Category: Essie

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SWATCH SUNDAY— Essie Bell-Bottom Blues

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far. Can you believe it’s the last weekend of August? That’s crazy! This Summer has definitely been a blip. But I had my first PSL yesterday from Second Cup, so I’m all in on Autumn.

Today though, I’m throwing it back to Fall 2015 with Essie Bell-Bottom Blues from the Essie Fall 2015 Leggy Legend collection. I remember when this collection was first released I was obsessed with all the colours in the collection, but especially Bell-Bottom Blues, & it was the one I almost immediately bought upon finding it in stores.

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

For a polish that is 7 (!) years old, this shade is just as perfect as it was back when I first purchased it. The formula is still smooth & easy to apply. The formula is pigmented enough it could be a one coat wonder, but I did used two coats for full opacity. The polish itself is a beautiful dark blue, with vibrant blue shimmer, & this hint of purple which you can, sadly, see best in the bottle.

On its own, it dries to a soft satin finish. I much prefer it with top coat though as I feel like it shows off the shimmer much better.

It’s been a while since I pulled this shimmery blue from my stash, & I’m super glad that I did. I’ll be honest, I haven’t really been paying that much attention to the upcoming Fall collections, aside from swatches posted on Instagram. But I’ve been spending a lot of time shopping my own collection for fun Autumn shades to wear, including some oldies but goodies.

What do you think about Essie Bell-Bottom Blues? Do you have any of the shades from the collection in your stash? Let me know down in the comments, & let me know when of the 2022 Autumn nail polish collections you’re most excited about!

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Geometric Colour Blocking (Autumn inspired)

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. The excessively humid heat we’ve been having here seems to have broken, & the weather has that hint of Fall weather that always starts around the end of August.

I’m so ready for Sweaters, scarves & my favourite knee high boots.

& Fall nail art, of course.

I’m already making plans for September nail art & joining in for next month’s Glam Nail Art Challenge. But, in the mean time, I’m feeling a little more creative than I’ve felt most of this Summer. & today’s nail art look is a fun nail art look that makes me feel like old school nail art Shannon (circe 2015-2016).

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo Beauty Tint of Mint
  • Quo Beauty Whistler
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Zip Wine
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Petal to the Metal
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

Okay, so I’m obsessed. Originally this look started off as just a Autumn themed colour block, but I felt like something was missing — which happens a lot. I added an outline of the rose gold (Petal to the Metal) & then decided to get risky & add a few chevrons over the mint. It looked so good, I did the same thing on the block of grey, & tada! Freehand nail art perfection!

& all done completely freehand.

What do you think of this Autumn toned geometric colour block? Are you feeling the Autumn shades yet, or are your strictly Summer until September? Let me know what you think, & what nail art/nail polish collections you’re looking forward to this upcoming season!

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SWATCH SUNDAY—Essie Dive Bar

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I’ve been enjoying a lovely, although a tad rainy, weekend off from work. Today, though, I’m all about Swatch Sunday, & this classic Essie shade from my stash: Dive Bar.

This shade has been in my stash a long time — I’m pretty sure I found it on a good deal at Winners, as I do a lot of my shades. Dive Bar was originally released as part of the 2012 Spring collection, also named Dive Bar.

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter

This colour is so gorgeous! It’s a deep navy blue base, with a striking teal shimmer. It just screams Fall to me — so I was surprised when I learned it was released as part of a Spring collection. It also reminds me of Space, so I feel like it would be an incredible base for galaxy nails because it has a great depth to it!

The formula is also still really awesome, which is good after all these years. I’ve own this bottle since at least 2015, so it’s going on 7 years old. It does have the original skinny Essie brush, which means you do have to be careful with application. I managed to get opacity in 2 thicker coats, but you could definitely do one coat over a black as well — it probably wouldn’t be as shimmery, but it would save on coats.

What do you think about this Essie oldie? Do you have Dive Bar in your stash? Do you love these deep shimmery blues as much as I do? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

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Blue Shimmery Chevron Accent Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! The weekend is almost here — who else is excited? Today I’m also excited because I have some fun & funky chevron accent nails to show off! It feels like ages upon ages since I pulled out my nail vinyls, but after a coworker gifted me a few beautiful polishes — including this lovely shimmery blue, Sally Hansen InstaDri Cosmic Blu — I knew I needed to pull out some vinyls for some fun!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essence Colour Shine Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Cosmic Blu
  • Essie Suite Retreat
  • The Base Coat Vinyls Chevron/Zig Zag (Wide)

How pretty is Cosmic Blu paired with Suite Retreat? I feel like my nails have been so boring lately — still painting frequently, but at least 60% of the time, I’m just sticking with single colours/no nail art. It’s partially a time thing, but also I think life has just sucked lately, so my inspiration is lacking. I need to find my inspiration again, & that’s been the hard part.

& I won’t even get into how disappointed the Instagram algorithm leaves me. Ugh.

Never the less, I am still painting my nails, & this nail art brings me back a few years, to when I was nail art obsessed. That’s the nail art obsession I need to find again. Also, maybe a super fast drying top coat will help too.

What do you think of these blue shimmery chevron accent nails? Do you love how well these two colours paired together? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & if you’d like to see me creating more fun nail vinyls look again!

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Summer-y Dotticure featuring Essie

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.

I’m excited because I have another fun (& easy) nail art look to share with you featuring some brand new (to me) shades I recently picked up. I worked like a mad woman over the Canada Day long weekend, so I decided to treat myself to a few new Summery nail polishes. & when I was looking at these brand new shades, I was like “hmmm, what can I do with these polishes?”

& the answer was obvious: dotticure!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Essie Throw in the Towel
  • Essie Swoon in the Lagoon
  • Essie In the Cab-ana
  • Essie Blanc
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How gorgeous are these shades together? Originally I planned on buying Essie Bahama Mama but then when I was in the nail polish aisle I noticed Bahama Mama is very close to Sally Hansen InstaDri Zip Wine so I decided to hold off (for now), & go for some more vibrant Summery shades. Essie In the Cab-ana is an old favourite & my old bottle is running out, & the other two shades were fun, bright pinks, & I seem to be very drawn to pink nail polish lately.

I think I might do a polish haul instagram reel soon, since I have been really loving (& buying) pinks, so why not show them off.

What do we think about this dotticure look? I feel like this is kind of reminiscent of my early dotticure days, where they were a bit more abstract. Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what colours you would pick for a dotticure like this!