Funky Bright Abstract Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! A beautiful sunny Spring Wednesday.

I’ve really been feeling the bright colours lately, so I decided to dig through my stash to see what fun colour combinations I could come up with. Originally I had picked out these colours to do in a moon manicure, but it was late, I was tired & I didn’t want to wait for my base to dry so I decided to do the next best thing! A fun abstract stripe look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • China Glaze Thistle Do Nicely
  • China Glaze I Got A Blue Attitude
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Let’s Snow
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

I love love love these two colours together, I can’t lie. I’ve always been a fan of pairing purple/corals together. In high school, my bedroom was painted a very vibrant shade of purple, & my curtains were this coral-y orange. & I loved it!

It was the early 2000s… don’t judge haha.

Either way, this is a fun, bright look to show off on a bright & sunny day like today. Of course, when I took these pictures it was not a sunny day… but you know, this kind of look works on a cloudy, rainy day too. Really, I’ll take any excuse for bright nails right now.

What do you think of these fun, funky bright abstract stripes? Are you hearing the call of the Summer neons? I’ll be honest, I bypassed right past pastels & full on into my brightest polish shades, but I’m okay with that!

Have a happy Wednesday!

SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Desert Rose

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s a sunny Sunday here, although the snow situation is a little depressing — Spring is definitely feeling far away. So I thought I would pick something Spring-y to wear on my nails for this week.

Today’s polish is one that I picked up a little while ago now, on a whim while making a NailPolishCanada purchase. I saw the colour & thought it was so pretty, so I added to cart: ORLY Desert Rose, originally released as part of the Neon Earth Collection for Summer 2018.

2 coats + Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

Desert Rose is a beautiful vibrant coral pink, with reddish undertones. It plays a good balance between that coral feel and the red feel, which are probably two of my favourite colours to wear. The formula was really easy to apply, & went on smoothly, with a good self level. I did apply Seche Vite over which added some extra gloss, but that was because I was planning on wearing the shade & needed it to dry quickly.

This colour is definitely the vibrancy I need for these never ending snowy days. It’s the perfect brightness, & the colour is absolutely gorgeous. I looked back on Nail Polish Canada, but the listing is no longer available sadly (I think it was on clearance when I bought it), BUT I did find it on the official ORLY website for sale, so if you’re looking at this shade, it is still available for purchase through them.

What do you think about ORLY Desert Rose? Do you love this shade for Spring? Are you already dipping into your Spring shades? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Sunday Funday

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautifully sunny, albeit freaking chilly, Sunday here on my part of the East Coast. Winter seems to be lingering now. So I thought I would remind myself of better, warmer days with an old favourite Essie shade for this week’s Swatch Sunday post — Sunday Funday.

It was originally released as part of the Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection.

2 coats + Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat

For a polish which has been in my stash for (I think) at least 8 years, she applied like a dream. I needed to shade my bottle a bit, since it had settled leaving the colour weird, but I found it had no effect once it was on the nail — you can see in the bottle there is still some colour separation showing.

The polish itself is a beautiful pinky coral, with a gold glass shimmer. It gives it a nice sparkle. I had a bit of trouble with photographing, as everything was photographing really yellow, but I think that’s a phone camera issue rather than a polish issue. These pictures are definitely as colour accurate as I could get.

As mentioned, this shade was originally released in 2013. It was part of the core collection for a while, I do believe, but Essie lists it as no longer available on their website sadly. I did find a listing for it on Sparkle Canada, but I’ve never bought from them so I’m not sure how legit that is. Obviously, if it’s a shade you need to have, Ebay always might have it, as well as any nail polish clearance bins.

What do you think about this punchy Essie shade? Are you are ready for Spring & Summer shades as I am ready to share them? Let me know what you think of Essie Sunday Funday! & I hope you have a Sunday Funday (that’s just fun to say) too!

♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — QUO Loud & Proud

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautiful, sunny & slightly chilly weekend here on the East Coast. It’s also 2 days until Valentine’s Day, so I went searching for something pink to share for this week’s Swatch Sunday. Pink’s not a colour I wear very often, but one I love to buy. So I thought why not bring out one of those untouched pink’s for this week’s post.

Today’s pick: QUO Beauty Flash Dry Loud & Proud. I picked up this shade last Winter, on clearance–naturally–& have only used it in a couple manicures since. But, since it’s a sunny day, I was feeling some neon.

2 coats, no top coat.

Loud & Proud is a shocking coral neon pink which dries to a semi matte finish, as most neons do. The formula was a bit crelly, leaning on the creme side, but had almost full opacity in two coats. I was actually a bit nervous about needing a ton of coats, but 2 was perfect for me. If you had longer nails, with more of a free edge, you might need another coat, or some white undies.

This shade comes from the QUO Beauty Flash Dry line, which means it’s supposed to dry quicker than your average nail polish. The first coat was definitely quick to dry, although I found the second coat a little bit slower — maybe because I had applied my second coat a bit thicker? The shade was also incredibly hard to photograph the colour correctly, but I tried my best. Originally, it was leaning very orange, which wasn’t true to colour at all.

This were definitely as close to the true colour as I could get it to show.

What do you think about this fun pink neon from QUO? Would you bright this bright, matte pink for your Valentine’s Day celebrations? Let me know what you think & what you’re going to be wearing for any upcoming Valentine’s Day celebrations!

Speckled Easter Eggs

Hello loves & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. It’s almost Easter, so I thought it was about time to share a somewhat Easter-y design. & what is more fun than a speckled Easter egg design!

I literally do a version of this look every year, & if never gets old to me. It’s such an easy & festive look to do. Plus I always joke since I can’t actually eat mini eggs, wearing them on my nails is the next best thing!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Julep Alyssa (thumb)
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sugar Fix (pointer)
  • Essie Play Date (Middle)
  • Essie Gel Couture On The List (ring)
  • Sinful Colors Yolo Yellow (pinky)
  • Wet N Wild 2% Milk
  • OPI How Great Is Your Dane?
  • Fan Brush

I’ve tried a few different versions of this look over the years, like I said, but (I think) this was my first time attempting using a fan brush for the speckled look. Usually I used the saran wrap splatter look, but I think I like using a fan brush even more! It gives a much daintier speckled effect. I think this look is much more true to actual speckled eggs, & I’m obsessed.

What do you think about this speckled nail look? Would you wear these for your own Easter festivities? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!