Yves Saint Laurent – Coffee & Nail Polish

May 23, 2021May 22, 2021

SWATCH SUNDAY — Yves Saint Laurent Violine Surrealiste

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Today we’re starting off a brand new week with another polish swatch: Yves Saint Laurent Violine Surrealiste. I’ve had this shade a long, long time in my stash, but I’ve never done a legit swatch post for it, & it’s such a fun shade for (almost) Summer, so I wanted to share!

3 coats + Essie Gel Setter

Originally, this shade was gifted to me circa 2014 by a family friend, along with a great selection of other YSL nail polish shades. I think it was originally released in 2013, but I’m not 100% sure.

The formula itself is crelly-like — it’s not quite a jelly, & not quite cream. I applied 3 thin coats for full opacity, although you could probably get away with two with just a hint of visible nail line. Obviously you can see my nails are very short right now, so I don’t have very much nail line going on. That being sad, I liked the almost gel like finish I got with 3 coats, finishing off with my Essie Gel Setter.

I’m not going to lie, trying to photograph this colour was a bit tricky, but I think I captured it the most accurately. I really do love this fuchsia shade a lot as well — it’s a beautiful much needed pop of colour that my itty bitty nubs need badly. I’ve been really uninspired since I broke my nail & had to file the rest down, but this colour makes me very happy! & hopefully I’ll feel like some real nail art very soon!

What do you think about this gorgeous vibrant shade? Are you a fan of YSL nail polishes? Would you like to see more shades from my collection? Let me know in the comments below!

Sadly this particular shade is no longer available, as far as I could find, but you can find a ton of other gorgeous shades via YSLbeauty.ca if you’re in the mood for some high end nail polish!

January 19, 2020January 22, 2020

SWATCH SUNDAY— YSL 49 Rouge Pablo

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! A very very snowy & blustery Sunday here in Halifax. So why not heat things up here with a nice fiery red polish! 🔥

This is YSL Beauty Rouge Pablo, gorgeous pink toned red cream polish. I’ve written before about my love affair with red nail polish, & the fact that I used to literally wear it almost exclusively during my University days, so whenever I get a new red I get VERY excited to add it to my collection.

2 coats + top coat.

I was really really impressed with the formula on this shade. Sometimes red nail polishes can have a tricky formula, but this one goes on very buttery & smooth. The colour is also a very flattering shade of red that is great just to wear for everyday.

This shade reminds me a lot of another favourite red — OPI My Chihuahua Bites. It really is an awesome red on its own, as part of nail art, on your toes, etc. Just all around a beautiful red! & a red that I think I’ll probably end up one that I grab quite a bit. I really need to do a post on my top five red nail polishes, even though I think when it comes down to it, it would be hard to narrow things down.

If you’re looking for this red, I had trouble finding it online unfortunately. The YSL Beauty website has a few polishes listed, but this particular one is out of stock currently.

What do you think about YSL Rouge Pablo? What is your favourite red nail polish? Hope on over to Instagram & let me know what you think!

December 11, 2019December 10, 2019

GlamnailschallengeDec— Snowflakes ❄️

Good morning lovelies & Happy Wednesday! We’re already halfway through our week, how crazy is that?! & even crazier we’re almost half way to Christmas! (I haven’t even begun to process the fact this year, no DECADE, is almost over…) Today I have another manicure to share with you as part of #glamnailschallengeDec — Snowflakes!

Snowflake designs are actually one of my favourite nail art looks for this time of year, because there are so many ways to create snowflakes: stamping, stickers, freehand, & even just glitter! For today’s look, I decided some more stamping was in order because I have about 5 different stamping plates with snowflakes on them. I really wanted to feature one snowflake per each nail & I love how these turned out because they remind me a lot of Frozen. ❄️

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Quo by ORLY Breathable Kiss Me I’m Kind
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Ice Pop
ACO by Ardene Style Icon
Superchic Lacquer Throwing Shade (c/o: NailStuff.ca — COFFEE10 to save 10%)
Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
Assortment of BornPretty stamping plates — this one has an assortment of similar snowflake images.

I started this look off by creating a glitter sandwich using Kiss Me I’m Kind, Ice Pop & Style Icon. I wanted a really soft, delicate base for my snowflakes. If you don’t know what a glitter sandwich is, basically you start off by applying a layer of jelly/sheer polish, a layer or two of glitter & then finishing it with another layer of your jelly/sheer polish over your glitter. It really gives the glitter a softer look, which I love. It looks really beautiful all on it’s own or as the base for nail art. I thought it would be perfect for this particular design because it gives the effect of snow in the background (or at least that’s what it reminds me of.)

Victoria (aka @nailstuffca) was the one who told me how amazing the Superchic polishes were for stamping, which is why I grabbed Throwing Shade for my snowflakes, & she was so right! I was very impressed with how well it showed up on my nail, especially because I had such a light base to start. I can’t wait to try again over a darker base colour (a navy blue such as Essie Bobbing for Baubles perhaps? Stay turned!)

Seriously though, can you go wrong with holo snowflakes? I really don’t think you can! Who doesn’t want to feel like an Ice Queen.

Who else loves a good snowflake design? I really really love wearing snowflakes on my nails, especially when the actual white stuff seems to be keeping its distance. It just doesn’t really feel like Christmas to me, until there is a little snow on the ground.

As always, don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeDec over on Instagram to see everyone’s fun snowflake looks. & stay tuned, because there are still a ton of fun designs to come!

December 5, 2019

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Santa 🎅🏼

Hello lovelies! We’ve got another prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeDec to share today! & yep… I’m aware that I’m a day behind, but that’s life sometime.

Our second prompt of the challenge is Santa! So in honour of that I decided to do Santa hats over my previous manicure of Icing Stores Santa Baby just to maximize the full Santa effect!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
Essie Wrap Me Up
Icing Stores Santa Baby
Quo by ORLY Stilettos on the Run
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Pat on the Black
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
Nailstuff.ca 4mm micro detail brush (COFFEE10 saves 10% off your purchase!)
Nailstuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

I remember the first time I ever attempted a Santa hat manicure… & I won’t lie, it wasn’t pretty. I’m pretty sure I used a dotting tool to try & draw my lines, which did not turn out very good at all. (Literally just went & found the picture on Facebook so if you’re curious, click here to see my masterpiece.)

I’ve come along way after a lot of practice, & these little hats turned out too cute. The jelly-like finish of Stilettos on the Run show off the glitters underneath, which is really quite cool. I’m digging it a lot.

These feel very, very Christmas-y to me for sure. The colours, the design… there is no denying these are for Christmas! So much fun!

What do you think about this Santa inspired design? Have you popped over to Instagram yet go check out the other looks for #glamnailschallengeDec yet? Stay tuned for more fun, hopefully on time, nail art looks to come!

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019

GlamnailschallengeOct—Jack o Lanterns 🎃

Oh my gosh, we did it you guys! It’s the last day of GlamnailschallengeOct! Another month of fun designs that I might not have done otherwise! & I’ve had a blast celebrating my favourite holiday with this challenge… now it’s time for one more design!

The last prompt is Jack o Lanterns. Now there are a lot of different ways you can do Jack O Lanterns on your nails, & I searched through many minutes of Pinterest for inspiration, but in the end I decided to just start painting & see what I got.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Green Tea Bamboo Strengthener
Base Coat: Duri Rejuvocate
Top coat: YSL Beauty Quick Dry Top Coat
LA Girl Rock Star Groupie
Acrylic Paint
NailStuff.ca 7mm liner brush (from Mermaid Brush Trio)
NailStuff.ca dotting tool trio

For this look, I took my base colour which I was already wearing (LA Girl Groupie) & used a few orange acrylic paints to create my pumpkins. I went with acrylic paint (again) because it’s easier to erase if you’re unhappy with how it turns out & I find can’t paint on a bit easier than nail polish — & I was working against the clock.

I liked the idea of doing a couple smaller pumpkins on each finger with a larger “accent pumpkin” on my ring finger. I thought it turned out kind of cute! I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of actually carving pumpkins–& truthfully I haven’t done it in like 10 years–but I’ll paint cute Jack o lanterns on my nails any time!

What do you think about my Jack o lanterns for GlamnailschallengeOct? Have you figured out what you’re dressing your nails as yet?

Don’t forget to pop over to #glamnailschallengeOct on Instagram & see all the final designs for this month!

	Christine E on Negative Space Purple Moo…
	Shannon Rae on OPI Minis Skittle Mani
	Christine E on OPI Minis Skittle Mani
	Shannon Rae on Itty Bitty Gradient Dotti…
	Spotted Dreams Studi… on Itty Bitty Gradient Dotti…