SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Expressie Power Moves (Spring 2024)

PR/Gifted

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s been another crazy busy week for me this week, so I apologize for lacking in the posting. There has just been so much going on behind the scenes that I’ve honestly forgotten to take pictures of my nails. Today, though, we have a bright & Spring-y shade to show off, & it’s feeling perfect for the warm days we’ve been having!

This is Essie Expressie Power Moves from the Spring 2024 collection. It was kindly gifted to me by Essie.

2 coats + top coat

Described as a “hot orchid” by Essie, this beautiful pink is the perfect non-pastel Spring colour. & while pastels can be fun, there is something about a bright in your face manicure that I just love.

The formula is smooth, & easy to apply but I did find I needed to make sure that I had a good amount of polish on the brush otherwise it would streak slightly. The Expressie brushes have that wide brush, which makes application super easy. You get coverage in minimal swipes. &, thanks to the Expressie quick dry formula, your dry time is super quick.

I did finish off my manicure with my Essie Gel Couture top coat, to give it a nice plumper finish.

The Essie Expressie line is available wherever you purchase your Essie shades, & range in price generally from 10.49 CAD to 14.99 CAD regular price.

What do you think about Essie Expressie Power Moves? Do you think this is a great shade for Spring? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below! & share what shade youre currently wearing this Sunday.

💗

Happy Birthday Nails for @Brydiedoesnails

Hello lovelies & happy Saturday! Is everyone excited for Easter this weekend?

Usually I don’t post on Saturdays, but today I’m taking part in a very special birthday collab for a very special nail artist — @brydiedoesnails. Ive participated in this collab a few times, as Brydie is one of my biggest inspirations on Instagram! Her nails always look so incredible, so I was very excited to join in on this collab to celebrate her!

& naturally, I had to choose one of her floral designs to recreate!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist Advanced
  • Essie Gel Couture Gossamer Garments *
  • Madam Glam Acrylic Nail Art Pen in Pink *
  • Madam Glam Acrylic Nail Art Pen in White*

** PR/gifted

How pretty are these little floral tips? As soon as I saw this design, I knew I wanted to recreate it. & using my Madam Glam nail artist pens made it so incredibly easy too! But I like that they don’t look too easy, & I love that.

You definitely need to check out all the amazing nail artists that participated in this collab:

•@raikasnails 

•@blunki_nails 

•@nutshellnails 

•@neeles_nails 

& shout out to @neeles_nails who organized us all together to give this special birthday shout out to Brydie!

Enjoy your Saturday!

🌸

Spring-y Drag Marble

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. We’ve actually been enjoying some reason Spring-like weather lately, which I’m loving!

So let me full on embrace the warmer temperatures with some Spring-y drag marble nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist Advanced
  • Essie Gel Couture Gossamer Garments *
  • Essie Play Date
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie Expressie Choreo Queen*
  • NailStuff.ca dotting tool from Dotting Tool Trio (tiniest one)

**PR/gifted

Please excuse the extra tint of purple to my hands, as I took these pictures right after I dyed my hair purple again — & rinsing it out gave me a bit of a Grimace tint. BUT! Look how pretty this drag marble turned out on my nail. Isn’t it beautiful?

I will never be able to (successfully) do water marbling, but drag marble nails I can do! I just absolutely love how fancy they end up looking. They just make me so happy.

What do you think about this drag marble? Isn’t this effect just so much fun? Have you ever tried a drag marble before? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

💜

Pretty Pink & Polka Dots

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. I wish I could say it’s a beautiful sunny Spring day… but we got about 15cm of snow between yesterday & today, so it looks like it’s December outside right now. Not exactly the April weather I was looking forward to.

So let’s brighten things up with some pretty nails. I was feeling a simple dotticure the other day, so I decided to pair two very vibrant shades together for it! & it felt like it needed a little something extra added to it, so I gave it a little extra sparkle!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist Advanced
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Vivid Violet
  • Essie Offbeat Chic **PR/Gifted
  • OPI I Snow You Love Me
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio (small size) 

Gosh, I just love a good dotticure! They are just so chic looking, but surprisingly easy to do. & I think this vibrant blue goes so well against the pretty shimmery pink of Vivid Violet. This is definitely giving Spring vibes, even if the weather outside is not agreeing with me. Hopefully, though, it’ll encourage Mother Nature to get herself together, & bring the actual Spring weather we deserve!

What do you think about this pretty dotticure? Do you love this colour combination as much as I do? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below & what the weather is like where you are! Has Spring sprung, or is Mother Nature as confused as she is here.

♥︎

Bright & Vibrant Colour Blocking

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! & Happy April! I hope everyone is having a great week so far — it’s been a very, very wet start to our week here, but hopefully that will encourage some beautiful Spring flowers to pop up in our garden.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Couture Top Coat 
  • Base Coat: Essie Hard to Resist Advanced
  • ORLY Put The Top Down
  • Color Club Pucci-licious
  • Essie Bustling Bazaar
  • Quo by ORLY Black Striper
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Striper Brush

I love a good negative space colour block look, but I usually only do it with 2 colours — so I thought I would add a 3rd to change things up a little bit. Plus these colours are so bright & vibrant & completely make me forget the mucky weather we’ve been having — & make me think of Spring & Summer days to come! (Just ignored the raindrops that fell on them while I was trying to take pictures.)

What do you think about these colour blocking nails? Are you a fan of this peek a boo negative space look that I have going on? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below! & let me know what you’re wearing on your nails right now.

🖤