Look, let’s not beat around the bush, I love doing my nails. But man, I am totally enjoying the Mani Monday with Essence series! I now have a legit reason to paint my nails regularly! Heehee!

If you’re not in on the news, Essence is giving away fabulous nail polish and nail art goodies to one beautiful MSB reader, to celebrate Women’s Month. To enter, check out all the Mani Monday posts (just click on “Nail Art” on the top tool bar) and follow the rafflecopter below.

Right, now that all the formalities are out of the way, let me begin to profess my undying love for this weeks color. Aaack! I’m a fan! This pretty pink Essence “I love trends” #07 called ‘Hope for love‘, has totally stolen my heart! The shade is a light berry, pink paint and can be found in The Nudes range.

Armed with a bunch of stickers, my nail art stamps and striping tape, I could not figure out how to dolly this mani up. And then I remembered last week’s star: The Pastels #13 ‘Ice to meet you‘. The 2 totally compliment each other!

It just made sense to revert back to my favorite nail art: polka dots! I think that the result is pretty sweet and so fitting for Women’s Month.
You probably get various high profesh nail art tools that you could use for dotting, but I prefer using a hair grip to make my dots. You simply dip the end of the grip into your paint, and lightly apply to your nail, to create perfect polka dots. Easy peasy!

I tried to take another pic to once again show how amazingly shimmery the ‘Ice to meet you’ color is. It’s a beaut!
Would you try this at home? You could… and you should! Pick up a couple of Essence polishes from your nearest Dischem or Clicks stores and give it a go!

Oh and while you’re at it, enter our shweet giveaway below. Don’t forget that you get extra points by commenting on each Mani Monday post, this month. Once you’ve commented, simply hit the “Leave a blog post comment” prompt, on the rafflecopter, and Bob’s your uncle. Well, not really. But you know what I mean.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you’re a big Essence fan (and I’m sure you are… I mean, who isn’t?!) you’ve probably eyed their totally swell ‘I love trends‘ color trend nail polishes. Every time I pass an Essence stand, I swear it’s like I can hear the bottles calling my name! Yes, I agree, I need to get my head checked. But hey, from pretty pastels to sophisticated nudes to alluring darks, the color trend palettes are enough to make any nail polish lover swoon!

This week, I want to show you guys one of my favorite polishes from the color trend ‘The Pastels’ range. It’s the #13 called ‘Ice to meet you‘ – a fitting title indeed! This striking ice white paint is really eye catching and not something I would expect in a pastels range. It goes on easily and has a dope opaque consistency. I likey!

When I did a bit of a smudge on the pinky there I considered covering it up with a glossy top coat but then nahhhhh. Look at how pretty this paint is without any top coat… smudge or no smudge! The finish is rather matte-y with a soft glitter hue. I can’t describe any other way than “It looks icey, yo”.

I felt like pairing it up with last weeks review, a fave from the The Darks collection called ‘Happy New Green‘. Using a nail art sponge (but you could use literally any sponge) I sponged the dark color on top of the pretty white, to give it a grundgey effect. The result:

You could finish it off with free hand nail art, stamping or even some stickers.
I liiiiked it juuuust the wayyyy iiit arrrre. *cough*

What do you think? Would you try something like this at home?

Essence will be giving away a fabulous gift at the end of the month, so you need to keep your eyes peeled every Mani Monday for chances to enter!

Gain more entries on every Mani Monday post this month! Simply comment on each post sharing what your favorite thing about that specific mani is.  Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled to my Facebook page on Monday, 5th September to see if you’re the lucky winner!
a Rafflecopter giveaway