NAILS | Neon Rainbow Dots #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

Again, I had my nails painted for Monday, but just couldn't quite get to editing my photos and doing the blog post. I crammed too much into my Sunday and even today, I had off, but ended trying to fit in a lot. I booked myself a counselling session at 10am, then went to the post office followed by grocery shopping. I then started prepping for my performance review and then started doing some odds and ends around the house which has now taken us to 5pm. Where does the day go? Also, HOW IS IT JUNE?!

NAILS | Purple Polka Dots #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples 

I said last week that I was running out of ideas for Peach Fuzz nails and then I was also getting really tired of seeing peach on me so here we are at PURPLE. Thank goodness for a free for all theme because I just needed to see a different colour on me! Ever since starting my #AGemADay New Year's resolution at work (I post ONE jewelry item on my work IG each day as a reminder to myself to engage with the product I am so fortunate to be around) I have been much more aware of what colour my nails are as I sometimes end up wearing or holding coloured gemstones. I want my hand and the jewels to look coordinated!

NAILS | Peach Fuzz 3D Dots #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

Here is my next Pantone Peach Fuzz attempt and I think it turned out alright! I am glad I did this manicure before this cold started to kick my ass because after sleeping poorly last night from the freezing temperatures in my apartment (the heat was on the fritz) and feeling bloated from the sniffling and coughing, I woke up feeling like total crap. I was delightfully sandwiched by Buster and Harper in my sleep so I ended up feeling quite toasty in the end!

NAILS | 3D Dots That Didn't Quite Work Out #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

I cannot believe this is the last week of August and I am sure MANY of you are feeling the same! We all know how incredibly quick the last half of the year goes by and in my older years, I have definitely come to appreciate the acceptable slowness of summer. I am hoping this week will be a better week for me and I have some new breathing exercises to try out so fingers crossed this will be the start of gaining some control over the anxiety I have been experiencing for most of the last year.

NAILS | The New Délice Pastel Collection from Bio Sculpture #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

I seriously struggled with coming up with a design for the new Bio Sculpture Délice Pastel Collection because I wanted to wear ALL THE COLOURS for this month's theme of "Brights and Summer". This creation here is me wanting to wear everything and making it work! This collection combined pastels and neons turning normally Spring shades into ones for summer that are so eye-catching that I might try to wear ONE shade at a time for once!

NAILS | OPI Nature Strong Pink and Purple Dots #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

This was the last manicure with my gloriously long nails until I broke the middle nail so low that the little bit of tissue connecting to the nail was showing...the disparity in lengths was too much for me to tolerate and I ended up chopping all of them down to their nubbins last week. Hopefully, my nails will have grown a sufficient amount of surface area by this weekend to do some fun floral designs, but for now the only floral-theme about this manicure are the names of the polishes!

NAILS | Holo Green Spring Flowers #CBBxManiMonday

 Some press samples

Green is one of my favourite nail polish colours which is why I am always so happy when March comes around for CBBxManiMonday as we usually do either Green/Spring themes and today I have kind of combined the two with this green flower manicure! 

NAILS | Mustard Dots #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

This past weekend has been a bit of a blur as we picked up our kitty, Huxley, on Saturday morning! He is a very shy boy so he is still living in the bathroom (though he escaped to our bedroom briefly!). He has tried a few times to leave, but Harper is hissing at him which is freaking him out. She hissed at Hugo too, but he just ignored her. Unfortunately, Hux is far too docile so he just retreats back to his cat carrier when she hisses. He also meowed ALL NIGHT in the bathroom at the top of his lungs so we barely got any sleep. How can cat vocal chords not get tired?? I am glad I did my nails ahead of time because I had ZERO energy to do anything this weekend after the long drive to pick him up, making sure he was ok and then listening to him sing all night.

NAILS | Bright Blue Dotticure #CBBxManiMonday

 Press samples

Despite my being on vacation and having a fairly relaxed existence this last week, my brain was really hurting for inspiration for our summer nail art theme. Whenever that happens, I go back to techniques that I know always look cute and focus more on the colours I want to use which is what happened with today's manicure! I know dots and gradients will always be pretty and for anyone to do their own nail art, learning these two techniques will 100% of the time make it look like you had your nails done at the salon.

NAILS | Easter Pastel Dotticure #CBBxManiMonday

I have a four day weekend and I could not be happier!  I had a rough work week last week as people were on vacation and then unexpectedly, more became sick leaving me with a VERY bare bones crew. I ended up having to work a 50 hour week instead of the usual 40 which left me feeling pretty tired by the end of it, but I made it and managed to wrap up a few loose ends as well! I was doing well at staying ahead or at least relatively on top of my blogging and Instagram schedule, but losing that day off in the middle of the week tired me out so here I am starting from scratch. As much as I try, I'll never be one of those people that can have weeks of posts scheduled. I'm lucky if I have just one post scheduled! I can barely write more than one blog post a day so truly thumbs up to those who can plan a whole week!

Press samples provided

NAILS | Heart Berry for Indigenous History Month #CBBxManiMonday

Continuing on with this month's theme of "Allyship", today's nails are inspired by this Instagram post by Indigenous beauty brand Cheekbone Beauty in honour of the strawberry or as the Anishinaabe First Nations call it, the "heart berry". I loved this photo and the colour scheme creating the dotted heart and thought it would be pretty as a set of puzzle nails! Also if you haven't shopped with Cheekbone Beauty before, they are FANTASTIC! They aren't one of those brands that say all the "clean or green beauty" marketing and don't follow through. They said last year they would endeavour to create sustainable beauty products and they have! From their newest packaging for their SUSTAIN Lipglosses to the wood their eye pencils are made from, they are a brand that has stuck to their guns and made a point of staying away from words like "clean" or "non-toxic". They stick to science and research and on top of it all, donate 10% of their profits to Shannen's Dream. A charity that I now support because Cheekbone Beauty introduced me to this touching cause.   

Some PR samples

NAILS | JINsoon Red and Pink Dotticure #CBBxManiMonday

For the month of February, our CBBxManiMonday theme will be red and pink, BUT I will also try my hardest to incorporate my month-long theme of #LunarFebruary! This is the third year I have done this and I quite enjoy it! I've never been a huge Valentine's Day person, though bath bombs are my weakness for this occasion so I make an exception with my annual Lush posts, but for those of you who don't know, #LunarFebruary is in celebration of the Lunar New Year. This is where I focus on Asian brands and products and I have a great time with it because Asian products can be quite different from North American ones! Usually my posts end up being very skincare focused because Asians LOVE their skincare, but the technology and skintertainment value is WAY UP from what you can find in the North American market.  For today's post, I wanted to find an Asian nail polish brand and I actually don't have very many until I started going through my drawers and found some untrieds from Korean, vegan, 10-free nail polish brand JINsoon! 

JINSoon polish purchased by me. Sally Hansen polishes are press samples.

NAILS | Moody Dots #CBBxManiMonday

This is the last day I will have set weekends off as the retail sector heads into holiday hours. I haven't worked a set schedule in just over 10 years and with the smaller team that we have had, we all have been working the exact same days as we are only open 5 days/week which has been nice! Now, we move into being open 6 days for those who plan on shopping in person, but I really don't know how busy it will be this year. I have never been a fan of shopping in person anywhere, but this year with multiple provinces in lockdown because of rising COVID cases, the wisest thing really is to STAY INSIDE. Most cases are coming from friends and family gatherings so STOP! Hopefully, 2021 will be better with the vaccine, but honestly, I will probably keep wearing a mask until Kingdom come because this is the longest I have gone without even having a hint of a cold! No runny nose, sniffles NOTHING and we are closing in on 2 years now! 

Press samples

NAILS | Dotted Blue Gradient #CBBxManiMonday

It has rained for five days straight in Vancouver and I have had to wear socks and pants in the house. Fall is coming and though I do enjoy cooler weather, the constant rain has been a dreary reminder of what's to come over the next couple of months. Today is also the last day of my glorious staycation which has been VERY productive in terms of finally gaining some traction in purging my beauty room! I have literally been cleaning out the space every day for the last 7 days averaging about 5-6 hours/day and have filled one of our recycling bins outside to the max with old press releases and packaging and have donated NINE medium sized Aritzia bags of beauty products to friends, family, co-workers and neighbours! I still have yet to tackle my nail polish collection and that is something I will not be able to complete this week, but I am hoping that by the end of the month, I will have created some space! Then, the exciting part of getting a new desk and new storage can happen once I know what I am working with!  

Some PR products used

NAILS | When All Else Fails, Do a Dotticure on your Nails #CBBxManiMonday

Dotticures always save the day like a glitter gradient. They are fast to do and look impressive even to a more seasoned nail art lover like me. I was going to feature this super cool green glitter, but then it turned out to not be the right kind of green and would have looked weird painted on top of a nude base so at midnight last night, I whipped out my dotting tools and dotted away to "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" on Netflix. I was exhausted when my alarm went of this morning at 6am for work, but looking at my pretty nails made it all worth it!

PR samples

NAILS | Christmas Gradient Dotticure #CBBxManiMonday

I haven't done a dotticure since the beginning of October and I was just itching to do one again and though I had grander things planned for today's manicure, there was just too much to do and I didn't get a chance to start my manicure until 11pm which is when a dotticure is the ultimate solution! 

PR Samples

NAILS | The Neon Dotticure #CBBxManiMonday

I don't often get a lot of Mondays off and I have mixed feelings about it because on the one hand I can sit back and watch everyone else go crazy Monday morning, BUT that means my email inbox will be very full when I go back on Tuesday! I do work with a good management team so nothing will blow up or anything, but because I have now made it a point of NOT checking my work emails on days off, that means I still have to clean out my inbox since I only have 500MB of space in it (CRAZY!).

Today's CBB ManiMonday theme is "Neon" and though I don't own a whackload of neon shades, I own enough to create a few basic traditional summer manicures because even though I have always said that nail polish colours know no season, I do feel a bit out of place wearing a neon manicure in November. 

PR samples

NAILS | CND Boho Spirit Dotticure

I don't normally post manicures on the blog a week after Instagram, but I guess I was so excited to share the manicure with you all that I didn't get a chance to synchronize with the blog. I have also had kind of a funny last two weeks at work that have left me feeling a little more jaded than I normally am, but also empowered to take control of situations that have bothered me for years. Way to be cryptic huh? I don't mean to be and if anyone messages me about what the hell I am talking about I will be more than happy to oblige, but for now let's keep it as "work issues" where I will emerge victorious.

Last week there was an event celebrating the launch of the new summer tribal-themed CND Boho Spirit collection, but because I was on my lunch break, I didn't have time to get any nail art like the leopard print I got for the CND Chic Shock collection so I did the art part at home. What the lovely ladies at Onyx Aesthetics DID do for me was get me started with three coats of CND Vinylux in Uninhibited.

PR samples

NAILS | Rainbows for Pride #ManiMonday

I love June. It feels like the start of brighter things with summer officially beginning in just a few weeks and now I have the perfect way to start ManiMondays this month - PRIDE! It is Pride Month and rainbows are the name of the game this week with this Robin Moses inspired nail art that I found while browsing the interwebs!

PR samples

NAILS | Flower, Flowers, Flowers #ManiMonday

I know I have done a fair number of flower manicures this summer, but it's sort of my cheat way of using multiple colours when I can't decide on just one or two shades which happens more often than you would think! Oftentimes, I just have handfuls of polish and I sit there and wish I had more fingers to wear them on!

Today's Mani Monday is with some new Avon Gel Finish polishes for Fall, but since I'm not ready to call it quits yet on summer, dotticure flowers with Fall colours seemed a fair compromise.