Dainty Snowflakes

Hello lovelies! & happy Monday. It’s beginning to look a lot like… December. & a green one at that. But I really, really wanted some snowflakes on my nails — even if the weather feels more like October than a month before Christmas, that doesn’t me I can’t pretend!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo by Orly The Boulevard
  • OPI Pirouette My Whistle
  • China Glaze Chillin’ With My Snow-mies
  • Essie Bobbing for Baubles
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

First up, I created a jelly sandwich for my base using Quo by Orly The Boulevard, OPI Pirouette My Whistle & China Glaze Chillin’ With My Snow-mies. I thought it was the perfect dainty base for some snowflakes overtop. Also, I so rarely pull out Chillin’ With My Snow-mies, & it’s kind of sad. It was one of those polishes I bought simply because the name made me laugh, but I should definitely pull it out more.

I was also super, super happy with how my snowflakes stamped. They turned out so opaque, it made me so happy. Nothing worse than going to stamp an image, & it barely picked up, or the polish is just too thin & it looks like a shadow.

What do you think about these snowflake nails? Do you have snow where you are? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Starrily Diamond Rain

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

We’ve almost reached the end of November, which is kind of insane, & Christmas is less than a month away. So you know what that means… gimme all the glitter! I figured for today’s Swatch Sunday I would pull out a gorgeous glitter gifted to me a few months back (by my nail fairy godmother Victoria at NailStuff.ca!): Starrily Diamond Rain.

2 coats + Essie Gel Setter Top Coat

Starrily Diamond Rain is a beautiful dark sapphire blue shade packed full of holographic flakes. It was released as a collab shade between Starrily & Kelli Marissa & apparently inspired by the Diamond Rain of Neptune.

The formula of this polish is very, very nice. I applied two coats for my swatches above, & I found it was the perfect opacity for me. The glitter is very thick & dense, which means it sparkles from every angle.

I don’t know about you, but the holiday season just makes me crave glitter in every colour, but blue is definitely one of my favs. As you can see in the above macro, the polish is very dense with glitter. That’s exactly what December needs… all the glitter. Our area has recently gone into stricter restrictions, & Christmas is… up in the air. So I definitely need some fun, beautiful glitter to cheer myself up! & this is the perfect polish for that.

For my Canadian friends, NailStuff.ca is currently having a Black Friday Sale, with deals on all the polishes (including this one!) so I definitely recommend checking it out! & you can even use my affiliate code COFFEE10 to save a little extra!

What do you think about this shade? Do you love glitter this time of year? What is your favourite glittery shade? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Hue There?

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope you’re excited for some fun & festive nail polish!

I don’t know about you, but once the middle of November hits, I tend to start thinking holiday nail polish — & holiday nail polish for me usually means glitter! Earlier in the week, I was out at Shoppers with the hubby, & happened across a display for new Sally Hansen shades. One side had Complete Salon Manicure shades, & the other had some fun new Miracle Gel shades, including some glitter toppers & new shades (plus new matte & glossy top coats!)

While I definitely would have loved one of everything, I decided to stick to one shade & couldn’t pass up this beautiful holographic glitterbomb called Hue There?

Continue reading “SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Hue There?”

Fall Inspired Glitter Gradient

Hello lovelies, happy Tuesday!

It’s been… well I can’t even remember how long since I last wore a glitter gradient. Even though it’s been hot & balmy weather, I was feeling some darker, Fall-esque nails. So I decided to grab a few fun (& Autumn appropriate shades) from deep, deep in my nail polish stash.

I mean, if Starbucks can release Pumpkin Spice today, I think a little dark polish is okay.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Hard Candy Zombie
  • Maybelline Color Show Rose Bling

I’ve always really enjoyed glitter gradients because they’re so quick & easy. In fact, I created this gradient without even using a sponge… just the bottle brush itself! So it really does cut down on application time, & the clean up is even more minimal!

& Oh my, after wearing this combination, I really I think I want to find some more fun glitters — most of my glitter is like pink, or purple, or silver, or gold. I need some bronze-y shades, or something! A nice Fall shade that will pair with a dark purple or burgundy perfectly! I might need to go through my stash a bit better, & see what glitters I’ve forgotten about.

What do you think about this glitter gradient? Are you enjoying this Fall manicure transition or would you like to see a bit more brightness or neon before September? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — W7 Nail Polish Speckled Mint

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. Easter Sunday in fact! This Easter definitely looks different compared to years past, but none the less if you celebrate, I hope you’re having a lovely day. The Easter bunny certainly found us, which means with a 3 year old & a 9 month old, the sugar high is real.

I thought in honour of Easter, it would be fitting to share another speckled nail polish very fitting for the holiday (& Spring in general). This is W7 Nail Polish Speckled Mint which was gifted to me courtesy of my Mum, & originally found as part of a set at Winners/Marshall’s.

Speckled Mint is a milky mint green polish, packed full of super tiny black micro glitters. You’re looking at 2 coats of polish, but I think 3 would have had better coverage. The formula itself was easy to work with & the removal was actually surprisingly easy considering how much glitter there was!

I’ve really been liking these pale nail polishes lately, & I forgot how much I love these speckled nail polishes too. I kind of wish I had paired all my polishes together in a manicure (I have another from W7 which is coral) as a skittle speckle egg look, but I suppose there is always next year!

Close up of my thumb (you can see here the glitters are square which I think is really neat!)

& just for fun, I added a little chocolate bunny nail decal to my ring finger. I’m very, very lactose intolerant, so this will be the only chocolate bunny I’ll enjoying this year, but thankfully I stocked up on some sour patch kid bunnies, so I’ll have some treats to enjoy too!

Happy Easter lovelies! What are you wearing on your nails for Easter? Did the Easter bunny bring you any polish goodies? Let me know down in the comments below!