SWATCH SUNDAY — Joe Fresh Quartz

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope you’re all having a beautiful & fantastic weekend so far. The weather here has been beautiful so far, & I got to enjoy a lovely Saturday off work (that never happens) so I’m feeling refreshed for the week ahead.

So lately I’ve been rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer — I’m on season 2. Which mean, obviously, I’ve been obsessing about her nail polish. In particular, I noticed this metallic grey shade she’s been wearing a lot this season. So I decided to take a look into my stash, & found this beautiful Joe Fresh shade I’ve owned since 2015-ish or so: Quartz.

3 coats + Essence Extreme GEL Top Coat

Yes, so this shade is pretty sheer upon first, & even second, application. I ended up with three thin coats for full opacity. However, they applied with minimal streaking & brushstrokes, so I was pretty happy with that. You can also apply this over a darker shade with lesser coats as well. I do believe that will bring out the duochrome effect a bit more dramatically as well.

A macro shot for good measure. The shift is very good on this shade, depending on which was you move your fingers. I love the purple to green shift on this — it’s beautiful.

But just for a fun, I thought I’d add a little sparkle to this beauty which has been in my stash just as long: CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance. This shade has a similar colouring, but with some added holo sparkle! & the results was perfect.

Adding Dazzling Dance definitely changed the switch from a greenish to a blue/silver, but I love the end result. That sparkle definitely makes up the duller duochrome shift. But I totally think this polish is giving me late 90s, early 2000s vibes & I’m totally here for it.

What do you think about this week’s Swatch Sunday pick: Joe Fresh Quartz. Do you prefer it on it’s own, or with the the added sparkle of CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

GlamnailschallengeOct—Ghosts 👻

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Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! The week is certainly speeding by! Today I have another fun look designed for #glamnailschallengeOct–ghost inspired nails! & be still my Halloween loving heart, because these turned out so much fun. I decided to try out a look I’ve always wanted to try, using watered down acrylic paint.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Joe Fresh Gel Look Gothika Blue
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • White acrylic paint
  • Black acrylic paint
  • Thick nail art brush (I used an old one from Bundle Monster)
  • Small dotting tool (Mine are from NailStuff.ca)

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First off, loving this base of Fairy Dust over Gothika Blue because it really does look like the night sky. Also why do I always forget how amazing China Dust Fairy Dust is over pretty much everything, but especially over dark polishes. I don’t wear it nearly as much as I should. Could you imagine it over a dark red to black gradient?! Okay I’m getting some nail art ideas for more Halloween designs! Definitely going to need to try that out in the next couple weeks before Halloween. It would look so good!

Okay back to this design, haha.

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This design turned out pretty much how I imagined, although I kind of wish I had watered down my acrylic slightly more to give my ghosts a more ghostly appearance, but I think the trick is the try & only do one coat of white vs. a few coats. My thumb kind of turned out my favourite, because you can see the the base peeking through his ghostly body. & I love how it looks. Next time I try this technique, I’ll know what works a bit better & I’ll be able to get them all perfect.

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What do you think about today’s ghostly look? Have you started planning your Halloween looks yet? Let me know down in the comments below what you think about this design, & as always check out #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram for everyone else’s amazing designs this month!

🎃

3 Easy Accent Nail Ideas

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Hello lovelies!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to their week & October! Can you believe it’s October already?! It is absolutely my favourite month of the year because HALLOWEEN! & my birthday as well, but still haven’t decided if I’m excited for my birthday this year or not.

Today though I have a fun nail art post to share with you featuring 3 different accent nail art looks that are both quick & easy! For these designs I used the same polishes for all 3 looks, & tried to do nail art that #1. wouldn’t take forever to dry, & #2. didn’t need a whole lot of complicated tools

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For all three designs, I decided to use the same polishes:

  • Essie After School Boy Blazer
  • Essie White Page
  • Quo by ORLY Breathable Nail Superfood
  • Joe Fresh Gel Look Sparkling Glitz
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Frosted Berries

As always, I used my base coat & top coat for a complete look. As well, I used a couple nail art tools in order to achieve my look–a dotting tool & a striping brush. Mine are both from NailStuff.ca, although there are a ton of different places you can purchase nail art tools.

Continue reading “3 Easy Accent Nail Ideas”

Winter Essentials with Shoppers Drug Mart!

Hello lovelies, it’s been WAY too long. Sorry for my impromptu hiatus… October & November have been insane for me & I haven’t had a free minute to breathe, let alone paint my nails & write a post. But I’m finally getting a free minute & super excited to share with you some PR goodies I received from Shoppers Drug Mart. They sent me a box featuring a whole bunch of Winter essential items, & since my hands were feeling VERY rough, I couldn’t wait to get a chance to take some “me” time & spoil myself a little.

Included in my PR box was 5 Quo by ORLY Breathable shades, a nourishing hand mask by Life Brand & an adorable statement ring from Joe Fresh. The Quo shades you see are Aloe, Goodbye!, Grateful Heart, Sheer Luck, Soul Sister, & Kiss Me I’m Kind.

Continue reading “Winter Essentials with Shoppers Drug Mart!”

Born Pretty Store 3D Nail Art Stickers (item #40422) Review

Good morning beauties & happy Tuesday. Today I’m showing off some brand new nail art stickers I recently received in a review package from Born Pretty Store. They were so kind as to send me a few nail art goodies in exchange for my honest thoughts & reviews, & I couldn’t wait to break into the package!

These nail art stickers are item #40422 & come in both gold holo & silver holo. I picked both colours, but since I was feeling a purple base, I figured the gold would pop more over top. The stickers themselves come with a large sheet of different sizes & style, which is perfect when trying to pick what kind of look you want to do. For my nails, I decided to go more simplistic using the larger size stickers.

Application was super simple. All you need to do is paint your base colour (I picked Joe Fresh Gel Gothika Blue) & let dry some. To speed up the drying process, I did apply a quick dry top coat to my base, mostly because if my nails were fully dry, I could be more selective about sticker application. When my nails were dry, I then carefully peeled my stickers off their sheet with tweezers, & applied them onto my nail. I made sure to press them down really well, & flatten any possible air bubbles. Then, when I was happy with my look, I sealed everything in with top coat.

I wore these nails for a full day of work (stock day at that!) & they lasted pretty well. I did find that my nails where the sticker went close to the edge of my nail–like my middle finger & pinky nail–had some issues with the sticker lifting but that could be because I was not as precise with my top coat to fully seal the sticker in. The best bet is to aim to make sure that the stickers are placed more centrally on the nail, or you just make sure your sealing all the edges really well.

As you can see down below, my stickers definitely seemed to stand out a bit from its base–they were for the most part sealed onto my nail, but seemed raised against my base colour. I don’t know if this was because I had used a top coat already but when I use these again I will definitely try it over just the base colour & see if it helps the issue. These stickers are definitely not the first brand I’ve had this issue with, so I’m thinking it’s more an issue with my application.

I’m definitely a fan of these stickers & the easy way you can create a nail art look using them. I even had someone ask me where I got my nails done! As I mentioned above, you can find these guys at the Born Pretty Store website (item #40422) & they come in both silver & gold. I definitely want to try pairing both colours together the next time I use them, so see what kind of look I can create.

Don’t forget, you can use my Born Pretty discount code COFFK31 to save 10% off any regular priced items.