Simple Manicure

Orly Liquid Vinyl + 2 CND Effects polishes

So yesterday I tried out a pink cream polish with a CND Effects polish on top. That shimmer polish wasn’t the only CND polish I ordered from transdesign.com. I actually ordered quite a few. Definitely not all of them, but just ones I was interested in

You can see all of the polishes layered over different colors at nail blog The Edge of Insanity. I used her chart to help me make my decision on which ones to buy. :)

Today I’m wearing a black cream polish (Orly Liquid Vinyl) with two different Effects polishes on top. First I layered Sapphire Sparkle, which gave it a blue shimmer. Then I layered Amethyst Sparkle on top. It created the most interesting purple-ish blue shimmer. I wish you guys could see it in person! It’s such a unique combination!

Base Color: Orly Liquid Vinyl
Shimmer Polish 1: CND Effects Sapphire Sparkle
Shimmer Polish 2: CND Effects Amethyst Sparkle
Top Coat: Butter London Hardwear PD Quick Top Coat

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Pretty Princess Pink Nails

The pink shimmer of this manicure makes me smile. :) I’m usually not one for super girly pink, but I loved what the CND Raspberry Sparkle did to the plain pink cream Zoya Lara. It makes me think it would be perfect for a princess–I think of Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora in this case. :)

Base Color: Zoya Lara (2 coats)
Shimmer Layer: CND Raspberry Sparkle (1 coat)
Top Coat: Butter London Hardwear PD Quick Top Coat

In other news, I had no shrinkage or bubbles when using the Butter London base and top coats with this Zoya color. I’m not sure if it was because I added the CND polish into the mix, or if I really have found my holy grail base and top coats for use with Zoya polishes. Further research is needed. :)

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Deborah Lippman Happy Birthday

Speaking of very popular nail polishes, Deborah Lippman’s Happy Birthday is one of the most popular glitter polishes. I bought it a few months back and just now am trying it out. There’s a part of me that’s wondering why I ever bought it because I’m usually not one for multicolor glitter. In fact, as I look down at my nails right now I don’t particularly like it.

However, in pictures I love it. Weird. :)

Base Color: A-England Camelot (black cream)
Glitter Polish: Deborah Lippman Happy Birthday
Top Coat: Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Topcoat

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Navy Sparkles!

Like most nail fanatics who were too late on the scene to grab the elusive Essie Starry Starry Night, I’m always on the lookout for similar looks. There’s just something about dark blue with sparkles. Mine doesn’t look like Starry Starry Night, but it gets the job done and steers me away from Evil-bay where SSN goes for upward of $300. Ouch. :)

Base Color: Zoya Ibiza (see it on it’s own HERE)
Glitter: Northern Lights (silver)

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Oldie but goodie – Essie Wicked

Years and years ago when my nail polish obsession was just in its infancy, I bought Essie Wicked. I adored Essie Wicked. I think it was my exclusive polish for two or three months. Just couldn’t get enough of it. It wears well and seems to match everything.

It’s a dark vampy burgundy, slightly gel-ish, black indoors and rich red out in the sun. It’s just an awesome color.

So when I go through a nail polish funk (i.e. when I don’t feel like doing super fun nail art or stamping), sometimes I go back to Wicked. It just makes me happy. :)

P.S. This photo below makes it look really purple, but it’s really a color shifter! Depending on the lighting, Wicked can go more red, more brown, more black. It’s an awesome color.

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Nail Fraud Nail Decals

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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My First Julep Maven box & Julep Renee

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…

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Nicole Up & Kim-ing Pink + Kim-pletely in Love

Today I’m wearing three coats of Up & Kim-ing Pink, and one thin coat of Kim-pletely in Love (very sheer pale pink with iridescent shimmer). It’s hard to see Kim-pletely in Love on top since the bottom color is SO pink, but you can see it slightly in the first shot.

I liked this combination. Not love, but just liked. I’ve had it one for a day and it’s a bit too… girly? I guess that’s the best way to describe it. I’m very girly (hello nail blog?), but sometimes bright bubble gum pink is a bit much for even me. :)

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