Tag: Swatch

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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. 🖤

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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. ♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Hard Candy Zombie (2015 20th Anniversary collection)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. & Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians celebrating this weekend. I hope it’s a wonderful weekend for you, full of Turkey & pumpkin pie.

Today I’m keeping the Halloween polish vibes going. Technically this isn’t a Halloween shade, per se, but it does have a very spooky name so I thought it would be perfect. This is Hard Candy Zombie.

1 coat + top coat

Even after 8 years, formula on this vintage shade is still very very good. I only needed one coat on most nails, although there were a couple spots where I touched up with a little extra. But it was a very good full coverage shade. The colour itself is a beautiful dark vampy purple, with burgundy shimmer. I do wish more of the shimmer had shown on my nails, though. In the bottle, it has such a stunning glow that sadly doesn’t fully translate to the nail fully.

This shade was originally released as part of the 2015 20th Anniversary collection that Hard Candy released as a tribute to the 90s. My assumption is that naming the shade Zombie is a tribute to the Cranberries song, although with it’s dark colour I feel like it’s also very perfect for Halloween.

Sadly, Hard Candy no longer appears to be in the nail polish game, which is a shame because all of the shades I own from them remain stunners, even after all this time.

What do you think about Hard Candy Zombie? Do you remember this release? What do you think — should Hard Candy get back into the polish game again? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!

Have a great Sunday loves! 🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Cadillacquer Aghast 💀 (Halloween 2021 collection)

•contains pr/gifted product•

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! & happy October 1st. It is officially the best month of the year — or at the very least my most favourite month of the year. & naturally I had to dig into my nail polish stash for today’s Swatch Sunday post for something a bit Halloween-y to share. I did this last year — dedicating each Swatch Sunday of the month to a Halloween inspired shade — so that is my plan again this year!

I’m starting off this month with a really fun one: Cadillacquer Aghast which was released as part of their 2021 Halloween collection.

3 coats + top coat.

In the bottle, Cadillacquer Aghast is a dark purple with fun slime green multi-sized glitters. But the magic really happens when you apply the polish to your nails, as it’s a thermal. With warm hands, it transforms from dark purple, to lighter blue, to a pale almost sky blue. It’s very very cool.

The formula itself is very thin, which is why it required 3 coats. I actually started with only two coats, but then I noticed some patchiness when it was at its lightest (hottest) state, & decided I needed another coat for good measure. The thin formula does mean you get a good look at those densely packed glitters, which are very fun! On it’s own, it dries down to a semi matte finish, but I chose to add top coat to mine so that it was shiny (& dried a bit quicker.)

Removal was a little less fun, but this is the kind of shade I wear for a special occasion (like Halloween nails) rather than everyday, so I was okay with it. Obviously, a peel off base coat would make removal way easier, but I wore these to work so I needed them to hold up a bit stronger.

I love how this colour transforms every time you look at it! Most of the time, it was in the darker stage as I am perpetually cold, but every so often I would look at it & see it in action! It’s like an ever transforming gradient on your nails, & that’s very fun. Also, I’m kind of obsessed with the look of purple & blue with this green. Very Halloween-y.

Sadly, this was a limited edition shade that was gifted to me by NailStuff.ca that is no longer available. However, if you’re looking for a similar shade she does have an awesome collection of Cadillacquer nail polishes to choose from!

What do you think of this Halloween-y shade? Are you a fan of thermal nail polishes? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below & let me know what Halloween nail polish you’re looking forward to wearing this spooky season!

Products featured in this post were provided in exchanged for content. 

All thoughts are honest & my own.

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SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI My Private Jet (new version)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope everyone had a lovely week. It’s officially Fall, which means I’m fully embracing all things knit sweaters, over the knee socks & knee high boots. 🍂🍁 My favourite time of year by far.

Today I have a fun nail polish to share with you that I actually can’t believe I haven’t shared before as it’s a favourite of mine this time of year. This is OPI My Private Jet.

2 coats + top coat

This shade actually has a really cool, albeit controversial, history. It was originally released as part of the Night Brights Spring 2007 as more of a liner holographic polish. Then, the re-released it in 2010 & people noticed it was a bit different. Okay, very different. Then, in 2018, they also released the shade in the Infinite Shine line with the new version of the polish — xoxo, Jen has swatches of that.

I’m not exactly sure when I picked up my bottle of My Private Jet, but it’s definitely the new scattered holo of the polish. The base is a beautiful dark brown, & it’s packed full of those tiny scattered holographic glitters. It also has a fun copper shimmer that comes through in certain lighting for a nice glow.

For a shade that is at least 6+ years old, the formula on this one is holding up very well. The polish applied smoothly in 2 coats. For my photos, I photographed it under my daylight bulb, with flash, so really get the holographic glitter to show. In my above macro shot, you can see how densely packed the holographic glitters truly are. Sadly, it doesn’t have the beautiful liner holo effect of the original, & I’m envious of anyone who has their hands on the original finish. But, as someone who didn’t know the original existed until after she fell in love with this version, I can appreciate both for what they are.

If you’re looking to get your hands on this beautiful shade, you can find the Infinite Shine version of this polish right on the OPI website — as well, as a few other places online. I also saw a few listings for the regular formula OPI My Private Jet with a quick Google search, although it has been discontinued out of regular rotation.

What do you think of OPI My Private Jet? Do you have this polish in your stash — either the original 2007 version, or the updated version? What are you thoughts on brands changing the formulas of polishes, but keeping the same name? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!