SWATCH SUNDAY β€” Essence It’s Raining Men!

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Today I’m sharing a pretty old polish from my stash that I haven’t worn in ages: Essence It’s Raining Men! It’s been quite a while (like 5 years) since I last wore this colour, so it felt like a good polish to grab. I’ve gushed before how much I love the Essence line of nail polishes, so I have a ton of them in my stash. & some of my favourites are like this beautiful blue: deep, right & slightly sparkly.

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For my swatches I did base coat (always), & two coats of colour. For my swatches, I didn’t apply top coat so you could see it on its own when it dries, & as you can see it dries pretty shiny! The base is a beautiful dark blue, with a ton of lighter blue, turquoise shimmer & purple glass fleck glitters. The first coat goes on pretty patchy, but with the second coat you can see how opaque the polish becomes.

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I know it’s not a typical Christmas polish, but I love love love blue for Christmas for some reason. Maybe it’s because my Granny’s favourite colour was blue & she used to decorate with so many blue ornaments it makes me think of her. & Christmas was my favourite time of year with my Granny, so that’s why I just wear so much blue as December approaches. I mean, she would have never worn a polish this colour, but I feel like she would appreciate it on me. πŸ’™

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Sadly, this shade is way discontinued as Essence has update their nail polishes a few times since I purchased this beauty. I did look in my stash, & I’d say that China Glaze Blue Iguana is a close shade. Also, Essie Tied & Blue from their new holiday 2019 collection is very close in colour (from the swatches I’ve seen), although the finish is much different.

What do you think about this colour? Do you have a non-green/red polish that you love to wear during the holidays? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY β€” Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Holiday 2019 {Oh My Gold}

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{PR sample}

Hello lovelies! Not only is it one of my favourite days of the week — Swatch Sunday — but even more exciting… the Holiday nail polish collections have started popping up! & Sally Hansen Canada, bring the sweethearts that they are, sent me their brand new Holiday 2019 Oh My Gold! Collection.

The Oh My Gold! Collection is a limited edition collection consisting of 3 gold polishes — one metallic gold with chunky Holo glitter (Goldie Rocks), one dense gold glitter (Good as Gold) in a clear base & finally a sheer gold base with a scattered holo glitter (Five Golden Blings).

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& now onto the swatches!

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY β€” Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Holiday 2019 {Oh My Gold}”

SWATCH SUNDAY β€” Essie For The Twill Of It

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to this new month. Today I decided to pull an old favourite from my stash & one of the first Essie shades I ever owned: Essie For The Twill Of It. This polish was originally released as part of the Fall 2013 collection & I picked it up back then in a set of 4 minis at my local Marshall’s.

Now I have featured this shade before in my original China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You Post, but it’s long overdue for me to give this gorgeous polish its own spotlight!

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For my swatches, you’re looking at 2 coats of polish over my usual base coat. I skipped top coat for my photos so you could see For The Twill of It in its natural state. There are a few bumps in the polish once dried, but that could be chalked up to this polish being A. 6 years old & B. being a mini bottle, which I always find let’s to the polish getting gloopy or dried up faster. However, a nice coat of thick top coat (like Essie Gel Setter) will smooth any issues out.

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Look at the silver to fuchsia & green/turquoise shift… how gorgeous! Depending on the light it can be very apparent & pops off the nail! I also really love the tiny micro shimmer that is almost Holo-esque in the sunshine. It really gives this polish an amazing dimension that is unlike most other grey metallic polishes I own. I saw someone refer to it as an “oil slick” nail polish, & that really is the perfect description.

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For once, I picked a Swatch Sunday polish that was still available for purchase! You can find For The Twill Of It available in a few places like…

If you don’t already have a bottle in your stash, I definitely recommend picking one up. Also who else thinks that this shade would be the perfect base for an over the top glitter gradient? Holiday party ideas are brewing!

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What do you think of Essie For The Twill Of It? Do you own this beautiful shade? Let me know down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAYβ€”LA Girl Rockstar Groupie

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Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! If you follow me on Instagram (insert shameless plug here) you would have saw that I posted a poll to pick this week’s Swatch Sunday polish. & the winner with 59% of the vote was LA Girl Groupie from the Rock Star collection. This collection is pretty old — I found a Vampy Varnish swatch post that date back 10 years. I purchased this particular bottle pre-blog life, in 2013. & I’ve only done one manicure with it since starting this blog: these pink & purple half moons. So a reunion was long overdue!

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LA Girl Rock Star Groupie is a deep grape purple with a very prominent blue micro glitter. This is definitely a classic example of a blurple, which I was absolutely obsessed with when I bought this guy. &, I’ll be honest, is still one of my favourite kinds of purples. There is also a bit of pink shimmer that comes out depending on which way you shift your fingers. The perfect example of a “galaxy in a bottle” nail polish.

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For my swatches I did base coat (always), 2 coats of colour & I did finish things off with quick dry top coat because I was planning on doing nail art over top. First coat had some streakiness, but second coat levelled everything off nicely. If you wanted an even solid application, you could do a thin 3rd coat, but I really feel like it’s not super necessary. That being said, with the polish being thin (& quick dry top coat), the polish dries fairly quickly on the nail so you don’t have to worry about drying to dry a big gloopy mess.

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Sadly, it looks like this particular line of LA Girls has been discontinued & even eBay didn’t seem to have an overpriced bottle to be found. However, the LA Girl brand is still up & running & from the looks of it still has lots of gorgeous polish options to choose from at a very affordable price. In my early polishaholic days, when I was a poor retail slave, these were some of my favourite polishes to buy because I could buy 2 or 3 & still be able to afford my coffee addiction. In fact, next time I pop over to my favourite pharmacy (the one that has ALL the nail polish deals) I think I’ll have to check out what LA Girl polishes they have to offer!

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What do you think about LA Girl Rock Starts Groupie? Do you love a pretty blurple like this? Do you own this bad boy in your stash? Let me know! & let me know if you’d like to see me feature more of the shades from the brand in an upcoming blog post.

πŸ’œ

SWATCH SUNDAY β€” OPI DS Extravagance

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Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. This is my first swatch post since my disastrous nail break last week, so obviously I need to pick something stunning to share. & Today I’ve got one of the most beautiful polishes I own, & one I always pull out this time of year–OPI Designer Series Extravagance. This polish was a birthday gift given to me 5 years ago, & I love to wear it in October on or around my birthday.

The OPI Designer Series was a collection of polishes (that are now discontinued I do believe) that were a step above OPI’s regular polish line. A lot of them had holo glitter & flakies to give them a special touch. Extravagance was my first polish from this line, so it holds a special place in my heart. It was also one of the first holos I ever owned, & helped me fall in love with holographic nail polish.

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For my swatches, I did base coat, 2 coats of polish & finished it off with YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat. I’m planning on doing a full post on this top coat, but oh boy am I loving it so far. It dries SO QUICK you guys, like I almost can’t believe it. It might actually be the quickest quick dry top coat I’ve ever used.

The formula on this polish is pretty damn awesome. First coat goes on not quite opaque, & the second coat gives your nail a beautiful sparkly finish. It’s slightly jelly like, but not quite as much as say China Glaze Private Side-Eye. The glitters are so dense though, which is what makes this shade just so beautiful. Literally, it turns your actual nails into gemstones & I love it.

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Even though I do believe this collection has been discontinued, you can see find the polishes available in some places like nailpolishcanada.com & amazon, as well as a few other places they sell OPI I’m sure.

I must say, I don’t officially have a list of all time favourite polishes but if I were actually to sit down & compile one (which I’ve been thinking about doing), this shade would definitely be on it! There are only a few polishes I’ll ever truly wear on their own without even thinking about nail art, but Extravagance is definitely one. It’s just too perfect. πŸ’—

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What do you think about OPI DS Extravagance? Do you own any shades from the Designer Series collection & which is your favourite? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!