Category: Swatch Sunday

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Julep Hallie

Good morning lovelies! & happy Sunday.

I hope you had a lovely, lovely week. I wish I had good things to say about my week, but after the announcement of lockdown #3 (&some very public evidence of people partying regardless), I’m feeling a bit down with everything.

But you know what makes me happy? Nail polish! & sharing fun nail polish swatches. So I dug through my stash & found a fun shade to share.

2 coats, no top coat

This is Julep Hallie which is from their It Girl line (I… think). It says 2015 on it, so I’m assuming that’s the year it was released? I don’t have much experience with the Julep brand, aside from one of their shades that I found at Winners for like $2 about 10 years ago. So I’m not sure how their releases went, & to be honest Google was not the most helpful haha.

As you can see, this is a beautiful ocean blue holographic polish (that leans a little turquoise). The holo was a bit more subtle than other holos I own, but pretty nonetheless. I did take my swatch photos with flash to try & get it to show up better, but I feel like sunshine shows it off best of all.

Overall, the formula was really smooth & easy to apply. A little less rainbow as other holos, but the colour is beautiful so it makes up for that. & if I’m really wishing for more of a holo punch, I can easily apply one of my holo toppers over top to add some extra rainbow.

What do you think about Julep Hallie? Do you own this shade in your stash?

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

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze BFF

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s been a week of beautiful sunny Spring days here on the East Coast, & you know what that means: let’s bring out the holo!

Today I have an oldie from my stash to share: this is China Glaze BFF from the OMG! Flashback 2018 collection. This was gifted to me a few years back, & I often forget just how darn beautiful these holo shades are! The perfect shades from when the sun is really shining.

2 coats, no top coat.

Look at that rainbow! It really, really shows… even under my the light in my light box. It’s very prominent, which you want in a holographic nail polish. The formula was also really, really easy to work with — two shades, no top coat. It dried really quickly, but thankfully didn’t drag when I applied coat #2.

& again: look at that linear holo! In my macro shot, you can really see how beautiful it truly is.

Sadly, this collection was a limited edition redo of an old collection, & isn’t available everywhere. But! I did find a few listings on Amazon & eBay for it, so it definitely is possible to find if you have to have it. I’m definitely lucky to have 5/6 of these shades in my stash, & I’m already planning a skittlette design in my head using them!

What do you think of China Glaze BFF? Do you have this shade in your nail polish stash? What is your favourite liner holo? Let me know in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Beyond The Nail Butterfly Clips (April 2021 Polish Pick Up)

{PR Sample/Gifted}

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely start to their day.

Today I’m super excited because I have an amazing polish to share with you from an awesome (& local to me!) nail polish brand: Beyond the Nail Butterfly Clips. This shade is actually being released as part of the April 2021 Polish Pick Up, which is a 90ies theme.

According to Beyond the Nail:

Inspired by the butterfly clips that we used to (or still do😏) wear in our hair. This nail polish has a holographic purple microglitter base with hints of holographic blue microglitter and lots of metallic magenta hex glitter.

2 coats, no top coat

If you’re looking for a glitter bomb of a polish, you are in luck because Butterfly Clips is all about the glitter! & I can totally feel the nostalgia that inspired the shade. It reminds me of one of those inflatable couches that were very popular in the 90ies & of which I totally owned.

The formula itself is pretty thick for application, which is why I only needed 2 coats for full opacity. It was also very quick drying, which I thought was amazing for a polish with so much glitter.

Look at all that glitter! It’s seriously amazing. ✨ you can see above the gritty finish of it dried down without top coat. It reminds me a lot of the textured polishes that used to be popular years ago, & I’m really obsessed with it.

But just for fun, I wanted to add a little top coat so you could see both smoothed out & not smoothed out. Quite honestly, I love it both ways! I feel like you do see a bit more of the holo once you’ve applied top coat though, which I can’t help but love.

So what do you think about this beauty of a nail polish? As I mentioned, Butterfly Clips will be available to buy through the PPU website, starting April 2 until April 5th for $11.50. It’s an exclusive shade, so I definitely suggest picking it up if you live it as much as I do!

& let me know down in the comments below which polish takes you back to your teenage years!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Scenic Route

Hello lovelies, & happy Sunday! Hope everyone is enjoying the first weekend of Spring. We’re supposed to have some actually enjoyable Spring-like weather today, so I’m very excited for warmer days… I might even wear a Spring dress!

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick is another oldie from the stash: ORLY Scenic Route, which was originally released as part of the Summer 2016 Pacific Highway Collection. I originally picked up my bottle at Winners, when it was originally released.

2 coats + Essie Good To Go Top Coat

The formula on this lilac purple cream is smooth to apply. I did need some top coat to really level everything out, but for the most part it was quite easy to work with. The colour is also fantastically bright; a perfect pop of colour for Spring into Summer. & I think we all need a bit of brightness in our lives right now! (Or, at least, I do.)

Even more exciting, Scenic Route appears to now be part of the permanent ORLY line, & is listed at a variety of different places for sale:

I also saw listening on Amazon, & eBay, although I would say these are more official listings. So if you’re seeing my swatches, & thinking “oh man, I definitely need to pick up ORLY Scenic Route to complete all my Spring nail polish dreams!”, you’re definitely in luck.

What do you think of ORLY Scenic Route? What you wearing for the first weekend of Spring (unless of course, you’re in a different hemisphere so the first weekend of Fall?)

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

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Boho Blues

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

After a few days of warm, Spring-y days, I’m living for all things Spring. & what is more Spring than a beautiful cornflower blue? You know how much I love a good blue!

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick is China Glaze Boho Blues. This shade was originally released circa Spring 2015 as part of the Road Trip Collection, but I do believe it’s now part of the permanent collection as it’s currently listed for Sally on the Sally Beauty website & a few other websites where you can purchase China Glaze polishes.

2 coats + Essie Good to Go

The cream formula is really easy to work with, & I managed 2 coats for full coverage. It does dry fairly gloss on its own, althouh didn’t completely level out — but that could be because this is an older bottle. I did apply top coat to kind of smooth things out a bit (& also because I was planning on some nail art).

As you can see, this is just such a smooth, beautiful, vibrant blue. It is definitely a perfect colour for Spring. I’ve always had an affinity for this shade of blue, or so says my nail polish collection, so they tend to be the first ones I’m drawn to in a nail polish collection.

What do you think about this beautiful shade? Do you have Boho Blues in your nail polish stash? Let me know in the comments below!