Category: NOTD

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Finger PaintsĀ 

Happy Swatch Sunday lovelies! I was recently in my local Sally’s beauty & noticed they were having a Buy 2 Get 1 Sale on their Finger Paints polishes. I was late to discovering the Finger Paints love, but once I did I fell in love. So when I came across a deal like that, I knew I had to get a couple colours to add to my stash (even though I totally don’t need more nail polish). So I thought I would Swatch my new shades immediately, so they don’t sit in the back of my stash untried for the next year. 

Dimensional Design

Dimensional Design is from the Summer  Chromaticity collection. In the bottle it comes across as a green-ish chrome shade that shifts to a peacock blue in the bottle. For my swatch, I used two coats. Sadly, I couldn’t escape the streaks on application which kind of took away from the chrome like finish. The shift is also much less on the nail than in the bottle which was a bit sad. But overall, Dimensional Design is still a very pretty polish. 

Hues Blue

Hues Blue is part of the Finger Paints core line & this was the last bottle left at my local store & I totally understand why! This gorgeous blurple shade is packed full of pink & blue micro glitters & took two coats to build opacity (although you can see a hint of nail line), but you could also use it as a topper over some undies. & oh my is it pretty–I just can’t even deal with how pretty this shade is! It reminds me a lot of Finger Paints Gorgeous Graffiti which is another favourite from this brand. 

Piece De Resistance

Can we just talk about this deep red shimmer, also part of the core Finger Paints collection? It’s pretty isn’t it? You know how much I ā™„ļø a good red polish, & even better it only took ONE COAT for these swatches. One coat. I don’t think I own another red polish that takes only one coat & it makes me squeal. The polish has an awesome shine to it which really shows off the lighter shimmer. Such a perfect Fall shade. šŸšŸ‚


& that’s it for today! Which of the three shades is your favourite? Let me know your thoughts (or your personal favourite Finger Paints shade!) in the comments below. 

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Purple Butterflies with #thenailartsquad


Today I have a very special manicure to brought to you by The Nail Art Squad. We got together to create beautiful purple butterfly designs in honour of Epidermolysis Bullosa. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare genetic disease that causes the blistering of skin, & has no known cure & in severe cases can be fatal. Children with Epidermolysis Bullosa are often called “butterfly children” which is why we chose butterflies to create (purple is the colour used for the awareness of the disease). This was a personal manicure for our group to take on as one of our members recently lost a friend to the disease. 

For my manicure, the products I used are:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Go Ginza
  • Essie Play Date 
  • LA Colors Color Craze Orchid
  • Essence Black Is Back
  • Unknown stamping plate (which I bought as part of a set at Dollarama years ago.)

These nails were simple to do, but turned out so beautiful. I thought about freehanding butterfly wings, but didn’t think I could do them justice & because we were creating these nails for such a special reason I wanted them to be as perfect as possible. The stamping plate I used was found in a set at the Dollarama years ago, but as you can see the image stamped perfectly clear. 


I feel so honoured I could join in bringing awareness to such a special cause. šŸ’œ to see the other purple butterfly manicures, don’t forget to check out the hashtag #thenailartsquad on Instagram. 

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Aurora Borealis Inspired Dry Brush Featuring OPI Iceland Collection šŸŒŒ

Good morning & Happy Friday Eve! Anyone else super excited for the weekend to almost be here? 

Today I’ve got some pretty nail art to share with you featuring some of the OPI Fall/Winter 2017 Iceland Collection. The first design I saw when I looked at these polishes was dry brush! I wanted to create something that would bring to mind the beauty of the Aurora Borealis.

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Base Coat
  • Top Coat: OPI Top Coat
  • OPI Less Is Norse
  • OPI Aurora Berry-alis 
  • OPI One Heckla Of A Color!
  • OPI Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots
  • OPI Check Out The Old Geysirs

A couple tricks to a good dry brush:

  •  have to have a light hand & only apply small spots of colour. I find it’s good idea to only choose a few shades for your dry brush. I tend to stick to about 4 polishes to avoid my dry brush ending up muddied. 
  •  make sure you don’t have too much polish on the polish brush. I like to keep a piece of paper towel (or regular paper would work too) beside me to brush your polish on first to steal any excess. This also keeps you from gunking up the neck of your bottle. 
  • Use a clear polish or non-quick dry top coat to brush over your dry brush a few times to blend the edge of the colours together. (I do this with gradients & sponge manicures too!) 

What do you think of these Aurora Borealis inspired dry brush nails? It’s been a while since I played around with dry brush, but as always I love the look. Also I think I was (semi) successful channeling my inspiration! I’m having a lot of fun playing around with these OPI polishes, so stay tuned for lots more nail art to come! 

All of these lovely polishes were all gifted to me by OPI as part of the #PreenMeVIP program. 

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Mani Swap with @hjs_nails!


Good morning lovelies! Hope you’re enjoying your week so far, & what’s left of August. Isn’t it crazy how quickly the month is speeding by? Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond excited for Fall but it is crazy to think how quickly this Summer has speed by. 

I thought I would break up the Fall colours I’ve been obsessing over, & joint in a fun (& bright & colourful) mani swap with Hannah of @hjs_nails! For this swap I picked her super neat abstract design, & she recreated my recent watercolour lines design (& lets be honest, she did it 100x better! I’m so jealous!) 

For this design, I used: 

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pretty Peony
  • Essie In The Cab-ana 
  • Essie Splash of Grenedine
  • Essence Back to Black
  • Small Bundle Monster dotting tool 

I thought this was such a neat design when I originally away Hannah’s so when she was looking for someone to swap with I knew already what design I was going to pick! Plus it’s such a great pop of colour which I kind of just needed in my life. You can never go wrong with a good abstract nail & the right pop of colour. 

What do you think of our swap? Let me know in the comments below! & don’t forget to head over to Hannah’s instagram & give her a follow if you’re not following her already. šŸ’œ

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OPI Fall/Winter 2017 Iceland Collection Part 2


Okay so I somehow managed to get the second half of the OPI Fall/Winter collection swatched (even with a baby who has decided he doesn’t like bedtime) so if anyone feels like bring me cupcakes or a really large coffee you are more than welcome to! & for you I have 6 more shades to share from this gorgeous collection, dipping into the darker & richer shades from this trip to Iceland OPI is sending us on. 

All of these lovely polishes were all gifted to me by OPI as part of the #PreenMeVIP program, as well as OPIā€™s natural base coat & top coat which I used for all swatches! 

Less is Norse

I like this shade, I like it a lot! OPI named this the Hero Shade of the collection, & I get it! Two coats for opacity (although it could potentially be a one coater if you’re really careful) & it goes on really smooth. The formula is just great which I like in a navy blue. & the underlying dust dusty-ness of the shade makes it just a little bit different than other Navy shades I own. 


Turn On The Northern Lights

If you’re looking to buy one shade from this OPI collection, personally I think this is the shade you need. It’s beautiful. Two coats gives you this shimmery indigo that just glows on the nail. You get that hint of fire-y red/pink/gold shimmer coming through & it makes me so excited. & the fact the shimmer shows up just as well on the nail on the bottle gives it even more points. The only thing I didn’t love was it’s weird smell–it smelled kind of skunky going on–but for this gorgeous colour I’m okay with that! 


This Isn’t Greenland

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this shade was “interesting” because as you know, I’m not much of a green polish kind of girl. But once I put it on, I really kind of liked it. This is two coats of this pistachio shade & I really needed three because I’ve got some streaks happening. I could definitely see this myself wearing this for a nice fresh punch of colour when I’m not in the mood for my usual blues or purples. & I think it would make an awesome base for some Fall leaves nail art! 


That’s What Friends Are Thor

I don’t have many brown shades in my massive stash, but brown in a Fall/Winter collection makes a lot of sense. & this chocolate-y brown is actually quite pretty. The Formula was great, only 2 coats, & dried down quite nice. It dries down slightly darker than in the bottle, but not in a way that changes the colour too much. 


Krona-logical Order

Yep, another brown! This shade however is much more dusty with grey undertones. This was two much needed coats (coat one was extremely streaky). Its a nice shade, although not really my usual go to, but I could definitely see myself grabbing it if I was needing something a little more dark & vampy on my nails. It works really well for this collection. 


Suzi & The Arctic Fox

& last but not least in the collection we have a surprise favourite shade for me! This dark grey, with blurple understones, took two coats for full opacity. It looks quite dark & grey but once you put it on & look at it under lighter circumstances you see that blurple coming through. It’s reminds me of a darker version of OPI Miss You-niverse which is one of my all time favourite OPI shades! Love love love it! 


& that’s it! What do you think of OPI’s Fall/Winter 2017 collection? Are there any shades which stood out to you from the collection you just have to have? For me I know I’ll be wearing Aurora Berry-alis, Turn On The Northern Lights & Suzy & the Artic Fox a lot this coming season! Let me know all your thoughts on this collection down below.