NAILS | Peach Fuzz 3D Dots #CBBxManiMonday

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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 | OPI Nature Strong Vegan Glitter with "Eco For It" #MidWeekMani

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I feel like I somewhat have it together this week when it comes to scheduling and blogging thanks to having just one additional day off this week. I took a vacation day yesterday as we are in this period of the year where things quiet down and people should take more vacation time, but they don't! It's also summer in Vancouver which is always so beautiful so I don't know why all of us in luxury sales decide to go to work versus taking time off! I am actually going on staycation for my birthday starting next week which will be a nice time since my husband will also take some time off and my plans are literally to go for walks on the seawall, visit my mom in Steveston and keep working on my beauty organization, which I DO find fun despite how draining it is. I just look forward to having less stuff and more space to work with!

NAILS | Is There Such a Thing as Depressing Flowers? #CBBxManiMonday

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Welcome to the first set of nails that are truly how my nails are currently! A little shorter, but still long enough to do something fun with them although having those super long nails from last week made me realize how NICE even basic nail swatches look so I am now on a mission to grow my nails out long again! It's probably going to take a month, but I think I can manage to be careful until then!

NAILS | OPI Nature Strong Pink and Purple Dots #CBBxManiMonday

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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 | I Can Buy Myself Flowers #CBBxManiMonday

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I will admit that today's nail art was born out of wanting to keep the existing base shade and just "refreshing the ends". I haven't really had a chance to use any pastel polishes yet despite it being very much Spring and flowers are kind of the perfect opportunity! 

NAILS | Last Round of Hearts, I Promise! #CBBxManiMonday

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I know Valentine's Day is long over, but I had seen this manicure on Pinterest (sorry, there was no credit given to who did them) and really wanted to do it because I have super long nails now which means more real estate for designs like these! 

NAILS | OPI Nature Strong "A Clay in the Life" Swatch #MidWeekMani

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As I write this, my husband just had a Zoom presentation with some colleagues from New Zealand so that meant 9-11pm for us which means he is pretty wired. I, on the other hand, am desperately trying to wind down as I have Inventory today (by the time this posts) and tomorrow so I want to be as well-rested as possible. I feel like I have done Inventory 100x now, but I feel like it never gets any easier because you KNOW it's going to be a long day no matter how much energy you conserve. We do start our Inventory after we close so you could legitimately have a busy day and not really be able to do anything about it because it is retail after all! My night will probably end after a 12 hour day and I will, as usual, feel like throwing up only to have to be at work less than 10 hours later. I cannot WAIT for my upcoming Sun/Mon off lemme tell ya! 

NAILS | OPI Nature Strong Cactus What You Preach Swatch #MidWeekMani

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I know that swatch posts aren't really posts, but sometimes Instagram isn't enough especially since I can't find my Instagram posts by Googling. There have been times when I KNOW I have posted a nail polish colour, but cannot find it on the blog. Then I realize that I must have posted it somewhere on Instagram and then I have to scroll and scroll until I find it. At least this way, I can just Google and I can find my swatch AND have a nice chat with you all! Plus, this shade of green is PERFECT for our 30 degree summer weather this week!

NAILS | Care Bear Nail Art #MidWeekMani

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I feel like what is selling right now are reboots of ANYTHING from the 80s and 90s. Basically I am being sold my childhood when it comes to TV, LEGO and fashion and I am not hating it! It's like as I approach 40, my life is coming full circle. One of the things I have seen a resurgence of is TV shows like "Care Bears". Who remembers the Care Bear stare?! This was one of my favourite shows when I first came to Canada in 1988 and I have fond memories of plunking myself right in front of our TV and watching it all the time! 

NAILS | Bright Blue Dotticure #CBBxManiMonday

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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 | Heart Gardens #CBBxManiMonday

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This month, the ladies and I decided to do the theme of "Allyship" again in honour of Pride and Indigenous History month. While a lot of the manicures I end up creating are not the easiest to discuss, I hope that the art I create resonates with someone as I often find the research and creation of these designs both educational and emotional. 

NAILS | Beachy Daisies #CBBxManiMonday

 

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Happy Victoria Day to those who have it! Work is actually closed for today which does not happen a lot so I have had a real weekend off as we are closed on Sundays as well! I have plans to resume my beauty and house clean up today as well donating some old clothes to Big Brother. I have really been wanting to refresh my spring/summer wardrobe which means I need to make some space! I gained about 10lbs during 2020 that I have not been able to shed (granted, I haven't been exercising so...) and a lot of the clothes I thought I would be able to fit into are now just a no-go. In addition to changes in my wardrobe, I have also made changes to my nail shape! This is now my second manicure with ballerina coffin style nails and I am kind of loving it! I feel like a different person! 

NAILS | Bright May Florals #CBBxManiMonday

Nail polishes provided by PR 

May has finally come and our CBBxManiMonday theme is - you guessed it, florals! Flowers are always so much fun to do as the colour combinations are endless and can be interpreted in so many different ways. I was in the mood for brights as we head into warmer weather and was inspired by this pin from The Nail Trail! Keep reading to find out which shades I used to create this bright, happy and very Spring-like manicure!

NAILS | Abstract Love featuring OPI Nature Strong

While I may not necessarily celebrate Valentine's Day, I sure do love a good pink manicure and after doing one round of Valentine's Day nail art, I had to have more! I've always loved the abstract manicures with lines and dots so I wanted to try to create this with solely OPI Nature Strong polishes just to see how a vegan polish measured up to the "regular guys" in terms of ease of use in nail art and as a full base nail colour. As you can see, the polishes did not disappoint!

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NAILS | Happy Valentine's Day! #CBBxManiMonday

How convenient that Valentine's Day falls on a CBBxManiMonday! Today is the last official day of my vacation which I am both sad and relieved about as I realized that being super out of it for two days after having my Booster put me on a path of..."unproductivity". I was pretty much the most efficient in my first 3 days and then kind of lost it though my husband often says that I should just find a way to relax instead of running around taking photos and forcing myself to play with makeup. He kind of has a point, but I feel like the guilt would kill me if I didn't do SOME blog planning. I did do a relatively big clean out and gave away about 4 bags of makeup and skincare, but there will always be much to do! 

Cirque Colors purchased by me

NAILS | Pink Gradient Polka Dots ft. OPI Nature Strong #CBBxManiMonday

February is classically one of my favourite nail art months because even though I think Valentine's Day is kind of "blergh" in terms of consumerism, I do really love hearts, pink and all of the decorations and designs that accompany this "holiday"! I just received a package with OPI's newest line of vegan polishes and my my are they ever gorgeous! Coming in 30 shades, even just having the core collection will have you covered for all of your manicure needs for years to come! I found myself some Valentine's Day appropriate colours and though this isn't a complicated manicure, it sure is cute!

 

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