Category: nail polish

Posted on

SWATCH SUNDAY — SpaRitual Open Minded

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Can you believe we’re almost done with November? This has definitely been a blink & it’s over kind of year — but I’m definitely excited to get my Christmas nail art on!

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick a brand new (to me) brand: SpaRitual Open Minded. I was at Marshall’s the other day & checking out the clearance section, as always, when I saw this beautiful blurple looking shade. I knew I needed it in my life, especially as I didn’t own any SpaRitual shades in my stash, so I added into my cart! I scored this polish for $4 on clearance, regular Marshall’s price was $4.99.

2 coats, no top coat.

According to the SpaRitual website: “Our Nourishing Vegan Nail Colors are vegan, cruelty-free and clean. Our colors are formulated without 13 harmful chemicals and are 1-step, no need for base coat or top coat.” I’ve never tried their polishes before, so I was excited to see how this shade would hold up.

For my swatches I needed two coats for full opacity. The first coat was definitely patchy & streaky — the formula itself is almost crelly like, leaning more towards the cream side. The second coat gave the application you see down below — perfect opaque coverage, no streakiness.

The colour itself is really vibrant & striking. The SpaRitual site describes it as a cobalt blue, but I feel like it does lean a little purple which is why I’d call it almost blurple. Over all, I’m quite impressed with this shade, & my first experiences with SpaRitual in general. I’ve also been wearing this shade since Thursday, & it’s still holding up with minimal tip wear, even after two very busy days at work.

I’m interested to see how easily removal will go with this shade. Blues can sometimes be tricky, so hopefully we’ll have no issues!

What do you think about this beautiful SpaRitual shade? Do you have any experience with this brand?

I will definitely be searching out more of these shades whenever I see them at my local Winners/Marshalls. The price can’t be beat, the lasting quality has been awesome, & I would love to try out more colours in their range!

Have a lovely Sunday!

Posted on

SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Matte About You

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Who else is excited for another Swatch Sunday post?

I’ve been digging through my stash lately for the most perfect holiday-worthy polish. I bought a few fun Color Club polishes last year at Winners, after Christmas, but haven’t really had a chance to wear them. I decided to pull one of those shades — Color Club Matte About You — & it might be the perfect jewel toned teal for the holidays. I’m

2 coats, no top coat.

The formula on this shade is pretty thick, but still applied fairly easily. There is a really nice shimmer, the matte finish is very nice. It also dried down fairly quickly — not too quick that it was impossible to apply the polish evenly, but quick enough you don’t have to wait around forever for it to dry.

Seriously, how pretty is this polish!?

You can see from the macro shot how lovely the metallic finish is. Couldn’t you just imagine a flakie topper over this shade? It would be so gorgeous! I also think it would be absolutely fabulous as a base for some sweater/snowflake stamping.

What do you think about the beauty of this polish? I did find a listing for it on NailPolishCanada.com, so it doesn’t seem like an impossible to find shade.

Let me know your thoughts down below on your opinions on this polish, & what polishes you look forward to wearing for the holidays? I’m always looking to add more to my Christmas list for Santa!

Posted on

Purple & Gold Freehand Swirls

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a very lovely week so far! We’ve actually been having a beautiful weather here in Halifax — very un-November like weather! It’s been absolutely beautiful… which has kind of made being inspired for nail art a little difficult. So I decided for my latest mani to go with a look I used to do all the time — this freehand dainty swirl look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI Ink
  • Essie Getting Groovy
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Back in circa 2014-2015, I used to love freehanding these swirly looks, so I decided since I wasn’t feeling all that inspired, it was a great look to go with.

I really love the look of the gold over the shifty purple base of OPI Ink. I feel like this look is very regal — it also gives me slight wrapping paper vibes, but I’m not mad about it. I think it looks very beautiful. It was definitely a good nail art choice in this in between time when it doesn’t quite feel like Fall, but is too early (in my eyes, anyways) for Christmas.

What do you think about this nail art look? What designs are you wearing right now? Have you started thinking about Christmas nail art? Let me know in the comments below!

Posted on

SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI Ink

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday… The first Sunday of November!

I’m not quite ready to start thinking about holiday polishes yet—although I’ve been tempted—so I thought I would delve into my stash & pull out an untried. Todays pick is OPI Ink, which I scored on a serious deal at my local Lawton’s.

2 coats + Seche Vive Top Coat

According to my Google research, Ink was originally released as part of the 2007 Night Brights collection. It has since become part of the permanent core collection.

The polish is a deep blue shimmer with a multitude of purple & blue micro flakie glitters. It’s very densely packed, which means 2 coats of polish easily covers the nail. There is also a beautiful shift that shows blue or purple, depending on how you move your nail.

You can really really see the glass fleck glitters in a macro shot. It looks really beautiful. Also you can really see the beautiful shift — it’s a stunning polish for sure!

You can OPI Ink (pretty much) anywhere OPI nail polish is sold, both in regular formula as well as the gel formula. A few places I’ve found online which have it in stock are:

What do you think about this beautiful OPI shade? Do you have OPI Ink in your nail polish stash? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Posted on

Subtle Burgundy Dotticure

Good morning lovelies & happy Friday!

Who else is excited for the weekend. I can’t believe it’s the weekend already. & the first week of November is pretty much over. The shift in the weather is definitely evident. I can feel the Winter slowly approaching. Which means let’s get crazy for jewel tones. I’ve been going through all my old holiday polishes from years past, & getting excited for the season to come.

Does anyone else have these arbitrary rules when it comes to polish? My brain always seems more drawn to darker jewel tones as the weather gets cooler, which summer I’m more likely to reach for brighter, poppy shades.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Frosted Berries
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Garnish Attention
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I’ve literally been wearing this manicure since Tuesday, & I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. My nails are super short now, so I’m not sure inspired for nail art right now, but I do love a subtle dotticure. I had originally thought about doing some gold dots, but I felt like it might be a bit too Christmas-y, so I went with darker dots.

What nail art are you loving right now during this cooler November months? Which nail polishes would you like to see me feature leading up to the holiday season? Let me know down in the comments below!