SWATCH SUNDAY — Revlon Color Stay Stormy Night

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. Well, I hope you’re having a happy Sunday. I’m on my first day of covid isolation — after 3 1/2 years it finally got me. So I’m currently laying in bed, feeling less than fabulous.

It’s also the reason why these photos are not up to my normal standard. These photos were taken in my living room, without my daytime bulb or light box, so they’re a bit potato quality. (My husband — who is also sick — was isolated to our bedroom where my nail polish resides so I was limited in options.) But I still wanted to share something for this week, & when I saw this cement grey polish, I thought it would be perfect.

This is Revlon Colorstay Stormy Night

2 coats + top coat

The formula on this shade was pretty easy to use. It applied smoothly, with good coverage. The bottle is a bit old, so I did need to give it a really good shake before I applied it. The colour is perfect for Autumn, but also very neutral so I feel like you could wear it to work.

I don’t wear grey nail polish on its own very often, & lately I’ve been obsessed with the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Moonlit topper. I’ve been wearing it with a lot of polishes. So naturally, I needed to see how it would look over top this smoky grey.

2 coats over Stormy Night + top coat.

I don’t think I’ve found a polish that Moonlit doesn’t look good with. It just makes every manicure so extra fun! & the pretty flaky shimmers make me so happy. I could see this being a great base for some Fall leaves nail — maybe when I’m finally feeling better.

Sadly the Revlon ColorStay line is long since discontinued, but I know I found my bottle in a random clearance section. The Color Stay line was replaced by the ColorStay Gel Envy line, which is still in production, but I didn’t see any similar colours listed on the website.

What do you think of this neutral grey, & fun combination with the sparkle? What Fall shades do you currently have in rotation? Let me know in the comments below.

Instagram Space Collab 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Friday! I hope everyone’s having the most lovely week. I had yesterday off, & the kids had their first day of school, so it was a nice relaxing day where I caught up on laundry & blog stuff.

Today, though, I’m excited to share a new design I did as part of the monthly Instagram collaboration hosted by @Essiyall & @Petitenaillover. I’ve been having so much fun with these large collabs, & this month’s theme was SPACE. It’s been a bit since I did a galaxy design, so I was pumped.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Top Coat
  • China Glaze Glamcore
  • Icing Mermaids Have More Fun
  • Ardene La Luna
  • Sally Hansen Buffalo Nickel
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush

For this look, I went with the classic sponge effect for my design. I used two shades I thought suited each other well, especially the shifty base of Mermaids Have More Fun. Then I added the little details of the stars, for that fun galaxy effect. I really like how everything came together.

Don’t forget to hop on over to Instagram, & check out all the amazing beautiful designs that my fellow nail artists did. Everyone interpretation for this theme, & I absolutely love everyone’s manicures!

Have a lovely day!

♥︎

Freehand Metallic X-pattern Nails

Hello loves, & happy Wednesday. It’s mid-week, & back to school is tomorrow! How exciting is that? I’m kind of sad Summer is over, but also there are so many fun Halloween & Autumn decorations popping up in store, I’m not too sad.

Today I’m sharing a fun freehand design I am very proud of. I was trying to come up with something fun & unique to share, & ended up creating these x-pattern nails. I do have nail vinyls with this pattern I could have used, but I really wanted to see if I can do it completely freehand.

& I did!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Top Coat
  • Milani Nail Polish Deep Thoughts
  • Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Scarab
  • NailStuff.ca 16mm Liner Brush

I found this old clearance Milani in my stash, & realized I’d never worn it, so I decided to give it a try. Right now I’m just loving deep, dark purples. Also, I’m kind of sad this was my first time ever trying this shade out as I’ve owned it quite a while. Now that I should have a smidge more free time, I think I need to officially go through my nail polish stash & check out all those untried nail polishes I’ve collected over the years.

Also, I’m so so so happy with how this x-pattern design turned out. My thumb ended up slightly off centre, but I more or less had all the nails pretty even. I’m really proud of how these turned out, & I think the beautiful teal shimmer over the deep purple looks incredible. It really pops! & it was such a fun design to wear.

What do you think of these freehand x-pattern nails? What colours are you loving right now? Right now, I’m all about dark nails, which I’m loving. Especially shades with just a little bit of shimmer to keep things interesting.

Have a lovely Wednesday! ♥︎

Autumn Abstract Stripes🍂🍁

Hello lovelies & happy Monday. & happy Labour Day! I hope everyone is enjoying this last long weekend of Summer. I’m getting excited because back-to-school is just a few days away, & I’m pumped that my days off during the week will actually feel like days off!

Today I’m showing off all the Fall vibes, with some abstract stripes featuring some China Glaze autumn shades from collections past.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Quo by ORLY Color Amp’d Top Coat
  • China Glaze Prairie Tale Ending
  • China Glaze Spice To Meet You
  • China Glaze Modern Auburn
  • China Glaze Loves ‘Em & Leaves ‘Em
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (11mm liner brush)

Look at these colours together — if this doesn’t scream Autumn vibes, I don’t know what does! The colours blend beautifully together. & this is what I always mean when I say this abstract stripe design is my favourite because of the endless colour possibilities; there are infinite combinations. & it’s so easy. This design probably took me maybe 30 minutes from start to finish, not including dry time.

What do you think of these Autumn Abstract stripes? Do you have big Labour Day plans? Drop a comment below, & let me know how you celebrate the end of Summer. My big plans for today? Laundry… lots of laundry.

Have a beautiful day!

SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Glamcore

Hello my lovelies, & happy Sunday. The first Swatch Sunday of September. The mornings are cooler, the humidity is non-existent, & I’m really for some darker nail polish.

I dug through my nail polish stash, trying to decide on what shade of should start off the Autumn vibes with, & found this beauty from China Glaze. Glamcore is a beautiful deep dark purple shimmer, originally released as part of the Fall 2017 Street Regal collection.

1 coat, no top coat

If you’re looking for a beautiful Autumn shade, this is definitely the vibe. In the bottle, it’s a bit of a different shade with this kind of dusty blue that doesn’t really translate onto the nail. But the colour you do get, this dark & vampy purple, is spectacular.

The formula on this shade is also great — it’s thick in the coverage department, but easy to apply, so I only needed one coat. The brush on this baby is the only downside — it’s very skinny, which can make application, especially around the cuticle line, more difficult. You get kind of see where I struggled a bit for clean cuticle application (although I think I did a not too bad job!)

Is this not a stunning polish? We all know next to a good red, I love a good purple. & this is prime purple season, so expect that you’re probably going to see a few over the next couple months. Also, China Glaze Fall collections have always been my favourite collections, & I have quite a few on here from over the years that I don’t think I’ve shared on here.

Sadly this shade is 6 years old, so it’s no longer in rotation. I score this shade a few years later at my local Winners (hence the label) so the possibility exists that it could pop up again at one of those stores in limited released.

What do you think of China Glaze Glamcore? Do you remember the 2017 Street Regal collection, or own any of the shades from it? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & what current Fall/Autumn 2023 Nail Polish collection you’re obsessed with!