GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE APRIL — Daffodils

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday! I hope everyone’s week has been lovely so far. The weather has been seasonal so far, which I can’t complain about too much. & the flowers are beginning to bloom.

It’s time for the next prompt of Glam Nails Challenge April: daffodils. & I’ll be honest I was nervous, again, about this prompt. I love love love doing floral, but this was a type of flower I’d never painted before. But, you know, I think I nailed it!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Glos-Sea
  • OPI Nature Strong Make My Daisy
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • Essie Check Your Baggage
  • Essie Cliffhanger
  • ACO by Ardene Jungle Green
  • Essence Bloom Me Up! Blow My Mint
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush

First off, check out this blue! I recently picked it up at Shoppers when I had some optimum points, & I’m really in love with it. It’s kind of hard to see in this lighting, but it has the prettiest pink-y shimmer in it. A fantastic colour for Spring. Also the perfect base for these beautiful yellow flowers.

Second I’m so, so proud of how these daffodils turned out. Sometimes I get self conscious when it comes to nail art I’ve never done before, but I really do love them. & it’s inspired me to do more floral again. I feel like I stopped doing florals for a while, & now that Spring is here, it’s time to pick up doing them again. Because, they really do make me so happy.

What do you think of my daffodils for Glam Nails Challenge April? Did you miss all the floral? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

SWATCH SUNDAY — Zoya Devin

Hello lovelies & happy 2023!

I hope everyone had a lovely New Years Eve whether you spent it partying it up, cuddled up on the couch, or sleeping through it. I personally got to spend my New Years with one of my best friends — who I haven’t seen in over3 years! We spent like 2 hours laughing on the couch, & it was the best way to end the year.

Now we’re starting off a fresh year with Swatch Sunday. I decided to pull out a beautiful Zoya shade that has been sitting in my stash for a while. This is Zoya Devin, originally released for Fall 2018.

3 coats, no top coat.

Zoya Devin is a stunning metallic frosty steel blue with this intense. Without top coat, it dries to a smooth finish. It’s not matte, but it’s also not shiny. The polish itself is really interesting, but as you look closely you see it has hints of bronze & silver glitters. The shade itself is giving me Y2k vibes, which is very trendy right now, & as a millennial, gives me so much nostalgia! I feel like if this shade had existed when I was a young teen, I would have obsessively worn it a lot.

Up close, you can really see all the different metallic shades & it gives it a very cool finish. Definitely the kind of shade which doesn’t catch your eye as much from a far — you need to see it up close to really appreciate its beauty. I also think, even though it was originally released as a Fall shade, it’s very appropriate for the winter months as well! It has that iciness to it that is great for Winter.

Application was interesting — it was definitely very thin on first coat, & even a second coat seemed to be a bit thin & sparse. With the third coat though, the colour came across as beautiful as in the bottle, & I was very happy. It looks so pretty!

I picked up this bottle of Zoya Devin on sale on NailPolishCanada.com last Fall (I do believe) but from the looks of things it’s no longer available on there. I did however find it listed on the Zoya website, so if you want this beauty in your life, that would be the place to get it!

What do you think of this metallic beauty? Are you a fan of Zoya polishes? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & once again Happy 2023! I am very excited for all the things that this year has in store.

♥︎

Glam Nails Challenge December—Fireworks 🎆

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday! I can barely believe it, but it is the last prompt of Glam Nails Challenge December! We’ve made it to the end. Which means.. it’s almost the end of December… & the end of 2022! So let’s celebrate with something fun.

Today’s prompt is Fireworks! I was inspired by a previous design I did with the same prompt, but decided to go with a blue/silvery colour theme. Giving me all the New Years Eve vibes.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-chip Top Coat
  • China Glaze New Year, New Boo
  • China Glaze December to Remember
  • China Glaze Blue Iguana
  • China Glaze 2NITE
  • China Glaze Dancing & Prancing
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio (11mm Liner Brush)

Not going to lie, these nails are giving me some Snow Queen/Elsa vibes on top of fireworks. Definitely the blue on blue on blue. Could also be the fact my 3 year old spent most of Christmas running around the house scream singing “Let It Go” at the top of her lungs. Haha.

It definitely took some serious layering to get this design to look the way I imagined in my head, but with the combination of colours & glitter, it really gives you the effect of watching Fireworks explode in the sky. I love them.

What do you think about this Fireworks inspired design? Are you all ready for this year to be over? It’s definitely been an interesting year, full of a lot of change, so I’m interested (& hopeful) to see what 2023 will bring! Hopefully nothing but good things.

Thanks for following around with another month of Glam Nails Challenge! I had so much fun this month, & it was a great way to end the year. Don’t forget, all the designs for this month can be found on the Glam Nails Challenge December hashtag on Instagram.

Holo & Snowflakes (featuring some NailStuff.ca goodies)

Features Gifted Product

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday!

It’s officially a little over a month until Christmas, can you believe it? I feel like I should really start thinking about Christmas shopping soon, but things have been in this weird adjustment period, I really haven’t had a lot of time to think about anything holly or jolly.

I was feeling some nail art the other night, but I was also feeling super tired — I recently started a new job, so after a few weeks off, I’ve been adjusting back into work life. & I’m tired, haha. But I wanted some cute nails, so I decided to grab some of my nail goodies from Nailstuff.ca. I thought some snowflake nails might, just, inspire me to feeling festive.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-chip Top Coat
  • Dimension Nails Great Blue Heron (c/o: NailStuff.ca)
  • Starrily Eclipse (c/o: NailStuff.ca) (Holographic Top Coat)
  • NailStuff.ca snowflake stickers (not currently available but she does have other cute Christmas stickers right now)

So I definitely applied these stickers when my base shade was still a bit too wet, hence a bit of a 3D effect on some of my nails. But I think these little snowflakes look so cute over the blue holographic base. I wanted something kind of dusty, but with a holo kick, & this combination was perfect! Also, somehow, I think this is the first time I’ve worn Dimension Nails Great Blue Heron as a full manicure, & that’s kind of crazy. It’s such a beautiful blue!

What do you think of my easy snowflake nails? Do you like seeing easy manicures like this, or do you prefer more complicated nail art? I have a few more “easy” looks to share, & then we’ll be jumping into Glam Nails Challenge December so stay tuned! I plan on having something for everyone.

SWATCH SUNDAY— Essie Bell-Bottom Blues

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far. Can you believe it’s the last weekend of August? That’s crazy! This Summer has definitely been a blip. But I had my first PSL yesterday from Second Cup, so I’m all in on Autumn.

Today though, I’m throwing it back to Fall 2015 with Essie Bell-Bottom Blues from the Essie Fall 2015 Leggy Legend collection. I remember when this collection was first released I was obsessed with all the colours in the collection, but especially Bell-Bottom Blues, & it was the one I almost immediately bought upon finding it in stores.

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

For a polish that is 7 (!) years old, this shade is just as perfect as it was back when I first purchased it. The formula is still smooth & easy to apply. The formula is pigmented enough it could be a one coat wonder, but I did used two coats for full opacity. The polish itself is a beautiful dark blue, with vibrant blue shimmer, & this hint of purple which you can, sadly, see best in the bottle.

On its own, it dries to a soft satin finish. I much prefer it with top coat though as I feel like it shows off the shimmer much better.

It’s been a while since I pulled this shimmery blue from my stash, & I’m super glad that I did. I’ll be honest, I haven’t really been paying that much attention to the upcoming Fall collections, aside from swatches posted on Instagram. But I’ve been spending a lot of time shopping my own collection for fun Autumn shades to wear, including some oldies but goodies.

What do you think about Essie Bell-Bottom Blues? Do you have any of the shades from the collection in your stash? Let me know down in the comments, & let me know when of the 2022 Autumn nail polish collections you’re most excited about!