Tag: beauty

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Slay Bells Ring (Holiday 2017 The Glam Finale Collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The last Sunday before Christmas! I can’t believe we just blinked & December (& 2024) is basically over. It’s kind of crazy the way this year has just sped by. This year has been… a lot. But I have a good feeling about what 2025 is going to hold.

Today I pulled a Christmas shade from way back in 2017. I got this beauty as part of a two-setter at Winners (or Marshall’s) for like $5, I think. So I’m excited to share, because it’s not usually a shade I would grab for the Holidays. This is China Glaze Slay Bells Ring.

3 coats (probably only needed 2….) + top coat

Slay Bells Ring is a beautiful dark gunmetal grey, which applied smoothly & with minimal streakiness. The formula was easy to apply, & dried quickly. I probably would have been fine with only 2 coats but I thought maybe a third would make it darker. It didn’t.

This colour is beautiful, but I think the reflective quality of it makes it so unique. I posed in front of my Christmas tree, & it very easy reflected the lights which made it so beautiful!

I could definitely see this being perfect for New Years Eve with some holographic glitter or flakies applied overtop. It would give Mirror Ball easily! (& now I’m getting ideas for my New Years Eve celebrations.)

What do you think about this shade Slay Bells Ring from China Glaze? I can’t believe I haven’t bought any Christmas/Holiday polishes this year (or asked for any from Santa). I don’t know if I’m just not feeling the Christmas spirit, or just underwhelmed by the polishes I’ve seen. Either way, I’m glad I still have lots of shades to wear from years past.

Happy Sunday!

🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER (2024) — Holly

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. & happy one week until Christmas Day. I don’t know how it happened, but it’s almost here. & that’s just crazy.

Today, we’ve got another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December: Holly. Holly has such endless options, but I went with a simple freehand look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Essie Gel Couture Polished & Poised *
  • Claire’s Mini Polish shimmer (no name)
  • Essie Off Tropic *
  • Color Club What’s The Matte-r
  • Essie Bordeaux *
  • Sally Hansen Good Cheer-y
  • NailStuff Essentials White Dove *
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

*pr/gifted

It’s been so long, it feels like, since I did any freehand floral, so these felt nice to do. My inspiration was the holly bush in our front yard, although as you can see in my photos, the birds are all the berries off our bush.

So hard to believe we’re so close to Santa being here! I’m definitely looking forward to the few days off spent with my family. Who knows what Santa is going to sneak into my stocking — hopefully some nail polishes!

What do you think of my Holly design? Don’t forget to pop on over to Instagram & follow all the amazing designs using #glamnailschallengedec24.

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Magnet Forces Midnight

Good morning loves & happy Sunday. I hope everyone’s week was good, & if not… I hope the week ahead is better. It’s Sunday, so you know what that means — it’s Swatch Sunday!

I was searching through my stash, trying to find a fun polish to wear & ended up stumbling across some of the Color Club magnetics in my stash. I’ve been seeing so many beautiful magnetic polishes done in the velvet style, so I decided I wanted to see if I could make one of my older magnetic polishes do the same.

2 coats + top coat

First off, let’s start with the general facts on this shade. Color Club released these magnetic shades back in early 2012. The original collection came with 6 shades, & each one had their own magnetic which would create a fun pattern on the nail. You can see swatches of the collection from back then here on Scrangie.

The formula is smooth, metallic & easy to apply. I’ve worn this shade on its own, unmagnetized before, & I find the effect really strong compared to some other shades released back then. Which was why I was excited to try out creating a velvet effect!

I don’t have one of those fancy horseshoe magnets that have gone viral, so I used my wand magnet that I have from Starrily, & moved it around the perimeter of my nail to get the effect you see above, including after I applied my top coat.

They’re not perfect—& definitely look better in motion—but they’ve given new life to this polish. It has gotten me excited to try this with my other magnets so I may do a whole series of swatching these old polishes — if only to alleviate a little bit of my FOMA when seeing those beautiful Mooncat Star Wars magnetic polishes.

Do you remember these Color Club Magnetic Force polishes from 2012? Do you have any in your stash? What was your favourite magnetic polish release of the early 2010s?

If you have any old magnetic polishes kicking around, I definitely recommend pulling them out again! Grab a magnetic, & see what kind of fun things you can make them do!

Happy Sunday

🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER (2024) — Candy Cane

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday.

Another late in the day post, but in my defence I went to bed with a massive headache… & woke up with a migraine. So I wasn’t keen on screens or trying to finish up this post. It’s prompt number 4 of Glam Nails Challenge & this one is Candy Cane. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t copying my candy cane nails from earlier this season, & I think this look turned out super cute!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Essie Off Tropic *
  • NailStuff Essentials White Dove *
  • Nailstuff Essentials Cardinal *
  • Essie Cosmic Chrome *
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • Largest size from NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

*PR/Gifted

I knew I wanted to do a green base, & I knew I wanted to add some candy cane accents, but I thought it would be cute to add a whole candy cane on my thumbs as an accent.

Also, adding a coat of Essie Cosmic Chrome over the stripes gave it such a cool finish, it really did remind me of a real candy cane! If I’d had any on hand, I would have posed with one, but I hope the little sprinkling of snow we got yesterday is an equally seasonal backdrop.

What do you think about my candy cane nails? What is your favourite flavour of candy cane? While I do appreciate the OG peppermint, I tried the maple syrup flavour in the Brach’s Elf candy cane collection & they were so freaking good! I wish I had a way to go a whole (Costco sized) box of just maple!

As always, you can hop on over to Instagram & follow all the amazing designs using #glamnailschallengedec24.

🖤

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER (2024) — Gingerbread

Good evening loves.

I know, I know. This post is coming to you way late today, but it’s been a rough couple of days. However, I wanted to make sure I had a design for this prompt to share!

Today’s prompt is Gingerbread & so I thought gingerbread cookies would be appropriate.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • OPI Hot & Coaled (over NailStuff Essentials Raven*)
  • Essie Expressie Never Skip A Beat *
  • NailStuff Essentials White Dove *
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff 4mm Micro Detail Brush

*PR/gifted

I do some version of this look every year, but with a different twist. It’s just such a go to easy look for this prompt, & looks way cuter than when I try to make gingerbread cookies in real life. Mine end up being a bit more… abstract. So I’m glad I can have cute, aesthetically pleasing gingerbread cookies, if only just on my nails.

What do you think about my gingerbread nails? What is your favourite holiday treat or cookie? While I do love gingerbread men, my granny’s scotch cookies always come in #1 for me — & I even figured out how to make them gluten & dairy free.

Don’t forget that you can follow along with all the designs this month with the hashtag #glamnailschallengedec24.

🖤