NAILS | Purple and Pink Flower Vibes #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

The weekend is always done way too fast especially because I always work Saturdays so Sundays are truly precious. I usually sleep in on Sundays, but never really past 8am because my cat, Buster, has an internal clock of 7am on the dot for breakfast! He sleeps all the way through the night which is great though, but at 7am it's time to get up. Sometimes it's 6:57am or 7:30am, but this is the only cat I have had who has slept all through the night and wakes up at a reasonable time!  

NAILS | Purple Lilac Flowers #CBBxManiMonday

 

Press samples

Sunday was all about filing my taxes. I know, they are due in 9 days and I still hadn't done them. My dad usually does them for me, but he has been travelling so I was left to do them on my own which quite frankly, was the LAST thing I wanted to do after being at work all day. Today, I got up early, grabbed a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha and hunkered down. I got them filed by noon and then had the rest of the day to relax! 

NAILS | Flowers and Butterflies #CBBxManiMonday

 

Purchased by me

Let me tell ya, these nails look so much better in these photos than in real life! I was looking through my collection for a really bright green and honestly, while most of my nail polish is organized by colour and in drawers, there are still around 100 bottles of random brands that I don't know where to put and it was in my search for bright green that I came across this mini SCENTED bottle of Sephora by OPI in the shade Watermelon (yes, it does still smell like watermelon once you apply it and for days after too!).

NAILS | Fall Nails aka Star Trek Uniform Colours? #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

I have been trying to showcase as many Fall nail polish shades as possible, but let me tell ya, as pretty as they all are, I often have a hard time figuring out what to pair together so when I put together this manicure using this year's OPI Fall Wonders collection, I thought "wow, these shades seem so cohesive!" and it wasn't until the next day that I realized the reason I liked this combination. These are the uniform colours of officers on Star Trek! Red (those in command), Gold (engineering), Blue (science) and Grey (ensign)! I am a Star Trek fan so I guess my brain subconsciously picked this combination of shades!

NAILS | Feathers #CBBxManiMonday

I decided to take it really easy this week because I have been wanting to wear this delicious glowing shade green as a final salute to our neon/brights theme this summer and also because I have been a little bit busy after work the last week leaving not much time for nails. With my husband being away, I've been trying to get as much housework done as I can so that I can have full days to relax on my days off. The other night, I decided to cram in laundry, dinner and for some reason unclogging the shower drain into the 3 hours before I needed to start winding down for bed and boy was I exhausted afterwards! You people with children, I don't know where you find the energy, but hats off to all of you! 

Purchased by me

NAILS | Earthy Florals (A Slightly Belated #CBBxManiMonday)

I am trying to figure out if I don't want to blog because I am tired from work or just feeling uninspired. I have often said that this was my safe space to be creative and feel balanced, but lately my ManiMondays have been late and the thought of taking photos and wearing makeup for posts has made me want to take a nap. Granted, I also haven't taken any real vacation days since January so maybe I'm just due for a recharge because in the shower, I have all of these ideas for posts and then when it comes to execute, I feel like a slug. My biggest thing is that I miss having more makeup posts here and though I didn't do a lot of makeup reviews pre-pandemic, I rarely do them now because I just don't wear as much makeup anymore. I wore more makeup when I had my time off because at least I could see it, but at work with a face mask, I don't even get to enjoy it in the mirror! Then again, I can't deny that I am saving so much money. Who knew that lipsticks and foundation were such a big part of my monthly spend?!

Press samples 

NAILS | Orange and Feathery #MidWeekMani

I so rarely do my nails in the middle of the week, but I have been timing my holo nails with hopefully some sunny days off, which are now Sunday and Monday until further notice, which means that in between, I want to showcase AS MANY summery bright manicures as possible before we say hello to Fall. It's insane that we are already into the first week of August. 2020 is going to be such a weird way to remember things. Already, my memory of things is "Before COVID" or "After COVID" and it's not like COVID is really over either. I just think of March and April as that scary time when we didn't know what things would be like and honestly, with the numbers climbing back up again, I feel like the Fall might be another scary time. I am definitely one of the more cautious people who totally doesn't mind not seeing people in person and if anything, I am a TRUE homebody as I was doing just fine hanging out with my husband and cats, but now that I am at work, I do get some extra socializing so I welcome staying at home. It must be so hard being single now, but at least we might have $100,000 worth of glory holes thanks to YouPorn LOL. If you don't know about this, leave a comment and I will link you the tweet! 

 Polishes PR gifted

NAILS | Red, White and Blue #CBBxManiMonday

I started out my Saturday morning with a very painful sore throat that lasted all the way through Sunday and all I was doing was praying to God that it wasn't strep throat because not only is it contagious, but the last time I had it, I was coughing for months and had a fever for over a week. Thankfully, this has only evolved into being a small cold with my throat feeling much better and just the occasional sneezing attack here and there. I still wasn't feeling 100% last night so combined with that horrific Game of Thrones episode, I decided to take it easy on myself and haul out my trusty water flower decals!

Some PR samples featured 

NAILS | She Sells Seashells By the Sea Shore #ManiMonday

I always feel like I am cheating when I use water decals for nail art, but they just make a manicure look so put together SO QUICKLY! Since we are focusing on British beauty brands this month (here) for the CBB I thought it was finally time to not just pull out, but UNWRAP the Models Own polishes I won from Live Love Polish three years ago! The HyperGel Gel Effect Polishes came up during the gel-like polish heydey and have a finish that is super smooth and shiny. The sad thing is that you can't even get these polishes from LLP anymore, but I know you can get still them through the Models Own website.

With the glorious May weather we've been having, it almost feels like summer with Sunday's temperature being a hot 29°C! That's pretty much beach weather which means I am officially allowed to wear beach-themed manicures! 

NAILS | A England Symphony in Blue and Silver...and Cats

The summer A England Collection is HERE! I know there are a number of companies that do holographic polishes now, but there is always something incredibly classy about the way A England does it and no, it's not because I'm saying it in my head with a British accent! I find that the collections are never repetitive and though holos make up a large number of their releases, there have been cremes, glitters and duochromes as well. The collections are always smaller which I appreciate because how many times have you seen a nail polish release with 8-12 "new" shades. There are only so many ways to do a nude or red so nothing ever really feels new except for the combination of colours. Never the case with A England!

This summer's A Sargent's Vision Collection is named after the American painter John Singer Sargent who specialized in the Edwardian era. I will be working my way through the collection of four polishes over the next week or two, but for today we will start with the first polish that caught my eye - Symphony in Blue and Silver* ($15.50 CDN) which is a powder blue holo with shimmers of green and silver.

NAILS | Flowers with a Sprinkle of Glitter #ManiMonday

It is good to be back home in Vancouver where it actually felt like Spring this past weekend! My husband and I were visiting family in Montreal and we got back very late Friday night. We decided to take transit back home to save money on a $60 cab ride only to find ourselves on the seabus with everyone who went to the Canucks game. While I am fine on a plane now, the moment I step off, I feel like total crap. I feel bloated, tired and just disgusting and though we tried to call a cab, none showed because it was freakin' Friday night. I won't lie, I may have cried on the way home because I had the stomach flu and was amazed I even survived the flight without getting sick (thanks to some serious medication and Gravol). I am still feeling a little off, but I am back to work today and hoping that it's only going to get better from here!

I am starting this month's series of Mani Mondays with a truly Spring-like manicure featuring the new CND Creative Play Playland Collection! If this collection doesn't snap you out of that winter funk, I don't know what will because it's got brights, neons and glitters!

NAILS | A-England Shall Be My Queen Swatch and Tiny Bit of Nail Art #ManiMonday

I love a good holo polish and when I first started my journey through the rabbit hole of nail polish, getting my hands on A-England polishes was a dream come true. I purchased my very FIRST A-England polish from Nail Polish Canada back in 2012 (Tristam) and to this day, this brand has some of my favourite holos. I only wish I had better lights and/or sunshine in Vancouver to showcase how pretty Shall Be My Queen* is! 

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

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.

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!