Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

Holiday Beauty Collaboration

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Holiday Beauty Collaboration

Today’s St. Nicholas Day, and I’d like to welcome you to the dynamic trio! 😉

This is my first official collaboration, and I’m thrilled to show you what we each came up with for holiday-inspired looks!

We didn’t set too many restrictions because we wanted to keep it open-ended and let our creativity drive the results.

I am honoured to be able to collaborate with Jessica and Rob because both of them have inspired me for a long time, and I admire how they stay true to themselves.

For our Holiday Beauty Collaboration:

  • Jessica expertly blended several colours for an eye look that makes you look twice
  • Rob created a festive manicure with a cute candy-cane accent nail
  • I did freehand nail-art featuring an elf suit, Christmas braid, Santa suit, and Mrs. Claus suit

In this blog post, you’ll see more photos of the Christmas nail art I painted, as well as the exact colours I used.

Also, be sure to check out Jessica’s and Rob’s Instagram accounts to see more photos of their artistry at work! 🙂

Christmas Nails Nail Art

In case you’re looking for some holiday and/or nail-art tutorials, you may want to view some of the ones I posted on the blog earlier:

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Pretty Serious Cute Cuticles Cupcake Cuticle Oil Review

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Cuticle Oil for Dry CuticlesWhen the mercury drops and the air gets chilly, my cuticles tend to feel and look parched. It also doesn’t help matters any that after washing my hands, I don’t usually slather on lotion regularly.

I purchased the Pretty Serious Cute Cuticles Cupcake Cuticle Oil many months ago to help me through those (literally) rough times. 😉

Perhaps my inner child is showing, but I mainly was attracted specifically to this Pretty Serious cuticle oil because it promised to not only nourish cuticles, but it also is supposed to smell like cupcakes. Hehe, if that isn’t a reason to try a new cuticle oil, I don’t know what is!

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OPI Starlight Collection Swatches, Bottle Shots & Surprises

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OPI Starlight Collection

In exactly 3.865 seconds, this nail-polish addict tore open the OPI-branded cardboard box that arrived in the mail!

The package included not only the entire 18 nail polishes in the OPI Starlight Collection for Holiday 2015, but also some exciting and quite unexpected goodies! (Hint: Swarovski jewelry and something to appeal to my sweet tooth.)

Although I pulled a Tazmanian Devil when ripping open the box out of sheer enthusiasm, I made sure to photograph the contents, so that we can share the fun experience together!

You may have already seen or purchased some of these shades, but for those who are still on the fence or who are trying to whittle down the choices, I’m hoping that you’ll find my photos (and nailphile comments) to be helpful and/or entertaining.

Today’s post features individual bottle shots, so you can see each colour better, as well as swatches to give you a good idea of the saturation and finish. Additionally, I show you the beautiful collector’s box that they came in.

Get comfy, grab your bag of popcorn, and enjoy the show!

Let’s open up this oyster, and admire the pearl!

Side note: I feel bad for oysters who are bred solely to create pearls. They are purposely irritated, however, it’s inspiring how they make the best of the situation and turn the grain of sand into a treasure to behold. We can extract a deep life philosophy here of oysters teaching humans how to deal with problems.

It makes me think about when I sometimes get an annoying grain of sand in my shoe. Imagine if I left it there instead of dumping it out. Maybe after many years, it would turn into a pearl. Haha, I’m just being silly! (Don’t worry, the nail-polish fumes haven’t gone to my head. Well…at least I don’t think so.)

(Note: No oysters were harmed in the creation of this blog post. The only thing that may suffer is a nailphile’s wallet. Hehe!)

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Pretty Serious Darkling Squishy Swatches & Review

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Pretty Serious Darkling Squishy Swatches & Review

Pretty Serious Darkling Squishy from the Well Meaning But Ultimately Quite Awkward Pet Names Collection is what I wanted NARS Zulu to be. (You may remember that review that I did in 2010 when NARS re-released their cult classic dark green nail polish.)

Green is my favourite colour, not just when it comes to nail polish. (Heck, I even painted an accent wall in my home a lima-bean green because that’s how much I love it!)

Like the anti-hero in a story who saves the day, Pretty Serious Darkling Squishy is a winner in my book without trying too hard.

It’s deep and just shy of verging on looking like a near black in some lighting. Most times, however, it appears like a midnight green on me.

Hmm…it was only when I uploaded my photos to my computer and viewed them that I realized I didn’t quite get all the red nail polish off my cuticles before painting my nails green! (In person, it wasn’t nearly as noticeable as when my nails are blown up to larger-than-life proportions.) Nevertheless, I enjoyed this manicure, and this is the type of green that makes me (and my nails) very happy! 😉

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Pretty Serious The Singing Seed Swatches & Review (Layered Over OPI Amore at the Grand Canal)

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Pretty Serious The Singing Seed Swatch Swatches

When I was a kid, I couldn’t resist shaking jingle bells when I was in craft stores. It would sometimes annoy my mom because I had the urge to not just ring one bell, but as many as I could get my grubby little hands on.

(I blame the classic Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life. Once I learned that every time a bell rings and an angel gets its wings, I wanted to ring all the bells, so that none of the angels would have to wait for their wings!) 😉

It’s that time of year when festive manicures are coming out in full force! With Christmas just a few weeks away, it’s time to start busting out the glitz and traditional combination of red and green.

I was already wearing OPI Amore at the Grand Canal from the Venice Collection, and the moment I laid eyes on Pretty Serious The Singing Seed, it was like the money-maker high E above middle C that launched Christina Aguilera’s singing career – it felt right in every way!

Pretty Serious The Singing Seed is a glitter topper that features short gold bar glitter, as well as green and gold glitter. It’s the ideal complement for any holiday reds that you already have in your nail wardrobe, taking them from everyday classic to Christmas classic with just a single coat.

P.S. I hope that my U.S. readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and are having a fun and safe Black Friday today. (Here in Canada, we also have Black Friday deals! I’m going to keep my eyes peeled like a banana for something good. I’ve been thinking about upgrading my washer and dryer.)

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OPI Amore at the Grand Canal Swatches & Review

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OPI Amore at the Grand Canal Swatches & Review

As we get closer to Christmas, I’m trying to wear more festive red nail polishes. It’s not that I don’t like reds other times of the year. It’s just that greens capture my heart. 😉

I’ve received numerous compliments about OPI Amore at the Grand Canal from the Venice Collection, and even though it’s a simple red creme nail polish, it just shows you that sometimes, simplicity is appreciated!

In the next little while, I plan to bring you some freehand nail art. I’m going to try painting some fun designs, so stay tuned.

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Zoya Giada Swatches & Review

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Zoya Giada Swatches & Review

Zoya Giada should move in with The Royal Family because a dark, glossy purple this impressive deserves a crown and a majestic title like “Her Royal Grapeness, Concordia van Winereesa!” But, okay, Zoya Giada will do.

You know the feeling you get when you’re in the close proximity to a polish that you’re itching to wear? Your pupils dilate to focus on the sheer beauty, your palms get a little sweaty, and you even start to plan the next day’s outfit to complement your fresh manicure! (Any fellow nailphiles relate to this? Hehe!)

Giada was one of the nail polishes in the Zoya Flair Collection that caught my attention when I saw it in person.

While it’s dark and vampy, this purple doesn’t tip-toe into black or near-black territory. Instead, it frolics after hours with the fairies a few minutes before the stroke of midnight, so it remains purple and doesn’t sway to liquorice.

Yes, I saw them frolicking. I got in trouble for trying to Instagram the secret event.

They saw me peeking from behind a giant red-spotted mushroom in the enchanted forest, and the Fairyland Mayor (who wore the cutest olive-green suede jumper, by the way) approached me sternly, and told me to leave the premises. He said that the fairies’ rituals were not to be documented on Instagram, so unless I was a board member of the Secret Magical Society and had a rare press pass, I had better take my business elsewhere! 😉

He softened up a little when I told him that I blog for SwatchAndLearn.com and when he learned that green was my favourite colour. (When he smiled, his cheeks bunched up, and I felt the urge to pinch them, but wisely refrained from doing so.) He said that in order to preserve the magic of nail polish, I had to leave.

So…just trust me when I say that there’s magic in every bottle of nail polish! 😉 Hehe!

P.S. Remember, the Zoya Black Friday promotion is still going on until November 30! If you want some colour inspiration, click here to see all the Zoya nail polishes I’ve featured on my blog.

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