SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen InstaDri HoloGlow Holo-Back

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The last Sunday of September, which is absolutely mad!

Sorry for missing out on Swatch Sunday last week — I’ve been dealing with absolutely horrendous allergies lately, & I was full on wrote off last Sunday. I could barely think, let alone write a blog post! So I hope a brand new (still in stores) nail polish pick for this week’s Swatch Sunday will make up for my absence last week.

This is Sally Hansen InstaDri HoloGlow in Holo-back.

2 coats + top coat

I’ve been seeing these Sally Hansen InstaDri HoloGlow shades in store lately, & absolutely obsessed with them. so when I needed a new polish to cheer myself up I was immediately was drawn to this new collection. Because… you know: holo. & when you can find holographic nail polish at your local drug store, you need to try it out!

The Sally Hansen InstaDri line boasts a 60 sec dry time. For application, I did need to have 2 coats, so I feel like that adds a little time. While it did dry quicker, I’m not sure if it was only 60 seconds. I will say, I could see it drying down to a kind of textured finish (I’m assuming because of the scattered holographic glitters) but I don’t know if I would say it was only 60 seconds.

I did end up adding some top coat to smooth out (& glossy up) the finish. I’ve read online about people complaining that top coat removes the holographic finish but the top coat I used (Essie Speed Setter) didn’t cause any issues like that, as you can see.

Lots of scattered holographic glitters!

Obviously, I was drawn to this beautiful darker blue shade but the collection does boast 8 holographic shades in the line–although, I think my local Shoppers Drug Mart was sold out of a few of them. I was torn between this shade & Chrome Zone, which was a dark almost black holo. I would definitely pick of that one next!

The Sally Hansen InstaDri HoloGlow shades can be found whenever you buy your Sally Hansen polishes. I picked up this bottle at my local Shoppers Drug Mart on sale for $5.99 CAD though they’re regularly $10.99 CAD.

What do you think about this beautiful Sally Hansen InstaDri shade Holo-back? Do you love being able to find holographic nail polish in mainstream stores? Have you tried the Sally Hansen InstaDri HoloGlow shades — which one is your favourite? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

Happy Sunday

♥︎

Jewel Toned Drag Marble 💎💎

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! It’s a rainy miserable Friday here, but it’s almost the weekend, so I won’t be picky.

&, I have a pretty drag marble to share I recently wore! So things are looking up.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Black & Blue
  • Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure. Black stone
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Burnished Wine
  • NailStuff.ca smallest dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio

It’s been a little while since my last drag marble design, & this one turned out beautifully. The colours alone are stunning, & they look like gemstones. I’m obsessed.

I had originally just painted my nails with Black & Blue, but they were feeling kind of plain, so I broke out the drag tool & turned them into something stunning. & the colours are perfect for Autumn— but truthfully I would probably wear these any time of the year!

So what do you think of this drag marble? Have you ever tried a drag marble design before? I’ve never been good at water marble, so they’ve always been my marbling go to design! & I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of how they look!

So pretty & eye catching!

Happy Friday!

🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE SEPTEMBER (2024) — Rainy Weather 💦

Hello beauties & happy Monday!

Sorry for my quietness & lack of Swatch Sunday post yesterday — I’ve been dealing with the most horrendous allergies the last few weeks, & this weekend was especially brutal so I was basically a write off yesterday. As much as I love & adore Fall, I don’t love & adore how my seasonal allergies ramp up as soon as the season changes.

But I’m not going to let my allergies get in the way of the next post, because we only have a few more prompts left for this month’s Glam Nails Challenge. The next prompt is Rainy Weather, & I decided to go a little bit different for my design so I hope you like it!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Base Coat: LA Colors Mega Grow Treatment 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • China Glaze Up All Night
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio

Okay, so I’ve seen this look a few times & I thought it would be a cool idea for this rainy weather prompt. Basically you start with matte nails & then add “drops” of shiny top coat which is supposed to give the effect of like raindrops. Did I completely capture what I was going for? Well… you be the judge of that. But I think for a first try, this look did up coming out pretty cool & I do like it.

& it’s definitely something I want to try again in the future!

What do you think of these rainy weather nails? Do you see the idea I was trying to capture? Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & if you have any tips for this style of design.

Are you following along with the other nail art designs for this month’s Glam Nails Challenge September? Don’t forget, you can check out #glamnailschallengesept24 on Instagram, & see all the other beautiful designs being shared!

Happy Monday!

♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Sleeping Under the Stars 🌌

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s a surprisingly sunny day considering it was full on torrential rain yesterday. today, I dug deep into my stash to pull out a favourite Fall nail Polish to share with you for this week’s Swatch Sunday — this is China Glaze Sleeping Under the Stars from the Fall 2015 The Great Outdoors collection.

1 coat (!) + top coat

This beautiful dark navy blue really comes alive in the sunshine to show off the beautiful shimmer scattered throughout. But, sadly, it is much more hidden than it appears in the bottle which is a bummer.

Nonetheless, this shade is still an Autumn favourite & you can definitely amp up with the shimmer with a fun topper like Essie Shine of the Times or Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Moonlight top coat. Plus the fact it only requires one smooth coat really makes it a shade I love.

For those curious, this beauty is still available on the China Glaze website, so I’m guess maybe it’s transitioned into the core collection — although I haven’t checked to see in person if it’s available where they usually sell China Glaze, but it does seem to be available at quite a few online retailers.

What do you think about China Glaze Sleeping Under the Stars? Do you have the Autumn beauty in your collection? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

Happy Sunday 🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE AUGUST (2024) — Stained Glass

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. The weather here has been weird — cold then hot & muggy, with sporadic rain. Makes it very hard for a girl to know what to wear!

But today marks another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge August, & today’s prompt is stained glass. & obviously, I had to pull out an old favourite for this prompt — the stained/shattered glass look I love so much. This time, I used a flakie topper which gave it more of that stained glass effect I think.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base 
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • OPI Turn On The Northern Lights
  • ‘Ard As Nails Fairy Flakes

  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio

How pretty is this look! I’ll admit, fishing out the flakies vs the usual hard glitters I usually do this kind of look with was a bit more time consuming than I was expecting, but then end result is so worth it! I’m kind of obsessed with these flakies over this dark base & it’s giving straight up Autumn—& I’m okay with that. Time to pull out my over the knee socks & sip on some pumpkin spice.

I’ve been wearing this look for a few days, & I got curious how it would look matte-ified & oh man… I think I love it even more! What do you think — shiny or matte?

I love a good stained glass look, so this was a fun prompt. Plus it let me tap into those Autumn vibes I’ve been seriously craving, & I’m not mad about it at all. Over all, this might be one of my favourite designs of the challenge thus far. It’ll be interesting to see what the rest of the month holds!

& as always, you can follow along with the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram with the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug24 & see all the beautiful nails that have been created!

Happy Wednesday

🖤