NAILS | Inspired by the Clarins Frozen Summer Eyeshadow Palette #CBBxManiMonday

While some may look to nature for inspiration, beauty packaging holds so much potential for nail art inspiration and has been incredibly fun to create and when I saw the new Clarins Frozen collection, I picked up this eyeshadow palette, looked at it and knew it had to somehow end up on my nails. For the first time in awhile, I did my nails ahead of time mainly because I got my second vaccine shot on Sunday morning and I wanted to be prepared "in case I went down"! While I could be fine, I also could be very much NOT fine! I have today off as well and I am prepared to hunker down and sit in front of Netfllix should my condition go South!

 

Polishes purchased by me. Clarins Eyeshadow Palette is a PR sample.

NAILS | Royal and Regal #CBBxManiMonday

Let me just say that these nails started out a total disaster and what you are looking at is the "cover up" which unfortunately is not on theme with our green nails for the month, but it could not be helped! The shade underneath, Picture Polish "Family" is a beautiful sea foam green though which was what I originally had planned on featuring before I messed up my nail art.  Nothing a little taping manicure couldn't save!

Some polishes are press samples

NAILS | Scotch Taping #CBBxManiMonday

As I write this, I am once again tearing up to "Fuller House" on Netflix. The nostalgia of watching this show plus how much raunchier and funnier it is has been thoroughly enjoyable even with the new family members. I highly recommend the show to anyone who just loves a cheesy good time and grew up on "Full House"! It's a good thing "Fuller House" is so feelgood because this manicure did NOT make me feel good. AT FIRST.

PR samples

NAILS | Making Mondays Better One Nail at a Time #ManiMonday

Guys, I'm tired. Some of you may have seen on my Instagram stories yesterday that I did a bit of a crazy thing on Saturday night and booked a night in a hotel. My husband caught the flu over Christmas while visiting family in Montreal and though he is through the worst of it, he has that nagging man cough that has kept me on the couch since Dec.30th and awake for most of the night. I am a very light sleeper by nature which doesn't help and after falling asleep at the bus stop on the way to work Friday, I decided enough was enough and booked the weekend at Le Soleil in downtown Vancouver. I was working the whole weekend anyway so I pretty much paid $145 for a nice bed and uninterrupted sleep. Hubby understood why I needed to do this which was good and though I felt really guilty for doing it, I had a couple of people mention to me what a great idea this was. There is no making up for the last two weeks, but last night was much needed!

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 | Vampy Gradient Stripes

Yes, yes I know. I should be doing Halloween manicures now that we are halfway through the month and I promise you those are coming, but let's enjoy Fall for a little bit shall we? I have had this manicure sketched out in bullet journal since AUGUST, but as I can only manage two manicures a week this is the pace I seem to be at with work and all.

This is the first Fall collection I am diving into and it is the CND Vinylux Nightspell Collection which is very characteristically Fall with some shades and also has some chrome finishes which are trending this season. I am not a huge fan of chrome polishes because of the tendency for streakiness, but with certain shades I will make an exception!

NAILS | Subtle Summer Holo #ManiMonday

I know, I know, it's not Monday anymore, but I guess because of the long weekend today is Monday for a lot of people. I actually have my weekend now so I'm feeling good, productive and also ready for the pedicure I have planned for later this afternoon. I haven't had a pedicure since June and although I won't let anyone touch my nails, I cannot be bothered to paint my toes. I enjoy the extra foot massage and for today's appointment, I added in 15 minutes of reflexology so looking forward to that!

I have posted a few times about the limited edition Cirque Colors Vice collection and after realizing that I hadn't used three of the shades, this holo taping manicure was born. Yes, I may have a slight obsession with using striping tape and YES, I have less lazy nail art planned for the month, but sometimes when it's all about the pretty colours like these ones, crazy nail art can be a bit distracting.

NAILS | Neon Colourblocking #ManiMonday

Now, this was a manicure that I felt I could still see even with the lights out! Continuing on with the Cirque Vice Collection, I wanted to put all of these bright shades together somehow, but lemme tell ya that neon nail polish shades aren't the easiest to pair off with each other because each shade is as equally loud as the next! Taping seemed like a safe technique to try and although I wasn't too happy with the final results, people I ran into thought this was a fun little manicure for summer which led me to sharing it here with you!

NAILS | Sinful Colors #Pride Collection Taping Nail Art

In my last post, I'm sure you could feel my excitement for the new Sinful Colors Pride collection through your screens and today I am back to share more nail art and glittery goodness! The Pride Collection, in collaboration with international singer and songwriter Era Istrefi, has seven glitters and one creme polish. Today's focus is on the shade Frenzy* because this is an especially dense purple and blue microglitter that just looks really cool on its own. If you would like to see the other shades in this collection, check out my previous blog post (link).

NAILS | *NEW* Going 10 Free with Maison Jacynthe Nail Polish in Napoli

Hello, One Coater! That's right, the newest innovation from Canadian green beauty company Maison Jacynthe is nail polish! We all know and love their makeup and skincare so I was seriously asking "Is it here yet?" every week leading up to the launch! The shades released are all solid creme colours and though I was only sent three of the 12 shades, all three were one coaters! What you see in the photos below is a glorious one coat of the shade Napoli*! 

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 | Trojan Condom Valentine's Day Nail Art

I have done somewhat risque nails in the past (middle fingers, sperm...) and granted I hold back because I am afraid to offend someone, a brand or a client at work. Obviously, I know there are boundaries, but this Valentine's Day I wanted something cute, funny as well as applicable! I will continue with the hearts over the next week, but we all know that sex is ALSO a part of Valentine's Day and though this day is usually not about casual hook-ups, it's still important to remember that condoms are the way to go if you want to protect yourselves against unplanned pregnancies and STDs!

Trojan condoms are fairly well-known and had a fun logo so they were definitely my brand of choice! Of course, I had to do some taping because "they're ribbed for her pleasure" ;-)