SWATCH SUNDAY — Avon Stardust Collection Silver Crystals

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Can you believe tomorrow is December 1st — we officially have 32 days of 2025 left. That is just crazy!

Today I have another throwback shade from my stash to show you. I’ve been feeling glitter (a lot) lately, so that’s what I’ve been wearing! Trying to get myself hyped up for the season. & when I saw this glittery textured Polish on my stash, I knew I had to share!

2 coats + top coat

Hello textured glittery perfect. This is Avon Stardust in Silver Crystals & it’s a beautiful grey with lilac undertones & large & small glitters. It dries down to a rocky texture, but I did apply top coat to mine which smooths that texture out some, but helped with wear.

The colour is really pretty. It’s silvery, but it’s lilac, & those multi sized glitters really pop. This shade was released around 2014 (I believe) at the height, or near the end, of the textured polishes boom. I’ve always been a huge fan of these glittery textured polishes, so I’m glad I’ve kept this beauty in my stash all these years.

The close up really shows off all those beautiful glitters. & you can see that even with the layer of top coat, the textured finish comes through — just not as roughly.

The removal was a bit tricky & needed a lot of strong nail polish remover. I had glitter all over my hands afterwards, but nothing a little soap & water can’t fix. & it was totally worth it for that sparkle.

As I mentioned, this shade was released around 2014 so it is no longer available. I’m not even sure if Avon still makes nail polish anymore. But I am certainly glad to have this shade in my stash, & wearing it did make me feel a little festive.

Also: nail polish companies — bring back textured nail polish! It’s such a fun finish to wear, & I would love more shades in my collection!

What do you think about this textured shade? Do you enjoy textured nail polish? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Sunday!

🖤

Embracing the Nostalgia with Crackle Nail Polish

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday. I decided to throw things back a bit (& embrace the crazy nostalgia taking over my life thanks to my very own mid-2006 emo playlist) with a fun look featuring a very nostalgic nail polish finish— crackle.

For anyone not around during the early 2010s, crackle nail polishes became huge around 2012, & by 2013 everyone & their mom was coming out with their own version of the crackle (or shatter) effect. Black was the beginning shade I remember being everywhere, followed by a whole assortment of different colours & finishes.

Recently I was going through my stash, & found a bottle of Avon Mosiac Effects Top Coat — aka their version of the crackle nail Polish — & decided to give it a little shake to see if it was still good. Sure enough, the formula is still perfect! So I had to give it a try to see how it looked after all this time.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Illamasqua Aorta
  • Avon Mosiac Effects Top Coat Black

I still have a couple crackle/shatter shades left in my stash, although most have long since dried up to be unusable. For this look, what you’re seeing is one rather thick coat over my base shade. I waited about 5 minutes for the cracked effect to set before applying my top coat, & I thought the end result was pretty perfect. I prefer my cracks to be larger so you can see more of the base shade underneath.

Is crackle/shatter nail polish going to make a comeback? I don’t know. I feel like these shades are so controversial, even 11 years later. You either love them, or hate them, & obviously I am firmly planted on the love side. I also think it’s a nostalgia thing, as I remember crackle being the first “nail art” trend I really feel in love with.

What do you think? Do you think crackle is due for its revival? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

Blue on Blue Polka Dots 💙

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, & for my fellow Canadians, a relaxing long weekend! It’s finally starting to feel like Summer now, which I am absolutely here for. I mean, I could take a few more 20+ sunny days, but I’m a whimp when it comes to cold, so anything less than 12 degrees feels like Winter to me.

Today I’m show off some simple blue polka dot nails. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m rocking some serious shorties again, so my nail art inspiration is a little lacking right now. But polka dots always make me feel better!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Avon Vintage Blue
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen Blue

Oh wow, these nails are short. & just when they were really starting to get long again. It’s always my middle finger, on either hand, misbehaving. Ah well, I’d been thinking about a short return to square nails, so this is the perfect excuse.

& now I just need some serious nail art inspiration. I have a few days off coming up, so I’m going to try & come up with some fun & funky nail art looks to share! Time for a deep dive through my Instagram saved folder & Pinterest.

What do you think about this simple blue on blue polka dots? Are you feeling this kind of look? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below! & share what nail art looks you might want to see coming up, perfect for short nails!

Galaxy Nails. 

Still trying to get back into nail art, so I’ve been browsing my Pinterest A LOT trying to come up nail design ideas. It’s been way too long since I did some Galaxy nails, so I decided I needed to give them another go! It also helped that I was already wearing a darker blue polish (I’m Electro over a nameless dark blue metallic Essie) which made a great base for my design. 

The polishes used for this mani are: 

  • Revlon I’m Electro
  • Nameless Essie 
  • Essence Back to Black
  • Avon Vintage Blue 
  • China Glaze Float On 
  • Finger Paints Gorgeous Graffiti
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust 
  • Essie Gel Setter 


What are you wearing on your nails on this Mani Monday? 

My go-to: Revlon Whimsical.

Does anyone else have a favorite polish they go to whenever they can’t think of how to paint their nails, or are short on time for nail art?

Personally, I have a couple. But one of my favorite go to polishes is Revlon’s Whimsical.

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I fell in love with this polish about 3 years ago when it first started popping up on the nail blogs I followed, but for some reason I didn’t end up buying it until last Summer. It makes me sad I waited so long to jump on the bandwagon because oh my god I love this polish. Whimsical has a milky blue base which contains multi-sized hexagon glitters. The base is very, very sheer–I’ve never tried to build up opacity with multiple layers, but I can tell it would take a few. Instead, I always paint another blue-based base color before applying Whimsical.

For this NOTD, I applied Avon’s Vintage Blue as my base color.

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Vintage Blue on it’s own is a very, very pale baby blue color. I bought this color specifically because of my Buffy the Vampire Slayer pale polish obsession. (I’m a dork.) It’s the perfect pale base for Whimsical though–it brings out the blue milky base, and doesn’t affect the end result any.

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As you can see above, the two colors work really well side by side. They look even better when you apply Whimsical over Vintage Blue.

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See what I mean? So pretty! I applied two coats of Whimsical over Vintage Blue followed by my NutraNail top coat. I could have applied another coat for a denser glitter application. However, (1) I was short on time–I did these about 2 hours before I had to leave for work, and needed them dry before getting ready and (2) I liked how it looked already, so decided it was perfect.

Like I said, this is my go-to solution for “I can’t figure out how to do my nails”. This is a very “me” polish (though I’m sure a lot of people say that haha.) I can’t help but love myself some glitter, and these just feel very girlie to me. Too bad the weather is so wretched outside (again! Bah!) because they would pair perfectly with a cute little Summer dress.

So what is your go-to polish?