a comparison to see how close they really are!

What do you think of ORLY Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer? Are you feeling the holiday vibes with this shimmery red polish? Are you ready to jump head first into all the Christmas/Holiday polishes I can share?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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Autumn Abstract Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone has had a lovely week so far. I’ve been busy with work, but I did managed to get some cute new short nail art done this week. I found a set of Color Club shades I bought at Marshals last year (no names on them) & really wanted to combine the colours into a pretty nail art look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Color Club blue-ish grey
  • Color Club grey
  • Color Club dusty rose
  • Color Club wine
  • Color Club dark rose
  • 16mm Striper (from NailStuff.ca)

I did a previous skittlette design using these back in August, but I really wanted to combine them in another look. Originally I had wanted to do something with nail vinyls, but after mucking that up, I decided on this cute look. Abstract stripes never do me wrong.

What do you think about this Autumn inspired abstract stripes. I think the grey base gives that frosty feeling, so it works for a November design. I’m still feeling a bit of lack of inspiration lately, being between holiday seasons, but I feel like I’ll be back into my groove in no time!

Have a fantastic Friday loves! 🖤