Category: NOTD

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SWATCH SUNDAY: OPI Fall/Winter 2017 Iceland Collection Swatches Part 1!

Good Morning lovelies. It’s my favourite day of the week (& not just because the Mr takes Little Bubs to watch cartoons so I can sleep in!)… it’s Swatch Sunday. & it’s so exciting that I actually had to break it up into two days because I have the entire OPI Fall/Winter 2017 Iceland Collection to share with you. I’ve been obsessing about Fall shades for a few weeks now, so it makes me so excited to get to show off some finally! 

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

 Icelanded a Bottle of OPI

Okay I’ll be the first to admit this kind of shade is not my usual go to polish grab, but once I put it on I really liked it. & as far as a Fall shade, this taupe-y brown is perfect. This was two coats, & the formula dried down really nice. If someone was looking for a great neutral shade that was office appropriate but not a simple nude, this would be a great choice for them! 


I’ll Have a Gin & Tectonic

Oooooh this pink leaning peach shade is very pretty. & it definitely brings out the yellow/olive undertones in my skin. It took 2 coats to opacity & top coat is a necessity to avoid any streakiness. It’s a gorgeous shade, although I do think more Spring than Fall when I see it. Paired with one of the darker shades in the collection in a half moon or chevron moon & I bet it would look lovely & more Fall appropriate!


Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots



Hello frosty pink rose gold perfection. Whatever you want to call this shade, it’s very pretty! It’s also 3 coats which I’m okay with because of the end result. There are some streaks but I feel like that’s part formula & part my lack of carefulness. This one definitely feels very Fall to me & even though it’s been forever since frosted polish was part of my collection, I can definitely see myself featuring this shade a lot this season! 


Aurora Berry-alis

You know sometimes when you see people posting swatches of a shade & you think it’s so pretty but figure it can’t possibly look that beautiful in real life? Well this berry shade is actually as gorgeous as it looks. It’s slightly dusty but rich at the same time. I used 2 coats for my swatches below. It’s juicy & the formula is flawless & I never wanted to take it off. Expect to see me wearing this shade a lot this Fall! (Definitely going to need a back up bottle!)


Check Out The Old Geysirs

Now this shade screams Iceland! For my swatch, I needed 2 coats of this greyed blue for full opacity. I was quite impressed the shimmer showed up on the nail as well as it showed in the bottle. It gave a little extra pop on the nail! You know how much I love a good blue shade, & this shade was very very pretty. Reminds me of icicles! 


 One Heckla of a Color!

& finally for today’s swatches we have this 2 coated purple creamthat as you can see dries slightly darker than the bottle colour. OPI describes this shade as a “frosty purple” on their site which I would necessarily agree with the frosty part, but it does have that little bit of underlying dusty-ness to it that a lot of these shades have that works really well to bring the whole collection together. 

& that’s it for today? What do you think of the OPI Fall/Winter collection? Any favourites you see already that you have to have? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

I hope to have part 2 of the collection (the much darker shades!) up either tomorrow or Tuesday! 

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Easy Navy & Neon Half Moons 

I’m sure I’m not the only one whose first nail art involved those paper hole re-enforcements. This design is very reminiscent of those early nail art designs when all I had at my nail art disposal was those little sticky circles & a $1.99 dotting tool by Essence. & even though it’s a relatively simple design, I think it looks so classy & chic! 

For this manicure, I used:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • China Glaze Purple Panic
  • China Glaze Sleeping Under the Stars
  • Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Lo
  • Paper Hole re-enforcements (I buy mine from the Dollar Store)
  • Small dotting tool (like this one from Essence!)  

If you’re looking for an easy, simple nail art design this would be a great option! The hardest part is waiting for your base colour to dry (& thanks to quick dry top coat, even that comes pretty easy.) I really like this colour combination–you have Purple Panic with all its neon beauty topped with Sleeping Under the Stars which has that very pretty pink shimmer that compliments the neon pink really well. This is a great in-between mani. & a little more sparkle by adding those gold dots. 


What do you think of this mani? What is your favourite old school nail art technique? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Patterned Watercolour Nails Inspired by @thesammersaurus

So I’ve been feeling a little stuck, inspiration wise, & when I feel lost for ideas I love browsing through the feeds of my favourite nail artists to see what catches my eye. I was scrolling through @thesammersaurus‘s instagram feed & came across a gorgeous geometric design from 3ish years ago. I’ve been a massive fan of Sammy’s for a long time–she was one of the first nail art blogs I discovered–& I love how she comes up with awesome, creative designs & rocks those shorter nails!  It gives hope to those out there who don’t have crazy long nails. So when I discovered this gorgeous design I loved, I popped over to her blog & found all the details of her design to make painting my recreation way easier! 

For the manicure, the products used were:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Go Ginza 
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Royal Hue
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • OPI My Favourite Ornament 
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls X Stencil (I cut off the bottom) 
  • The Base Coat Triangle Pattern Stencil
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge 

Thanks to my vast collection of vinyls, I was able to cheat & skip having to place striping tape/skinny vinyls individually for a relatively easy to do manicure! (Thank god for that!) I also used a make up sponge instead of the Saran Wrap technique for my colour blending on the accent nails. But even though I didn’t follow her exactly, I feel like this recreation turned out Pretty on point. Just please ignore the shrinkage on my middle finger nail. 😂


Do you have a favourite nail art you love to turn to for nail art inspiration? Where is your favourite place to get nail art inspiration from? Let me know in the comments below! 💜

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Wrenn Polish! 

Good Morning & happy Sunday! Today I’ve got a really exciting swatch Sunday post for you featuring three very gorgeous shades from Wrenn Polish. You have no idea how excited I was when my package from Alissa showed up on my door step, & I couldn’t wait to swatch these gorgeous shades to show off to you! 

A little preemptive warning–this post is going to be long & full of pictures of these stunning polishes. 

Wrenn Polish is a subset of Shop Wrenn which encompasses both these beautiful 5-free vegan & cruelty free nail polishes & their hand made Druzy stone jewelry which inspires it. I was lucky enough to receive three shades for review: Passionfruit Pink, Peri*twinkle* & A Pirates Life. 


Passionfruit Pink

Passionfruit Pink is a dusty dark blush shade that is infused with the most vivid gold shimmer. For my swatch, I had perfect opacity in 2 coats. As soon as I painted Passionfruit Pink on my nails, I knew this was going to be a go to shade for Fall. The pink on its own is a lovely, girlie shade but with the gold shimmer it becomes so much more. & unlike a lot of other nail polishes, this shimmer does not hide on the nail. As you can see from my pictures, it’s in your face & just as present on the nail as it is in the bottle! You can easily understand how these are inspired by Shop Wrenn’s beautiful stone jewelry. 

Peri*twinkle*

Peri*twinkle* is a blurple beauty that took three thin coats for full opacity. The formula on this shade was a little bit thinner than the other two, which was the reason for the extra coat, but I feel like if you were just looking for a sheer polish to add a little shimmer to your nails, one coat would be perfect for you. Depending on the angle, you can get flashes of pink, purple or blue & it’s so distractingly beautiful. I also would be very curious to see what it would do layered over some dark undies! The flash of different colours just makes this shade so beautiful & unique. I thought it might be similar to Quo by ORLY Sweet Dream, but Peri*twinkle* has a much more vivid shift & is much more blurple. 

A Pirates Life

A Pirates Life, the final shade I received for review, is absolutely my favourite. That’s two coats for opacity & honestly they went on like a dream. The formula on all these polishes are incredibly smooth & easy to use & A Pirates Life is the most perfect of the three I tried. The flash of turquoise shimmer just makes it the perfect beach blue–you can’t help but think of Caribbean waters when you stare at it (which makes the name very fitting). You can easily see how these shades are inspired by the Caribbean Druzy stone. 


Now I couldn’t not pair all these shades together, so after failing at a gradient I decided my next best option was a colour block! & oh boy did it turn out pretty. I used Essie Sweet Soufflé for my base (because of its own underlying shimmer) & the straight vinyls from Xroma Polish & Vinyls to mark off my blocking. 

All three Wrenn Polish shades went on easily & levelled well even before top coat. The shades are unique & it is so easy to see where they draw their inspiration from! If you’re interested in picking up these shades for yourself, you can buy them from the Shop Wrenn Website. & don’t forget to check out her gorgeous jewelry designs to compliment your nails! 

What do you trying of these Wrenn Polish colours? Which shade is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below! 

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own. 

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Easy Pink Gradient Dotticure

Gradient dotticures never get old to me. They’re such a quick, easy option for nail art & sometimes I’m all about the quick & easy manicures! While I used to be able to stay up all night creating complex & time consuming design, I just don’t always have that option anymore (& when I do the next day is always rough!)

 For anyone who is just getting into nail art, I’m always quick to suggest trying out dotticures because you don’t really need any tools since a bobby pin works easily, & they’re hard to mess up! Back in the early days of my nail art journey, I probably wore a gradient dotticure twice a week if not more. There is just so many ways to do it! 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Splash of Grenedine
  • Essence Black is Back
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard to Get
  • Essie No Place Like Chrome
  • Small Dotting Tool or Bobby Pin

Quick & easy. I’ve been looking back at super old manicures from my early nail art days & thinking about doing a whole beginner nail art series featuring some of my early nail art designs & some tips for starting out!

What do you think of this dotticure? Do you love a good gradient dotticure too? Let me know in the comments below!