SWATCH SUNDAY — Orly Buried Alive (2012 Dark Shadows Collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! A sunny, but chilly, Sunday. The roofs are all frosted over this morning, & it’s definitely feeling like Winter lately. However, I’m just not quite feeling that holiday nail spirit yet. Usually by this time, I’m already planning Christmas manicures — but I haven’t been feeling any Christmas vibes yet this year unfortunately.

It’s Swatch Sunday, though, & I was going through my stash & found a beauty from 2012 that I don’t think I’ve ever worn! This is Orly Buried Alive from the 2012 Dark Shadows Collection.

2 coats + top coat

This beautiful shimmery chocolate brown polish is packed full of golden flakie shimmer. I am actually so sad it’s taken me this long to wear this polish, because it’s absolutely stunning! It’s the most perfect Autumn brown. It’s shimmery on its own, but then you add in that golden shimmer & it just adds the whole other dimension to it.

The formula on this one was actually really easy to use considering it’s a 10+ year old nail polish. Maybe it’s because I haven’t cracked the bottle since I bought it.

Wow! Look at that close up!

I’m actually really sad I have dropped the ball on this shade. I guess I thought “brown polish, not going to like it” but oh boy was I wrong! I love it! The application was flawless, the colour is stunning, & it’s just such a lovely Autumn shade I wouldn’t think to reach for.

What do you think about Orly Buried Alive? Do you remember this shade, or this collection? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below — I’d love to know what you think.

& if you have any tips for getting me in the holiday spirit, I will take all the ones I can get!

Happy Sunday

♥︎

Gold Swirlie Freehand

Hey lovelies!

I know you what you’re thinking — girlie where have you been this week?!

This has been a jam packed week full of blood work & regular work, so I haven’t had time to get super creative with my nails. I also had a couple breaks, so my nails are now considerably shorter. But I did do this pretty freehand swirly nail art look last week, before everything, so I’m excited to finally share them!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Cure
  • Essence Good Girl Bad Girl Leather Effect Caught In The Middle (2015)
  • Sally Hansen Good As Good (Holiday 2019)
  • NailStuff 7mm Mermaid Tail liner brush

I used to do swirly looks like a lot circa 2015/2016, & I’m not sure why I stopped. I like how this looks like some fancy wallpaper or wrapping paper. & Good As Gold as some holographic glitters in it, which catch the light every so often & makes it look even prettier.

What do you think of my swirlie golden freehand nails? Do you like designs like this? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below. Personally these feel very glamourous to me!

Happy Friday & (almost) weekend!

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — Impress Mini X Wicked For Good Press On Nails Reviews

•gifted/PR

Hello loves & happy Sunday! Today I have a bit of a different Swatch Sunday post, & a special guest star! I was recently gifted a box of goodies from Kiss for the new Wicked: For Good movie, including a ton of press on nails. Even more special though, is they included 2 sets of the Impress Mini nails — perfect for my little girl!

To say she was excited was an understatement. So naturally, she wanted to put them on as soon as possible.

In the style Good News!

So coming from a Mom perspective, these nails were super easy to apply to my six year old. The part that took the longest was sizing each finger for the best fitting nail. Some aren’t perfect — & to be fair, I could have went through & filed them down to fit better — but we did a pretty good job matching up each nail with an appropriately sized fit.

Application itself was simple. Each press on nails were is already pre glued for application, so you just have to remove the protective plastic film, & press onto the coordinating nail.& make sure you pretty down hard, so it sticks well. Then you pop off the little tabs & give them a quick file with the provided file. Next time, I would probably use my own glass file for a smoother edge, but my little girl wasn’t bothered by the less than smooth finish — which also could have just been my own user error.

Each package comes with 18 nails, so it’s pretty easy to find ones to match up. They are also nice & sticky, but not so sticky you can’t also remove them easily. The little glittery patterns were also super cute, fun & girly, & my little girl loved that she got to “be” Glinda.

Over all these were super simple & quick to apply. Doing my little girl’s nails can sometimes not be the easiest, as she is six & doesn’t always want to sit still, but these made for a way less stressful application. Honestly, I can see buying these for her frequently just to keep things simple & easy. & even though she only decided to wear them a short time, she enjoyed them too! Plus we saved the nails for future use (also I would imagine I might need to get some sticky tabs for next time.)

Impress Mini Nails sell for around $7.97 CAD at my local Walmart, which I think is a fantastic price for a quick kids manicure. Like I said, the ease alone — & lack of stress — make these an immediate winner for me!

What do you think of these cute Impress Mini x Wicked: For Good nails? Are you a fan of press on nails? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Festive Berry Toned Colour Blocking

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday!

I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. With the day off for Remembrance Day on Tuesday, I feel like my whole week is so askew! But I am trying to keep on my painting & posting schedule as best as possible, so here we go!

Today’s look is a simple one, but perfect for this time of year. The holiday vibes are really hitting hard now, so why not have nails to match! & I much prefer a pink Christmas vibe, myself.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Cure
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri The Queens Velvet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Frosted Berries
  • OPI Infinite Shine Bring Out The Big Gems

I’m a huge fan of designs like this which feature similar tones all paired together. It looks so beautiful. & I’m very into this pinky red colour scheme right now! As a lady truly dedicated to a crimson nail polish, it’s a nice change from my usual go to shades.

& colour blocking like this is so easy to do! Obviously if you don’t feel comfortable free-handing, you can use nail tape/vinyls — but honestly, once you practice doing it without, you realize how quick & easy it is!

What do you think about my berry toned colour blocking? Do you like this combination of colours? Let me know all your thoughts in the comment below, & if you would wear this design!

Enjoy your Thursday!

🖤

Vampy Autumn Roses

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

& hello to anyone new discovering this little blog of mine! I had some crazy traffic to my little corner of the internet last week, so I’m happy to welcome you to my little nail blog. ❤️

Today we’re starting off Monday right with some new nails. & I realized the other day it had been ages since I did any floral on my nails, so some vampy roses seemed appropriate.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat (red bottle) 
  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Cure
  • OPI Infinite Shine Bring Out The Big Gems
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red It Twice
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri The Queens Velvet
  • NYC Color Lexington Lilac
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald
  • NailStuff dotting tool trio
  • NailStuff 7mm Mermaid Tail liner brush

Okay first off — I decided to paint these at 9:30pm in very minimal light, so I’m shocked they turned out as good as they did! Because trying to see those roses on this dark base colour was a challenge, I won’t lie.

Secondly, I’m obsessed! Everytime I do floral I remember why I love wearing floral so much. It’s like me in a manicure. & these vampy roses—as challenging as they were to paint—just look so beautiful against the dark jewel toned based of OPI Bring Out The Big Gems. Just perfect for a gloomy November day.

What do you think of my vampy roses? Do you like them against this dark gloomy base? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Enjoy your Monday!

🖤