Category: nail polish

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SWATCH SUNDAY—China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald (Fall 2010 Vintage Vixen Collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. The first Sunday of November! I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween. I definitely ate my weight in mini bags of Sour Patch Kids & Starbursts.

But now we’re moving on from Halloween, at least for another 363 days, & it’s time to focus on the latter part of this year! I thought for today’s Swatch Sunday post I would pull a favourite from my stash to share, that is the perfect colour story for a November day. This is Emerald Fitzgerald from the 2010 vintage vixen collection.

2 coats + top coat

The formula on this beautiful dark green was a bit on the thin side, but easy to apply. It needed two coats for full cover, but as you can see from my swatches, it covered beautifully. For a nail polish that is potentially 15 years ago — I purchased mine on clearance circa 2013 or so — she doesn’t seem affected by age at all. The dark green colour has a beautiful shimmer that’s very easy to see both in the bottle & on the nail.

Close up shot really shows of that shimmer that’s so prevalent in the formula & it’s truly stunning. It gives this colour a little bit more depth which is just stunning. & I’m not usually a green kind of girl, but I think because this one has kind of a blue-ish undertone to it, it has always drawn my eyes more than your typical green.

It really is the perfect green for this inbetween time after Halloween, but before Christmas/Holiday designs start. It’s just such. stunning jewel tone.

What do you think about this old school China Glaze shade? Like I mentioned, I purchased this guy going on 13 years ago — & it was released 15 years ago — so she’s not easily found in circulation nowadays, but I did find a few listings for it online when I was trying to find out information about it’s original released.

Happy Sunday!

♥︎

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Glittery Blood Drip Nails 🩸✨

Hello lovelies & HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🎃 My most favourite day of the year has arrived, & obviously I couldn’t let it pass by without one more design on my nails! & this one is fun because it kind of fits the vibe of my costume for work.

I always love a blood drip design on my nails, but this year I wanted to make it more fun by using a glittery red. Because who doesn’t want to bleed sparkle.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Midnight Drive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red It Twice
  • NailStuff dotting tool trio
  • NailStuff 7mm Mermaid Tail liner brush

Check out that beautiful drip! This is not the first time I’ve attempted a go at this design, but I will say I think it’s the most proud of the freehanding of my drips! They actually look like they could be blood dripping down my nails!

I also think it shows that even if you’re rocking shorter nails (like I am right now), you can see have fun & awesome nail art on them!

What do you think of my final Halloween look of 2025? This has been such a fun month of nail art, & I’m super proud of every design I crafted this month!

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a safe & fun evening— with a ton of your favourite candies!

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Witchy Thermal Half Moons

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday!

Surprise — another post this week, with some Halloween adjacent nails. These are less spooky, & more aesthetic— with a bit of nail Polish magic. I wanted to create some kind of witchy design over a thermal polish, which would be sort of revealed, & I think I was successful! ✨

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Cadillacquer Nostalgia
  • OPI Lincoln Park After Dark
  • NailStuff 7mm Mermaid Tail Brush

I tried to freehand a kind of witchy design at my cuticles, which I think turned out very cool (although I wish it were a smidge daintier). That way, when my hands heated up & went the lighter blue, it would be kind of “revealed” on my nail. Like magic. ✨

& I love absolutely everything about them. Now if only they could give me the powers to make Halloween last a little bit longer — it feels like it’s just slipped away!

What do you think of these witchy aesthetic half moons? Do you like the thermal polish reveal? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below & let me know what Halloween manicure you plan on wearing tomorrow!

Happy Halloween Eve! 🎃

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2025 — Haunted House

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a lovely & safe week so far. It’s a busy week as we prepare for Halloween, but we have one more prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October, & I couldn’t wait to share my design with you — even if I’m posting it a bit late in the day!

The final prompt for October is Haunted House, & I’m super proud of my spooky haunted house design I created.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sugar Fix
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dark Hue-mor
  • Quo by Orly Nail Art Striper in black
  • Wet n Wild Nail Art Stickers Trick Me, Treat Me style
  • LA Colors Crackle Top Coat Black
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm Liner Brush

I tried my best to create an atmospheric spooky background for my design, & painted the graveyard/spooky background. Then, I had a Wet n Wild nail art sticker that was a haunted house that I placed on my ring finger — which saved me from having to handpainting it! & the pink moon just seemed like a fun little touch to add as well.

& with that, we are done Glam Nails Challenge October for another year! Crazy to think that we are so close to the end of 2025. It’s been a crazy year, so I’m excited to close out the year with some fun designs.

If you’ve been following along with this challenge thank you! I had so much fun painting my nails this month, & sharing all my Halloween design with you!

Have the lovelies rest of your day!

♥︎

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2025 — Skeleton 💀

Happy Halloween week lovelies! The countdown is officially on to my most favourite night of the year! Has everyone figured out their costumes?

We also only have two prompts left for Glam Nails Challenge October — how crazy is that?! I’ve had so much fun joining in this month, & I’m really glad I did. It’s just what I needed to get inspired to paint my nails again!

Todays prompt? Skeleton. & I thought it would be fun to do a design featuring the Halloween King himself — Jack Skellington.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist (purple)
  • Essie Bahama Mama
  • OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI
  • Quo by Orly Nail Art Striper Black
  • Essence Chic Reloaded
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm Mermaid Tail Liner Brush

So my original plan was to use Essie Wicked as my base colour, but when I went to Walmart they didn’t have it in their display! So I went with another darker shade — Bahama Mama. Less of a spooky vibe, but the colour is really nice.

& I love how everything just came together.

What do you think about my Jack Skellington nails for Glam Nails Challenge October? Do you think he fits the skeleton prompt? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

& happy Monday!

🖤