Pink Nails!

Today's post is another where I forgot to keep track of exactly which polish I've used!  It's from the L'Oréal Paris Vernis a l'Huile line of polishes, and I think that it is most likely the shade called 'Rose Bouquet', but again, I'm not completely sure.

Whatever the shade name is, it's really pretty! If I'm able to confirm the name at a later time, I'll come back and edit this post.

One day I would like to do a detailed post reviewing and swatching the polishes that I have from this line.  I tried this line of polishes for the first time last year, and I quite like them. I did a post on another shade, 'Rubis Folies' earlier. 

Gold Glitter Mani

Today I have a really simple glitter manicure to share. The manicure was done with Sally Hansen Gem Crush nail polish in 'Big Money'.

I've had this polish sitting around in my stash for years. I used a little bit on my accent nail for my Neutral Mani, but this is the first time that I've used it for a full manicure. It has neutral gold glitter particles paired with slightly larger soft pink/lavender metallic glitter particles. It's truly quite pretty. The close up shot of my thumbnail below really captures the individual glitters that make up the mix.

Monochromatic Skittles Mani

I love manicures that allow me to use a lot of polishes at once, because I like being able to go through my untried polishes. That was basically the inspiration behind the skittles manicure that I am sharing today.

These polishes were all new to my collection, most of which were picked up during boxing week and January sales. I really love how they look together!  If I had to pick favourites, I would have to say that I really like 'Viva Antigua!' and 'First Timer'.

Polishes Used

Essie 'Poolside Service'

Essie 'Viva Antigua!'

Essie 'First Timer'

Essie 'Going Guru'

Essie 'Passport to Happiness'

All in all, I really like how the manicure turned out! It's a simple adjacent colour scheme and ordered more or less from darkest to lightest shade. It's essentially a manicure which allows you to just have fun playing with colours!

Neutral Mani

Today I'm sharing a neutral, subdued and understated mani that still has a bit of style and creativity.

I don't typically do a lot of neutral manicures as I tend to favour fun and colourful looks that 'pop', however, I like to switch things up every once in a while too.  I actually was quite surprised by the neutral base colour that I used, 'Tickle my France-y'.  I had it in a miniature size and I'm pretty sure that this is the first time that I've used it.  I really liked how the colour worked with my skin tone. I was so impressed that I even went out and purchased a full sized bottle!  

I did a little bit of stamping on my nails using Uber Chic Beauty's 'Texture-licious plate 01', for a little bit of visual interest. And as an accent nail, I did a glitter gradient using Sally Hansen's 'Big Money', and then placed 3 nail gems down the middle of the nail for a bit of added bling.

Polishes Used

Polishes Used	Stamping Plate Used
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'Silver Sweep'	Uber Chic Beauty - Texture-licious-01
OPI 'Tickle my France-y'	Uber Mini Nail Stamp Plate
Sally Hansen Gem Crush 'Big Money'

I really like this textured stamping plate. It's such an easy way to spice up a simple mani without doing a lot of design work. Sometimes I want to paint my nails, and would love to do some nail art, but I'm not inspired to design an entire themed look. I'm thinking that these texture images would be perfect for those times. They should also be great for making textured backgrounds to double stamp, or place a decal over. I'm going to have to keep these handy to use a bit more frequently!

Heart Stamped Skittles Mani

Today I have a cute skittles mani with a stamped accent nail to share.

I'm ecstatic about the way this manicure turned out. I love the colours together and I think the finished look is so much fun. For the stamped accent nail, I made a stamped gradient by filling the stamping image with drops of both coloured polishes. The dark metallic pink polish 'The Lace is on' and the dark metallic blue polish 'Front Page Worthy' combined to form a lovely metallic purple where the two polishes blended. I stamped the image over the light gray polish 'Go with the Flowy' used as a base.

Polishes Used

Essie 'The Lace is On'

Essie 'Go with the Flowy'

Essie Gel Couture 'Front Page Worthy'

I think the plate I used was Lina Nail Art Supplies 'Make Your Mark 07', but I am no longer 100 per cent sure, as I forgot to take note of it or take a picture to remind myself. If I figure it out at a later time, I'll try to remember to come back and update this page. All in all, this was a very successful manicure, and I absolutely loved wearing it!

Pink Camouflage Mani

Today I have a fun pink camouflage manicure to share:

Pink Camouflage Mani

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the polishes I used, so I don't remember exactly which ones I used for this look. I'm pretty sure the light pink is 'Excuse Me, Sur' from Essie's spring 2017 'B'aha Moment' collection, which I used as the base of the manicure. I'm also think that the silver I used was (what's left of my rapidly depleting bottle of) Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'Silver Sweep'.  I'm guessing this because, as I mentioned several times before on this blog, that is my go-to silver stamping polish. My bottle is almost done, and is getting quite gloopy, so that will probably be featured in an 'Empties' post sometime later this year!  I'm also pretty sure that the stamping plate that I used was Moyou London Trend Hunter 22.

I really like the colours and concept of the manicure, but I think next time I would do a little less stamping, as the end result is a bit too busy.  I think it doesn't read as clearly as camouflage print as it could because there are too many camo splotches, seeing as I stamped a few times with full nail images. The camo plate I used has individual camo splotches as well as full nail camo patterns, so next time around I want to try placing the splotches one by one with the individual splotch patterns to ensure a more balanced result.

Essie 'Nama-Stay the Night'

Today I did a simple manicure using a new polish that I bought during a boxing day sale. This is Essie's 'Nama-Stay the Night' from Essie's Resort 2016 'Going Guru' Collection.

I can't even to begin to tell you how much I loved this polish! The colour is so intense and gorgeous, and it applied beautifully with a wonderful formula. This stunning shade of blue took my breath away - I couldn't stop staring at my nails as I was wearing it. 

I actually acquired all four of the polishes from the 'Going Guru' collection, along with a lot of other Essie polishes, during the boxing day sale I mentioned, as the polishes were heavily discounted. This was one of the standouts from the haul that I wanted to try right away!

I have a lot of complete older collections in my own nail polish collection, so I've been thinking about starting a series of 'Flashback' reviews of older collections... maybe a 'Flashback Friday'? I think it could still be helpful to review some of these older collections because even though a lot of them were limited time only, a lot of the polishes can still be found on-line and some beauty supply stores for a few years to come, and then in destashes and blog sales afterwards.  Cataloguing these older collections would also help me keep track of what's in my personal collection. Hopefully I can start doing this later this year.