Category: nail polish

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Maybelline Color Show Blue Marks The Spot

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s another snowy Sunday here, which is not what I was hoping for. But it matches well with the nail polish I picked for this week’s Swatch Sunday pick: Maybelline Color Show Blue Marks The Spot. This shade is actually a super oldie, going back to (I think) 2013! I picked my bottle up on Clearance a few years ago, after Maybelline had stopped making the Color Show brand.

3 coats, no Top Coat.

The first thing about Blue Marks The Spot is that it is very, very thin. This is 3 coats of polish, & you can still see the nail below. I’m not sure how many coats you would actually need for full opacity, but I’m going to guess it’s more than I would want to do haha. You could definitely do a white or blue base, though, if you wanted to the sheerness.

The formula is sheer, like I said, but other than that it’s not too hard to work with. The coats dry quickly, & the glitters are very well dispersed so you don’t have to worry about digging around trying to find them.

Obligatory macro shot.

I used to be so, so scared of glitter nail polishes & never want to wear them because removal would be impossible. Obviously, taking off glitter polish isn’t my favourite thing, but I’m not quite so scared of wearing my glitters like I used to be. Which, is good, because I love, love, love these spotted polishes & have quite a few in my stash from different brands.

What do you think about this fun spotty nail polish? Do you remember the Maybelline Color Show line, & these spotted polishes in particular. I also have the green one, Drops of Jade, I’m kind of sad I didn’t get the whole range of these shades were they were out, but maybe some day I’ll discover more in the bottom of a clearance bin to complete my collection haha.

Have a lovely Sunday!

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Red Pink & Purple Sparkly Glitter Gradient ✨

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! It was feeling like Spring here this weekend, but now we’re officially back in Winter mode with about 30cm of snow that fell yesterday. I’m just so over Winter. It’s cold, & slushy, & I miss wearing cute dresses. I can’t wait for us to officially defrost.

But in the meantime, I guess I’ll distract myself with some pretty nails.

It’s been a long while since I did a gradient on my nails that wasn’t just some glitter. Honestly, I find the clean up–even with liquid latex!–a pain, & I don’t have time for it. But I was really, really feeling a sparkly gradient after putting on my Swatch Sunday pick Essence Me & My Lover, so I decided to give it a try.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Millionails
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Me & My Lover
  • Aco by Ardene Boudoir
  • Aco by Ardene Wish
  • Latex free make up sponge

Check out those layers of glitter! It’s been a long time since my last gradient like this with lots of glittery shades, but I’m obsessed with how it turned out.

Instead of doing the classic gradient sponging where you apply all three colours onto the sponge & then apply it to the nail, I sponged each layer of glitter on the nail instead… which still gave me the same effect without having to worry about the clean up! I find it’s easier to do that with glittery shades like these, because they blend into each other easier, & you don’t have those unblended lines you might get with a cream polish. & of course, sealing it all in with top coat also helps blend things.

What do you think of these glittery gradient nails? Would you wear a super glittery gradient like this on your nails? Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what colour combination you would wear!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Me & My Lover (Sparkle Sand Effect)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. ❤️

I thought since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I should pick out something sorta Valentine-y for my nails. After digging through my stash, & through a lot of red nail polishes, I decided on this oldie from Essence: Me & My Lover.

2 coats, no top coat.

This shade was originally released in 2014/2015, which is when I picked it up at my local Shoppers Drug Mart. It is a sparkle sand effect shade, which means that it dries down to a textured finish.

Unlike some other sand effect polishes I’ve used, Me & My Lover has a finer grit, so the textured finish is a bit more subtle. It’s there, but it’s also easy to smooth out with a coat of glossy thick top coat.

The red is a beautiful pink leaning red — there seems to be some gold glitters & magenta glitters mixed in. It makes for a very, very beautiful polish. It also dries fairly quickly, which is an important thing when it comes to textured polishes. No body has time to be waiting around for their polishes to dry for hours.

The formula is also really easy to work with, which I always get excited about when it comes to extra old polishes in my stash. I’m definitely glad I decided to pull it out, because it was just the red I was looking for!

What do you think of this Essence shade? Do you remember the textured polish craze? Do you still have any of your old textured shades—which ones were your favourites?

Let me know in the comments below!

& have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

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An (Early) Spring Floral

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday. Yesterday the temperatures were above freezing & it felt a bit like, dare I say it… Spring. Oh, & it was perfect since I was wearing this pretty Spring-y floral.

Originally I did this floral because I had bought this pretty new Sinful Colors shade at Walmart, & I thought it would be a great base for floral nail art. I also wanted something that was kind of, sort of Valentine’s Day-

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Millionails
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sinful Colors Wonder Mint
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure One in a Melon
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen CSM Berry Fancy
  • Essie Blanc
  • Essie Check My Baggage
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie Cacti on the Prize
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

So I know everytime I do a new floral look, I gush endlessly about how it’s my favourite, so I’ll save you that — but I am really proud proud of how these turned out, especially the rose buds. The feel delicate & romantic, & I literally didn’t want to take these off! Plus the bright blue base is vibrant & makes me forget it’s only February.

It gives me thoughts about Spring days, & sunshine & pretty dresses. & I’m so ready for all of those things.

What do you think about this pretty Spring floral? Do you like the roses paired against this vibrant blue base? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Bewitched

Hello lovelies, from the frozen North. Well, not quite, but after a big one Winter storm, it certainly feels like it.

Have I mentioned I am SO over Winter?

So obviously this means I need to obsessively apply holo nail polish to my nails every chance I get. My local Walmart has a few of their Color Club collections in for $5, including the range of holos. So I’ve been buying myself the occasional one when I need to cheer myself up. Today’s Swatch Sunday pick: Color Club Bewitched.

2 coats, no top coat

Color Club Bewitched is a beautiful lilac liner holo with a pretty shift of pink. On my first coat, I was a bit nervous this was going to take a lot of coats to build opacity, but the second coat covered any patchiness the first coat might have had.

The holo is very strong on this polish & really pops — especially in the sunshine. I really like that it has that little bit of shift as well because this definitely makes this shade different than other holographic polishes in my stash.

Also you can’t say no to $5. Especially when it’s after a particularly rough day, or another snowstorm. I think I’ve bought most of the liner holos they have in the collection, with the exception of a few… but we still have six more weeks of Winter (at least), so I’m sure I’ll have time to add more.

What do you think of Color Club Bewitched? Do you have this holo in your collection? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!