Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Aztec Owl

Hey everyone

Today I have a completely adorable manicure to show you for YTT. This video is brought to you by Professional DQ. Hope you guys like it.

How cute was that video? I love the fresh  take on owl nails. I've never seen anything like it and I knew I had to do it. This was based on Sunday being the first day of my Alphabet Challenge on Instagram (@Tara825c look me up!). A stood for Aztec so here we are.

I had a little bit of a hard time because my pink striper was very gloopy and I didn't have any thinner. Other than that I think these are wonderful.And I hope you like them too.

MSMD Monday: Kite Tails

Hey everyone

Today I have a design from Paulina's Passion. She did these amazing kite tail nails that I knew would be perfect for Bow Day. What is Bow Day you ask? I started a new challenge on Instagram. The Alphabet Challenge. Today is B for Bows. Yesterday was A for Aztec but it'll be featured tomorrow for YTT. You can view Paulina's design here! 

Polishes used:

1. Zoya's Kristen
2. Zoya's Wednesday
3. Zoya's Katy
4. Zoya's Mira
5. Zoya's Paz
6. Julep's Something Blue
7. China Glaze's Fairy Dust

So what do you think? I love them.They were easier than I was expecting which is certainly a plus after working on a Monday. :) Hope you guys enjoyed today's Monkey See Monkey Do Monday.

Fing'rs Heart 2 Nail Art: Get Spotted

Hey everyone

 

Today I have a review on 2 products I found in my local Walmart. I was walking around the store when I found a display with Fing’rs Heart 2 Art.

 

 There were nail polish bottles on top. Then nail art things like studs, striping tape, foil and other things. On the end of the row I noticed something that said Get Spotted. I picked up the package and it had 2 mini bottles of nail polish and then 1 full size bottle of black nail polish. Could it be true? Did someone bring over the spotted design from Europe? I spent the $6.48 and picked up the kit along with a stamping kit that I’ll feature at a later date.

 

The pictures on the side box had me completely excited. So I painted my nails and waited for them to dry. Then I got out the spotted bottle. I put a normal coat on my nail and watch. And then I watched and watched some more. 30 minutes later after painting 3 nails I noticed that nothing had happened. I’m going to go ahead and let you know that I didn’t take any pictures of this part because nothing happened. I literally looked like I had just painted my nails black. So I went back and tried to paint a thin coat. Same thing. I decided to then try a super thin coat. I wiped off almost all of the polish from the brush and then painted my last nail. Something finally happened. One little-bitty-no-bigger-than-a-pin-prick spot popped on my nail. It looked like I had an air bubble in my nail polish that popped on my nail. I was furious. A special edition of OPI can be anywhere from $8 to $12 as long as it’s not the golden flake polish, so to get this for $6.48 was a great deal. But I expected it to work. I wasn’t expecting miracles or anything like that, but the box showed how it was supposed to look, I was expecting something similar that.

 

This morning I went back to Walmart and returned the kit. I can only hope I got a bad box. Did anyone else run into this kit? Did yours work? Sound off in the comments!

Maybelline Color Show Polka Dot Collection

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Today I have an entire collection to review for you. It's really bad when I find an entire collection for a nice price, because then instead of getting 1-2 new polishes I get 5-8 in one sitting. I'm running out of room! I found these at my local Walmart. Funny enough they had the promotional display for this collection up before they actually had the product. Talk about a tease!

First off I have my least favorite.

This is Blue Marks The Spot. This is 2 swatches and you can see how thin it is. The first swatch is basically blue tinted water. The thing is this polish is really nice, but I don't want all of those coats just to make it look like the bottle. 

It wouldn't even be that big of a deal but the rest of the collection is wonderful and very opaque which is why I don't understand this one. 

Next we have Dotty. This is the orange based polish.

I'm not even a fan of orange polish and I really like this one. It's a perfect pumpkin shade of orange.

I'm definetly using this as the glitter accent for a Halloween mani. This is also 2 coats. There's isn't really a lot of building needed either. If you do it thick enough you could get away with 1 coat. I just wanted more glitter. 

Next we have the clear based polish, Clearly Dotted.

This is 1 coat. Look at all that glittery goodness. I wish all of the polish had this much glitter in it. I also love that it doesn't have bar glitter. Long bar glitter drives me crazy because it seems like you can never get it to all lay down. 

I cannot get over how great this polish is. It completely reminds me of Oreo ice cream. If you aren't going to get the others of the collection I recommend this one for certain.

Next we have Drops of Jade, the green based polish.

This is my second favorite of the collection. It only needed 2 coats to cover up patches and add more glitter. What an amazing green. I love the shade so much.

There's a little bit of VNL (visable nail line) but it's not in person. I wasn't origianlly going to pick this one up just because it wasn't a lighter green (I was hoping for more of a mint chocolate chip kind of thing), but I would have completely regretted if it I hadn't.

Lastly we have Pretty in Polka. The pink based polish.

This is my absolute favorite polish. I could not get over how pretty this is. It looks so dark in the bottle like a purple almost, but it's so pink and girly. 

It's also so bright, I wasn't expecting it to be this bright. The entire collection is kind of an the darker less bright side, so I was expecting the same here. 

Overall this collection is great. Everyone polish with a color base is like a jelly sandwich in the bottle. And with the clear base you can make your own out of the colors they skipped. If you're into black and white glitter this is the collection for you. 

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Distressed American Flag Nail Art Tutorial

Hey everyone

Today I have a YTT from PackAPunchPolish. Her video takes Saran Wrap Manis to a whole new level. Check our her video below.

How awesome are these? Here is my attempt.

As you can see I did not add the stars in. I think it looks much better without the flags, and you can still see what it is. I used OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Pure Ice's Celestial, and Zoya's Quinn. I hope you guys like this edition of YTT!

Julep Comparisons

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Today I have the comparison shots from my Julep Secret Store purchases. First up we have Sally.

We have Julep's Sally, OPI's My Vampire Is Buff, and Julep's Kennedy. I honestly grabbed Kennedy by mistake thinking it was Sally. As you can see via the bottle these all look quite different.

The swatches aren't similar at all either. Thumb, index, and pinky are all Sally. Ring is MVIB, and the middle is Kennedy. Sally  has a more peach tone to it where as MVIB has a very white base to it. Kennedy is also khaki as described compared to Sally. Now if I was going to pick a favorite out of all of these, it would certainly be Sally. MVIB is so streaky and thin. It took 3 coats to get it smooth. Kennedy and Sally are both 2 coats. Kennedy is just a strange yellow khaki that I wouldn't use for a flesh tone at all. While Sally doesn't match my skin tone at all, I still think it's the best option for a flesh color if you're doing nail art. 

Next we have Korin's comparisons. 

They all look fairly similar. We have Zoya's Mitzi, Julep's Korin, Sinful Colors' Innocent, Wet N Wild's Toss Me A Lifesavers, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Lickety-Split Lime. 

On the thumb we have Mitzi, index has Korin, middle has Innocent, ring has TMAL, and pinky has LSL. Mitzi and Innocent are completely dupes of each other. Mitzi just happens to have a matte finish. They are both very close to Korin, it's just a bit darker. A person who's not obsessed with nail polish would tell you they are the exact same polish. TMAL is a dark shimmery green and LSL is lighter than TMAL without the shimmer. Korin is $14.99, Mitzi is $8 and Innocent is $1.99. If you're looking to save money then Innocent is what you need to pick up. But formula wise you need Korin. Mitzi is very streaky and you can even see the bumps in this picture. Innocent isn't that bad with 2 coats, but Korin you can totally get away with one. It all depends on a personal preference. My pick is Korin hands down. 

Those were my comparisons. If you'd like to see more leave me a comment and I'll start working on more of these. I hope you enjoyed today's post!

MSMD Monday: Leopard Gradient

Hey everyone

Today I have a fantastic new spin on traditional animal prints. The design was originally done by Very Emily. She was nice enough to also include a tutorial as well. 

The polishes I used today were Zoya's Sookie, Zoya's Paz, Zoya's Katy, and Julep's Alaina. I just adore how this turned out. You can read Emily's post here. I hope you enjoyed today's MSMD Monday. 

July's Add Ons and the Secret Store

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As promised I have the Add Ons and my purchases from the Secret Store. Julep allows you 3 add ons every month when you purchase a box. The best part about the add ons is that you get them for a lower price then what they are listed normally. Add on polishes are only $4.99 and they usually have specials that aren't included in the boxes. My add ons were all specials not included in the boxes.

First we have Adele over Cassie.

Adele is a shimmer/flakey top coat. It's primarily a copper color, but it does flash blue and gold every once in a while. It's completely unique and I love it. The formula is great and the above photo is only 1 coat. This polish is perfect for taking your day polish to glitzy night polish. 

Next we have a 4th of July themed polish called Fireworks. If you remember last year they had America the Beautiful and mine was a super clumpy thick polish. Firework is nothing like it

This polish needs some undies but I wanted to see if it could build up like America the Beautiful. This is 2 coats. The formula is great. There's a perfect amount of glitter in each swatch. It mainly has red and blue glitter with a little bit of silver glitter in a large and small size. 

Lastly I have Something Blue to show you. This is part of their wedding themed polishes. 

Look how beautiful and bright it is! It's such a lovely blue. I can see myself using it for any mani that needs a baby blue. 

The formula is also fantastic as well. So smooth and shiny. I recommend this polish over all of the other polishes in the box. It's just wonderful. 

At the beginning of every month after the boxes have been selected the Secret Store opens for a few days with excellent discounts. These are the polishes I picked up. First we have Wendy from the Rock Candy Nail Glaze.

What a fantastic jelly. This is 3 coats. I love how bright a juicy it is. There is a little VNL (visable nail line) but  it's not as noticeable in person. 

It's interesting the swatches I've seen online make it look like colored water, but that not the case at all here. I seriously recommend checking out these polishes. I know I am not going to purchase the rest of the collection the second I can. 

Next up we have Sally which came in a Brights set. Sally is a nude polish with a hint of white peach base. 

The polish photographs really strange. It looks a lot like make up, but it's not that yellow in person. I did feel like I had something similar to this polish already, so you are going to see a comparison post in the next few days. 

You can certainly see the peachy base to the polish when it photographs though. 

Next we have Korin. A beautiful bright lime green. 

Korin is the reason I bought this kit and not a different one. I loved this green. Sadly I have a few like it in my collection, but of those, I like this one this best. So when I do comparisons of Sally I'll be sure to thrown in Korin as well. 

I love how bright it is. But it does have the ability to stain, but it's light. So I would double up on the base coat just to be safe. I really want to put a matte top coat on this.

Lastly we have Eden. This polish is a very rich purple, perfect for Fall. However, when photographed...

It looks blue. Strange I know. It's also not as streaky as it appears. 

All in all I'm extremely happy with all of my purchase. My Julep collection is expanding quickly. I'm going to need more space soon. Hope you guys have enjoyed all of my Juleps today. And in case you want to join in on the fun, here my referral link!

July Maven Box

Hey everyone

Today I have the July Maven Box! This time last year I received my first actual Julep Maven box. I'm so excited. I've been a year! This month was a very hard decision. Based on the swatches I pretty much wanted one polish from every box, but not really both. I ended up picking Classic With A Twist, my default box. There were also a ton of add ons as well which I bought 3 of. I'll be featuring it in a second post later today. 

So this is what it looks like. Love the tissue paper. I opened it up and right on top were these:

Green Tea Blotting Papers. Too bad I don't have oily skin. Scratch that, I'm glad I don't have oily skin. I'll just have to gift that to one of my friends. Then I got my polishes. Cassie and Alaina.

Also tucked in the box was my Beach Tonic. It smells so good, but I have yet to actually try it. I'm a little worried that it'll be greasy, but as soon as I try it I'll let you know. 

Lastly we have the add ons. Adele, Fireworks, and Something Blue.

The best part about this month's box was that I used my Jules that I got from last month's makeup fiasco. I ended up getting all of these stuff for only $10. Now I just need to start referring people so I can get free boxes too. Now on to the swatches!

This is Cassie. A lovely jelly coral. This is 3 coats and it is just lovely. 

There's no top coat on by the way. It's also fairly bright too which makes it perfect for Summer. This polish was the whole reason why I picked this box over all of the others. I had to have it. Next we have Alaina.

A very beautiful gray/taupe color. It even has a slight purple tint to it as well. 

I ended up liking this polish a lot more than I thought I would. I also have nothing like it in my polish collection. The formula on both of these polishes were amazing. 3 coats for the Cassie and 2 coats for Alaina. Definitely win win for me. 

The add ons that I bought and the items that I purchased from the Secret Store will be posted later on today so keep an eye out! And if you are interested in purchasing a Julep box please use my referral link. Also use FREEBOX to get your intro box for free!

4th of July 2013

Hey everyone

I have some nail art for you today! This is one of two designs that I did for 4th of July. The 2nd design I'm going to feature on Tuesday for YTT. This design is a drip mani. 

I started off with a base coat and 2 thin coats of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I then tapped off my nails using striping tape. I added 1 coat of Zoya's Sooki and added a coat of Seche Vite. Once it was dry I then used Pure Ice's Celestial to make the drips. Using a toothpick I finally added the smaller dots and added a final top coat of Seche Vite. 

What do you guys think of my first 4th of July mani of 2013? Stay tuned for more manis!

Jindie Nails: Jindie-Pendence

Hey everyone

Happy 4th of July! Today I have a special polish for you! Jen at Jindie Nails made a special edition 4th of July polish. I was lucky enough to pick it up along with PCBH which you saw yesterday. I received bottle number 149, I don't even remember how many bottles there were, but I still feel awesome to have a SE Jindie Nails.

Jindie-Pendence is a milky white jelly polish with red, white and blue glitters. There are squares, dots, diamonds, hex, bar glitter, a little bit of everything. It's so pretty. The formula is fantastic. I did 1 coat on my pinky to show it's true nature along with lots of glitter. The rest of the nails I did 2 swatches with a little bit of dabble to get enough of the different styles of glitter.

It is so nice and perfect for summer. The white is so bright and jelly. I absolutely recommend trying to see if you can find it. I'm so glad that I didn't miss out on this fantastic polish.

There's also a Jindie-Pendence Topper that I didn't pick up. This is similar glitter without the milky base. I'm a huge fan of milky bases so I had to have the original instead of the topper. But seriously, go pick up either. The glitter is fantastic either way!

Happy Independence Day!

Jindie Nails: Princess Consuela Banana Hammock

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I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but I am a huge FRIENDS fan. (If you follow Sweet T Lacquer you'll notice I do have a FRIENDS collection up!) Jindie Nails recently created a polish called Princess Consuela Banana Hammock and I knew I had to have it. I missed out on the full sized polish, but I was able to pick up a sweet little mini. 

Here she is with 3 coats. It was a little thinner than I expected, but it builds nicely. The bigger glitter was also a little hard to get out so you have to do a little fishing and dabbing. But the final product is totally worth it.

It's so pretty. I'm going to need a full size bottle of this polish very soon. I don't think  my mini is going to cut it. 

Now for me the worst thing is to see a blogger swatch a polish and not tell you there's an undie on. And undie is where there's a base polish decided to match the polish and bring out the glitter more. It also helps you avoid needing multiple coats for the thinner polishes. I don't know how many times I have bought a polish only to discover that it's super thin and I don't have a matching undie. Today I'm going to show you the perfect undie to go with PCBH.

This is PCBH over Julep's Abbie. I put a dabble of PCBH over my 2.5 coats of Abbie and I was good to go. I know it looks really bright here, but it's not. It's a perfect base for PCBH.

The only thing I could say that it does to PCBH that you may not like is it takes away some of the milky base in the polish. But if you're looking to conserve polish (because you only grabbed a mini like me) then this undie is perfect and you'll love it. I honestly haven't been able to stop staring at my nails. It's also completely perfect for summer too!

Hope you guys enjoyed my Jindie Nails today. Stay tuned for Limited Edition Jindie-Pendence tomorrow!

Julep Warehouse Sale

Hey everyone

What's this? Two posts in one day? I know! I'm on the ball today. I recently received my order from the warehouse sale that Julep was putting on. I mentioned in my review of the June Maven box that I have trouble from time to time with Julep. When the sale was going on I almost missed it. I happened to get on Instagram and see the post and it was around 11:30pm. So I get on to see if there's anything left and I make my order. For some reason it would not process the order. I tried it at least 20 times. I ended up taking a screenshot and sending an email to Julep. They usually take about a day or two to answer their emails and I didn't want to miss out on the sale, so the next morning I call their customer service.  They were super nice to me and still processed my order with the discounts. I ended up getting $200+ worth of stuff for only $38.

I got 10 cabachon rings to make nail art with for my Etsy shop, a gray jeweled necklace, 4 lip glosses, and 3 tubes of nail polish. Today I'm going to show you the nail polish. First up we have Olivia.

Olivia is a warn chocolate brown. Lovely. This is 2 coats without a top coat. The formula on Olivia is fantastic. I seriously love this brown. 

In between pictures I must have dinged my nail on something. I don't have a lot of brown polishes, but this one is certainly my favorite.

Next up is Brant. 

This is a darker blue. I wouldn't call it Navy because it has more of a gray tone then a black tone to it. I feel that it's really unique because it's not like a lot of the darker blues out there. 

This is 2 coats without a topcoat as well. Great formula again. 

Enough of these dark colors. Last but not least I have a bright summer time color. Abbie!

This is 3 coats of Abbie, it actually is no where near as streaky as it looks in the picture. In person it's quite lovely. I've gotta say it's a lot better than most of the other yellows I have. Especially considering how bright it is. 

There is one drawback to using Abbie. You need to double up on base coat. This yellow leaves an awful stain. Other than that, the formula is great and it's such a pretty color. 

I am 100% happy with all of the polishes that I got in the warehouse sale. Even more so considering the most expensive was $5. What do you think? Are you a fan of Julep? If you want to check them out use my referral link here. Use can also use FREEBOX to receive your first box for FREE! Who can resist free polish?