SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI All About The Bows (Holiday 2019 Hello Kitty Collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautiful Sunday here, albeit a little bit chilly. But the sun is shining, & that is nice to see for a January day. I thought I would match the brighter days, while also getting a little a little Valentines-y with some pinkish nails. I fee like end of January into February is the only time I really wear a lot of pink, so I’ve got to share when I do!

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick is OPI All About the Bows from the 2019 Hello Kitty Holiday Collection. Technically this shade is kind of enigma, because I feel like sometimes it leans hot pink, & sometimes it looks more reddish. Getting the right lighting for these nails was definitely a bit of a challenge, but I tried my best!

1 coats, No Top Coat

Hello beautiful! & hello one coater. I was super impressed with the smooth formula of this shade because it applied effortlessly in one coat. The formula itself has a syrupy feel, but with a good opacity. I was actually really, really impressed with how easily it applied. & the dry time was super quick as well, probably because I only needed one coat to reach full opacity.

I will say though, if my nails were longer, I might need two if I wanted a little more coverage. You can see a bit of visible nail line on my ring finger — but honestly, it’s barely visible unless you’re really looking for it.

I love how this shade is somewhere between a hot pink & a red. We all know how much I love a good red, but it still gives off the Valentine’s vibes I was hoping for. After all, it’s just a little over 2 weeks away so it’s time to start really getting my manicure & nail art ideas into action.

What do you think of OPI All About The Bows? Are you a fan of a hot pink shade like this? Let me know all your thoughts about this shade, & which shades you’re already planning on wearing for Valentine’s Day (& black totally counts!)

Have a happy Sunday loves.

♥︎

Vintage Inspired Polka Dot & Floral 🌹

Hello loves, I hope you’re having a beautiful start to your Thursday!

Today’s look is giving me early blog vibes, & most specifically this early design featured in the younger days of this blog. I love a good floral, & to be honest I haven’t really been inspired to paint floral on my nails in a while. I think June was the last time I posted any kind of floral, & even that was a simple daisy design. So to say I was long overdue would be an understatement.

So obviously I decided lets do a throwback inspired design, grabbed some pink & red polishes, & I ended up with this pretty look! The throwback vibes are strong, & I’m okay with that. I feel like old school nail art designs are making a comeback — heck one of the indie brands even released a whole collection of crackle nail polish — so I thought I would join in on the fun.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • L’Oreal Vintage Vinyl
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Ski Bunny
  • L’Oreal Feeling Kilty
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Racing Rose
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Cinnasnap
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Montley Hue
  • China Glaze Shore Enuff
  • Essence Cosmetics Green is the new Grunge
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Dotting tool (I always use mine from NailStuff.ca — Dotting Tool Trio)
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm Liner Brush)

Ooooh it’s so pretty! I mean, being a self confessed perfectionist I can definitely see some flaws, but I’m not going to concentrate on those, & instead focus on the good things… like floral being on my nails again after far too long. It just feels good, especially during these frigid days we’ve been having. I’m not a fan of Winter once Christmas is over, so I don’t really enjoy January at all.

A girl can only drink so many extra hot coffees in a day.

So I would expect to see a few more florals popping up on my nails over the next few weeks, especially as we start inching closer to Valentine’s Day.

What do you think of this floral design? Have you missed seeing it around? What is your favourite nail art design to do of all time — or for others to do? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below.

Purple & Pink Drag Marble (Fail?)

Hello beauties & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s week is off to a lovely start. I feel like January weeks are just so blah. It’s cold…. uneventful… the days seem to drag. So I’m once again breaking up the January blahs with another fun purple design.

We all know that I’ve been having a purple moment lately, & I thought I would keep it going with the purple-y design I wore this past weekend. Originally, this was supposed be a drag marble, & that was the technique I used to create the blending between shades. & then obviously I added some gold glitter shards, for an extra little bit of sparkle.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Late Night Lilac
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pep-plum
  • Essence Cosmetics  Steeling the Scene
  • Dotting tool (I always use mine from NailStuff.ca — Dotting Tool Trio)

So honestly, I’m not 100% sure if I love these or if they kind of turned out as a fail. They definitely did end up the way I had intended. I actually wanted to create something more like this design, but the polishes were not agreeing with me so this is how it ended up. Sally Hansen XW Late Night Lilac is actually a super runny jelly glitter–which is beautiful–but not the most ideal for drag marble designs I guess. Maybe if I had used Pep-plum as my base instead of Late Night Lilac it would have worked out better.

& then obviously I added some gold glitter just for a little something extra… because I feel like it needed some sparkle. The two shades were beautiful together, just missing something.

What do you think about this drag marble fail? Do you like these colours together? Let me know what you think of this design down below, & what colours you think I should try next time for a better result.

Have a fantastic day loves!

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Ugly Sweater Party

Hello my loves & Happy Sunday! This is the second Sunday of December, so I’m keeping with the Christmas-ish polish tradition, & trying to share shades that are related in some way to the holiday!

This past week I did a poll on my Instagram asking if people would rather see China Glaze Ugly Sweater Party (Holiday 2015) or OPI Bring Out The Big Gems (Holiday 2022) this week, & with an overwhelming majority, Ugly Sweater Party was the winner!

2 coats, No Top Coat

China Glaze Ugly Sweater Party is a pink jelly formula, packed tightly with an assortment of glitters, including holographic. The formula is a tad on the thick side, but with a little bit of patience, I easily covered my whole nail in two coats. You could probably sponge on the glitter for a denser packed glitter effect, but I much prefer it applied this way as I like the overall finish.

Truthfully, I don’t know if I can remember ever wearing this shade as a full manicure like this before. I originally bought the polish because I loved the name, & glitter is my weakness, but I think I’ve truthfully only used it in glitter gradients, or maybe as a single accent nail, which makes me sad.

I was also surprised I had never swatched this shade previous Decembers, so I was happy. to do both for todays post! This is definitely a fun glitter shade, & just screams Christmas party to me! My Christmas party days are long behind me, but to be honest if I were every invited to one — & didn’t have time for a full nail art look — this would be my #1 polish pick for such an occasion.

Do you remember China Glaze Ugly Sweater Party from its original 2015 release? Did you have this sparkly shade in your stash, or do you still have this glitter on rotation? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Summer-y Dotticure featuring Essie

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.

I’m excited because I have another fun (& easy) nail art look to share with you featuring some brand new (to me) shades I recently picked up. I worked like a mad woman over the Canada Day long weekend, so I decided to treat myself to a few new Summery nail polishes. & when I was looking at these brand new shades, I was like “hmmm, what can I do with these polishes?”

& the answer was obvious: dotticure!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Essie Throw in the Towel
  • Essie Swoon in the Lagoon
  • Essie In the Cab-ana
  • Essie Blanc
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How gorgeous are these shades together? Originally I planned on buying Essie Bahama Mama but then when I was in the nail polish aisle I noticed Bahama Mama is very close to Sally Hansen InstaDri Zip Wine so I decided to hold off (for now), & go for some more vibrant Summery shades. Essie In the Cab-ana is an old favourite & my old bottle is running out, & the other two shades were fun, bright pinks, & I seem to be very drawn to pink nail polish lately.

I think I might do a polish haul instagram reel soon, since I have been really loving (& buying) pinks, so why not show them off.

What do we think about this dotticure look? I feel like this is kind of reminiscent of my early dotticure days, where they were a bit more abstract. Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what colours you would pick for a dotticure like this!