Category: Jelly

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen InstaDri Prismatic Shine Purple Prism 💜✨

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The Summer weather is officially back in full swing — after some rainy chilly days — & I’ll be truthful, I’m loving it. I’m a hot hot hot Summer kind of girl always. Give me the sunshine!

& you know what looks awesome in sunshine — glitter. & today’s Swatch Sunday pick is a glitter bomb. This is Sally Hansen InstaDri Prismatic Shine Purple Prisim.

3 coats + top coat

I love a good purple, & I’ve really been loving glitter lately, so Purple Prism really brings the two worlds together. The base is a sheer purple jelly, which is packed full of multicoloured glitters, including holographic ones.

The base is very, very sheer so you need multiple coats. This is 3 not too thick coats — to achieve the bottle colour I would need at least one more thin coat, or to apply it thicker on the nail.

I do love the jelly like formula, with the exception of how it always seems to dry for me. There is always shrinkage at the tip, no matter how hard I try to cap my edges properly. I’m thinking it’s the fault of my quick dry top coat.

Look at all those glitters! Perfect to show off on a sunny day!

With how sheet the jelly formula, you could definitely get away with using it as a topper over another purple polish, & skip needing so many applications. The glitter might not be as dense on the nail, but it would definitely be beautiful!

How fun is this shade! Do you own any of the Sally Hansen InstaDri Prismatic Shine shades in your collection? Sadly my Shoppers Drug Mart has cleared out its stock of these shades, but I’m still hoping to find a few more of these beauties in my favourite clearance sections someday.

Happy Sunday!

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Gel Couture Tailored By Twilight

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Sunday — the first Sunday of Summer.

Surprisingly, today’s Swatch Sunday post isn’t super Summery, but I’ve been wearing really vampy polishes lately for some reason. While usually Summer screams neon for me, but I just find myself being drawn more towards darker shades. & today’s Swatch Sunday pick is just that: dark & vampy. & I love it.

This is Essie Gel Couture Tailored By Twilight. *gifted/PR

3 coats + top coat.

The first thing about this beautiful dark plum polish is the fact it is very jelly, which is not something I usually think I want when I’m reaching for a darker shade, but it really works with this particular shade. The formula is smooth, easy to apply, but with the darker colour I feel like I needed 3 coats in order to be able to fully cover the nail, & not have any streaky spots. But it did dry down quickly, especially with the added benefit of quick dry top coat (I used Essie Gel Setter.)

The more coats you apply, the darker the shade. You can see around my cuticle line where it is a bit lighter, but again I feel like for me 3 coats was what I needed to be fully in love with these nails.

Look how beautiful that shade is. I love love love a dark purple, & this one is just gorgeous.

Essie Gel Couture Tailored by Twilight is part of the core collection, so you should be able to find it anywhere you purchase your Essie shades, ranging in price from $11.49 CAD to $16.49 CAD (when not on sale).

What do you think about Essie Gel Couture Tailored by Twilight? Do you like these darker, vampier shades — even as the days are warming up? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & if you would wear this shade.

Happy Sunday.

♥︎

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Outlined Glitter Jelly Nails

Hey lovelies, happy Wednesday!

Long time, no post. I’ll be honest — blogging has been really hard this month. Even wanting to do my nails has hit a road block. I’m still painting them, but I don’t necessarily have the energy to do nail art. Hoping once this month is over, I’ll feel super inspired again.

But I did manage to do a simple nail art look recently, so I’m excited to share it!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat 
  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier
  • Essie Love Sheen (Silk Watercolours collection)
  • Ardene Secret Diary
  • Quo by Orly Nail Art Striper in Black

I started off by creating a jelly sandwich using Essie Love Sheen & Ardene Secret Diary. Originally that had been my only plan for these nails. But the next day, I couldn’t help but thing that some black outlining would really up the dramatic factor of this manicure — & I was right!

I don’t do outlining often, mostly because it takes a very steady hand I don’t always posses. But I’m so super proud of how these turned out & how neatly I managed to outline them! & nothing makes me happier than a cleanly drawn manicure!

What do you think about my outline glitter sandwich nails? Are they dramatic & fun? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

& if you have some nail art inspiration you want to shoot my way, I’m always looking for new inspiration for my nails! & with this nail art block I’m going through, I’d love some help to break out of it!

Happy Wednesday loves

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Starry Starry Night (2016 Re-release) 🌌🌠

Hello loves & happy Sunday. It’s a rainy, miserable Sunday here but I guess it beats snow. Today I decided to take a little trip to the past… all the way back to early 2016 when life was just simpler & all the crazy in the world seemed manageable.

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick is Essie Starry Starry Night from the 2016 Retro Revival Collection.

2 coats + 2 coats top coat

I’ll start off with this shade has definitely had a hard go since I bought it in 2016. While I have lots of shades over a decade old that apply perfectly, this was took some trick & finese to get a good looking application (& top coat… lots of top coat.) A little polish thinner, & I feel like she will be back to normal again.

The polish itself is a dark navy jelly base, with small silver glitters layered inside. The coats are thin enough that the glitter still peaks through, even with multiple coats.

I really like this colour & layered glitter look, which was why I originally bought it. I had no experience with the previous (original) version of this shade, but saw later people were upset about how different it was. Here is a great comparison post of the two different shades. While I love the revival version, I can see why lovers of the original could be upset, especially with change in colour & glitter size.

Do you remember this Essie shade? I kind of wish they had kept this one around rather than making it a limited edition release, but I suppose that’s how they build hype. I just find it so much more fun than a lot of the shades you see in the core collection.

What do you think? Should Essie bring this shade back (again)? Let me know what you think down in the comments below.

Happy Sunday

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Icing Stores Chips n Dip

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! After some rainy & chilly days we’re finally back to beautiful sunshine, & I couldn’t be happier.

For today’s Swatch Sunday post, I decided to do some serious digging through my stash & found a very throwback shade circa 2013 (I’m guessing). I wanted something bright & vibrant & Summery, & I think that I was very successful.

This is Icing Stores Chips n Dip.

3 coats + Top Coat

This beautiful fiery coral applied in 3 thin coats, which usually would be a no for me, but because the formula is quite thin, it dried down very quickly so I didn’t have to worry about wait time — especially after applying a quick dry top coat. It’s a cruelly formula, definitely leaning more on the jelly side of that occasion which I like.

The colour is bright & I love that. I’m always drawn towards anything in the red or red leaning family, & this is a fantastic Summer option. Like could you imagine this as a pedicure colour? So perfect for the beach.

Look how bright this is! Definitely looking more on the red side in these photos, but the coral really comes through in person.

My only complaint — & it’s probably an issue due to how long I’ve owned this shade — is handle of the brushes on the bottles have kind of melted over the years so they’ve gotten really sticky & I absolutely hate it. Not sure what to do to fix the stickiness, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Because I would love to use this shade (& others from this brand in the same style of bottle) but the sticky issue keeps me from reaching for them.

What do you think about Icing Stores Chips N Dip? Does this shade scream Summer to you as much as it does to me? Have you ever tried an Icing brand polish? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

Happy Sunday! ♥︎