NAILS | Teal French #CBBxManiMonday

 

One press sample

Today marks the first time in almost a month that I have painted my nails! They kept breaking and then I was on vacation and decided to give them a bit of a break. Honestly, I also just haven't felt like anything beauty. I have been quite bummed, like many Canadians, about what is happening with the US and unlike the first time he was elected, this time feels worse. No one is standing up for what's right and the actual thought of Canada being annexed could actually happen if our economy slowly starts to shrink. It's all very depressing and my ultimate Dystopian nightmare would be if this actually led to war between the US and Canada! Like, how crazy would that be in the 21st century?! This means that right now, we are literally in the history books as the trade war has already started (unprovoked). 

NAILS | Neon Peach Fuzz #CBBxManiMonday

Some press samples 

I am running out of Peach Fuzz options. There are some ideas online that I have seen ranging from literal peaches to sponging on orange in the middle of a bare nail which I think looks like your nail is bleeding underneath depending on how intense of an orange you use. I got a bit desperate and looked to glitter polishes as my saviour and lo and behold, I did find one! The now gone, Rainbow Honey has saved me once more! I took this company for granted and just thought they would be around forever, but honestly so many of my favourite nail brands have disappeared over the years which has taught me to "never subscribe to anything that charges my credit card automatically" and to "assume my order might take a really long time to show up". All of these things have happened before!  

NAILS | Halloween or Hayfever Eyeballs? #CBBxManiMonday

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and ate lots of great food. Though we rarely do turkey, my husband and I try to do something a little bit special every Thanksgiving since it's usually just the two of us. This year, I decided to try a very North American dish of...casserole! A post from The Food Network popped up on my feed last week with Trisha Yearwood (she always does great looking comfort food) and a Broccoli Chicken Casserole that was super easy to make in the end. It tasted so good, but I'm sure it was because there was so much mayo, cheese and sour cream in there that there wasn't much to NOT like! It was very decadent and then we topped it all off with apple pie and vanilla ice cream! Needless to say, the holiday weight gain has begun!

PR samples

NAILS | Galaxy Nail Art #CBBxManiMonday

Have you ever had one of those days where you make constant typos and sit there trying to form a coherent sentence? That is me today so I think for everyone's safety, Imma keep it short and sweet! This week's CBB ManiMonday theme is "Galaxy Nails" and though I did them back in 2012, I have learned a few tricks and techniques to improve and I definitely like these Galaxy Nails much more! 

PR samples

NAILS | It's "Time" for Flowers

It is officially Spring today and what better way to start than with some flower nail art! Avon had sent me this cute Pretty Floral Stripe Watch* ($29.99 CDN) and the moment I saw it, I wanted to have my nails match it! The watch itself is super cute and fun with a silicone strap. I can totally see this being a fun accessory to pull together an outfit.

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 | Happy St. Patrick's Day with Some Luck From the Irish!

Totally wanted to have this post up earlier, but I only got a chance to sit down with my polishes last night (if you caught a glimpse of my Snapchat LATE last night!). Pulling inspiration from this post from Peace Love Lacquer, I set off to create some nails that would have me cel-o'-bratin'! (Was that bad?)
 

NAILS | Star Wars Stormtroopers Love Christmas Too!

You know, I knew timing was EVERYTHING when it came to posting these nails, but by the time I had finished them at 12am last night, it was far too late to blog about them hence the premature sharing of what has been delightfully termed "Seasonal Stormtroopers" on the Faulhaber Instagram. All around the world, people are lining up for the opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and while I have done Star Wars-themed nails before (here), the Christmas season calls for a little something extra. I also have a bit of a sense of humor and while this manicure may not be "pretty", it sure makes me laugh a little. Stormtroopers need love too and as I have said before, you can turn ANYTHING into a holiday mani as illustrated below!

For my base, I took out my trusty Essence - Wild White Ways* and painted two opaque coats. Though I have used a black striper in the past, I opted for black acrylic paint to draw the Stormtrooper faces followed by Essence - Fame Fatale* for the Santa hats. I dotted on the fluffy white trim and outlined with black acrylic paint for extra definition.

How many of you are Star Wars fans and waiting in line to see this movie?

NAILS | “You’re a Mean One…Mr. Grinch” Holiday Nail Art

Say what?! MORE HOLIDAY NAILS?? Yes, I’ve had some time at home on my days off to zen out and do some creating. I was actually planning on doing something far less time-consuming, but after browsing the infinite depths of Pinterest, I stumbled across a few Grinch designs (like this one by Nancy MC) that were too tempting to not try! Most of us are familiar with the works of Dr. Seuss and the impact his books have had. I’m going to assume that most of you reading are familiar with the moral of the story and the rough sketch illustration style of Dr. Seuss.

Press samples

NAILS | Triple Coral Glitter Gradient #EssenceGelNails

The Essence Gel Nail Polish launch has been invigorating for me in many ways because I don't think I have done THIS many nail art posts in a very long time. For those that have been following me since I started blogging in 2011, I began as a nail art bloggers and would never have dreamed that I would be showing you all more than my talons. I probably take nail polish far too seriously, but I love pushing myself and trying new things. FOTDs are fun too, but sometimes I feel like there are only so many ways you can change your canvas aka your face. With nails, every time I take off my current design the slate truly is blank and can be transformed into ANYTHING.

I decided to finish of the month with a classic nail art design that is so fast and easy to do, but always looks amazing at the end - the glitter gradient!
 

NAILS | Dotticure Time with #EssenceGelNails

I am having a blast with the new Essence Gel Nail Polishes and this month I am putting these polishes to the test to see how resilient they really are. As we speak, I have had the below dotticure on my nails since Friday night and there is very minimal chipping. The right hand has two chips and the left one. Though I don't work with rocks, I do use my hands a lot, sometimes in He-Man sort of ways so nail polish usually will start to really chip at this point in the week. My nails still look pretty fabulous and I am totally feeling this dotticure!