SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Sunday Funday

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautifully sunny, albeit freaking chilly, Sunday here on my part of the East Coast. Winter seems to be lingering now. So I thought I would remind myself of better, warmer days with an old favourite Essie shade for this week’s Swatch Sunday post — Sunday Funday.

It was originally released as part of the Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection.

2 coats + Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat

For a polish which has been in my stash for (I think) at least 8 years, she applied like a dream. I needed to shade my bottle a bit, since it had settled leaving the colour weird, but I found it had no effect once it was on the nail — you can see in the bottle there is still some colour separation showing.

The polish itself is a beautiful pinky coral, with a gold glass shimmer. It gives it a nice sparkle. I had a bit of trouble with photographing, as everything was photographing really yellow, but I think that’s a phone camera issue rather than a polish issue. These pictures are definitely as colour accurate as I could get.

As mentioned, this shade was originally released in 2013. It was part of the core collection for a while, I do believe, but Essie lists it as no longer available on their website sadly. I did find a listing for it on Sparkle Canada, but I’ve never bought from them so I’m not sure how legit that is. Obviously, if it’s a shade you need to have, Ebay always might have it, as well as any nail polish clearance bins.

What do you think about this punchy Essie shade? Are you are ready for Spring & Summer shades as I am ready to share them? Let me know what you think of Essie Sunday Funday! & I hope you have a Sunday Funday (that’s just fun to say) too!

♥︎

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER – Spiders

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

I wish I could say I did, but I’ve been fighting through a horrible sickness for the last week or so, & Saturday I worked 10 hours with laryngitis which was… not fun. I also haven’t had any time or energy for my nails, which is why it’s been so quiet on here. But I do have my next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October, because I am dedicated to seeing it to the end.

Today’s prompt is Spiders. I decided to go with a quick & easy spider web design using these Dollarama nail art stickers.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-chip Top Coat
  • Essie Kimono-over
  • Paris Hilton Nail Polish unnamed glitter
  • Starrily Space Debris
  • Dollarama Halloween nail art stickers

These stickers are so cute, & I really like them over this sparkly purple base. I really love these glitters layered over the darkness of Essie Kimono-over — it build into such a beautiful base for me. The stickers — well while I’ve had some really good luck with other Dollarama nail art stickers, these ones might have been too big, or too stiff, but they did not want to stay on my nails at all. But at least I got enough wear out of them for this design!

Also I know it said Spiders as the prompt — but I hate spiders. Spider webs are much, much more fun for me to wear. & don’t give me the creeps.

What do you think about this nail art look for Glam Nails Challenge October? Have you been following along with the other looks on Instagram? Don’t forget, you can check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeOct to see all the other fun designs! Only 2 more prompts to go until Halloween!

Have a lovely Monday.

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER — Ghosts 👻

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday. I know I usually post my Glam Nails Challenge Sunday prompts on Monday, but we were on a long drive yesterday & I totally forgot to write down what shades I used for my nails before we went away haha. So I had to wait until I was back home before I could write up my post — silly, silly me.

The next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge is ghosts! & I was super pumped for this prompt. I always have fun coming up with ghosty looks, & this manicure was no different.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Chocolate
  • CND Crimson Sparkle
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • OPI After Alter
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

How cute did these little ghosties turn out? I’m absolutely obsessed with how they turned out. Ghosts are one of those nails are you can do in so many different styles, but I really like the contrast of the white over the burgundy base, with those sparkles & flakes — gives it a ghostly appearance. Plus the colour is just lovely — even if it’s not traditionally Halloween.

Oh man, I’m having so much fun with this prompt, even if this month is turning out to be a bit busier than I had originally intended. But that’s okay! This is definitely the nail art challenge I did to get my creative nail art juices flowing.

& don’t forget to keep following along with #glamnailschallengeoct to see all the other fun nail art looks that are being posted!

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Kiss & Spell

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is enjoying the second week of September so far. 🍂🍁 The weather here here has been that perfect mix of no humidity & slightly cooler temperatures that always gets me excited to get dressed in the morning!

I’m also excited because today I’m sharing another dark beauty of a polish, which was originally released as part of the 2020 Halloween Spellbound collection: Kiss & Spell.

2 coats, no top coat.

How pretty is this beautiful purple-y burgundy packed with red & golden flakies. Kiss & Spell takes two coats for full opacity, & dries down to a lovely matte finish. I didn’t have any issues with application, which can sometimes happen with matte shades, & I found it dried relatively quickly. Of course, if I was wearing this for a few days, I would probably still apply a quick dry top coat, & then apply a matte top coat over that as well.

Sadly, while beautiful, the matte finish definitely hides the beauty of the glitters — applying a shiny top coat definitely shows off those flakies. You can see in my bottle shot how gorgeous the colours are!

I know a lot of people are still in Summer mode, & I don’t blame them, but wearing this polish makes me realize just how freaking excited I am for Fall, & Halloween! There is something about a deep reddish burgundy shade that is perfect for this time of year as we get those cooler mornings & evenings. This just makes me happy for knee high boots, sweaters, & tights. Plus all that Halloween candy that is just calling my name!

Do you remember China Glaze Kiss & Spell from the Halloween 2020 collection?

It feels like so long since that release. I found this beauty last Halloween at my local Winners, so if you missed out on this shade upon first release, definitely check out your local Winners/Marshalls for a lingering bottle. It is a perfect Autumn shade, & definitely perfect for spooky season.

Have a lovely day!

Crystal Drag Marble (featuring Black Dahlia Lacquer Frozen Twilight & Winter Dusk)

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Features Gifted Product in Exchange for Content

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s week is off to a not too stressful start. Today I’m excited because I’m sharing a stunning nail art look that I’m really, really excited about using the beautiful shades from Sunday’s Swatch Sunday post.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Black Dahlia Lacquer Frozen Twilight (NailStuff.ca exclusive)
  • Black Dahlia Lacquer Winter Dusk (NailStuff.ca exclusive)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio — I used the thinnest one to make it easiest to create my drag marble

Look at the close up! I adore the look of Frozen Twilight against Winter Dusk.

I’m not going to lie — I was a bit nervous about how well these two shades were going to marble together. & quite honestly, this might be the most successful (& beautiful!) drag marble I’ve done in longer than I can remember. It sort of reminds me of when you find rocks that have geodes & crystals running through them.

It just turned out so pretty!

The jelly formula on Frozen Twilight being a bit on the thinner side meant it was also a lot easier to get the polishes swirling without things starting to dry too quickly. Nothing worse than trying to do a drag marble, & your polishes are drying as your trying to marble them! Then you get weird bald patches & have to start over. Ugh, the worst! But these two shades marbled together like a dream & I’m super happy with the end result.

What do you think about this drag marble featuring Frozen Twilight & Winter Dusk? Do you like how I paired these two shades together? Do you love the Autumn vibes that these shades are giving off? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Products featured in this post were provided in exchanged for content.  All thoughts are honest & my own.