Category: Swatch

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SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI Ink

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday… The first Sunday of November!

I’m not quite ready to start thinking about holiday polishes yet—although I’ve been tempted—so I thought I would delve into my stash & pull out an untried. Todays pick is OPI Ink, which I scored on a serious deal at my local Lawton’s.

2 coats + Seche Vive Top Coat

According to my Google research, Ink was originally released as part of the 2007 Night Brights collection. It has since become part of the permanent core collection.

The polish is a deep blue shimmer with a multitude of purple & blue micro flakie glitters. It’s very densely packed, which means 2 coats of polish easily covers the nail. There is also a beautiful shift that shows blue or purple, depending on how you move your nail.

You can really really see the glass fleck glitters in a macro shot. It looks really beautiful. Also you can really see the beautiful shift — it’s a stunning polish for sure!

You can OPI Ink (pretty much) anywhere OPI nail polish is sold, both in regular formula as well as the gel formula. A few places I’ve found online which have it in stock are:

What do you think about this beautiful OPI shade? Do you have OPI Ink in your nail polish stash? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen InstaDri x Sour Patch Kids Collection

PR Sample/Gifted

Hello lovelies & happy Halloween! 🎃🐈‍⬛

Today I’m super excited because I have a very special Swatch Sunday post to share with you, perfect for Halloween! As I mentioned in my last post, I was lucky enough to be sent the most amazing PR package, featuring the new InstaDri x Sour Patch Kids collection that was released for Halloween. It includes 6 Sour Patch Kid themed shades — with Halloween themed names to match.

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen InstaDri x Sour Patch Kids Collection”
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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Bat My Eyes (Halloween 2013)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

This is my first Swatch Sunday in a while — this month has been a bit crazy, & I let my swatches get away from me in favour of other nails. But I’m back, & I’m ready to share a fun Halloween polish from a few years ago — China Glaze Bat My Eyes from the 2013 Monster’s Ball collection.

This shade has been in my stash a very, very long time (I do believe my Mum gifted me if for my birthday in 2013) & I don’t think I’ve actually wore this polish more than once. So I was happy to break it out for today’s post!

1 coat over China Glaze Glamcore + top coat

I made the decision to too Bat My Eyes over a dark base to avoid a lot of coats of polish. The base is darkened, but I feel like I remember needing a few coats of polish last time I wore it, & I wasn’t really feeling this.

For one coat, though, the glitter is very densely distributed. You have multi-sized bronze-y hex glitters, with the occasional bar glitter.

You can really, really see all the different sizes of glitters in my macro shot, including the bar glitters.

I also really love the combination of the gold with the dark — it is a very nice Halloween-y type shades. But China Glaze has always done amazing Halloween shades, & I love this one held up all these years (my bottle of Howl You Doing? from the same collection sadly did not fair as well.)

What do you think about this Halloween shade? Would you wear Bat My Eyes for your next October manicure? What is your favourite Halloween polish? Let me know in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Wet N Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The first Sunday of October… aka the beginning of Spooky season, aka my favourite Month! Who else is excited?

Today I’m starting off with a fun polish that I’ve had for years, that I can’t believe I haven’t shared for a Swatch Sunday yet: Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer. I’ve been rewatching Buffy (yes, again) so it felt like an appropriate shade to share, especially at the beginning of Halloween month.

2 coats + Seche Vive top coat

For a bottle of polish that is 8 years old, the formula on this shade is pretty darn good. The polish itself has that shimmer that can sometimes be hard to apply without streaks, but applying top coat flattened everything beautifully.

As for the colour, it’s a lovely — the purple is vibrant, & the shimmer adds a little something extra that gives it a beautiful underlying glow. Without top coat, it dries down to a matte finish, but I think I prefer it with a glossy finish.

Check out that macro shot — you can really see the varied shimmers. Pink. Blue. Purple. They’re such a beautiful combination, & gives the shade that glow that I’m kind of obsessed with.

Sadly these shades are no longer in production, which makes me sad I didn’t at least pick up a back up bottle. I love purple, & I love Buffy, so this is the perfect combination for me! It also works great for a pre-Halloween polish pick.

What do you think about this Wet N Wild shade? Did you pick up any of these Fast Dry shades during their original release? Let me know down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Into The Unknown

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday!

Hope you’re excited for another new Swatch Sunday pick! Now that we’re reaching end of September, I’ve really been feeling these darker jewel tone shades lately. After browsing the Essence display, I was immediately drawn to this blackened navy blue shade: Into the Unknown.

2 coats, no top coat

I feel like you can never have too many navy blues, so I was excited to pick up this shade. I’ve loved Essence for years, especially because the price point is great — these Essence Shine, Last & Go shades retail for $2.99 CAD each.

For my swatches, I applied two coats of polish over a generous extra coat of base coat, heeding the warning on the back of the bottle. The formula itself was really easy to work with, & smooth to apply. & the polish bottle has a wonderfully wide brush that makes it easy to get the whole nail in one swipe — especially nice when I’m in a rush to paint my nails at night.

What do you think about Essence Into the Unknown? I’m really adoring this darkened navy, & I’m just dreaming of putting a good coat of shimmer or flakies over top of it. Maybe a coat of liner holo? I think it would be so beautiful over this navy shade.

What are you wearing right now? Let me know what shades you’re loving for the season, & any shades you’re dying to pick up from current collections.