SWATCH SUNDAY — 6 Nail Polishes I’m Loving for Valentine’s Day!

Happy Sunday lovelies.

Since we’re into the first week of the month of love, I thought it would be fun to dedicate Swatch Sunday to some perfect polishes for Valentine’s Day. I own a lot of pink & red shades so I had fun going through my stash to find 6 polishes that I will definitely be loving this month in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day (okay & pretty much always because pink & red nail polish always have my heart). I actually did a post like this a few years ago, so I thought it would be fun to do another one!

So here are my 6 polish picks for Valentine’s Day 2018.

 

CHINA GLAZE — SEDUCE ME

Firtst up is China Glaze Seduce Me, a deep berry red that applies in 2 coats, although if you’re careful you might be able to get away with one careful coat. My bottle is pretty old, so I went with two. I chose this colour for Valentine’s Day because I feel like it’s a really grown up colour: it has pinkish undertones but it’s not bubblegum pink & it’s also not that classic candy apple red shade either. It’s a little bit different, & I honestly feel like this shade is one that will look great on everyone! It also pairs really well with other pink & reds for nail art (like some zig zag chevrons perhaps?)

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L’OREAL VERNIS A L’HUILE — JARDIN DES ROSES

L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses is my first pink choice & it’s a pink I’ve really been loving lately. This is two coats for full coverage of this soft romantic pink & it applies really well. This pink is great because of how soft the colour is–you won’t look like you’re Barbie when you wear it.

 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN BEAUTY — ROUGE LOUBOUTIN

If you’re looking for a classic red to wear on Valentine’s Day, I feel like you don’t need to look any further than Christian Louboutin Beauty Rouge Louboutin! I received this beautiful red nail polish from a family friend the night before my wedding, & because it is so special to me I tend to save it for special occasions. I used two coats for coverage — it’s pretty good after one, but I wanted to make sure there was no hint of visible nail line. This is definitely the perfect classic red for a Valentine’s Day date, & if your significant other forgets about Valentine’s Day, you can always stab them with the bottle!

 

ACO BY ARDENE — BOUDOIR

Valentine’s Day is a special occasion, & sometimes I want a little glitter & Ardene Boudoir is a fun glitter choice. It a clear base stuffed full of berry glitters. I used 3 coats for my swatches (thank god for peel off base coat) but normally I would either apply it over top a complimentary shade or sponge the glitter onto my nail. You can build close to opacity though, although I couldn’t imagine the dry time. I just love the colour of the glitter in this polish–sometimes you just need to sparkle a little (or a lot)!

 

OPI — FIRE ESCAPE RENDEZVOUS

Next up we have OPI Fire Escape Rendezvous. This is 2 coats of this metallic ruby red polish with glitters–both shard glitter & hex glitter. The glitters are interesting, but I really dig them.  They give this polish an interesting texture which makes it unique, although I definitely prefer it top coated (Seche Vive). If you’re looking for something a little more than just red, this would be a great choice.

SINFUL COLORS — BLOOM BLAST FLOWER POWER

Last, but definitely not least, is Sinful Colors Bloom Blast in Flower Power. This milky pink shade is stuffed full of large & tiny matte pink metallic & white glitters. I belive it’s supposed to be worn on it’s own but I think it looks best over top other pink polishes. This is one coat over OPI Two Timing the Zones. How cute does this look? I know not everyone is a nail art person, so a topper like this is a great way of zazzing up your nails without having to worry about freehanding anything! It’s almost a dotticure without any of the work!

 

So those are the six polishes I’m loving for Valentine’s Day this year? What shades/polishes are your Valentine’s Day favourites? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

Negative Space Floral

We’re currently being bombarded with 25+ cm of snow here in Halifax, which is not so much fun. I’m really not a Winter person (well, once Christmas is over anyways.) So how about some floral nails to cheer us up? I wore this design this weekend, but with a raging Winter storm outside as we speak I kind of need something pretty & Spring-y to cheer me up. Did I mention I’m really, really over Winter?

Did you know it’s 49 days until Spring? Just a fun fact to get you through those long, chilly days ahead. Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case do you have a spare room because I’m coming to visit!

I took so many pictures of this design. I know every floral manicure is my new favourite, but this one just turned out so well I couldn’t help but take a million pictures of it.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: L’Oréal the Matte Velvet
  • Essie The Girls Are Out
  • OPI My Pointe Exactly
  • China Glaze Ever Glaze Don’t Grape About It
  • Sally Hansen Instadri Petal Pusher
  • Essie Bachelorette Bash
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Green
  • Essence The Green & the Grunge
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
  • Small detail brush (Born Pretty Store)
  • Small & large dotting tools (Bundle Monster)

So many polishes were used for this design, but it was so worth it. & I think the matte top coat just makes the end result that much more beautiful. This is definitely not a quick to do design, but floral just makes me so happy I don’t even care! 💗 I hope you love floral, because I have a feeling there will be a lot of floral leading up to Spring. Also even though it’s snowing today, I’m totally pulling out my favourite floral romper, since I have no plans on leaving the house today… except to maybe go to Starbucks & get coffee but even then I won’t be leaving the car.

What are your thoughts on today’s floral design? Are you a fan of floral nails? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Marbled Nails Using Acetone

Good Morning Lovelies! & happy Monday.

Today I have a have nail art design to share with you. I’ve written before how I love playing around with different techniques, & lately I’ve been really into marbled nails & the many ways to create them. For today’s design, I created a marble design using polish & acetone–a technique that I’ve shown off before.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze For Audrey
  • Quo by ORLY Feeling Free
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Spiral Star
  • Acetone
  • Q-tip

Obviously the easiest way to show you how to create this design was with a tutorial, so check out below!

I just really, really love this colour combination. There is something about turquoise & purple that goes so well together. Also why don’t I grab China Glaze For Audrey more often? It was my very first ever China Glaze shade, & now I remember why I fell in love with it. Just so pretty!

So what do you think of this marble design? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Quo by ORLY Sailor’s Blue

Happy Sunday lovelies! Welcome to my favourite day of the week–Swatch Sunday! 💙 Today I’m sharing a polish that OG readers will remember as one of my early swatches on this blog: Quo by ORLY Sailor’s Blue. (Seriously check out that original post, because the picture quality alone is worth the laugh! 😹)

This shade originally came into my life as part of the Quo by ORLY 2013 Holiday Minis set (it was gifted to me by the Hubby) & was my first real foray into the whole Quo by ORLY Polish line.

Sailor’s Blue is a sheer deep blue polish with a duochrome shimmer that flashes between gold & pink. It’s sheer enough that I wear it with undies (China Glaze First Mate) to avoid having to build coats. I also feel like using it over top of another blue shade keeps it from looking muddy. For this look, I did one coat of undies & one coat of Sailor’s Blue, plus top coat.

Sadly, I don’t think this shade is available anymore for purchase which definitely makes me wish I had more than just a mini bottle in my collection. I know it was also released by ORLY as High On Hope as part of the Spring 2013 collection, but unless you find it buried in clearance bins, I don’t think it’s an easy shade to track down. Which is seriously a shame, because it’s so pretty!

& for fun, a macro shot so you can really see that duochrome shift. ⤵️

What do you think of Quo by ORLY Sailor’s Blue? Do you own this shade (or it’s twin ORLY High On Hope in your stash? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Pink Rose Accent Nails (& bonus video tutorial!) or

Happy Wednesday!

Today I’m excited to share some pretty rose nails. We’ve kind of hit mid-Winter grossness so I felt like something pretty was in order to cheer me up. Plus, I don’t know about you but I’m already starting to think about Valentine’s Day nail art & roses are pretty much a Valentine’s Day must!

The products I used for the design are:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ruby Do
  • Essence Dream On
  • Essence Perfect Match
  • Essence Sweet As Candy
  • China Glaze Dune Our Thing
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in green
  • Essence The Green & the Grunge
  • Quo by ORLY Diva
  • Dotting Tool
  • Small detail brush (mine is from Born Pretty Store I believe)

Music: bensound.com

You know how much I love my floral, & I thought it would be fun to include a tutorial of how I create my roses. I know everyone has there own way, & this is just the way I’ve found is best for me to freehand them (after a ton of experimenting over the years.)

Also it was SUPER difficult to try & paint roses which filming. My usual nail art is done on the couch, with the bottle between my knees so it’s been interesting learning to paint on a table while simultaneously recording haha! I’m also still trying to figure out the best angle for filming that shows off how to do the design best.

What do you think of this floral design? How do you paint your roses/ other florals? Let me know in the comments below!