Category: Matte Nails

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Pantone Nails with Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Malibu Peach(& a new matte top coat!)

Hello lovelies & happy 2019! I hope everyone had a fantastic start to the new year… I certainly enjoyed having two days off in a row! Today I’m starting off the new year not only by blogging (oh how I’ve missed you) but with a post featuring a shade inspired by the Pantone 2019 shade of the year Living Coral — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Malibu Peach.

I have to be honest, I’m not always drawn to these specially selected shades, but I am seriously in love with everything about this shade. It’s such a bright, happy shade, & I want to pain my house in in.

For my swatches, I did three coats of Malibu Peach followed by the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat to seal it in. The formula was a little bit tricky on this guy, which is why it took so many coats to have the polish not look streaky, but the end result was definitely worth it. & the top coat left the polish looking shiny & fabulous.

However, this time of year always leaves me craving matte nails, & Sally Hansen is releasing a BRAND NEW matte top coat, this time in their Miracle Gel formula! I am always impressed with how long I can get the Miracle Gel shades to last on my nails (especially when I’m so hard on my nails… that’s retail life for you!) So to say I was excited to see how well this matte top coat would last was an understatement.

Matte perfection.

In my original test run of this combo, I had my manicure last 5 days during Christmas craziness before any major chipping happened, which for a matte manicure is pretty impressive. There was the unavoidable tip wear, but as far as the whole nail it remained relatively intact. The only thing I did notice was that I seemed to have some cracks on the nail when I looked closely, but other than that it held up really well!

If you want to check out this new topcoat, Sally Hansen will be releasing this Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat in Canada stores this month & should retail for the same price as the other Miracle Gel shades.

Are you a fan of matte nails–are you excited to try out this new Matte Top Coat? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Zoya Yves

Happy Sunday my lovelies! Today’s post is a goodie–something perfect for these cooler Fall days. 🍁 Today I’m sharing a polish from the Zoya Winter 2015 collection called Yves. This beauty was found last Summer at my local Winners & has been sitting untouched in my Melmer, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to be worn. & what is more perfect that the beginning of Fall.

Yves is a sapphire blue matte polish with a scattered blue shimmer. For my swatches, I used two tricky coats, but I could have definitely gone with 3 as I had some bald spots that could have benefited from an extra coat. I also used 2 coats of thick base coat under my swatches as this is definitely a stainer. & nobody wants their nails permanently stained blue. (I’m already dealing with blue hair dye that doesn’t want to fade for me.)

This polish is definitely gorgeous. & it’s been way too long since I wore just blue on my nails. I was quite impressed with how the polish dried down (to its satin matte finish) but I think I love it even more with top coat over top–you can really see that blue shimmer & it feels much more jewel like. Down below you can really see just how stunning it is with top coat (& just ignore those spots where I could have benefited from an extra coat of polish.)

& a close up to see those blue shimmers!

Zoya Yves is definitely a stunner, & I’m living for these jewel tones right now. 💎 Fall has me feeling all these dark shades I’ve been ignoring during Summer months & I’ve ESPECIALLY missing my darker shades. They’re just so good!

I found this shade at my local Winners, but if you need this polish in your life, you can pick up the beauty at NailPolishCanada.com as well as the Zoya Website. After googling the rest of the shades in the collection, I’m definitely going to need to pick up a few of the others. You can never have too many jewel toned polishes in your collection for Fall.

What do you think of Zoya Yves? What Fall Polish are you currently wearing? Let me know down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Hello lovelies! Today I’m sharing a fun polish for my Swatch Sunday pick! Today’s polish is cult favourite China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy. Sadly I don’t have the original version of this shade which was a bit pinker, but I do have the new formulation & it’s one of my summer favourites. Who doesn’t love a blinding neon coral? The perfect shade for emphasizing that summer tan (or giving you the illusion of a tan when you spend 40 hours a week inside the mall).

Like most neons, Flip Flop Fantasy dries matte which means it dries quickly & can make application tricky. For my swatches below, I did Base Coat, & then two coats of Flip Flop Fantasy. When I started trying to photograph my swatches I realized how crazy the neon-ness was making my camera so I tried three different lighting situations to see if I could accurately capture the colour.

Normal light box lighting (daylight bulb):

Light box no lighting:

Natural lighting:

As you can see from above, my pictures outside my light box with natural lighting were the most colour accurate. The light box with daylight bulb made it look almost yellow-ish & without lighting it looked kind of peachy. #3 really shows off the neon colour true to that shade you see in the bottle. This is just one of those shades which is beautiful on the Nails, but hates to be photographed.

Down below I have my swatches, this time with glossy top coat (Seche Vive) added. I almost managed to capture the polish true to colour in my second photo!

Do you have China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy in your stash… original formula or new? Share your thoughts on this shade down in the comments below!

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Matte Floral for the First Day of Spring!

The day has finally come… it’s the first day of Spring! Well as of 1:05pm or something. It’s definitely been a long Winter, even if we didn’t have a super snowy Winter this year. I am so absolutely excited for Spring days & floral dresses & warmer days. So in honour of Spring finally arriving, & to encourage Mother Nature 🌸 a little, I figured some more floral was in order.

I’m not going to lie, these nails took me a while. A whole episode of Vanderpump Rules & then some. What’s the saying? You can’t rush perfection? Well these are definitely perfection to me.

For this manicure, the many, many polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Matte Top Coat
  • Wrenn Polish Passionfruit Pink
  • China Glaze I Got A Blue Attitude
  • Wet N Wild Haze of Love
  • China Glaze Life is Rosy
  • L’Oréal Jardin des Roses
  • Essie Flowerista
  • YSL Beauty Vert D’Orient
  • Quo by ORLY Second Hand Jade
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Green
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Turquoise
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Purple
  • Nail Art brush from Bundle Monster

It’s definitely the matte top coat that makes these nails so perfect. They were pretty shiny too, but they were just another floral. Adding the matte just brought this mani to a whole other level that I’m quite honestly obsessed with. Also this is my first time matte-ifying Wrenn Polish Passionfruit Pink & oh my god! It completely transforms it to a whole other level. I’m kind of obsessed.

So who else is so excited about the first day of Spring? I’m choosing to ignore the fact we have a snowstorm apparently coming tomorrow/Thursday & chiding to concentrate on the fact it’s going to be sunny today & I’m going on a thrift store adventure today to expand my Spring wardrobe.

What do you think of these florals? What are you doing to celebrate the beginning of Spring today? Share you thoughts in the comments below!

💗

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Matte Greyscale Ring Pattern Nails

Happy Friday!

Today’s nails are definitely matching the weather in Halifax–completely greyscale. Cloudy skies, rainy,  & lacking any colour what-so-ever.

I thought after all that pink & red for Valentine’s, a palate cleanser manicure was in order. Pink is nice, but I don’t think I’m used to wearing so much of it on my nails. I’ve also been doing house planning (figuring out room paint colours & putting together some prints for our walls) & completely obsessed with everything grey. So naturally that means it will end  up on my nails eventually!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by Orly Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: Butter London Matte Finish
  • OPI My Pointe Exactly
  • Essie Cashmere Bathrobe
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Ring Vinyls
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge

I love colourful manicures, don’t get me wrong! & I really enjoyed wearing all that pink for Valentine’s Day. But sometimes I just want to wear something a little more monochromatic & simple on my nails. Plus any time I get to wear Essie Cashmere Bathrobe–which is my ALL TIME favourite grey–is a good day & matte top coat just makes it look even better. To me, this design is just absolutely perfection.

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I feel like with all the stamping I’ve been doing, I’ve been neglecting my nail vinyls a bit! I’ve been organizing my nail room though, so hopefully I will be starting to use them more often. But not next week… next week I have a special theme planned for all my manicures, but you’ll have to stay tuned to see what it is!

What do you think of this greyscale manicure? What is your favourite palate cleanser manicure or polish? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!