Extravagant Stamping

My version of celebrating St. Patricks was drinking a guinness, adding Irish cheddar cheese to my dinner (which was leftover Kangaroo bolognese- very international!) and painting my nails about as far from green as possible! These pretty patterns from an untried Born Pretty stamping plate were perfect as they don't obscure the base colour by being too dense of a design. Use my code SDPX31 to save 10% off your regular price purchase :) 

Products Used

OPI DS Extravagance

Konad Princess Polish Metallic Silver 

China Glaze Fast Forward

Born Pretty Plate BP-17

I received my very first Konad stamping polishes in the mail today and just had to try them out ASAP. I dug back into the untrieds box for the base colour and emerged with this gorgeous OPI I scored from winners for only $5! I think i've actually had this done on my toes at the spa before and loved it. It is such a stunning holographic plummy shade! And the Konad stamped like a dream. The silver stands out much more than the regular silver polish i was previously using. Those were also great bargain from nail polish canada! 

So, todays question: Guinness beer - yay or nay?

xo Shawna

Candy Hearts Mani

I saw this stamping plate from Bundle Monster when I placed my order in December. I knew I had to have it for some Valentines nail art! I've seen these candy heart sayings stamped over solid nails, but I wanted to do something a little more creative. So I came up with a negative space half-moon sweetheart mani! (I don't know if there's a name for it that's less of a mouthful- I'm sure someone else has come up with this idea before, I just haven't seen it!) This also worked perfectly for this week's theme for the twinkie nail art challenge of "hearts". 

Products Used (thumb - pinky)

Essie Lapis of Luxury

OPI Panda-monium Pink

China Glaze For Audrey

Barry M Coconut

Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna

OPI Manicurist of Seville (stamping)

China Glaze Fast Forward

Bundle Monster 425

I love this mani! I think it's super fun and it turned out exactly like I envisioned. I love all the pastel colours and it works well with the almond nail shape! I just wish the letters stamped a little bit more solid. 

Are you rocking V-day nails?

xo Shawna

Nimbus Nails

Tonight I finally ticked "Nimbus Nails" off my to-do list! I followed this tutorial from The Nailasaurus and I can't stop staring! I don't know I took so long to try this one, it really is pretty easy. I decided to go for a colour palette that reminded me of a galaxy manicure, so I chose purples and blues. (I actually tried using a silver as well, but it turns out that cremes work best).

Products Used

Barry M Coconut (base)

China Glaze Up All Night

NYC Cosmetics Nolita's Lavender

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

(Sally Hansen Hi-Ho Silver)

(China Glaze Re-fresh Mint)

(the colours in brackets didn't really show up much)

The effect is so pretty! It does take a handful of cotton swabs but it definitely looks like a water-colour painting. I will do this again for sure, and maybe stamp or do other art on top- but for my first time, I am enjoying it all on it's own! 

Have you tried this technique? 

xo Shawna

Purple and Gold Floral

I've just been feeling kind of meh about a lot of my manis lately! So, apologies for the lack of posting. If you follow my Instagram, you'll see bonus manicures that I don't always blog about! 

Today I got together with one of my besties, whom is also a polish and new nail art addict! She has a gorgeous flakie topcoat I wanted to try, so this mani kind of has a little bit of everything going on!

Products Used

CND Vinylux Rock Royalty

Ciate Snowglobe

Mundo de Unas Bronze

CND Vinylux Weekly Wear Topcoat

MoYou London Bridal 06 

I accidentally double stamped my ring finger so I just called it an accent and moved on! A lot of people rave about the MDU however I find I don't get the best image transfer with it.

What is your MDU polish experience?

xo Shawna

P.S. Here is a bonus pic: I did a Parisian theme for my co-worker yesterday! She absolutely loves Paris and was going to "A Night in Paris" gala tonight!

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

Barry M and Water Decal Orchids

When my friend Kelly told me she was going to England for her honeymoon, I started dreaming about getting my hands on some Barry M. I figured rather than sending her from drugstore to drugstore hunting down colours, and not finding them, I'd save her the hassle and order online! I had them shipped to her grandmas house, easy peasy. Except the part where my computer kept autocorrecting the county name... Oh well! Also, please excuse the picture quality, my camera just wasn't doing well with the available light for some reason tonight. 

Tonight I finally got them in hand! (Scroll all the way for a pic). Sadly I had just broken a nail (AGAIN) so I chopped my nails into little nubbins. I already miss my almond shorties and feel kinda weird without them! Funny how such a thing grows on you. I decided on some simple nail art tonight and used some water decals from born pretty store. 

Products used 

Barry M Coconut

Barry M Purple Countess

HK Girl Top Coat (except on accent)

Born Pretty Store Orchid Water Decals (use SDPX31 to save 10%!)

While the process of applying water decals takes about the same time as stamping, clean up is certainly easier! I think these designs are so pretty and I'm glad I could fit them onto my nubbins. 

Here's a macro of purple countess - a textured polish. I'm in love! 

Have you tried water decals before? 

xo Shawna

Sweater Nails

This was a fun mani because I didn't have to do it myself! One of my friends owns a salon/spa in town and had mentioned she would like to learn stamping to be able to provide a quick nail art service to her clients. In exchange for my teaching services, I scored a free mani and also a blowout. No complaints over here :) 

Products used

CND Vinylux Rock Royalty

BK Matt White

MoYou Festive 06

I love both the polish colour (I want to find a non-vinylux dupe!) and the stamps. I love the way the one sweater design looks on an angle (my middle finger). I am already imagining the snowflakes over a glittery blue base. So many ideas, so little time! 

Do you like the sweater nail trend?

xo Shawna