Category: Sparkles

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Sally Hansen CSM Mermaid’s Tale


Have you ever had a polish that you’ve thought & thought & thought about but for one reason or another just don’t buy for whatever reason? I’ve got a few on my list, but a major one is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaid’s Tale. 

Mermaid’s Tale is a dark teal jelly stuffed full of assorted sized glitters both large & small. It was originally released as part of the Under The Sea collection in 2013 & stayed as part of the permanent collection.  Recently I’ve noticed it popping up in the clearance section at my favourite pharmacy’s polish clearance, so I had no excuse not to pick up this long overdue lemming. 

Because Mermaid’s Tale is a jelly base, I was scared about building opacity so I applied two coats over a base of Essie Under the Twilight. It helped achieve the look without having to apply 40 coats. I tend to do this a lot with jelly based glitters to avoid polish waste–all you need to do is find a creme shade close to your glitter shade to keep any visible nail line from showing. From what I’ve seen online, without undies it takes 3-4 coats for opacity. That’s a lot of glitter to remove when you go to change your polish! 

Oh goodness, seeing this shade on my own nails makes me so happy to own it! Originally I started listing after Mermaid’s Tale because it was a very close dupe to Deborah Lippmann’s Across the Universe for about half the price. & because I waited, & waited & waited I got the polish for only $5 which is half the price Sally Hansen CSM shades usually go for in stores around me. 


What do you think of Sally Hasen Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaid’s Tale? Have you ever waited a long time to buy a much loved lemming shade? What is you #1 all time lemming shade? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Gold & Blue Holo X-Pattern Nails

After a bit of an impromptu hiatus, I’m back with some new nails! Today I’m showing off these gold & blue holo nails featuring more of the great vinyls from Xroma Polish & Vinyls. 

For this manicure I used: 

  • Base Coat: Perfect Formulas Pink Gel Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat 
  • ACO by Ardene La Luna mixed with Nicole By OPI Make A Comet-ment
  • Color Club Dirty Money 
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls ‘X’ Stencil
  • Small dotting tool from Bundle Monster 


First can I mention how much I love this polish combination? ACO by Ardene La Luna is such a pretty cruelly, & it occurred that it would show off some holo really well so I took a risk & mixed it with some of my bottle of Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment. & it turned into an absolutely perfect blue scattered holo. I’m kind of in love. So I wanted to create a design that would compliment this colour & I think these x pattern stencils are perfect for that. 


I need to start coaxing myself into wearing colours other that blue. Maybe that will be my goal for June! Although I did just pick up Revlon To The Chapel which is… you guessed it! A pretty baby blue. Haha. But after I wear that it’s going to be a blue free month! Think I can do it? Guess we will have to see. 

What do you think of today’s design? What’s your favourite colour to wear? Let me know in the comments below! 💙

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SWATCHES GALORE! (What I’ve been wearing)

again with the unplanned hiatus! I’ve been busy busy busy with work with no time for much else! However, I can never go polish free so I thought I would share a few swatches of the polishes/polish combinations I’ve been wearing the last couple weeks.  

  

Hard Candy Sky (topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust) — I picked up a few of the Hard Candy 20th anniversary polishes at my local Walmart last month and obviously this one had to be in the bunch! Love love love! This polish makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her pretty pastel nails which is exactly why I feel in love with polish in the first place! Sadly my Fairy Dust didnt want to show up for the camera but looked pretty in person as always. 

CND Vinylux Dazzling Dance—Duochrome! Purple! Holo glitter! 💜 I picked up this gorgeous polish at my local Winners for $3! I’d been watching it for months, and finally realized it was waiting for me to take it home. This was 4ish coats with still visible nail line so next time I’ll add some undies. But even still… 😍  

  

ORLY Mirrorball — I’m kind of on a holo kick lately and Mirrorball is perfection. Just look… Words are not even needed. 🙀 (you will definitely be seeing more of this beauty later 😉) 

  

ACO by Ardene 80s Prom Dress — (layered over China Glaze Seas the Day)  bright fushia pink with camera shy micro glitters. Definitely a perfect Summer colour! Again it’s pretty sheer on its own so undies were a must. I’m curious to try it out with a darker shade. 

  

Nubar Absolute — Blue holo. Seriously I’m holo obsessed right now and need them alllllllll. I tried my best to capture the holo in the sun, but don’t worry in person it cannot be missed! I also realize that I’m going to have to spurlge and pick up a few more Nubar holos because damn they’re so pretty! 

  

ACO by Ardene Crystal Fog layered over Hard Candy Zombie. Zombie is another 20th anniversary release from Hard Candy that the Mr. picked out for me, probably because we’re obsessed with iZombie lately! It’s a gorgeous purple on its own, but add a coat of Crystal Fog by ACO by Ardene and it turns into the most amazing duochrome. I don’t usually wear dark polishes in the Summer but this is definitely going to be an exception! 

 

Joe Fresh Quartz — it was not easy to capture the shift of this polish on camera…. Just kidding!  the above shot says everything you need to know. I literally spent all day staring at my fingers moving them around.  Shifty gorgeous duochrome PERFECTION! I have a few Joe Fresh polishes in my stash but this is definitely my new favourite. It’s just so perfect. 
So what polishes caught your eye the most? Are you team duochrome or team holo? Also what’s your favourite polish to wear when you just don’t have time for nail art? Let me know in the comments below! 💜💜💜

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Glittery half moons featuring NOPI polishes. 

  

The other night I visited my local Lawtons who have a large selection of their Nicole by OPI polishes on sale for $4.99–so naturally I needed to add a few to my stash. 

For the mani I used:

  • Nicole by OPI I’ll have the Salmon (peach)  
  • Nicole by OPI I lilac Gumdrops (purple)
  • Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment (extra glitter) 
  • Essence French Manicure top guides. 
  • Seche Vite Quick Dry top coat. 

I’m loving combining glitter and crepes in half moons/colour blocks lately. Plus you know how I feel about glitter. 💖💖💖

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Comparison Post–holo glitter top coats.

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Hello lovelies!

Today I have a fun swatch post to share with you. A couple weeks ago I was at Wal-mart and noticed that Revlon had released a line of specialty top coats. There was a whole bunch of fun ones, bu the one that caught my eye was the Holographic Pearls top coat, so I had to have it. I tested it out with a snowflake manicure I did, and couldn’t help but be reminded of China Glaze Fairy Dust so I knew I had to do a comparison! I hadn’t yet used OPI My Voice is a Little Norse, so I figured I’d throw it in just to see how close the three of them were.

 

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On my pointer and pinky, I have two coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust applied over Mary Kay Blue Knight. On my middle finger, I have just one coat of Revlon Holographic Pearls, and on my ring finger I also have one coat of OPI My Voice is a Little Norse. As you can see Holographic Pearls is a much denser glitter than the other two. My Voice is a Little Norse isn’t as dense as the Holographic Pearls, but the glitters are bigger than the other two. I definitely think I still prefer Fairy Dust over the other two, but I do love Revlon’s Holographic Pearl top coat and you cannot go wrong for the price (I paid $3.99 at my local Wal-mart for it). Seeing My Voice is a Little Norse in person now, I’m definitely going to be pulling it out again. I’m quite fond of how it looks, especially over a darker polish. Tis the season for glitter, and I’ve been glitter crazy.

 

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So what do you think about these holographic glitter top coats? Do you have your own favourite? Like I said, Fairy Dust is still my absolute favourite, but all three are just gorgeous on the nail.