Category: Nail Art

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Madam Glam One Step Soak Off Gel Polish 

Happy Sunday everyone! Kicking off this Swatch Sunday with my first expirence with soak of gel polish! Madam Glam was kind enough to send me these one step soak of gel polishes to try out & review & I’m excited to show off these swatches & share my expirence. 

As someone who has never really used soak off gel polish, I wasn’t quite sure to expect. I decided that the one step gel polishes would be perfect for me to try out as they don’t require a base or top coat–all you need to apply is the colour which makes it quicker. & as you know, with a teething almost 6 month old I’m all about the quicker the better when it comes to my nails. Even better, these one step gels are similar in formula to real nail polish. Most of the shades took 3 coats to reach opacity & you cure each coat with your LED Lamp. 

Lime Mint


Lime Mint is a neon mint shade that took three coats with a little bit of streakiness (you can see it a bit on my ring finger). That could be attributed to my total lack of gel polish expirence. The colour though is awesome & as vibrant on the nails as you see here. This would definitely be a great shade to slap on your nails for Summer vacation! 


Anytime

Anytime is a shimmery pink leaning purple shade that also took 3 coats for the swatches you see. I’ll be honest–this is the shade I thought I was going to love the most, but it was also the shade I had the most trouble applying. It was definitely a bit more watery compared to the other two shades (maybe because it was a shimmer as opposed to a creme like the other two?) & took a bit more care for application. The shade though is gorgeous. I love purple & this purple is perfect even if it takes a bit more work to get it right. 

Confidence 

Confidence is a light lilac purple & of the three shades I revived it’s definitely my favourite. I managed to get it opaque & levelled in two even-ish coats. This is a great shade for those who want a fun gel colour, but still need something that can be worn everyday to work. It’s not boring like nude, but also isn’t crazy bright like a green. It also would make a great base to add nail art over top! 

As far as lasting, I wore Confidence for almost two weeks while on vacation. I had good growth at my nail beds but the polish had held up pretty good with a little dulling to the shine. Removal was pretty easy–all you do is buff off the shine with a nail file & let it soak in foil wrapped nail polish pads for 10 minutes or so to loosen up the colour enough to peel/rub off. I personally didn’t have any trouble with removing the gel using these remover pads that I received along with the polishes. 
All in all, I think these are great colours for those looking to try out soak off gels, but are a little nervous. Because there is no base coat or top coat required, it’s great for a newbie. An even application takes a minute figure out, but once you do the end result not only looks great, but lasts much longer than your typical non gel polish. Check out Madam Glam’s crazy range of polish options yourself! They have even colour you could possibly dream of to chose from. 

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

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SWATCH SUNDAY: ORLY Bailamos

Do you remember you very first polish of certain brands? I posted my very first Essie a while back, so I thought it would be fun to swatch another first polish… my very first ORLY! I picked up this shade (ORLY Bailamos) back in 2010ish at Winners. According to my internet googling abilities, it was originally released as part of the Summer 2010 collection. 

Bailamos is a stunning turquoise shimmer that screams Summer. Most importantly, it’s opaque in two easy coats. & considering this polish is 7 years old, the formula is still as flawless as when I first bought it. Obviously my weakness for a good blue/teal/turquoise polish has lasted a long, long time. 

Do you have this gorgeous ORLY shade in your collection? After searching this shade, I’m bummed I haven’t pulled it out of my stash to wear my often. Truthfully it did spend a good 2 years sitting in my parents addict (more props to that awesome formula for lasting!) but even still I can’t believe I haven’t reached for it more often. It’s just so pretty. Also I can only imagine how gorgeous this shade would look matte! Must try that next! 

What was your very first ORLY shade? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Feeling Blue… Stripes 💙

Happy Friday! It’s been so long since I played around with my stripers, which used to be one of my favourite nail art tools, so I figured why not pull them out for some fun stripes. This used to be my go-to design whenever I had nubbins, & it makes somewhat medium  length nails look even longer! (& who doesn’t want their nails to look longer?)

For this manicure I used:

  • Base Coat: L’Oréal All in One
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik 
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Kiss Products Nails Art Striper in White
  • Jordana Cosmetics Pop Art Nail Design in Blue Abstract

After spending the majority of June not wearing any blue nails, I must say it was nice to pull out again. I purchased Sally Hansen Beatnik on clearance at Shoppers while on my no-blue-nails crusade (I know, I have a sickness), so I was excited to finally get it wear it. & it really is such a pretty colour. That’s why I thought just some simple striping would really compliment the colour & I was right! 

What are you wearing on your nails right now? Let me know in the comments below! 

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Born Pretty Store Review — BORN PRETTY Stamping Polish Plate Set Flower Leaf Tree Image Template item #39933. 


Hey lovelies! I know… I disappeared a bit. A lot has been going on since getting home from vacation. But that’s okay! Because today I have another review of one of the items I received for review from Born Pretty Store–the flower leaf image stamping plate set item #39933. 

As I’ve said with all my reviews, I still consider myself a stamping newbie but I definitely feel like I’ve gotten better with all this practice. For today’s nails I played around with the BORN PRETTY Stamping Polish Plate Set Flower Leaf Tree Image Template item #39933 which comes with two stamping plates (a large square plate, & a smaller round floral plate) plus two stamping polishes. 

For this design I used:

As I’ve written before, I find their is a learning curve that comes along with stamping. Or maybe just natural talent. Either way I think this is a great set for beginners because it has so many image options & comes with stamping polishes. Now personally I’m not a fan of the stamping polishes, not because they don’t stamp (they do!) but I just haven’t found a way to use them that doesn’t make a huge mess! If anyone has any tips, please please share because I love the end result. But if you’re just trying out stamping I think this set would be a good introduction for you. 

Personally I liked the larger square stamping plate over the smaller round plate. I tried reverse stamping a rose, but it didn’t turn out exactly how I hoped. That plate took a few more tries to get things right, but I did eventually accomplish my goal (even if it wasn’t the prettiest). The smaller plate definitely worked better for me when I was just stamping the image straight onto my nails, & not taking time to be fancy. 


All in all, I would definitely recommend this set to anyone itching to try out stamping, but would warn practice does make perfect. Don’t be frustrated if it takes a bit of time to get things looking perfect because the end result is worth it. 

If you’re interested in ordering this stamping set (or something else) from Born Pretty Store feel free to use my discount code COFFK31 to save 10% off any regular price items! I’ve been ordering from them for years, & I love the wide variety of products you can find for all your nail polish addict needs! 

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Rainbow Wave Nails 🌈 

Hello Lovelies! It’s been a little while. I spent last week & the beginning of this week away on vacation which meant no posts! But I’m back & refreshed & I have pretty nails to share with you. 

It’s been way too long since I share one of my favourite sponge manicures with you. This manicure is actually from a while back (whoops). I’m so bad for doing my nails & then completely forgetting about them in the recesses of my phone. But I think this kind of rainbow design is perfect for warm Summer days… even if today is feeling less than Summer-y. 

The polishes used for this manicure:

  • Base Coat: L’Oréal All in One
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Hard Candy Sky
  • Essie Chillato
  • ORLY Scenic Route
  • Nicole by OPI Love Song
  • Color Club Peppermint Twist
  • OPI Where Did Suzi’s Man-go?
  • OPI Who You Calling Bossy?
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls skinny wave vinyls

Am I the only person obsessed with sponging? I just used up the rest of my peel of latex for my more messy manicures, BUT  while I was away on vacation I found a peel of by a brand I’ve never heard of in the local pharmacy (which is a big deal because I was in a pretty small town!) so I’m excited to try it out for gradients & the like, as well as seeing how it will fair as a peel of base coat. It’s not glue or latex based so I’m really curious to see how it fairs, especially since it means I can pull out my make up sponge again! There is nothing worse than trying to clean up nail polish mess from around your cuticles. Ugh. 


What is your favourite way to use a make up sponge on your nails? Let me know in the comments below!