SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Garden Variety

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone is excited for the LAST week of January! It’s also our last Swatch Sunday of January, which means we’re that much closer to Spring. & oh boy am I ready to get into Spring. So that means it’s time to dive into my nail polish stash & start pulling out my favourite blues!

I did an Instagram poll yesterday on my Instagram stories — @coffeeandnailpolish — & asked which of two Spring-y blue polishes people wanted to see for today’s post, & with a 58% of the vote Essie Garden Variety was the resounding winner!

2 coats

Essie Garden Variety was originally released as part of the Spring 2015 collection, but has stayed on as part of the permanent collection. It has the most incredibly smooth formula, so it applied in just two easy swipes. This is pre-top coat, but still super glossy & shiny & perfect.

Now this is definitely a very difficult polish to capture on film — it can lean really blue at time which is hard to avoid. It’s definitely a little bit darker than you’re seeing in my pictures, but I tried not get the photos to show as close to reality as possible because it really is one of the prettiest teal-y blues that I own. & I don’t have anything else quite like it.

Just look at that beauty — it’s perfect! Oh man, doesn’t it just make you think of Summer dresses & sunglasses & the beginning of flowers budding in the garden. I know we’re only at the end of January, but I need to dream of Spring days to get me through these dreary snow filled grey days. It gives me something to look forward to! (Like the days when I don’t have to worry about layering as many pairs of tights under my jeans as I can fit… & wearing something other than layers of sweaters.)

Like I mentioned, Garden Variety is part of the permanent Essie collection, so you can find the beauty whenever Essie is sold. For those who don’t feel like venturing out to the store, but need this bright beautiful shade in your life there are a few online places you can purchase Essie:

What do you think about Essie Garden Variety? Do you have this shade in your collection? What is your favourite Spring-y blue? Let me know down in the comments below!

QUO Spring 2019 Limited Edition Make Up Collection

{PR sample}

Good morning lovelies! Today I have a fun post to share with you that is a little out of my comfort zone, but I am super excited about! I was recently contacted by Quo about their Spring limited edition make up collection that is cactus themed & I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to say yes!

The collection contains two eye shadow palettes, Desert Rose & Desert Sun, two face palettes, Sand Dune & Badlands, two Cream lip stains, Mariposa & Apache, a Luxe Buffing Brush & a cactus themed sponge. I was lucky enough to receive an eyeshadow palette, a face palette, a cream lip stain & that very adorable cactus sponge.

Continue reading “QUO Spring 2019 Limited Edition Make Up Collection”

SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Almost Famous

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday. I thought I was brighten things up a little for this week’s edition of Swatch Sunday & bring out the sunshine with my colour pick. Today’s polish pick is Color Club Almost Famous! This shade was originally released as part of the Poptastic Spring 2010 collection, & (I do believe was) eventually was added it to the permanent collection. I picked up my bottle a few years back at Lawnton’s in their permanent Color Club display.

For today’s swatches, I did 2 coats of polish plus top coat. I did have to go back & touch up the streaky spots though, where I hadn’t applied enough polish. The formula isn’t the greatest, but that is a universal yellow polish problem for me. The colour, however, is so much fun! I love the brightness of it — it’s the perfection transition shade from Spring to Summer!

Oh hello Sunshine, I’ve missed you. ☀️

If you’re looking to add this shade to your collection, I found a few links: Amazon.ca, Nailpolishcanada.com, & Amazon.com. Sadly it’s not listed on the main Color Club website, so I’m thinking the shade may have sadly been retired–& truthfully I haven’t seen it in my local Lawton’s display, so it would make sense.

Do you have a favourite yellow polish? What is your go to yellow? I’m always looking for shades outside my usual purple/blue/pink wheelhouse, so share your favourites down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze IDK

Hello lovelies! Getting in under the wire with a last minute Swatch Sunday post! It was sunny ☀️ today, so you know what that means — HOLO! & for today’s holo pick, I decided to grab a Polish I have yet to wear: China Glaze IDK! This purple holo was released last year as part of the China Glaze OMG Flashback collection & came into my life courtesy of @helloluli_ who sent me a whole slew of gorgeous polishes, including the majority of the OMG collection! & I am sad it took me this long to wear.

For my swatches, I did Base Coat, two coats of polish & finished everything with glossy top coat. In the bottle, the polish is very pretty. It’s not until you put it on your nails that the holo really comes through though! I was actually so impressed with the rainbow shift you get on the nail. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t kept getting distracted by staring at my nails.

Ugh, so pretty! Like just look at those rainbows. & even more exciting is this shade of purple is different than one of my other favourite purple holos Color Club Eternal Beauty.

& because you can’t truly appreciate it until you see it in the sunshine, a shot of my nails on our adventures today! It was so warm today & I got to wear a dress with bare legs. It was a very exciting day & I’m so happy for Spring to be here. Bring on all the holo!

Share what your favourite holo polish is down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Fifth Avenue

Good morning & happy Sunday! Today I’m making an attempt to return to my regular Swatch Sunday posts. Today’s polish pick: Essie Fifth Avenue which is a coral-ly red polish. As I’ve mentioned a million times, I adore a good red polish & it used to be the only shade I wore during my university years. So whenever I see a good red polish (especially when it’s on sale!) I can’t help but pick it up.

I found this particular polish tucked into the clearance section of my local pharmacy for a mere .99 cents, so obviously I needed it. From my understanding & Google research though, this shade does appear to be part of the permanent Essie collection.

For my swatches, all I needed was two coats of polish (over Base Coat, always) & then topped with my top coat to seal everything in.

One reason why this shade is quickly becoming a favourite is because it covers full in only 2 coats, with no visible nail line. That makes me so happy, which is probably why I’ve been wearing this shade A LOT! In fact, it’s been my pedicure shade of choice for the last month.

This is such a nice, bright red & it makes me so happy. Red is such a classic shade–you can never go wrong with it! & a bright corally red like this is even more perfect for Spring & Summer!

Do you have a favourite red polish? Let me know your polish picks down in the comments below!