Category: Manicure

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Venomous

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s an especially beautiful Sunday because it’s my birthday! Okay, so I’ve never really been a birthday person — even before I hit my 30s — but I do love a free Starbucks drink so I’l celebrate it slightly.

Today though, we have another Swatch Sunday & I dug & dug through my nail polish stash to find an Halloween-esque nail polish shade, & I found this very special shade circa 2010/2011. This is Claire’s Venomous.

2 coats over OPI Black Cherry Chutney + top coat

So a little back story on this shade. I purchased this during the beginnings of my nail polish addict stages. I remembered reading this Claire’s (which I worked at during this time) had released some nail polishes that were dupes for the MAC Venomous Villian’s collection, so naturally I knew I needed them. I only have 2/3 shades (I believe) but they are prized treasures in my nail polish stash.

Now, for my swatches I did two coats over a one coat of Black Cherry Chutney. The formula is very, very thin — requiring 3-4 coats — so I always prefer to add some undies. (If you want to see swatches on this shade layered, check out Deez Nailz post. ) I love the foiled finish of this shade, & how the polish shifts depending on how you move your hand. Depending on the undies you choose, you can bring out more of the green shift you see in the bottle.

As above, you can see a good example of how the shade shifts on the nails. I wrote in a previous post about Quo by ORLY Wrong so Right that they were dupes, but looking at the close up above I feel like you get a lot more of the gold/green flash with this shade which I quite like. This was actually the colour I chose for my nails for a wedding I attended this weekend, & I thought it was the perfect colour for Autumn. & the nail is very Halloween-y, obviously.

What do you think about Claire’s Venomous? What is your oldest/most prized nail polish in your nail polish collection? Do you think this is a great Halloween-y polish? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Sunday Everyone. ♥︎

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An Easy Halloween Glitter Gradient 🎃✨

Hello lovelies — it’s Friday! & I’m definitely happy for the weekend as it’s my birthday weekend. Today is also Friday the 13th, which for most is a scary day but Friday is my lucky day, & 13 is my lucky number. So I’m always excited for a Friday the 13th!

Today I’m taking a break from the Glam Nails Challenge designs for a quick & simple Halloween inspired glitter gradient.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri x Sour Patch Kids Pump-kid
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri x Sour Patch Kids Hallo-Queen

So you might remember, a few years ago, I did a similar idea using a darker base, so I thought it would be fun with this pumpkin orange as the base! Orange isn’t really a colour I’m drawn to frequently any other time of the year, but I do enjoy it around Halloween! & this is such a fun easy look that still gives off Halloween vibes without being obvious about it.

What do you think about this quick & easy glitter gradient? Are you a fan of orange polish? Let me know down in the comments below!

🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER — Black Cats 🐈‍⬛

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! It’s already mid-week, & I’m super excited for this weekend because not only am I going to a wedding on Saturday, & then it’s my birthday on Sunday. So it will be a good weekend.

Today, though, we have another fun prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October — Black Cats. Now, I’ve got a soft spot for black cats so I was very excited to create a black cat themed manicure. This time I decided to go with a bit more glam look, instead of scary & spooky.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • Essence Beam Me Up
  • Starrily Eclipse
  • Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (11mm liner brush)

It’s been a while since I last painted nail art with acrylic paint, & I kind of forgot that it makes nail art so much easier (sometimes) compared to nail polishes, especially for something like this. It also makes for fixing mistakes a lot easier too.

& I just love my little peeking black cats. Reminds me of my own black kitties — who have both sadly passed away. But I definitely want another one, eventually. Black cats are just the most special.

What do you think of my black cat design? Already 4 prompts in — that’s super exciting. This month is going to be very, very fun for nail art, I can feel it already.

Have the best Wednesday loves! 🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER—Trick or Treat ☠️🍬

Hello loves & happy Thankgiving Monday! I hope everyone. had the most fabulous weekend, & is enjoying their Monday so far — especially if you happen to be off today. I’m excited to share off the next manicure for Glam Nails Challenge October, especially because I found this one a bit tricky… no pun intended. Haha. Here are my Trick or Treat nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fiery Island
  • Sally Hansen CSM Blush Around the World
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Ghouls Night Out
  • Essie Amuse, Myself
  • Essie No Shrinking Violet
  • Essence “Stamp It!” Stamping plate
  • Color Club Skull Stamping Plate
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper & Scraper Set
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

I had this idea of combining something sweet (like Candy) with something scary & spooky to convey the idea of Trick or Treat, & I think I was successful. Originally, I had just the black stamping my nails but it seemed a bit plain, so I went in with the two Essie water colour shades to fill them in & add a little bit of extra pop & I think it was exactly what it needed!

I cannot say enough how much I love these. A fun little manicure, perfect for Halloween.

What do you think about this trick or treat design? Did you get it as soon as you saw it? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & let me know what your favourite Halloween candy of all time is! If I had to choose, I would probably say sour patch kids!

♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Hard Candy Zombie (2015 20th Anniversary collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. & Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians celebrating this weekend. I hope it’s a wonderful weekend for you, full of Turkey & pumpkin pie.

Today I’m keeping the Halloween polish vibes going. Technically this isn’t a Halloween shade, per se, but it does have a very spooky name so I thought it would be perfect. This is Hard Candy Zombie.

1 coat + top coat

Even after 8 years, formula on this vintage shade is still very very good. I only needed one coat on most nails, although there were a couple spots where I touched up with a little extra. But it was a very good full coverage shade. The colour itself is a beautiful dark vampy purple, with burgundy shimmer. I do wish more of the shimmer had shown on my nails, though. In the bottle, it has such a stunning glow that sadly doesn’t fully translate to the nail fully.

This shade was originally released as part of the 2015 20th Anniversary collection that Hard Candy released as a tribute to the 90s. My assumption is that naming the shade Zombie is a tribute to the Cranberries song, although with it’s dark colour I feel like it’s also very perfect for Halloween.

Sadly, Hard Candy no longer appears to be in the nail polish game, which is a shame because all of the shades I own from them remain stunners, even after all this time.

What do you think about Hard Candy Zombie? Do you remember this release? What do you think — should Hard Candy get back into the polish game again? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Have a great Sunday loves! 🖤