GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE DECEMBER (2024) — Holly

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday. & happy one week until Christmas Day. I don’t know how it happened, but it’s almost here. & that’s just crazy.

Today, we’ve got another prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December: Holly. Holly has such endless options, but I went with a simple freehand look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: NailStuff Essentials Base Coat *
  • Top Coat: Nail Stuff Essentials Quick Dry Top Coat *
  • Essie Gel Couture Polished & Poised *
  • Claire’s Mini Polish shimmer (no name)
  • Essie Off Tropic *
  • Color Club What’s The Matte-r
  • Essie Bordeaux *
  • Sally Hansen Good Cheer-y
  • NailStuff Essentials White Dove *
  • Nailstuff.ca Mermaid Tail 7mm liner brush
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio 

*pr/gifted

It’s been so long, it feels like, since I did any freehand floral, so these felt nice to do. My inspiration was the holly bush in our front yard, although as you can see in my photos, the birds are all the berries off our bush.

So hard to believe we’re so close to Santa being here! I’m definitely looking forward to the few days off spent with my family. Who knows what Santa is going to sneak into my stocking — hopefully some nail polishes!

What do you think of my Holly design? Don’t forget to pop on over to Instagram & follow all the amazing designs using #glamnailschallengedec24.

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club Magnet Forces Midnight

Good morning loves & happy Sunday. I hope everyone’s week was good, & if not… I hope the week ahead is better. It’s Sunday, so you know what that means — it’s Swatch Sunday!

I was searching through my stash, trying to find a fun polish to wear & ended up stumbling across some of the Color Club magnetics in my stash. I’ve been seeing so many beautiful magnetic polishes done in the velvet style, so I decided I wanted to see if I could make one of my older magnetic polishes do the same.

2 coats + top coat

First off, let’s start with the general facts on this shade. Color Club released these magnetic shades back in early 2012. The original collection came with 6 shades, & each one had their own magnetic which would create a fun pattern on the nail. You can see swatches of the collection from back then here on Scrangie.

The formula is smooth, metallic & easy to apply. I’ve worn this shade on its own, unmagnetized before, & I find the effect really strong compared to some other shades released back then. Which was why I was excited to try out creating a velvet effect!

I don’t have one of those fancy horseshoe magnets that have gone viral, so I used my wand magnet that I have from Starrily, & moved it around the perimeter of my nail to get the effect you see above, including after I applied my top coat.

They’re not perfect—& definitely look better in motion—but they’ve given new life to this polish. It has gotten me excited to try this with my other magnets so I may do a whole series of swatching these old polishes — if only to alleviate a little bit of my FOMA when seeing those beautiful Mooncat Star Wars magnetic polishes.

Do you remember these Color Club Magnetic Force polishes from 2012? Do you have any in your stash? What was your favourite magnetic polish release of the early 2010s?

If you have any old magnetic polishes kicking around, I definitely recommend pulling them out again! Grab a magnetic, & see what kind of fun things you can make them do!

Happy Sunday

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Poison Apple 🍎

Good morning lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s a beautiful Autumn Sunday, cool & crisp. It’s also the last Sunday of October, if you can believe it. How is this month almost over?

Even though I have some really exciting shades from Ella + Mila to share with you, I wanted to close off this month with a slightly Halloween adjacent shade with Claire’s Poison Apple.

This shade was the third in the collection they released in the early 2010s as dupes for the MAC Villainous collection — click to see the swatches of Evil Queen & Venomously.

3 coats + top coat

This beautiful foil red takes a few coats for perfect opacity, but it’s worth the work (& dry time). The formula is a metallic red with micro flakies. It has a subtle gold shift, although it shows up better in the bottle on the nail (as is the trend with this mini collection). For an almost 15 year old nail polish, the formula is still great & I had no issues with application.

Look at that metallic finish—so pretty! I love colour for this time of year. I do wish that you see that gold shift on the nail like you can in the bottle, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. & I’m so happy that I have all three in my stash, especially because I didn’t original think that I did have a full set.

What do you think of Claire’s Poison Apple? Do you like this villainous red? Do you think Claire’s should do another release like this? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Color Club What’s The Matte-r?

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! A beautiful October Sunday. The Fall vibes are really vibing as of right now, & I just want to drink all the pumpkin spice & eat all the candy corn! I also want to wear all sorts of great Fall nail polishes & colours.

I was perusing through my nail polish stash, looking for a good Autumn shade to share, & found a set of a Color Club mattes that I realized I’ve never shared those shades! I love a good matte nail this time of year, so I decided to grab the most Autumn-esque shade to share.

This is Color Club What’s The Matte-r?

2 coats

This beautiful metallic olive green is a super unique colour I definitely wouldn’t buy on its own in the store — but I happened to get it as part of set at Marshall’s with other Color Club mattes. & honestly, I think I need to be less judgemental about colour because this shade is freaking gorgeous!

Seriously, the olive green somewhat gold shift is super stunning & unique. You also get flashes of a darker green in some light — it’s just flat out beautiful. & I think it’s a great Autumn shade which is an alternative to my usual dark purple, blues & maroons that I tend to reach for this time of year.

Up close you can see that lovely matte finish. It self levels really well, dries down very smoothly, & doesn’t show brush strokes too badly.

& just for fun, I wanted to see how it looked with a glossy top coat applied. & honestly, I prefer the matte version more. It’s much more striking & beautiful! Just feels like a crispy Fall leaf that has fallen on the ground.

Looking online, it appears to still be available on the Color Club website, so if you’re looking for a beautiful unique Autumn shade option, I would say snatch it up!

What do you think of Color Club What’s the Matte-r? Would you wear this matte beauty? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Coconut Kiss

Good morning beauties, & happy sunny Sunday. The weather is feeling more & more Summer like. A girl could get used to sunshine like this! Obviously that meant I needed to dig through my stash for something summery that I haven’t shared yet.

& China Glaze Coconut Kiss is obviously the perfect choice!

2 coats + top coat

China Glaze Coconut Kiss is a beautiful deep purple with a metallic finish. The formula was on the thinner side, which meant the application was easy & built to opacity in just two coats. I love the deeper purple shade, but it also has a stunning flash of lighter purple/fuchsia depending on how you move your hand.

The shimmer just brings this polish to the next level!

Like come on, how pretty is the polish?

& the great new is this shade is part of China Glaze’s permanent collection so it’s easily available anywhere you buy China Glaze nail polish.

What do you think about China Glaze Coconut Kiss? Are you a fan of this pretty purple polish, or have it in your own collection? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!