SWATCHES GALORE! (What I’ve been wearing)

again with the unplanned hiatus! I’ve been busy busy busy with work with no time for much else! However, I can never go polish free so I thought I would share a few swatches of the polishes/polish combinations I’ve been wearing the last couple weeks.  

  

Hard Candy Sky (topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust) — I picked up a few of the Hard Candy 20th anniversary polishes at my local Walmart last month and obviously this one had to be in the bunch! Love love love! This polish makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her pretty pastel nails which is exactly why I feel in love with polish in the first place! Sadly my Fairy Dust didnt want to show up for the camera but looked pretty in person as always. 

CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance—Duochrome! Purple! Holo glitter! 💜 I picked up this gorgeous polish at my local Winners for $3! I’d been watching it for months, and finally realized it was waiting for me to take it home. This was 4ish coats with still visible nail line so next time I’ll add some undies. But even still… 😍  

  

ORLY Mirrorball — I’m kind of on a holo kick lately and Mirrorball is perfection. Just look… Words are not even needed. 🙀 (you will definitely be seeing more of this beauty later 😉) 

  

ACO by Ardene 80s Prom Dress — (layered over China Glaze Seas the Day)  bright fushia pink with camera shy micro glitters. Definitely a perfect Summer colour! Again it’s pretty sheer on its own so undies were a must. I’m curious to try it out with a darker shade. 

  

Nubar Absolute — Blue holo. Seriously I’m holo obsessed right now and need them alllllllll. I tried my best to capture the holo in the sun, but don’t worry in person it cannot be missed! I also realize that I’m going to have to spurlge and pick up a few more Nubar holos because damn they’re so pretty! 

  

ACO by Ardene Crystal Fog layered over Hard Candy Zombie. Zombie is another 20th anniversary release from Hard Candy that the Mr. picked out for me, probably because we’re obsessed with iZombie lately! It’s a gorgeous purple on its own, but add a coat of Crystal Fog by ACO by Ardene and it turns into the most amazing duochrome. I don’t usually wear dark polishes in the Summer but this is definitely going to be an exception! 

 

Joe Fresh Quartz — it was not easy to capture the shift of this polish on camera…. Just kidding!  the above shot says everything you need to know. I literally spent all day staring at my fingers moving them around.  Shifty gorgeous duochrome PERFECTION! I have a few Joe Fresh polishes in my stash but this is definitely my new favourite. It’s just so perfect. 
So what polishes caught your eye the most? Are you team duochrome or team holo? Also what’s your favourite polish to wear when you just don’t have time for nail art? Let me know in the comments below! 💜💜💜

SWATCH POST — OPI Pineapples have Peelings Too! 

 Good morning lovelies! 

I don’t know if you’ve checked out OPIs Hawaii collection yet. When I first saw the collection there was one polish I just HAD to have and that was this interesting glitter polish Pineapples have Peelings Too!  

PHPT is a yellow-gold frosty base chalk full of multicoloured glitters. It hasn’t received the best reception online, but the trick to making this polish shine seems to be in the top coat application. 

  

 

For my application, I applied three thin coats of PHFT! then applied two coats of Essence Gel Look top coat which is the thickest most pillow-y top coat I own, then finished with two coats of Seche Vite to speed up the drying process. I really kind of love the end result. I couldn’t stop staring at my nails all day! 

So what do you think of Pineapples have Peelings too! from the OPI Hawaii collection? I think the last one I need to pick up from the collection is Go With the Lava Flow — it just looks so pretty!  

Silver Stamped Snowflakes.

 

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Last month, I made my first ever Born Pretty Store purchase, after dawdling about the idea for a while. I was in awe over all their options for stamping plates. I’m totally in awe of all the stamping I’ve seen around. I haven’t stamped in a while–almost a year! So I decided to order some fun plates with images I could never create freehand. One of my favorite plates I ordered was a collection of sweater-style winter prints. So when they arrived the other day, I knew I had to use them–immediately!

I stamped these nails at 7am, before having to get ready for work so they’re not perfect. But for my first time stamping in a long while, I’m really proud of how I did.

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The polishes I used for this manicure:

  • China Glaze Frostbite (applied over undies of China Glaze I Sea the Point)
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City — stamping.
  • ACO by Ardene Style Icon –gorgeous chunky silver and holo glitter.
  • Born Pretty Stamping Plate ID #6457 (Lace Snowflake Pattern).
  • Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

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This is about as close to a Christmas Manicure as I’ve gotten so far this year, but I really love this sweater print. I’m already collecting a whole bunch of designs in my head I want to do for Christmas this year, so I have a feeling once December hits, there will be a lot of Christmas/Holiday manicures to share. There are also a few I did last year that I’m really itching to recreate and see how things have improved.

What Christmas manicures are you itching to do?

Dark and Metallic Sponge Manicure.

 

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Oh man, I wish I had better pictures of this NOTD to share with you, but unfortunately I took these while at work in the late afternoon, so the beautifulness of this manicure was kind of lost. (Side note–I just got a brand new phone with an awesome camera so expect upcoming posts to have MUCH better picture quality.) However, regardless of the lack of pretty pictures, I still had to share this gorgeous manicure because I was super in love with the outcome.

 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Mary Kay Blue Knight (base color)
  • ACO by Ardene Golden Luxury (middle finger & sponging)
  • Layla Soft Touch Golden Touch (middle finger)
  • Essence Color and Go Mister Rusty (sponging)
  • Claire’s Poison Apple (sponging)
  • Claire’s Venomous (sponging)
  • Claire’s Evil Queen (sponging)
  • Nutra Nail Quick Dry Top Coat.

 

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Oh man, this manicure just was perfect for fall. I wanted something reminiscent of the color changing of the leaves, and I think I succeed with this multicolored metallic sponge manicure. Even one of my co-workers noticed how cool my nails looked, and commented on how neat it looked, which always makes me feel good about my nails. =) Next time I wanted to try this with a super dark green Essence polish I picked up not too long ago–I think it will look even more perfect for the fall weather.

 

So what do you think of this manicure?

Purple and gold leopard print nails inspired by perfectlynaileduk.

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Today’s post is totally inspired by perfectlynaileduk, who does some of the most awesome leopard print manicures I’ve ever seen. Actually she does the most awesome manicures in general! Seriously, you need to go check her manicures out right now if you haven’t yet!

The other day I was trying to think of something to do on my nails when I remembered a picture of a blue and gold leopard print manicure she had posted, and instantly knew I wanted to recreate it! I decided to go with some darker, more fall-toned colors.

 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Essence Color and Go Best Dressed.
  • Maybelline Color Show Gilded Gold.
  • China Glaze White on White.
  • Vernis Classique by Cherimoya Black.
  • Nutra Nail Quick Dry Top Coat with Green Tea.

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Is there any better combo than purple and gold? I think Gilded Rose by Maybelline Color Show has to be my new favorite gold polish, especially because of the pink undertones. I never used to like gold, but lately I’ve been completely obsessed with all things golden, especially nail polish. Maybe that’s why I seem to own so many now haha.

 

Also, you may have noticed I had a pretty obvious break on the middle finger of my left hand. It happened at work (what else is new…) and I was SO mad, as my nails have grown the longest they’ve been in a long time. I’ve decided though, for right now at least, I’m not going to file everything down to meet my shortie. The rest of my nails are holding strong and super healthy, so for right now I’ll stick with the one awkward shorty until the rest of my nails start to catch up.

 

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So what do you think of this gold and leopard print manicure?

What is your favorite color combination together?