SWATCH SUNDAY — LA Colors Gel Color Craze Color Shifting Top Coat Retrograde

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! A beautiful sunny Sunday once again. I know I shouldn’t complain about the beautiful weather — especially since we’ve been having cooler morning & evenings which are giving me all the Autumn vibes — but we’re still desperate for rain on the East Coast with all the fires we’ve been having.

Today though, it’s all about nail polish & I’m excited because I found a new & fun shade while perusing my local Walmart! They’ve recently– in like the last year or two — started selling LA Colors & I always love checking out what new shades they have in the display. I noticed these Color Shifting Toppers the last time I was there, so I decided to pick up two of them. The first one I’m excited to share is this green to blue shifty duochrome called Retrograde.

2 coats applied over Essie Frock n Roll + Top Coat

For this application, I applied two coats of Retrograde over a dark base — in this case, I picked Essie Frock n Roll. The base of Retrograde is fairly thin, as you would want a topper to be, but it has a fun metallic duochrome effect that builds very nicely. I feel like you could almost wear a couple coats of it on it’s own, since the base layer definitely disappears beneath the topper.

The shift is also gorgeous — there are flashes on blue & green, as the main ones, but you also get purples as well. Very mermaid-y, which I love, but the jewel tone is perfect for this time of year. I’m not usually someone who reaches for green very often, as well all know (& I’ve said plenty of times) but a shade like this with the multichrome shift is definitely one I will wear. In fact, I wore this manicure for almost 5 days!

LA Colors shades retail at Walmart for $3.97 CAD — which is a pretty awesome deal! The Color Shifting Topper line has 10 shades to choose from, all with celestial names. I picked up Retrograde & Nova, but I’m definitely going to be going back for more shades! They are all such fun colours, & I love anything that can switch up shades already in my collection with a fun twist. Also, I bet these would look beautiful swirled into a drag marble design. That might have to be my next thing to try!

What do you think of LA Colors Gel Color Shifting Topper? Are you a fan of the LA Colors brand? Like I said, I love how affordable these shades are — &, like the crackle shades they’ve released, I find they’re really stepping up their game! So many fun options you can play around with.

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

Iridescent Flakie Gradient Nails

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! It’s a rainy & chilly Tuesday — very much November weather. So I thought I would break up some of the gloom with a pretty flakie look, because flakies make everything better.

I realized the other day I hadn’t played with any of my flakies or Chrome powders in my collection, & got this idea to do a look using them in a similar look to my favourite stained glass technique. & I think they turned out so pretty!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Sally Hansen Special Effects Salon Chrome Top Coat (used as a base to help my flakies stick!)
  • Dimension Nails Kronosaurus
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Flakies
  • NailStuff.ca Flat nail brush

Look at that beautiful shift! I can’t believe I’ve taken so long to use these again. I definitely go through fazes where I use nail art stuff less than others, but I’m going to make a conscious effort to go through more stash more frequently to use these items! Because they really do give such a beautiful look on the nail!

What do you think of these flakie glitter gradient nails? Can you believe the shift on these flakies? I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping on using them! Definitely will be glkng through my stash & seeing what nail art looks I can create with my little pots of glitter.

Happy Tuesday

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Happy Birthday Waterfall Nails 💖🧁💅

*includes PR

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday. & happy day after Canadian Thanksgiving. I’m sure my fellow Canadians are also feeling the post-holiday food coma.

Today is my birthday, so I wanted to do some special nails for the occasion. & when thinking about what nail polish I wanted to wear, there was only one that came to mind: Cadillacquer Lavender Sunset — the NailStuff exclusive shade released earlier this year. & I finally tried layering it over a darker base, which I’ve been meaning to try for a while & it looks absolutely spectacular!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Cadillacquer Lavender Sunset
  • OPI Infinite Shine Mariachi Makes My Day (layered under Lavender Sunset)
  • NailStuff Essentials Holographic Top Coat
  • Essie Nail Art Studio Cosmic Chrome
  • Essie Separated Starlight
  • Essie Birthday Girl
  • Quo by Orly Black Striper
  • Nailstuff Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush

So, with full disclosure, this was not originally the design I had planned for my birthday nails. I saw a cool manicure online that I loved, but apparently when I went back to find it… I had forgotten to save it. So when I attempted it from memory… things did not turn out the way I planned.

This was actually design attempt #4… maybe #5. I’ll be honest… I lost count.

But you know after all the hassle & frustration, I actually love how these ended up looking! So I guess it was all worth it. When all else fails, pull out some sparkly polishes & create a fun waterfall look!

What do you think of these birthday nails? Would you wear this sparkly waterfall look?

Let me know what you think! & have a beautiful day.

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club What’s The Matte-r?

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! A beautiful October Sunday. The Fall vibes are really vibing as of right now, & I just want to drink all the pumpkin spice & eat all the candy corn! I also want to wear all sorts of great Fall nail polishes & colours.

I was perusing through my nail polish stash, looking for a good Autumn shade to share, & found a set of a Color Club mattes that I realized I’ve never shared those shades! I love a good matte nail this time of year, so I decided to grab the most Autumn-esque shade to share.

This is Color Club What’s The Matte-r?

2 coats

This beautiful metallic olive green is a super unique colour I definitely wouldn’t buy on its own in the store — but I happened to get it as part of set at Marshall’s with other Color Club mattes. & honestly, I think I need to be less judgemental about colour because this shade is freaking gorgeous!

Seriously, the olive green somewhat gold shift is super stunning & unique. You also get flashes of a darker green in some light — it’s just flat out beautiful. & I think it’s a great Autumn shade which is an alternative to my usual dark purple, blues & maroons that I tend to reach for this time of year.

Up close you can see that lovely matte finish. It self levels really well, dries down very smoothly, & doesn’t show brush strokes too badly.

& just for fun, I wanted to see how it looked with a glossy top coat applied. & honestly, I prefer the matte version more. It’s much more striking & beautiful! Just feels like a crispy Fall leaf that has fallen on the ground.

Looking online, it appears to still be available on the Color Club website, so if you’re looking for a beautiful unique Autumn shade option, I would say snatch it up!

What do you think of Color Club What’s the Matte-r? Would you wear this matte beauty? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Evil Queen 🖤👑

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! Can you believe it’s already the middle of September. Like how did that happen? I’m in full cosy Fall mode 24/7, so obviously that means pulling out a fun Autumn shade to show off. & this shade from the early days of my nail polish stash is perfect!

This is Claire’s Evil Queen.

1 coat over Hard Candy Scam + top coat

This beautiful shimmery duochrome has thin dark maroon vase packed wth a thick sea of shimmery fuchsia & blue glass flecks. Unfortunately it does show up better in the bottle than on the nail, but it does have a beautiful finish that I’m obsessed with (& is why I’ve held onto this bottle for over 15 years!)

Check out that shimmer! It’s just so beautiful. 😍 I love how it shifts in the sunshine. Obviously, if I had applied another coat I could have had it a bit thicker. I have also worn it on its own without any undies, but I do find you need more coats than you might want to deal with to get full opacity.

What do you think of Claire’s Evil Queen? Do you remember when these shades were released, all the way back in the late 2000s? They were alleged dupes of the MAC Villainous Villains collection — although I sadly never got to compare (although Throwback Lacquer has a fantastic post about the original polishes!)

Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

🖤