Essence Summer Manicure

August 26, 2019 / thecorkedreader89 / Leave a comment

While the air has gotten a little cooler in the mornings and at night, I am still holding onto summer with both hands. I do enjoy fall but I am not a big fan of winter, especially here in Northern Ontario, so I am just not ready for the seasons to start to change at all. With that said, I have a fun and bright summer manicure using two of my favourite Essence nail polishes on this week! This is a variation of a manicure I saw on YouTube (can’t remember who posted it now) years ago. Continue reading →

Grey Ombre Manicure

February 11, 2019 / thecorkedreader89 / 2 Comments

It’s been a long time since I’ve featured a manicure on the blog! I think the last one I posted was way back in June!! This one is actually from a few weeks ago as I got sick around the time I had planned on posting it. This grey ombre manicure was inspired by a manicure I saw on Pinterest years ago and have recreated multiple times since. This time I added the chevron accent nail to add a little something extra. I love the way a chevron accent looks on the nails! It’s such a cute way to add a little something-something. Continue reading →

Whats Up Nails Canadian Flag Nail Vinyls

June 13, 2018 / thecorkedreader89 / 4 Comments

With how sunny it has been lately Canada Day feels like it is right around the corner. I love doing a festive manicure every year to celebrate this special day. This year however, my usual festive manicure, has been made so simple! The Whats Up Nails Canadian Flag Nail Vinyls make for a quick, but impressive looking manicure! They actually can be used in two ways… You can peel off the maple leaf, place it directly onto your nail and top coat over it… OR you can use them like I did, as a stencil so that I could use the red polish that matched the rest of my manicure. Best of all, TEN of you can have a sheet of these lovely vinyls absolutely free (including shipping) courtesy of Nail Polish Canada! Details will be at the end of this post so keep on reading! Continue reading →

Spring Polkadot Manicure

April 16, 2018 / thecorkedreader89 / 2 Comments

Though spring briefly looked like it was going to make an appearance in Thunder Bay before it went running for the hills. But, even though the cold and snow has returned I’m sporting a spring polkadot manicure anyways. For this manicure I used one of my new favourite formulas, Essie Gel Couture, as a base and then used some colourful shades to add some polkadots to the manicure.

Continue reading →

Mani Monday: O Canada

June 27, 2016June 26, 2016 / thecorkedreader89 / 7 Comments

Hi guys! It’s time for Mani Monday and since this upcoming Friday is Canada Day, I thought I would match my manicure to the occasion. As well, as promised, I’m using the Formula X Wingwoman nail polish that I got in my last Ipsy Glam Bag! I also wanted to do something a bit different so I attempted to water marble which is something I haven’t done in years. I’m definitely rusty. I always photograph my left hand but this time the right turned out better which was super awkward to take a picture of. I definitely need more practice at water marbling to get back into it but I thought I would share my manicure anyways. Who hasn’t had a manicure fail?

Products Used:

OPI Chip Skip
OPI Nail Envy Original
Formula X Wingwoman (1 coat on all fingers except ring ringers and used in marble)
OPI Alpine Snow (2 coats ring fingers only)
OPI Kyoto Pearl (used in marble)
OPI Haven’t the Foggiest (used in marble)
Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat Continue reading →

Mani Monday

April 25, 2016April 24, 2016 / thecorkedreader89 / 6 Comments

Hi guys! It’s time for another Mani Monday! Today I wanted to do something bright and spring-y. I’ve had this colour combination in my head for awhile, it was just a matter of deciding how I wanted to combine them. I was going to do a water marble, but, due to time constraints, I decided to do a saran wrap manicure instead. For those of you who don’t know, a saran wrap manicure involves painting the base shade and letting it completely dry. Then you add a second shade over top (one finger at a time) in which you quickly dab with a bunched up piece of saran wrap.

Products Used:

OPI Nail Envy in Original (1 coat)
Zoya Lara (1 coat)
Zoya Arizona (1 coat)
Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat (1 coat after applying Lara and 1 coat after applying Arizona)

Applying Zoya nail polishes is always such a joy. They are so creamy and pigmented. I feel like they just roll themselves onto the nails. I need to add more Zoya polishes to my collection.

What do you have on your nails today? Let me know in the comments down below!

xoxo,

Robyn

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Mani Monday #3

August 31, 2015September 22, 2015 / thecorkedreader89 / Leave a comment

Hi guys! Today’s Mani Monday is a bit later than usual as I’ve been struck with an awful headache today so I’ve been resting a lot. However, I did do my nails last night so I wanted to quickly share them. I did a plastic wrap manicure using two beautiful purple polishes. I was originally just going to do the dark purple shade on it’s own but after it dried I felt like I needed to do a little more. Plastic wrap manicures are wonderfully easy and end up looking marbled. If you haven’t heard of them yet, I will be describing how I achieved this look.

For this manicure I used:

OPI Chip Skip
OPI Nail Envy Maintenance (1 coat)
OPI We’ll Always Have Paris (2 coats)
OPI Feeling Sashy (1 coat)
Glisten & Glow HK Girl Fast Drying & Super Shiny Top Coat (2 coats – I’ll explain below)
Plastic wrap (a few small pieces)

Steps:

Apply your chip skip and base coat
Apply your base colour until you reach opacity (I normally use 2 coats but it depends on the polish)
Apply 1 coat of your fast drying top coat (you could use normal top coat but I prefer a fast drying one)
Wait until this has dried (I waited a few hours, if you use a normal top coat I would suggest waiting 24 hours), patience is key otherwise you will end up pulling up your base colour with the second colour
Apply 1 quick coat of your top colour to each finger of one of your hand
Grab a piece of plastic wrap, scrunch it up, and dab it all over each finger to your liking… if you pick up too much of the top colour, you can always go back and add more, and use the plastic wrap again
Once you are happy with that hand, move onto the next hand, be careful using the hand with the wet polish though
Apply 1 coat of top coat to each hand to finish off the manicure

Some tutorials I have seen online do one finger at a time, instead of one hand at a time, when they add the secondary colour. Both would work, it is just a matter of preference and speed. If you are using a fast drying polish you may want to go one finger at a time.

What are you wearing on your nails today? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo,

Robyn

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Mani Monday #2

August 24, 2015August 23, 2015 / thecorkedreader89 / Leave a comment

Hi guys! Today for Mani Monday I am throwing it back to a manicure that I did last summer and loved. I’m currently testing out a nail product that I will be featuring in an upcoming Mani Monday so I had to rely on an oldie.

This manicure is a nice solid blue with a pink floral and polka dot accent. I love any manicure that involves polka dots as they are so simple to do, but depending on what you do with them, look impressive. Even the flowers are made of dots. I always use a set of dotting tools to do my polka dots, but you could also use a bobby pin if you do not have a set.This is the set that I use.

For this manicure I used:

OPI Chip Skip
OPI Nail Envy Maintenance (1 coat)
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue (the original formula)
OPI Live.Love.Carnival (flowers and polka dots)
OPI Banana Bandanna (centre of flowers)
Cult Nails Wicked Fast Top Coat (since Cult Nails is no longer is in business, Glisten & Glow HK Girl Fast Drying & Super Shiny Top Coat is a great alternative)

The original Pacific Blue from Sally Hansen is gorgeous. It didn’t have the best wear-time but it was easy to apply. It’s a shame they changed the formula. If you can get your hands on the original, it is worth picking up!

What do you guys have on your nails today? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo,

Robyn

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Mani Monday #1

August 17, 2015August 19, 2015 / thecorkedreader89 / Leave a comment

Hi guys! I’m going to try to start a Monday series where I feature my current manicure. In these posts I might experiment with nail art, or it may just be a plain colour that I’m really loving.

Today I’ve done a bit of a mix and match manicure where I’ve included some solid colour, some glitter (because everything needs glitter.) and a chevron accent. This isn’t my best work, the chevron stencil stickers that I have were being a bit difficult. I wish I remembered where I got the chevron stickers but at the moment I am drawing a blank.