Category: Duocrome

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Essie Dive BarĀ 

 I’ve been dreaming about Essie Dive Bar ever since I saw it at Shoppers two years ago on clearance, and didn’t buy it. When I went back to get it because I had to have it it was gone. And I was sad. 

Thank goodness for Marshalls. A few weeks back I spotted it and suffice to say–it’s MINE! And I love it so much. 

  

 Started off with two coats of perfection (aka Dive Bar) and topped with top coat. I should have taken a picture but whoops! After it was dry, I grabbed my gold Stripr Rite striper and created a few geometric stripes.  I then Sealed everything in  with top coat again, and then thought “I bet this would look beautiful mattified”. I had to  grab my L’oreal The Matte Velvet top coat and… šŸ˜. You can see the end result. 

Even more perfection! Is there anything that matte top coat doesn’t make more beautiful?! 

  

 

I even (unintentionally!) matched my dress to my nails because I’m cool like that.   
 
What is #1 polish on your I Need To Own That list? Now that I finally own Dive Bar I’ll need to find a new one! I’ve been on a serious quest for Essie Bell Bottom Blues from their Fall collection and it keeps slipping out of my grasp! I want it so bad! Let me know yours in the comments! 

Have a lovely day! šŸ’—

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SWATCHES GALORE! (What I’ve been wearing)

again with the unplanned hiatus! I’ve been busy busy busy with work with no time for much else! However, I can never go polish free so I thought I would share a few swatches of the polishes/polish combinations I’ve been wearing the last couple weeks.  

  

Hard Candy Sky (topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust) — I picked up a few of the Hard Candy 20th anniversary polishes at my local Walmart last month and obviously this one had to be in the bunch! Love love love! This polish makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her pretty pastel nails which is exactly why I feel in love with polish in the first place! Sadly my Fairy Dust didnt want to show up for the camera but looked pretty in person as always. 

CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance—Duochrome! Purple! Holo glitter! šŸ’œ I picked up this gorgeous polish at my local Winners for $3! I’d been watching it for months, and finally realized it was waiting for me to take it home. This was 4ish coats with still visible nail line so next time I’ll add some undies. But even still… šŸ˜  

  

ORLY Mirrorball — I’m kind of on a holo kick lately and Mirrorball is perfection. Just look… Words are not even needed. šŸ™€ (you will definitely be seeing more of this beauty later šŸ˜‰) 

  

ACO by Ardene 80s Prom Dress — (layered over China Glaze Seas the Day)  bright fushia pink with camera shy micro glitters. Definitely a perfect Summer colour! Again it’s pretty sheer on its own so undies were a must. I’m curious to try it out with a darker shade. 

  

Nubar Absolute — Blue holo. Seriously I’m holo obsessed right now and need them alllllllll. I tried my best to capture the holo in the sun, but don’t worry in person it cannot be missed! I also realize that I’m going to have to spurlge and pick up a few more Nubar holos because damn they’re so pretty! 

  

ACO by Ardene Crystal Fog layered over Hard Candy Zombie. Zombie is another 20th anniversary release from Hard Candy that the Mr. picked out for me, probably because we’re obsessed with iZombie lately! It’s a gorgeous purple on its own, but add a coat of Crystal Fog by ACO by Ardene and it turns into the most amazing duochrome. I don’t usually wear dark polishes in the Summer but this is definitely going to be an exception! 

 

Joe Fresh Quartz — it was not easy to capture the shift of this polish on camera…. Just kidding!  the above shot says everything you need to know. I literally spent all day staring at my fingers moving them around.  Shifty gorgeous duochrome PERFECTION! I have a few Joe Fresh polishes in my stash but this is definitely my new favourite. It’s just so perfect. 
So what polishes caught your eye the most? Are you team duochrome or team holo? Also what’s your favourite polish to wear when you just don’t have time for nail art? Let me know in the comments below! šŸ’œšŸ’œšŸ’œ

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China Glaze “Choo-Choo Choose You” and a comparison.

 

 

Today I have one of the polishes from China Glaze’s All Aboard collection, which they’ve released for fall. When I first saw swatches of all the polishes, I fell absolutely in love with all the gorgeous colors, so I knew that I needed to check these out. In stores, when looking at the bottles, my eyes were immediately drawn to the polish below.

 

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China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You in almost indescribable. But according to the press release China Glaze released for the collection, it is described as purple grey smokey shimmer. When I was checking out the polishes at my local Chatters, I wasn’t sure which one to get but my eyes kept coming back to this one. The polish was just so striking and gorgeous! And I had to have it.

 

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Choo-Choo Choose You is definitely a one of a kind polish when it comes to my collection. The different flashes of color remind me of almost an oil slick on my nails (in a good way). I couldn’t really think of any other polish in my stash as beautiful as this polish, or similar. So naturally I had to go looking. =)

The only other polish I have in my stash similar to Choo-Choo Choose You is Essie For the Twill of It. Naturally, I had to swatch the two side by side to see how similar they were, and you can see below they’re not as similar as I originally thought. On my pointer and ring finger I have For the Twill of It, and on my middle and pinky I have Choo-Choo Choose You. For the Twill of It pulls much more blue/grey while you can really see the purple of Choo-Choo Chose You while the two are side by side. As well, you can seriously see the brush strokes in For the Twill of It which is in part to my own application, but still… Choo-Choo Choose You does not have the same issue. Actually, the application was absolute perfection.

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Of the two, I definitely think I prefer Choo-Choo Choose You, but that could be because I’m a sucker for purple. And the polish itself is just so different from anything else in my stash. It makes me understand why it’s been a popular choice recently. It is an amazing color for fall and I am so, so glad I choo-choo chose it. (haha sorry).

 

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Dark and Metallic Sponge Manicure.

 

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Oh man, I wish I had better pictures of this NOTD to share with you, but unfortunately I took these while at work in the late afternoon, so the beautifulness of this manicure was kind of lost. (Side note–I just got a brand new phone with an awesome camera so expect upcoming posts to have MUCH better picture quality.) However, regardless of the lack of pretty pictures, I still had to share this gorgeous manicure because I was super in love with the outcome.

 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Mary Kay Blue Knight (base color)
  • ACO by Ardene Golden Luxury (middle finger & sponging)
  • Layla Soft Touch Golden Touch (middle finger)
  • Essence Color and Go Mister Rusty (sponging)
  • Claire’s Poison Apple (sponging)
  • Claire’s Venomous (sponging)
  • Claire’s Evil Queen (sponging)
  • Nutra Nail Quick Dry Top Coat.

 

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Oh man, this manicure just was perfect for fall. I wanted something reminiscent of the color changing of the leaves, and I think I succeed with this multicolored metallic sponge manicure. Even one of my co-workers noticed how cool my nails looked, and commented on how neat it looked, which always makes me feel good about my nails. =) Next time I wanted to try this with a super dark green Essence polish I picked up not too long ago–I think it will look even more perfect for the fall weather.

 

So what do you think of this manicure?

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Swatch Post: Quo by Orly Sailor’s Blue.

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It’s been a while since I shared a swatch of a polish with you, so I thought today would be a good day. Back at Christmas, the boyfriend bought me the QUO by ORLY 18 pack holiday collection of nail polish. It was actually a big surprised, because I think I had only mentioned to him once how much I wanted it, in passing, while we were at Shoppers. This polish–called Sailor’s Blue–comes from that holiday pack.

Sailor’s Blue is a thin sheer blue polish with a duocrome shimmer that flashes pink. The polish is thin–thin enough that I had to apply it over some dark undies (Maybelline Color Show in Sapphire Siren). Thankfully though, the pink shine scattered through out is not hidden–if anything it pops more! I wish that the weather had been more agreeable yesterday so I could have shown off the duocrome effect–it came through a little bit, but the sunshine wasn’t agreeing with me. Never the less, I managed to capture the pink a little bit (second photo down.)

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Now I haven’t seen Sailor’s Blue in the regular collection of Quo polishes at Shoppers, so I’m not sure if it’s still available. But if you have the chance to find this beauty,Ā  I recommend it. It’s definitely the perfect color for fall. Deep, rich, and jewel toned.

 

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Also, I picked up some new polishes the other day (thank you, payday) so expect to see these new polishes in upcoming posts. Chatter’s had their China Glaze on sale Buy 2 get 1 free… how could I say no? Oh yeah… I couldn’t. Haha. =) So keep your eyes out for these beauties coming up. =)