SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Bare With Me

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. I hope everyone had a wonderful week — & is ready for the new month! I truly can’t believe it’s almost August. Wasn’t it just June? This Summer is definitely speeding by & I’m trying to soak in every sun soaked moment.

After a whole lot of neon, though, I thought I’d switch things up a bit with a more neutral shade. I recently picked up 2 new shades at my local Shoppers Drug Mart that were on clearance for $2! As soon as I saw this blushy neutral I knew I needed it in my collection.

2 coats + top coat

According to my internet research, Essie Bare With Me was released in 2017 as part of the Wild Nudes collection — & is now, sadly, discontinued. Online, it’s described as an apricot, but I feel it’s more pinky/blushy myself.

The formula was easy to apply & smooth, & dried down without much patchiness. I did smooth things a bit with top coat, but it does dried relatively shiny on its own. I just much prefer my nail polish with top coat.

Bare With Me is a very complimentary to my own skin tone, which I really like. It’s nice & subtle — which is not a look I tend to go for, but sometimes you just need to switch things up. I actually ended up wearing this shade for a few days with a coat of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Moonlit Top Coat over it, & it looks absolutely gorgeous together.

Unfortunately, like I said, this shade has been discontinued— probably why I scored it for $2 — but if you do track it down it’s definitely a lovely soft shade to have in your collection. I also think it’ll make a great base for some naked, but not really naked, floral designs.

What do you think of Essie Bare With Me? Do you like a good neutral shade on occasion? What is your personal favourite neutral to wear? Let me know down in the comments below!

Happy Sunday!

Blue Freehand Floral 🌿

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend.

I’m starting off this week with a brand new floral design. I wasn’t joking when I said I was back in my floral era. Today’s look was me just playing around on the base shade I was wearing, but I’m really in love with how it turned out so I had to share!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Londontown KUR Nail Hardener & Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • Essie Peach Side Babe
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie In The Cabana
  • Essie All The Wave
  • Essie Under The Twilight
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie Chillatto
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio

I love a contrasting nail art look. I thought blue would be so fun over this peachy base, & I was right! Also, trying to practice doing different styles of floral. Not sure what kind of flower I would call these, but they’re pretty!

What do you think about this floral look? Are you a fan of this contrasting nail art? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

Autumn Vibes & Abstract Stripes 🍂

Happy September 1st! 🍂🍁

We are officially in my favourite months — the “-ber” months! & my favourite months for nail polish & nail art. We’ve got dark colours, all the knee high boots a girl could dream of, & the best season for coffee drinks! So obviously now it’s September, that means I can really dive into my favourite Fall nail art designs without feeling judged for it being “too soon”.

Today’s look is another one of those abstract stripes designs I love so much. This time, I wanted a few more Fall colours because let’s just be honest, I’m obsessed. Haha. I decided on a lighter base colour, with some darker accent stripes. & I think the combination is absolutely perfect!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo Beauty Just Peachy
  • Essie Under the Twilight
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Zip Wine
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Ski Bunny
  • Sally Hansen MG Black-O
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush
  • Teeny dotting tool (NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio)

I love love love this colour combination. I know that peach is usually more of a Spring colour, but I feel like it works perfectly paired with the darkness of Zip Wine & Under the Twilight. Plus it’s a fun, easy design to do, & can pair with an assortment of outfits. For example: this cute peach dress my MIL bought for me at the thrift about a month ago. How cute do these look paired together? Who else loves parking nail art looks together with their everyday outfit choices — or is that just me?

What do you think about this Autumnal abstract stripe look? Are you happy it’s finally September? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & let me know what you’re most excited for in the coming months!

Glam Nails Challenge August — Peach 🍑

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

Sorry for being MIA this weekend; this last week has been CRAZY & then I spent my Saturday in bed all day with a migraine, which put any blog work I was going to do on the back burner. But I’m back this morning with prompt #3 of #glamnailschallengeaug: Peach. & I decided to go with a bit of an abstract interpretation of the prompt with these peaches & cream inspired stripes.

I actually was struggling a bit with what I should do for this one. But once this idea popped into my head, I knew I wanted to do it!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Giant Peach
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sunkissed
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Day Cream
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Oh man, these feel kind of retro, which is really fun!

I went out & bought 3 new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear shades at Shoppers since they were on sale for $2.99 each, it’s been a long week, & I haven’t bought new a nail polish in a while. I thought these three shades really gave me the peaches & cream feels (plus they’re very pretty colours over all). & I’ve been obsessed with these retro inspired stripes that are all over Instagram right now.

What do you think about these peaches & cream inspired stripes? Do you like my take on the prompt, or is it a little too outside the lines haha. Let me know if you’d rock this peach inspired look in your nails, down in the comments, & don’t forget to pop over to Instagram & check out the other looks using the hashtag #glamnailschallengeaug.

Matte Pastel Leopard Print

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! ☕️🌸

I hope everyone is having a lovely start to the week — especially with that Full moon that happened Sunday. I definitely felt the effects from it; things were off. But I did start off my week with some much needed Spring cleaning, which was great… & very, very overdue. My nail art area was starting to get overrun with bottles of polish, haha.

I also have some new Spring-y nails to shade. I saw this pretty pastel leopard print via Pinterest, & thought it would be absolutely perfect for a nail art look! & obviously matte top coat makes everything better!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Good to Go
  • Matte Top Coat: Butter London Matte Top Coat
  • Essence Good to Go Indian Summer
  • Essie Go Ginza
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Fine Black
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Love, love, love how these turned out! Dainty & Spring like. The colours just compliment each other so well! Leopard print is one of those designs I don’t do very often, so they always feel extra special when I do them. Plus, there are endless colour combinations, so you truthfully never have to do the same one twice!

What do you think about this matte pastel leopard print? Would you wear this for Spring? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below, & which colours you would pair together.