Author Archives: Mary S.

China Glaze Party Hearty Swatches & Review (Revisited – Layered Over OPI Oy-Another Polish Joke!)

China Glaze Party Hearty Swatches & Review Last Christmas, I didn’t get a chance to wear China Glaze Party Hearty, so what did I do this holiday season? I overcompensated like a good nailphile, of course!

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw the festive manicure I did with Party Hearty on top of red and green. But, days before that, I was wearing Party Hearty over OPI Oy-Another Polish Joke! from the Euro Centrale Collection due out in stores February 6, 2013.

This glitterbomb is back-up worthy! There are at least 2 extra bottles in my Helmer.

I’ve worn it tons of times, but oddly this is the first time I tried it over a gold. I quite like the look. It reminds me almost of a Christmasy dinosaur egg!

P.S. I reviewed this polish on here a long time ago. Felt that it was time to revisit it. 🙂 It’s one of those polishes I could never get sick of. It’s essentially Christmas in the form of nail polish!

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Essie Knockout Pout Swatches & Review

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Essie Knockout Pout Swatches & Review Essie Knockout Pout is a K.O. of colour that’s sorely needed during the winter. POW! BAM! ZOWWIE! (Okay, I just made up that last one, but it seemed to tie in with the whole retro-Batman theme.)

With the days getting shorter, colour therapy in the form of nail polish can be a real boost!

I’ve always picked up the Essie Knockout Pout bottle in the store to admire, but put it back on the shelf. Finally, it came home with me.

This time, I wanted a pick-me-up, and this was just the colour I knew could work some magic. I was right! 🙂

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OPI Oy-Another Polish Joke! Swatches & Review

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OPI Oy-Another Polish Joke Swatches & Review Okay, I’ll admit it – I get a little intimidated by yellow and gold nail polish. And I can never tell if they’ll work with my skin tone until I paint my nails.

OPI Oy-Another Polish Joke! is from the upcoming Euro Centrale Collection for Spring/Summer 2013, which will be hitting stores on February 6.

In the bottle, it looks magical! When I first got it, I admired it in natural light at various angles. It’s definitely different than any of the golds or yellows I have in my stash.

(Random note: Whenever anyone says ‘stash’, I always think of a moustache first. And since most nailphiles don’t use the word in that context and more commonly use it to mean their collection, it usually makes me giggle when I hear sentences with the word ‘stash’. Yeah, I can find humour in anything.)

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Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

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Dear Swatch And Learn Readers,

I wish you all a Merry Christmas that’s full of love and laughter!

You’ve brought a lot of joy into my life, and I’ll always appreciate your kindness and creativity.

You are a constant source of inspiration for me, and even when I’m having a difficult day, somehow readers like you know just what to say to put a smile on my face.

Thank you for joining me on this rewarding blogging journey.

Love,
Mary

P.S. The above image is a photo I took of the design on Christmas cards I’ve been giving out this year.

Note: I will be very busy today and the rest of the holiday season, so I may be slower to reply to your comments, e-mails, and tweets than usual. But I’ll still be checking in from time to time and moderating comments. I promise to reply to you as soon as I can. 🙂 Also, I’ve scheduled daily posts in case you do happen to drop by again during the holiday season.

China Glaze Split Perso-Nail-ity Swatches & Review

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After wearing China Glaze Modify Me, the next Tranzitions polish I wore as a manicure was China Glaze Split Perso-Nail-ity.

I was hasty with my application and didn’t fully wait for the polish to dry. Yup, I was too excited to transform the colour with my clear top coat.

Patience is a virtue.

In this post, you’ll see what can happen if you don’t wait for the polish to fully dry before adding your top coat like China Glaze recommends.

Yeah, I’m such a badass. I don’t always floss my teeth, I stay up late, and now I add top coat too early. Bad. To. The. Bone. Oh yeah. 😉

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Smorgasbord Sundays: Christmas & Christmas-Related Facts

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Today’s short post includes some Facts About Christmas collected from various sources since my childhood.

As December 25th continues to creep up on us, I thought it was very appropriate. 🙂

Christmas means “Christ’s Mass”
The “x” in Xmas is the Greek letter chi, which is the first letter of Christ’s name in Greek (Χριστός)
Santa Claus is based on Saint Nicholas, a Church Bishop who was born in Turkey
Saint Francis is said to have invented the nativity set in the 13th century
Tom Smith invented Christmas crackers in 1847
Pine needles are rich in Vitamin C
Originally, Christmas pudding consisted of soup made with raisins and wine
Almost 1.5 billion cards are sent every Christmas, according to Hallmark

Christmas 2012 Did you know any of these? Can you share any other interesting Christmas facts you’ve heard?

Holiday & Winter Nail Art Ideas

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Winter & Holiday Nail Art Ideas & Tutorials This year I haven’t had time to do Christmas nail-art tutorials prior to the big day.

But, since I know that a lot of nailphiles will be busting out the lacquer, I’ve put together this post on Holiday & Winter Nail Art Ideas featuring some looks I’ve done in the past.

In this post, I’ve also linked each manicure to its corresponding nail-art tutorial, which features step-by-step written instructions and photos. All, except for one, have tutorials. Plus within some of the posts are links to reviews of the individual nail polishes.

Hope that you’ll come up with something great for your holiday manicure! (I actually have been juggling a few designs in my head, but I still haven’t decided which to paint. I’ll be sure to share my Christmas manicure sometime after December 25th.)

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