Category: Red

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Not-so-Simple Red & Gold

Good morning lovelies & happy Friday! & happy almost weekend. Today I’m sharing a manicure I did recently which was quick & easy, & got a lot of compliments!

Originally I was just planning on wearing the base, but decided I needed more than just simple red nails, so I added the stripe & gold. & I love it! Plus this whole look was completed in under 30 minutes from base coat to dry.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Cherry Delightful
  • Layla Cosmetics Ceramic Effect in Shade 53
  • Essie Mosaic On Down
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

Again, these were so simple to do! The hardest part was trying to make sure that I had my lines in the middle of my nails & they were straight. I know I could have used nail vinyls, but lately I feel like I’m more inclined to hand paint my nails over vinyls (or even stamping) because there is less waiting around for my base to dry.

What do you think about this design? Do you like this not-so-simple red & gold look. I think this would look awesome in a variety of different colour schemes. I’m already picturing a pastel/spring coloured look in my head as I write this!

Let me know what you would like to see down in the comments below!

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Deep & Dark Chrevron Half Moons 🌙

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday.

I hope everyone had a lovely start to their week! I worked a crazy day at work yesterday, thanks to the holiday, so I legit feel hungover even though I didn’t have anything but coffee to drink! It’s going to be a 3 or 4 coffee kind of day.

But in the meantime, how about some fun nails? I actually did these nails back in… October, November (I think?) but for some reason didn’t get around to posting them. Which is actually a shame because look how beautiful they are! You know how much I love chevron moons, & I adore all the details on these ones.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Millionails
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Cinna-Snap
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Night Drive
  • Essie Mosaic On Down
  • Chevron nail vinyls
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

How pretty are these with the addition of the gold lines? I remember thinking these were so, so beautiful when I wore them, which is why I still can’t understand why I never got a chance to post them. Sometimes that happens, or — even worse — I’ll do a manicure I adore, but then wreck it before I have a chance to get pictures of it! That one always breaks my heart the most.

I feel like I haven’t done my chevron moons in a while, so I think I’ve been inspired to do another one very, very soon. Maybe one featuring some very beautiful Spring shades? Feeling inspired!

What do you think of this chevron moon design? Would you wear a look like this? Do you like the combination of colours with the maroon, navy blue & gold?

Leave me a comment down below, & let me know what you think of this look!

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Red Pink & Purple Sparkly Glitter Gradient ✨

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! It was feeling like Spring here this weekend, but now we’re officially back in Winter mode with about 30cm of snow that fell yesterday. I’m just so over Winter. It’s cold, & slushy, & I miss wearing cute dresses. I can’t wait for us to officially defrost.

But in the meantime, I guess I’ll distract myself with some pretty nails.

It’s been a long while since I did a gradient on my nails that wasn’t just some glitter. Honestly, I find the clean up–even with liquid latex!–a pain, & I don’t have time for it. But I was really, really feeling a sparkly gradient after putting on my Swatch Sunday pick Essence Me & My Lover, so I decided to give it a try.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Millionails
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Me & My Lover
  • Aco by Ardene Boudoir
  • Aco by Ardene Wish
  • Latex free make up sponge

Check out those layers of glitter! It’s been a long time since my last gradient like this with lots of glittery shades, but I’m obsessed with how it turned out.

Instead of doing the classic gradient sponging where you apply all three colours onto the sponge & then apply it to the nail, I sponged each layer of glitter on the nail instead… which still gave me the same effect without having to worry about the clean up! I find it’s easier to do that with glittery shades like these, because they blend into each other easier, & you don’t have those unblended lines you might get with a cream polish. & of course, sealing it all in with top coat also helps blend things.

What do you think of these glittery gradient nails? Would you wear a super glittery gradient like this on your nails? Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what colour combination you would wear!

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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?