#GlamNailsChallengeFeb — Mandala

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Hope everyone’s week is off to a good start. We had another stormy day here in Halifax yesterday—lots of freezing rain. Seriously ready for it to be Spring already!

Today I have another new design for #GlamNailsChallengeFeb! Today’s prompt is Mandala. & I’ll be honest—this was not an easy prompt for me. Originally I tried stamping because I have a plate that has a few mandala patterns, but that did not work out, so then I tried free handing a pattern, which was also a fail. But when I typed “mandala nails” into Pinterest, I saw a few beautiful looks using dots, so I decided that would probably be my easiest (& least frustrating) option!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Good to Go
  • L’Oréal Vintage Vinyl
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen Good.Kind.Pure. Almond Tan
  • Essie Mosaic on Down
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

As you can see from my close up, this isn’t the most perfect mandala pattern, but I’m still happy with how it turned out. I was originally inspired by this Pinterest post, but obviously I need more practice (& maybe not to start at 11pm) to get mine to look as beautiful as that! But you know, doing this challenge is all about testing myself, & that means even those manicures I’m not 100% comfortable with!

What do you think about this “Mandala” look? Is this dotticure version something that you would try yourself? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

#GlamNailsChallengeFeb — Hearts 💕

Hello lovelies & happy day after Valentine’s Day (aka 50% off Chocolate Day!).

Today I’m sharing my design for yesterday’s prompt for GlamNailsChaengeFeb: Hearts! Which is a very fitting prompt for February 14th. 💗 This look was one of those ones that kind of just came to me as I was doing it, which are definitely the best kind. & I just adore the end result.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Good to Go
  • L’Oréal Jardin Des Roses
  • OPI Koala Bear-y
  • L’Oréal Royalty Reinvented
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Cherry Delightful
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

As you can see from my close up, this isn’t the most perfectly clean freehanding, but I kind of like it. It works with this kind of design. It sort of reminds me of another Valentine’s Day nail art look I did a few years back which was inspired by napkins I saw out & about.

What do you think about this hearts look? I’m definitely ready to be done with pink for a while — I think I’ve pink-ed myself out. Haha. But I’ve got a whole bunch more prompts to come, so stay tuned for some beautiful (not pink) nail art looks to come!

#GlamNailsChallengeFeb — Roses

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday lovelies!

As you can see from the background of my nail art pictures today, it’s Winterland here in Halifax! But on my nails, it’s totally Spring. Today is prompt #3 for GlamNailsChallengeFeb, & it is Roses! & as you know, if you’ve been around the blog a while, roses are one of my favourite things to paint on my nails!

This time I decided to go with a vintage inspired rose look. Usually I tend to go for a more realistic looking floral, but I wanted to try something different!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Good to Go
  • Matte Top Coat : Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Essence shine last & go! Take Me To Heaven
  • L’Oréal Jardin Des Roses
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • OPI Koala Bear-y
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Essence Gel Nail Polish The Green & the Grunge
  • Sally Hansen MG Wet My Whistle
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How pretty did these roses turn out with the black accents. It gives them almost a sketched effect, which I really like. It reminds me a bit of a manicure I did a few years back, obviously with a different colour scheme (& a bit more nail art practice!)

This is my first time wearing this Essence shade in a manicure, I think. I really like the blue background against the brightness of the pink roses. I really think this is a super cute design, both for Valentine’s Day, & Spring in general.

Yep, already dreaming of Spring. Winter can be over now!

What do you think of this rose design for #GlamNailsChallengeFeb? Are these giving you Valentine’s Day feels? Would you wear this look for a Valentine’s Day date?

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

#GlamNailsChallengeFeb — Cow Print

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Currently digging out from a whallop of a Winter storm, but I am super excited to share my manicure for the second prompt of GlamNailsChallenge: cow print.

Now I’ve done my fair share of leopard print nails in the past, & some bird feather looks. But I’ve never really branched out in attempts animal inspired designs. So I was a little uncertain about what to do for this look! But thanks to Pinterest, I found this peak a boo cow print look by @cates.nails (via Maniology) & knew it would be the perfect cow print look to do!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Good to Go
  • Color Club Pucci-licious
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

I really really like the black & white against the pop of colour. I haven’t worn Color Club Pucci-licious in a while, & it’s one of my all time favourite purple polishes, so it felt like the perfect base for this look. @cates.nails original manicure was done with a pink background, but I needed a little pink break haha.

Overall this was a relatively easy look to do. The hardest part was painting the white blocks of colour. For my cow print, I used a smaller dotting tool from my Nailstuff set, & tried to make the blobs look cow-y. My husband did guess right away what they were, so I feel like that is a plus!

What do you think about my cow print nails for #glamnailschallengeFeb? Have you had a chance to check out the the other prompts on Instagram? Click the hashtag above to see all the other fun looks other people have done for this prompt!

& let me know down below what you think of this look!

70s Inspired Swirls

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! Today I’ve gone some fun nail art to share with you, inspired by some brand new polishes I found at my local Winners. My mum gave me a gift card for Christmas, so I decided to venture out to see if I could find any fun polish goodies.

& I did!

So naturally I needed to do some nail art. I decided to use a cute set from the brand Cherimoya called Hide & Go Chic. The internet has no picture of this set, or info, & the bottles are lacking names sadly. I ended up using 5 of the 6 shades that came in the collection.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Shiny Top Coat
  • Matte Top Coat: L’Oréal The Matte Velvet Top Coat
  • Cherimoya shimmery dusty blue
  • Cherimoya shimmery white
  • Cherimoya shimmery brownish grey
  • Cherimoya shimmery coral
  • Cherimoya shimmery golden rod
  • NailStuff.ca 11mm Mermaid Tail liner brush (COFFEE10 saves 10% off your purchase!)

I’ve been seeing a lot of these swirly stripes designs all over Instagram, so I thought I needed to do another version of this fun design. I really liked these dusty, muted shades in this collection, & thought they would be perfect for a 70s inspired sort of swirly pattern.

At first, I had these shimmery stripes with glossy top coat, but after I added the matte top coat I feel like it completed the look. & I totally wish I had a dress or peasant blouse in this pattern. How pretty would that be?

Also for a polish set that was only $5, I’m really in love with the shades. They’re probably more something I’ll use more for nail art versus wearing them on they’re own, but overall, all the shades are super cute. Especially the dusty blue & golden rod! Love those shades (especially for Spring… anyone else dreaming of Spring yet?)

What do you think about this design? Are you digging these shades as much as I am? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!