Red Creme Sweater

Hello everyone! Firstly, I'll apologize in advance for my raggedy cuticles in these pics. Secondly, YAY for finally doing the Christmas manicure I've been dreaming of all along- sweater nails over a classic red creme! And double yay to my fiancé for including a fast dry top coat in my stocking. My HK Girl was on it's last legs and as awesome as it is, I can't bring myself to pay full price + shipping for it! (I got it on sale with free shipping last time, totally spoiled). 

Products used

China Glaze Tip Your Hat

BK Matt White

China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat

MoYou London Festive 06

My friend gifted me a few polishes for my birthday earlier in the month, and this red was one of them. I must admit I was very on the fence about it. I don't normally like reds. However, once I finally used it, I couldn't stop! I think this is the 4th mani in a row in which I have used this polish. She nailed it! 

What polish colours do you usually avoid? Do you ever surprise yourself and fall in love with a shade you were convinced you wouldn't like?

xo Shawna

christmas eve water marble

So, I am newly obsessed with water marbling after figuring out it's all about the polish. China glaze seems to be great so far, and thus made the base for a christmas coloured mani which I wore to church and the movies on Christmas Eve!

Products Used

China Glaze Snow

China Glaze Be More Pacific

China Glaze Tip your Hat

Seche Vite Top Coat

Dotting Tools from Amazon

I didn't really have an appropriate christmas green, so this ended up being a lighter coloured mani. I added accent nails of a gift wrapped thumb and polka-dotted pinkie.

Water marble is so fun!

Merry Christmas!

xo Shawna

Christmas Plaid Mani

The other night I was a disaster, one of the reasons being I went to hang out with my friend, promising to do sweater nails for her- and then forgot the plate. (I actually thought I had lost it- literally and figuratively!) The plus side was, it gave me a chance to do a Christmas plaid look I had been envisioning, with the bonus of using a few of her colours which really made the whole look.

Ciate Glametal

Sally Girl Green

essie Blanc

China Glaze Out Like a Light

China Glaze Tip Your Hat

essie Good to Go Topcoat

I absolutely love the ciate base colour, and in general how it all works together. Cute! Testing out the essie top coat as well. 

Do you revisit your favourite designs in different colour schemes?

xo Shawna

holo christmas sweater

I've been wanting a solid collection of holographic colours for a while, and while I have one gorgeous shade and a topper from echoes polish, I wanted more. As much as I would love to support more indies, currently my budget is should be on lockdown to save for our wedding. So, I decided to order a color club halo hues (2013) collection from amazon (free shipping!) and get a jump start. 

I finally went to pick up the order yesterday and I'm thrilled with the gorgeous holos. The black one, Beyond, was my most coveted and I had to get it on immediately! The photos (and indoor lighting) don't do it justice, this one was hard to appreciate in the dreariness of mid December weather.

I wanted to use my new zodiac plate from MoYou (woot Sagittarius!) but seeing as I was going to our annual family Christmas reunion the next day, I opted for sweater stamping instead. 

Products used

Color Club Beyond

Ciate Speed Pro Top Coat

Mundo de Unas Forest

HK Girl Top Coat

MoYou London Zodiac 11

The line on my ring finger went a bit wonky as I tried rolling the image instead of pressing straight into the squishy pad. Results from stamping: roll when doing someone else's, press in when doing your own. I actually loved my cindy hand as well, which had completely different designs. I didn't do a great cleanup but I included a pic as well! 

Do you love holo or are you over it?

xo Shawna

waterfall nail art

I have been stamping a lot lately, so I wanted to get back into some freehand art using a christmas palette. I consulted my "to-do" list and settled on a waterfall mani in shimmery holiday colours!

I followed the tutorial from the nailasaurus, it's nice and simple with minimal tools and cleanup (which I love!)

I've also tried a few new things with the photography. First up, new hand pose- what do you think? Secondly, I scored an Ottlite for a wicked deal from Michael's- you can see how much whiter the lighting is, although sadly this particular lamp is defective and keep turning off and on by itself- and I've exchanged it TWICE already! I'm going to return it for good and buy a different model because the difference in lighting is truly amazing. It's nice for my nail art and knitting as well to have that extra source of light. Ok- onto the nails! 

Products used:

China Glaze Define Good...

Barry M Catwalk Queen

Sally Hansen Hi-Ho Silver

OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Ciate Speed Pro Top Coat

Nail Art Brushes from eBay

Look at how yellow the background looks here!

So... comment below and tell me what you think about the new hand pose! Yay or Nay?

xo Shawna

Christmas Glitterbomb

I feel like it's been ages since I posted when in reality it's only been 5 days. I was feeling kind of uninspired (and also having camera issues, which luckily turned out to be as simple as the wrong setting) so while I was posting some new manis on IG, I just wasn't loving them enough to write a whole post on!

I am back in the swing of things with the holiday themed glitter bomb. A few weekends ago I got a pretty big haul which included about half of the china glaze holiday collection between my purchases and an early birthday gift! 

 Products used

Deborah Lippmann Hannah (green base)

China Glaze Pine-ing for Glitter

Barry M Mustard (gold base)

China Glaze De-light

Mundo de Unas Silver

HK Girl Top Coat

MoYou London Festive 06

I'm glad I took this pics ASAP because when I curled my hair later, the heat resistant glove scratched a lot of the stamping off since I hadn't yet top coated. Lesson learned! I had smudge issues last time I top coated the MDU too early so was trying to prevent that... oopsies!! 

I am not looking forward to taking this off, I forgot my elmer's base coat.

Glitter- do you love it or hate it?

xo Shawna