Tag: textured

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Peeps x InstaDri 717 PEEPS Classic Chick 🐥

Hello lovelies & HAPPY EASTER! I hope the Easter bunny found you okay, & that you’re getting to enjoy some family time on this lovely Sunday. Today, I’m keeping the Easter vibes going with a nail polish I have been searching for, ever since I saw the swatches of it: The Peeps x Sally Hansen InstaDri collaboration for 2023.

If you didn’t know — Sally Hansen has once again teamed up with everyone’s favourite Easter candy for some fun nail polish vibes. & even more fun; they’re textured. I’ve been on the hunt for these polishes for weeks, but they kept seeming to allude me. I finally tracked down a display at my local Shoppers Drug Mart, but sadly it was very picked over so I was limited in my choices. I decided finally on a classic Peeps look: 717 PEEPS Classic Chick.

4 coats, no top coat.

These brand new Peeps polishes are textured, so the formula is very, very thin. Normally I would say no to any polish that requires FOUR coats of polish, but because of the thin form, it dries down very quickly, leaving you with a fun textured finish that is designed to mimic your classic Peeps marshmallow. The yellow, too, is spot on to the yellow of those Peeps chicks & bunnies, which made me super happy. The finish is also kind of semi-matte, which adds to the Peeps effect.

I was very impressed, too, by how quickly these dried. Obviously, I’m used to applying a quick dry top coat to my polish before wearing it, but where I wanted to let the textured finish show, I needed to let it dry on its own. But I had no issues with sheet marks, or smudging, even though I did these about an hour before I went to bed.

A close up of the textured finish. This is giving me 2012 textured polish vibes, & I’m not mad about it. In fact, it’s reminding me of a LA Girl Sand Blast polish I used to be obsessed with (Green Sand) & it kind of makes me wish this nail polish trend could make a resurgence.

I’m not usually a yellow kind of girl, but I actually really enjoyed wearing this polish. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I started working in a candy store before Christmas, & so with Easter we’ve been selling a ton of Peeps! So it was fun comparing my nails to those classic yellow Peeps.

I think I might be a yellow girl now. At the very least, this will not be the last time I rock this yellow polish in the coming weeks.

& for fun, my nails & the freeze dried birthday cake Peep I enjoyed while at work.

Have you seen these Sally Hansen Peeps x InstaDri shades in store? Were there any you were desperate to get your hands on. I’m still kind of bummed my store was out of the pink, blue & purple shades but they did have Cotton Candy so I might have to go back & grab that one too just because I forgot how much I love textured shades!

Happy Easter loves ♥︎ I hope you have the most beautiful Sunday.

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Me & My Lover (Sparkle Sand Effect)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. ❤️

I thought since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I should pick out something sorta Valentine-y for my nails. After digging through my stash, & through a lot of red nail polishes, I decided on this oldie from Essence: Me & My Lover.

2 coats, no top coat.

This shade was originally released in 2014/2015, which is when I picked it up at my local Shoppers Drug Mart. It is a sparkle sand effect shade, which means that it dries down to a textured finish.

Unlike some other sand effect polishes I’ve used, Me & My Lover has a finer grit, so the textured finish is a bit more subtle. It’s there, but it’s also easy to smooth out with a coat of glossy thick top coat.

The red is a beautiful pink leaning red — there seems to be some gold glitters & magenta glitters mixed in. It makes for a very, very beautiful polish. It also dries fairly quickly, which is an important thing when it comes to textured polishes. No body has time to be waiting around for their polishes to dry for hours.

The formula is also really easy to work with, which I always get excited about when it comes to extra old polishes in my stash. I’m definitely glad I decided to pull it out, because it was just the red I was looking for!

What do you think of this Essence shade? Do you remember the textured polish craze? Do you still have any of your old textured shades—which ones were your favourites?

Let me know in the comments below!

& have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

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Cactus Accent Nails 🌵💅🏻

Happy Thursday! It’s been a while since I rocked any cactus nails, & I was craving some vibrancy. I don’t often reach for green polish when painting my nails, but I’ve been trying to get out of my comfort zone. Keeping with that, I decided to pull a green (textured) polish from deep in my stash that I haven’t worn in too many years to count, & paired it with some cute cacti on my accent nails!

Polishes I used for this design were:

  • Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy
  • Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
  • LA Girl Sand Blast Nail Polish in Green Island
  • China Glaze What’s She Dune?
  • Essie First Timer
  • Essie Off Tropic
  • Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy
  • Essie A-List
  • OPI I Eat Maine-ly Lobster
  • Small detail brush (from Bundle Monster)
  • Small dotting tool (from Bundle Monster)

Sadly I kind of hid the texture of LA Girl Green Island with my top coat, but it came through a bit. This was my very first textured polish, back in the very early days of my nail art. It was also the beginning of my obsession with finding nail polish deals at Lawton’s—I remember scoring it & a blue Sand Blast Polish for only a dollar. & so began my obsession with finding old polishes at awesome deals. & I still hate spending full price for polish to this day!

Also I love creating these little freehand cactus. Still on the search for some cactus nail vinyls, because I’m a little cactus obsessed, but in the meantime I don’t mind freehanding my cacti. I also just picked up a new stamping plate from Essence with a cactus on it, so stay tuned as I plan on trying it out soon (hopefully this weekend!)

What do we think of this design? Do you still have any textured polishes in your stash? Let me know down in the comment below!