Mani Swap with NailsTori

It was so hard to choose which mani to recreate when NailsTori & I decided to do a Mani Swap! Eventually I settled on a pretty creme to glitter gradient Tori did around Christmas time, while she chose one of my Halloween manis. We got creative by changing up the colour palettes and the result was two gorgeous new manis! Check out the collage at the end of the post. 

Products Used

Bonita Hostess With the Mostess

Bonita Penny For Your Thoughts

MTL Creations Tara

INM Out The Door Topcoat 

Cuter Cuticles Cutie Guard

I love the springy shades of these Bonita polishes I picked up when I went shopping in the states a few weeks ago. The peach is a bit sheer but luckily the gradient covered up any VNL. I forgot foil polishes almost work too well for sponging on, so the colour is super dense and doesn't blend as well as a gradient. Oh well! 

Check out the collage. Originals are on the left, and recreations on the right. The colours Tori used in her recreation are gorgeous! Love it!

Do you like foil polishes?

xo Shawna

Sheer Holo Gradient Floral Mani

Is my post title long enough? I could have added a few more words to it but had to draw the line! Tonight a bunch of nail gals from the GTA (greater Toronto area, for you non-Ontarians!) met up for dinner and lots of nail chat and swapping! I knew my nails needed to be on point so I eventually settled on a holo faux-gradient with a splash floral design inspired by The Lacquerologist! 

Products Used

Color Club Kismet

Wet n Wild Black Creme

OPI Sheer Tints I'm Never Amberassed

OPI Sheer Tints Be Magentale With Me

OPI Sheer Tints Don't Violet Me Down

OPI Sheer Tints I Can Teal You Like Me

INM Out the Door Topcoat

What's a faux gradient you ask? After I laid down my holo base, I vertically overlapped two sheer tints on each nail- the overlap created a new in-between colour. Sponge-free and easy-peasy! I needed two coats of sheer tints to help the colours pop. 

Here's all the gals! Don't mind my giant face, we needed a selfie stick!

The waiter thought we were a little nuts. No room for food with all the polish up for grabs! A few of us brought our destashes to swap. 

Nails on fleek!

Um, yum. Totally not paleo. Every bite was delish! 

And lastly, me and my girl Sammy! I've raved over the product line, Cuter Cuticles. Check her out if you haven't already! I didn't even need to photoshop my pics today because her oils are so amazing! (I also purchased Unicorn Blood from Bree, and can't wait to rock it!)

What else do you do with your sheer polishes?

xo Shawna

Peacock Stamped Gradient

Happy Hump Day!

This mani is my first foray into gradient stamping. I'm kind of on the fence about it. I think next time I use this technique I will centre the division better colours on the nail better, and I will be happier!

Products Used

Ciate Spending Spree

CND Vinylux Rock Royalty

Rimmel Do Not Disturb

China Glaze Fast Forward

Born Pretty Plate BP 30 (SDPX31 for 10% off)

I do love the colours together, and think they work great for the peacock pattern! Can I tell you how awkward Ciate bottles are to pose with?

What do you think of the technique?

xo Shawna

The Polished Bookworms - Big Little Lies Nail Art

I was excited to recently learn that one of the nail bloggers I follow had created a book club for nails art lovers - The Polished Bookworms.  I love reading, I love nail art - the perfect combination! The first month found us reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.  I really enjoyed the book, and when I realized it was set in a beachside Australian town, I was so excited - it brought back some memories of the 7 months I spent traveling around the country! So, when the time came for a mani inspired by the book I went full-on, beachy, seaside theme (albeit a day late. Oops!)

Products Used

OPI Barefoot in Barcelona

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

Wet n Wild Black Creme

China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat

Cuter Cuticles Cutie Guard

Bundle Monster 503, 508

I created a gradient reminiscent of a beach with sand, ocean and sky. I chose a few images from the Sun Kissed bundle monster collection and stamped overtop. I haven't done a gradient in a while (pre- cutie guard! I ran out of my tester so luckily I just purchased a new one!) and clean-up was SO much easier. I'm glad I stamped overtop, though, because I clearly need more practice - still!

I absolutely love the beachy feel, which is completely the opposite of reality at the moment - there is currently a major snowstorm happening as I type!

Have you done nail art related to a book or movie?

xo Shawna

zodiac gradient manicure

I am so happy with todays manicure! I recently received my zodiac plate from MoYou (I'm a Sagittarius!) and have been itching to get to work with it. Originally I was going to use a dark blue base, but as soon as I ripped open my package from my secret santa, Ashley aka @beautywithinnails (check out her water marble tutorial- this girl is AMAZING) there were two gorgeous Funky Fingers polishes I knew would be perfect. (Scroll down the for full haul!)

I did a gradient and kept the accent fingers solid to apply some star glitter (also from Ashley). I used a silver stamping polish and the stamping technique to decrease the size of the constellation to fit the whole thing on. 

Products used

Funky Fingers Mood Ring

Funky Fingers Venom

China Glaze Fairy Dust

Mundo de Unas Silver

HK Girl Top Coat

Star Glitter

MoYou London Zodiac 11

The gradient alone was gorgeous but when I added the fairy dust it just took it over the top. So gorgeous and definitely galactic! Perfect base for the stamping. 

Here's a close-up of my favourite nail. 

This is the #santaspolishedbabes haul - 9 polishes including China Glaze, Funky Fingers (a brand apparently only available in certain parts of the US- including a store we passed while shopping there on Friday that I've never been to but will next time!), and Nicole by OPI. 2 "spines" and one loose set of GORGEOUS hand-painted nails/tips. I don't think the water marbled set is visible. Hand baked and painted charms and a bunch of other odds and ends. I was so blown away by the thought and effort she put into this package, and I'm glad our little instagram nail clique organized this! 

What's your sign?

xo Shawna

Candy Corn Gradient

My time management is so bad! I did this manicure Thursday night and wanted to have it up BEFORE the twinkle challenge post... but I didn't get it finished and photographed until just before midnight so I figured it was technically Friday, and went ahead with the challenge post first. Enough babbling! This one is pretty self explanatory. Today is Halloween and I bring you my Candy Corn gradient! I actually don't think candy corn is disgusting, like a lot of people. At least, I didn't - I don't eat a lot of sugar anymore, so I bet I actually would find it gross now. 

Colours used:

Ciate Snow Virgin

L'Oreal Orange You Jealous

NYC Lexington Yellow

HK Girl Top Coat

I've seen a TON of versions of this floating around pre-Halloween. So, I can't credit one single person for he inspiration, just the whole nail community :)

With the first coat of sponging I didn't have high hopes... but the second layer added a lot more pigment, and I love them!

So - do you love or hate candy corn?

xo Shawna

Autumn Inspired Gradient Manicure

I wasn't in the mood for anything complicated tonight, and I haven't done a gradient in a while, so I had a pretty easy time deciding what to do for my newest manicure! 

Seeing as tonight is the autumnal equinox, it only seemed fitting that I break out some of my more autumn-like polishes. 

Polishes Used:

OPI You Don't Know Jaques

OPI Wocka Wocka (I'm pretty sure... it's an unlabelled mini!)

Sally Beauty Gold Glitter Topper

HK Girl Top Coat

I used the sponge technique where you paint the polish directly on, I find it a lot quicker than dabbing the sponge into the polish on plastic. 

I love the look and think perhaps I might not miss my summer palette of pastels as much as I thought! (And who am I kidding- I don't follow the rules anyways :-P)

Do you let seasons dictate your colour palette?

xo Shawna

Purple Ombré Stamped Mani

I was envisioning a purple hued mani when I sat down this afternoon (yay for stat holidays!). I don't actually have a ton of purple shades so I used a base of Essie "Lapiz of Luxury", and used a sponge to create a gradient effect with China Glaza "Grape Juice" and my mini Color Club in neon purple. The Grape Juice has a heavy undertone of silver micro glitter, and the colour effect reminds me of royalty with the sparkly purple ombré!

I used a born pretty store stamping plate (item 6450) with Ciate "Snow Virgin" to create a lacy, almost chain-link, effect. I love the way it turned out!

 I actually attempted double stamping but it just wasn't working out, the black wasn't popping over the deep purple tones. I'll save that for another manicure!

The base for my stamping.

An off-topic question today: what cuticle treatment do you use? Despite regular oil use, mine are a little ragged!

xo Shawna

Birds on a Wire Stamped Mani

Tonight's mani has booted out my Paris nails as my new favourite! As soon as I saw the Birds on a Wire on the MoYou Pro Plate #4 I knew it was a must have. The only thing that prevented me from using it earlier was a fear of the fine line work, so I wanted more practice first! 

First, I created a gradient with:

China Glaze - Naked

L'oreal - Orange You Jealous

Sally Hansen - Pacific Blue

I was going to use an Essie shade in lieu of Pacific Blue but the colour was just too sheer to be really noticeable and I wanted more.

Next, I used Wet n' Wild Black Creme for the stamping. I paired the delicate (illegible) text from the same plate with the bird image.

I absolutely love the way this one turned out. The ombre effect on my thumbs are less than perfect - I figure my thumbs are kind of like the first pancake - a write off. 

Do you have issues getting your thumbs sponged as nicely as the rest?

xo Shawna

Blue Ombré Paris Stamped Mani

Yesterday, Shoppers Drug Mart had an amazing deal on Essie polish, which worked out to $4.50 a bottle in multiples of 2. So I grabbed 4 different shades - and since I bought them at two locations I didn't realize until after how similar they all are! You like what you like, right? They're gorgeous light blues, lavenders and teals. I'll have to do a swatch post soon!

I also managed to get my hands on a couple bottles of the original formula of Sally Hansen's "Pacific Blue". Being new to the nail art world, I've only just discovered this "holy grail" shade, and my first attempt at buying actually landed me the new formula. I didn't love the colour so I'll be returning the new versions. SDM's in Milton are a gold mine for the original, with 9 bottles between the two stores I visited - it doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of nail enthusiasts in Milton, or else they'd all be gone! 

On to today's mani. I used Essie "Lapiz of Luxury" as the base (one of my new shades) and sponged a gradient with "Pacific Blue". 

Lapiz of Luxury swatched. 

I love the way the ombré effect looks with these two shades! 

I used MoYou London Tourist plate 21, which has a definite Parisian theme. There are a ton of cute designs, so I chose one floral as the main design with two accent nails on each hand. 

Clearly, getting my stamps straight is something I need a little practice with! I don't mind too much, in particular I think the Eiffel Tower looks cute on a jaunty angle!

On my right hand, I love the little moustaches! 

Despite my lack of centering some of the images, I think this mani is my favourite so far. (Not that I have a whole lot to choose from!). I used Ciate "Snow Virgin" as the stamping colour, and of course topped it off with HK Girl Top Coat which is becoming a fast favourite.

Does your nail polish stash have all the colours of the rainbow, or do you tend to gravitate towards the same colour family?

xo Shawna