Tag: Essie

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Fifth Avenue

Good morning & happy Sunday! Today I’m making an attempt to return to my regular Swatch Sunday posts. Today’s polish pick: Essie Fifth Avenue which is a coral-ly red polish. As I’ve mentioned a million times, I adore a good red polish & it used to be the only shade I wore during my university years. So whenever I see a good red polish (especially when it’s on sale!) I can’t help but pick it up.

I found this particular polish tucked into the clearance section of my local pharmacy for a mere .99 cents, so obviously I needed it. From my understanding & Google research though, this shade does appear to be part of the permanent Essie collection.

For my swatches, all I needed was two coats of polish (over Base Coat, always) & then topped with my top coat to seal everything in.

One reason why this shade is quickly becoming a favourite is because it covers full in only 2 coats, with no visible nail line. That makes me so happy, which is probably why I’ve been wearing this shade A LOT! In fact, it’s been my pedicure shade of choice for the last month.

This is such a nice, bright red & it makes me so happy. Red is such a classic shade–you can never go wrong with it! & a bright corally red like this is even more perfect for Spring & Summer!

Do you have a favourite red polish? Let me know your polish picks down in the comments below!

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Spring Half Moons

Good morning & happy April! Now that the weather has been turning around & I can finally break out the Spring dresses, it means I need a manicure to match!

& I was really, really feeling a Peach & mint combo. I thought about some floral, but honestly I was feeling so exhausted that I decided on something a little faster. & so I turned to a tried & tested favourite! The half moon.

The polishes I used for this look were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Malibu Peach {PRsample}
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Paper Hole reinforcement stickers

This is the greener version of Essie Mint Candy Apple–I also have the blue version as well (which was gifted to me, & I do t think I’ve worn it yet so I’ll have to change that!) This colour scheme definitely screams Spring to me, so bright & colourful & vibrant. It’s exactly what we need after these long months of snow & cold & yuck.

Just look at how lovely that combo is!

What colour combinations are you loving for Spring? What kind of nail art are you looking forward to for the warmer months? Let me know down in the comments below! 🌸

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Purple Saran Wrap Splatter Nails

Good morning & happy Saturday! & happy March as well (how crazy is that?) Today I have another fun nail art look to share & it’s a super easy design that I just love: Saran Wrap splatter nails.

I think this is one of my favourite easy nail art looks, mostly because I literally takes no talent at all. Or tools for that matter! You just need polish, & some crinkled up Saran Wrap/plastic wrap, or even an old plastic shopping bag.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie Splash of Grenadine
  • Color Club Disco Dress
  • Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d City of Angels
  • Crinkled up plastic bag

This technique honestly is one of my favourites & return to designs as it’s just so easy & relatively mess free. One of these days, maybe I’ll manage to do a video tutorial to show the just of it, but in the mean time you can check out my previous Saran Wrap designs for a run through of how to do them!

What do you think of this design? Have you tried the technique yet? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

(Also guys… sorry about the picture quality… work lighting is not nail art friendly!)

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{Yet Another} Spring Floral

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday. Hopefully wherever you are right now it’s feeling like Spring is around the corner. Here in Halifax, sadly, it seems like Winter has finally hit & it’s been bitterly cold. So naturally that means it’s time for floral! Seriously, anytime I remember that it’s still winter, I just have to create some floral nails again.

Today’s nail art look was done while watching the Oscars on Sunday night & inspired by the Valentino dress worn by Keira Knightley in 2015. I remember wanting to create Nails inspired by that gorgeous dress 4 years ago… but you know, I always get distracted haha. So I decided while watching this year’s show that it was finally time.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel In the Sheer
  • Sally Hansen MG Make It N-Ice
  • China Glaze Life Is Rosy
  • Sally Hansen MG Orchid-ing Around
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Sally Hansen MG Sugar Rush
  • Sally Hansen MG Just Maui’d
  • China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art pen in green
  • Essie Off Tropic

I’ll be honest–I used so many polishes, that I probably forgot some. But that’s the gist of what I used. I always use a ton of polishes when feeehanding my floral & I never think to write all of them down. Maybe someday I’ll remember.

I really love how this turned out, especially over the light almost nude base (with hint of holo.) A little pop of colour.

what do you think of this design? Who else is craving Spring weather hardcore? Ooooooh dreaming of maxi dresses & jean jackets & counting down the days (weeks… months…)

💗

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Spring-ish Chevron Moons

Good morning lovelies & happy Saturday! Today I’ve got a brand new design to share with you because I was finally able to do some real nail art. I know… I’ve been lacking in the nail art blogging work. Work & winter have been killing my nails so I’ve got some serious shorties to contend with & no real motivation to do my nails other than a single colour.

But I’ve started using Nail Envy (again…) so hopefully that will bring my nails to life again! & I’ll actually feel like creating some lovely nail art looks again.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Essie High Class Affair
  • Essie Peach Daiquiri
  • Essie Cashmere Bathrobe
  • Essie Where’s My Chauffeur
  • The Base Coat Nail Vinyls Stacked Chevrons Vinyls.
  • NailStuff.ca small 7mm liner brush

Ooooh this look reminds me why I love chevron moons so much. Also, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this colour combination — I wanted to try & do something that channeled Spring but also worked with all the snow we currently have — & I’m actually just so in love with how these colours compliment each other.

It makes me so sad that they chipped like an hour into work. Like, why is it always the nail art looks I love? I mean, it gives me an excuse to paint my nails again, but then I also need to get the energy to do them again, & that’s the true struggle.

Does anyone else struggle with nail art slumps? How do you cope? Let me know down in the comments below!