Category: Blue Nails

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Dorothy Who?

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s week was lovely, & not too cold. Our weather has been very up & down — one day it’s sunny & feels like Spring, the next day we get freezing rain snowstorms. Winter is so much fun.

But I’m actually really excited for today’s post, because I’m sharing a polish that has been in my stash for long, long time, but in all honesty I don’t think I’ve ever actually worn it: China Glaze Dorothy Who?

2 coats + Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

This beautiful jelly blue is packed full of blue & silver micro glitters. Because of the jelly base, I was worried about how many coats I would need for opacity, but two was the perfect amount. The glitters are definitely densely packed, which helps with creating opacity easily. I applied top coat though, because I did find that it had a rough finish from the glitter, & I just really wanted more of a smoother finish.

Look how beautiful. Based on the name, I’m guessing this is like the sister shade to China Glaze Ruby Slippers & they were both released as part of the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection circa 2009 but then became part of the China Glaze Core collection. I’ve worn Ruby Slippers a lot over the years — in fact my bottle is getting pretty empty — & I can’t believe I let this beauty slip by for so long!

There are a few places I’ve found online (through Google) you can purchase this beauty:

As well as a whole bunch of others that pop up when you type “China Glaze Dorothy Who?” into Google. I would imagine China Glaze’s website would be the best option as it’s the most legit, but I’m not sure where their shipping reaches.

What do you think about this beauty of a polish? Do you love this beautiful sapphire sparkle? Let me know down in the comments below, & if you own this shade in your stash. Also let m know if you enjoy seeing this older released polishes! I definitely have a ton from over the years, & I’m realizing how many I’ve never swatched, so I’m having fun documenting them.

Have a lovely Sunday!

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Nail Art Warriors for Maria (@so_nailicious)

Hello lovelies.

Today’s post is a special one for a very special member of the nail art community. Maria, aka @so_nailicious, has been a huge inspiration in the nail art world for a long time, & a personal nail art inspiration to me since I really started painting my nails. Over the last year, she has been facing some really tough health battles as she was diagnosed with MS, & as a result been forced to stop doing things that once brought her joy… like painting her nails. So Magda (@redheadnails) banded a group of us together so do some very special manicures in her honour, & I absolutely had to jump at the opportunity!

The colours orange & blue were chosen — orange, which is the colour for MS awareness, & blue which is a colour Maria loves. We also went with a “power” theme, to inspire & show off the strength that Maria is showing in her fight against this heart wrenching disease.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue (the original formula)
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure One in a Melon
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Pump-kid
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
  • Essence “Stamp It!” plate
  • Unknown stamping plate (bought as part of a set of Dollarama in my early nail art days)

As I mentioned, I was super proud to do these nails in honour of Maria, as her nails & nail art has been an inspiration of mine for a long time, & I wanted to show even though she may be struggling right now & unable to do one of the things she loves, she’s still inspiring her friends in the nail art community everyday!

Check out #nailartwarriorsformaria on Instagram to see all the other beautiful & empowering manicures!

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Negative Space & Pastel Abstract Stripes

Good morning loves! I hope everyone is having a great start to their Thursday so far. Mine is involving coffee, so that’s always a good start. Plus I have the whole day off to do my laundry & fold it, & put it away — so I’m pumped.

Today I’m sharing a recent manicure I did in the hopes of summoning Spring. Real Spring, not the fake “oops-just-kidding-it’s-still-Winter” Spring we get teased with around the end of March. I know, it’s January, & we’ve barely even had Winter…. but I’m over it. So how about some pastel?

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Royal Hue
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Color Club Art Club Striper Pink Pastel
  • Color Club Art Club Striper Passion Flower

First off, let me acknowledge that my cuticles are looking rough. I’m trying my best to keep up with my nail art regime, but the last couple months have had some struggles, & the weather has been full of extremes, & it’s taking me a while to get my nail health back to where it was. But I’m going to save that for another post, because I know you’re all here for the nail art today!

This look was really easy to do, mostly because it takes zero skill. You just need to draw the initial swoop, & then use your other colours to trace the same lines. It sounds more complicated than it is, but I swear it’s really easy. Which is why I love this kind of look so much. I decided to go with a negative space base, because I’ve been struggling with using my bottle of Seche Vita & I wanted to avoid the weird shrinkage at my cuticle line.

What do you think about this nail art look? I know it’s probably a smidge too early for Spring nails, but you know what? Yesterday it was like 11 degrees (Celsius) & that is Spring weather. I could have worn a dress with only one pair of tights it was so warm. So I guess these nails are kind of fitting.

What do you think about this manicure? Let me know down in the comments below!

♥︎

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Soft Matte Half Moons

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s had a good start to the year so far. It’s been relaxing on my end, that’s for sure. But now it’s time to drive right back into all things nail polish, nail art & manicures in general. I was kind of trying to figure out what kind of vibe I wanted to start off 2023 with, & I decided to let my nostalgia win with not only a half moon manicure… but a matte half moon manicure.

Two of my favourite things combined into one.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Zoya Devin
  • Essence Into the Unknown
  • Paper Hole Reinforcements

I was on instagram early into Fall, & I saw someone post that half moon manicures were going to become popular again, & all I could think was “I never stopped doing them”.

These have always been a favourite nail art look of mine, & I just find it such an easy technique to do. But I really, really love this look with the matte top coat applied as the finishing touch. Matte nails are my absolute favourite in the Winter months, so expect lots of matte nails in the coming months.

What do you think of this nail art look? Are you a fan of the half moon design? Let me know what you think, & what nail art trends for 2023 you’re excited to try!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Zoya Devin

Hello lovelies & happy 2023!

I hope everyone had a lovely New Years Eve whether you spent it partying it up, cuddled up on the couch, or sleeping through it. I personally got to spend my New Years with one of my best friends — who I haven’t seen in over3 years! We spent like 2 hours laughing on the couch, & it was the best way to end the year.

Now we’re starting off a fresh year with Swatch Sunday. I decided to pull out a beautiful Zoya shade that has been sitting in my stash for a while. This is Zoya Devin, originally released for Fall 2018.

3 coats, no top coat.

Zoya Devin is a stunning metallic frosty steel blue with this intense. Without top coat, it dries to a smooth finish. It’s not matte, but it’s also not shiny. The polish itself is really interesting, but as you look closely you see it has hints of bronze & silver glitters. The shade itself is giving me Y2k vibes, which is very trendy right now, & as a millennial, gives me so much nostalgia! I feel like if this shade had existed when I was a young teen, I would have obsessively worn it a lot.

Up close, you can really see all the different metallic shades & it gives it a very cool finish. Definitely the kind of shade which doesn’t catch your eye as much from a far — you need to see it up close to really appreciate its beauty. I also think, even though it was originally released as a Fall shade, it’s very appropriate for the winter months as well! It has that iciness to it that is great for Winter.

Application was interesting — it was definitely very thin on first coat, & even a second coat seemed to be a bit thin & sparse. With the third coat though, the colour came across as beautiful as in the bottle, & I was very happy. It looks so pretty!

I picked up this bottle of Zoya Devin on sale on NailPolishCanada.com last Fall (I do believe) but from the looks of things it’s no longer available on there. I did however find it listed on the Zoya website, so if you want this beauty in your life, that would be the place to get it!

What do you think of this metallic beauty? Are you a fan of Zoya polishes? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & once again Happy 2023! I am very excited for all the things that this year has in store.

♥︎