SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue (OG Formula!) 🌊💙

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a beautiful weekend. It’s been a bit of everything this weekend — rain, sunshine, wind. That’s Nova Scotia weather for you!

Today though I have a special cult classic polish to share with you that I think most will definitely recognize! This the original Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.

1 coat + Top Coat

You may remember I did a comparison post featuring this shade circa 2019, but I never realized that I hadn’t shared full swatches of it! Considering we’re coming up on ten years since the untimely formula switch of Pacific Blue, I really wanted to throw this beauty on.

For those who don’t know the backstory, in 2014 Sally Hansen reformulated the original Pacific Blue, going from the beautiful creamy cobalt blue to.. something else. & nail polish aficionados were mad. We also scrambled to find as many back up bottles of the original shade to hoard.

The formula on this shade is about as close to perfect as you can find. One coat of creamy beautiful blue goodness. Even after 10 years, it still applies flawlessly. & unlike some similar shades—*cough* Butler Please *cough*—I never have any issues with premature chipping. & it kind of makes me remember why I fell in love with nail polish & nail blogging in the first place.

Do you remember the original Pacific Blue? Do you have a bottle of this beauty in your nail polish stash? Sadly, after 10 years since of being discontinued, I think the only place you might find a bottle of the OG is on EBay, or places like Poshmark where I found a bottle of the Original formula for $20.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Venomous

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s an especially beautiful Sunday because it’s my birthday! Okay, so I’ve never really been a birthday person — even before I hit my 30s — but I do love a free Starbucks drink so I’l celebrate it slightly.

Today though, we have another Swatch Sunday & I dug & dug through my nail polish stash to find an Halloween-esque nail polish shade, & I found this very special shade circa 2010/2011. This is Claire’s Venomous.

2 coats over OPI Black Cherry Chutney + top coat

So a little back story on this shade. I purchased this during the beginnings of my nail polish addict stages. I remembered reading this Claire’s (which I worked at during this time) had released some nail polishes that were dupes for the MAC Venomous Villian’s collection, so naturally I knew I needed them. I only have 2/3 shades (I believe) but they are prized treasures in my nail polish stash.

Now, for my swatches I did two coats over a one coat of Black Cherry Chutney. The formula is very, very thin — requiring 3-4 coats — so I always prefer to add some undies. (If you want to see swatches on this shade layered, check out Deez Nailz post. ) I love the foiled finish of this shade, & how the polish shifts depending on how you move your hand. Depending on the undies you choose, you can bring out more of the green shift you see in the bottle.

As above, you can see a good example of how the shade shifts on the nails. I wrote in a previous post about Quo by ORLY Wrong so Right that they were dupes, but looking at the close up above I feel like you get a lot more of the gold/green flash with this shade which I quite like. This was actually the colour I chose for my nails for a wedding I attended this weekend, & I thought it was the perfect colour for Autumn. & the nail is very Halloween-y, obviously.

What do you think about Claire’s Venomous? What is your oldest/most prized nail polish in your nail polish collection? Do you think this is a great Halloween-y polish? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Sunday Everyone. ♥︎

SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI Race Red

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

I’m going to be honest — originally I had a different polish plan for this Sunday — new shades from the Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure. reformulation, as well as the OPI Nature Strong shades featured in my previous post. But I’ve been struggling with the cold from Hell this week, which means I’ve not been up to much, especially swatching 9 polishes, & wasn’t able to get the shades swatched.

I didn’t want to skip this week entirely though, so I decided why not go with my all time favourite OPI red: OPI Race Red.

2 coats, no top coat

This collection was originally released as part of the 2014 OPI Mustang Collection. I have a few of the shades from the collection in my stash that I’ve picked up over the years, either on clearance or at the Dollarama, but Race Red has always been my favourite. In fact, it’s probably one of my favourite red nail polishes of all time.

The colour itself is an orange leaning red. It’s a beautiful cream that applies in 2 easy smooth coats. Even after 8 years, & a whole lot of wears, it still applies like perfection for me.

Look how pretty that colour is! It’s actually very similar to the colour of our Suzuki, which is another reason why I love this shade so much. But my love of red nail polish knows no bounds, & this is no secret.

Obviously, my bottle is looking a little dusty & worn, but the polish is still perfection. My only sadness is that I only ever bought one bottle of this beauty.

As mentioned, this OPI Mustang Collection was released circa 2014, so these shades have long since gone out of mainstream circulation. I did find a few spots online, like Ebay, with bottles listed. I’m definitely going to need to find myself a dupe soon, because I’ll be very sad when my polish officially runs out.

What do you think about this OPI shade? Do you have OPI Race Red in your stash? What is your favourite OPI shade? Let me know down in the comments below!

Also stay tuned this week, because I’m determined to get those other shades swatches this week, which might mean this whole week will see some beautiful shades featured on this page!

Romantic Vintage Winter Roses

contains pr samples/gifted•

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a lovely start to their week so far. It continues to be Winter here, & now that Christmas is over — I am definitely over it! Bring on Spring, please!

Today’s look is one I haven’t done in a while: roses. You know my love affair with anything floral, so I can’t believe it took me so long to paint another floral. Also does this count for as some Valentine’s Day inspiration?

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Millionails
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Dimension Nails Hooded Seal c/o: @nailstuff.ca
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Berry Fancy
  • China Glaze Kiss & Spell
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • Dimension Nails Amazonian Manatee
  • China Glaze Treble Maker
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How pretty did these turn out? I used Dimension Nails Hooded Seal for my base, which is from her brand new Winter collection. I love the holo shimmer, & the icy blue colour! It’s very, very pretty. I just wish it had been a sunnier day, so you could really see how beautiful the holo is!

I don’t know why, but I just love love love my roses with a blue background. Something just makes the roses always pop so beautifully. I decided to go with a deeper, darker rose because they just felt more Winter-y to me. & I love how they turned out. My middle finger turned out my favourite.

What do you think about this vintage rose design? Would you wear this look? Let me know down in the comments below!

Glam Nails Challenge December— Ornaments

Contains PR sample/Gifted product

Hello lovelies & happy Friday!

I swear I’ve been meaning to post this design for 2 days, but with Christmas right around the corner (& 12 hour work days) I’ve been struggling to find a good nail blogger balance with real life.

But! Today I have my next prompt for GlamNailsChallengeDecember: ornaments. & I decided to go with a simply bauble look for this design — something festive, but not too over the top. & naturally I had to pose in front of my own Christmas tree for the photographs.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Tutu the Ballet
  • Sally Hansen MG Snow What You Want
  • Sally Hansen MG Under the Tree
  • Sally Hansen MG Wrapped in Love
  • Sally Hansen MG Five Golden Blings
  • Sally Hansen MG Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen MG Buffalo Nickel
  • Sally Hansen MG Blacky-O
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How cute did these turn out?! I tried to give these baubles a fun vintage look. Also it gave me a chance to use a few more of the beautiful shades of the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Joy of Colour collection for this holiday (plus a few older Sally Hansen shades). & I’m really really happy with how they look.

Plus I’m absolutely in love with this glitter sandwich I did using Snow What You What & Tutu the Ballet which I’ve been itching to do since I got it.

What do you think about this ornament look? Do they scream Christmas to you? Are you almost ready for the holidays?

Let me know in the comments below!