Essie | Avenue Maintain

As always, I've reverted to my old ways and stooped to pick out an Essie color from their spring collection. I promised myself only one and this is what I ended up with. It's described with words such as "parisian" "chic" and "fashionably adroit" -- whatever that one means. I've found myself staring at my nails all day. I filed down my nails quite a bit and with a few slicks of this, a fresh foil, and a mini chop I feel like a whole new girl. A sixteen day hospital stay really can make you feel that way. Brand new. Rejuvenated. And I didn't even need to go to rehab! (Score.)

A formula that's to die for, and a price point that you can't really argue with, Essie continues to be my favorite brand. Definitely the accessibility of their varnishes help to sell them to me, but they're relatively cheap and last a significant amount of time.

Have you picked any new spring favorites? Look out for a whole post dedicated to shopping my stash - as they say - to find some new colors...

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Mini-Review: Essie "Snap Happy"

This colour is true as ever to its name, in the snap of a finger, it makes me happy. Not sure if thats what they were going for, but the colour is fresh and new. I've mentioned Essie many times on the blog before and my review will continue to be the same. The colour is pigmented, the brush is easy to work with, the price is pretty good and the selection/range of polishes is out of this world. One of the reasons I continue to go back to them is that they have an incredible value of shades to choose from. Need a nude? They've got at least ten options. A sparkly glitter? Recently added but really brilliant colour choices for these ones as well. I own the most Essie probably because it is very accessible to me and relatively cheap. I don't feel guilty buying one or two when I stop by the drug store.

I found it fairly hard to get a decent exposure to this colour, because it is very bright and as you can tell, it's been particularly rainy and gross recently. I hope these pictures did it justice. I've had this painted on my nails since Sunday night and I've had no chips... Though, I am tempted to reapply with some of the others I've picked up recently.... Whoops!

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fall essentials

OPI 'Kenne-bunk-port' (NL N09)

OPI 'Colour So Hot It Berns' (NL Z13)

butter London 'Come To Bed Red'

Essie 'Head Mistress'

MAC 'Lovecrush' Sheertone Shimmer Blusher

NARS 'Douceur'

Rimmel London Kate Lippie (01)

Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream 'Monte Carlo'

In true autumn inspired spirit, I hope to pop in a pumpkin pie soon and pop on some of these deeper, darker reds. This is genuinely a guide for the scarlet lovers amongst us, but these each are wearable one way or another. The nail varnishes are some of the best formulas I have tried and have stellar wear time. MAC's Lovecrush blusher is beautiful on fair skin, such as mine, and brings the most natural flush of colour to your cheeks. NARS Douceur is my go to contour shade (although I'm debating buying a few new ones) and has treated me wonderfully for the last several months I've worn it. It is quite sheer, so it may work best with pale skin. I love the Kate lipstick. It has such great wear time for a drugstore lippie. I wore it in this look and did a review on it here if you want to read more about it. My newest purchase was Nyx's Monte Carlo but I can already tell that it will be one of my favourites into spring. Easy to apply, not too expensive and again, really excellent wear time.

I will be (excitedly) driving down the coast to Portland today and then back up tomorrow to see Ed Sheeran, twice. You heard that right. I'm seeing him twice in one weekend. And the thing is... I've already seen him live once before. Eddiction? (Geez, someone take the Internet away from me...) Hope you all have a stellar weekend, will chat soon!

xx

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Five Favourite Neutrals

The smell of fall is in the air and yet, I don't feel that it is that time of year yet. School has started, I've gotten loads of new clothes and I can't wear any of it... The weather simply doesn't permit. It's rumoured to be 75 for a while here. I can talk your ear off about how excited I am for autumn to be upon us, but (lucky for you) that time hasn't arrived. It's the time in between summer and fall where I am stuck in school for seven hours a day, with dress code limitations and very little appropriate summer wear (i.e. I don't wear skirts to my knee very often and high waisted, short shorts are a staple). Along with the summer feeling gone, so has the nail varnish. My favourite bright pastels are being replaced with darker, more autumn feeling colours. This transition time in between summer and fall is difficult but I find I always reach for these varnishes if no others come to mind. Here are my top five favourite neutrals this year.

1. Love & Beauty's (Forever 21) Taupe

(far left)

This light brown has the smallest hints of shimmer and is very wearable for many skin tones. It elongates the hands in the most elegant of ways. Used on the right nail shape, it can look so simple and elegant. At $2.80 per bottle, it's incredibly cheap although it doesn't apply that way. After two coats, this shade can be easily worn without bumps, knicks, or bubbles.

2. Sephora's Under My Trench Coat

A much darker brown in comparison to Taupe, it has layers of grey and an obviously simple sheen or shimmer to it. Sephora nail polishes are not my favourites in general but this colour is one of my must haves. The application on the nail is very thick and required only one coat minus a base. I have a feeling Sephora has changed their formula in recent years because this bottle is rather old. The colour in the bottle is very different and much lighter when applied.

3. Chanel's Paradoxal

One of the darker neutrals in this post, it stands out for the obvious purple shimmer included. With one coat, the varnish is pretty transparent and definitely requires a second layer to evenly distribute colour. In harsh lighting, the colour appears dark grey with a definite purple under tone to it. In natural lighting, the purple shines much better. Chanel has quite the price tag so I'd suggest trying this on in stores and seeing how you like it. 

4. OPI's You Don't Know Jacques!

A near dupe for Chanel's Paradoxal, I'd say. This colour is exactly what Paradoxal would be without the purple undertone and shimmer. It's quite flat but can create a sophisticated grown up type colour. This muddy grey most likely requires two coats as OPI varnish doesn't have the best distribution.

4. Essie's Eternal Optimist

(far right)

One of my all time favourite nudes, Eternal Optimist is a salmony pink true nude and works very well on Olive skin tones. Some may consider it a "grandma" type colour but it's always been a favourite of mine. It's a safe bet but can warm up skin in the darker, more grey months of winter.

What are your go-to neutral/nudes? Any caught your eye recently? Let me know in the comments below.

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xx
p.s. i have a new camera coming soon, not to worry. The days of crappy iPhone photos will be over soon. I'm sorry we have both have had to suffer for this long.