SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Skyscraper (Fall 2011 Metro Collection)

Good morning lovelies & happy first Sunday of October. It’s a beautiful Autumn day, I’ve been jamming to Taylor Swift’s new album for the last two days, & I’m currently enjoying my maple brown sugar coffee. It’s a good day! I’m also excited for another Swatch Sunday.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t really been in the mood to buy new nail polish. Maybe I just need a trip to Sally Beauty, but my usual haunts are not really cutting it right now. However, the plus side of me not buying new polish, is I’ve been going through my current stash a lot more often & finding long forgotten about gems — like today’s polish pick. This is China Glaze Skyscraper from their Metro Collection from Fall 2011.

2 coats + top coat

Once upon a time, purple used to be my signature colour (after red, of course) & as a result I spent many years buying every purple, or purple leaning, polish I could get my hands on. Skyscraper is a gorgeous dark blue/indigo jelly base packed full of silver & blue micro glitters. Some of the pictures of swatches of this shade I’ve seen seem more blue than my bottle, but maybe that’s the result of it being 10+ years old (I can’t remember exactly when I bought it, but I did post about it here.)

Close up shot to see all those glitters. I only did 2 coats on my nails for swatches, but you could definitely do another coat for even thicker glitter — or sponge it on to make it really glittery! I was happy with the opacity I had after two coats though, & especially happy with how easy the formula was to apply The first coat goes on very thin, but that second one saves it & gives it a beautiful finish. Will I enjoy removing this glitter? Well we will have to see.

But I do love wearing it!

What do you think about China Glaze Skyscraper? Do you own this shade? What do you think about the colour?

China Glaze has long been one of my favourite go to brands (I own a drawer & a half of their polishes!) but I feel like I haven’t really checked out the new revamp they recently did. I’m definitely going to have to go to my local Sally’s & check out the new bottles & polishes they’ve released!

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dark Hue-mor

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The last Sunday of September, which is kind of crazy. Spooky month is just a few days away, & I can’t wait to start all the spooky nail designs I can come up with!

Today tjough, I’m sharing another new shade I recently picked up. Shoppers Drug Mart had the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line on sale a few weeks back, so I decided to treat myself. I’ve been on the hunt for a deep dark navy blue, so when I saw this beauty I knew I needed it! This is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dark Hue-mor.

2 coats + top coat

Formula on this beauty is smooth & easy to apply. To easy coats for full opacity. As you can see, I’m rocking very short nails right now due to a bad break while at work, so I feel like I need to cheer myself up with pretty nails.

& I love a dark navy blue so much. It makes a great base for nail art, or looks just stunning all on its own.

Look at that darkness. It’s so good! It reminds me of another favourite dark navy blue — Essie After School Boy Blazer.

I actually think Dark Hur-mor is actually darker on the nail than in the bottle, which I love! Usually I feel like it’s the other way around. Also — I had almost zero issues with removal. A lottle bit of blue in my cuticles after the first swipe, but that was it (& easy to rectify).

Sally Hansen Comple Salon Manicure Dark Hue-mor is part of the core collection, & available anywhere you purchase Sally Hansen nail polish. It generally ranges from $10-$16 CAD depending on where you buy it, & if it’s on sale.

What do you think about this navy blue shade? What are you wearing on your nails right now? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — LA Colors Gel Color Craze Color Shifting Top Coat Retrograde

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! A beautiful sunny Sunday once again. I know I shouldn’t complain about the beautiful weather — especially since we’ve been having cooler morning & evenings which are giving me all the Autumn vibes — but we’re still desperate for rain on the East Coast with all the fires we’ve been having.

Today though, it’s all about nail polish & I’m excited because I found a new & fun shade while perusing my local Walmart! They’ve recently– in like the last year or two — started selling LA Colors & I always love checking out what new shades they have in the display. I noticed these Color Shifting Toppers the last time I was there, so I decided to pick up two of them. The first one I’m excited to share is this green to blue shifty duochrome called Retrograde.

2 coats applied over Essie Frock n Roll + Top Coat

For this application, I applied two coats of Retrograde over a dark base — in this case, I picked Essie Frock n Roll. The base of Retrograde is fairly thin, as you would want a topper to be, but it has a fun metallic duochrome effect that builds very nicely. I feel like you could almost wear a couple coats of it on it’s own, since the base layer definitely disappears beneath the topper.

The shift is also gorgeous — there are flashes on blue & green, as the main ones, but you also get purples as well. Very mermaid-y, which I love, but the jewel tone is perfect for this time of year. I’m not usually someone who reaches for green very often, as well all know (& I’ve said plenty of times) but a shade like this with the multichrome shift is definitely one I will wear. In fact, I wore this manicure for almost 5 days!

LA Colors shades retail at Walmart for $3.97 CAD — which is a pretty awesome deal! The Color Shifting Topper line has 10 shades to choose from, all with celestial names. I picked up Retrograde & Nova, but I’m definitely going to be going back for more shades! They are all such fun colours, & I love anything that can switch up shades already in my collection with a fun twist. Also, I bet these would look beautiful swirled into a drag marble design. That might have to be my next thing to try!

What do you think of LA Colors Gel Color Shifting Topper? Are you a fan of the LA Colors brand? Like I said, I love how affordable these shades are — &, like the crackle shades they’ve released, I find they’re really stepping up their game! So many fun options you can play around with.

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

Pastel Marble Sponging

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. A brand new week — & this month is certainly speeding quickly by. It’s already the 13th of August, & while that means I’m that much closer to PSL season, the velocity at which this Summer is passing can slow down just a smidge.

Today’s nail art look was kind of a happy accident. Originally I was going to try to create some pastel galaxies, but it turned into more of a marble effect. Either way, I think they turned out absolutely stunning. & I love them.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Good To Go Top Coat
  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier
  • Sensationail Nailtural Born to Explore
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Feelin’ Grape
  • Essie Separated Starlight
  • Latex free Make Up Sponge

Such a neat effect. & I added the little bit of sparkle to give it a more dimension effect & I really think it looks cool. Like little geodes on my nails.

What do you think about this marble nail effect? Do you like the combination of colours? Let me know what you think down in the comments below! I’ve been really trying to switch up & do some new nail art looks I haven’t done in a while — so please share any old designs you’d love to see me recreate!

Happy Wednesday

🖤

Teal Ombré Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. I hope everyone is having a beautiful Summer day on this last week of July. Truly crazy how quickly this Summer is slipping by, but I’m trying my best to enjoy it. However — only 27 days until Starbucks releases their PSL, which we all know is the official start of Autumn haha.

Today though I have a cute simple nail art look to share. It’s been absolute ages since I last shared an ombre skittle look. so I thought it was time to pull it out again. The colour scheme was inspired by my 8 year old who told me I should wear teal nails. What do you think — did I nail it?

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter Top Coat 
  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple (pinky)
  • Essie In The Cab-Ana
  • Essie Off Beat Chic *pr
  • Essie Revenge’s A Beach
  • Essie Garden Variety

I’ve always loved these ombre tone skittles because they’re just to easy. The hardest part is just pairing the colours together, & making sure you have that light to dark effect on your nails. Surprisingly — okay, maybe not so surprising — I had enough Essie’s to easy accomplish this look.

What do you think of this simple teal ombre skittle look? Are you a fan of these Muti shade designs? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & which colour you would rock an ombre look like this using!

Happy Wednesday.

♥︎