SWATCH SUNDAY — Icing Stores Santa Baby

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! & happy December 1st as well! The countdown to Christmas is officially on, so naturally it’s time to get SERIOUS about all things holly & jolly. This month, I’m going to be dedicating all my Swatch Sunday posts to polishes of Christmas past, which are my favourite to pull out during the holidays.

First up, I chose a shade that’s a few years old but is probably one of the most Christmas-y shades I own: Icing Stores Santa Baby. For those who don’t know what Icing is, it’s a accessories store owned by Claire’s–basically Claire’s big sister store–& during holidays like Halloween, Christmas, or Easter, they always come out with themed collections. This bottle of polish was originally released as part of their 2015 Christmas collection, & I’ve been pulling it out ever since!

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Santa Baby is a glitter topper — the base is clear, & it is packed full of an assortment of glitters in red, green & white, all ranging from tiny micro glitters to medium sized bar glitters. But the coolest part about this polish is that it is scented like peppermint/candy canes once dried, & it comes through even with a nice coat of glossy top coat to seal it in. Seriously… the barista at my local coffee shop commented on how cool this polish looked on my nails, & I literally was like “you have to smell them! It smells like candy canes!” I’m a little weird sometimes.

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For my swatches, I applied one coat of Santa Baby over Essie Wrap It Up, & sealed everything in with Essie Gel Setter to level my nails out. This is one of my favourite ways to wear this polish & the best option for showing it off in all its glory. Second to that, this shade makes for the most perfect glitter gradient which I’ve shown off in years past. I’d love to try to sponge it on someday, & maybe I will as like an accent nail with some peel off base coat if I’m looking for a one night kind of manicure. I’d be really curious to see what it looks like all sponged on.

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As you can see, it’s like Christmas-y confetti on the nails. How amazing is that? I just adore the different range of glitter styles packed into one bottle. It always makes me feel festive whenever I put it on, even if I’m feeling more Grinch-y than Elf-y! Instantly it is like my holly & jolly levels will begin to rise, no rum spiked egg nog needed at all.

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Sadly this polish is 4+ years old, so it’s no longer in production. I even checked online to see if there was a similar product available, but there doesn’t seem to be any Christmas nail polishes at all this year by them. So this is definitely one of those lock it in the vault kind of shades if you happen to have it as part of your collection, because it really is special.

Do you have any special to your Christmas polishes you pull out every year? Let me know what yours are, & stay tuned because I have more Christmas themed nail polishes to share with you this month!

Silver Snowflake Pattern

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Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to their week! Did you do anything over the weekend? This past weekend, I went to a Christmas craft market with the family, & it’s crazy to think that Christmas is only a little over a month away! So obviously it was about time for some snowflake nails! ❄️

& is there anything better than blue & silver? Nope, I can’t think of a better combo! This design turned out looking like wrapping paper!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essence It’s Raining Men!
  • Essie No Place Like Chrome
  • NailStuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set (use COFFEE10 to save 10% off your purchase!)
  • BornPrettyStore BP-L018 (item# 19373)

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Yes yes yes. These looks like wrapping paper & I’m so into it! A little bow on one nail & you’ve got easy(ish) present nails. Also have I mentioned how much I adore my NailStuff clear stamper lately? I’ve been going a little crazy on stamping lately so I’ve been using it a lot. Do I miss freehanding? Absolutely, & I’m itching to do some Christmas floral soon, but sometimes I have like 20-25 minutes to do my nails so stamping is just easier. It really is the perfect nail art option for Moms with no time that want pretty nails.

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How cute would this look be for a Christmas/holiday party? I don’t have one of those to go to this year, but if I did I could so see myself wearing some this like this! I’ve been thinking about doing a “cute nail art designs for your holiday party” blog post, so if you want to see that let me know in the comments below! I’d include some easy & more difficult designs so there is something for everyone!

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What do you think about this stamped snowflake design? Have you started your holiday nail art yet? Let me know down in the comments below!

Geometric Chevron Claws

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Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having a lovely week. I’ve been MIA this week, but it’s just been one of those weeks. I do have some new nail art to share, although I’ll be honest these looked better in my head. I had this cool idea about doing these funky geometric shatter pattern, but the colours just didn’t match up properly to make it pop.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie For The Twill Of It
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Lilac Insomniac
  • Deep Chevron nail vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
  • Black Acrylic Paint

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Gosh, I wanted to love this design so much, & I did wear them for 4+ days, but they just didn’t turn out how I had pictured in my head & it made me sad. Made if my base colour & chevron colour was lighter, the black paint would have popped better. I also thought about adding a few blocks of gold, but I just didn’t have enough time so I left them plain. Maybe next time I try this look, I’ll go with some lighter colours so my design pops more.

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What do you think about this design? What colour combination would you like to see me do next? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie For The Twill Of It

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to this new month. Today I decided to pull an old favourite from my stash & one of the first Essie shades I ever owned: Essie For The Twill Of It. This polish was originally released as part of the Fall 2013 collection & I picked it up back then in a set of 4 minis at my local Marshall’s.

Now I have featured this shade before in my original China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You Post, but it’s long overdue for me to give this gorgeous polish its own spotlight!

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For my swatches, you’re looking at 2 coats of polish over my usual base coat. I skipped top coat for my photos so you could see For The Twill of It in its natural state. There are a few bumps in the polish once dried, but that could be chalked up to this polish being A. 6 years old & B. being a mini bottle, which I always find let’s to the polish getting gloopy or dried up faster. However, a nice coat of thick top coat (like Essie Gel Setter) will smooth any issues out.

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Look at the silver to fuchsia & green/turquoise shift… how gorgeous! Depending on the light it can be very apparent & pops off the nail! I also really love the tiny micro shimmer that is almost Holo-esque in the sunshine. It really gives this polish an amazing dimension that is unlike most other grey metallic polishes I own. I saw someone refer to it as an “oil slick” nail polish, & that really is the perfect description.

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For once, I picked a Swatch Sunday polish that was still available for purchase! You can find For The Twill Of It available in a few places like…

If you don’t already have a bottle in your stash, I definitely recommend picking one up. Also who else thinks that this shade would be the perfect base for an over the top glitter gradient? Holiday party ideas are brewing!

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What do you think of Essie For The Twill Of It? Do you own this beautiful shade? Let me know down in the comments below!

Autumn Floral 🍂🌼

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Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone had a safe & fun Halloween, & is not too far deep into a sugar coma quite yet! (Remember, leftover Halloween candy goes 50% off today!)

I’m sad that Halloween month October is over, but excited for a brand new month. November is one of those weird nail art months where Halloween is over, but it’s too early to think about Christmas, so I get stuck on what to do on my nails. I think this month I’m going to challenge myself to try one new nail art look/technique a week to see what new designs I discover. But before we just into that, how about a tried & true Coffee & Nail Polish design: floral.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
  • Top Coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Cliffhanger
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Troublemaker
  • Sally Hansen CSM Pat on the Black
  • Sally Hansen CSM I Lilac You
  • Sally Hansen CSM Cherry Cherry Bang Bang
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Jelly Belly Bubblegum
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie First Timer
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio

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It feels like ages since my last floral, even though it really has only been a month or so (if you don’t count my little floral accents in my sugar skull look). Like I said, the beginning of November always leaves me at a loss for designs–too early for Christmas, too late for Halloween. I still have yet to do a classic Fall leaves look, so I will definitely have to add that to my list. But definitely the hardest time of year, aside from maybe January, to decide on designs. I might have to go through blog posts from Novembers past to find some nail art inspo!

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What do you think about this Fall inspired floral? What nail art is your favourite to do during the pre-Christmas season? Share down below what nail art you’d like to see me try!