Essence – Page 16 – Coffee & Nail Polish

September 26, 2019September 25, 2019

Shimmery Teal & Purple Half Moons

Good morning lovelies & happy Thursday! Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. Today I’ve got some more Fall nail art to share with you, in a fun jewel toned colour scheme!

There is something I love SO MUCH about pairing purple & blue/teal together. I just find they compliment each other so well, which is probably why–regardless of the season–it is a go to combination for me. I was already wearing my Swatch Sunday pick for this week, & I wanted something to pair with it in a quick half moon, so naturally I had to reach for a purple to complete the look.

For this look, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay
Top coat: Essie Gel Setter
Quo by ORLY Breathable Freudian Flip
Essence 25 Arabian Nights (new formula Shine Last & Go!)
Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Lo
Paper hole reinforcements
small dotting tool (Mine are from NailStuff.ca)

Trying out this new purple from the reformulated Essence line at Shoppers Drug Mart. I’m trying my best not to buy too many new polishes (since, you know, I have a million) but I can’t resist $2.99 nail polish so I picked up this pretty shimmery dark purple called Arabian Nights, & I really think it compliments my base of Freudian Flip really well! I decided to add in some gold as well, so keep it feel luxe, & I think the end result looks super fancy. (Also Arabian Nights applied over my base in only one coat, which made this manicure even quicker to do!)

Feeling like this has a bit of a Mardi Gras vibe as well, although a little bit early for that! But I really do love how fancy these feel, thanks to the jewel tones & gold accents. Of course, the fanciest place I’ll be wearing these is the grocery store, but that’s okay with me! I’ll have the best looking nails at Sobeys!

What do you think about this half moon look? What manicure are you planning on rocking this weekend? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

August 28, 2019August 25, 2019

Tribal/Aztec Print for #GlamNailsChallengeAug

Hello loves & happy Wednesday! Today marks the last prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeAug, can you believe it? We made it! & I am so excited to have completed this challenge, because it really did inspired me to try out more nail art designs than my usual go to designs. That being said, I’m also itching for some Fall inspired floral & half moons, so stay tuned for some of those coming up next month!

The last prompt for this month is Tribal/Aztec, which is one after my own heart, so I couldn’t wait to draw some new tribal inspired nail art. & obviously I had to use some of the next China Glaze Gone West polishes for a Fall colour scheme.

For this manicure, the polishes I used are:

Base Coat: Fraken Base Coat combination
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Settter
China Glaze Cowboy Bye
China Glaze Prairie Tale Ending
China Glaze Take The High Rodeo
China Glaze Gold Mine Your Business
China Glaze Cattle Drive Me Crazy
Essence Black is Back
NailStuff.ca 7mm Nail Art Brush
Small dotting tool

So I know I’m totally biased, but how cute did this look turn out? The colour pallet is just so perfect for Fall weather & I think goes really well with the tribal prompt. I mean, I can’t stop obsessing about these colours anyways, but combined with one of my favourite kinds of designs, it’s hard not to just keep staring at my nails. & it satisfies my craving for Fall just enough.

I’ve really had so much fun doing this challenge this month, & I’m super excited that I completed all 8 prompts! Still deciding if I’ll be joining in again next month, as the prompts look quite fun, but if I don’t do all of them, I will definitely take inspiration from some. & I definitely plan on getting more creative this month in my nail art! So who knows what designs you will see coming up! I definitely feel like pumpkins are going to need to happen!

Don’t forget to check out the other manicures for #glamnailschallengeaug & let me know down in the comments below if you’d like to see me do more challenges like this in the future!

August 26, 2019August 25, 2019

City Sunset 🌇 for #glamnailschallengeAug

Hello lovelies! & happy Monday.

We’ve got two more prompts left for #glamnailschallengeAug, & I’m going to be honest… I wasn’t sure I was going to get this prompt done! Not only was I a bit stumped on inspiration, but I’ve had a busy last week so I haven’t been able to get my nails painted like I usually can. But thanks to some late night Pinterest-ing & a cooperative baby, I pulled out a last minute nail art success!

& I’m so super in love with the end result!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: fraken base coat combination
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Essence Indian Summer
Essie Flowerista
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
Essence Black is Back
Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in white
NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Art Brush Trio (7mm size)

I started off this design with what I’m going to call a “rustic” gradient — I didn’t go your typical route where you blend all your colours together at once, but instead sponged my layers on top of each other which kind of created the pinky cloud effect. I then brushed my top coat over & over to smear the layers together a bit. This created the perfect background because I really feel like it looks more like what you see when you see a sunset. & it reminds me a lot of this sunset I captured not that long ago (which was also kind of my inspiration for the colour combo I went with.)

I’ve done a few of these sunset with background designs, but this is definitely the most unique. (Usually I do mountains & cacti, or something similar) but with the pinky sky & the buildings it really does feel like a city sunset, maybe even my own city.

What do you think of this design? Can you believe we only have one more prompt left for this challenge… how crazy is that?

Don’t forget to hop over to Instagram & check out #glamnailschallengeaug to see everyone’s amazing city building manicures!

August 12, 2019August 3, 2019

Paisley Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

Good morning lovelies! Today I have another fun manicure I created for the Glam Nails Challenge for August! Today’s nail art prompt was one I was a little bit scared about: Paisley.

I’ve never actually attempted a paisley pattern before, mostly because it’s always looked really intimidating, & not in my nail art wheel house. But because this challenge is all about inspiring me to try new looks, I decided to make an attempt at free handing it.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Essence Plump Power
Quo by ORLY Wrong So Right
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio

So I’ll be honest, the first attempt at starting this pattern was with a different colour & I didn’t even get one nail done before I was removing it. I’m a perfectionist, so trying something I’ve never done before (& not doing it well) can be overwhelming for me. My second attempt with this darker bronze colour was a much better attempt!

Is this a perfect paisley recreation? No. Is this paisley-esque enough for me? Absolutely! I tried really hard to get that whirly look of Paisley & I’m incredibly impressed with the design, & especially with the fact I repeated it on my Cinderella hand so I could wear these nails for a few days. & yeah, I know these aren’t perfect. But they’re beautiful enough for me, & that’s all that matters.

What do you think of this paisley design? Would you wear this manicure? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

& don’t forget to check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram to see the other pretty nails posted for the challenge! I’m definitely excited to check out what everyone has done!

August 11, 2019August 6, 2019

SWATCH SUNDAY — QUO by ORLY Wrong So Right

Good morning lovelies! It’s the beginning of another week & that means it’s Swatch Sunday. Today I grabbed a fun Fall shade from my stash to share with you.

This shade has also been in my collection for a long while, & I don’t think I’ve ever actually worn it in a manicure: Quo by ORLY Wrong So Right. This shade came to me as part of the Quo by ORLY 18 Piece Holiday collection from 2013 that the hubby gifted me.

For my Swatches, I’m wearing 2 coats of Wrong So Right over Essence Plump Power. The polish itself is very sheer (which I find with a lot of shades like this) so I always choose to wear undies instead of layering 4+ coats to get the polish opaque. It also can give you a different look, depending on what colours you choose to layer it over.

For those looking at this polish going “hmmm, that shade looks very familiar”, you would be right. Wrong So Right is the Quo by ORLY version of ORLY Brilliant Boysenberry (aka ORLY Space Cadet) which is also a dupe for MAC Mean & Green (from the Venomous Villans collection) & dupes of Finger Paints Surreal Sunset & Claire’s Venomous). Turns out I must really like this finish & shade, because I own all of the above except Mean & Green. What can I say… I’m a duochrome addict.

Look at that shift! It just screams Fall to me, & Fall is my favourite nail polish season. 🍁 & no, I don’t care that it’s only August. Give me plaid & pumpkin spice & all the jewel tone nail polishes I can handle.

What do you think of this polish pick? Do you have any dupes for the shade? Let me know down in the comments below!

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