Author Archives: Mary S.

Essie Gel Couture Collection & Launch Event Recap

Essie Gel Couture Collection Swatch And Learn

Officially launching on June 14th, the Essie Gel Couture line boasts 42 new colours with a luxurious bottle design with a twist – literally! It mimics the swirl of a perfectly tailored gown.

The wand is also twisted to help the polish collect onto the brush for superior results, and the bristles are much wider than those of a regular Essie brush. Additionally, the bristles have a tapered cut, which helps makes application a breeze. (You can cover your whole nail in a single swipe, if you want.)

The formula is designed to help manicures last for up to 14 days with a gel-like shine, and you don’t need a UV or LED lamp to use Essie Gel Couture nail polishes, as they are applied like regular lacquers.

The base coat is built into the colours, which is convenient and time-saving. After painting on the colour of your choice, you just need to apply a shiny top coat to seal everything in. (They have released a new top coat specifically for this line.)

Back in May 2016, I attended an exclusive reveal of the Essie Gel Couture line, which was held in Toronto.

The luxurious treatment began even before I arrived, as I was encouraged to arrive with Uber, complementary of PR!

There were drinks and appetizers offered by friendly servers. Also, the setup displaying the new nail polishes and the ‘atelier to after party’ theme was everywhere you looked.

Rita Remark (Essie’s Global Lead Educator) introduced Essie Gel Couture during a short presentation, there were opportunities to get your nails painted by nail technicians, and you could win the paintings that the talented Margaret Lipsey worked on live! (She is the woman behind PIstache and Rose.) More on all this later in the post!

Keep reading to see more photos that I snapped during the event. Also, I show you close-up bottle shots of some of the colours, as well as the official press release for further details.

Edit: I’ve updated the bottom of this post to include images of all 42 shades in the Essie Gel Couture Collection, which is broken up into four sections: Atelier, First Look, Runway Show, and After Party.

Essie GelCouture Collection 2016 Essie Gel Couture Collection 2016

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Smith & Cult Nail Polish Swatches Part 2

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Smith & Cult Nail Polish Swatches

Following suit of the post I previously published in May containing a whopping 17 swatches of Smith & Cult nail polishes, here’s the sequel: Smith & Cult Nail Polish Swatches Part 2!

This post features nine shades that I’ve shown on social media, along with the captions I wrote, which were inspired by the colours.

Since not all my swatches wind up on the blog, if you don’t want to miss a single swatch, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and/or Google+!

I’m a big (and relatively new) fan of Smith & Cult nail polishes. They’re billed as a luxury nail polish with a bottle that certainly lives up to its claim. It’s heavy and large, with a unique cap with an asymmetrical design. Even from bottle to bottle, the cap is a little different.

I am so in love with the bottle design that I chose to display some of my Smith & Cult nail polishes on the shelf, so that I could admire them more often! (Since posting the below photo on my social media, I have a second row of polishes. The collection is growing quickly!) 😉

Smith & Cult Nail Polishes Shelf

Although the cap is large, it can easily be removed, as it’s only a cover for the smaller, normal-sized handle that makes painting your nails easy. The brush wand is very short, but I found that it gave me greater control when painting.

In general, Smith & Cult nail polishes have a great formula, and there are a wide variety of colours to choose from. Most tend to be opaque, but I’ve run into a few with sheer formulas. All were easy to paint with and glided onto the nails smoothly.

Smith & Cult nail polishes can be purchased from the official Smith & Cult website, Bergdorfs, Neiman Marcus, Bluemercury, C.O. Bigelow, Space NK, NET-A-PORTER, and Selfridges.

If you’re in Canada like me, there are a number of spas and salons that carry the brand. To see the long list, check out the “Where to Buy” section located in the “Key Notes”, which can be found in my in-depth Smith & Cult She Said Yeah review. (In that review, you can also see photos of the brush and what it looks like when you remove the cap, in case you’re curious.)

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Zoya Bay Swatches & Review

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Zoya Bay Swatches Review

Navigate the waters of sparkly blue nail polishes with Zoya Bay at your fingertips!

As one of the newest additions to the PixieDust family, it hails from the Zoya Seashells Collection that breathes life back into the textured trend. (I never stopped being a fan of it!)

If you want to read the official colour story with details of the entire summer 2016 collection, be sure to check out the Zoya Seashells & Sunsets Collection press release that I published not long ago.

In the rest of this post, learn why this aquatic wonder makes a splash, and see how it incorporates your love for beach sand.

By the way, Zoya Bay sparkles much more in person. No photos can do this beautiful nail polish complete justice!

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Zoya Zooey Swatches & Review

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Zoya Zooey Swatches Review

Magical nails need no wands! 😉

Although it’s hard to narrow it down, if there’s just one new PixieDust nail polish from the Seashells Collection that you grab, make it Zoya Zooey!

It’s like a Disney princess in nail-polish form!

Normally I’m a green nail enthusiast, but Zoya Zooey takes the victorious first place this time because it spells summer to me as strong as picnics, swimming, and homemade lemonade.

Pink with gold is a classic combination, and as I’ve come to expect from Zoya, their PixieDust formula has a lot of visual interest with its textured finish and saturated pigmentation. Plus this one has sparse holographic hexagonal glitter, which adds to its multi-dimensional nature.

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