Spring Edit | Nails

As someone who doesn't wear a lot of makeup or jewelry, I find painting my nails is the best accessory to add a little something extra to an outfit. Now that it's spring, my go to nail colours have changed from dark winter colours to more brights and pastels. Today I want to share with you all my favourite nail polish colours for the season so far!

Coral Reef by Sally Hansen

Mint Candy Apple by Essie

I hope you enjoyed getting a look at the nail colours I've been loving lately. I tend to go for pinks, oranges, and greens/blues this time of year!

What nail polishes have you been loving for spring? Please do let me know in a comment!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

Day 9: Fav Holiday Nail Polishes | Blogmas

I'm kind of a confusing specimen when it comes to beauty- I'm very girly and love doing girly things but I'm not huge into makeup or trying new products or anything that beauty gurus love doing. I stick to the things I know and love and don't change my appearance heavily.

One girly thing I really really enjoy doing is painting my nails. I think it's such a simple way to change up your look without changing yourself in a dramatic way. My nail colour is always reminiscent of the time of year, or occasion of the season- I love doing my nails!

As my nail polish collection is quite extensive I decided today I'd share with you all my favourite nail polish colours for the holiday season! I narrowed my choices down to my two favourite nail polish brands- Revlon and Essie- because Lord knows I probably have dupes of each colour from different brand names haha. I love Essie and Revlon so much because the stay power is great, they only require two coats, and the brush applicators are small enough that I don't make a mess.

So without further rambling, enjoy my favourite holiday nail polishes!

Here's a general overview of the colours I tend to reach for this time of year- lots of darker, red tones, neutral tones, sparkles, and holiday themed colours.

From the Revlon line my favourites are:

Description order: top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right

905 Sophisticated: a very cool toned grey, this polish looks great with a matte top coat. Not so much Christmassy, but a really great winter colour in general.

705 Gray Suede: this colour has so many dimensions. It's my favourite nude this time of year because it's a little pink, a little grey, a little taupe... It's a little bit of everything. I feel like this is a great winter nude because it's slightly cooler toned than a lot of other nudes.

660 Divine: I really like a good deep maroon this time of year- this one actually being my favourite out of all the ones I have! It's got sort of a rich chocolate undertone to it with the tiniest little gold sparkles in it that reflect light beautifully. It's a great Christmas/holiday colour- what better time to rock some sparkles than the holidays!?

571 Posh: a Christmas green just had to be included! I like that this green isn't too in your face and it doesn't make my pale/fair hands look sickly like a lot of greens tend to do.

From the Essie line my favourites are:

Description order: clockwise from the darkest tone

Skirting the Issue: this deep plum is a really beautiful polish for the holiday season. It's a lot more of a deep red than it looks in the bottle but still sits on the nail as a beautiful burgundy. 

Bahama Mama: this is one of the Essie polishes I see mentioned most often and rightly so! It's such a beautiful plum/grape colour. It reminds me of mulled berry wine- great colour for the holidays!

Lollipop: a tried a true Christmas red, this polish is perfect for getting you into the Christmas spirit! I love pairing this with gold or green accents.

Ignite the Night: every girl needs a sparkly nail as the holidays come about and this silver/grey sparkle top coat is perfect! I've actually used this on it's own before without a base colour and the opacity is amazing. It took 3 coats but there were no spaces!

Penny Talk: another sparkle polish, this one is a beautiful bronze/gold. It's kind of subdued (more of a shimmer than a true sparkle) so it's not an intense, in your face sort of gold, but I absolutely love it this time of year!

Marshmallow: finally, a white polish has to be included- I love a white nail against the white of the snow. I think it's a great option when you have a very over the top Christmas outfit that would be hard to match otherwise. White is still part of the Christmas colour palette and it's a great little wildcard to keep in your back pocket.

Throughout the holiday season I will definitely be using all of these polishes at one point or another. I will probably also experiment with some holiday inspired nail art, however it will likely turn out quite crappy- my skills are limited to none when it comes with nail art but if anything turns out well I'll be sure to share a photo!

What are your favourite nail colours for the season? Please do let me know in a comment so I can check them out!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Revlon Nail Enamel | Product Review

I'm one of those gals who can not stand having bare nails- I feel so naked without my nails painted! Finding a good quality nail polish that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is quite the task now a days! It seems like you can't have it all; quick drying, long lasting, good colour pay off. But alas, I have found my favourite nail enamel brand! Turns out it was right under my nose all this time. Coming in at roughly six dollars a bottle, my favourite nail polish lately has been Revlon. 

Left to Right: 905 Sophisticated, 705 Gray Suede, 471 Fashionista, 495 Sultry, 211 Charming, 161 Teak Rose, 580 Eclectic, 571 Post, 912 Pink Posh, 715 Privileged, 902 Craving Coral, 950 Top Coat.

The colour pay off of this brand is absolutely stunning- two coats and you're done! The wear power could use some improvement as it chips usually by the third day but I find that's typical even for more expensive brands like Essie, OPI, and China Glaze. The top coat is really great from Revlon. I even find myself using this top coat when I'm using colours from other brands as it has really become my go to. 

I really love this colour for this time of the year. It's a good transition colour from autumn to winter without being a holiday/Christmas colour. 

I really love a good grey around this time of the year and these two have definitely been my go-tos. I love that Gray Suede is almost a nude. It's a really great combination of taupe, gray, brown, and mauve. Sophisticated is a really beautiful slate grey colour with a slight blue undertone that is really flattering on the nails.

For this nail look, I used Fashionista as a base with Penny Talk by Essie overtop. I wanted to test the layer-ability of the Revlon polish with another brand and also how well it would stay on when I removed my guide line tape. As you can se it turned out great! The polish didn't peel off with the tape and the Essie colour layered on smoothly and beautifully.

The only downside I have found with the Revlon nail enamels is that they don't come in the wide variety of shades that you are able to find from other brands. That aside, it's an absolutely amazing budget nail brand and has definitely become my go-to nail polish line!

What is your favourite brand for nail enamel? Have you tried Revlon nail enamel? If so, what'd you think? Please do let me know!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Make Me Up Monday | July 20, 2015

My Summer Nail Colours + Mani/Pedi Routine!

I've been using a lot of nail colours this summer- I'm one of those people who repaints their nails a different colour once I see just one chip on one nail. This can be overkill to some but for me it allows me to experience so many different nail polishes!

All of these nail polishes dry very quickly and require 2 coats max. In the summer I can't be bothered to wait for my nails to dry or to apply many coats whereas I'm more patient with these things in the winter... I'm not sure why ha ha ha.

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in 115 Tickled Pink and 405 Coral Reef.

The Colour Workshop in Neya, Nexa, and Nbra.

Essie has become my favourite nail polish brand!! The top row is Ignite the Night, Lollipop, and Marshmallow. The bottom row has Absolutely Shore, Find me an Oasis, and Naughty Nautical.

I've also been loving the new summer line from Essie but forgot to take photos (whoops). My favourite has definitely been Peach Side Babe.

From Revlon I have 571 Posh, and 912 Posh Pink.

My only polish from OPI is this one- Love Song- from the Selena Gomez collection.

From Maybelline colour show I've liked using 021 Neutral Statement.

I've also been enjoying using fun nail stickers and fake nails! The L'Oreal nails are in the pattern 205 High Tea and the Sally Hansen Salon effects is 510 Get the Point.

My favourite base coat/treatment is Essie Millionails and my favourite top coat is the Revlon Extra Life.

As far as my mani/pedi routine goes I've noticed that I really do have a legitimate routine when doing my nails. The first thing I do is go to the washroom- it seems like I always need to pee as soon as my nails are wet.. TMI? Whoops ha ha. The next thing I do is set up a TV show to watch (usually Rookie Blue). Once these two things are complete I'm ready to start on my toe nails followed by my finger nails!

I begin by trimming and filing my nails. I like to keep my nails fairly round and pretty short. I then push my cuticles and remove any hangnails I have. After that I use my 4 sided nail buffer to exfoliate and smooth my nails. The last thing I do before starting the polish process is wash my hands to get rid of any filing residue so my nail polish doesn't look bumpy.

When I'm finally ready to start on the actual nail painting process I will use my Essie base coat/treatment to begin. After my base coat has dried I will apply 1-3 coats of colour, depending on how the colour comes out. I finish up with the Revlon extra life no chip top coat.

After the colour and top coat have dried I will do clean up around the edges of my nails as I'm almost always messy! I use Q-tips and nail polish remover- and cotton pads if it's a big mess haha.

I hope you enjoyed reading my mani/pedi routine + my favourite summer nail colours! Please let me know what your favourite colours have been for summer (and if you know where to get your hands on Blossom Dandy by Essie TELL ME!! ha ha ha).

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Make Me Up Monday | May 25, 2015

Favourite Nail Polish Colours (Spring)

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel

1. 240 B Girl

2. 480 Wine Stock

3. 410 Wet My Thistle

4. 180 Rosey Riviter

Revlon Nail Enamel

1. 580 Eclectic

2. 211 Charming

3. 715 Privileged

4. 902 Craving Coral

Essie

1. Ballet Slippers

2. Minimalistic

3. Turquoise & Caicos

4. Bahama Mama

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn