Category: Essie

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Bikini So Teeny

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday. I feel like it’s been forever since my last post! So far this month has been fairly busy, but it feels good to be posting. Today I decided to share one of my most favourite nail polishes, which just happens to be perfect for Spring: Essie Bikini So Teeny.

This shade was actually one I coveted for a very, very long time before I finally bought it, & 5(ish) years later, it’s still one of my all time favourite blues. & good news: it’s part of the core Essie collection, so you can own it too!

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat.

How pretty is this cornflower blue? The formula is pretty good–you need two coats for perfect opacity, & a coat of top coat will smooth everything okay perfectly. There is a subtle silvery shimmer, but it was hard to capture in the light of my lightbox. I find that you can see it much better in natural light.

I just love love love this blue! It’s so pretty. I think I first bought this blue because I wanted to wear it for my Wedding, but it’s come to be a repeated favourite. This is my second bottle I’ve gone through, & I can’t think of very many other polishes I’ve done that with.

Like I mentioned, Bikini So Teeny is part of the core Essie collection, so you can find this beauty where ever Essie is sold!

What shade was the first you ever really coveted? Let me know down in the comments below! & let me know which shade you’re currently wearing on your nails.

💙

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Pastel Geometric Dry Brush

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! I hope the weather is more beautiful where you are — here in Halifax we have rain, & clouds & an overall dreary day. Well at least yesterday was beautiful!

How about I brighten things up a bit with some new nails? I actually did this look a few weeks ago, but (again) didn’t get around to posting it. I’m really feeling this coral/purple/turquoise colour scheme right now, & I have been putting out these shades a lot. This look was kind of me just playing around, but it turned out to pretty I decided to wear it!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Malibu Peach
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Essie Where’s My Chauffeur? 
  • Essie Play Date
  • Claire’s Matte Sorbet Blue
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)

I’ve been a little bit obsessed with dry brush designs lately, just because they make such a pretty back ground for nail art. I really like how the clean white lines stand out so much against the blurred pastel background. Originally I had thought about doing some more complicated tribal print, but I think the simplicity of a few geometric lines works way better. You see both the background & the graphic lines as well. I like it a lot. Plus it was a great excuse to work on free-handing straight lines, which is definitely something I find tricky.

Please excuse my horrendously dry hands. I’ve been struggling through finding the right hand creams to help under these extreme circumstances! I think I may have found my new favourite one, but I want to give it a couple weeks of real hands on testing before I make any posts about it. It’s actually one my Dad recommended to me. Got to love suggestions from Dad! Haha.

 

So what do you think about this design? Have you ever worn a dry brush design before? Do you like them on their own, or with nail art added on top. Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & for fun, share what hand cream is currently saving your dry hands right now!

♥♥♥

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Watercolour Freehand Floral 🌸

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday!

I hope everyone is having a lovely week. The weather here has been pretty amazing & Spring like. You can’t help but love it! Our flowers are even starting to bloom in our front garden, so naturally I was inspired to create some pretty floral on my nails! This design was also inspired by a nail art look that popped up in my Facebook memories from 6 years ago (this one, in case you want to see the original.)

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Where’s My Chauffeur
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • OPI Be Magentale With Me (Sheer Tints)
  • OPI Don’t Violet Me Down (Sheer Tints)
  • Essie No Shrinking Violets (Silk Watercolours)
  • Essie Love Sheen (Silk Watercolours)
  • Essie Flowerista
  • OPI Lost My Bikini in Molokini
  • OPI My Dog Sled Is A Hybrid
  • Essie Poolside Service
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

Okay, so I know every time I do a floral, I say that it’s my new favourite — so I won’t even say it, but seriously this might be the most favourite floral I’ve ever done! I feel like the sheer polish plus darker outlining just gives this manicure such a beautiful feel. & I love the floral combined with the brightness of Essie Where’s My Chauffeur which is hands down one of my favourite polishes for Spring. I’m really really in love with this whole combination.

& obviously, a close up because I am so freaking proud of how these turned out! I know roses are my floral safe zone, but I think I would to branch out a little bit more, maybe try & perfect other styles. I definitely still have plans to try out a tulip design very very soon as well!

What do you think about this floral look? Has your garden started to come to life yet? Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what kind of floral you’d like to see me attempt next!

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Crazy Dotticure Pattern Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, & didn’t eat too many chocolate eggs or jellybeans.

We had a pretty lovely weekend here in Halifax, which meant perfect weather for our annual Easter Egg hunt outside. Usually, all the cousins would gather out our house for it, but with social isolation & distancing it was just us. Never the less, our little guy had a blast finding all the eggs, & his baby sister had fun trying her first real taste of chocolate! I could definitely get used to warm sunny days, & they’re calling for sunshine & 16 degrees today, so I’ll take it!

So let’s show off some fun nails, shall we?

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo by ORLY pale peach (no label — it was a mini bottle circa 2013/2104)
  • Essie Splash of Grenedine
  • Essie First Timer
  • Essie Playdate
  • Essie Bikini so Teeny
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 to save 10% on your purchase!)

So I’ve been thinking about doing one of these dotticure pattern nails for a while, but for some reason was nervous to do it (& kept falling back into old trusted designs — like floral). But I’ve really been wanting to try something different, out of my comfort zone, & I’m really glad I did! At first I wasn’t sure about how these turned out, but I actually really adore them! So much so, I wore this look for a full 3 days until they started chipping.

These sort of remind me of like printed tiles, or something. I really like the bright pop of colour over the pale base shade. I’ve had this Quo shade in my minis drawer for a very long time, but I don’t think I’ve pulled it out to wear before. It makes a great almost neutral base for nail art.

What do you think about this dotticure? What was the last manicures out of your comfort zone you tried–did you grab a colour you never wear, or try out a design that made you nervous? Let me know in the comments below!

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Rainbow Easter Egg Inspired Accent Nail

Good morning lovelies & happy Thursday!

I hope everyone is having a lovely week, however you’re spending it. I did a fun yoga class last night (via zoom) so I’m feeling refreshed this morning. If there is one thing this home isolation has been doing for me, it’s been inspiring me to work out almost daily, which is awesome!

Today I gave an Easter inspired design to share with you. I wanted a look that would be perfect for Easter celebrations, but could also be worn just to celebrate Spring!

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Blue
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Mint
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Purple
  • Claire’s matte Sorbet Pink
  • Essie Ballet Slippers
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
  • TheBaseCoat Chevron/ZigZag (regular) Stencils

I really, really wanted to do something Easter-y on my nails, without going your typical bunny ears/Easter egg design. I started off on my ring finger by applying 2 coats of Ballet Slippers & my Essie Gel Setter to dry. Then I took my nail vinyls, & applied them to my ringer finger. Using a dotting tool, I started from the bottom of my nail, I worked quickly applied the alternating colours. All my shades were matte, which dry quickly, so I actually pulled off the vinyl one I had filled a section. Next up, I decided outlining would bring the look together, so I went through with my tiniest brush, & outlined all my chevrons with my white polish, as well as the outside of my nail.

& I feel like the end result looks so cool, & dainty, & just Easter-y enough. Like a “grown up” Easter egg design.

Seriously, I’m obsessed. It’s been a while since I pulled out the zig zag chevron nail vinyls, & oh man have I missed them! I guess one thing I can thank this whole situation for, is that I’m really putting more effort into my nail art, & love rediscovering all these old tools of mine. It’s a fun way to distract myself from all the craziness happening outside of the house — or from the fact that I really miss my extended family. Hopefully the world returns to some form of normalcy again, so we can all get together & celebrate all the events we’re missing out on.

Do you have a special manicure planned for your Easter? What is your favourite Easter candy? Let me know down in the comments below! (Mine are Peeps by the way, I know… I’m strange but I LOVE them!)