June 2012

Nail Stamping

Teal Pattern Stamping Manicure

June 29, 2012

I’m still trying out the new 2012 Bundle Monster image plates. As I was looking through all the designs, the pattern on plate BM-315 stood out to me. I also wanted to use a new color from Rescue Beauty called Jack In the Pulpit (available in a few weeks, I think. I pre-ordered). It’s such a pretty dark green that leans toward teal. So pretty!

I’m still SO impressed with the Bundle Monster plates. Just as Sammy found, the detail on these plates is amazing. :)

Base Color: Rescue Beauty Lounge Jack In the Pulpit
Stamping Color: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mint Sprint
Stamping Plate: Bundle Monster BM-315

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Nail Stamping

Blue Rays Manicure (NEW 2012 Bundle Monster image plate & Rescue Beauty Faraway Nearby)

June 27, 2012

I had a happy mail day on Saturday. Not only did my pre-order of Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Georgia On My Mind collection arrive (as swatched by the ever famous Scrangie), but so did the new 2012 Bundle Monster image plates. Yay! So excited for both of these!

So I tried out one of the polishes and one of the plates for a stamped manicure. I chose Faraway Nearby as the base color and stamped with BM-301 (the very first plate I saw as I opened the package) using Konad Special Polish in Light Blue. Such a fun rays design! Sort of makes me want to paint some clouds on it. :)

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Nail Art, Simple Manicure

Nail Fraud Nail Decals

June 25, 2012

I tried out a different brand of nail art strips yesterday: Nail Fraud Nail Decals. I tried the Black and White Dots pattern…

Application was so-so. I still struggle with nail stickers like this. The perfectionist in me doesn’t like how the shape near my cuticle doesn’t match as perfectly as I would get it when using traditional polish.

I also don’t like that the “polish” doesn’t smoothy wrap around the edge of the nail. In the photos above you can see the very tip of my nails. My nails are generally really sharp so I like wearing polish on them to soften the edges. These nail decals don’t really do that since they don’t extend past the tip of your nail. :( And a day after I applied these, I can feel them lifting (and I even used a top coat over them). :(

Also, they’re not entirely smooth. As seen on my pointer finger in the pictures, they all have a weird “orange peel” texture. It’s strange.

So, all in all, they’re pretty cute, but I think I prefer regular polish and stamping. On the packaging it says they last up to a week, but I don’t think they’ll last that long. :)

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Simple Manicure

My First Julep Maven box & Julep Renee

June 24, 2012

Have you all heard of Julep? I had never heard of them until just a few months ago when I heard about their Julep Maven boxes. Basically, it’s a subscription service where you receive a box of nail polish (and sometimes other assorted manicure/pedicure items) for $20 per month. You take a style profile quiz to see what type of box you might like and then those are boxes you receive each month. But you can also swap for a different box if desired, or skip a month. It’s very flexible, which is what I like.

Anyhow, I got my very first box just over a week ago (btw, I received the American Beauty box). Inside were two colors, pedicure toe separators, and a pedicure lotion. I had heard that Julep polishes were thicker than other polishes (great for just one coat manicures), so I was curious about the formula.

Enter Julep Renee, a pale lavender polish. I received Rene and another polish, Eva (a bright berry red). I have a few polishes that look very similar to Eva, but none like Renee, so of course I decided to try out Renee first…

As reported by other bloggers, the Julep formula is thicker than I expected. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t overly hard to work with. I could have gotten away with one carefully applied coat of polish, however I did apply a second coat. And the beauty of it was that it self-leveled and evened out. Perfect! It also played with Seche Vite, my all time favorite top coat. Just passing the Seche Vite test gives any polish bonus points with me. :)

All in all, based on this one polish, I’m going to keep my Julep Maven subscription. Julep polishes are now being sold at Sephora for $14 each, so to receive at minimum two polishes + any extras they send for only $20 is a steal in my book. And a no-brainer for any nail polish junkie. :)

EDITED TO ADD: My only complaint about Julep polishes is that they are smaller than the average nail polish bottle. Most polishes are 0.4 oz – 0.5 oz. However, Julep polishes are only 0.27 oz. That’s nearly only half. Not sure what’s up with that. (Butter London is 0.4 oz. and also costs $14 at Sephora).

Here’s another look at Renee before I go…