Author Archives: Mary S.

CND Vinylux Splash of Teal Swatches & Review

CND Splash of Teal Swatches Review

CND Vinylux Splash of Teal, from the upcoming Rhythm and Heat Collection for Summer 2017 launching in March, is like doing a cannon ball in the water – it certainly gets others’ attention!

While it photographs on the blue side, to the naked eye, CND Vinylux Splash of Teal has perhaps a few drops of green in the mixture, which allows it to stay true to its name. It’s indeed a teal and less of a sky blue.

Old Man Winter may be folding his clothes and getting ready to pack his suitcase for the arrival of Spring, but your nails don’t have to follow suit.

Jump straight to a summer manicure fiesta with this beautiful teal!

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Will You Be My Nail Valentine?

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Happy Valentine’s Day to all my wonderful readers! 🙂

I hope that your day is full of love, light, and happiness!

On my nails, I’m wearing CND Vinylux Ripe Guava from the upcoming CND Rhythm and Heat Collection for Summer 2017. (Check that post out, if you haven’t already. It includes swatches of all six shades that officially launch in March!)

CND Rhythm and Heat Collection with Tulip

Edit: I decided to include a photo I snapped of some beautiful red roses I received.

Red Roses

No matter how busy you are, always remember to stop and smell the roses…not just on Valentine’s Day!

Disclosure: This post contains a press sample provided by PR.

CND Rhythm and Heat Collection Swatches

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CND Rhythm and Heat Collection Swatches

Shake your grass skirt at the winter blahs because the CND Rhythm and Heat Collection for Summer 2017 will have you dreaming of hammocks, mojitos, and warm afternoon sunsets!

Launching in March, the six cremes have a slightly jellyish formula, which makes them extremely smooth and easy to paint on.

To fully cover my nail line, I needed to use either three thin coats or two thick ones. All of them were shiny on their own. My swatches show the nail polishes without a top coat, so you can see how they look straight out of the bottle.

Being a green fiend, Palm Deco (medium green) is my first choice, followed by Mambo Beat (hot orange-red), and Splash of Teal (blue).

Which colours are calling your name?

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the media launch event unveiling the CND Rhythm and Heat Collection, which was held at a salon called Fiorio Cumberland in Yorkville.

As you may have already seen on my Instagram, John Nguyen, one of the talented nail technicians there, painted my nails in the below fun design! He used the CND Shellac colours Palm Deco (green – two coats) and Shimmering Shores (glitter – one coat).

CND Rhythm & Heat Nail Art

Check out the rest of this blog post for a closer look at each colour in the CND Vinylux Rhythm and Heat Collection, as well as the official press release for more details!

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The Nail Polish I Designed Is Discontinued & Has Sold Out

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Pretty Serious Swatch And Learn

Back in 2014, my nail dreams came true when I collaborated with an indie company to design my own nail polish, Pretty Serious Swatch And Learn, and bring to market a shade that represented me.

You may remember seeing my post on here, where I showed tons of swatches of it from all different angles. This polish looks very different, depending on the angle and lighting. (If you haven’t seen it, click on the above link.)

It’s predominantly green, especially when looking at it straight on (like in my above swatch), but when you move your fingers around, you see blue, copper, purple, pink, and more!

Pretty Serious Swatch And Learn was truly my dream polish, and I’m so happy that some of you got to enjoy it first-hand!

Pretty Serious Swatch And Learn, along with a large chunk of shades in their colour library have been discontinued recently and have sold out.

I was going to give you the heads up earlier to snag it while you still can, but, according to the Pretty Serious Facebook post, there were already low quantities. By the time I had a chance to sit down and blog about it, it had already sold out!

Turns out that I have a few extra bottles around here of Pretty Serious Swatch And Learn, so maybe one day, if enough readers are interested, I may have a second worldwide giveaway for it (like this one). Let me know if you’d want this.

This is a short post to say thank you to everyone who wore the polish, encouraged me, and made this possible. Readers are the backbone of a blog, and I definitely wouldn’t have had the opportunity, if it wasn’t for all of you. *hug*

I am so grateful and honoured to have collaborated with Pretty Serious Cosmetics and to turn my vision into a reality. They make some of my favourite nail polishes, and it was an amazing experience that still leaves me pinching myself to this day to see if it was real!

Be sure to check the Pretty Serious Cosmetics website regularly. They continue to bring out new, beautiful shades that are vegan and cruelty-free. Plus they ship worldwide!

Thanks for making my blogging journey more exciting than I ever thought possible when I started in 2010. I’m looking forward to more exciting things to come! 🙂

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Happy Chinese New Year!

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To those who are celebrating this weekend with family and loved ones, I hope that you have a wonderful time and that the Year of the Rooster brings you much happiness! 🙂

Chinese New Year 2017

In other news, I recently met the Queen. 😉

She stood proud and tall…at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto’s Financial District. Checkmate!

Chess Queen

Zoya Waverly Swatches & Review

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Zoya Waverly Swatches Review

Star light, star bright, Zoya Waverly is the first star I see tonight!

Hailing from the Zoya Enchanted Collection, which has my heart under lock and key, this galactic PixieDust creates a Cookie Monster manicure with everything you love about space.

Just like all of the PixieDust nail polishes, Zoya Waverly features a textured finish that can be worn solo or beneath a glossy top coat.

Being a Zoya PixieDust ‘purist,’ I wore it as it was designed to be enjoyed – by itself. (Don’t let that stop you from wearing it any way you want. Consider layering glittery top coats over it to add even more dimension. Lacquer should be fun, and it should make you happy! Make your own manicure rules!)

See the rest of this post for multiple swatches of Zoya Waverly, and find out why I gave it a 10 out of 10.

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Zoya Olivera Swatches & Review

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Zoya Olivera Swatches Review

Zoya Olivera from the Enchanted Collection makes me think of a scene in The Wizard of Oz. Remember the part where you see the Wicked Witch of the West cackling at Dorothy Gale from the large glass globe? That scene!

Mesmerizing and shrouded in darkness, Zoya Olivera is a sexy polish that takes a walk on the wild side.

This inky wonder satisfies the craving for a vampy nail polish without resorting to a typical black lacquer. (Don’t get me wrong. I love jet-black nails, but a midnight green will always make me look twice!)

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