Category: nail polish

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Revlon Cherries in the Snow

Good morning, & happy February. Can you believe we are already a month into this year? It’s crazy! & it also means it’s time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day nails. We all know Red is one of my favourite nail polish shades to wear, so I always have a wide variety of polish picks when it comes to the love-iest day of the year. ♥️

& I’m honour of that, I thought I would pull out one of my lovely red shades Cherries in the Snow.

For my swatch, I did two coats of polish over my base & finished it off with top coat. Sometimes I find red can be hard to build, but the formula lead to opacity really well.

Now technically I think this shade is a red leaning pink (at least it’s photographing as such) but depending on your skin tone it could probably go either way. Which, personally, I think makes it a fantastic pick for your V-Day Manicure!

I picked up this polish at my local Walmart about 2 years ago & it’s my understanding that it’s been discontinued. That being said, Google tells me that it’s still available on a couple sites online including nailpolishcanada.com so if you’re dying to get it in your collection, you still have time!

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Pink Purple Blue Holo Gradient

Good morning everyone & happy Wednesday! Today I’m showing off some holo nails with this pinky purple blue holo gradient. Sometimes you just need to do something a little fun on your nails to jazz up your Wednesday!

This gradient was a spur of the moment decision & because of that I couldn’t find my usual sponges so I decided to try using a make up applicator. It didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted (or how I’ve seen other nail artists do it) but that’s okay because the holo kind of hides that fact! ✨Another reason everything is better with holo.

The polishes I used for this manicure:

  • Essie Grow Stronger
  • Essie Speed Setter Top Coat
  • Wrenn Polish Mesmerizing
  • Color Club Eternal Beauty
  • OPI Give Me Space
  • Small Sponge make-up applicator

Look. At. That. Holo. Also please ignore the cat hair on my finger haha. Even though my sponging if the gradient was kind of a fail, the holo really hides that fact which I love. Next time I would probably try this colour combo the old fashioned way, but for a quick spur of the moment design, I still think these turned out great. Plus it was super easy, & when you’re tired & doing your nails at 11:30 at night, sometimes that’s the only thing that really matters.

what do you think of this gradient. What is your favourite holo polish? Let me know down below in the comments!

💕

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Dark & Simple Dotticure

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday! Today’s look is one of my favourite easy nail ideas–a simple dotticure. Seriously, is there any easier way to add a little fun to other wise boring nails then with a few carefully placed dots? (Especially when you stay up too late binge watching Netflix & forget all about doing your nails…)

For this manicure, I pulled out one of my beloved Sally Hansen nail art pens. I’m not sure if you can still purchase these (I haven’t looked in a while) but a few years ago I picked them up & they’re one of my favourite & easiest ways to create polka dots! There is something so easy about using a pen instead of a dotting tool for creating teeny, tiny polka dots.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • OPI Cosmo With A Twist
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in Silver

What I love about this look is how easy it is. Paint nails. Let dry a few minutes. Dot with nail Art pen & seal with top coat. Bam, done! No tools even needed. & you don’t even need to worry about cleaning off your dotting tool & then re-dipping it into the polish, so finishing your nails is a whole lot faster. & the dots seem to end up being more similar than when I try to do the same look with a dotting tool.

so what do you think of this look? Are you a fan of dotticures? Share your thoughts down in the comments below! ♥️

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Pantone Nails with Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Malibu Peach(& a new matte top coat!)

Hello lovelies & happy 2019! I hope everyone had a fantastic start to the new year… I certainly enjoyed having two days off in a row! Today I’m starting off the new year not only by blogging (oh how I’ve missed you) but with a post featuring a shade inspired by the Pantone 2019 shade of the year Living Coral — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Malibu Peach.

I have to be honest, I’m not always drawn to these specially selected shades, but I am seriously in love with everything about this shade. It’s such a bright, happy shade, & I want to pain my house in in.

For my swatches, I did three coats of Malibu Peach followed by the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat to seal it in. The formula was a little bit tricky on this guy, which is why it took so many coats to have the polish not look streaky, but the end result was definitely worth it. & the top coat left the polish looking shiny & fabulous.

However, this time of year always leaves me craving matte nails, & Sally Hansen is releasing a BRAND NEW matte top coat, this time in their Miracle Gel formula! I am always impressed with how long I can get the Miracle Gel shades to last on my nails (especially when I’m so hard on my nails… that’s retail life for you!) So to say I was excited to see how well this matte top coat would last was an understatement.

Matte perfection.

In my original test run of this combo, I had my manicure last 5 days during Christmas craziness before any major chipping happened, which for a matte manicure is pretty impressive. There was the unavoidable tip wear, but as far as the whole nail it remained relatively intact. The only thing I did notice was that I seemed to have some cracks on the nail when I looked closely, but other than that it held up really well!

If you want to check out this new topcoat, Sally Hansen will be releasing this Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat in Canada stores this month & should retail for the same price as the other Miracle Gel shades.

Are you a fan of matte nails–are you excited to try out this new Matte Top Coat? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

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Christmas Penguin accent nails!

Good morning lovelies! I’m back again, & I have another Christmas-y design to share… after all it’s only 3 more days until Christmas. (When did that happen?) Today’s look is a surprisingly easy look that I’ve done & redone over the years & always come back to.

I actually did this nails last weekend, but anyone else who works in retail this time of year probably understands the craziness which is my life right now… barely any time to breathe, let alone write a blog post… just counting down the days to my two days off over Christmas. It’s going to be GLORIOUS!

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sprinkled With Love
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-ice
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Let’s Snow
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fiery Island
  • Small dotting tool
  • Small nail art brush (obsessed with my collection from www.nailstuff.ca

First I started off by laying Make It N-ice over Sprinkled with Love for a little extra sparkle…. because tis the season. & then I freehanded my little penguin over top on both my ring fingers to make my look more festive. I first saw this look on Pshiiit Nails (via Pinterest) & just loved how it looked so I needed to recreate. & obviously I had to add a little a festive Christmas-ness with some Santa hats!

My only complaint is that my top coat smeared my penguins a little. I’ve been testing out the Essie Gel Couture Top Coat & while the lasting power is amazing, it’s not my favourite top coat for putting over nail art because it does seem to smear designs. Guess I’m still on the hunt for the perfect one!

what do you think of this penguin design? Have you figured out what you’re wearing for Christmas? Let me know down below!