Tag: nail polish

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Matte Neon Moon Manicure 🌙

Happy Friday lovelies! Today I’m blasting you with a little neon to cheer up the Winter blues. It’s currently -11 degrees here in Halifax, so I need anything I can get that feels even a little Spring-like. Also this colour combination might actually be perfect. 💜

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: Butter London
  • Quo by ORLY Culture Classic
  • Color Club Pucci-licious
  • White Paper White Reinforcement stickers.

I’m so one of those people who can only stand Winter until Christmas is over, & then I want Spring already. If I didn’t love Halifax so much, I would move somewhere where it was warm all year & I could drive to the snow. Instead, I guess neon nails to cheer myself is in order! (& all the hot drinks I can handle to keep myself from freezing)

I guess I should probably start planning my Valentine’s Day designs soon! I missed out on a lot of Valentine’s designs last year, you know with having a baby haha, so I want to make up with it this year!

What do you think of this design? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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COMPARISON POST — Matte Top Coat

Hello lovelies! Today I’m sharing a fun post with you that was inspired by @mugglenails on Instagram! Meghan & I were having a conversation about matte top coats & I thought it might be fun to do a comparison of all the matte top coats I own. Truthfully, I used to own way more, but apparently I got rid of some when we moved so I’m going to (potentially) call this part one.

The matte top coats we will be testing today are from Butter London, Personnelle Cosmetics, Sally Hansen & L’Oréal.

To start, I painted all my nails a base colour. For this comparison, I wanted to go with something dark, so I picked this nameless blackened blue from Hard Candy that I picked up at Walmart in the clearance for 37 cents.

Next, I applied just one coat of each matte top coat to the nail & let dry. From left to right is Butter London, Personnelle Cosmetics, Sally Hansen & L’Oréal on the pinky. As far as dry time, both Butter London & L’Oréal dried fastest, the Personnelle Cosmetics was next & Sally Hansen was the last to dry.

As you can see above, L’Oréal & Butter London dried almost identically with the L’Oréal looking a little more matte to me, & while the Personnelle Cosmetics dried fairly matte it had weird streaking which would require a second coat to hide. As for Sally Hansen… it was the least matte of the 4. It wasn’t glossy but it certainly still had a sheen to it which is especially evident when paired next to the other 3 top coats.

Looking at these 4 top coats, I would say it’s pretty close between Butter London & L’Oréal & if we’re figuring cost into the equation then I would call L’Oréal the winner. Personally I love both Butter London & L’Oréal & tend to reach for them equally. The Personnelle Cosmetics top coat was a clearance score while on vacation (I grabbed it for a $1) & while its not the best, I can see myself using it if I didn’t have my other favourites. As for the Sally Hansen matte… I love Sally Hansen, I really do. It’s one of my favourite brands. But I’m sorry Sally Hansen, I hate this matte top coat. It’s slow to dry, & it’s just not matte enough. There are just much better (affordable) matte top coats you can use.

Did you favourite make this list? Do you have a favourite matte top coat not on this list that you’d like to see a comparison of? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below & I’ll see what I can do about putting together a part two!

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Marbled Nails Using Acetone

Good Morning Lovelies! & happy Monday.

Today I have a have nail art design to share with you. I’ve written before how I love playing around with different techniques, & lately I’ve been really into marbled nails & the many ways to create them. For today’s design, I created a marble design using polish & acetone–a technique that I’ve shown off before.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • China Glaze For Audrey
  • Quo by ORLY Feeling Free
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Black Heart
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Spiral Star
  • Acetone
  • Q-tip

Obviously the easiest way to show you how to create this design was with a tutorial, so check out below!

I just really, really love this colour combination. There is something about turquoise & purple that goes so well together. Also why don’t I grab China Glaze For Audrey more often? It was my very first ever China Glaze shade, & now I remember why I fell in love with it. Just so pretty!

So what do you think of this marble design? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Quo by ORLY Sailor’s Blue

Happy Sunday lovelies! Welcome to my favourite day of the week–Swatch Sunday! 💙 Today I’m sharing a polish that OG readers will remember as one of my early swatches on this blog: Quo by ORLY Sailor’s Blue. (Seriously check out that original post, because the picture quality alone is worth the laugh! 😹)

This shade originally came into my life as part of the Quo by ORLY 2013 Holiday Minis set (it was gifted to me by the Hubby) & was my first real foray into the whole Quo by ORLY Polish line.

Sailor’s Blue is a sheer deep blue polish with a duochrome shimmer that flashes between gold & pink. It’s sheer enough that I wear it with undies (China Glaze First Mate) to avoid having to build coats. I also feel like using it over top of another blue shade keeps it from looking muddy. For this look, I did one coat of undies & one coat of Sailor’s Blue, plus top coat.

Sadly, I don’t think this shade is available anymore for purchase which definitely makes me wish I had more than just a mini bottle in my collection. I know it was also released by ORLY as High On Hope as part of the Spring 2013 collection, but unless you find it buried in clearance bins, I don’t think it’s an easy shade to track down. Which is seriously a shame, because it’s so pretty!

& for fun, a macro shot so you can really see that duochrome shift. ⤵️

What do you think of Quo by ORLY Sailor’s Blue? Do you own this shade (or it’s twin ORLY High On Hope in your stash? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Mermaid Nails using NailStuff.ca Aqua Collection Flakies

Happy Saturday! Today I’m sharing one of the prettiest designs I think I’ve ever done–a mermaid design using the Aqua Collection flakies from NailStuff.ca. It felt like ages since I created mermaid nails, & those flakies were just sitting there staring at me, waiting to be used. I couldn’t decide which colour to use so I decided why not use all three! & the end result is pretty much the prettiest nails I’ve ever worn!

For this manicure, the products I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie After School Boy Blazer
  • Fingerprints Peel Off Base Coat
  • Nailstuff.ca Aqua Collections flakies (Mermaid, Lagoon & Abyss)
  • What’s Up Nails Scale Vinyls
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier

These were surprisingly easy to do–I applied my base colour (Essie Under the Twilight) & my top coat & let it dry completely. When my base was completely dry, I applied my vinyls to each nail & then went over top with Fingerpaints Peel Off Base Coat. I’ve found that using it helps adhere the flakies best. Without waiting, I then dipped my sponge (that comes with the flakies) into each pot & rubbed the flakies over top in certain spots. I then repeated it again using the other two pots of flakies. When I felt like I had filled in the vinyls enough, I removed them immediately, & finished off the design with top coat.

Just look at that macro! It looks like jewels on the nail. I’m seriously in love. My only regret is that I didn’t think to top it with matte top coat before I removed them. Can you imagine how pretty they would have looked matte?

what do you think of this design? Do you see mermaid nails or dragon nails? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own.