Category: Swatch

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Madam Glam One Step Soak Off Gel Polish 

Happy Sunday everyone! Kicking off this Swatch Sunday with my first expirence with soak of gel polish! Madam Glam was kind enough to send me these one step soak of gel polishes to try out & review & I’m excited to show off these swatches & share my expirence. 

As someone who has never really used soak off gel polish, I wasn’t quite sure to expect. I decided that the one step gel polishes would be perfect for me to try out as they don’t require a base or top coat–all you need to apply is the colour which makes it quicker. & as you know, with a teething almost 6 month old I’m all about the quicker the better when it comes to my nails. Even better, these one step gels are similar in formula to real nail polish. Most of the shades took 3 coats to reach opacity & you cure each coat with your LED Lamp. 

Lime Mint


Lime Mint is a neon mint shade that took three coats with a little bit of streakiness (you can see it a bit on my ring finger). That could be attributed to my total lack of gel polish expirence. The colour though is awesome & as vibrant on the nails as you see here. This would definitely be a great shade to slap on your nails for Summer vacation! 


Anytime

Anytime is a shimmery pink leaning purple shade that also took 3 coats for the swatches you see. I’ll be honest–this is the shade I thought I was going to love the most, but it was also the shade I had the most trouble applying. It was definitely a bit more watery compared to the other two shades (maybe because it was a shimmer as opposed to a creme like the other two?) & took a bit more care for application. The shade though is gorgeous. I love purple & this purple is perfect even if it takes a bit more work to get it right. 

Confidence 

Confidence is a light lilac purple & of the three shades I revived it’s definitely my favourite. I managed to get it opaque & levelled in two even-ish coats. This is a great shade for those who want a fun gel colour, but still need something that can be worn everyday to work. It’s not boring like nude, but also isn’t crazy bright like a green. It also would make a great base to add nail art over top! 

As far as lasting, I wore Confidence for almost two weeks while on vacation. I had good growth at my nail beds but the polish had held up pretty good with a little dulling to the shine. Removal was pretty easy–all you do is buff off the shine with a nail file & let it soak in foil wrapped nail polish pads for 10 minutes or so to loosen up the colour enough to peel/rub off. I personally didn’t have any trouble with removing the gel using these remover pads that I received along with the polishes. 
All in all, I think these are great colours for those looking to try out soak off gels, but are a little nervous. Because there is no base coat or top coat required, it’s great for a newbie. An even application takes a minute figure out, but once you do the end result not only looks great, but lasts much longer than your typical non gel polish. Check out Madam Glam’s crazy range of polish options yourself! They have even colour you could possibly dream of to chose from. 

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own. 

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SWATCH SUNDAY: ORLY Bailamos

Do you remember you very first polish of certain brands? I posted my very first Essie a while back, so I thought it would be fun to swatch another first polish… my very first ORLY! I picked up this shade (ORLY Bailamos) back in 2010ish at Winners. According to my internet googling abilities, it was originally released as part of the Summer 2010 collection. 

Bailamos is a stunning turquoise shimmer that screams Summer. Most importantly, it’s opaque in two easy coats. & considering this polish is 7 years old, the formula is still as flawless as when I first bought it. Obviously my weakness for a good blue/teal/turquoise polish has lasted a long, long time. 

Do you have this gorgeous ORLY shade in your collection? After searching this shade, I’m bummed I haven’t pulled it out of my stash to wear my often. Truthfully it did spend a good 2 years sitting in my parents addict (more props to that awesome formula for lasting!) but even still I can’t believe I haven’t reached for it more often. It’s just so pretty. Also I can only imagine how gorgeous this shade would look matte! Must try that next! 

What was your very first ORLY shade? Let me know in the comments below! 

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SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?

Happy Sunday! Today I have some shots of one of my favourite OPI shades–Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? which was originally released as part of the OPI Spring 2012 Holland Collection. This shade was on my “gimme” list a long time, & I finally scored it at Winners last year which was super exciting! I love the fact you can find so many hidden polish gems, especially those shades which are harder to find. 

Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? is a shimmery dark grape-y purple that takes 2 coats for total opacity. There are gorgeous magenta & golden shimmers that catch under the light. It also wears very well on its own–I managed to keep this polish on for 2 days with just minimal tip wear. 

This is one of those shades that I love to wear on it’s own without any need to nail art (which doesn’t happen too often with a non-holo shade!) There is just something about the pinkish golden shimmers against the grape base that makes me swoon. Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter this shade is perfect every season. It’s a particularly favourite shade on rainy days like I recently wore it. 

Do you have a favourite shade you love to wear on its own? Let me know your go-to shade in the comments below! 

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SUNDAY SWATCH POST: Essie In The Cab-ana

First off, Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums out there! 🌸 

Continuing my Swatch Sunday trend with one of my all time favourite blues! You might remember last Summer I had a bit of a love affair with Essie In The Cab-ana & used it frequently (if not, check out the end of this post for a refresher haha). But it occurred to me I had never swatches the polish on its own so I knew I needed to!

Originally from the 2013 Resort collection, In The Cab-ana is the prettiest vibrant blue cream than leans slightly turquoise. It also has a great formula that only requires 2 squishy coats for full opacity.

But most importantly it’s just so pretty! I mean, I love blue in general when it comes to nail polish, but In The Cab-ana is extra special. You can bet I’ll be wearing this polish a lot again this coming Spring/Summer.

And a few more manicures featuring In The Cab-ana:

What do you think of Essie In The Cab-ana? It is part of your nail polish stash? What polish can you not live without? Let me know in the comments below!

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SUNDAY SWATCH POST: Quo by ORLY Sweet Dream 


Like any nail polish addict, when I go into a store that sells nail polish (pharmacy, grocery store, department store, Dollar store) always have to look at the polish selection. Even though I’m trying not buy polish I don’t need, I like to know what’s available on the off chance there something I absolutely need right now, or something on an awesome sale. 


While shopping at my local Shoppers the other day, I was checking out the Quo by ORLY selection & came across a colour I hadn’t seen before: Sweet Dream. I picked it up & immediately noticed the pretty pink shift in it. Suddenly I realized I needed this colour. Of course, not before I picked it up & put it down a few times trying to decide. Pretty sure the girl in Cosmetics either thought I was crazy or trying to shoplift. 

Sweet Dream is a pretty pearlescent blue with a subtle pink & turquoise shift that is sadly much more evident in the bottle than on the nail. But, when you hit the right light it is hard to not get distracted! The polish is super sheer–I used 2 coats over a single coat of Sally Hansen Babe Blue undies (& there is still some visible nail line happening.) I’m not sure how many coats it would take if you wore this polish on its own, but I bet it would be a few, so I definitely recommend using it over undies. I’d be interested in seeing how different undie bases would bring out the shimmer. But even with the extra work, Sweet Dream is so, so worth it.  

I mean, check out that shift:

I can’t even begin to explain how much I love this blue. It’s like Unicorn Nails in a bottle! All it’s missing is a flakie top coat, which I wish I had though of! Next time. I’ve been trying really hard to not buy polishes I already have 1000 versions of, & I can safely say I have absolutely nothing like this colour in my stash already. (trust me, I went home & tried to find a dupe. Nothing!)

Quo By ORLY polishes are available for purchase at Shoppers Drug Mart stores across Canada. For my international friends, I know sometimes Quo polishes are recreations of ORLY polishes that already exist, & from my Quick internet search I believe that Sweet Dream is a dupe of ORLY Angel Rain from the Fall 2013 Surreal collection. Looking at swatches in Google, I’m pretty convinced these are dupes. 

So what do you think of Quo by ORLY Sweet Dream? What has been your latestest have to to have polish buy? Let me know in the comments below!