GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER— Santa Claus

Hello beauties & happy Monday. It’s a snowy December here on the East Coast of Canada , & we put up our Christmas tree this weekend, so it’s feeling very Christmas-y here. It’s also the beginning of Glam Nails Challenge December, & I’m very excited to close our 2023 with a month of festive nail art designs.

Our first prompt for the month is Santa Claus, & I went with a Santa Claus inspired half moon chevron design.

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 Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I created my negative space chevron moons completely freehand, then went in with a small sized dotting tool & added the white accents. I think it’s the perfect nod to Santa Claus without being too literal about it. However, my 6 year old totally guessed my inspiration, so it gets the point across!

Also how cute does our Christmas tree look as the base for my manicure. I would expect to see a few designs posed in front of my tree this month!

Are you excited to finish off December & 2023 with one final month of Glam Nails Challenge? Are you excited for lots of holiday nail art content? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & don’t forget to follow along on Instagram with the hashtag #glamnailschallengedecember to see all the beautiful December designs.

Enjoy the beginning of your week lovelies! 🎄💗

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Better Not Pout

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday.

Today is the first Sunday of December, so it only seems fitting to share another holiday shade from my stash! Today’s shade was also part of the 2015 China Glaze Cheers collection, like last week’s Swatch Sunday pick I Soirée I Didn’t Do It.

This is China Glaze Better Not Pout.

2 coats + top coat

This beautiful metallic berry applied in two smooth coats. It dried down a little less shiny, so I applied a coat of top coat to give it some extra gloss. The colour itself is very festive, & a great alternative to red or green for the holiday season. The dark berry colour is definitely one I enjoy wearing (I kept this shade on for 3 days!)

You could also do some great holiday nail art with it as well.

Like last week’s pick, this shade was originally released as part of the holiday collection, so it’s no longer in permanent circulation—however, you can buy the Gelaze version on the China Glaze website for those who use gel nail polish.

What do you think about this beautiful holiday berry? Do you have Better Not Pout in your nail polish stash? Would you wear this shade to a holiday party? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Sunday 💗

Candy Cane Stripes 🎄🎅

Happy December 1st! Can you believe we’re officially in the last month of 2023? That’s kind of insane. & it’s time to go hard on all the Christmas designs I can paint!

Today’s look is simple but festive. I wanted to create some candy cane inspired nails, as I haven’t done any in a while.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Blanc
  • Quo Beauty Green With Envy
  • Quo Beauty Velveteen
  • ACO by Ardene Dancing Queen
  • 16mm Striper (from NailStuff.ca)

Do you love candy canes? I really like those fun flavour ones (like Nerds, Warheads or Trolli) but less keen on the classic peppermint flavour ones. Maybe I ate too many as a kid? My nails are definitely calling back to those classic candy canes though.

You could definitely use striping tape or vinyls to achieve this look, but for some reason I prefer using my striper brush. With a look like this, I feel like you don’t need to have as clean lines (since candy canes don’t always have the smoothest lines). But these ones definitely turned out better than I could have hoped!

What do you think of these candy cane stripe nails? Are you ready for December & all the holiday nail art content to come? Let me know down in the comments below!

Holly Jolly Dotticure 🎄

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope your week is off to a lovely start so far — & if it’s not, well we’re halfway to the weekend!

Today I’m officially kickstarting the Christmas & holiday nails with this Christmas inspired dotticure. I wanted red & green, & festive, & I think I captured that look idea perfectly.

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 has Central Pink
  • Sally Hansen MG A Moo Point
  • Sally Hansen MG Me, My Elf & I
  • Sally Hansen MG Red It Twice
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

This look was super, super easy to achieve. I started with my semi-sheer base of Central Pink, & then one by one added dots of each colour to my nails, trying my best to make it not look too crowded. Then after I gave the dots a few minutes to dry down, I finished off everything with a thick coat of top coat.

It’s important to wait a few minutes between dotting & adding top coat, just so your dots don’t get smeared. There is nothing worse than a beautiful clean dotticure, & you mess it all up by smearing the polka dots with your top coat.

What do you think of this festive dotticure? Do you like the simplicity of the small polka dots over the sheer base? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & what nail art looks you’re exciting to see upcoming over the next few weeks!

Enjoy your Wednesday loves. 🖤

Winter Sweater Accent Nail

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! It’s a brand new week already, & December is looming. While I’m brainstorming all the nail art I’m planning for December, I thought I would throw things back with a simple accent nail that reminds me of my early nail blogging days (circa 2015).

I used to be obsessed with these freehand sweater/aztec inspired accent nails, so I thought it would be fun to do one — especially as I was struggling with nail art inspiration the other night.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie No More Film
  • Essie All The Wave
  • Essie Hors d’Oeuvres
  • Essie Blanc
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm liner brush, 7mm liner brush)

I feel like these are giving off fun sweater vibes, & I like the combination of blues together. I was just going to do a simple skittle look with the different blues, but I decided I wanted it to be more exciting than that!

The end result turned out so fun! I haven’t had as much time for freehand nail art lately, so I really need to start playing around more often. I miss my freehand nails, so I’m definitely going to make more of an effort. Maybe I’ll redo this design in December with a Christmas-y colour scheme, & call them Ugly Christmas Sweater nails.

What do you think of today’s nail art look? Are you a fan of these simpler accent nail designs? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

🖤 Happy Monday!