SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Fowl Play

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s a rainy & dreary Sunday here, but that’s late Autumn for you. We have only 9 days until Halloween, can you believe it? I’m so excited, even if I haven’t figured out my costume for Trick or Treating yet.

For today’s Swatch Sunday, I broke out a very old shade from my stash which I think is still (sort of) keeping with my Halloween trend. I had planned on going out & finding an actual Halloween shade to share — but I’m having the hardest time finding Halloween collections this year, locally, which is disappointing.

This is ORLY Fowl Play from the Fall 2011 Birds of a Feather collection.

3 coats + top coat

This shade is an oldie, but it’s beautiful. Everything I’ve seen online about it, people talk about how unique this shade is & I have to agree. It’s a purple base packed full of a multitude of flakies & glitters. It was hard to accurately photograph it in my light box, because I feel like it was hard to accurately capture how beautiful it looks (& how many colours it really has packed into it).

Formula for this guy was a bit thin, which meant multiple coats were a necessity (especially to show off all the flakies). I did three coats, because of how thin the formula was, & looking at these swatches I feel like I could have used a forth. Definitely a shade you want to apply a quick dry top coat over so you don’t have to wait forever for it dry.

The colour is perfect for late Autumn/Halloween. Dark & mysterious, & perfect for spooky season, or as the base for Halloween nail art.

What do you think of ORLY Fowl Play? Do you remember when this shade was released? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & share any Halloween shades I should be on the look out for!

Enjoy your Sunday. 🖤

Black & Red Chevron Claws 🔪🩸

Hello loves — it’s Friday. I hope everyone has had a not too stressful week.

I’m definitely excited for this weekend, as there is a big Halloween celebration where I work & I plan on dressing up as Wonder Woman for work. Haven’t decided on the manicure yet, though.

Today though, I have a simple design that could definitely be used as a Halloween look. I wanted some black & red Chevron claws & I’m so happy with how they turned out!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen InstaDri Ghouls Night Out
  • Snail Nails Deep V chevron vinyls

I had a bit of an internal debate over whether to do black or red for the chevrons themselves, but I’m quite happy with how this look turned out! I always love a chevron moon design, especially chevron claws. They’re fun, & look especially good when my nails are at a longer length.

It’s also a pretty simple design to do, as long as you have the patience to wait for your base to dry fully.

What do you think about my chevron claws? Do you like this combination of black & red — does it give you Halloween vibes? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to binge the new Blink 182 album. Happy Friday. 🖤

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER— Jack O Lantern 🎃🎃

Good morning lovelies & happy Wednesday! It’s halfway to the weekend, a little more than halfway to Halloween — it’s a good day! Today we’re continuing with our manicures for Glam Nails Challenge October, & the next prompt is Jack O Lantern.

Now, I know I literally just posted a manicure using nail art stickers, & I really try not to post the same kind of nail art two posts in a row. But when I saw the next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge, I knew that I had to use these Jack O Lantern nail art stickers stickers, even if I was repeating.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • ‘Ard As Nails Not Your Mama’s Pumpkin Spice
  • Dollarama Halloween Nail Art Stickers

First off, excited to be wearing this gorgeous ‘Ard As Nails shade again as its name is perfect for this theme! It has a fun hint of holo glitter, & the pumpin-y orange fits right in. & then these stickers — how freaking cute as these stickers?! Nail Art stickers really are the answer to easy nail art, & I love them. These ones, like my previous manicure, were purchased c/o: my local Dollarama store (I think last year) but you can find lots of cute Halloween nail art stickers at places like NailStuff.ca — she just got in a bunch of new arrivals — & Amazon. I’ve also seen this Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers stickers at my local Walmart as well.

I’m definitely already getting excited to stock up on some for Christmas as well!

What do you think of this Jack O Lantern design? Do you think that Halloween stickers make for a great nail art look? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below! & stay tuned because we only have a few more Glam Nails Challenge nail art looks to go.

♥︎

GLAM NAILS CHALLENGE OCTOBER— Skull 💀

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! It’s a brand new week, & we’re officially half way through October. This month is just speeding by!

Today I’m excited to show off my next prompt for Glam Nails Challenge October — skull. For this look, I went super easy with the nail, but I still think this look turned out awesome!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Colour Grip Primer Base Coat 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
  • OPI Black Cherry Chutney
  • Starrily Eclipse
  • Dollarama Halloween Nail Art Stickers

I know I’ve shared before how much I love nail art stickers, & these Halloween themed ones I found at Dollarama (Canadian dollar store chain) are my absolute favourite!

I love love love a good skull design anyways, but I think the simplicity of the skull over the dark holographic base is just perfection. Spooky, but also quite chic. & I got lots of compliments on these when I wore them to work (matching in my favourite H&M skeleton dress).

What do you think about my skull design for Glam Nails Challenge October? Which design has been your favourite so far? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Monday 🖤

SWATCH SUNDAY — Claire’s Venomous

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s an especially beautiful Sunday because it’s my birthday! Okay, so I’ve never really been a birthday person — even before I hit my 30s — but I do love a free Starbucks drink so I’l celebrate it slightly.

Today though, we have another Swatch Sunday & I dug & dug through my nail polish stash to find an Halloween-esque nail polish shade, & I found this very special shade circa 2010/2011. This is Claire’s Venomous.

2 coats over OPI Black Cherry Chutney + top coat

So a little back story on this shade. I purchased this during the beginnings of my nail polish addict stages. I remembered reading this Claire’s (which I worked at during this time) had released some nail polishes that were dupes for the MAC Venomous Villian’s collection, so naturally I knew I needed them. I only have 2/3 shades (I believe) but they are prized treasures in my nail polish stash.

Now, for my swatches I did two coats over a one coat of Black Cherry Chutney. The formula is very, very thin — requiring 3-4 coats — so I always prefer to add some undies. (If you want to see swatches on this shade layered, check out Deez Nailz post. ) I love the foiled finish of this shade, & how the polish shifts depending on how you move your hand. Depending on the undies you choose, you can bring out more of the green shift you see in the bottle.

As above, you can see a good example of how the shade shifts on the nails. I wrote in a previous post about Quo by ORLY Wrong so Right that they were dupes, but looking at the close up above I feel like you get a lot more of the gold/green flash with this shade which I quite like. This was actually the colour I chose for my nails for a wedding I attended this weekend, & I thought it was the perfect colour for Autumn. & the nail is very Halloween-y, obviously.

What do you think about Claire’s Venomous? What is your oldest/most prized nail polish in your nail polish collection? Do you think this is a great Halloween-y polish? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Happy Sunday Everyone. ♥︎