SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Cacti On The Prize🌵

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone’s weekend is off to a lovely start. Today I have a fun swatch post that was a spur of the moment polish buy — Essie Cacti on the Prize from the Spring 2021 collection!

I found this shade on $2 clearance during a late night Shoppers trip. I had been eyeing it when it first popped up, since the name made me so happy, but didn’t end up getting around to buying it. But when I saw it sitting all lonely with the rest of the clearance cosmetics (& at only $2) I knew it needed to be mine!

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

First off, formula on this shade is actually pretty stellar. 2 coats builds a creamy, glossy base that has no patchiness what-so-ever. I was very, very impressed! Plus the new wider Essie brush means you very easily get the whole nail in minimal swipes. Always a very good thing in my books!

The shade itself is this beautiful muted green, with a bit of yellow undertones. You can definitely feel the desert vibes this shade (& collection) was going for. It’s not a super lush green, but oh man am I absolutely in love with it. In the bottle, I was a little unsure about whether or not I would love the colour on me… but as soon as I put it on I realized I’d been missing out!

I feel like lately I’ve been falling more & more in love with green polish. It used to be “out of my comfort zone”, but I’ve been choosing it more & more lately. Maybe it turns out, I’m a green nail polish girl after all!

What do you think about Essie Cacti on the Prize? Have you ever bought a nail polish strictly for the name? Let me know down in the comments below!

Glittery Mermaid Scales

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Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! Hope everyone is having a lovely week! I can’t believe it’s almost the weekend again — how did that happen.

Today I have a fun look to share with you featuring all six of the shades from Beyond The Nail’s Mermaid of the World collection (that I shared on Sunday.) You know all six of those shades were begging for a sparkling mermaid scale look, so that’s exactly what I did!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Beyond the Nail Pacific
  • Beyond the Nail Atlantic
  • Beyond the Nail Caribbean
  • Beyond the Nail Caspian
  • Beyond the Nail Arctic
  • Beyond the Nail Ontario
  • Beyond the Nail Mermaid Scale Nail Guides
  • Medium sized dotting tool (for filling in the scales)

Seriously obsessed with how sparkly these are! They were definitely time consuming — I did each nail one at a time, one colour at a time — but it was totally worth it. I also really like the neutral negative space base against the glitter. It turned out even better than how I pictured them in my head! My thumb is definitely my favourite — you can just really see all the glitter.

It’s just so pretty. Like, I couldn’t stop wiggling my fingers in the sunshine. I love sparkle.

What do you think of this mermaid look? Would you rock a glittery mermaid scale look like this? Let me know down in the comments below!

Neon Green & Floral

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! A beautiful, sunny Tuesday at that. Today I’m going back to my comfort zone with some floral nails — but jazzing things up with a neon base!

Lately I’ve been seeing all this neon green manicures, & I really really needed to paint some neon green on my nails. But obviously I couldn’t leave them plain, so I added some floral overtop!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Be More Pacific
  • Sally Hansen Good.Kind.Pure Peony Origins
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Fuchsia Fever
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri VaVa Violet
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art in purple
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art in green
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Lately I haven’t felt super inspired, nail art wise, which kind of sucks. Trying my best to get out of my funk with simple looks, but sometimes it’s hard. I’m working particularly long hours right now (like 10 hour days) so when I get home from work, I’m feeling pretty tired, so there is not always enough time for fun nail art looks. Trying my best to inspire myself, but it’s not always easy. Guess I’m going to have to spend a little more time perusing Pinterest for inspo.

What do you think about this floral over neon green? It’s so funny because I’ve just featured 2 neon green manicures back to back, which isn’t a colour I usually reach for. Guess the sunny days are inspiring me… now if only they could shake me out of my nail art funk!

Have a lovely day!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Beyond The Nail Mermaids of The World Collection (Summer 2021)

{PR Sample/Gifted}

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I apologize about my radio silence the last week or so—my mum & dad were visiting after 9 months of being away, so when I wasn’t working, I was spending my time with them which meant that my nails took a bit of a back seat. But I’m super excited because I have a brand new collection to share with you from Beyond the Nail: their Summer 2021 Mermaids of the World collection!

This brand new collection is made up of 6 beautiful & super glittery shades, all inspired by bodies of water around the world.

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — Beyond The Nail Mermaids of The World Collection (Summer 2021)”

Neon & Scattered Holo Abstract Stripes

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday.

I know I’ve been very quiet on the blog front this week as my Mum & Dad finally made it down to visit, after being away for the last 9 months. So between soaking in visiting time, & working a ton, posting has been slacking. I’ve got a few nail art looks to share, so I’m definitely going to sit down & concentrate on getting my posts written! First up, some fun neon & scattered holo abstract stripes.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Holographic Top Coat: Starrily Eclipse
  • Ardene Sour Apple
  • Essence Violet Vibes
  • Sally Hansen MG Fushcia Fever
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Cerulean
  • Sally Hansen MG Get Mod!
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Nail Art Striper Brush

I’m really loving how these turned out. I’ve been seeing so much neon, I needed to do another neon look (plus I just bought this “pastel neons” shade from Essence, so I needed to do a manicure with it!)

Originally I just had the abstract stripes, but it was such a sunny beautiful day, I needed to add some holo. I’ve been applying the Starrily holographic top coats I have (Space Debris & Eclipse) to basically every pedicure I’ve done in the last 3 weeks, so I figured I should try it over nail art.

What do you think about this neon & holo look? I feel like I often overthink applying holographic top coat over any neon shades, but I’m definitely going to make a more conscious effort to do it more often! Because I really, really love the end result.

Let me know what you think down in the comments below!