NAILS | Stars on Purple #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

I swear one day I will be ahead of the game and catch up! Especially with my Paris trip coming up, I will need to schedule a few things for sure! This last week was another tiring one so I was a bit lazy with my nail art for this week's #CBBxManiMonday though I will say that I DID have brand new nails on the actual Monday, but just didn't get a chance to edit the photos! I still haven't found a good way to get the lighting right for taking nail photos with my new iPhone without showing every wrinkle on my hand! 

NAILS | Neon Dandelions #CBBxManiMonday

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NAILS | Abstract Fall with OPI Muse of Milan #CBBxManiMonday

I cannot get enough of the new OPI Muse of Milan collection! I think a part of my love for the shades is that I have been ready for Fall since June. It wasn't a normal summer for anyone and though we still could have patio season, I am still not comfortable dining out. If anything, social distancing and keeping my social circle super small (really my husband and 5 co-workers) has fed right into my anti-social personality. I have also never liked shaking hands, hugging or kissing cheeks and now I can use COVID as an excuse! While I wouldn't have called myself a germaphobe, I have never been all that comfortable with physical forms of affection let alone with people I don't know. Call me crazy, but I am honestly so much happier now that this is the norm!

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NAILS | Easy Halloween Nail Art #ManiMonday

Last week ran away from me just as I expected with the LD Beauty Event happening up at Whistler and a very very busy work week involving some long hours and more caffeine than I am used to. My system feels in need of some sort of detox or reboot as the last thing I want to happen is to get sick! I did not think I would have the time or energy to come up with a fresh ManiMonday let alone one for Halloween, but then a package from Beauty Big Bang showed up containing these fancy Halloween nail decals* which took all of 5 minutes to apply, but didn't end up looking quite as sharp as I had hoped after top coat was applied.

NAILS | Happy St.Patrick's Day with Revlon Parfumerie's Wintermint

I thought I was going to be spending the night at home this St.Patrick's Day because I'm old and tired, but the hubby decided that we should go out for dinner and so we did! We were both the only ones who wore green to work and a couple eating dinner across from us even complimented us as they left the restaurant! Last year, I did leprechaun nails (here), but got caught up with finishing a presentation for work so instead I went with a very straightforward manicure by bringing one of my FAVOURITE polishes from the vault - the Revlon Parfumerie Collection released 4 years ago. Not only was the pigmentation on these polishes fantastic, but when they dried, they smelled just like the colours they were named after! 

NAILS | Mary Kay Paradise Calling “Swirl” Nail Art with Lagoon and Exotic Orchid Nail Lacquer

I have been sporting my version of nubbins for what feels like almost a year as they were initially breaking from stress back in July. They have had a hard time recovering with my right hand still suffering break after break. You would never know since I have managed to keep nail posts going each week! I have been waiting a few weeks to finally break out some awesome cyclone vinyls from TwinkledT that required a bit of nail length for the pattern to work. While the cyclones would work with an array of colours, I was also anxious to finally wear the new Mary Kay Paradise Calling ($10.00 CDN) polishes. The colours just scream tropical paradise!

I started with two coats of “Exotic Orchid”* and used a fast drying top coat. Exotic Orchid on its own was just so beautiful that I almost left it alone. Opaque in two coats and with a lovely formulation!

 
Then I placed the decal on top of my now COMPLETELY dry nail and although it took some trial and error, I eventually managed to get some cyclones on my nails! For my “cyclone” top layer, I used two coats of the dark green “Lagoon”* and peeled off the decal RIGHT AWAY. That’s the secret to decals and taping manis – take the tape off immediately! Don’t let it dry!

Mary Kay Paradise Calling polishes are available through your Mary Kay consultant or at marykay.ca

NAIL ART | L’Oreal Infallible 2-Step Nail Colour in Irresistible Bonbon with Valentine’s Nail Decals

Gotta love good ol’ nail decals as the quickest way to get some pretty cool nail art goin’ on! I loved the new L’Oreal 2-step Infallible Nail Polishes so much that I went to London Drugs to pick up this baby soft pink in “Irresistible Bonbon” for the specific purpose of Valentine’s Day (this is the excuse I tell myself, NOT that I’m some sort of nail polish hoarder…).   

Just like the previous colour I reviewed (here), “Irresistible Bonbon” was also opaque in 2 coats, but didn’t look quite as shiny which was a little disappointing. The wear was about 5 days on me with these photos taken at the 4 day mark hence the slight tip wear. I thought these nail decals* from Born Pretty would pair perfectly with such a sweet sounding/looking polish and came in three sheets with some fun little sayings as well as some sayings that didn’t quite work in English…one decal even said just “Beautiful Finger”…

Like I said, I was a little disappointed with the lack of shine on this particular nail polish shade, but the nail decals were a fun talking point at work and were just as easy to use as the Born Pretty decals I constantly use. I just LOVE THEM!

I don’t really have a question for you guys, so just tell me something interesting about yourselves!

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!

Sinful Saturdays | Sinful Colors Envy with Fall Leaves

Sinful Saturdays | Sinful Colors–See You Soon with Water Decal Nail Art

Sinful Saturdays | All About You with Ciate Cuticle Tattoos (Ooh!)

SIX coats of polish. That’s how many coats I have on in today’s Sinful Saturdays post because I jumped the gun and thought Sinful Colors – All About You was much more opaque than it was. I am actually wearing 3 coats of All About You, 2 coats of Revlon Gel Envy – Blackjack and two coats of All About You!  It just goes to show you that maybe looking up a swatch or testing it out on a nail wheel would have been better than going in blind. All About You is a very autumn-like glitter with its copper and gold-coloured glitter all sitting in a clear base. To jazz this manicure up, I donned some relatively badass Ciate Cuticle Tattoos that I picked up from Sephora. They were a little challenging to position, but actually look kind of cool!

Swatch It Up | Doll Face Nail Polish Pisces Pink with Nail Decals!

I was recently introduced to the Doll Face Brand that is a new beauty line that provides affordable and trendy products for all ages. Pisces Pink ($4.99) is bright and pink in just two coats and is very easy to work with. It applied beautifully and looked so shiny! I then decided to add some cool nail decals to complete the look!

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!

Trust Fund Beauty | Bouquet Brawl and Born Pretty Water Decal Nail Art

I do love me some water decals and today I have some chic and sophisticated nail art from Born Pretty paired off with a girly pearly pink polish from one of my new favourite nail polish companies, Trust Fund Beauty! I started off with two coats of Bouquet Brawl which is a colour and finish of nail polish I do not wear very often. I am not a pearly person, but taking my personal feelings out of it, this applied beautifully and made my hands look like a delicate ballerina.

Kiss | Salon Secrets Nail Art Starter Kit with Awesome Zebra Nail Art

Over the last two years, my nail art hobby has grown in terms of drawer space and what I wish I had at the beginning was a starter kit that just had bits of the best stuff so I could have a taste of everything. Kind of like a nail art buffet. Earlier this year, Kiss introduced the Salon Secrets Nail Art Starter Kit ($16.99) which has everything from loose glitter, decals, brushes and dotting tools and rhinestones to create almost any nail art trend out there! It can be a bit overwhelming to look at everything in the kit and figure out what to do so thankfully there is starter guide that shows examples of designs to try.

Nailed Kit | Review and Pastel Galaxy Space Nail Art

You all know that I am a HUGE fan of nail decals to jazz up any manicure, not to mention that they are oddly kind of fun to use even at my current ripe old age of 30! I have been eyeing the Nailed Kit Waterslide Nail Decals ($8.00) for eons because of their fun, whimsical patterns that are specially designed by a select group of artists, and apparent ease of use. Let’s see how I did with them, shall we?

Trind | Red Shimmer Nail Lacquer with Bow Water Decals

Today I have another Trind nail lacquer to share with you in the form of a super shiny red called Red Shimmer ($13.00). The moment I applied Red Shimmer I knew that I had found the perfect festive red for Christmas. It has a beautiful shine and is wonderfully opaque in two easy coats. The colour literally glows when it’s on your nails!

Born Pretty | Metallic Gold Lattice Water Decals with Nail Art

What would all of us nail art addicts do without Born Pretty? I swear, I love this place and although I have heard some awful stories about shipments not making it/taking months, I have yet to experience less than reasonable customer service for items that I have actually purchased. I even received a replacement bottle of nail polish once when one was missing in my order so even though it does take a month for things to arrive, the prices are just amazing and I am now convinced that ALL nail art supplies should cost what they cost at Born Pretty! Today I have the prettiest latticework nail decals to share with you!

Flying High with Pink Feather Water Nail Decals

Whenever I swatch a solid colour, I can never leave it alone for too long before I start adding something to it. I think I’m just not used to seeing my nails “bare” and I’ve had people ask me if I was “doing okay” when they don’t see some form of nail art on them!

I picked up a giant sheet of feather nail decals from Born Pretty and have been waiting for the perfect base colour to pair them off with. Well, the time came when I wore Revlon-Italian Leather and out came some pink feathers!

Wearing these have been such a blast! I definitely feel like I’m cheating a little bit when it comes to wearing nail decals, but how can anyone not love how fun, easy and FAST these are to use?

Disclaimer: All products featured have been purchased by me!

#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!