Category: Multi-crome

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SWATCH SUNDAY — ACO by Ardene Twilight Zone

There has been a lot of pink & red happening on the blog in preparation for Valentine’s Day,  so I thought it would be fun to break it up with something a little different! So today’s Swatch Sunday is all about this beautiful multichrome from Ardene called Twilight Zone that’s been in my stash for a good 2-3 years now. I’m not sure if it’s still available in store, although I do know they come out with different (similar) duochrome & multichrome shades every so often, so I would recommend popping into a store near you to see what hidden beauty you might find!

For this swatch, I applied two coats of Twilight Zone over a dark base of Essie Under the Twlight because the polish itself is fairly sheer & would require more coats than I have patience for.

As you can see from the bottle, the base of the polish is a sheer-ish green blue with iridescent blue shimmers. You could definitely try & build it up to opacity, but I’m not sure how many coats that would be. If I had to guess, I’d say you’d be looking at least 4. & besides, I really find these shades work best with undies–it makes the change that much more apparent. You can see above that it flashes between blue & pink/purple depending on how you move your hand.

Ugh, it’s just so pretty! Why do I always forget how much I love shifty shades until I’m wearing them again? I’ve been reorganizing the nail room because I got some new storage, & gushing over my old school shades so much, like this beauty & my Claire’s Villain shade dupes from 2010. I keep trying to figure out how to best share my stash on the blog, but with 1000+ nail polishes I’m not sure the best way to document them. Any suggestions on the best way/app to organize what I have & be able to share?

 

Like I said, I don’t believe that Ardene Twilight Zone is still available for sale in store (unless you check out a Outlet perhaps) but I know that they’re always coming out with new & interesting shades so I would definitely recommend checking out what they have. I’ve bought some pretty fun polishes there over the years that are still favourites of mine.

What do you think of this shade? Have you ever bought an amazing polish in a surprisingly place? Let me know your thoughts on the comments below.

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Mermaid Inspired Glitter Gradient using NailStuff.ca Flakies

Guess what! I have anothe review of one of the items sent to me from Nailstuff.ca. This time I’m sharing these beautiful irredentist flakies. 

Now I know I said I would share more Halloween looks & these aren’t spooky, but I thought this would be an awesome look for anyone going with a unicorn or mermaid look for Halloween! I know I can’t be the only one whose costume (or outfit in general) isn’t complete until her nails are done!

Okay, I’ll be honest—I’ve never used loose flakies before so I was going into this as a newbie. I knew I wanted to create a glitter gradient with them, so I glanced around at a few posts on Pinterest & Instagram until I felt confident enough I could achieve the look I wanted.

  1.  I started off by painting my nails with a base of Essence Out of Space Stories Intergalactic Adventure & let it dry. I chose this shade because I thought it would compliment the shift in these gorgeous flakies. 
  2. Apply liquid latex around cuticles. I used Edge Perfection to keep the flakies from spreading to my skin during application. 
  3. After about 10ish minutes, I took a little bit of clear polish & applied it at the base of my nails so they would be a bit “sticky”. Like I said I’ve never used these before so I wasn’t sure if this was a necessary step. 
  4. Next I opened up my little pot of flakies & using the little eyeshadow sponge provided, pressed the flakies down at the base of my nail. I also brushed lightly up the nail to create the gradient effect.
  5. Peel off your liquid latex & seal in your whole nail with top coat—I used Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat. I think using Matte top coat would also look beautiful! 
  6. Time to get distracted by your pretty shifty mermaid-esque nails. 

These flakies were a lot easier to apply than I thought they would be! You can see I got the hang of things are I went along with my pinky being my first nail & working towards my thumb. I think using a light touch really makes a huge difference on how they turn out. Also, I’m definitely going to try not applying the clear polish this time to see how well they go on. I feel like it made an extra step that wasn’t necessarily needed, so I’ll keep you updated!

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Check out that shift! 😍 Had to include a shot of these nails in action because you really see how gorgeous they are in motion. & this mani totally matches my Starbucks multichrome “nail blogger” cup from a couple of years ago. Which is obviously the perfect excuse to fill up on iced lattes! 

If you’re curious about checking out these flakies for yourself, you can order these (& many more) straight from the NailStuff.ca website! Don’t forget that all Canadian orders over $29 have free shipping, & all US & International orders over $49 are free shipping. 

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own

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SUNDAY SWATCH POST: Quo by ORLY Sweet Dream 


Like any nail polish addict, when I go into a store that sells nail polish (pharmacy, grocery store, department store, Dollar store) always have to look at the polish selection. Even though I’m trying not buy polish I don’t need, I like to know what’s available on the off chance there something I absolutely need right now, or something on an awesome sale. 


While shopping at my local Shoppers the other day, I was checking out the Quo by ORLY selection & came across a colour I hadn’t seen before: Sweet Dream. I picked it up & immediately noticed the pretty pink shift in it. Suddenly I realized I needed this colour. Of course, not before I picked it up & put it down a few times trying to decide. Pretty sure the girl in Cosmetics either thought I was crazy or trying to shoplift. 

Sweet Dream is a pretty pearlescent blue with a subtle pink & turquoise shift that is sadly much more evident in the bottle than on the nail. But, when you hit the right light it is hard to not get distracted! The polish is super sheer–I used 2 coats over a single coat of Sally Hansen Babe Blue undies (& there is still some visible nail line happening.) I’m not sure how many coats it would take if you wore this polish on its own, but I bet it would be a few, so I definitely recommend using it over undies. I’d be interested in seeing how different undie bases would bring out the shimmer. But even with the extra work, Sweet Dream is so, so worth it.  

I mean, check out that shift:

I can’t even begin to explain how much I love this blue. It’s like Unicorn Nails in a bottle! All it’s missing is a flakie top coat, which I wish I had though of! Next time. I’ve been trying really hard to not buy polishes I already have 1000 versions of, & I can safely say I have absolutely nothing like this colour in my stash already. (trust me, I went home & tried to find a dupe. Nothing!)

Quo By ORLY polishes are available for purchase at Shoppers Drug Mart stores across Canada. For my international friends, I know sometimes Quo polishes are recreations of ORLY polishes that already exist, & from my Quick internet search I believe that Sweet Dream is a dupe of ORLY Angel Rain from the Fall 2013 Surreal collection. Looking at swatches in Google, I’m pretty convinced these are dupes. 

So what do you think of Quo by ORLY Sweet Dream? What has been your latestest have to to have polish buy? Let me know in the comments below! 

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SWATCH POST: Crazy Fancy Love by Essence Cosmetics!

Sorry about my absence last week. The boyfriend and I moved and my computer charger got mixed up in the chaos so I’ve been without my trusty MAC ever since. Well things are finally getting back to normal, and I’m ready to get back into the swing of blogging.

Today I have some swatches of a gorgeous polish that I just recently picked up: Essence Color and Go 164 Crazy Fancy Love.   IMG_1325

You may have noticed there are two things I absolutely love when it comes to polishes: gold, and multi-chromes. Crazy Fancy Love is the best of both worlds. I picked it up a Shoppers Drug Mart that carries a more extensive collection of Essence polishes for the awesome price of $1.99. I was drawn first to the gorgeous bronze-y gold colour, but quickly fell in love with the multi-chrome effect. In the right light, it pulls a variety of colours including pinks and greens. They’re subtle, but they’re there. The formula was awesome–I’ve never had issues with my Essence polishes and this one is no different. The polish applied in two easy, thin coats and if you applied it a little thicker you could definitely get away with just one!

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As you can see from my shots (which I took in my brand new light box I built over the weekend) you can really see the shift in colour in the bottle. On the nail, I find the pinks come out depending on how you shift your hand. Never less, I’m loving Crazy Fancy Love. This is a great polish for Fall, and even into the quickly approaching holiday season. I can see this colour pairing really well with not just some deep reds, but blue and green polishes as well. It’s a soft gorgeous polish, and I’m totally in love with everything about it.

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So what do you think of the Essence Color and Go polishes? I love their whole range. Their special edition polishes are always must haves for me, but the permanent collection is so full of so many amazing polishes that I have quite a few added to my stash.

Also I don’t know if you may have noticed but I changed my nail shape! I was feel a crazy change, and I’ve been obsessed with almond shape nails lately. Right now I’m rocking some serious round nubs, but as they grow I plan on shaping them more almond. This is actually the FIRST time I’ve changed my nail shape since I was about 12 and started filing my nails, so it’s taking some getting used to but I actually LOVE how they look! =)

 

Have a great day lovelies!

 

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SWATCH POST — Mirage by ACO by Ardene

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Today, I’m sharing with you a gorgeous polish I’m absolutely in love with. This is ACO by Ardene’s Mirage which is an absolutely stunning multi-crome polish which–depending on the light–flashes anywhere from purple, to gold, to green, to blue, to pink. You’ll remember before I mentioned that Ardene has been stepping up their nail polish game, and Mirage is a perfect example of that. For my swatches, I applied the polish over black undies, as it brings out the multi-crome aspect of the polish best. (I also applied Nutra-nail Quick Dry Top Coat for extra shine.)

 

 

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I really, really tried my best to try and capture all the different flashes of color this polish has to offer. It was not easy. I did my best, and the different colors definitely come through well. Even still, I kept looking at my nails all day, moving them around and staring in awe of them.

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See the flashes of gold and green? So, so, so pretty.

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Mirage is from ACO by Ardene’s fall 2013 collection of nail polish, although depending on the store you may still be able to find old bottles (mine doesn’t have any, but we do have other fall 2013 polishes remaining). ACO by Ardene polishes retail for $3.50 on their own, but can usually be combined in some kind of promotion that will save you a little bit overall. I think my next polish I’ll be picking up from work will be Mirage’s multi-crome sister, named Twilight Zone, so keep an eye out for that beauty coming up soon. =)