Tag: Essie

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Cacti On The Prize🌵

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Hope everyone’s weekend is off to a lovely start. Today I have a fun swatch post that was a spur of the moment polish buy — Essie Cacti on the Prize from the Spring 2021 collection!

I found this shade on $2 clearance during a late night Shoppers trip. I had been eyeing it when it first popped up, since the name made me so happy, but didn’t end up getting around to buying it. But when I saw it sitting all lonely with the rest of the clearance cosmetics (& at only $2) I knew it needed to be mine!

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter Top Coat

First off, formula on this shade is actually pretty stellar. 2 coats builds a creamy, glossy base that has no patchiness what-so-ever. I was very, very impressed! Plus the new wider Essie brush means you very easily get the whole nail in minimal swipes. Always a very good thing in my books!

The shade itself is this beautiful muted green, with a bit of yellow undertones. You can definitely feel the desert vibes this shade (& collection) was going for. It’s not a super lush green, but oh man am I absolutely in love with it. In the bottle, I was a little unsure about whether or not I would love the colour on me… but as soon as I put it on I realized I’d been missing out!

I feel like lately I’ve been falling more & more in love with green polish. It used to be “out of my comfort zone”, but I’ve been choosing it more & more lately. Maybe it turns out, I’m a green nail polish girl after all!

What do you think about Essie Cacti on the Prize? Have you ever bought a nail polish strictly for the name? Let me know down in the comments below!

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Neon Green & Floral

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! A beautiful, sunny Tuesday at that. Today I’m going back to my comfort zone with some floral nails — but jazzing things up with a neon base!

Lately I’ve been seeing all this neon green manicures, & I really really needed to paint some neon green on my nails. But obviously I couldn’t leave them plain, so I added some floral overtop!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Be More Pacific
  • Sally Hansen Good.Kind.Pure Peony Origins
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Fuchsia Fever
  • Sally Hansen CSM So Much Fawn
  • Sally Hansen Insta-Dri VaVa Violet
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art in purple
  • Sally Hansen I ❤️ Nail Art in green
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

Lately I haven’t felt super inspired, nail art wise, which kind of sucks. Trying my best to get out of my funk with simple looks, but sometimes it’s hard. I’m working particularly long hours right now (like 10 hour days) so when I get home from work, I’m feeling pretty tired, so there is not always enough time for fun nail art looks. Trying my best to inspire myself, but it’s not always easy. Guess I’m going to have to spend a little more time perusing Pinterest for inspo.

What do you think about this floral over neon green? It’s so funny because I’ve just featured 2 neon green manicures back to back, which isn’t a colour I usually reach for. Guess the sunny days are inspiring me… now if only they could shake me out of my nail art funk!

Have a lovely day!

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Neon with Freehand Lines

Hello Summer, how you doing?

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We celebrated my little girls 2nd birthday this weekend with lots of cake, a fun play date, more cake, & some actual sunshine. It was very exciting!

Now we’re set for a rainy, muggy, thunder-y week. At least I get a little bit of brightness through my nails! This neon look is a throwback to some nails I did (more than) a few years back. Something about short nails just makes me want to rock neons & graphic lines. & my nails have been pretty short lately.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
  • China Glaze Shocking Pink
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie Worth The Tassel
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

So bright!

So this base was an attempt to cover up a chipped manicure, & then a saw how pretty it was & thought it would be perfect for some graphic black line work. I find these kind of designs much easier to freehand over the straight horizontal lines. Which sucks, because I have a few looks in my head I’m itching to try, but scared of mucking up with uneven lines.

What do you think of this design? What nail art looks are you planning for this week? Let me know in the comments!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Pucker Up (Summer 2021 collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

Another week has gone by, & somehow we’re almost in July? Half way through 2021… how did that happen? That means we’re in full Summer mode, which means I’m in full give-me-all-the-bright-nail-polish-now mode. So I thought I would actually share a fun, Summery shade that is actually from this year: Essie Pucker Up from the Summer 2021 collection. As you might remember I was gifted this beautiful shade as part of the National Nail Polish Day PR package I received, but haven’t had a chance (okay, I kept forgetting…) to share the shade until now!

2 coats + Essie Speed Setter top coat

How to describe this polish… so this beautiful bright coral leaning pink which is a pop of colour. My favourite part of, though, is this fuchsia shimmer. The colour is blindingly bright, which makes me happy in ways I can’t even describe. Like, you need sunglasses while staring at your nails. However, this is also one of those shades that looks very different depending on what light you look at it in–under my daytime light, you definitely get more of that fiery coral shade, but if you are taking pictures outside, in indirect light, then you’re going to see more of that fuchsia undertones.

Over all, the formula was pretty easy to work with. 2 easy coats, with a little bit of Speed Setter (because it was 11:30 at night 1am, & I was going to bed right after). The shade itself is very bright, & reminds me a bit of Ardene 80s Prom Dress which I swatched here, only more poppy. Obviously, being from Essie & not like 6 years old, means you can totally snag this beauty for yourself!

What do you think about Pucker Up from the Summer 2021 collection? Are you feeling these Summer vibes? What shade are you living for right now? Let me know in the comments below.

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Peach Herringbone Nails

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend. I worked all weekend, but the weather is beautiful. It’s officially Summer as of yesterday, which is also very exciting. Of course, here on the East Coast we’re awaiting the remains of a Hurricane which means it’s soggy & gross.

But at least my nails look cute! I did these herringbone nails last week, when I wanted nail art but I was short on time (& inspiration). I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of line work like this lately because I can do it without having to wait for my base to be fully dry.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Lounge Lover
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Essence Outta Space Stories We Will Spock You
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

Ah, like riding a bike. I’ll be honest, at night when I first did these I wasn’t 100% sure if I liked how they turned out; they seemed messy & awful at 10pm. But I was tired, so I left them on, because awful nails are better than no nails at all (& I was way too tired to repaint them). But as soon as the sun came up, & I took another look I actually really liked how they looked, & they didn’t seem as messy as I originally had thought.

& I really kind of love them.

What do you think about this herringbone look? What nail art designs have you been living for lately? Let me know in the comments below!