Orly – Page 7 – Coffee & Nail Polish

September 15, 2019September 13, 2019

SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Plum Sugar

Good morning lovelies & Happy Swatch Sunday! Today I pulled from deep in my stash for some deep & dark Fall inspiration.

Today I’m wearing ORLY Plum Sugar, which was originally released as part of the Spring 2015 Sugar High Collection. This shade came to me thanks to the Marshall’s clearance section, one of my favourite places to find hidden polish gems. & even though this shade was originally released as part of a Spring polish collection, to me it is the perfect Autumn polish pick!

Plum Sugar is a super rich purple cream with a fantastic formula. For my swatches I did two coats of polish over my base, & finished everything off with a thick coat of glossy top coat (Essie Gel Setter). On the first coat, the polish was a bit streaky, but once you apply your second swipe, you have perfect opacity.

Seriously, how gorgeous is this purple? I love a good purple polish & I’ve definitely been craving vampy shades lately. & Plum Sugar is just the perfect gateway shade for these almost-Fall days. You would have seen this pretty purple base as the background of my Fall inspired bestie twin floral that I posted yesterday. 🍂🌼🍁

Oh gosh, I’m just absolutely obsessed with this polish! Hence why I took about 50 thousand pictures of it. I just couldn’t stop staring it at! If you’re interested in adding this shade to your collection, I found it for sale at NailPolishCanada.com, as well as on Amazon (link through my Amazon Shop).

What is your favourite perfect purple for Fall? Have you already started breaking out the vampy shades for Fall, or are you still holding onto those last days of Summer?

Let me know what your wearing on your nails this week down in the comments below!

September 14, 2019September 13, 2019

Bestie Twin Floral Nails

Happy Saturday lovelies! Did everyone survive Full Moon Friday the 13th okay? Today I’m sharing a fun design that has been in planning for a while–bestie twin floral nails that I did with my girl Victoria over at @nailstuffca!

We’ve been talking about doing some twin floral nails for absolutely ages, so I was really excited that we finally managed to come together to create our matching looks! The inspiration for this floral comes from my favourite place for inspiration: Pinterest! I found this pattern while browsing for Fall floral & that was where we started for our manicures.

The polishes used for this manicure were:

Base Coat: Gel overlay (trying to grow out some damage on my tips)
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
ORLY Plum Sugar
Essie Stop Drop & Shop
Acrylic Paints (set purchased from Dollarama)
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio
Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Brush Trio (I used the 11mm liner brush)

This was my first time using acrylic paints to create a look like this (floral) & I was a little nervous at first, but it was actually pretty easy to do! I still had to use polish for the pinky roses, as the set of paints I bought didn’t have any red. But other than that, I was pretty impressed that a $2 set of acrylic paint could create such beautiful art on such a teeny canvas. I don’t think I’ll use paints every time I go to do nail art, but for a design like this that is supposed to be a bit rustic, I think they worked perfectly!

Ahhhh, how pretty did these turn out? Considering I was definitely feeling rusty since I hadn’t created any floral since before our baby girl was born, I feel really good about the end result.

What do you think about these floral nails? Don’t forget to hop over to @NailStuff.ca & check out Victoria’s version of this design & give her some love!

September 11, 2019September 10, 2019

Fall Ombré

Hello lovelies & Happy Wednesday! I don’t know about where you are, but here in Halifax the weather is already starting to have that gorgeous Fall chill. It also has me thinking about Fall Manicure ideas, & one design I’ve been seeing pop up on my Instagram feed is the ombré look. A few years ago, ombré designs were super popular, & one of my favourites. So I can’t lie, I’m so pumped that ombré nails are making me a resurgence!

For those wondering the difference between an ombré & a gradient, an ombré is when you wear a different colour on each nail, while a gradient blends a few colours together on each nail.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Currently wearing soak off gel to grow out my natural nail.
Top Coat: Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat
Cosmetic Arts Baby Pink (no name)
L’Oréal Jardin Des Roses
Kosmic Colours dusty dark pink (no name)
ORLY Red Rhapsody
Essie Carry On
Wet n Wild 2% Milk (to make my pinky & ring finger look more dusky)

I’ve done a few ombré manicures over the years in different colour schemes, but I was really feeling something dusky, in the rose family. This combination really felt like it suited our increasingly Autumn-like weather. On my pinky & ring finger, I applied 2% milk over my lighter pink shades so they would match closer with the rest of my colours.

Ah, this makes me so happy! I’m so glad that this design has come back into rotation & is cool again. Not that I care that much about being trendy — my love of crackle nail polish will attest to that — but it certainly gives me a great excuse to wear multiple shades at once.

(Like I need any excuse to paint my nails!)

What do you think of the ombré nail art trend–have you given it a try yet? What colour combination are you dying to try? Share what shades you’re planning on pairing, down in the comments below.

🍁🍂

September 4, 2019September 3, 2019

VACATION NAILS — ocean inspire Saran Wrap splatter.

Hello lovelies! Still on vacation, but even though I’m on vacation that doesn’t mean I’m not painting my nails! Like I wrote in my last Swatch Sunday post, visiting my parents means I get to take advantage of my Mom’s massive nail polish collection she uses for her jewelry. So I decided to take a few of her polishes to create an ocean inspired design perfect for an East Coast vacation!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Duri Rejuvacote
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Sally Hansen CSM A Bleu Attitude
Quo by ORLY April Showers
Santee ACO6433
China Glaze Cattle Drive Me Crazy
Crinkled up Plastic Wrap

Obviously, being away from my own nail polish stash & supply, I’m not going to attempt to crate one of my more complicated designs–like floral– which is why something like a Saran Wrap splatter is such a perfect design! Easy to do, minimal clean up, but still looks fancy & fun! & obviously because my nails were inspired by the ocean I had to take pictures of this look right on the beach! 🌊

Looking at these close up, I realized how much these look like the mussel shells we used to collect off the beach as kids! This colour combination is definitely one of the best versions of this design I’ve done, but I find that happens whenever I do anything in shades of blue! They always just turn out so beautiful!

What do you think of this look? What do you do about your nails when you’re on vacation–do you still paint them, or go with something like soak off gel that lasts 2+ weeks!

Let me know your vacation nail routine down in the comments below!

August 12, 2019August 3, 2019

Paisley Nails for #glamnailschallengeaug

Good morning lovelies! Today I have another fun manicure I created for the Glam Nails Challenge for August! Today’s nail art prompt was one I was a little bit scared about: Paisley.

I’ve never actually attempted a paisley pattern before, mostly because it’s always looked really intimidating, & not in my nail art wheel house. But because this challenge is all about inspiring me to try new looks, I decided to make an attempt at free handing it.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Base Coat: Quo by ORLY Bonder
Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
Essence Plump Power
Quo by ORLY Wrong So Right
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio

So I’ll be honest, the first attempt at starting this pattern was with a different colour & I didn’t even get one nail done before I was removing it. I’m a perfectionist, so trying something I’ve never done before (& not doing it well) can be overwhelming for me. My second attempt with this darker bronze colour was a much better attempt!

Is this a perfect paisley recreation? No. Is this paisley-esque enough for me? Absolutely! I tried really hard to get that whirly look of Paisley & I’m incredibly impressed with the design, & especially with the fact I repeated it on my Cinderella hand so I could wear these nails for a few days. & yeah, I know these aren’t perfect. But they’re beautiful enough for me, & that’s all that matters.

What do you think of this paisley design? Would you wear this manicure? Share your thoughts down in the comments below!

& don’t forget to check out the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug on Instagram to see the other pretty nails posted for the challenge! I’m definitely excited to check out what everyone has done!

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