Christmas Penguin accent nails!

Good morning lovelies! I’m back again, & I have another Christmas-y design to share… after all it’s only 3 more days until Christmas. (When did that happen?) Today’s look is a surprisingly easy look that I’ve done & redone over the years & always come back to.

I actually did this nails last weekend, but anyone else who works in retail this time of year probably understands the craziness which is my life right now… barely any time to breathe, let alone write a blog post… just counting down the days to my two days off over Christmas. It’s going to be GLORIOUS!

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sprinkled With Love
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-ice
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Let’s Snow
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fiery Island
  • Small dotting tool
  • Small nail art brush (obsessed with my collection from www.nailstuff.ca

First I started off by laying Make It N-ice over Sprinkled with Love for a little extra sparkle…. because tis the season. & then I freehanded my little penguin over top on both my ring fingers to make my look more festive. I first saw this look on Pshiiit Nails (via Pinterest) & just loved how it looked so I needed to recreate. & obviously I had to add a little a festive Christmas-ness with some Santa hats!

My only complaint is that my top coat smeared my penguins a little. I’ve been testing out the Essie Gel Couture Top Coat & while the lasting power is amazing, it’s not my favourite top coat for putting over nail art because it does seem to smear designs. Guess I’m still on the hunt for the perfect one!

what do you think of this penguin design? Have you figured out what you’re wearing for Christmas? Let me know down below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice

Oh my gosh, this post is so late going up! But better late than ever! Today’s Swatch Sunday post is an old Fall favourite of mine that has lived in my stash for a few years now: Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice.

Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice is a special edition polish that they release & re-release in the Fall as part of their Halloween collection. I googled it, & the first reference I could find was dated 2012. I purchased my bottle circa 2014. The polish itself is a clear base, full of gold & reddish orange glitters. For my swatches, I decided to apply it over a base of ORLY Color Blast Garnet–I did 2 coats of Pumpkin Spice over one coat of Garnet.

As you can see from my pictures & swatches, Pumpkin Spice is not a super dense glitter topped. Two coats still left the base shade visible. You could definitely build more opacity by sponging the glitter on. I definitely think that this glitter pops more over a dark base verses the red base, in person my nails looked a lot more glittery.

This is definitely a favourite Fall Polish for me & I am so darn ready for all things Fall. It’s officially September & it means I am ready. Bring on my knee high socks, plaid everything, cosy knits & Fall Polish collections. Goodbye Summer, it’s been fun.

As I mentioned above, Sinful Colors seems to re-release Pumpkin Spice as part of their Fall/Halloween collections, although I haven’t looked hard enough to see if it’s been release yet. I couldn’t find anything online about this year’s release, but we’re still pretty early. I feel like it will probably be re-released again, just because it seems to come back every year.

I guess we will have to wait & see!

Do you own Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice? Do you love it? Share down below & if you know whether or not it will be part of this year’s Halloween display!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Revlon Magnetic

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. Technically it’s a long weekend here in Halifax, but thanks to retail life I only have tomorrow off. It’s okay though… I still managed to get a Swatch Sunday post ready for today & she’s a beauty!

Today’s polish pick is one from the stash I’ve never actually worn: Revlon Magnetic. I’ve owned this shade for a while (I think I picked it up last Fall) but it’s been sitting untouched in my stash since then, just waiting for the right moment to shine.

Revlon Magnetic is a fairly sheer purple shimmer with a slight duochrome shift & blue microglitters. The polish on its own would take a lot to build to opacity, so for my swatches I layered 2 coats over a base of Color Club Pucci-licious. Sadly I struggled to get the duochrome to show up in my pictures, but it motion you could really see the shift. I share a video on my Instagram stories & ooooooh it looks so gorgeous in motion!

You know how I love a good purple & I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to actually wear it. Part of the reason I reached for it, is because it kind of reminded me of the new Essie Retrograde shades they released in the states. Sadly, I don’t have one to compare (I wish!) but this makes a great alternative. If you do have both to compare, let me know how close they actually are. I’m very curious!

I’m loving how all these cosmic themed 🌌 polishes are coming out right now. At work we have a whole collection of cosmic themed shades for the Fall–I’ve already bought 2 so far, & I have at least one more if not two I’m going to need to buy next. It reminds me why I fell in love with duochrome polish in the first place!

What do you think of Revlon Magnetic? Do you own this shade in your stash? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

Rainbow 🌈 Nails

Good Morning Lovelies & Happy Monday. Today I have a special manicure to share with you in honour of it being Pride Week in Halifax right now — some rainbow nails. This past weekend, I went out to celebrate & attended my very first Drag Show ever! So in honour of that, I wanted to create a design bright & colourful, & with a touch of glitter.

For this design, the polishes used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen CSM Let’s Snow
  • Sally Hansen MG Just Maui’d
  • Sally Hansen MG Bourbon Belle
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
  • Essie First Timer
  • Quo by ORLY Pep in Your Step
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge
  • Wet n Wild Clear Polish
  • This design was super simple to create. I started off with a plain white base (my current favourite White polish!) & then sponged each colour over top of the white. Next I took a clear nail polish that would streak the colours together & repeatedly brushed over the nail so they blended. This is a trick I like to use with gradients, sponged looks & dry brushes because it blends them together really well (especially good with gradients!) & then I finish with actual top coat after. I also felt like this design needed a little bit of glitter, so I added some fairy dust as well.

    I really love this combination of colours & the rainbow-ness of it. It was the perfect design for the awesome night I had out dancing! I’m very proud to live in a city which can celebrate Pride with such festivity & inclusivity. There really is an event for everyone!

    What do you think of my rainbow nails? 🌈 Have you ever attended a drag show before? Share you comments down below & let me know what you think!

    SWATCH SUNDAY — New Polish from Wrenn Polish (& an old favourite too!)

    Happy Sunday lovelies! & happy Canada Day 🇨🇦 to all my Canadian followers! I hope everyone is surviving the heat we’re currently experiencing across the country.

    Today’s Swatch Sunday post is an exciting one. I recently received some new beauties from Alissa at Wrenn Polish. She just released a brand new polish called Summer Sands which is a sandy tan holo & restocked one of her popular shades Happy Thoughts! & I was lucky enough to receive both gorgeous shades to add to my growing Wrenn Polish collection.

    *PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own

    Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — New Polish from Wrenn Polish (& an old favourite too!)”