Black Diamond Studded Nails 🖤 (Makes my Emo heart happy)

Hello darlings, & happy Monday. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, no matter what you found yourself doing. My weekend was mostly spent working, but I find the weekend rush fun.

Today I’m sharing a really fun manicure, featuring yesterday’s Swatch Sunday pick & a whole lot of black rhinestones! While swatching Dark Dahlia, I was trying to figure out a fun (but different manicure) & I stumbled across a small bag of black diamonds that I’ve never used. One thing led to another, & suddenly I was carefully placing each stud on my nail.

& I am obsessed. Actually, obsessed is an understatement! I literally want to recreate this design using every colour of the rainbow.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Strengthner
  • Top Coat: Sinful Colors Power Paint Top Coat + Essie Speed Setter
  • The Creme Shop Calcium & Protein Clear Polish (from the Hollywood Nail Art Kit)
  • CND Vinylux Dark Dahlia
  • Black Diamond Studs
  • Diamond Art grabber pen

It has been a long time since I pulled out my nail studs, & played with them. I’m not even sure why I don’t play with them more often, minus the fact I’m always worried about one popping off. Thankfully, these were nails to rock around home & not at work because I feel like they’re not the most practical…. but damn they look so cool.

Like really cool. You have no idea how bad ass I felt wearing these.

Were they a little more complicated & time consuming to do? Yes. Would I 100% do them again. Also yes.I also think the almost-black of Dark Dahlia paired with the black of the studs made the studs look better. I was kind of worried it was just going to look weird & lumpy, but it didn’t. Instead, it really did look like black diamonds on my nails.

& as an elder Emo who spent her formative years listening to Taking Back Sunday, Brand New & the Ataris while wearing exclusively black nails…. these scratch a little Emo itch that regular black nails could never.

So, what do you think about this rock star worthy manicure? Do you love it as much as I do? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & what polish & stud combo you would want to try!

Happy Monday My Loves!

❤︎

Burgundy Reindeer Sweater Nails 🦌

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a stellar weekend — the first weekend of November. I know mine was definitely a busy one at work. You can feel the holiday spirit already seeping into the air. Also, Starbucks Holiday cups are back — as is the gingerbread latte! — so that really makes you realize how quickly the end of 2023 is approaching.

But I’m staring off this week with some sweater nails, done prior to my big nail break on Friday. You know me — I love a good sweater inspired manicure. As soon as the weather gets that extra bit of chill, I’m all about the sweater nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essence Colour Grip Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ruby Do
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Ski Bunny
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat On the Black
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Ghouls Night Out
  • Discontinued Born Pretty Store stamping plate
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
  • Nailstuff.ca metallic studs (no longer available)

It’s been a while since I pulled out any of my studs, & I kind of missed how they complete a look! Of course, I wore in retail so I banged mine up really quickly, but you can’t even notice from far away.

I also feel like this design is a good in-between look before we start getting into our more Christmas-y designs. I would be prepared for a whole lot of Sweater nails this month! I always find November my hardest month for nail art inspiration, because it’s half way between Fall & Winter, I don’t want to do Christmas too soon, & I’m never quite sure what I want to wear on my nails.

What do you think about my sweater nails? Do you think these are a fun November look? What kind of nail art do you gravitate towards in November? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below & let me know what kind of nail art you would like to see!

Have a fantastic Monday ♥︎

Mix & Match Spring Nails

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday. It’s a new day & I finally have new nails to share. This look is what I created over my Swatch of Julep Alyssa from my previous post & I’ve been wearing it since Sunday! I really wanted something bright & Spring-y for my Easter festivities, & I loved the look so much I could bare to take it off yet!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Julep Alyssa (It Girl)
  • Essie Blanc
  • Essie Peach Side Babe
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Orchid-ing Aside {PR sample}
  • NailStuff.ca Gold Mixed Decoration Nail Wheel {PR sample}
  • TheBaseCoat Drag Marble Nail Vinyls

Seriously loving the mix & match look of this design. The colours are Spring-y but not too Easter Egg-esque & the studs just give it a little something extra. Really, really loving the whole combination. I’m sure in a few weeks I’ll be all about neon (when I’m really craving Summer) but right now these semi-pastel shades are giving me life.

what do you think of this design? Share your thoughts down in the comments below.

Fall Houndstooth Accent Nails

Happy October 2nd! Can you believe we’re already a day into Halloween month?! Are you as excited as I am? I’m definitely going to need to start planning my Halloween designs soon.

But in the mean time, maybe some Fall themed nails? With the weather shifting quickly, I’m already digging out some of my favourite scarves, so I figured why not some nails inspired by the coziness of Fall.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Lets Snow!
  • Essence Black is Back!
  • Born Pretty Store Classic Patterns Stamping Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
  • Born Pretty Store Color Flame Rhinestones colour #2 (item #41753)

First off, can we talk about this Essie shade from the Fall 2018 collection? It’s absolutely amazing. The second I saw the swatches, I knew it was so different from all the other polishes I own & that meant I had to have it! & since it feels so Fall to me, I knew I had to pair it with this stamping plate from Born Pretty Store (which I haven’t had the chance to use yet!)

Also check out these crystals also from Born Pretty Store (item # 41753). I needed something to jazz up my plain nails, & I love the iridescent shift they have. You can kind of see how the shift of your hand shows different colours, which means these crystals will match with so many different polishes & manicures!

what do you think of this Fall inspired manicure? What Fall shades are you wearing on your nails right now? Let me know in the comments below!

Vintage Roses (take #17283)

You know when you did that perfect pair of jeans or shirt or outfit that looks amazing, & fits your perfectly, & just makes you look amazing? You wear it constantly (maybe more than you should), because it just looks so good? That is how I feel about floral & vintage rose nails. & that is why I have ANOTHER floral design to share with you.

This design is actually inspired by an old design of mine, this time using blues instead of pinks. Yep, I’ve done a different version of these simple roses a lot but they never get old to me, so hopefully they’re not tired to you.

For this manicure, to polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Find Me an Oasis
  • OPI Angel with a Leadfoot
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Rose to the Occasion
  • Essie Bachelorette Bash
  • Sally Hansen Insta-dri Petal Pusher
  • YSL Beauty Vert D’Orient
  • Essie First Timer
  • NailStuff.ca Mixed Decoration Nail Wheel in Gold
  • Small dotting tool
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster

Oooooh these roses over white is definitely one of my favourite accent nails to do. I love all floral nails, but there is something about vintage roses that just looks so good: easy to do, but looks beautiful & complicated every time. Not to mention, roses are one of the easiest florals to do because I find (for me at least), they’re one of ten hardest florals to mess up.

My tutorial on how I do roses is Here.

So what do you think of this design? Are you a vintage roses person or do you prefer other floral? Share your thoughts down below!