Tag: Throwback Nail Polish

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SWATCH SUNDAY — Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue (OG Formula!) 🌊💙

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a beautiful weekend. It’s been a bit of everything this weekend — rain, sunshine, wind. That’s Nova Scotia weather for you!

Today though I have a special cult classic polish to share with you that I think most will definitely recognize! This the original Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.

1 coat + Top Coat

You may remember I did a comparison post featuring this shade circa 2019, but I never realized that I hadn’t shared full swatches of it! Considering we’re coming up on ten years since the untimely formula switch of Pacific Blue, I really wanted to throw this beauty on.

For those who don’t know the backstory, in 2014 Sally Hansen reformulated the original Pacific Blue, going from the beautiful creamy cobalt blue to.. something else. & nail polish aficionados were mad. We also scrambled to find as many back up bottles of the original shade to hoard.

The formula on this shade is about as close to perfect as you can find. One coat of creamy beautiful blue goodness. Even after 10 years, it still applies flawlessly. & unlike some similar shades—*cough* Butler Please *cough*—I never have any issues with premature chipping. & it kind of makes me remember why I fell in love with nail polish & nail blogging in the first place.

Do you remember the original Pacific Blue? Do you have a bottle of this beauty in your nail polish stash? Sadly, after 10 years since of being discontinued, I think the only place you might find a bottle of the OG is on EBay, or places like Poshmark where I found a bottle of the Original formula for $20.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

🖤

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SWATCH SUNDAY —OPI Sleigh Parking Only (Holiday 2014)

Hello beauties & happy Sunday! I hope everyone has been enjoying the weekend so far! Mine has been busy with work — Christmas in retail, am I right? — but I did have a chance to go through my stash & find a fun throwback Christmas shade from almost 10 years ago!

This is Sleigh Parking Only from the OPI 2014 Gwen Stefani Holiday Collection.

2 coats + top coat

This shade was originally gifted to me by a coworker, as part of a set featuring two of the glitters in the collection (more on that later). The shade itself is a dark plum purple, very appropriate for this time of year. The formula was easy to apply, with just a smidge of pooling towards the cuticle — you might be able to see where I had to do some clean up around the cuticle on my pinky nail.

The colour itself is very beautiful, even though I don’t know how “Christmas-y” it is just on its own. Definitely a winter shade though, with that dark plum colour.

However, as I mentioned I received this shade in a set that also contained two of the glitter toppers from the collection: Comet in the Sky, & Snow Globetrotter. I decided to apply a coat of Comet in the Sky over Sleigh Parking Only, & oh boy do I love how it looks! Definitely gives more of that holiday vibe — as glitter usually does!

Do you remember the OPI 2014 Gwen Stefani Holiday collection? Do you have shades from this collection? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below, & what your all time favourite Holiday nail polish collection is!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze I Soiree I Didn’t Do It (Holiday 2015 Cheers Collection)

Good Morning lovelies & happy Sunday! It’s the last Sunday of November which is kind of crazy. Yesterday was one month until Christmas Day, so I think it’s time to kick the Christmas nail polish content officially into gear.

Today I have a polish from the 2015 China Glaze Cheers collection. This glitteryblue/greenish shade is called I Soiree I Didn’t Do It.

2 coats + top coat

China Glaze I Soiree I Didn’t Do It is a jelly green base filled will blue, teal & silver glitters. The base is surprisingly dense with glitter, which was nice as I managed my manicure in only 2 coats. I was fully expecting that I was going to need 3-4 coats.

Obviously, you do still see some natural nail peaking through from behind the glitter, but with something as sparkly as this it kind of distracts so the average person isn’t really noticing. I also used one coat of I Soiree I Didn’t Do It layered over a darker shade on my pedicure, & it works great as a glitter topper as well to add a bit of sparkle.

A close up to show off the different glitters all packed into the base. There is definitely holo glitter in there as well. Like I mentioned, this was only two coats, & I was fully expecting I’d need another coat at least. I am glad that I didn’t have to apply another coat though, because this polish was definitely difficult to remove with all that glitter!

I did use my Olive & June polish remover pot •PR• — which I’m overdue on doing a proper review of — which made the process slightly easier.

Now because this is an older special collection shade, it’s not in regular circulation — however, I did find the Gelaze version listed on the China Glaze website, so that’s definitely an option for those who prefer using gel!

& for the non-gel users, China Glaze I Speak Glitter from last years Holiday 2022 collection is very similar in colour as well, except it appears to have some other glitters added to the mix as well. For anyone who owns that shade ( or both), I’d love to know how the two compare!

What do you think about China Glaze I Soiree I Didn’t Do It from the 2015 Cheers collection? Do you remember when this collection was released ? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below.

I’m definitely feeling the glittery holiday vibes now, so I’m going to find all the glitter shades I can to share over the next few Sundays!

Have a great day loves! ♥︎

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SWATCH SUNDAY — China Glaze Blue Iguana (& some bonus sparkle ✨)

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! The first Sunday of November, if you can believe it! Sadly, I’m starting off November with some extra short nails thanks to a bad, bad break at work on Friday.

So I wanted to make my nails feel extra pretty, so I dug through my stash & landed on this sparkly old school China Glaze shade. This is China Glaze Blue Iguana.

2 coats + top coat

Blue Iguana was originally released as part of the 2011 Summer Island Escape collection. It has an electric blue foil finish with a great micro shimmer. The formula was fairly thin, but I had adequate coverage in 2 coats. It also appears lighter on the nail than in the bottle, which was kind of a bummer — but maybe an extra coat or two would have fixed that. I also wish you could see more of the purple duochrome flash on the nail, as much as you can see it in the bottle. But it’s still beautiful regardless.

I was feeling like my short, stubby nails needed a bit more sparkle, so I pulled another oldie (released around the same time) from Icing to add a little pizazz: Icing Radio Super Star.

1 coat over Blue Iguana + top coat

I was actually really impressed with how closely the blue glitters in Radio Super Star matched Blue Iguana. It has a clear base with blue micro glitter, fuschia hex glitters & these fun silver star glitter. What you see above is just one coat over my base — & I had great luck with getting the star glitters onto the nail with minimal fishing.

It gave me exactly the sparkle I was craving to cheer myself up!

How are you feeling up these two fun polishes both together & apart? I feel like it’s just a smidge too early for holiday polishes (although I’m keeping my eyes open!) but I may see what glitter shades I can pull out for this month.

Have a happy Sunday!

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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! 🖤