Category: Nails
Beauty Box 5 – Summer Night Out
I might actually use every single thing in my Beauty Box 5 this month!
Inside this month’s “Summer Night Out” box: OFRA Lip Gloss in “Truffle”; OFRA Lip Liner in “Spicy”; Nanacoco Nail Polish in “Orange Wonderland” (it’s really more sparkly/rusty); Love Life Skin Restorative Night Cream and Intensive Recovery Serum (2 foil packets each); and Pur~lisse Flash tattoos (I’m about to get another REAL tattoo, so maybe I’ll use these on my wrists?). I also got codes for 20% at purlisse.com and 25% off at lovelifeskincare.com.
Now I just need to plan a Summer Night Out!
Matte Mia
You know what happens when you let your husband pick out your nail polish? Good things…good, good things. Technically, he didn’t pick it out – the only guidance he gave me was “dark red” and “matte”.
For “dark red”, I chose Urban Decay “Mrs. Mia Wallace”. I’ve had it not even a year and it’s already getting clumpy. I had to fight a few clumps, but I managed to smooth them out. I guess it’s time to invest in polish thinner.
I used Orly Bonder as the base coat. To make it matte, I used Zoya Velvet Matte Top Coat – it’s the best…although I haven’t tried any other matte top coats, so I’m just guessing.
I’m going to bug my husband about my polish more…I’m sure he’ll LOVE it.
Green on the Runway
This stunning polish is OPI “Green on the Runway”, from the 2014 Coca Cola Collection. Lily was kind enough to let me borrow one of the polishes that my BFF got her for Xmas.
Even though it looks fantastic in the pic, you can’t see the full magnificence – it’s a green to rust colored duochrome – although you can see a hint of it on the bottle. I guess it’s supposed to look like a Sprite can, but it’s far darker than your average Sprite.
I also tried out OPI Nail Envy for the first time, again, borrowed from Lily. It seems to be a really good base coat and the brush is like magic. I didn’t use the OPI top coat, instead opting for “HK Girl”. For some reason, the “HK Girl” dragged a few bald spots in the polish on my right hand and catastrophically smudge my ring finger. I don’t know why – if it’s an incompatibility with OPI, or maybe I just didn’t let it dry long enough. Hmmmm…
Mango or Queso?
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I had been putting off trying Funky Fingers “Hang Ten, Brah”. Even though it is a solar polish, I was prepared to hate it…but I totally LOVE it.
I thought it would be a sickly boring yellow, but it turned out to be a lovely Mango flesh color, with a subtle green shimmer. I don’t even like Mango (it smells like dirty vagina), but the color is ripe and vibrant.
I realized while we were eating dinner tonight – “Hang Ten, Brah” is ALSO the exact color of queso (FUN FACT – my BFF thinks queso smells like dirty vagina).
I was going to take a pic of my nails and my queso, but I ate it too fast.
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This is “Hang Ten, Brah” in sunlight. It actually changes as much as the bottle promises, into a juicy tangerine.
I also used Funky Fingers “Scattered Sea Shells” on my thumb and ring fingers. It’s different sizes of white glitter with bits of pink, blue and Mango/Queso glitter.
This is just two coats with Orly Bonder and “HK Girl”. I could have gotten rid of the VNL with more coats, but I was feeling lazy last night.
Neither Bikinis, Nor Martinis
I am a fan of neither bikinis, nor martinis – but that’s not the reason that ncLA “Bikinis & Martinis” frustrated me. First off, it’s a plain, light coral – not a fan of coral. Application was streaky – even after 2 coats, I had streaks. I used a good base coat – Orly Bonder – and “HK Girl” helped a bit, but not entirely.
The most shocking thing about this polish is that the list price is $16. $16! Luckily, I got it as part of the Birchbox “Under the Sun” Limited Edition Box – but, still – $16 for a streaky polish in a basic color.
I think I’ll give it a try with glitter – glitter fixes everything.
Peacock Ombre
Sometimes I surprise even myself.
I got the idea from Instagram to layer sheer jelly polishes to ombre my nails. No sponges or special tools – I just overlapped layers of three polishes to melt from green to blue to purple. I used Sinful Colors “Sheer Flight”, “Prized Plume” and “Flight to See”.
I used Sinful Colors Base Coat, but I probably should have used something else – all the layers made a few thick spots and the polish slid and folded in a few spots underneath “HK Girl” (see my index finger). Other than that – the colors blended fantastically – I’m really pleased with myself.
Fourth 4th
This is it – my fourth 4th of July mani. I had every intention of posting this yesterday, but there was just too much grilling and Gatorade and watermelon and blowing stuff up – MURICA!
I am in LOVE with the red I used for the base – Sinful Colors “Ruby Glisten”. Yeah, I have a ton of red glitters, but this one is so deep and juicy – it’s by far the prettiest. This is just two coats, over Sinful Colors Base Coat, of course.
I accented my thumb and ring finger with Julep “Fireworks” – jazzy. Since I used “HK Girl”, this mani lasted all the way from Wednesday to Sunday – spectacular.
OK, I’m DONE with the red, white and blue!
MURICA!
It looks like I got into a fist fight with Uncle Sam and ripped off his testicles with my bare hands!
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. “Tokyo Pearl” is a tricky polish – It goes on smooth, but because of the pearly finish – it shows every brush stroke. I applied a thin layer of Sinful Colors “Queen of Beauty” to the tips for extra silver glitter, then streaked on Julep “America”. I was going for a stripey gradient with “America”, but I don’t think I had any other choice. This is one of my oldest Julep polishes, so there’s only about a third of a bottle left and it is starting to get dry. (Time to buy some nail polish thinner and see how that goes.) I did manage to get a few star glitters, but I wasn’t particularly fishing for them.
I finished with “HK Girl”. “America is such a sharp glitter, that I can still feel the edges in a few places – all the better to scratch with.
Baby, You’re A Firework
Yeah, I referenced a Katy Perry song. Go ahead and make fun…bitch, my nails are fabulous.
The patriotism continues with Julep “Fireworks” – a red, white, and blue multidimensional glitter top coat. I used Sinful Colors “Keira Blu” (like Keira Knightley?) – a sheer, shimmery blue. I was able to get full coverage with 2 coats – I love getting full coverage out of sheer polish – it adds so much more dimension to the color.
I used Sinful Colors Base Coat (it’s almost empty!) and “HK Girl” over the glitter. I also did plain “Keira Blu” on my toenails – I’ve got another trip to Schlitterbahn coming!
Patriotic Jelly Sandwich
Once a year, it’s totally expected to wear red, white and blue fingernail polish – the week leading up to Independence Day.
This is my first successful “jelly sandwich”. I used Sinful Colors “Prized Plume” (blue) and Julep “Tiffany” (red) for the jellies. I used Sinful Colors “Star Blast Off” for the glitter, sandwiched between layers of jelly polish. This is a glitter/jelly/glitter/jelly sandwich – 4 layers…or 6 if you count the Sinful Colors Base Coat and “HK Girl”.
“Star Blast Off” gave me LOTS of stars. I was very pleased that I only had to go fishing for stars a few times.
Jesus take the wheel when I actually have to get all this glitter off my nails. I am not looking forward to that…