Tag: Swatch Sunday

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SWATCH SUNDAY– ACO by Ardene Jacob Green

It’s Sunday, & you know what that means… it’s Swatch Sunday! This has pretty much become my favourite day of the week, because it’s been encouraging me to go through my stash & pull shades that aren’t in my everyday polish repertoire & from my many, many untrieds. 

 Today I’m showing off a shade I’ve owned for quite a while (I believe I bought it two Falls ago) but I’ve never worn. 

This is ACO by Ardene Jacob Green–a deep smooth Forrest green. I’ve written before that green isn’t a colour I’m usually attracted to. Most of the time the greens in my stash are saved for the leaves in my floral designs & Christmas or St Patrick’s Day designs. But there is something about this shade that I find just weirdly beautiful. For my swatch, I used two coats plus top coat, although I’ll be honest it was just as shiny before top coat. The formula is nice & buttery, & easy to apply. 

This is a great Fall shade & a great shade in general which is crazy for me to say. It’s crush worthy, & I really love it. Also there was absolutely no staining with removal which is always a fear for me when it comes to dark shades like this so it gets bonus points. 

For my Canadian girls, you can find ACO by Ardene shades at your local Ardene store usually on special for 3/$10 or something similar. Because this shade is from 2 years ago, your best bet for finding it would be an Ardene Outlet store. 

What do you think of this gorgeous green shade? Do you have a particular shade that is out of your comfort zone, but you can’t help but love? Let me know in the comments below!
Stay tuned because I’ll have some pretty nail art to share that I added over my swatch! 

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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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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.