NAILS | Beyond the Nail Green Thermal #CBBxManiMonday

Forgive me for the lack of nail art, but at the time of this nail painting session, my eye infection had still not subsided and even now as I type not too much has changed so all in all I have been a grumpy goose for a week. I don't know what I would have done if this infection had been in both eyes. I would have gone insane! While my vision is pretty good for large objects, any detail or fine print has been a challenge to see so I decided to keep this week's manicure really easy, but at least give you an interesting polish to look at! 

Purchased by me

NAILS | I Love Sephora #ManiMonday

This wasn't intentionally a tribute to Sephora, but when I added the red hearts it started looking much more familiar. I won't be seeing a Sephora bag for awhile as I am challenging myself to a no-buy beauty ban this month. I have never believed in no-buys, but a friend brought up trying it so now at least I have someone to hold me accountable if I fall off the wagon. God knows I don't "need" anything beauty-related as I am fully stocked on everything from skincare to makeup so may this be the month that I use things up, blog more and free up some space in the office!

NAILS | Coral with a Touch of Grey #ManiMonday

I will keep this brief as I seem to be struggling with jet lag here in Montreal and though I have been enjoying going out and catching up with family, I have been feeling a bit nauseated and just gross at night for whatever reason. I am hoping I start feeling better soon because I am only here for the week and I feel like there is still a lot to do!

This month's CBB theme is "grey" and I was so fixated on green for St.Patrick's Day that I never even gave grey a chance. I have always loved the combination of grey and any bright colour so I thought maybe coral would be a nice little segue into Spring!

NAILS | Starting off 2017 with Some Sunshine! #ManiMonday

My nails have been a little burnt out from the non-stop manicures (thank God for peel-off base coat!) and with hosting a family dinner at our place last night, I decided to forego the complicated 3 hour nail art session and instead veg and find a unique glitter polish in my collection that I had yet to try. I have WAY too many untrieds and found an old Beyond the Nail indie glitter called "Vintage Dress" that had shimmery yellow flower-shaped glitter sitting in a clear base that felt like the way to go. I also managed to find the PERFECT matching yellow polish which literally looks like sunshine in a bottle in the form of CND Creative Play - Foilded Again*. 

NAILS | (YELLOW) DAY 3 OF THE 31DC2016 WITH Wavy Taping #ManiMonday

Geez, I am cutting it close with my Mani Monday post again though I did manage to edit one photo for IG this morning and share it with ya'll. Today was my Friday and worked a bit of a long weekend as Saturday was quite the night with my smoke alarm choosing to DIE at 2am. Of course, smoke alarm death = loud beeping. We didn't know how to disconnect it since it was hard-wired into our building and finally at 4am, the building manager came to disable it. I had to be up at 6am for work so that 2 hours of sleep felt like nothing. I actually packed a blanket that morning instead of a lunch because I knew I was going to be using my break to sleep in the basement of the building! I have not slept on the floor of ANYTHING since I was a teenager, but that's pretty much what I did and it was amazing.

The nap was a good idea as it gave me the strength to get these nails done! I wanted to do this colour combination back in August, but then I decided to save it for the nail challenge to maximize both my time and manicures. 

NAILS | Happy Canada Day Sideways Sponge Gradient (aka Happy Birthday to Me!)

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! This is the only time I get to bring out my maple leaf decals from Beyond the Nail so it's starting to become an annual tradition! It is also my actual BIRTHDAY today so for the first time in awhile, I have the long weekend off and I will be celebrating with friends later today. I haven't had a birthday party in 5 years since I despise party planning, but with all of my friends having had babies and kids in the last few years, it has been hard to get everyone together in one place.

I was torn between doing birthday or Canada Day nails, but Canada always wins out! I also became a Canadian citizen on July 1st and today marks 24 years of being CANADIAN so yay! Today's manicure is a sideways sponge gradient which I have not tried before and don't know if I like more than the typical sponge gradient.

NAILS | Beyond the Nail Mint Microglitter Swatch #ManiMonday

This post almost didn't make it as Sunday was spent at a friend's son's birthday party which was all afternoon and combined with running errands with my husband in the evening, I pretty much fell asleep watching "Friends" on Netflix. I also still needed to pack for my visit to Toronto for GenBeauty(!!) so I was quite torn on how to spend my remaining waking hours. The fact that I have not missed a Mani Monday since November was what kept me going and even though this is just a simple swatch, I made sure it was a good one! I have talked about the Canadian company Beyond the Nail before on Cosmetic Proof and when it comes to indie polish companies, they will rank in my top 10 for both quality and customer service! 

NAIL ART | Gettin’ Squiggly with Mary Kay at Play Hail to the Nails Mini Nail Lacquer Trio

I had briefly talked about the Mary Kay at Play Hail to the Nails Trio*(18.00 CDN) over the holidays as the perfect little stocking stuffer for the nail polish lover in your family and now I get to show it to you in action!

NAIL ART | Merry Christmas with Red Carpet Manicure Gel Polish in Ruby and Beyond the Nail Decals!

Merry Christmas everyone! Today is either a crazy or relaxing day for most of you so I will leave you with some Christmas cheer in the form of this oogle-licious gel polish from the Red Carpet Manicure Power of the Gem Collection, which is a birthstone-based collection. This is my very first time using RCM and because I don’t use gel nail polish a lot, I made sure to choose colours from the collection that I knew I would love. Ruby has actual ruby powder in its formulation and is meant to represent the month of July or the zodiac symbol Cancer (which is me!).

A sparkly red polish is not complete this season without some Christmas flair from Beyond the Nail Holiday Collection. These decals are just the CUTEST and are incredibly resilient. Just make sure the snowflake tips are fully flat on the nail or they might get caught on things. I had to re-topcoat a day in to keep them intact. Like most gel polishes, I got 8 days of perfect wear out of this manicure with no chips and the same intense shine. Expect to see more of RCM on this blog in the new year!

Merry Christmas to everyone today!

NAIL ART | ‘O Christmas Tree, ‘O Christmas Tree!

I have been pumping the Christmas music now that we are in the last week of holiday madness and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sort of ready for 2015 aren’t you? December is so go, go, go that I cannot wait for the slow lull of January.

I have never done a Christmas tree manicure and when I got my hands on this two coat opacity Green Microglitter from Beyond the Nail, I was like YES. It’s Christmas tree time. After painting my base colour, I used a few different sizes of dotting tool to create the gold garland with Revlon – Gold Coin and the lights and baubles with Sally Hansen XTremeWear– Mellow Yellow, Revlon Gel Envy – Roulette Rush and Revlon Gel Envy – Full House. One coat of top coat and I was done!

Whose got Christmas parties tonight?!

Beyond the Nail | Space Cadet with Gold Nail Art Decals

What I love most about nail polish are the incredibly creative indie brands that have emerged over the years with cutting-edge colours, textures and finishes unlike what you would find in any drugstore. One of my favourite Canadian indie brands is none other than Beyond the Nail! These are two amazing women and I have watched this company grow from 2012 into a force to be reckoned with! Today I have a swatch of Space Cadet which is a purple holographic, JELLY polish! Holojelly is a combination I don’t see very often, if it all, so I am so glad I own this bad boy!

#BusyGirlNails | Week 5–Brown

I made it! The very last day of the week! For this last week of the #busygirlnails challenge, I started off with two coats of China Glaze-IX which is the richest, most gorgeous dark brown I have ever used! I then used some gold water nail decals from Born Pretty and then a blue vinyl nail diamond decal from Beyond the Nail which I am LOVING! I kind of went for a jewellery-inspired look and I cannot get enough of it!

I enjoyed every week of this mini challenge and of course seeing everyone’s designs! I guess now it’s time for those Christmas nail designs! Bring on the snowflakes, candy cane swirls and reindeer!