Tag: Essie

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SWATCH SUNDAY—Essie Dive Bar

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I’ve been enjoying a lovely, although a tad rainy, weekend off from work. Today, though, I’m all about Swatch Sunday, & this classic Essie shade from my stash: Dive Bar.

This shade has been in my stash a long time — I’m pretty sure I found it on a good deal at Winners, as I do a lot of my shades. Dive Bar was originally released as part of the 2012 Spring collection, also named Dive Bar.

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter

This colour is so gorgeous! It’s a deep navy blue base, with a striking teal shimmer. It just screams Fall to me — so I was surprised when I learned it was released as part of a Spring collection. It also reminds me of Space, so I feel like it would be an incredible base for galaxy nails because it has a great depth to it!

The formula is also still really awesome, which is good after all these years. I’ve own this bottle since at least 2015, so it’s going on 7 years old. It does have the original skinny Essie brush, which means you do have to be careful with application. I managed to get opacity in 2 thicker coats, but you could definitely do one coat over a black as well — it probably wouldn’t be as shimmery, but it would save on coats.

What do you think about this Essie oldie? Do you have Dive Bar in your stash? Do you love these deep shimmery blues as much as I do? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

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Blue Shimmery Chevron Accent Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday! The weekend is almost here — who else is excited? Today I’m also excited because I have some fun & funky chevron accent nails to show off! It feels like ages upon ages since I pulled out my nail vinyls, but after a coworker gifted me a few beautiful polishes — including this lovely shimmery blue, Sally Hansen InstaDri Cosmic Blu — I knew I needed to pull out some vinyls for some fun!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essence Colour Shine Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Cosmic Blu
  • Essie Suite Retreat
  • The Base Coat Vinyls Chevron/Zig Zag (Wide)

How pretty is Cosmic Blu paired with Suite Retreat? I feel like my nails have been so boring lately — still painting frequently, but at least 60% of the time, I’m just sticking with single colours/no nail art. It’s partially a time thing, but also I think life has just sucked lately, so my inspiration is lacking. I need to find my inspiration again, & that’s been the hard part.

& I won’t even get into how disappointed the Instagram algorithm leaves me. Ugh.

Never the less, I am still painting my nails, & this nail art brings me back a few years, to when I was nail art obsessed. That’s the nail art obsession I need to find again. Also, maybe a super fast drying top coat will help too.

What do you think of these blue shimmery chevron accent nails? Do you love how well these two colours paired together? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & if you’d like to see me creating more fun nail vinyls look again!

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Summer-y Dotticure featuring Essie

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.

I’m excited because I have another fun (& easy) nail art look to share with you featuring some brand new (to me) shades I recently picked up. I worked like a mad woman over the Canada Day long weekend, so I decided to treat myself to a few new Summery nail polishes. & when I was looking at these brand new shades, I was like “hmmm, what can I do with these polishes?”

& the answer was obvious: dotticure!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Essie Throw in the Towel
  • Essie Swoon in the Lagoon
  • Essie In the Cab-ana
  • Essie Blanc
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How gorgeous are these shades together? Originally I planned on buying Essie Bahama Mama but then when I was in the nail polish aisle I noticed Bahama Mama is very close to Sally Hansen InstaDri Zip Wine so I decided to hold off (for now), & go for some more vibrant Summery shades. Essie In the Cab-ana is an old favourite & my old bottle is running out, & the other two shades were fun, bright pinks, & I seem to be very drawn to pink nail polish lately.

I think I might do a polish haul instagram reel soon, since I have been really loving (& buying) pinks, so why not show them off.

What do we think about this dotticure look? I feel like this is kind of reminiscent of my early dotticure days, where they were a bit more abstract. Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what colours you would pick for a dotticure like this!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Swoon in the Lagoon

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a sunny Sunday here on this side of the world, & it’s been super beautiful & warm, & very summery the last few days which I can’t get enough of. Which also means I’ve been really feeling the Summer nail art shades, & thanks to some awesome tips from work (from some crazy days), I managed to pick up some brand new Essie shades last week.

First up, this beautiful originally released as part of the Spring 2022 collection: Swoon in the Lagoon.

2 coats, no top coat.

Oh my gosh, I’m obsessed with this colour. The formula on this shade is really easy to apply, & smooth. I needed two coats for full coverage, but I always feel most comfortable applying 2 coats anyways. I love the vibrant fuchsia shade. It’s a perfect pop of colour for summer, even if this shade was originally released as a Spring shade.

Look at that beautiful colour! I like how it almost looks neon, but without the matte finish of a neon shade.

I picked up this shade at my local Shoppers Drug Mart for $9.99 on sale. It looks like it’s become part of the core collection, as it was in the main section, as well as a side cap. I love when that happens because it means I get a chance to get polishes I might have missed on the first release.

What do you think about this shade? Do you have Swoon in the Lagoon in your collection? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

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Purple & Blue Stamped Geometric Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! I hope it’s as sunny & beautiful where you are, as it is here in Halifax.

Today I have a fun stamped nail are look to share with you! I know… who is she? It’s been a bit since my last foray into stamping, & I was looking for a quick & easy nail art look, so I landed on this stamped pattern. & I have to say, I’m really happy with how the finished look turned out!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Essence Extreme GEL Top
  • Essie Mint Candy Apply (blue version)
  • L’Oreal Color Riche Le Vernis Violet Vendome
  • BODICO Stamping Plate B-12
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set

I was super pleased with how these turned out! I love, love, LOVED this stamping plate from BODICO, but if you remember from this (very old) review, I had a bit of trouble getting a clear pattern to show up. So I was super pleased that I got such a clear & crisp image for this design.

I absolutely adore the contrast of purple over the pale blue. It really pops! We all know blue & purple are probably two of my favourite nail polish shades, so pairing them together just makes for the perfect combination.

& this geometric pattern is just so much fun — I love that it almost looks like flowers.

What do you think about this geometric stamped design? Do you love the end result as much as I do? I always forget about my other nail art tools like my stamping plates, or even my nail vinyls, so I’m really trying to make a conscious effort to pull them out more. We will see how successful I am, haha.

Have a lovely Tuesday!