SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Secret Per-wink-le

Happy Sunday lovelies! Is anyone else seriously craving Spring?

Today, I thought it would be nice to get a little Spring-y & share one of my favourite Spring nail polishes (& blue shades in general) — China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. According to my internet, this shade dates back to 2008, & was part of the China Glaze Operation Color collection, or at least that was the earliest post I could find.

For my swatches, I did 2 coats of polish & finished with top coat.

This shade & China Glaze Fancy Pants are probably my two all time favourite blue shades ever — Fancy Pants to me is more a Fall-ish shade, & Secret Peri-wink-le is definitely perfect for Spring! It’s no secret I love, love, LOVE a good blue & this shade is no exception. I love the formula isn’t too thin, I love that it applies easily (even though my bottle is over five, maybe six, years old), & I love that whenever I wear this colour I just instantly want to start wearing all my favourite Summer dresses, regardless of how much snow may be on the ground.

Ah, it’s just so pretty! Seriously, like how can you not love a blue polish like that?

So, according to my internet there are a few places that this polish is available, although I’m not sure if you can still find it in stores (I looked it up on the Sally Beauty website, but no listing.) However, there are a few places you can find it, such as:

I have no doubt there are probably a few Ebay listings for it as well!

So what do you think about China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le? Are you already craving Spring, like me, or do you think it’s just too soon? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below! & let me know what shade you always pull out when you start feeling like you need a little Spring in your life!

Subtle Vertical Stripes

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Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! We’re back into our nail art routine & I have another fun look to share. Two things I’ve been trying to do this year: wear more of my polishes from deep in my stash, & bring my manicures back to the beginnings. Sometimes it’s fun just to go a little more simple. I’ve been seeing a few looks of simple vertical stripes — @xglitzandpolishx & @apolishedcolleen recently did beautiful versions that I’m obsessed with.

So I decided to do my own version!

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Essie Treat Love & Color Gloss Fit (clear)
  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • China Glaze Jungle Queen
  • China Glaze Up All Night
  • Straight Nail Vinyls

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For this look, I decided on two shades that would compliment each other really well, but was kind of a subtle look. First I grabbed Jungle Queen because it’s a gorgeous shade which I don’t wear nearly enough & the grey-ness of it is something I love in the depth of January. It is a bit of a darker shade, so I needed to find something dark that it would still pop against. China Glaze Up All Night has been in my stash for a long time (since before baby #1) but I haven’t worn it… ever. That’s kind of crazy because it’s SUCH a pretty shade.

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I think my only regret with this look is a wish I had gone with skinnier nail vinyls/striping tape. But I think these single stripe nails are so chic, & they end up making your nails look SO long. Such a fun look to wear, & there are so many different ways to wear it & so many different colour combinations.

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Have you done this single stripe design yet? What do you think about this subtle version of this look? Hope over to Instagram (since my blog comments don’t seem to want to work), & let me know what you think & what colour combinations you would rock.

#GlamnailschallengeDec — Christmas Trees

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Good morning lovelies & happy Monday! & happy Christmas Eve Eve! We are quickly approaching Christmas & the end of GlamNailsChallengeDec! Today’s prompt for this challenge is Christmas trees! Naturally I went to Pinterest to find a look I liked, & found this tutorial originally posted on Instagram by @thebasecoat.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Icing Stores matte teal shimmer
  • Quo by ORLY Falling Star
  • China Glaze Ruby Pumps
  • Ardene Ice Mist
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (COFFEE10 to save 10%)

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For this look I started off by applying the triangle nail stencil to my accent nail, then one at a time applied my colours to the empty spaces to create a triangle on the nail. I followed the Base Coat’s tutorial for colours. It was also way easier using a pre designed nail vinyl than attempting to position striping tape or straight nail vinyls into the same shape.

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Honestly this look was too simple to do, but turned out so cute! I think this is such a perfect Christmas Day look—who doesn’t love Christmas trees! & the mixing of colours is very Christmasy. I absolutely lovely it!

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What do you think about this design for Glamnailschallengedec? Have you figured out your Christmas design yet? Don’t forget to check out Instagram for all the other amazing look for #glamnailschallengeDec!

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Poinsettias

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Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday. & happy week until Christmas, for those who celebrate! Is everyone else rushing around like a chicken with no head trying to finish up their shopping/organizing/wrapping, or is it just me? 😅

Today’s post is another entry into #GlamNailsChallengeDec — poinsettias. & fun fact: even though I love love love a good floral, I don’t think I’ve ever attempted a poinsettia design! Kind of crazy, but I was excited to give it a try.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze December to Remember
  • China Glaze Feeling Twinkly
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust
  • Sally Hansen CSM Red It Online
  • Sally Hansen CSM Berry Fancy
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Good Cheer-y
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie First Timer
  • Essence Black Is Back
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush (COFFEE10 to save 10%)
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

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So for this look, I started off by creating a super sparkly base using December to Remember, Feeling Twinkly & Fairy Dust. I really really wanted a super dense glitter for the poinsettias to pop against, I feel like the layering on these three shades really achieved that look. Next I hand painted my poinsettias using all nail polish. I know I’ve been using acrylic paint a lot lately, but I don’t actually have any red acrylic paint in my stash so I went old school & used nail polish.

It was a little time consuming, but the end result I feel like turned out really well. The only place I really struggled was with the leaves, & they’re definitely not perfect, but over all I think my design turned out pretty close to its inspiration!

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Is there ever such a thing as too much sparkle during the holidays? I don’t think so. The only downside is glitter removal, but thanks to peel off base coat, if you just want extra glittery nails for a night, you are in luck! Can’t go wrong with that!

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Absolutely loving these poinsettias & excited to finally mark this off my bucket list! If you like this look, hop over to Instagram & let me know. & while you’re there, check out the other beautiful poinsettia looks as part of #glamnailschallengeDec. I love going through & seeing everyone’s interpretations of the same prompt! It’s so much fun!

GlamNailsChallengeDec — Reindeer Nails

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Good morning lovelies & happy Monday! We’re officially moving onto our next prompt of GlamNailsChallengeDec which is reindeer! How Christmas-y, am I right? & who is the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolf of course! 🦌🔴 so naturally I wanted to create a manicure with a little nod to him.

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For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Strengthening Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Don’t Get Elfed Up
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • China Glaze Ruby Slippers
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set (COFFEE10 to save 10% off your purchase!)
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • An old Born Pretty Store plate that’s no longer available. Similar patterns here: BP-L018 (item #19373)
  • Small dotting tool

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How absolutely adorable did this Rudolf turn out? I liked pairing it with the sweater pattern on my nails too, because it reminded me of a pair of leggings that are my favourite to wear for Christmas, but more grown up. Not that I have any issue with wearing silly or crazy nail art–because I don’t–but I like to share a little bit of everything. A simple reindeer accent nail would definitely work for someone who just wanted a little bit of Christmas nail art on their nails. & if you didn’t want the sweater nails, you could do something like a glitter gradient or gradient dotticure on your other fingers. That what’s I love about nail art: you can adjust it to suit whatever style you have, whether it’s crazy over the top or more muted & subdued. There is something for everyone & every mood.

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Seriously, how cute is this rudolf? I’m obsessed. Also I think I use this particular image so much between November & March. It’s one of my absolute favourites. So many manicure options! Also I think the red nose would be even cuter with an itty bitty red rhinestone (which was my original plan) but I couldn’t find my rhinestones so I had to settle with red glittery polish.

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What do you think about this Reindeer look? Who is your favourite reindeer?

Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeDec over on Instagram to stay up to date with all the manicures & prompts to come! & if there is any Christmas nail art ideas you’d like to see, let me know & I’ll try to get them done before Christmas!