NOTD – Page 174 – Coffee & Nail Polish

August 26, 2019August 25, 2019

City Sunset 🌇 for #glamnailschallengeAug

Hello lovelies! & happy Monday.

We’ve got two more prompts left for #glamnailschallengeAug, & I’m going to be honest… I wasn’t sure I was going to get this prompt done! Not only was I a bit stumped on inspiration, but I’ve had a busy last week so I haven’t been able to get my nails painted like I usually can. But thanks to some late night Pinterest-ing & a cooperative baby, I pulled out a last minute nail art success!

& I’m so super in love with the end result!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: fraken base coat combination
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Essence Indian Summer
Essie Flowerista
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
Essence Black is Back
Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in white
NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Art Brush Trio (7mm size)

I started off this design with what I’m going to call a “rustic” gradient — I didn’t go your typical route where you blend all your colours together at once, but instead sponged my layers on top of each other which kind of created the pinky cloud effect. I then brushed my top coat over & over to smear the layers together a bit. This created the perfect background because I really feel like it looks more like what you see when you see a sunset. & it reminds me a lot of this sunset I captured not that long ago (which was also kind of my inspiration for the colour combo I went with.)

I’ve done a few of these sunset with background designs, but this is definitely the most unique. (Usually I do mountains & cacti, or something similar) but with the pinky sky & the buildings it really does feel like a city sunset, maybe even my own city.

What do you think of this design? Can you believe we only have one more prompt left for this challenge… how crazy is that?

Don’t forget to hop over to Instagram & check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing city building manicures!

August 25, 2019August 18, 2019

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Fall 2019 Gone West Collection

PR SAMPLE

Good morning lovelies! Today I am so excited because I am officially diving into some BRAND NEW Fall polishes for 2019!

I was recently gifted the China Glaze Gone West Fall 2019 collection courtesy of China Glaze themselves! I’d been admiring this collection & all its shades since it was first announced, so to say I was excited to receive all 8 polishes would be an understatement! & I couldn’t wait to get a chance to try each shade on & share them all with you!

& now some swatches!

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Fall 2019 Gone West Collection”

August 23, 2019August 13, 2019

Purple Quatrefoil Pattern Accent Nails

Hello lovelies! I’ve got another fun design to share with you. I felt a bit like I was getting a little too premature with the Fall colours, so I decided that I needed some bright & more Summer-like colours in my life again.

Today’s design is a fun quatrefoil design using some vinyls from What’s Up Nails, which I haven’t pulled out in a while. In fact, after going through my stash of vinyls I’m definitely going to need to order some more soon because I’m starting to run out of my favourites!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture
Sinful Colors Amethyst
Essie Play Date
Essie Mint Candy Apple
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Bourbon Belle
What’s Up Nails Moroccan Nail Vinyls

I thought this look turned out really unique, although using a white base might have made the pattern pop even more.

Also I would have loved to have done this on all my fingers, but like I said I’m starting to run low on my Moroccan nail vinyls so I have to use them sparingly until I order more of them. But I do think the three accent nails look really neat! & the bright polishes I picked are a little bit more Summer-y than a lot of my nail art has been lately.

What do we think about how this look turned out? Would you try out this design? Let me know in the comments below!

August 21, 2019August 14, 2019

Holo Geode Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

Good morning lovelies! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday. I can’t believe how quickly August is speeding by… Pumpkin Spice season isn’t so far off now. & we’re slowly creeping towards the end of the Glam Nails Challenge for August with only 3 prompts left!

Today’s prompt: Geode.

There are a ton of ways to do geode style nails, so I wanted to think about which one I wanted to use. I decided my abstract stripe design was my favourite way to create geode looking nails, & I decided that I wanted to use a fun holo powder that I bought from Born Pretty Store, & had totally lost in my nail polish room.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: OPI Gel Break
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat
ACO by Ardene Nearly Nude
Born Pretty Store holo powder (no longer available)
Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in White

I had an idea in my head for how I wanted this design to look, with the pink holo popping against the black & white lines, with a nude-ish background, & I think it turned out pretty much like I imagined. I really, really like this holo powder too–sad that it’s no longer available on the Born Pretty Store site–although they do have a few similar ones like this & this.

I seriously always forget just how much I love nail art powders until I start playing with them again. Also this was my first excitement with applying the powder in just sections of the nails using my usual technique with using Finger Paints Peel Off Base Coat & it turned our perfectly!

Ooooh, I can’t stop starting at that holo. It’s especially impressive in motion with the holo flakies & pink sparkle. So much fun to wear! Also I feel like this pink is also still very Summery, which is a nice change from the darker Fall shades I’ve been craving lately.

& they’re even more beautiful in the sunshine!

What do you think of this design? Do these look like geode to you? Remember to check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing manicures!

August 19, 2019August 13, 2019

Constellations for #GlamnailschallengeAug

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Today I’m sharing another design for #glamnailschallengeaug!

Today’s prompt is Constellations. 🌌 I did galaxy nails just a few weeks ago, so I wanted to do something different enough from that design & try my best to recreate the prompt on my nails. Usually I am such a perfectionist it can cause me to get frustrated when things aren’t “perfect”. This whole prompt has been about painting my nails, stepping out of my comfort zone, & creating nails that are “perfect enough”.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture
OPI Miss Piggy’s Big Number
OPI Ink
OPI The Sky’s My Limit
White Acrylic Paint
NailStuff.ca 7mm Liner Brush
NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
Latex Free Make Up Sponge

I’ve been experimenting a bit with acrylic paints for nail art lately, mostly when creating nail art in bit unsure about, like his design. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to “attach” my stars to show off the constellations, so I drew my dots & stars first, applied my top coat, & then drew my lines. By putting top coat in between the dots/stars & the lines, I could easily wash off the lines & redraw them without acetone ruining my look.

I probably wouldn’t switch to using acrylic paint for all designs, like my florals, but it certainly works really well for designs like this, & I have a feeling it would also be really useful for more different or advanced patterns. I’ve been going through some older designs & really obsessing over the swirly designs I used to do, so I feel like I’m definitely going to be trying out more of those looks coming up! I’m feeling very inspired.

I am really really loving how this look turned out, especially in keeping the background not too busy as I normally would in a galaxy/space design. I wanted to kind of create a background that looked like those magnetic polishes I see all over Instagram, but have yet to own. Subtle, definitely there. & I feel like I managed to achieve that, especially using the polishes I picked.

What do you think about this look? Are you loving the manicures I’ve been creating this month? Like this post & leave a comment if you’d like to see me do more of these nail art challenges!

& don’t forget to check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram to see the other pretty nails posted for the challenge! I just love seeing all the beautiful & different interpretations that we’re coming up for the same idea!

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