Tag: Glitter

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GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE APRIL — Butterfly 🦋

Hello lovelies & happy May 1st! Can you believe we’re almost half way into this year? It’s crazy. But before I jump head first into a new month, I want to finish off Glam Nails Challenge April with the last prompt — Butterfly.

There were so many ideas that popped into my head with this prompt, but in the end I decided I wanted to do a neutral, almost naked, base with a little sparkle & shimmery butterflies. & I’m so beyond happy with the end result.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive Fast Dry Top
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Frill Seeker
  • Color Club On The List
  • Starrily Vantablack
  • Essence Violet Voltage
  • OPI My Gecko Does Tricks
  • Nailstuff.ca clear stamper & scraper set
  • Unknown stamping plate (which I bought as part of a set at Dollarama years ago.)

How pretty did these turn out. I just knew I wanted my butterflies to have a little bit of colour & I adore the shimmery purple & green together. It’s a very pretty combination. Works very well with the little bit of holographic glitter on the base shade. It’s subtle but also eye catching at the same time.

I’m kind of obsessed!

I can’t believe another month is behind us! Kind of crazy. I had so much fun with the challenge this month, & I hope you enjoyed all the manicures too!

Did you have a favourite design? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Monday!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Pure Ice Cookies ‘N Cream

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The first Sunday of April at that — can you believe it? I mean, I feel like I’m always saying this, but I can’t get over how quickly this year is passing. I’m happy that we’re that much closer to Summer dress weather, but wow… this year is already 1/4 over! That is crazy.

Today I’m going old school though, with a polish from deep in my stash. I’ve been living for speckled nail looks lately, so obviously that means pulling out some from deep in the past. You might remember, a few years ago, the brand Pure Ice released a collection of speckled nail polishes that I think were based on nail polishes. Naturally, I bought three at the time. I don’t often pull them out, with the exception of this time of year because I feel like they’re absolutely perfect for Easter nails.

2 coats, no top coat.

As the name implies, Cookies ‘N Cream is a white base with multisized hex glitters that gives the impression of cookies & cream ice cream.

I applied 2 coats of polish for my application — a thinner first coat, followed by a thicker second coat which gave exactly the opacity I was hoping for. The base is thin enough that the black glitters show through perfectly, giving you the multi layered effect. It also dried down quickly. which left a semi textured in some places, thanks to the layered glitters, but this could easily be fixed with a thick coat of glossy top coat.

I really, really love the different sized glitters in this polish ( & its sister shades I own Boysenberry & Orange Sorbet) versus a speckled polish like Deborah Lippmann Polka Dots & Moonbeams. & it really does look like ice cream, which just makes me think of Summer, & I can’t wait for Summer days.

It also kind of makes me wish I had scooped up all 6 shades in the collection back in 2015 because every time I wear one I realize just how much I freaking love speckled nail polish, & this trend needs to make a comeback!

What do you think about Pure Ice Cookies ‘N Cream? Do you love these speckled polishes as much as I do? Are there any nail polishes you’re hoping the Easter Bunny brings you next weekend? Let me know down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — L.A. Colors Neon Jelly Razzle Berry

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope everyone had a safe St. Patrick’s Day. Mine was spent on the hunt for nail polish deals. Well, originally I had tried to find some thrift goodies, but that was a bust so I ended up checking out the clearance bins to see if I could find any fun shades & I was quite successful.

Today though, I’m excited because I have a brand new shade I found at my local Walmart. They have just started carrying the L.A. Colors brand — which I haven’t seen around here in stores in a while — so naturally I had to pick up a few new shades. I decided one 3 polishes from 3 different lines. First up today: Razzle Berry from the Neon Jelly line.

3 coats, no top coat

The first shade to catch my eye was this sparkly beauty Razzle Berry. It’s a syrup-y blue jelly base packed with multi-sized iridescent glitters. For my swatches, I needed 3 coats for full coverage but as you can see it obviously isn’t fully opaque. The colour of the polish itself, also, is a bit lighter on the nail than in the bottle, but I’m sure if I had the patience to apply more coats, it would darken. It did apply easily though, & the wider brush made application pretty simple.

This shade is definitely giving me peachy Summer vibes. I love the glitter in the bright blue base with those glitters. I was a little bummed that it wasn’t quite as dark as the bottle shade, but most likely if I was wearing this again, I would probably layer it over a blue base so I didn’t need as many layers of polish. I mean, how gorgeous would this look layered over Essie In The Cab-ana? I’m definitely going to be trying that ASAP.

What do you think about L.A. Colors Neon Jelly Razzle Berry? Are you a fan of glittery jelly formulas like this? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below & let me know if you’d like me to pick up anymore of these Neon Jelly shades to swatch.

Have a fantastic Sunday!

♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Sunday Funday

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s a beautifully sunny, albeit freaking chilly, Sunday here on my part of the East Coast. Winter seems to be lingering now. So I thought I would remind myself of better, warmer days with an old favourite Essie shade for this week’s Swatch Sunday post — Sunday Funday.

It was originally released as part of the Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection.

2 coats + Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat

For a polish which has been in my stash for (I think) at least 8 years, she applied like a dream. I needed to shade my bottle a bit, since it had settled leaving the colour weird, but I found it had no effect once it was on the nail — you can see in the bottle there is still some colour separation showing.

The polish itself is a beautiful pinky coral, with a gold glass shimmer. It gives it a nice sparkle. I had a bit of trouble with photographing, as everything was photographing really yellow, but I think that’s a phone camera issue rather than a polish issue. These pictures are definitely as colour accurate as I could get.

As mentioned, this shade was originally released in 2013. It was part of the core collection for a while, I do believe, but Essie lists it as no longer available on their website sadly. I did find a listing for it on Sparkle Canada, but I’ve never bought from them so I’m not sure how legit that is. Obviously, if it’s a shade you need to have, Ebay always might have it, as well as any nail polish clearance bins.

What do you think about this punchy Essie shade? Are you are ready for Spring & Summer shades as I am ready to share them? Let me know what you think of Essie Sunday Funday! & I hope you have a Sunday Funday (that’s just fun to say) too!

♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Dorothy Who?

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s week was lovely, & not too cold. Our weather has been very up & down — one day it’s sunny & feels like Spring, the next day we get freezing rain snowstorms. Winter is so much fun.

But I’m actually really excited for today’s post, because I’m sharing a polish that has been in my stash for long, long time, but in all honesty I don’t think I’ve ever actually worn it: China Glaze Dorothy Who?

2 coats + Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

This beautiful jelly blue is packed full of blue & silver micro glitters. Because of the jelly base, I was worried about how many coats I would need for opacity, but two was the perfect amount. The glitters are definitely densely packed, which helps with creating opacity easily. I applied top coat though, because I did find that it had a rough finish from the glitter, & I just really wanted more of a smoother finish.

Look how beautiful. Based on the name, I’m guessing this is like the sister shade to China Glaze Ruby Slippers & they were both released as part of the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection circa 2009 but then became part of the China Glaze Core collection. I’ve worn Ruby Slippers a lot over the years — in fact my bottle is getting pretty empty — & I can’t believe I let this beauty slip by for so long!

There are a few places I’ve found online (through Google) you can purchase this beauty:

As well as a whole bunch of others that pop up when you type “China Glaze Dorothy Who?” into Google. I would imagine China Glaze’s website would be the best option as it’s the most legit, but I’m not sure where their shipping reaches.

What do you think about this beauty of a polish? Do you love this beautiful sapphire sparkle? Let me know down in the comments below, & if you own this shade in your stash. Also let m know if you enjoy seeing this older released polishes! I definitely have a ton from over the years, & I’m realizing how many I’ve never swatched, so I’m having fun documenting them.

Have a lovely Sunday!