Tag: nail polish

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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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Turquoise & Purple Marbled Nails

Good morning lovelies! I’m back from the land of the stomach flu. Thankfully I managed to avoid catching it but the rest of the house was not so lucky. After 3 days of basically hiding, I finally managed to do my nails & it feels so good. Especially since yesterday marks 🎉FIVE YEARS🎉 since the beginning of this little nail blog of mine.

& I totally forgot until yesterday (I blame pregnancy brain & trying to avoid gastro.) I’m going to do a post tomorrow soon I’ve been planning on writing forever, but in the meantime I have some quick & easy nails that have become a favourite over the years!

Today’s look is another Saran Wrap splatter/marble.

The polishes I used for this look were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Icing Matte Effect Polish 60217
  • Color Club Disco Dress
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Crinkled up plastic bag

Usually I try to create a splatter effect when I do my Saran Wrap nails, but I wanted to do more of a marble look this time so I layered my polishes… a splatter of purple, a splatter of turquoise, a splatter of Black & then a little more turquoise. This created the more marble effect & they look EXACTLY like how I pictured in my head!

I’m seriously just so in love with how they turned out.

I just want to say thank you really quick to everyone who has been checking out this blog for the last five years. From my early days with some questionable photography skills to now, you guys are the reason I keep coming back… even if there are long pauses due to things like morning sickness & birth haha.

& I’ll keep coming back no matter what new adventures life comes my way.

💙💙

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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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Pink Drag Marble with Gold Glitter

Hello lovelies & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is recovering from the time change this past weekend. I’m currently trying to recover from another fantastic cold, but I did manage to get my nails done before it struck me down this weekend! & it was so exciting to play around on my nails.

& what was I feeling? A drag marble. & oh boy was I rusty!

The polishes I used for this manicure:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Ardene ACO Dashing
  • Ardene ACO Road to Nowhere
  • Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart
  • Sinful Colors Twilight Twinkles
  • Nailstuff.ca dotting tool

It’s been forever since I attempted any kind of drag marble design & my base shade (Ardene Dashing) was a little too quick drying which added some difficulty to my look. But the more I look at this design, the more it’s grown on me. I added a bit of gold glitter flakes which I’m not sure if it added to the design, but I was a little haphazard with my placement.

& my favourite nails? My thumb & my pinky. The design on both definitely turned out be best. As you can see, the swirl on my thumb looked just perfect. If only every nail had turned out this amazing.

What do you think of this look? Which nail do you think turned out best? Which colour combo do you think I should try next?

Share you thoughts down in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

Good morning lovelies & welcome to another rendition of Swatch Sunday. Today’s polish is brought to you by my 2 year old who decides what colour I needed to wear. & his pick? China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise!

Turned Up Turquoise is a neon shade that dries to a very matte finish. For my swatches, I applied 2 coats over my base. The coverage was perfect but like any matte shade, it gets a little goopy the older it gets because matte polishes do dry faster than regular (in my experience) & my bottle is going on 5 years old.

Usually I apply a glossy top coat to my matte shades & then finish with a coat of matte top coat, but I really wanted to show off the true finish of this shade. As you can see, it dries down pretty well on its own, although it doesn’t hide the rough state of my current nails. If I was wearing this for a while, I would definitely top coat it & then either add my matte top coat or leave it glossy.

& speaking of glossy, I had to add some top coat to show off how gorgeous Turned Up Turquoise looks with Essie Speed Setter added.

As you can see, glossy top coat really adds to the shine of this shade. It also shows off the shimmer that gets kind of hidden when it’s matte. But honestly–I love this polish either way! It’s so pretty while left matte & it’s gorgeous when glossy.

My only complaint about this shade? It’s just so hard to photograph the true colour! It’s slightly more green-ish than you see in my photos, but from browsing the Internet I don’t think anyone can capture the shade truly. I think that just comes with it being a neon, as neon polishes can be difficult to photograph.

So what do you think of this shade? Do you have it in your polish collection? Which do you prefer — glossy or left matte? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!