Charmed Aroma Review and Candy Cane Nails

Hello all! It's less than five days until Christmas and I couldn't be more excited; plus, it's started to snow here, so I might get a white Christmas after all. I am finally home after a month of sleepless nights and continuous studying. I am so glad to be done with all of my exams, and I get some time to myself to do my nails once again. Right on time too, since my nails and hands were in shambles from my lack of TLC lately. I had to chop my claws short after accidentally slicing half of the nail on my index finger off a couple of weeks ago. Although I did manage to fix it using the trusty tea-bag method for my snowflake nails, I decided it was time to start anew and grow some stronger nails. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any process pictures for this design, but I have a very similar design that I did a couple of years ago, so if you want to know to to create this design you can find the blog post here.

Anyway, my boyfriend and I decided to exchange gifts before I left, and to my surprise, my gift was two Charmed Aroma candles! I found out about these candles a couple of months ago and I've been wanting them ever since. I only brought one back home with me, as I didn't want my luggage to be too heavy so this will be the one I am reviewing.

This is the Charmed Aroma candle in the scent "Sweet Pea Valley".

Continue reading to find out more about Charmed Aroma, and my thoughts on the product.

Snowflake Nails

Hello and welcome to December! I simply cannot believe that almost another year has already passed! Time just goes by so fast nowadays. When I was younger the an entire day seemed to last forever, but now, a day goes by in the blink of an eye. I guess it's also really tough to believe that it's already December seeing as that there is absolutely no snow on the ground! It's been so warm recently, I brought out my winter jacket to wear last week but I'm regretting that decision because it is way too warm to wear it. With the temperature remaining above zero, it feels all too much like spring and all the holiday decor looks out of place.

I think it's been a couple of years since my last attempt at snowflake nails, which, by the way was a horrifying sight to behold. I'm glad that this time I managed to get the the radial symmetry of the snowflakes correct, especially since my last attempt resulted in some very irregularly long and wonky flakes. Yesterday was a proud day for me, not only did I correctly draw some snowflakes, I managed to fix my broken nail! Whilst I was chopping up some potatoes yesterday I almost chopped the entire tip of my index finger off! I tried the tea-bag fixing magic and it worked! It is amazing how my nail looks as good as new, you can't even tell which nail it is ! (Hint: it's the index finger)

Here are my tips and tricks on creating your own snowflake nails and more close-up pictures:

Blue Paisley Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello my fellow nail people! I have one back to my almond-round shaped nails! I don't know why I can't keep long square nails anymore, but this nails shape has certainly grown on me and I find that I do quite enjoy how it looks. It's been quite warm here in Ontario recently, it snowed a couple of days ago, but it's raining today and the snow's all gone. I can't believe that it's nearly December and there still currently isn't any permanent snow on the ground yet. I'm really hoping for a white Christmas this year though (as I do every year), because the holiday just wouldn't be the same without a white blanket of snow on the ground.

Here is my first ever attempt at some paisley nails for the weekly nail polish challenge of November. I'm quite proud of my work today! These nails didn't take long to do, much to my surprise. It's definitely one of those deigns where it looks really time staking and detailed but is actually really simple.

Continue reading to see how I created these nails:

Nail Fail and New Swatch

Hello once again! My blog entry today will be quite short as I don't really have much to say about my recent WNAC nail-fail attempt, and the fact that I did not take any process pictures of either of these designs.... But anyway, as I was casually strolling through my local drugstore and I just happened upon their nail polish section. Oh, who am I kidding, I always go straight to the nail polish section at any store.  My eye quickly darted to this lovely mint colour from the Nicole collection by OPI called "I Shop Mintage" and it is gorgeous!  I went straight home and immediately swatched it with a really glittery gradient. Gradients are so wonderful and easy to do, I just love them. The polishes I used to create this particular gradient are:

• NYC's Tribean Silver
• OPI Nicole's Imagine If...
• OPI Nicole's I Shop Mintage
• over a coat of OPI's Nicole's Strengthener Plus

Continue reading if you want to see my really failed attempt at shattered glass nails for week 3 of the WNAC

Elegant Watercolor Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello everybody! It's been a gloomy couple of days up here in Ottawa; it was pouring rain for a while yesterday, and it's been lightly misting all day today. The rain just makes me so sleepy all the time, and with the daylight saving days ending, the days here get dark so early it feels like nighttime seventy-five percent of the time. The good thing so far is that we've been blessed with such warm weather this year. Usually by this time, I already have 10 layers of clothes and my warmest jacket on, so I'm really glad for that.

This week's WNAC theme is watercolor, so I decided to do some very pastel water colour nails with a cute purple french tips! This was actually inspired by a design I did several years ago, but I haven't had a chance to practice this technique so the blending didn't turn out exactly how I thought they would.  I also don't think the picture turned out very well, as the pink barely shows but, these pictures give the design a more pastel and gentle look.

Keep reading f you want to know and see how I did these nails:

Mustache Cat Nails (with Pictorial)

HELLO EVERYBODY! It's November and I've been M.I.A. for more than two week now... I sincerely apologize for not posting sooner. It's midterm season again and my schedule has gotten qute hectic, but I am back with a new design and ready to take on yet another weekly nail polish challenge!

As many of you may know, the month of November is used to raise awareness and money for men's health, and in particular, prostate cancer.  Men do this by growing their facial hair for a month. So in support of "Movember", I decided to do these cute kitty mustache nails (because plain mustache nails were so last year). 

Read on to see how I created these cute kitty nails:

Pastel Galaxy Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello everybody! Today's post will be quite a short one as I do not have much time to do anything due to my two midterms happening next week. Anyway, here are my nails for he Weekly Nail Art challenge for the week of October 16th.

This light coloured galaxy pattern was chosen over the usual dark coloured designs mainly due to the fact that I have no more black polish. I really do think I need to go on a polish buying spree soon, it's been way too long since I've bought my last bottle of polish and it is not okay at all.

Anyway, keep reading to find a pictorial and instructions on how to achieve these nails!

Damask Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello everybody and sorry about the late blog post! It's been quite a busy week since midterms just started; but I made it through both exams just fine (I hope). Anyways, I finally had a chance to do my nails late last night but I wanted to wait until today to take full advantage of the gorgeous sunlight in order to capture these pictures. Can you believe that no filters, effects or adjustments were added to these pictures? There truly is no lighting better to take photos with than natural lighting.

These nails are the second prompt for the weekly nail art challenge (WNAC2015) with the theme of "damask". I think that my first attempt at damask was pretty successful! The only thing that I would like to change is the amount of glitter I applies to it. In an attempt to make my nails stand out more, I got the idea of adding a glitter top-coat. I then had to balance it out by putting glitter on my accent nails as well, and it just made everything look a bit messy. All is well though, because creating these nails made me super happy and that is all that matters!

Continue reading to find a pictorial and step-by-step instructions on how to create thee nails!

Mess-Free Purple Splatter Nails

Hello everyone! The weather here in southern Ontario suddenly got extremely chilly in the past week; and unfortunately I came down with a fever a couple of days ago, so I'm just siting at home trying to recover with countless cups of vanilla chamomile tea. Fortunately, the fever went away within a couple of hours, but as per usual, my body's recovery speed is as slow as a turtle. Earlier this year, I managed to come down with a fever that lasted a good two weeks, hopefully that never happens again. On the bright side, this chilly weather is perfect scarf-wearing weather, and I just love scarves... They keep me so cozy and the fluffy ones make great neck-pillows to sleep on during boring lectures!

For the month of October, I have decided to try my hand at the Weekly Nail Art Challenge again (#WNAC2015). The theme for this week is splatter art, a technique I've never tried before but have always wanted to. Well, long story short, the straw technique did not work at all for me, despite the countless blogs and YouTube tutorials I watched, so I decided to free-hand and draw the splatter on myself. Drawing the splatters on free-hand certainly minimize the mess that would've happened if I had used actually used splatter techniques.

Continue reading if you want to find out how I created these nails:

Autumn Leaves (with Pictorial)

Happy autumn to you all! The weather here reflects the season so well, its gotten super chilly already, and to be honest it's really quite nice (except that I can't wear dresses and not freeze in the mornings anymore). Soon all the leaves will start to change colour and I'm so excited! When I was younger my parents and I would go on road trips to more northern parts of Ontario to look at all the beautiful leaves. I would always collect a whole bunch of leave and wax them to decorate the house.

Obviously, my manicure for this week was inspired by those memories. I wanted to capture some of the autumn leaves in my nails so I used a nude base to emphasize them. I actually did a similar manicure around 2 years ago (but unfortunately I cannot find any picture of them). I honestly think that these nails are perfect to welcome autumn, and I cannot stop staring at my hands because the colours make me so happy.

Continue reading to find a pictorial and more information on how to create these nails:

Lines and Dots Half-moon Design (with Pictorial)

Hello to all, and I hope that you've all had a productive and exciting week! I've just begun to settle down into my school routine, and so far, it's been going pretty well; though I am a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of work that I have to do already. The weather has also been a bit challenging to adjust to. Here it's super windy and chilly in the mornings but by the afternoon, it's burning hot, making it quite difficult to dress appropriately for the day without feeling too hot or too cold at some point during the day. I'm really longing for that autumn feel though, those days where you go out for a pumpkin spice latte with the crisp wind blowing gently and creating swirls of colourful leaves around you.

This nail was one of those 'spur of the moment' designs for me. I sat down with all my nail polish in front of me, put on a movie, and just let my hands do as they wished; and I just loved how it turned out! I love half-moon manicures, they're always gorgeous, but the accent nail adds so much extra rhythm and pizzazz to the finished product. This is definitely one of those spunky and fun designs that is extremely eye-catching and bold.

Keep reading to find a pictorial and a how-to on the creation of this manicure:

Lavender Floral Nails (with Pictorial)

Bonjour mes amis, this week sure flew by fast! Before I knew it, it was Thursday night again and my nails were bare. My boyfriend was kind enough to help me bring my storage bin of  nail polish over to his place and let me do my nails there. As usual I had absolutely no idea of what I wanted to do for the design this week, so I let my hands take over and let my mind wander elsewhere. Well, this is what the end result looks like, and quite frankly, I am very satisfied with the result.

This design actually combines a lot of the different techniques that I've been really enjoying lately; negative space, striping and detailed florals. I think all of these elements combined beautifully in this manicure despite the large contrasts between the accent nails and the other nails. I actually think that both the nail designs displayed in this week's manicure would make great accent nails on their own.

Out of all my nails this week, I'd have to say that my thumb nail (on my left hand) was the most well done. Of course, I am still practicing all of these techniques and I am still trying to get used to using just nail polish as a medium. But they say that practice makes perfect and I shall keep practicing with using polish as my medium. 

Now, without further ado... Here are my tips and tricks on how to create your own version of this manicure:

Simple Nautical Themed Nails

Hello lovely people! I've just spent the last week packing up all of my things and I moved back to school yesterday. I don't keep my manicures for long while I pack because they tend to chip and break so much, so my nails are currently naked. Thus, I thought that it would be the perfect time to share my nautical themed nails (that I did a couple weeks ago) because they're so simple easy do... Plus, it's almost the end of summer so the timing is perfect.

This was actually my first attempt at nautical nails, I see them everywhere and I've always been a fan of them. I honestly do not think that this attempt was very successful, I know i could've made it look much better, but it's a start. I would definitely like to redo this manicure again one day. Free handing the waves and trying to make every peak even and identical was definitely the most difficult part of it.

Keep reading to find out my tips and tricks on how to create this simple manicure:

Simple Cobalt Accented Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello, hello! I cannot believe that it is already the end of August, where does the time go?! It seemed like just yesterday when I moved back home, and now I'm packing up to go to school again. Summer slipped through my fingers and I can definitely feel autumn creeping in slowly. It's been feeling quite chilly around here recently too; I've already begun to spend my days wrapped up in my warmest blanket and curled in a ball. I am not ready for this, and nothing will ever prepare me for the cold Canadian winters. 

Anyway, this design is the very last of the August weekly nail art challenge , and I must say, I am very proud of the fact that I actually followed through and completed the challenge. I've been very interested in various nail art challenges before, but I've never gotten off my lazy butt long enough to actually complete a set, so I'm giving myself a pat on the back for this. In all honesty, it was a lot of fun to do, but I am uncertain if I will be keeping up with the other weekly nail art challenges to come because I am unsure of how busy I will be during the school year.

This, by far, has to my favorite out of all the August WNAC themes. I have to admit that I found it quite difficult to picture these two colours coming together in the way that they did, but I am super happy with the results. This design also gave me a chance to use a polish I have not used since last summer- 'Bubble Trouble' (by L'oreal). It is just the most gorgeous polish ever, I love it so much, and I have no idea why I've neglected it for so long.

Now, without further ranting, here are my tips and tricks on how to create your own version of these nails:

Lilac Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello world! This is the design I've chosen to do with the weekly nail polish challenge (#WNAC2015) for the week of August 21st. This week's colour theme is mint and lilac, so I chose to do lilac floral nails, with little mint-green coloured leaves. I love lilac flowers, they always smell so amazing! They're actually one of the things I look forward to the most during spring time. It's really too bad that these nails don't smell as great as the real thing.

The picture just doesn't do these nails and justice! The colours are just so much more dull in the pictures

For the past few weeks I've been working exclusively with nail polish instead of my usual acrylic paints, and I don't think I've adjusted to it quite yet. I find that acrylic paints are just so much more versatile because the globs of nail polish just dry out way too fast for my liking. On the other hand though, using nail polish gives you nicer colours because using acrylic pain tends to give a very dull finish (even with a shiny top coat). Maybe I'll write a blog post comparing acrylic paint to nail polish after I give nail polish some more tries.

Here are my tips and tricks on how to create your very own lilac nails:

Navy and Magenta Floral Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello to you all! Here is official debut for my new nail shape! I have not have almond shaped nails in a really long time; mostly due to the fact that I have injured myself several times while my nails were sharp. I once jabbed myself near the nostril whilst washing my face once and it would not stop bleeding. But I've had these nails for a couple of days and nothing bad has happened thus far, so I've got my fingers crossed (carefully of course). 

I actually had a whole load of other nail art prepped and ready to share, but I wanted to get in on the Weekly Nail Art Challenge 2015 hosted under the hashtag #WNAC2015 on instagram. The theme for this week was magenta and purple so here is my entry. These florals were actually inspired by a print pattern I saw on the internet, but unfortunately I didn't save the picture. It was actually a lot of fun to stray away from my usual rose-floral nails (not that I have any ideas of what flowers these are). This is a relatively easy design to create, but the finished product looks way more intricate than it is.

Keep reading to find some tips and tricks on how to create you very own version of this nail design:

Blueberry Print Nails (With Pictorial)

Bonjour mes amis! Can you believe that it's already August?! Where does the time go? School will be starting in a month and I am just not ready for another sleep deprived year. I just want more time to do my nails!

The one good thing about the month of august is that it's blueberry picking season. I just love blueberries, I am obsessed with them, they're my favourite fruit. Hopefully I'll pick enough to bring to school with me... I just have to stop myself from eating everything. I'm so excited to go berry picking!

Anyway, Like I mentioned in my previous post, this will be my last fruit inspired manicure (for a while at least) and I will be moving on to other designs. Doing a collection of fruity nails has been so much fun and I got to try out and master so many different techniques. It was quite a worth while experience. I also have a lot of other nail-art stored up and ready to post; I've actually done quite a few different non-fruit related manicures during the past two months, so I'll be sure to post those soon too.

With this last design, I took on more of a challenge. I wanted to make it seem as real as possible so there is definitely a lot more shading and a wider range of colours. One thing that makes this manicure much different than the others I've done thus far is that it's done entirely in nail polish! Quite honestly, I'm not very accustomed to painting in nail polish, but I definitely want to do it more as it gives the nail art such a nice finished look. This is something I definitely want to do experiment with more in the future.

I've rambled on enough today, so here are some of my tips and tricks on how to create your very own blueberry print nails:

Vintage Cherry Nails (with pictorial)

Well, hello all! Here's the latest installment in my Fruity Nail Art collection... Cherry Nails! This will probably be the second last set of nails I will add to my fruit crazed 'collection', I have just one more idea that I want to paint. Honestly, doing a collection of nails with a relative theme is such a great idea! It provided me with a baseline of what I wanted to do but still had lot of wriggle room for creativity. It's just so great because a lot of the time (I say around 80%) I'll just be sitting at my desk and scrolling through the internet for inspiration and ideas; plus, I got to work a lot on different painting techniques. I'll definitely look into doing another 'collection' soon.

So this week's theme is cherries, and the colour palette this week gives off such a vintage and warm feeling.  The warm toned nude base just compliments the warm wine-red perfectly! As I am typing this, I am getting the biggest craving for cherries. I've yet to have any this summer, and it doesn't look like I'll be going cherry picking this year either, but at least I'll have my nals to look at for the time being... I'll probably go pick up some cherries at the grocery store later.

Anyway, enough blabbering from me. Here are some tips and tricks on how to create your very own vintage cherry nails (pictorial included):

Strawberry Nails

Hello everybody! Can you believe that it's almost the end of July? Where does the time go? It's been such a fun and relaxing summer that I really do not want it to end. I have so much more time to do my nails during the summer, and my nails are grow three time stronger than they do in the cold Canadian winters.

Anyway, I did some cute strawberry nails for my 'fruit themed nail collection' (I honestly don't know what to call it... Haha). To be honest, these nails did not turn out exactly as I hoped they would, but I wouldn't call them a complete nail fail because I love the big strawberries on my accent fingers. Plus, I really enjoy the colour scheme of these nails! They remind me of strawberry yogurt or strawberry milk; and it makes for a very sweet and cute manicure. If I were to recreate these nails again, I would definitely just paint the big strawberries on every nail.

Now, without further ado, here are my tip and tricks on how to create your very own strawberry nails:

Minion Banana Inspired Nails

Hello all! I apologize for not posting anything last week, my boyfriend came to visit and I haven't seen him in like two months, so I wanted to spend as much time as I could with him. On his last night here, we watched the new minions movie and it was just adorable!

When I got back I knew I had to make minions the next theme for my nails. It also goes with well with the current fruit theme that I have going on. I've actually had the idea to do some banana nails for weeks but couldn't figure out how to make them look nice, but the little minions pulled it all together. I really want my own little minion henchmen.. they look like so much fun to be around! I just love them so much! I actually did some minion inspired nails two years ago (see below). Looking back, I can see that my technique has improved; my hands are definitely more steady and my lines are more crisp.

Now onto my tips and tricks for creating your own banana minion nails:

Dragon Fruit Nails

Hello to all!  I just love dragon fruit, it's one of my favourite fruits out there. They're just so colourful and weird looking, and they taste amazing. They're one of the funkiest looking fruits out there. It turns out that dragons fruit also make great nailspiration and look really eye catching on your nails as well (they're so amazeballs).

These nails were actually quite easy to do and barely took any effort at all. Even those who are just beginning to experiment with nail art can do this, it's that easy!

Now, without further ado, here are some tips and tricks on how to create you very own dragon fruit inspired nails:

When Life Gives You Lemons....

Hello world, I give my sincerest apologies for not posting yesterday! I'm trying really hard to try an post every Friday but I got preoccupied with some crafting. I got really frustrated with the project, and I cracked the thumbnail on my right hand (the side is chipped and a layer of my nail came off the free edge). 

Anyway, this is my third piece of fruit inspired nails; and I must say, I just love how these turned out! They're so colourful and fun.

So, without further ado, here are my tips and tricks on how you can create your own lemon inspired nails:

Pineapple Nails (Nail Fail)

Hello all! Recently I had the great idea of doing nails related to fruit (there will be more fruit nails to come, so stay tuned), and I had the amazing idea of doing some pineapple inspired nails. Unfortunately these nails turned out nowhere near what I'd envisioned it to be, so I didn't even end up adding a top coat and I removed it soon after snapping a couple photos.

Honestly, I just don't think the colours I used went well together, and the leaves were really sloppy. It's all just a wreck... But I think I', probably going redo these again and try to make them look better.

Watermelon Gradient Nails

Hello, hello! I've finally decided to celebrate/embrace summer time by doing these super cute looking watermelon inspire nails. Unfortunately, I have a watermelon intolerance (sad, I know) and I cannot eat any watermelon; which is really unfortunate because my family consumes an unfathomable amount of it during the summer, so I'm always surrounded by them. Plus, watermelons have such nice and bright colours that make a very eye-catching manicure!

Alright, let's get down to some tips and tricks (with pictures!!) on how to create your very own watermelon gradient nail art:

Daisy Patch

Hello everyone!

I was walking to Walmart last week in search of some icecream and I walked by a very lovely patch of daisies (pictured below).

Aren't they just the cutest? So I got back home, sat down on my desk and started working on my nails right away. It just goes to show that inspiration can come at anytime. It was also a lot of fun to stray away from the usual roses that I always do. Daisies are just so cute and fun and they're so fun and summer-y.

I've also noticed that I've been in a purple phase with my polishes lately... Every time that I come up with an idea, I reach for my purple polishes first. I wonder how long this phase will last?

But without further ado....here are my tips and tricks on how to create your very own daisy patch inspired manicure: