Tag: Summer

Posted on

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Too Too Hot ❤️‍🔥

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday!

It’s been a beautiful balmy week this week (at least in terms of our usual April days) so I’m feeling all the Summer vibes I can handle. I even broke out my favourite holo sandals. So with these beautiful Summery days, I felt like switching gears from pastel vibes to full on Summer with a classic Essie shade: Essie Too Too Hot.

This shade was originally released circa 2011 as part of the Braziliant Summer 2011 collection ( found swatches online of the full collection here).

3 coats + Seche Vive Top Coat

I ended up with 3 coats of polish for my swatches, which I feel like was a bit too much, but I the formula was a bit on the thinner side, so I found I needed to do a lot less polish on the brush to avoid flooding my cuticles.

The colour is this beautiful mix between a bright tomato red, & a coral, although in my photos it’s definitely leaning more towards the red side. That could also be due to the fact my skin tone leans more on the yellow/olive side, so I feel like that brights out the red tones more.

We all know I love a good red nail polish, & I love an Essie red even more! It’s actually surprising how few Essie reds I have in my stash, so I think I need to fix that.

This shade is beautiful though, because I find it would be pretty universally flattering on a lot of skin tones. It reminds me a bit of Sally Hansen Cherry Delightful from their RED/ESIGN collection from a few years ago, which was designed to compliment everyone. So this definitely seems like a red that anyone could wear.

Sadly, this shade has been discontinued from the Essie core line, which makes me really sad because I think everyone needs a classic flattering red in their collection. Red nails make everything better (which is why I spent the majority of my early 20s rocking some shade of red.) So I would totally be down with championing a petition for Essie to bring this beauty back to their core line!

What do you think of this beauty? Do you own Essie Too Too Hot in your nail polish stash? What is your favourite Essie red? Let me know in the comments below.

Posted on

SWATCH SUNDAY— ORLY Put The Top Down

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I know it’s been quiet this week on the blog — I’ve been feeling the lingering effects of the cold I had a few weeks back, so my energy has been pretty low. I spent my 2 days off basically sleeping, so my nails have taken a bit of a back seat.

But, I recently stopped into my local Marshall’s & they were better stocked with fun colours, so naturally I needed to buy myself a new one! & of course — we had to go with neon! This is ORLY Put the Top Down, originally released as part of the Summer 2016 Pacific Coast Highway collection.

2 coats + Seche Vite Top Coat

I’m not going to lie — this shade is not the easiest polish to photograph thanks to its neon shade. I feel like it’s looking a bit more pink on my laptop screen than it did when I took pictures on my phone, & definitely more pink than on my nails — but that’s neon nail polish for you! I will say though, the formula is pretty awesome for a neon, if only a bit thick. It doesn’t dry matte, though, which is kind of awesome, but I did find a needed a bit of top coat to smooth my second coat down.


Doesn’t this shade just scream Summer? It’s so bright & vibrant, you need to wear sunglasses when you wear it.

I’m actually really happy I found this shade at Marshall’s. It’s been a while since I have found any good shades, sadly. I also have another shade in my stash from this collection (ORLY Scenic Route) which is one of my favs, so I’m glad to have added another. I might have to check out a few more Marshall’s to see if they’ve gotten any more shades from the collection that I can add to my stash. I love Winners/Marshall’s finds like this!

What do you think of ORLY Put the Top Down? Do you remember this shade from Summer 2016? Are you a fan of a good neon for Summer — or a March day when it’s below freezing, & they’re calling for 10cm of snow?

Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Posted on

SWATCH SUNDAY — ORLY Desert Rose

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. It’s a sunny Sunday here, although the snow situation is a little depressing — Spring is definitely feeling far away. So I thought I would pick something Spring-y to wear on my nails for this week.

Today’s polish is one that I picked up a little while ago now, on a whim while making a NailPolishCanada purchase. I saw the colour & thought it was so pretty, so I added to cart: ORLY Desert Rose, originally released as part of the Neon Earth Collection for Summer 2018.

2 coats + Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

Desert Rose is a beautiful vibrant coral pink, with reddish undertones. It plays a good balance between that coral feel and the red feel, which are probably two of my favourite colours to wear. The formula was really easy to apply, & went on smoothly, with a good self level. I did apply Seche Vite over which added some extra gloss, but that was because I was planning on wearing the shade & needed it to dry quickly.

This colour is definitely the vibrancy I need for these never ending snowy days. It’s the perfect brightness, & the colour is absolutely gorgeous. I looked back on Nail Polish Canada, but the listing is no longer available sadly (I think it was on clearance when I bought it), BUT I did find it on the official ORLY website for sale, so if you’re looking at this shade, it is still available for purchase through them.

What do you think about ORLY Desert Rose? Do you love this shade for Spring? Are you already dipping into your Spring shades? Let me know in the comments below!

Posted on

Sparkly Holo Purple Swirls

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s week is off to a good & not too stressful start so far. I finally have a day off, which is very exciting — even if today seems to be the one day in the last, like 8, that isn’t beautiful & sunny.

Oh well. I do, however, have some fun & sparkly nails from a day which was very sunny! I wore these last week during a particularly sunny day, which was perfect to show off all the holo goodness.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Holographic Top Coat: Starrily Eclipse
  • Essence Colour & Go Little Lila Town
  • Color Club Art Club Pink Pastel
  • Colour Club Art Club Passion flower

Originally, I hadn’t planned on adding the holographic top coat, but I’m so glad that I did because it made the whole look feel complete. & it was just so much more fun! Definitely a fun Summer look.

Also, it’s reminding me of how much I love stripers. Don’t get me wrong, I love love love all my nail art brushes & they’re wonderful. But there is just something different about one of those striper polishes. I feel like I need to get some more, again. There is just certain times when those are the brushes I need in my life, & I keep forgetting that until I use one of my old ones again. Guess that means it’s time to take a little trip to Sally Beauty!

What do you think about this nail art look? Do you enjoy these holo purple stripes? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & if you’d wear this nail art look.

Posted on

Summer-y Dotticure featuring Essie

Hello lovelies! Hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.

I’m excited because I have another fun (& easy) nail art look to share with you featuring some brand new (to me) shades I recently picked up. I worked like a mad woman over the Canada Day long weekend, so I decided to treat myself to a few new Summery nail polishes. & when I was looking at these brand new shades, I was like “hmmm, what can I do with these polishes?”

& the answer was obvious: dotticure!

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie Hard To Resist Glow & Shine 
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat
  • Essie Throw in the Towel
  • Essie Swoon in the Lagoon
  • Essie In the Cab-ana
  • Essie Blanc
  • NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool Trio

How gorgeous are these shades together? Originally I planned on buying Essie Bahama Mama but then when I was in the nail polish aisle I noticed Bahama Mama is very close to Sally Hansen InstaDri Zip Wine so I decided to hold off (for now), & go for some more vibrant Summery shades. Essie In the Cab-ana is an old favourite & my old bottle is running out, & the other two shades were fun, bright pinks, & I seem to be very drawn to pink nail polish lately.

I think I might do a polish haul instagram reel soon, since I have been really loving (& buying) pinks, so why not show them off.

What do we think about this dotticure look? I feel like this is kind of reminiscent of my early dotticure days, where they were a bit more abstract. Let me know what you think down in the comments below, & what colours you would pick for a dotticure like this!