Category: Essie

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Negative Space & Neon Leopard Print

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday!

Today is a beautiful sunny day, & I’m excited because I have some fun nail art to share. It feels like a long time since I was truly inspired to do my nails, but I did this manicure early last week & was OBSESSED. Some nights it feels like I have no energy to come up with creative nail art looks, but I feel like this one turned out perfect.

Plus it combines some of my favourite things: neon, leopard print & negative space!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Violet Voltage
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Miami Nice
  • Sally Hansen Miracle GelElectri-Lime
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Fuchsia Fever
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art pen in black
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

Seriously, how cute is this look? I was really feeling something involving negative space — I recently returned to rounded nails, since square nails stopped working for me — & since they’re so short right now, they’re my favourite length for negative space peak-a-boo nail art.

For this look, I started off by freehanding my white space with just the polish brush, then used my smaller sized dotting tool to create my blobs of neon. Then I used my black nail art pen to draw the leopard spots around them. Finally I finished everything off with my black stripes! A little time consuming — I think it took me an entire episode of Dr. Death — but the end result just pops so well!

What do you think of my leopard print nails? Are you still feeling bright & Summer-y shades? I’m in a weird faze right now where I am going between being obsessed with neons, & more muted shades. But for the first time, in a long time, I’m not craving Fall as August starts, so I think I’ll enjoy what is left of Summer & get out a bunch more Summer-y nail art looks too!

Have a fantastic day lovelies!

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Muted Dry Brush

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! Whoa… how is it Thursday already?! The weekend is almost here. I wish it was beautiful & sunny day but nope… 80% chance of Thundershowers haha.

Today I’m keeping up with the nail art, & sharing this brush stroke look. I haven’t done one of these in forever, but it was another case my previous mani had started to chip, & I needed something to cover it up, but didn’t have time to repaint my full nail. So bring on the sneaky nail art!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Cacti on the Prize
  • Essie Shop Til You Drop
  • Essie Worth the Tassel
  • Essie Blanc
  • Essie Kimono Over
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

This is such a simple & easy to do look! Literally anyone can do it, & it looks way more fancy than it actually is. I thought about adding a little gold flakies, but decided to just keep it more simple & muted, & I’m really glad that I did! I even ended up wearing this design for 2 whole days, which I feel like I never, ever do anymore. But it was just too pretty.

How are we feeling about this muted dry brush? Have you ever done a dry brush look like this before?

I’ve been (sort of) thinking about getting back into making short tutorial videos again — would that be something you’d be interested in seeing? Let me know in the comments below!

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Summer Colour Block

Morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! Time for some more nail art!

I was feeling a bit uninspired for a while, but I think I might be breaking out of my funky fully now! Today it’s all about these funky freehand colour block nails. I love these colour combo nails, mostly because the colour combinations are endless, & they can be worn in any season.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sensationail Nailtural Cactus Me Outside
  • Sensationail Nailtural Born to Explore
  • Sinful Colors Hip To Be Square

This look is super simple — no tools needed. Just three fun nail polish shades & a steady hand. I had actually been wearing Sensationail Nailtural Cactus Me Outside (how fun is that name?) the previous day, with some chipping, so I decided to add some nail art on top to hide the chipping & it turned into such a cute look! Like I said, I love love love a good colour block!

What do you think of these nails? What three colours would you combine in a colour block design? Let me know in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Cacti On The Prize🌵

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone’s weekend is off to a lovely start. Today I have a fun swatch post that was a spur of the moment polish buy — Essie Cacti on the Prize from the Spring 2021 collection!

I found this shade on $2 clearance during a late night Shoppers trip. I had been eyeing it when it first popped up, since the name made me so happy, but didn’t end up getting around to buying it. But when I saw it sitting all lonely with the rest of the clearance cosmetics (& at only $2) I knew it needed to be mine!

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

First off, formula on this shade is actually pretty stellar. 2 coats builds a creamy, glossy base that has no patchiness what-so-ever. I was very, very impressed! Plus the new wider Essie brush means you very easily get the whole nail in minimal swipes. Always a very good thing in my books!

The shade itself is this beautiful muted green, with a bit of yellow undertones. You can definitely feel the desert vibes this shade (& collection) was going for. It’s not a super lush green, but oh man am I absolutely in love with it. In the bottle, I was a little unsure about whether or not I would love the colour on me… but as soon as I put it on I realized I’d been missing out!

I feel like lately I’ve been falling more & more in love with green polish. It used to be “out of my comfort zone”, but I’ve been choosing it more & more lately. Maybe it turns out, I’m a green nail polish girl after all!

What do you think about Essie Cacti on the Prize? Have you ever bought a nail polish strictly for the name? Let me know down in the comments below!

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Glittery Mermaid Scales

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Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! Hope everyone is having a lovely week! I can’t believe it’s almost the weekend again — how did that happen.

Today I have a fun look to share with you featuring all six of the shades from Beyond The Nail’s Mermaid of the World collection (that I shared on Sunday.) You know all six of those shades were begging for a sparkling mermaid scale look, so that’s exactly what I did!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Beyond the Nail Pacific
  • Beyond the Nail Atlantic
  • Beyond the Nail Caribbean
  • Beyond the Nail Caspian
  • Beyond the Nail Arctic
  • Beyond the Nail Ontario
  • Beyond the Nail Mermaid Scale Nail Guides
  • Medium sized dotting tool (for filling in the scales)

Seriously obsessed with how sparkly these are! They were definitely time consuming — I did each nail one at a time, one colour at a time — but it was totally worth it. I also really like the neutral negative space base against the glitter. It turned out even better than how I pictured them in my head! My thumb is definitely my favourite — you can just really see all the glitter.

It’s just so pretty. Like, I couldn’t stop wiggling my fingers in the sunshine. I love sparkle.

What do you think of this mermaid look? Would you rock a glittery mermaid scale look like this? Let me know down in the comments below!