Orly

The One Where I Caved and Did a Valentine's Day Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, Polished World!  And Happy Valentine's Day to all my lovely followers.  Yes, the past two posts I said I wasn't going to post today or have any themed nail art this year, but here I am.  You can thank my coworkers who peer pressured me into doing some festive nails.  I'm kind of glad I did because I really liked this design.

Earlier this week I was updating Instagram (shocking) when I stumbled across this design by Nail_Art_By_Tal.  As you know, a few posts back I shared a french tip snowflake design which I was completely in love with, so this was no shocker that I fell in love with this one as well.  I had to re-create it.  It's simple, festive, but not over the top for the day.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Mirrorball
  • Acrylics
ORLY Mirrorball, one of the best holographic polishes in my collection.  I have about 4 back up bottles of this beauty.  I haven't ever used it for a glitter gradient before, but now that I see how well it works, I'm going to!  I debated on using Mega X by ILNP for this manicure, but I wanted that extra glitter that Mirroball has with the little hex pieces.


When the gradient was dried,  I went through with a small dotting tool and added the hearts and the little dots.  I wanted to do the little stars that Tal had, but I never in all my years of blogging have figured out how to do those freehanded.  So, instead of the stars,  I decided to add the little line on the hearts to make them pop a little.  I love them, but think Tal did a better job.

What do you think?  Fan of the manicure?  Happy I did something for Valentine's Day?

Until next time, <3.



precision lacquer

The One With the Manicure that Looked Better in Person

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good morning Polished World!  Look at me blogging on time this week.  Mainly because I'm writing this post a few days in advance in hopes that I remember to update all my other social media accounts to stay current.  Odds are, I won't and will fail miserably and be back in the same cycle as the last month.  Work gets crazy, I can't help it.  Funny thing is, I spend some time on Instagram, but I'm literally just scrolling and not posting.  It's aimless really.  The worst is TikTok.....oh the hours I waste on that app.

Anyways, today's manicure is again, probably the most festive that I'm going to get for Valentine's Day, and seeing that it's only a pinkish toned polish, that's really not too festive.  As you can guess from the title, this manicure looked much better in person, and I'm hard core critiquing the photos as I'm writing this.  Here at The Little Canvas, I believe in sharing the fails, so you all can see that life isn't perfect and what Facebook and Instagram makes it to be, even when it comes to nail art.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Precision Lacquer - Red Velvet Cupcake
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky O
So, I got the idea for this manicure off of a post from ORLY's Facebook.  Instead of using the ORLY polishes, which I already own, I decided to attempt it with another color.  I feel I would have liked this manicure more if I used the ORLY's but here we are.  It's not that I hated it though because of the polish.  Precision Lacquer Red Velvet Cupcake is wonderful.  Two coats and you have full coverage of this beautiful glitter - which is easy to remove.  An added plus for such an opaque glitter.


I think the main reason that I disliked it was because my lines were not straight or even at all.  I probably should have left my middle finger just plain glitter, but here we are.  It's okay, but as I said, looks better in person.

What do you think?  Anything you would change?

Well, we will see if I will sneak a Valentine's Day post in here somewhere.  At this point, it's not looking good.

Until next time, <3.


Gradient Mani

The One With the Pink Snowflake Manicure - Take Two

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good morning Polished World!  How are you all doing on this fine Tuesday?  It's the dreaded Valentine's week where I am going to attempt to be festive, but will fail miserably at it.  Honestly,  I don't think I'm going to do any pink heart nails this year.  Sorry to disappoint, but I'm truly not feeling it.  If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day, so this shouldn't come as a huge shock.  Maybe next year, or randomly in the middle of the summer when I'm feeling like doing heart nails for no reason whatsoever.

Today's design is one I created about a year ago now.  It's probably the most festive you'll get out of me for Valentine's as it has the perfect pink gradient.  And you guessed it, it's a snowflake design.  I don't remember where I got the inspiration from for this design, but it's one of my all time favorite snowflake manicures.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Jessica Cosmetics - Mojave Desert
  • Jessica Cosmetics - Festival Fuchsia
  • Serendipity Polish - Holoday Lights
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky-O
Isn't this manicure perfect?  I kind of want to re-create it with a blue gradient.  Although I'm burning out on the whole snowflake thing, and I'm sure you all are tired of seeing them as well!  Maybe next year.  Anyways, these two pink polishes work wonderfully to create a gradient. I started off with a base coat of Mojave Desert, the most perfect baby pink polish ever.  Two coats and you have complete coverage.  When it was dried, I took a make up sponge and dabbed on the Festival Fuchsia.


When the gradient was dry, I went through and added the snowflake with acrylics.  Yes, I cheated a bit but when creating a snowflake, I'm a tad OCD and want the art to look as perfect as possible.  As you can guess, this flake took about 5 tries to get it how it is here, and I'm still finding issues with it.

What do you think? Fan of this look?

Okay, I think I'll move on from snowflakes. Maybe I'll enter a flower phase again.

Until next time, <3.




The One With the Snowflake Smoosh Mani

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose 


Good morning Polished World, how are you all doing today? It's cold and snowy here as we are in the midst of a nor'easter.  I'm not going to complain though as I've been wanting one good snowstorm.  Sure, I would have much rather had this storm on the weekend when I don't have to wake up early and drive to work, but alas, here we are.

Since there we are in the midst of this storm, it's only fitting that I post another snowflake manicure.  What is this, the fifth one of the season?  I'm sorry, but I'm a tad bit obsessed this season.  I also figured that if I painted my nails enough times with snowflakes, I'd get my storm.  Today's design is a re-creation of a smoosh based manicure that I did a few years ago.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Forget Me Not
  • Zoya - Dream
  • White Acrylic
Completely in love with this design.  While it looks super complicated, it's a look that's super simple to create.  I started off with two coats of Forget Me Not by ORLY.  A gorgeous pale baby blue polish which overed very well.  I was surprised because most pastel polishes like this are super patchy.  When my base was dry, I dripped two drops of Dream by Zoya and Forget Me Not on a paper plate.  I then took my rubber stamper, stamped the polish smooshing it all together, then stamped it on my nail.  It left me with an awesome tie-dyed base.


After I smooshed all my nails with polish, I went through with the white acrylic and painted the snowflakes.  I loved this design so much that I actually kept it on my nails for five days.  Typically I keep a design on my nails for 2-3 days, so 5 is quite a bit for me.  It wouldn't chip and I just love blue nails, let alone ones with fun art.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?

Until next time, <3.