Sally Hansen – Page 70 – Coffee & Nail Polish

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019

Fall Leaves 🍂 Nail Art Recreation

Hello lovelies & Happy Friday!

Today I have a fun nail art look to share with you that is a recreation of an old favourite: this Fall leaf design. This design was one of the first designs I ever posted on Instagram that I was the most proud of. So while browsing through my old designs, I decided it was definitely long overdue for me to recreate this design!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat {PR sample}
Quo by ORLY Breathable Heaven Sent {PR sample}
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y {PR sample}
Wet N Wild Blazed
Rimmel 60 Seconds 830 Camouflage
Mariposa Nail Polish gold shimmer (no name)
Black Acrylic Paint
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Brush Trio (I used the 11mm liner brush)

So obviously with it being five years since I first painted this design, I wanted to change things up a little bit & play around with the look. Instead of black polish, I used acrylic paint because I knew it would make it easier to start over if there was any mistakes. I also used my 11mm mermaid tail brush from NailStuff.ca, but looking back I should probably should have went with a small size for thinner lines.

Also this time I decided to add some matte top coat over my design, & it really made the design & colours pop! I’ve been absolutely loving the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel matte top coat.

Just for fun, a couple shots of this design before I added my matte top coat.

Obviously I think both versions of this design are fabulous, but I’m just slightly more in love with the matte version. Something about this time of year just has me craving matte-ified nails more often, & honestly I feel like metallic nails (which I also craved more often during Autumn) pop so much more when they are matte.

So what do you think about my updated version of this design? Which do you prefer: matte or glossy? Share your thoughts down in the comments below & let me know which version is your favourite!

September 17, 2019September 13, 2019

Fall Inspired Abstract Nails

Good morning lovelies! Hope you’re enjoying the beginning to another beautiful week. Also how is it possible we’ve passed the middle of September & it’s creeping (quickly!) towards October?! It feels like just yesterday I was dreaming wistfully about pumpkin spice, & now it will be Halloween before we know it!

Today I have a really, really fun design to share with you that I had an extremely hard time figuring out what to call. It has a little bit of everything in it: negative space, polka dots, colour blocking, abstract lines. This look was partly inspired by a few of these looks I’ve seen popping up on Instagram & partly inspired by my daughters new soothers. But I am 100% in love with the end results!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Wet N Wild 2% Milk
Essie Fall For NYC
Essie Bobbing for Baubles
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

This look is super easy to do, even though it comes across as more complicated & fancy. Basically the hardest part is figuring out how to layer your lines of colour, but because they’re “abstract” you don’t have to worry about making them perfectly straight. & then just go in with a small dotting tool for some extra dots, & you’re finished! I originally was going to add a few random lines as well, but was worried about kiddos waking up (I literally did these at 6am while everyone was asleep) so I went the safe route. Definitely want to try them again & see if I can get even closer to my inspiration! This was a fun first attempt though!

Love love loving this look! Seriously, it feels so good to paint my nails, & even if it means waking up earlier than I might want, it’s so worth it in the end. Painting my nails is what keeps me feeling like me, & it’s important to have that “thing” that makes you feel like you, especially when you’re a new Mom.

I know I get asked a lot how I have time, with two young kids, to keep doing my nails & the honest answer is: I just make the time when I can. It’s not always easy, & sometimes it takes into the next day to finish a manicure, but sometimes that’s what you have to do. We’ll see what happens when my maternity leave is up & I go back to work, but I will keep trying as much as possible to keep the routine going & finding my times to paint & create.

What do you think of this nail art look? What kind of manicures would you like to see next? Share down below your favourite nail art look!

🧡

September 4, 2019September 3, 2019

VACATION NAILS — ocean inspire Saran Wrap splatter.

Hello lovelies! Still on vacation, but even though I’m on vacation that doesn’t mean I’m not painting my nails! Like I wrote in my last Swatch Sunday post, visiting my parents means I get to take advantage of my Mom’s massive nail polish collection she uses for her jewelry. So I decided to take a few of her polishes to create an ocean inspired design perfect for an East Coast vacation!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Duri Rejuvacote
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Sally Hansen CSM A Bleu Attitude
Quo by ORLY April Showers
Santee ACO6433
China Glaze Cattle Drive Me Crazy
Crinkled up Plastic Wrap

Obviously, being away from my own nail polish stash & supply, I’m not going to attempt to crate one of my more complicated designs–like floral– which is why something like a Saran Wrap splatter is such a perfect design! Easy to do, minimal clean up, but still looks fancy & fun! & obviously because my nails were inspired by the ocean I had to take pictures of this look right on the beach! 🌊

Looking at these close up, I realized how much these look like the mussel shells we used to collect off the beach as kids! This colour combination is definitely one of the best versions of this design I’ve done, but I find that happens whenever I do anything in shades of blue! They always just turn out so beautiful!

What do you think of this look? What do you do about your nails when you’re on vacation–do you still paint them, or go with something like soak off gel that lasts 2+ weeks!

Let me know your vacation nail routine down in the comments below!

September 1, 2019August 28, 2019

SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure A Bleu Attitude

Good Morning lovelies & Happy Sunday! I’m currently writing today’s Swatch Sunday post from my parents place in New Brunswick, but a little vacation won’t keep me from painting my nails!

For today’s post, I decided to borrow from my Mom’s vast nail polish stash — Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure A Bleu Attitude. I knew I had to shade this gorgeous polish with you, so I crafted a makeshift lightbox just so I could take pictures of this polish to share!

According to my Internet Research (aka Google), this shade was released as part of Sally Hansen’s CSM Fall 2016 collection. There is something about Navy that just screams Fall to me. As I’ve said probably a million other times, the first hint of Pumpkin Spice & you have me craving deep, dark polishes.

For my swatches, I applied one (!) coat of polish for full opacity, & finished it off with glossy top coat. Any time I can get away with a one coat polish, I am going to be happy–I love painting my nails, but sometimes I am short on time. So a beautiful one coater like A Bleu Attitude makes my life so much easier. & that makes me very very happy.

Seriously, can you believe that is only one coat?! How amazing is that? I’m seriously tempted to sneak this bottle into my suitcase to take home, but my Mom did give me her bottle of (original) Pacific Blue, I feel like stealing this beautiful polish from her wouldn’t be the nicest move. So I’ll just have to search out my own bottle online (I did find it on Amazon.ca for sale) & if that doesn’t work, I’ll just slap it on my nails next time I come to visit.

What do you think of this navy blue? Do you have Sally Hansen CSM A Bleu Attitude in your nail polish collection? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! & stay tuned, because I have some fun nail art featuring this shade to share soon!

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!

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