Ocean Nimbus for TGIF

I was struggling to think of an idea for the final week of May's TGIF challenge, so when in doubt, Nimbus! I've done a few variations on this mani before in various colours. I whipped this one out super fast, so it's not exactly my best nimbus! I love the colour palette however.

Products Used

Daily Hues Nail Lacquer Amelie (base)

Sally Hansen Babe Blue

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

Funky Fingers Bezerk Turq

essie Good to Go Topcoat

Only a few days left of vacation! I'm writing this post ahead of time, but its extremely likely I'm nursing a post-wedding bash hangover when this goes live. 

What's your go-to nail art?

xo Shawna

fireworks for TGIF

So I have issues with looking at this thing, called a calendar. When I made the May #TGIFnailartchallenge prompts, I just assumed the May long weekend would be closer to the 24th so today's prompt is "Fireworks" despite the Canadian holiday actually being last Monday. Duh. 

Anyways, this was pretty quick to do, although its one of those "looked better in my head" manicures. 

Products Used

China Glaze Up All Night

Sally Hansen Hi-Ho Silver

OPI Sheer Tints Be Magentale With Me

OPI Sheer Tints Don't Violet Me Down

OPI Sheer Tints I Can Teal You Like Me

essie Good to Go TC

I did however love the use of sheer tints over the silver hand painted fireworks, changing up the colour of 3/4 of the nails for a varied look. 

Happy belated Victoria Day and happy Memorial Day to my American readers!

xo Shawna

Vintage Floral Stripes

I've always had mani envy when I see pretty, vintage inspired floral manis in my feed. I decided to rectify that and use my straight vinyls (two birds one stone!) with soft pastel stripes and pops of neon pink for the flowers.

Barry M Coconut

Kicks Mint Gelato

Color Club Neon Pink (unnamed mini)

OPI Mod About You

China Glaze Be More Pacific

essie Good to Go Topcoat

My Nails Did Straight Vinyls 

This cute little mint polish was brought back for me from Sweden. Adorbs! I only wish I had skipped the leaves detailing on the striped nails, it looks like I just slipped while painting the lines. 

xo Shawna

Mermaid Scale Mani

I created a few new designs last week and needed to do some testing! Today I tried out the mermaid scale stencils, which resulted in some tweaking and here is the final product. I have a long weekend flash sale on currently, you can save 24% (for May 2-4!) until Monday the 18th at 10pm EST. I got my very canuck swap package yesterday and was absolutely spoiled. I got my very first picture polish shade, Cyan, and it's a stunner! I just had to use it ASAP. 

Products Used

Picture Polish Cyan

Echoes Polish Exterminate

My Nails Did Vinyls Mermaid Scale Stencils 

(use code FLASHMAY for 24% off!)

I love this sparkly, simple look! I'm always amazed at how easy vinyl manicures are, they're super quick and yield great results. You should check out the instagram contest on my account, @mynailsdid, to win a bunch of vinyls for yourself! 

Happy Victoria Day!

xo Shawna

Go Gens Go! TGIF Ruffian Mani

Happy Friday! I'm always proud of myself when I'm punctual with a challenge. That is kinda of sad as it speaks to my punctuality in general. Oops! Today's theme is "Ruffian".

I'm so excited for today's nail art, because it's in support of my favourite hockey team, the Oshawa Generals! I grew up in Oshawa and have been a longtime fan of the junior (OHL) team. Tonight they head into game 5 of the finals with a 3-1 series lead. Can they take Connor McDavid down? I am not sure but i will BE THERE to cheer them on, sporting my festive mani!

Products Used

Daily Hues Nail Lacquer Willa

China Glaze Up All Night

White Acrylic Paint

INM Out the Door Topcoat

This was my first time using acrylic paint in a mani. It was pretty easy to work with and I love that if you mess up you can wash it off with water before you seal it all in with topcoat. I also found the white paint really pops over the dark base in a way that can take many layers of polish to achieve. I'll be doing that again!

Do you use acrylic in your nail art?

xo Shawna

Cherry Blossoms for TGIF & My Engagement Shoot Mani

I'm late! That seems to be a theme in my posts lately - life is definitely crazy this spring!

Friday's theme for the TGIF nail art challenge was "Cherry Blossoms". I actually spent Friday playing with cherry blossoms at our engagement shoot in High Park. We had to move the shoot up an entire week at the last minute, because the blossoms happened much earlier this year compared to the last few springs! So, I wore a classy and timeless mani for the shoot and my challenge mani was put on hold. Scroll to the bottom of the post for the engagement shoot mani!

Products Used

Ciate Chinchilla

Nicole by OPI Hard-Kourt Kardashian

OPI Mod About You

Ciate Snow Virgin

essie Good to Go Topcoat

I freehanded the branches and dotted on the blossoms. I am absolutely in love with the look and it was fairly simple! 

Here's the mani for my engagement shoot. Mod About You base with a China Glaze Fairy Dust glitter tipped gradient, and a simple red holo heart with Daily Hues Nail Lacquer in Willa, made with a dotting tool. 

Check out this gorgeous shot our photographer Jacqueline from Injoy Imagery snapped for my instagram. 

Stunning! Are you in love with cherry blossoms like I am?

Happy Mother's Day!

xo Shawna

Quatrefoil Vinyls Mani

I love quatrefoil. Like, a lot. But I find doing it by hand with a dotting tool (which I've done a few times) just never looks as nice as I want it to, and it's also tedious as hell! So one of the very first stencils I designed was quatrefoil, of course. (I even made two different designs!). 

When I first designed the stencils, the lines were a little thin and tore pretty easily - I made them thicker and had to test them out! So I can say my vinyls are new AND improved, which I always laughed at as a marketing gimmick before. But it's totally true! They're a week old and already improved! And wow, am I in love. 

Products Used

Finger Paints Night Lights

OPI Love Angel Music Baby

My Nails Did Vinyls Quatrefoil 02 Stencils

essie Good To Go Top Coat

(code OPENING for 15% off and free decals with min. 2 sheet purchase - until the end of the week!)

I sponged the gold overtop my completely dry base. Shhh, I was able to use each stencil 2-3 times and my whole mani took only 4 stencils! Talk about value. Is it narcissistic to say I freakin love my own product? Hope you love it too!

xo Shawna

Neon Skittle Swirls

Last night I got creative making new Vortex Swirl Stencils  which are available now in my shop! I wanted to showcase their awesomeness so I layered a graphite coloured holo over a skittles rainbow of neon. 

China Glaze Japanese Koi

China Glaze Pool Party 

China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard 

China Glaze Shocking Pink

Color Club Unnamed Mini (neon purple)

Daily Hues Nail Lacquer New Beginnings 2015

My Nails Did Vinyls Vortex Swirl Stencils

How amazing does this look? So simple and definitely a knockout mani. Don't forget code "OPENING" saves you 15% and if you purchase a minimum of two sheets you'll get a free sheet of decals (TBD). 

xo Shawna

Braided Mani for TGIF

Oh hey guys! So my shop is open. Link is overhead or you can click right here--> My Nails Did Vinyls.  Use code "OPENING" to save 15% off your entire order, and if you order 2 sheets or more you'll get a free sheet of decals (TBD)! Prices are Canadian, so if you're from the States or international, the exchange is probably in your favour ;)

Today's nail art was literally done in a car. I didn't feel like joining my dad inside the chaos that is Costco, so I sat in the car with the windows down, enjoying the sunshine and painting my nails like the crazy nail lady that I truly am. The theme for week one of May's #TGIFnailartchallenge was Braid, which I've seen done so many times but never done myself! I decided on a pink monochromatic look.

Products Used

Finger Paints What a Night

OPI Suzi Shops & Island Hops

Color Club Miss Bliss

INM Out the Door Topcoat

I love this look! It's pretty simple to create but packs a lot of punch. 

Go check out the shop!

xo Shawna