SWATCH SUNDAY — SpaRitual Open Minded

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Can you believe we’re almost done with November? This has definitely been a blink & it’s over kind of year — but I’m definitely excited to get my Christmas nail art on!

Today’s Swatch Sunday pick a brand new (to me) brand: SpaRitual Open Minded. I was at Marshall’s the other day & checking out the clearance section, as always, when I saw this beautiful blurple looking shade. I knew I needed it in my life, especially as I didn’t own any SpaRitual shades in my stash, so I added into my cart! I scored this polish for $4 on clearance, regular Marshall’s price was $4.99.

2 coats, no top coat.

According to the SpaRitual website: “Our Nourishing Vegan Nail Colors are vegan, cruelty-free and clean. Our colors are formulated without 13 harmful chemicals and are 1-step, no need for base coat or top coat.” I’ve never tried their polishes before, so I was excited to see how this shade would hold up.

For my swatches I needed two coats for full opacity. The first coat was definitely patchy & streaky — the formula itself is almost crelly like, leaning more towards the cream side. The second coat gave the application you see down below — perfect opaque coverage, no streakiness.

The colour itself is really vibrant & striking. The SpaRitual site describes it as a cobalt blue, but I feel like it does lean a little purple which is why I’d call it almost blurple. Over all, I’m quite impressed with this shade, & my first experiences with SpaRitual in general. I’ve also been wearing this shade since Thursday, & it’s still holding up with minimal tip wear, even after two very busy days at work.

I’m interested to see how easily removal will go with this shade. Blues can sometimes be tricky, so hopefully we’ll have no issues!

What do you think about this beautiful SpaRitual shade? Do you have any experience with this brand?

I will definitely be searching out more of these shades whenever I see them at my local Winners/Marshalls. The price can’t be beat, the lasting quality has been awesome, & I would love to try out more colours in their range!

Have a lovely Sunday!

SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI Ink

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday… The first Sunday of November!

I’m not quite ready to start thinking about holiday polishes yet—although I’ve been tempted—so I thought I would delve into my stash & pull out an untried. Todays pick is OPI Ink, which I scored on a serious deal at my local Lawton’s.

2 coats + Seche Vive Top Coat

According to my Google research, Ink was originally released as part of the 2007 Night Brights collection. It has since become part of the permanent core collection.

The polish is a deep blue shimmer with a multitude of purple & blue micro flakie glitters. It’s very densely packed, which means 2 coats of polish easily covers the nail. There is also a beautiful shift that shows blue or purple, depending on how you move your nail.

You can really really see the glass fleck glitters in a macro shot. It looks really beautiful. Also you can really see the beautiful shift — it’s a stunning polish for sure!

You can OPI Ink (pretty much) anywhere OPI nail polish is sold, both in regular formula as well as the gel formula. A few places I’ve found online which have it in stock are:

What do you think about this beautiful OPI shade? Do you have OPI Ink in your nail polish stash? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Into The Unknown

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday!

Hope you’re excited for another new Swatch Sunday pick! Now that we’re reaching end of September, I’ve really been feeling these darker jewel tone shades lately. After browsing the Essence display, I was immediately drawn to this blackened navy blue shade: Into the Unknown.

2 coats, no top coat

I feel like you can never have too many navy blues, so I was excited to pick up this shade. I’ve loved Essence for years, especially because the price point is great — these Essence Shine, Last & Go shades retail for $2.99 CAD each.

For my swatches, I applied two coats of polish over a generous extra coat of base coat, heeding the warning on the back of the bottle. The formula itself was really easy to work with, & smooth to apply. & the polish bottle has a wonderfully wide brush that makes it easy to get the whole nail in one swipe — especially nice when I’m in a rush to paint my nails at night.

What do you think about Essence Into the Unknown? I’m really adoring this darkened navy, & I’m just dreaming of putting a good coat of shimmer or flakies over top of it. Maybe a coat of liner holo? I think it would be so beautiful over this navy shade.

What are you wearing right now? Let me know what shades you’re loving for the season, & any shades you’re dying to pick up from current collections.

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Satin Sister

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Another week has quickly sped by, & that means it’s time for another fun Swatch Sunday post. I recently put in an order through NailPolishCanada.com, & excitingly enough, my shades arrived earlier this week! I grabbed some gorgeous shades on clearance, so I am very excited to share what arrived.

First up, I have this Essie Winter 2016 shade: Satin Sister. Funnily enough, I just scored Getting Groovy (from the same collection) at Shoppers Drug Mart on clearance for $2 a couple of weeks ago.

2 coats, no top coat.

Essie Satin Sister is a beautiful creamy darkened teal blue. Depending on the light, it either leans to the blue side of things, or to the greener ends of things. The colour itself is great for Autumn. It’s deep & jewel toned, which I very much enjoy. It was kind of a spur of the moment polish pick, but I’m really happy with my decision.

Usually I’m more of a navy blue kind of girl, so this is a really nice change up for me. Its something a little bit different for me.

The formula is nice. This shade still has the skinny Essie brush of yester-years, but if didn’t affect my application to much. Like I said, I needed two coats for opacity — even without top coat. That’s not too bad. Obviously, I would love for a one coat wonder, but two coats isn’t too bad.

The only thing I’m a bit nervous about is removal, which I haven’t attempted yet. Definitely feel like this could potentially have some staining power, but hopefully not!

What do you think about this shade? Are you loving darker shades right now? Let me know all your thoughts down I the comments below! & shade what shade you’re currently wearing right now.

Glam Nails Challenge September — Night Sky 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. Today I’m pumped to share with you another design for Glam Nails Challenge September: Night Sky. I can’t even remember the last time I did night sky/galaxy nails, so I was really excited for this prompt. It’s been too, too long. Plus my nails are feeling super long right now, & I always think galaxy designs look amazing on long nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Insta-dri Midnight Drive
  • CND Vinylux Lost Labyrinth
  • Zoya Devin
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-Ice
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • Latex free make up sponge

How cute did these turn out?! Plus I got to try out a bunch of my new shades that I’ve purchased recently — I’ve been on a bit of nail polish buying spree — so I combined they into this look. I love the different levels on blue, & that the blues are most complimentary. It gives it more of the appearance of an actual sky you could be looking at from your backyard, rather than being in space. Also how adorable is this little crescent moon that I hand painted? It definitely took me a second to get it perfect-ish, but I love how it turned out.

I just love them!

How are we feeling about this manicure? Do you like how they turned out? Are you excited about the prompts to come? Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeSeptembe on Instagram to see everyone else’s awesome nail art looks for this prompt as well!