I've gotten to the point in my collection where I will sometimes buy things I'm really excited about, but then it's either not the time or for some other reason I put it into my collection and forget about it. Over the weekend, I was reorganizing some stamping plates when I came upon the Hit The Bottle To Boldly Go Stamping Plate, which I was like... basically obsessed with getting my hands on when it was first released but didn't get a chance to use right away because of the holidays and... Well, you get it. It still had the blue plastic on it, so it was time to peel it off and put it to work.

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Fall colors are and always have been my absolute favorites and I definitely get excited about pulling them out when the weather starts to get cooler - or, in this case, when Halloween has passed and it's basically right on the cusp of winter here in the Canadian prairies. Today's mani is definitely all about the color story and the pairing of different (absolutely gorgeous) finishes of polish, with the leaves design mostly acting as a vehicle for the combination, at least in my mind, and I have to say I'm pretty obsessed with it.

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When putting together 31 nail art designs in one specific theme, it quickly becomes apparent that you have to shift a little bit outside of the expected for that theme if you don't want to quickly lose steam and inspiration. And so while today's mani might not scream traditional Halloween vibes, I think that the witchiness of the stamping and the depth and uniqueness of the base polish definitely helps to sort of keep it in that zone. This mani was actually inspired by this one from @manifranny on Instagram because I love love loved the way that she kept it soft and simple - but witchy!

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I've always loved the butterfly nail designs that I watch much more talented nail artists than myself do every spring and summer with the beautiful backgrounds and the hand painted butterfly wings, but... just never had the confidence. HOWEVER, that was solved for me in the way a lot of nail art dilemmas were solved - with stamping. I've been keeping this mani in the back of my head ever since I got the Whats Up Nails B025 stamping plate last fall, waiting for the warmer months when my very specific brain would decide it was time. And... it's time!

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I have to admit something... I absolutely hate the water spotting technique and I almost didn't participate in this prompt for the Whats Up Nails March Nail Art Challenge, but I really wanted to do at least one mani for each of the prompts even if I hate the technique - and in this case, I'm so glad I did. I still hate the technique in practice, it's just... something I really don't enjoy the process of, but I'm so beyond obsessed with how this mani turned out that I legitimately can not be mad at this. As I'm typing this, I keep stopping to look down at my nails and just... sort of swoon a little.

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Hey guys! I always find that I really wanna participate in the nail art challenges that I see all over Instagram... but I'm a weirdo with a weird brain and I get shy and awkward and I never get to the point where I dig in. However, this month Whats Up Nails (a favorite brand of mine when it comes to all things nail art) is running a contest with a series of prompts for nail art techniques so I decided I wanted to dive in and try out as many of them as possible.  

So keep reading to check out Mani #1 for the Whats Up Nails March Nail Art Challenge!

Did I buy the stamping plate that I used for today's mani specifically for the purpose of doing this mani? Pretty much. Pretty. Much. I saw these cute little bride and groom images and I was like, "Well, I guess I need to get that and put them on my nails." So I did. Honestly, filling in these really small images is not my favorite thing in the world, but... I mean... it's just so damn cute at the end of the day that it's hard to deny. I also paired it with this beautiful new-to-me indie polish base and I'm pretty smug over here at how it turned out, I will admit. 

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When it comes to indie polishes, I'd like to think I exercise a good amount of restraint - by which I mean I talk myself out of ordering a lot of really, really beautiful polishes that give me serious grabby hands. However, sometimes there are polishes that just get stuck in my head and I absolutely HAVE TO HAVE THEM. When I first saw Polished For Days' Ruska, I was immediately intrigued and then a little bit confused and then downright obsessed. I tell you no lies, that really is exactly how it went. And then, once I had it in my hands, I knew that I need to get it ON my hands but I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it nail art wise. Can you tell that this polish has been a whole thing for me?

For this month, our non-theme-theme for #CBBxManiMonday is untried polishes and since this brand spankin' to me it seemed like the perfect time to feature it on the blog! Keep reading for more!

Hey guys! I have to admit that I'm kind of obsessed with today's Christmas nail art design. It's basically directly up my alley and I just love it - although I feel like I've been saying that a lot over the course of this adventure in holiday nails. I really wanted to be mindful of varying the nail art designs that I did here (although, let's be honest, I'm always going to be mostly about stamping) and I realize that I've leaned a little bit heavily into snowflakes... but I just 'em and I think that they're perfect for this time of year regardless of which holidays you celebrate or don't celebrate. Anyway, I love how this turned out and I think it's definitely going to be a mani that stands out in my memory among the 25 I'm doing this year. 

Keep reading to see how I did it!

Honestly, I feel like this mani has been basically years in the making. I've always, always, always wanted to create a mani using this leaves image from the WhatsUpNails B044r From Ground Comes Life stamping plate and I've been holding off hoping for a fall mani... and then I just couldn't figure out what shades I wanted to use to create it. In fact, I've tried a few times already and nothing I tried felt like it did justice to just how much I love this image. Ultimately, I paired it with one of my favorite indie polishes and some of my favorite colours and I love how it turned out.... but hoo boy, was it a process to get here. 

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I am pretty consistently tempted by indie polishes, I must say. With all of these beautiful swatches and how insanely interesting indie polishes tend to look in comparison to more mainstream polishes, it's hard not to get grabby hands when faced with them. That said, I'm generally able to talk myself out of them - not because I want to, because I don't, but because I don't know how to choose between all of the stunning shades and finishes. Recently, though, I had Polished For Days Eudaimonia in both my cart and my brain for weeks before I finally just went for it and ordered it from Harlow&Co.