Category: Red Nails

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Me & My Lover (Sparkle Sand Effect)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. ❤️

I thought since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I should pick out something sorta Valentine-y for my nails. After digging through my stash, & through a lot of red nail polishes, I decided on this oldie from Essence: Me & My Lover.

2 coats, no top coat.

This shade was originally released in 2014/2015, which is when I picked it up at my local Shoppers Drug Mart. It is a sparkle sand effect shade, which means that it dries down to a textured finish.

Unlike some other sand effect polishes I’ve used, Me & My Lover has a finer grit, so the textured finish is a bit more subtle. It’s there, but it’s also easy to smooth out with a coat of glossy thick top coat.

The red is a beautiful pink leaning red — there seems to be some gold glitters & magenta glitters mixed in. It makes for a very, very beautiful polish. It also dries fairly quickly, which is an important thing when it comes to textured polishes. No body has time to be waiting around for their polishes to dry for hours.

The formula is also really easy to work with, which I always get excited about when it comes to extra old polishes in my stash. I’m definitely glad I decided to pull it out, because it was just the red I was looking for!

What do you think of this Essence shade? Do you remember the textured polish craze? Do you still have any of your old textured shades—which ones were your favourites?

Let me know in the comments below!

& have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Smith & Cult The Message

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Today I have another fun new to me brand to share with you, that once again I found thanks to Winners! Smith & Cult The Message.

It actually came in a gift set, which included 2 other polishes & an adorable make up bag. & the price for all those goodies? $9 on clearance. Even if I wasn’t already itching to try out the brand, a deal like that cannot be passed up! Plus I’ve been following Smith & Cult on Instagram for YEARS but have never actually seen their polish in stores! So it was definitely meant to be.

2 coats + top coat

First things first — these are some heavy duty bottles. The feel very upscale compared to other nail polish brands, which is neat. Of course, finding a spot in my drawers took a second, but they’re definitely the kind of bottle you want to display. Also I originally thought that I had got a dented polish top, but all my shades were like that, & it appears to be intentional.

The formula of the polish itself was smooth & easy to work with. I needed two coats for full opacity. The shimmery red is very nice, which shows a bit more berry on my nails than straight up red.

The Message is definitely a red polish I could easily throw on if I was stuck on anything else to wear— red is always my go to in those moments— & also would be a lovely choice for Valentine’s Day! This would definitely be a lovely date night polish. I ended up topping my nails with some liner holo top coat (Starrily Eclipse… my go to), which I’ve been wearing for the last couple days. Excited to see how this polish holds up during an extended shift at work.

Like I mentioned, I found this shade at my local Winners — I’ve also seen some single bottles at Marshalls as well. If you’re not finding them at yours, or don’t have a Winners/Marshalls you can also purchase Smith & Cult polish through their website, as well as on Amazon. Although, I will say — the prices are considerably higher than the deal I got at Winners, so they’re definitely on the higher end of nail polish prices.

What do you think about this beauty of a red? Have you tried Smith & Cult The Message, or any of their other shades? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below & tell me what’s the most you’ve ever spent on a single nail polishes?

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Glam Nails Challenge December— Poinsettia

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Today’s pre-Christmas look is also todays prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December — poinsettia. So I created a cute floral poinsettia accent nail!

Also let me apologize for my pictures — I took them at work, after it was dark outside, so they’re a little rougher than I like to do. But it’s been a busy week! (also reason this manicure is looking a little rougher than usual…)

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Society Ruler
  • Sally Hansen CSM Blush Around the Clock
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • OPI How Great Is Your Dane?
  • Icing Emerald City
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

The close up is my favourite (minus the blue hair dye peeking by my cuticle… ugh) I feel like these turned out so pretty, & they were surprisingly simple… after I finished my accent nails I kind of wished I had done a couple more fingers. But it is still a lovely accent nail look, & a lovely Christmas look!

What do you think about this nail art look? Do you like my lovely accent nail? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below & what nails you have planned for Christmas Eve.

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Glam Nails Challenge Dec — Santa Claus 🎅

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Today we have another round of Glam Nails Challenge with our second prompt: Santa Claus!

For this prompt, I wanted to go a little out of the box with my design. I decided to go a little cutesy with these Santa Claus inspired tips. I thought it would be a fun alternative to the usual Santa Claus designs you usually do — it’s more on the abstract side, but still gets the point across.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Cherry Delightful
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How cute are these? Originally I imagined them with a thinner with tip, but even though it ended up a little more clunky than I initially imagined, I do still love how cute they turned out. They definitely give off that Christmas-y vibe. & I love the little bit of sparkle that I added to the white polish.

What do you think about this Santa Claus inspired French design? Would you rock a holiday look like this?

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

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Glam Nails Challenge December — Jingle Bells

contains PR/gifted items

Hello lovelies & happy December! Yep… that’s right. It’s December! Which means the countdown to Christmas is officially on! & the abundance of Christmas designs can begin! As promised, I’m participating in GlamNailsChallenge for December, as I love a holiday themed nail art Challenge.

& the first prompt for the month: Jingle Bells.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red It Twice (2021 Joy of Colour collection)
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Gift For Blue (2021 Joy of Colour collection)
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Essie Muse Myself
  • China Glaze Ever Glaze Cashin’ Out
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper 
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate (no longer available)
  • Small detail brush

How cute did these turn out?

I started over with a base of my two colours which are both shades from the new Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Joy of Colour collection for Holidays 2021, that were so kindly gifted to me from Sally Hansen. I really like the soft grey with sparkle of Gift for Blue against the more poppy brightness of Red It Twice. Next I stamped the bell image onto my nail using my Nailstuff stamper & Starrily Vantablack. I knew that it needed some kind of colour, so with a very tiny detail brush, I went in with my Essie Water-colours shade Muse Myself… which, over the sparkle, totally comes across as gold! I finished with some red & green accents, just to tie everything together, & topped everything with topcoat to seal the look in.

What do you think about this design? Would you wear these Jingle Bell nails? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below! & don’t forget to follow along below with the prompts on Instagram with GlamNailsChallengeDec.

Have a lovely Wednesday!