Tag: NOTD

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Sally Hansen CSM Mermaid’s Tale


Have you ever had a polish that you’ve thought & thought & thought about but for one reason or another just don’t buy for whatever reason? I’ve got a few on my list, but a major one is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaid’s Tale. 

Mermaid’s Tale is a dark teal jelly stuffed full of assorted sized glitters both large & small. It was originally released as part of the Under The Sea collection in 2013 & stayed as part of the permanent collection.  Recently I’ve noticed it popping up in the clearance section at my favourite pharmacy’s polish clearance, so I had no excuse not to pick up this long overdue lemming. 

Because Mermaid’s Tale is a jelly base, I was scared about building opacity so I applied two coats over a base of Essie Under the Twilight. It helped achieve the look without having to apply 40 coats. I tend to do this a lot with jelly based glitters to avoid polish waste–all you need to do is find a creme shade close to your glitter shade to keep any visible nail line from showing. From what I’ve seen online, without undies it takes 3-4 coats for opacity. That’s a lot of glitter to remove when you go to change your polish! 

Oh goodness, seeing this shade on my own nails makes me so happy to own it! Originally I started listing after Mermaid’s Tale because it was a very close dupe to Deborah Lippmann’s Across the Universe for about half the price. & because I waited, & waited & waited I got the polish for only $5 which is half the price Sally Hansen CSM shades usually go for in stores around me. 


What do you think of Sally Hasen Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaid’s Tale? Have you ever waited a long time to buy a much loved lemming shade? What is you #1 all time lemming shade? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Icy Blue Chevron Moons

You can never go wrong with Chevron Moons… that’s pretty much my nail art motto. But seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever met a Chevron moon I didn’t like–they’re relatively quick & easy & they always look beautiful. For this design I used a few more of the beautiful shades from OPI Iceland collection, this time featuring some of the beautiful blues of the collection. 

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI Check Out The Old Geysers 
  • OPI Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots
  • OPI Suzy & the Artic Fox 
  • Snail Vinyls Single Chevron Vinyls

These shades look great together, don’t you think? The coolness of these blues compliment each other really well & work well in a design like this. I liked this design so much (& the colour combination) I wore them for a full 5 days, which is almost unheard of for me. I just didn’t want to change them! 

With September here, I’m craving those cool tones to match the coolness in the air. Seriously, it was like as soon as the calendar flipped over to September Fall pushed its way into the weather forecast. Not that I’m complaining too much… gives me the perfect reason to wear my new plaid dress I picked up this Summer specifically for cooler days. 


What do you think of these Chevron Moons? What is your favourite Fall colour combination? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments below! 

All of these lovely polishes were all gifted to me by OPI as part of the #PreenMeVIP program. 

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Fall Argyle Sweater Nails 🍁🍂

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but here in Halifax Fall weather has been slowly creeping into the air. & when I think of Fall, I think of over the knee Argyle socks. They’re pretty much my fashion staple when the days get cooler, so I thought I would translate one of my favourite thing about Fall fashion to my nails using a few the OPI Iceland shades.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Quick Dry Top Coat
  • OPI Krona-logical Order
  • OPI Icelanded a Bottle of OPI
  • OPI Less Is Norse 
  • OPI Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots
  • Xroma Polish & Vinyls Diamond Stencils (turned horizontal)
  • Striping Brush (from Bundle Monster)
  • Small Dotting Tool (also Bundle Monster)

These nails make me so beyond ready for Fall & all the things that come along with the Fall season. Colourful leaves, plaid, & pumpkin spice EVERYTHING. In fact, they’re giving me the serious urge to pull out my favourite pair of over the knee argyle socks just for the occasion! 

What is your favourite Fall fashion accessory? Would you ever recreate it on your nails? Let me know (& what you think of this design!) in the comments! 

All of these lovely polishes were all gifted to me by OPI as part of the #PreenMeVIP program. 

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SWATCH SUNDAY: Finger Paints 

Happy Swatch Sunday lovelies! I was recently in my local Sally’s beauty & noticed they were having a Buy 2 Get 1 Sale on their Finger Paints polishes. I was late to discovering the Finger Paints love, but once I did I fell in love. So when I came across a deal like that, I knew I had to get a couple colours to add to my stash (even though I totally don’t need more nail polish). So I thought I would Swatch my new shades immediately, so they don’t sit in the back of my stash untried for the next year. 

Dimensional Design

Dimensional Design is from the Summer  Chromaticity collection. In the bottle it comes across as a green-ish chrome shade that shifts to a peacock blue in the bottle. For my swatch, I used two coats. Sadly, I couldn’t escape the streaks on application which kind of took away from the chrome like finish. The shift is also much less on the nail than in the bottle which was a bit sad. But overall, Dimensional Design is still a very pretty polish. 

Hues Blue

Hues Blue is part of the Finger Paints core line & this was the last bottle left at my local store & I totally understand why! This gorgeous blurple shade is packed full of pink & blue micro glitters & took two coats to build opacity (although you can see a hint of nail line), but you could also use it as a topper over some undies. & oh my is it pretty–I just can’t even deal with how pretty this shade is! It reminds me a lot of Finger Paints Gorgeous Graffiti which is another favourite from this brand. 

Piece De Resistance

Can we just talk about this deep red shimmer, also part of the core Finger Paints collection? It’s pretty isn’t it? You know how much I ♥️ a good red polish, & even better it only took ONE COAT for these swatches. One coat. I don’t think I own another red polish that takes only one coat & it makes me squeal. The polish has an awesome shine to it which really shows off the lighter shimmer. Such a perfect Fall shade. 🍁🍂


& that’s it for today! Which of the three shades is your favourite? Let me know your thoughts (or your personal favourite Finger Paints shade!) in the comments below. 

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Purple Butterflies with #thenailartsquad


Today I have a very special manicure to brought to you by The Nail Art Squad. We got together to create beautiful purple butterfly designs in honour of Epidermolysis Bullosa. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare genetic disease that causes the blistering of skin, & has no known cure & in severe cases can be fatal. Children with Epidermolysis Bullosa are often called “butterfly children” which is why we chose butterflies to create (purple is the colour used for the awareness of the disease). This was a personal manicure for our group to take on as one of our members recently lost a friend to the disease. 

For my manicure, the products I used are:

  • Base Coat: OPI Natural Base Coat
  • Top Coat: Cutex Quick Dry Top Coat
  • Essie Go Ginza
  • Essie Play Date 
  • LA Colors Color Craze Orchid
  • Essence Black Is Back
  • Unknown stamping plate (which I bought as part of a set at Dollarama years ago.)

These nails were simple to do, but turned out so beautiful. I thought about freehanding butterfly wings, but didn’t think I could do them justice & because we were creating these nails for such a special reason I wanted them to be as perfect as possible. The stamping plate I used was found in a set at the Dollarama years ago, but as you can see the image stamped perfectly clear. 


I feel so honoured I could join in bringing awareness to such a special cause. 💜 to see the other purple butterfly manicures, don’t forget to check out the hashtag #thenailartsquad on Instagram.