Tag: Essie

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE APRIL — Tulips 💐

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Another week is upon us, although this one isn’t looking nearly as Summer-y as the last. Today, though, I’m sharing the next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge April — tulips.

It’s kind of funny — in all the time I’ve been doing floral, I don’t think I’ve ever done a tulip design. So this was definitely a bit of a challenge for me. While it’s not my most perfect floral ever, I’m super happy with how adorable they turned out.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Jelly Belly Cotton Candy
  • Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure. Peony Origins
  • Sinful Colours Yolo Yellow
  • Essie First Class Affair
  • OPI Life Gave Me Lemons
  • OPI My Gecko Does Tricks
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio

How cute do these flowers look? I would have loved to have taken a picture of them in front of my own garden, but no tulips quite yet. A few more weeks. I think this is such a perfect Springtime look. I love how colourful these are with the purple base & the yellow & pink tulips. Yes yes yes.

What do you think about this tulip design? Do you love a good bright & vibrant Spring-y design, or do you prefer things more subtle?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below & what you’re wearing on your nails this week.

Have a great Monday! 🌷

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Too Too Hot ❤️‍🔥

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s been a beautiful balmy week this week (at least in terms of our usual April days) so I’m feeling all the Summer vibes I can handle. I even broke out my favourite holo sandals. So with these beautiful Summery days, I felt like switching gears from pastel vibes to full on Summer with a classic Essie shade: Essie Too Too Hot.

This shade was originally released circa 2011 as part of the Braziliant Summer 2011 collection ( found swatches online of the full collection here).

3 coats + Seche Vive Top Coat

I ended up with 3 coats of polish for my swatches, which I feel like was a bit too much, but I the formula was a bit on the thinner side, so I found I needed to do a lot less polish on the brush to avoid flooding my cuticles.

The colour is this beautiful mix between a bright tomato red, & a coral, although in my photos it’s definitely leaning more towards the red side. That could also be due to the fact my skin tone leans more on the yellow/olive side, so I feel like that brights out the red tones more.

We all know I love a good red nail polish, & I love an Essie red even more! It’s actually surprising how few Essie reds I have in my stash, so I think I need to fix that.

This shade is beautiful though, because I find it would be pretty universally flattering on a lot of skin tones. It reminds me a bit of Sally Hansen Cherry Delightful from their RED/ESIGN collection from a few years ago, which was designed to compliment everyone. So this definitely seems like a red that anyone could wear.

Sadly, this shade has been discontinued from the Essie core line, which makes me really sad because I think everyone needs a classic flattering red in their collection. Red nails make everything better (which is why I spent the majority of my early 20s rocking some shade of red.) So I would totally be down with championing a petition for Essie to bring this beauty back to their core line!

What do you think of this beauty? Do you own Essie Too Too Hot in your nail polish stash? What is your favourite Essie red? Let me know in the comments below.

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE APRIL — Ladybug 🐞

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! Is Spring sprung for you (well.. for those in the northern hemisphere). It’s been a beautiful week here so far, & very warm! I even wore bare legs yesterday with a dress. It was a very exciting moment.

Today I’m all about the next prompt of Glam Nails Challenge April. This is #4, I think. & the prompt is ladybug, which is actually a design I don’t think I’ve ever done on my nails. & naturally, I decided to break out my stamping tools for this particular look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple (new version)
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pucker Up!
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate BP-L026
  • Harunouta Potted Garden stamping plate L036 (lady bug image)

First off, yes to this beautiful blue! I always forget how good Mint Candy Apple looks on the nail! I own both the old version & the new version & I adore both.

Secondly, how freaking cute is this lady bug?! I totally forgot, however, how impossible it is the pick images up off that stamping plate. This took a few tries to actually get on my nails, & I had to do some freehand touch ups, but I’m super happy with the end result! It’s the perfect little pop of colour. 🐞 & it’s lovely Spring vibes.

What do you think of these pretty lady bug nails? Do they scream Spring to you? Let me know all your comments & thoughts down below!

Happy Wednesday lovelies — it’s almost the weekend!

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Cotton Candy Saran Wrap Splatter

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! It’s a chilly Tuesday morning here & not very Spring like unfortunately. I’m so over these cold, grey days.

But I do have a cute nail art look to share today. I recently added a few new polishes to my stash—which I acquired on some good deals—so I decided to combine a few in a Saran Wrap splatter look. It’s been a hot minute since I did one of these, so I was excited. & the fact it turned out looking a bit like cotton candy was even cooler!

The polishes I used for this manicure are:

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • Essie No Ex-pectations
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Sugar Rush
  • L.A. Colors Gossip
  • Essie Expressie FX Iced Out
  • Crinkled up plastic wrap

I’m super in love with how this turned out. Essie No Ex-pectations turned out to be a bit more grey than I had expected, but it made for an excellent base for my splatters of colour to pop! Plus I really do think it gives off the effect of cotton candy. I also like the subtle shimmer from the bit of Expressie FX Iced Out. It gives off just enough sparkle.

What do you think of this Saran wrap splatter design? Do you like easy nail art like this? I really need to do a tutorial to show off just how easy this look is to do! Maybe when things slow down a bit, I can get that reel made!

Have a happy Tuesday. 🖤

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St Patrick’s Day Shamrocks 🍀

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday. & Happy St. Patrick’s Day Eve!

I feel like the older I get, the less I tend to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day — the 3 day hangover just isn’t worth it — but I am always here for a special reason to paint my nails! & St. Patrick’s Day is the one day a girl where my green nail polishes I rarely wear get their moment to shine. I’m not normally a green girl, with the exception of March 17th.

Today’s look is a simple St. Patrick’s Day look… but I was very excited for an excuse to pull out my shamrock nail vinyls I haven’t used in ages.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
  • LA Girl Color Addict Urge
  • Essie Satin Sister
  • UR SUGAR Nail Vinyls shamrocks (What’s Up Nails has very similar ones available)

I’m not going to lie, these turned out messier than I intended — I’m not sure because I was rushing to get them done, or wasn’t feeling the colours. However, I do really like these little shamrock nail vinyls, & I think the whole look turned out simple but cute. It’s March Break here, & work has been very busy, so I’m feeling a bit run down at the end of the day. Hence a little more simple nail art this week. I literally fell asleep at 7:30 the other night after I got home.

I’m definitely looking forward to things going back to (slightly) normal next week. Hopefully it means I’ll have some more Spring nail art looks to share. & obviously, it’s time to get thinking about Easter nail art looks too!

What do you think of this St. Patrick’s Day nail art look? Are you a fan of holiday inspired nail art, or do you keep things simple with just polish colours? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

♣︎