SWATCH SUNDAY — W7 Nail Polish Speckled Mint

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. Easter Sunday in fact! This Easter definitely looks different compared to years past, but none the less if you celebrate, I hope you’re having a lovely day. The Easter bunny certainly found us, which means with a 3 year old & a 9 month old, the sugar high is real.

I thought in honour of Easter, it would be fitting to share another speckled nail polish very fitting for the holiday (& Spring in general). This is W7 Nail Polish Speckled Mint which was gifted to me courtesy of my Mum, & originally found as part of a set at Winners/Marshall’s.

Speckled Mint is a milky mint green polish, packed full of super tiny black micro glitters. You’re looking at 2 coats of polish, but I think 3 would have had better coverage. The formula itself was easy to work with & the removal was actually surprisingly easy considering how much glitter there was!

I’ve really been liking these pale nail polishes lately, & I forgot how much I love these speckled nail polishes too. I kind of wish I had paired all my polishes together in a manicure (I have another from W7 which is coral) as a skittle speckle egg look, but I suppose there is always next year!

Close up of my thumb (you can see here the glitters are square which I think is really neat!)

& just for fun, I added a little chocolate bunny nail decal to my ring finger. I’m very, very lactose intolerant, so this will be the only chocolate bunny I’ll enjoying this year, but thankfully I stocked up on some sour patch kid bunnies, so I’ll have some treats to enjoy too!

Happy Easter lovelies! What are you wearing on your nails for Easter? Did the Easter bunny bring you any polish goodies? Let me know down in the comments below!

Another Spring-y Floral Accent Nail

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday!

This past weekend we had some beautiful weather, & looking in our gardens you can see greenery beginning to pop through the soil, so if there is any benefit to this current situation, it is the fact that there will be lots of time to enjoy our yard very soon! It also inspired me to do MORE floral nails!

For this look, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: UNT Ready For Take Off (I got mine from NailStuff.ca — remember to use my code for 10% off: COFFEE10)
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • Pure Ice Boysenberry
  • Essie Fall for NYC
  • Essie Set in Sandstone
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Birthday Suit
  • Sally Hansen MG Blacky-O
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Essie First Timer
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (I used my favourite brush: the 7mm liner brush) 

After my Swatch Sunday post featuring untrieds on Sunday (including Deborah Lippmann Polka Dots & Moonbeams) I’ve been really trying to wear shades either I haven’t worn in a very long time, or maybe I’ve never worn. Boysenberry was a shade I bought when all the speckled egg polishes were coming out, but I think I’ve only worn a handful of times. It’s very springy, & the pale purple base is perfect for Spring!

Can I just say how much I adore how these little yellow flowers turned out. 🌼 Makes me hopeful for brighter days ahead, even if our reality right now is… very stressful & very scary. Right now I’m just going to stay home & concentrate on the things that make me happy, & that includes my vast collection of nail polish & painting my nails.

What do you guys think about this floral accent nail? What other flowers would you like to see me attempt? I think I’ve perfected my roses, so I am going to try & branch out into other floral varieties! Next up — going to attempt some tulips! But let me know down in the comments below what floral I should try next, or even what flower is your favourite!

🌸

Spring-y Pastel Floral

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday. Today I’m showing off a pretty springy pastel floral, which is perfect because it’s currently 0 degrees & snowing. Ah, Spring in Canada. 🌸

Usually went I do floral I try to do a more realistic looking design, but I decided to go more simple this time & I’m really happy with how these turned out.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Lounge Lover
  • Essie Play Date
  • Essie Bikini So Teeny
  • Essie Mint Candy Apple
  • Essie The A-Bliss
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (I used the 7mm liner brush) — use COFFEE10 to save 10% off your order

These feel very Easter-y to me, even though I hadn’t really started thinking about Easter manicures quite yet. I thought the pretty pastel shades worked really well for this look though — & I’m really how with how these flowers turned out. It took my patience, but I think they look beautiful!

Is anyone else’s hands struggling with extra dryness right now? Between extra extra hand washing & hand sanitizer when we have to venture out for groceries (or handmade Lysol wipes) I feel like I can’t keep on top of my cuticle oil or hand cream. Thank goodness I have an abundance of hand cream at home, because I’m going through it like crazy!

What do you think about this floral? Are you feeling pretty pastels? Let me know what design you would do with pastels for Spring!

SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday. I hope everyone is keeping sane & healthy. 🌸 I feel like the best we can do under these extraordinary circumstances is try & keep things are calm & normal as possible… all while practicing social distancing. I for me, that’s keeping on painting & sharing my nails. I hope they make you as happy as they make me!

It’s Swatch Sunday & today I’m showing off a beautiful bright coral polish from my stash: OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster. This shade was originally released circa Fall 2011, but then was added to the core collection I do believe. I picked up my bottle c/o: Lawton’s when they were clearing out a bunch of OPI shades!

How Spring-y & cheery is this polish?

This shade is a beautiful pinky coral that has a lovely subtle shimmer. This shade was originally released as part of the Touring American collection in 2011 (thank you Google!)

For my swatches, I did base coat (Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener is what I’ve been using lately!), 2 coats of polish & then I sealed everything in with top coat (Essie Gel Setter) which gave it that glossy plumped finish.

Like I mentioned, I found this shade at my local Lawton’s on clearance, but I did still find it available at a few places including NailPolishCanada.com & Target so I don’t think it a discontinued shade (yey!) So if you’re looking for a beautiful shade to adorn your fingers & toes for Spring, I definitely recommend this shade. It really is just so lovely.

What do you think of this coral polish? Is I Wear Mainely Lobster a part of your nail polish collection? Let me know what you think down in the comments below!

Freehand Daisies

Hello lovelies & happy Thursday. At least, I think it’s Wednesday. I feel like time has no real meaning during crazy times like this!

But I DO know that (tomorrow) Friday is the 20th, officially Spring, which is definitely something to get excited about! This winter has been long, & brutal, & not just because it seems like bad news is happening every 3 days. So in honour of it almost being Spring, let’s get hard into the floral. 🌼 Because floral makes everything better.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Hardener
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Deborah Lippmann It’s Raining Men
  • White Acrylic Paint
  • Black Acrylic Paint
  • Yellow Acrylic Paint
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Brush Trio (I used the 7mm liner brush) — use COFFEE10 to save 10% off your order

I attempted this manicure a while ago, using polish, but it did not turn out at all. I don’t tend to post my nail fails, but not every manicure I attempt turns out. Sometimes they are epic fails. So I decided to try this look again, just using acrylic paint again — & it worked.

I know I’ve mentioned it’s before but if you’re trying to get into nail art & struggling with hand painting, give acrylic paint a try. The best part about it is if you mess up what you’re drawing, you can just wash it off & start over again! Certainly makes things a bit easier.

I absolutely love daisies, they’re my absolute favourite flowers. But I haven’t worn them often on my nails just because I was scared of messing them up. I find roses so much easier to paint, because you can (usually) just keep adding layers to give it that petal appearance. Other flowers are a bit more difficult.

What do you think about this floral design? what is your favourite flower? What kind of flower do you think I should attempt next? I was thinking maybe tulips? I’ve never done tulips before.

Leave all your thoughts down in the comments below! I hope everyone is staying safe & healthy. ♥️