Category: Orly

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Merry Christmas Penguin Accent Nail 🐧🎅

Good morning lovelies & merry Christmas Eve Eve. Can you believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow? Who else has copious amounts of wrapping to do?

Today though, I have another cute nail art look to share. I was wearing this incredible sparkly green already, & decided I needed something fun over top so I decided to add a cute penguin accent nail!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Beyond The Nail Caribbean
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Ghouls Night Out
  • OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI
  • ORLY Garnet Luxe Shimmer
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Pump-kid
  • OPI Unfrost My Heart
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm detail brush
  • Small dotting tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

Okay, seriously — how cute is he, all dressed in his little Santa hat? I did do a version of this penguin look in 2018, but I think this year’s version hits the mark so perfectly!

 I decided to add a bit of a scattered dotticure at my cuticle line to give off the effect of snow falling, & I think it made this look even more fun. This is my manicure for my last day of work before the holidays, & I think it’s a fun design for what will probably be the busiest shopping day of the whole year. 

What do you think of my little penguin accent nail? Do you think this is a fun Christmas look? It was actually surprisingly easy to do, which was awesome because the only thing keeping me conscious right now is caffeine! Hopefully Santa will slip a few Energy Drinks in my stocking to keep me awake over the next few days.

Have a fantastic Saturday, & if you’re venturing out to finish up shopping be safe. It’s going to be a zoo out there!

♥︎

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER — Mistletoe 🌲

Hello beauties & happy Monday. & happy one week could down to Christmas! The end of the year count down is officially on, & 2024 is looming. I swear I’m still in 2020 some days, & now we’re almost mid-way through the decade. Time is a crazy thing!

But I digress. We still have some prompts left for this month’s Glam Nails Challenge December & I’m so excited to share the manicures to come. Today’s prompt is Mistletoe, & I just love how my design turned out!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifer
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ORLY Garnet Luxe Shimmer
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Central Pink
  • Dimension Nails Amazonian Manatee
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Thyme is Money
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm detail brush

I was a little bit nervous about creating mistletoe nails, because I wasn’t sure how exactly to do them — & Pinterest was showing me holly nails when I typed in mistletoe, which was confusing — but I think my design turned out beautiful! I was inspired by this look on Pinterest by @tessalynnails.

& I got a ton of compliments at work for my nails, which is always satisfying. I love when people notice & love the work I put in. Just feels so satisfying for people to recognize your nails, especially when you’re super proud of them! & I’m very proud of these ( even if the lighting for these designs wasn’t my favourite.)

What do you think about these mistletoe nails? Do you like the simplicity of this design? I absolutely love how festive they turned out. Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

Have a lovely Monday! ♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Is it too early to start sharing some very holiday appropriate nail polish shades? I mean — the holiday parties are already starting, aren’t they? So some jewel inspired red nail polish is just what I need in my life. Today’s pick is another oldie from the stash, from the now defunct ORLY Color Blast line: Garnet Luxe Shimmer.

2 coats, no top coat!

This stunning shimmery cherry red applied to the nail beautifully in two smooth coats. The formula was smooth, & easy to apply, & self levelled without any need for top coat. It also had a beautiful shine without any need for top coat.

This shade is 100% a Christmas red if I ever saw one. I’m not even sure where I originally picked this polish up — I don’t see a Winners/Marshall’s tag on it, so I’m assuming (maybe) Sally Beauty, but I honestly don’t remember. All I know is it is a great red, & I’m sure happy to have it as part of my collection.

Sadly, as mentioned, the Color Blast line is no longer in production — however I did find a few similar ORLY shades on their website which are very similar: Stronger than Ever, Crawford’s Wine, & Cran-Barely Believe It. I only have Stronger Than Ever in my own stash, so I’ll have to do a comparison to see how close they really are!

What do you think of ORLY Color Blast Garnet Luxe Shimmer? Are you feeling the holiday vibes with this shimmery red polish? Are you ready to jump head first into all the Christmas/Holiday polishes I can share?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER—Full Moon 🌙 🦇

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It’s a new week, & we’re getting very close to the end of Glam Nails Challenge October. Kind of crazy to believe that Halloween is in little more than a week.

Today, I’m jumping into the next prompt for this challenge: Full Moon. Honestly, I struggled a lot with this one for some reason. I was feeling less than inspired, but after a bit of brain storming, I think the end design I created perfectly encapsulates the prompt.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Orly Fowl Play
  • Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (11mm liner brush)

I decided to go with acrylic paint to create my design—versus nail polish—because I wanted the ability to start over easily if I needed to without removing everything. Not my cleanest design, but I do like the spooky trees & the brightness of the glowing full moon. & my little wonky bats.

Also a design that benefits from looking at it far away, haha. But I love it none the less.

What do you think about my full moon design for Glam Nails Challenge October? Are you enjoying these spooky designs? Let me know what you think, & stay tuned for a few more spooky looks to come!

Happy Monday. 🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Fowl Play

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s a rainy & dreary Sunday here, but that’s late Autumn for you. We have only 9 days until Halloween, can you believe it? I’m so excited, even if I haven’t figured out my costume for Trick or Treating yet.

For today’s Swatch Sunday, I broke out a very old shade from my stash which I think is still (sort of) keeping with my Halloween trend. I had planned on going out & finding an actual Halloween shade to share — but I’m having the hardest time finding Halloween collections this year, locally, which is disappointing.

This is ORLY Fowl Play from the Fall 2011 Birds of a Feather collection.

3 coats + top coat

This shade is an oldie, but it’s beautiful. Everything I’ve seen online about it, people talk about how unique this shade is & I have to agree. It’s a purple base packed full of a multitude of flakies & glitters. It was hard to accurately photograph it in my light box, because I feel like it was hard to accurately capture how beautiful it looks (& how many colours it really has packed into it).

Formula for this guy was a bit thin, which meant multiple coats were a necessity (especially to show off all the flakies). I did three coats, because of how thin the formula was, & looking at these swatches I feel like I could have used a forth. Definitely a shade you want to apply a quick dry top coat over so you don’t have to wait forever for it dry.

The colour is perfect for late Autumn/Halloween. Dark & mysterious, & perfect for spooky season, or as the base for Halloween nail art.

What do you think of ORLY Fowl Play? Do you remember when this shade was released? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & share any Halloween shades I should be on the look out for!

Enjoy your Sunday. 🖤