Julep Comparisons

Hey everyone

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!

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Beach Balls

Hey everyone

Today I have another YTT design inspired by CutePolish. Below is her video.

Super cute right? Well I tried something a little different. I used my whole nail and used matte vs shiny dots as the rest of my nail design.

The final product turned out great. Polish used: 

1. OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls
2. Zoya's Sookie
3. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Lightning
4. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Blue Me Away

They do totally remind me of Legos though. May have to try those in the very near future. Hope you guys like these!

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Floral Doodle

Hey everyone

Today I have another design from CutePolish. This design was perfect for 3 different reasons. 

1. I love CutePolish
2. I needed flowers for my Instagram challenge
3. I needed a Youtube video

Perfect right? This was a super cute design that I'm very excited to show you guys. Here's the video:

My colors are a little darker than what CutePolish picked, but I think it's cute nonetheless. My flowers are totally crazy looking too. 

I probably should have used a toothpick or a dotting tool, I think they would have looked better than. But they are still cute. 

Polish Used:

1. OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls
2. NYC's Midtown Mimosa
3. Orly's Snowcone (which seriously smells bad)
4. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Mango Motion
5. Salon Perfect (Long Brush)'s Black

I made sure to have the color picking out past the flower. I gives it a little something extra I think. What do you guys think? I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Stitch & Hibiscus

Hey everyone

This week's YTT is special. I'm actually going to be showing you 2 different videos that I followed for my most recent mani. Both videos are from TotallyCoolNails. On Instagam I'm doing a challenge where certain days through the month we have a specific design. This one was for flowers. I actually found this Stitch video first.

But I wasn't a fan of the flowers, I think they are actually leaves. But I wanted to do these nails so I had to find a different flower video. So I found this one.

I thought it was perfect because it matches the color scheme that was I was using. Here is the final product!

They turned out so great! I love them. And they were super popular on Instagram which completely made my day. I was so happy with how they turned out. 

Colors Used:

1. Zoya's Sooki
2. OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls
3. Kiss Long Brush's Soft Blue
4. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Blue Away
5. Pure Ice's Celestial
6. Art Deco Long Brush's White
7. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Black Out

I hope you guys enjoyed my nails and YTT this week!

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Snow White

Hey everyone

It's Tuesday! That means it's time for a Youtube Tutorial. This time I searched Youtube for nail art tutorials instead of looking for nail artists. It was this way that I found RosLion90. She did a tutorial for Snow White nails. 

So cute. I loved it. I've looked through her videos and there's a few more I'd like to try as well. 

My Snow White totally looks like a Lego character. These turned out so much better than I was expecting. Drawing people in general is not my strong suit. Looks like I need to draw them all like Lego Characters. 

1. Skin: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Petal Pusher
2. Hair and Eyes :Art Deco long brush in Black (and white for the shine)
3. Yellow Base: Essence in Wanna Be Your Sunshine 
4. Dots and Tips: Orly in Snowcone. 

MSMD Monday: Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hey everyone

Today I bring to you a design done by Jacki at Adventures in Acetone. She did these Hungry Hungry Hippos nails that I just adore. I loved playing that game as a kid, but I didn't get to play it very often. I was always a little over eager and so I slammed on the little lever causing a lot of noise. I had to recreate these nails for the little girl that never got to play for very long. 

I did do something a little different. To represent the little marbles that they were after I had to attach some pearls for that 3D look. I love how they turned out. The little blue guy is my favorite just because his smile is so cute. 

Polish:

1. Blue Hippo Skin: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away
2. Blue Hippo Details: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away
3. Yellow Hippo Skin: Essence in Be My Sunshine
4. Yellow Hippo Detail: Zoya in Pippa
5. Green Hippo Skin: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet
6. Green Hippo Detail: Zoya in Veruschka
7. Coral Hippo Skin: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Carribean Coral
8. Coral Hippo Detail: FingerPaints in MichelTangelo
9. Base and Eyes: OPI in My Boyfriend Scales Walls
10. Details: Art Deco Long Brush in Black
11. Red: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen

Yeah that's a lot of polish, but the end result is totally worth it. Here's the link to Jacki's design: LINKAGE I hope you guys like this weeks edition of MSMD Mondays. 

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Little Green Men

Hey everyone

I wanted to start a new thing for Tuesday. I know one of my favorite things to do when I have down time is to surf Youtube for tutorials. One of my favorite people on Youtube is CutePolish. She posts the cutest designs (obviously) and she shows the easiest way to do it. I recommend any and all beginners to check out her page. 

CutePolish also does desgins for the DisneyStyle Youtube page. A few months ago she did a tutorial on the Little Green Men that I just couldn't miss. 

She did a french tip on her video, for mine I wanted to do a half moon manicure.

Aren't they just the cutest?! I loved these nails so much. I hope you guys like them too. For the Little Green Man I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lickety Split Lime. The purple for the half moons is Zoya's Mira and the blue is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away. The glitter is an Art Deco striper brush. 

What do you think of YouTube Tutorial Tuesday? Let me know in the comments!

SWAK: Sealed With A Kiss

Hey everyone

I'm trying to catch up on all of my February posts. I didn't do a lot of nail art and even less posting. But I'm working on playing catch up. And I'm even doing a Stamped Sunday! Progress!

This was for a February Nail Art Challenge on Instagram and it was kisses. I knew I was going to do a SWAK design. I started off with 2 coats of my favorite white, OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Then I grabbed Wet N Wild's Ebony Hates Chris and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Wined Up. I grabbed Bundle Monster plates BM-201 for the chevron print & BM-02 for the lips. 

I loved these nails so much. They were so cute. I love combining stamps and colors together. The 2nd edition of the Bundle Monster plates still didn't agree with my thumb size so I had to turn it sideways. But it still works. :)

February Haul

Hey everyone

I've never done a haul post before! I collected a lot of polish this month so I thought it would be quite appropriate. Plus my quasi-resolution was to be a better blogger. This is my attempt. :)

So that's the entire haul. 21 bottles of polish, 1 mini-bottle of cuticle oil, 2 sets of nail art designs, and 5 nail art pens. I also received my February Nail Art Society box too which is why I have an odd number of polishes, I included the polished I received in this haul. I will be doing an actual review on the box soon. Before I get my March box, I promise!!!

So you saw that I bought white flocking powder. I saw this set at Rite-Aid and bought it too. Now I have black and white. I'm so tempted to attempt a zebra design, just not sure how I'd go about that. 

I got this set at Rite-Aid as well. It looks to just transfer with water. There are 30 sheets with 4 different designs. I'm quite excited to try this out!

I'm thinking my local Sally's received their Cirque du Soleil set late, because they have been trying to get rid of it. They've had it marked down buy one get one free for a while now. So I bought Creative Fantasy and Get Carried Away by China Glaze.

A few days later I went back to Sally's and saw they had new Orly bottles. The old bottles made Orly unique, now they kind of look like everyone else. At the same time, I like the new black lids. So if you bought any of the new bottles you go one of the old bottles for free. They literally had 2 boxes full of these polishes. Plus they received a ton of the cuticle oil by accident. So they were giving that away too. I got Snowcone & Des Fleures in the new bottle and Plum in the old bottle.

Did I mention I have 2 Sally's in my town? Yeah, I'm lucky. Expressionist Red came in my Nail Art Society bag. But I went to the other Sally's and they had a promo where you bought a bottle of Fingerpaints and got a cute little black purse free. I bought Micheltangelo & 15 Minutes of Frame And if you renewed your Sally's card you received any of their Ion Hair Products $8 and under for free, so I got a can of hairpsray too. I almost always walk out of Sally's with free stuff, :)

I cannot stress enough how important it is to check the end caps when you go to a store. The best deals are always at the end caps. And Target and Walgreens always have beauty stuff in their end caps. Target had the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Co-Balt Blue marked down to $1.78! Walgreens had Loreal in Tweet Me and Revlon in Jaded Night.

Walmart still had their new Pure Ice display up so I picked through it and found more polish that I wanted, of course. We have Over You, Never Satisfied, It's Complicated, and Sheer Luck. I've bought 9 or 10 of the new collection, I need to swatch them soon and post them.

I was at Walmart the other day and happened to look through this pile of mixed up polish that doesn't have a place in the racks. Tucked in the very back was this package. Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens are about $8 a piece and this pack came with 5 for only $10. I could not pass it up. It was the only one of it's kind and I had to have it. It did come with a Red that I already have and 2 Chartreuses, but I think for $10 I can make do. :)

I fell in love with Jindie Nails over Instagram. The polishes are so pretty. Then I saw Candyland with it's neon glitter, I knew I had to have it. So I start looking all over and see it at Llarow, but they are doing a restock soon so I go to Jen's actual Instagram to see what to expect, turns out she made a Remix to Candyland named Candyland Remix. So I not so patiently waited and as soon as I got my email saying it was in stock I bought it! I love this polish so much. The picture doesn't do it justice and that's kind of on purpose because I want to have it's own special post. 

Lastly I got these little beauties. I blame Let Them Have Polish for this purchase. She posted swatches on her Instagram and I ran right to Milani's website and bought 5 out of 6. The only one I didn't buy was the dark purple because the "fuchsia" looked pretty purple to me. You guys are going to love these, I can't wait to show you the swatches. They come in Tainted in Red, Yellow Mark, Aqua Splash, Spoiled in Fuchsia, and Shady Gray. 

So there it is! My entire February Haul. I hope you enjoyed it and I cannot wait to show off all of these polishes to you!

Don't You Leave Me Broken Hearted Tonight

Hey everyone

Today's design is in preparation for Valentine's Day. I'm actually going through a divorce and will be alone on Valentine's Day for the first time in 7 years. So I had to do a "sad" design for all those singles or V-Day haters out there. This was also day 1 for the Nail Art February Challenge on Instagram.

I started out this design with Zoya's Dove. Then I used Red Angel Plate RA-114 and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear for the gray hearts. Lastly I used Salon Express Plate SE-21 with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Wined up for the big hearts. I love them. I later put a matte top coat on and loved them more. Wish I would have done that from the start. But these are still cute. 

Green With Envy

Hey everyone

I have a stamped design for you today. This one was a lot cuter than I expected. I really like this heart stamp from Red Angel.

On my thumb, index, and pinky I have OPI's Gargantuan Grape. It's a soft green that I just adore. It can be a bit streaky and takes some build, but it's a very pretty grape. On my middle and ring finger I have OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls. And then using Red Angel Plate RA-114 and Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Jumpin Jade I made the hearts. Super cute and simple mani. Love it!

ACNC Day 24: Recreate A Holiday Mani

Hey everyone

We've reached the end of the challenge. I'm so happy that I actually started and finished a challenge. It was super hard to do at times with my little one and having to paint every day. Especially while I work full time and had Christmas crap to do. I'm super proud of myself!

Day 24 was to recreate a Holiday Mani. My first and only choice for this one was IHaveACupcake's Christmas Nail Art on Youtube. You can view the tutorial here.

Polished Used: 

1. Zoya's America
2. Wet N Wild's Ebony Hates Chris
3. Essence's Wanna Be My Sunshine
4. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Jumpin' Jade
5. Orly's Prince Charming

ACNC Day 12: Family

Hey everyone

I'm actually posting on the correct day! I told you I'd get caught up eventually. I felt a little better so I decided to try drawing my day 12 challenge. I was originally going to do rings because it's my Dad and Step Mom's anniversary. But it's not the 5th day of Christmas so I decided not to. I decided to do nails supporting one of my favorite TV families. THE FLINTSTONES! I love the Flintstones, I used to watch them all the time when I was a kid. And I even liked the movies, strange I know. I wasn't sure what to do for the nails so I surfed the web and came across someone who did Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, and Dino. I knew that's exactly what I wanted to do. Most Flintstone nails are only of Fred and his shirt. I knew I  had to try to do everyone for it to be "Family Nails". So I recreated Lisa-Nails' design which is featured here.

I knew I was going to have a hard time lining the design so I took a page from Lisa's book and used a marker. She mentioned her smeared so I waited a while before lining mine. It sadly still smeared once I put a top coat on. So I only ended up putting it on Fred and Betty. So I probably should cut down a brush so I can use it as a liner for my cartoon designs. I didn't use a whole lot of polish for these. But I did use some.

Dino: Zoya in Charisma, Milani One Coat Glitter in Gold Glitz, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away

Fred: Zoya in Paz, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away

Wilma: OPI in My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Betty: OPI in My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away

Barney: Orly in Buried Alive

They all have a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Beige Blast and either a marker as the outline or an Art Deco Long Brush in black.

I hope you guys enjoyed them and I hope I did Lisa-Nails justice!

ACNC Day 8: Starry Night

Hey everyone

Day 8 was Starry Night and it was easily the one I was most excited about doing. Way back when I attempted a Starry Night mani and once I realized how tough it was I only did it on my thumb and then quickly removed them because I didn't like it. Fast forward 2 years and I'd never attempted it again. I love the painting and new this would be the time to retry and earn my title back as a nail artist. Freelance of course but who's getting technical? 

I started off with a base of Orly's Sweet Peacock. Then used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for the swirl. I accented the swirl using OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Orly's Mysterious Curse. I used Essence Be Your Sunshine for the stars. I did a tip with my Art Deco Brush and added a top coat. The other nails I used Blue Away and Milani's 3D Holographic in Cyberspace for give it that extra shine. I was so pleased with this manicure. Sadly it was my day off so I didn't get to show it off like I wanted. I do have plans to redo the design on nails for sale in my Etsy shop, so be on the look for those soon!

And just for fun here's 2 years ago's design. Hope you're as pleased with my progress as I am. 

ACNC Day 7: Ornaments

Hey everyone

I've gotta say I miss color coding all of the days. Now we get to the fun parts, actual nail art! Day 7 was Ornaments. I was inspired by a design I saw on Tumblr. I can't remember the exact design now, I should have bookmarked it so I could credit them. It was ornament balls but the balls were at the tips. I have little nubbins right now so I decided to turn them into half moon manis!

I started off with taping my nails with hole reenforcers. Then I did 2 coats of Julie G's Chic Cipro which I have featured here.Then I went back in and carefully filled in the nude area with different colors. The above picture shows Zoya's Trixie, I will be going back and doing a complete mani of this design, I adore it so much! 

On my thumb I used Zoya's America. On my index I used Zoya's Ibiza. On my middle I used China Glaze's Lemon Fizz. On my ring I used Zoya's Trixie, and on my pinky I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Jumpin Jade. I love how half moon and french manicures always make my little nubbins look longer. 

I then used a long brush from my Bundle Monster nail brush set (that you can purchase here. It comes in a fantastic carrying case and has dotters!) with OPI's MBSW and made the top of the ornament. Lastly using a black striper I made the tread. Slap on a top coat and you are done! I loved how these turned out and I got quite a few complements as well.

ACNC Day 4: SILVER

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Day 4 for the Advent Calendar Nail Challenge was SILVER. I painted my nails with a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Wined Up. Then using Sinful Colors Silver Mercedes. I did a stamp design. Seriously Silver Mercedes is probably the best stamp polish I've used. I don't actually own polish made specifically for stamping.

This is probably one of my favorite stamps. I use it often with lighter colors for a subtle stamp. This is Bundle Monster Plate BM19 from their 2010 line of stamping plates. As you can see the plate is a little small for my thumbs but worked on all the other nails. 

ACNC Day 1: RED

Hey everyone

It's December 1st so that means it's Day One of the Advent Calendar Nail Challenge. Today's challenge is RED. I've recently become obsessed with Chevron print so I couldn't resist.

On my thumb, index, and pinky finger we have Milani One Coat Glitter in Red Sparkle. On my middle and ring finger we have Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Petal Pusher. I drew the chevron print on with Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in red. Then I finished the look with Essie in Matte About You. 

I'm completely pleased with these. They are wonderfully sparkly and pretty. Reminds me of twinkles on a tree so it totally works with Christmas. I hope you all enjoyed them. And if you participated leave a comment and show me your work!

The Eyrie by NotTooPolished

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I reviewed NotTooPolished's Tangerine. Today I have another one! This one is called The Eyrie and is from Game of Thrones. I personally do not watch Game of Thrones (I don't have HBO, please don't attack!) so I had no idea. I just thought it was beautiful. Of course when I got it home I realized it was the blue version of Tangerine, but I am totally okay with that! 

I loved Tangerine and all, but seriously? The Eyrie is amazing. I love it so much. It has an ice blue base with small white matte glitter, holographic hex glitter, and large white matte glitter. Again not a fan of larger sized glitter but in The Eyrie it actually came out very easy with one nail so I made sure to fish it out for some others. It wasn't difficult at all. Just a simple shake and out they came. This bottle may just change my opinion of large hex glitter, but I didn't have an ounce of trouble. 

On my index and middle finger I put 3 coats over my bare nail. Then my pinkie, ring, and thumb were all 3 coats over Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Blew Away. With Tangerine I loved the polish even more after it was over a colored base. The Eyrie is the exact opposite. I love it so much more without the base color. It seems more cold and icy without the base. Not to mention Blew Away made all of the holographic glitter look purple. I completely recommend this polish without a base color, The Eyrie doesn't it!

NotTooPolished is available on Etsy. She sales full size bottles for $7.50 and minis for $3.75. She currently has a Limited Edition Hot 4 Teacher collection that is fantastic and completely on my wish list. Check out her Facebook as well for sneak peeks and other info!

Stamped Sunday!

Hey everyone!


Today I'm participating in Stamped Sunday! I'm featuring and oldie but a goodie. 

I love doing stamps with gradients underneath and that's how I achieved this look here. Read more to find out how I did this!