Tag: ACO by Ardene

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Wedding Appropriate Floral & Polka Dots

Happy Monday lovelies & a long weekend Holiday Monday at that! Going to try & make up for my lack of posts last week with a few extra this week (after a crazy last week at work with back-to-school).

First up is a nail design I wore to a wedding this past weekend. Obviously, I had to do roses & I decided to add it a few polka dots as well. To me, this design kind of looks like wallpaper, but like cute wallpaper. & I absolutely love how they turned out. But then again, when have I ever not been happy with floral on my nails!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • ACO by Ardene Flawless
  • Essie A List
  • Essie Peach Daiquiri
  • Essie Cute As A Button
  • Quo by ORLY the Antidote
  • Essie Off Tropics
  • Essie Sew Psyched
  • Essie Absolutely Shore
  • ACO by Ardene Day Dreamer
  • Medium & Small Sized dotting tool
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush

This look turned out so perfectly, just how I imagined in my head. They were the perfect nail art look for attending a wedding, actually ended up matching the dress that I wore which also had roses all over it. Not going to lie, I totally picked my dress because it matched so well with my nails!

what do you think of this nail art look? Do you have a go-to wedding look for your nails?

Have a happy Monday lovelies! ♥️

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SWATCH SUNDAY — ACO by Ardene Twilight Zone

There has been a lot of pink & red happening on the blog in preparation for Valentine’s Day,  so I thought it would be fun to break it up with something a little different! So today’s Swatch Sunday is all about this beautiful multichrome from Ardene called Twilight Zone that’s been in my stash for a good 2-3 years now. I’m not sure if it’s still available in store, although I do know they come out with different (similar) duochrome & multichrome shades every so often, so I would recommend popping into a store near you to see what hidden beauty you might find!

For this swatch, I applied two coats of Twilight Zone over a dark base of Essie Under the Twlight because the polish itself is fairly sheer & would require more coats than I have patience for.

As you can see from the bottle, the base of the polish is a sheer-ish green blue with iridescent blue shimmers. You could definitely try & build it up to opacity, but I’m not sure how many coats that would be. If I had to guess, I’d say you’d be looking at least 4. & besides, I really find these shades work best with undies–it makes the change that much more apparent. You can see above that it flashes between blue & pink/purple depending on how you move your hand.

Ugh, it’s just so pretty! Why do I always forget how much I love shifty shades until I’m wearing them again? I’ve been reorganizing the nail room because I got some new storage, & gushing over my old school shades so much, like this beauty & my Claire’s Villain shade dupes from 2010. I keep trying to figure out how to best share my stash on the blog, but with 1000+ nail polishes I’m not sure the best way to document them. Any suggestions on the best way/app to organize what I have & be able to share?

 

Like I said, I don’t believe that Ardene Twilight Zone is still available for sale in store (unless you check out a Outlet perhaps) but I know that they’re always coming out with new & interesting shades so I would definitely recommend checking out what they have. I’ve bought some pretty fun polishes there over the years that are still favourites of mine.

What do you think of this shade? Have you ever bought an amazing polish in a surprisingly place? Let me know your thoughts on the comments below.

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Tribal Stamped Accent Nail

Good Morning! & happy Saturday. ♥️ My Saturday is starting off pretty good because we actually got a sprinkling of snow last night, so things are looking pretty festive & Winter-y. It’s also starting off pretty good because I have some new nails to show off.

I wore this nail art design the other night when I was invited to a Mark’s Well Worn Media Event–the first blogger event I’ve ever been invited to! It was pretty exciting & obviously I needed to wear something fancy on my nails for the occasion. & what is more fancy than some holo glitter & a little stamping accent nail. ✨

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The polishes I used for this design were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2 Foundations
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Finger Paints Piece De Resistance
  • Essence We Will Spock You
  • ACO by Ardene Style Icon
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate m100 (no longer available)
  • Latex free make up sponge

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I just love how this design turned out. Honestly I never thought I would enjoy stamping so much, but it’s kind of become an obsession! I ordered a bunch of new plates from Born Pretty Store, so those should be here sometime in the New Year. In the meantime, I’ve been rediscovering old stamping plates I bought in the beginning of my nail art journey. I think the combination of a good liquid latex & polishes that work well for stamping has made it more fun & much less of a frustration. Also how pretty is ACO by Ardene Style Icon? I sponged it on for full glitterocity & the sparkle is hard not to stare at. Again thank god for Edge Perfection because trying to clean that glitter off my cuticles would have made me cry.

What do you think of these nails? Let me know in the comments below. ✨

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My New Favourite Purple & Swirly Accent Nails 

Happy Friday everyone! Today I’ve got a quick mani I did recently when I was feeling some nail art, but didn’t want to do anything too complicated. This mani was actually inspired by a design I did back in September 2016 as part of my failed attempt at the 31 Day Challenge. I loved the look of the design over a super sheer polish, so I decided that it would make for the perfect accent nail. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • L’Oréal Elusive
  • Ardene Ice Mist
  • Essie Frock N’ Roll
  • Small detail brush from Bundle Monster 

Okay can we talk about L’Oréal Elusive for a second? I found this bottle at my local Lawtons in the clearance section (my favourite place for polish finds) & I had to buy it! It’s just such a good shade of purple, & I’ve been wearing it a lot lately. Also I totally apologize for the chipping at the tip of my nails—I took these shots after 2 full days of wear so they were looking tougher than they should. But this purple…. it’s just such a good purple! 💜 I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been on a huge purple kick lately. 

What do you think of this accent nail? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. & leave some suggestions for any nail art you’d love to see! 

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Cosy Sweater Nails

Temperatures have been feeling much more seasonal the last couple days here in Halifax, which means I’ve been living in my most cosy of sweaters. & it also means I’ve been seriously digging sweater nail art! 

There is just something unnatural about rocking knit nails when it’s 18 degrees celsius outside (that’s 64 degrees fahrenheit to my non-Canadian friends!) So as soon as temperatures started to dipped, I decided to pull out my knit nail vinyls for some perfectly November-worthy nails. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Under the Twilight
  • Ardene Daydreamer
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • URSugar Nail Vinyls item #AUB39877 — Click to buy
  • NailStuff.ca gold triangle studs — Gold Mixed Decoration Nail wheel 
  • Latex Free Make Up Sponge (for sponging over nail stencil) 
  • Edge Perfection Polish Barrier 

I’m really feeling this design using these heart/knit pattern vinyls from URSugar. They definitely remind me of a cosy sweater & just make me want to pull on my softest, most plush sweater & curl up on the couch with a peppermint mocha or gingerbread latte. This is my absolute favourite time of year & I just want to soak in every moment! Before we know it, snow will be falling & I’ll be complaining about being cold. 

What do you think of this design? Are you a fan of the sweater pattern nail? Share your thoughts with me down in the comments!