Fall Colour Blocking 🍁

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday. The weather here in Halifax has definitely made the shift from Summer to Fall, especially in the mornings! You definitely need a sweater (or two!) to keep from freezing. Which means that I’ve been breaking out all my favourite Fall colours. When it comes to Autumn, I’m all about the purples, navys, maroons, greys & bronze-y shades.

Today’s manicure makes up 3/5 of those, so not bad!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Cocktail Bling
  • Essie Leggy Legend
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Small dotting tool

This totally wasn’t the manicure I had originally planned on doing, but then I saw this bronze shade & thought how well it would go with this purple. & I haven’t done a colour blocking look in a while, so I though this would be perfect!

This was definitely one of those manicures that came together each stroke at a time, which is kind of my favourite kind. Sometimes I have a solid plan in mind when doing my nails, & sometimes I have no plan at all.

Oooooh this is my favourite time of year for pretty much everything — fashion, food, & especially nail art. Not that I don’t like Summer, it’s just I really come alive in the Autumn months. I love being able to layer, I love plaid, I love wearing tights, & I love these dark jewel toned polishes (especially purples!) Everything about Fall just feeds my soul.

What do you think about this colour block look? What are you favourite Fall shades? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

Purple & Grey Saran Wrap Splatter

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having a good start to their week. Today I have a brand new nail look to share with you featuring one of my favourite easy nail art techniques–a Saran Wrap splatter. This time, I wanted a deeper more jewel toned colour scheme (because those Fall vibes are calling me) so I picked a few of my favourite Fall-ish shades for the occasion!

For those of you who don’t know, this whole look is created easily using crinkled up Saran Wrap/Plastic Bag. You paint you polish onto the crinkles up bag & then dab it into the nail. That’s how you create the “splatter” effect. I really love doing my splatter over a “naked” base, so that some of the natural nail comes through.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Grape Juice
  • OPI One Heckla Of A Color!
  • OPI Angel With A Lead Foot
  • Essie Merino Cool
  • Saran Wrap
  • Edge Perfection Cutcile Barrier

Can you believe it’s almost the end of August?! I can’t. Where did our Summer go? Pumpkin Spice lattes are officially back, which I think we can all agree means that it’s officially Fall. & that means it’s going to be all about deep dark nails over here! Ooooh & Halloween. I cannot wait to create some Halloween nails too!

What do you think of this splatter look? Which colour combination would you love to see? Share down below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Julep Madelynn & Pahlish Seto Taisho (Teacup Soldier) {gifts from @manigeek!}

Happy Sunday lovelies! 💕 I know I skipped out on my Swatch Sunday post last weekend, but I’m back with TWO new-to-me shades, courtesy of the oh-so-amazing @manigeek!

Karen recently posted a swatch of the purple Julep polish Madelynn & when I commented how beautiful it was, she offered to send it to me! Seriously, how sweet is she! The polish was originally gifted to her by @dyslizakitty. I was super excited when the saw the polish arrive, & even more excited when I saw she included a surprise extra polish as well.

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — Julep Madelynn & Pahlish Seto Taisho (Teacup Soldier) {gifts from @manigeek!}”

SWATCH SUNDAY — Revlon Magnetic

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. Technically it’s a long weekend here in Halifax, but thanks to retail life I only have tomorrow off. It’s okay though… I still managed to get a Swatch Sunday post ready for today & she’s a beauty!

Today’s polish pick is one from the stash I’ve never actually worn: Revlon Magnetic. I’ve owned this shade for a while (I think I picked it up last Fall) but it’s been sitting untouched in my stash since then, just waiting for the right moment to shine.

Revlon Magnetic is a fairly sheer purple shimmer with a slight duochrome shift & blue microglitters. The polish on its own would take a lot to build to opacity, so for my swatches I layered 2 coats over a base of Color Club Pucci-licious. Sadly I struggled to get the duochrome to show up in my pictures, but it motion you could really see the shift. I share a video on my Instagram stories & ooooooh it looks so gorgeous in motion!

You know how I love a good purple & I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to actually wear it. Part of the reason I reached for it, is because it kind of reminded me of the new Essie Retrograde shades they released in the states. Sadly, I don’t have one to compare (I wish!) but this makes a great alternative. If you do have both to compare, let me know how close they actually are. I’m very curious!

I’m loving how all these cosmic themed 🌌 polishes are coming out right now. At work we have a whole collection of cosmic themed shades for the Fall–I’ve already bought 2 so far, & I have at least one more if not two I’m going to need to buy next. It reminds me why I fell in love with duochrome polish in the first place!

What do you think of Revlon Magnetic? Do you own this shade in your stash? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

Purple & Silver Racing Stripes

Happy August lovelies. Its that time of year… stores are beginning to set up for back to school & my cravings for all things Fall themed hit hard. Thankfully the 30+ degree weather has been keeping me in a Summer state of mind & keeping neon shades on my nails!

Today’s nails is a simple look that’s easy to do, but makes your nails look way longer than they actually are thanks to the vertical stripes. It’s also a great way to practice your freehand line work! I feel like mine has gotten a little rusty, so I’ve been taking every excuse to practice.

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essence We Will Spock You
  • YSL Beauty Violine Surrealiste
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Born Pretty Store Aurora Rainbow Nail Striping Tape in purple (item #40423) — I used the thickest tape of the 3

Using striping tape for your initial line in the middle makes creating your smaller black lines much easier. & then end result looks so cool! & gives your nails the appearance of extra length. Plus, like I said, for those of us still working on freehanding straight lines, this really helps with practicing.

I just love how these kind of look like racing stripes. Sadly the holo of Essence We Will Spock You didn’t want to show thanks to a hazy morning, but the little hint of holo with the purple looked awesome!

Do you have a trick for making your nails look longer? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!