Tag: Glisten & Glow
Not What I Intended…
…but pretty nonetheless.
I had seen a trend of turquoise and gold nails lately, so I thought I’d pile on. Julep “Naveena” is not turquoise, it’s more of a teal…but my bedroom is dark and I was in a hurry – so close enough. Even so, teal and gold is pretty, pretty combination. The gold is Julep “Oscar”, a dense gold glitter.
This is two coats of “Naveena” over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. It’s a bit sheer on it’s own, but the glitter masqueraded my visible nail line. The finishing touch was Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I need to search my stash for a better turquoise – I want to be a Navajo Princess.
Trixy
Here it is, the last of my Halloween nails…
Julep “Trixy” was the perfect match for my Halloween costume – the Evil Queen from Snow White. I rarely do full costumes anymore – in this case, my whole costume was the crowned wimple, a mini cape and the makeup. Really, the makeup WAS the costume. Oh…and an apple. The apple was key.
“Trixy” is a blackened purple glitter. It’s the sister of “Marlise”. Like Marlise, it a bit gritty, so I topped with Glisten & Glow Top Coat. This is two coats over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat.
Since the glitter is in a clear base, this would look really interesting over a contrasting color. Maybe a yellow?
Belly Dancer
Years and years ago – like 1999 – I used to take belly dancing classes. I really enjoyed it, but I changed jobs at one point and started working weekends, so the classes no longer worked with my schedule. I couldn’t imagine taking classes again now – as self conscious as I was about baring my itty bitty belly at 23, I cannot imagine baring my lumpy mama belly now. Pretty sure I sucked really bad, too – the teacher always praised how well I could remember the choreography. I will, however, always cherish the brief moment in time when I was able to roll a quarter up and down my stomach – I really could do it!
My point IS…that my nail polish combination reminds my of gorgeous belly dancer costume. I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and then two coats of Revlon “Chameleon”. I used Nanacoco “Emerald” and Sinful Colors “Twilight Twinkles” on the tips, to bring out the green and gold in “Chameleon”. I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
Hmmm…I’m gonna go find some quarters.
Marlise
It doesn’t get much Halloweenie-er than this!
Julep “Marlise” is described as luminous borealis glitter, but it just looks black and green to me. When I think of borealis I think of the blue and purples, but there’s usually green in there, too. It’s not the first time that Julep’s descriptions have come from Bizarro World.
I started with Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat, and then two coats of “Marlise”. The glitter finish was rough and scratchy – those usually chip quickly. I sealed it with my favorite Glisten & Glow Top Coat, which made it extra shiny. The top coat didn’t entirely smooth the polish – it was still pebbley.
I was impressed by how long this glitter lasted with the top coat – it still looked decent when I took it off.
Smouldrin’ Cauldron
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before, I found myself in a rural Walmart after a family breakfast. While filling my cart with cheap Xmas decorations, I couldn’t resist throwing a few Halloween nail polishes into my basket as well…
This is Pure Ice “Smouldrin’ Cauldron”. It’s a gray jelly, with dark blue glitter and iridescent flakies. This is three thick coats, sandwiched between Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and Glisten & Glow Top Coat. Even with a thick layer of top coat, it was scratchy and jagged – I kept snagging my nails on things.
Yes, these polishes are just $1.98, but they aren’t anywhere near as good as Sinful Colors. They are goopy, take forever to dry and chip quickly. I wore this polish for less than 24 hours before I had to scrub it off. Yuck.
Bad Bitch
Sometimes, the right nail polish can make you feel feminine. Or it can make you feel young and playful, even like a kid again. But once in a while, the right combination will make you a bad bitch…
The boss bitch combination is Julep “Laurie” with the silver nail decals I got in this month’s box. Upon my husband’s advice, I didn’t go crazy and add one to every nail, instead choosing to adorn only my “devil nails”. The skull looks amazing. The snake sunk into the polish a bit, but not too badly. Not pictured is the badass spider I added to the middle finger of my left hand. I felt like a newly engaged bride, but instead of sticking my hands in peoples’ face to show off my ring, I was showing off my “devil nails”.
This is Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat, two coats of “Laurie”, then Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I forgot how good the Oxygen Bonding Base Coat is. My nails looked perfect for days and days. Pay no mind to my poor middle finger – the nail bent and broke and I had to chop her.
Pumpkin Spice Everything
It’s that time of year again…Halloween Nails!
I’ve been wearing my “Pumpkin Spice Everything” shirt every chance I get, so I decided that my nails should match. I’m not even that big of a Pumpkin Spice fan, but I have some psychological problem that makes me buy every Pumpkin Spice product that I see. Just this weekend, I bought Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, Pumpkin Spice Pop-Tarts and Pumpkin Spice Nutrigrain Bars. Something is really wrong with me. (Although I did eat the Nutrigrain bar as a snack today and it was fucking delicious.)
I created my own personal Pumpkin Spice on my fingernails. I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and I borrowed Sinful Colors “Courtney Orange” from my daughter. After two coats of the orange, I did the tips with…wait for it…Sinful Colors “Pumpkin Spice”. I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I also did my toes with “Courtney Orange”, but no “Pumpkin Spice”.
Lina
Julep “Lina” is a blinding white gold metallic. It would look so much better than someone not as pasty white as me. But it still looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself…
I was afraid that it would be a sheer shimmer, but it ended up being full coverage. I love full coverage metallic polishes. This is two coats of “Lina” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
The polish was fairly long lasting, but it couldn’t stand up to planting 72 spinach plants this morning. We’re going to have spinach for daysssss…
I Wish I Was a Baller
One time, in High School, I was skulking around one of the lame after-Football dances, and I was approached by an (obviously new) coach…she tried to draft me onto the Basketball team. Blissfully unaware of my 7th and 8th grade B-team failures, she gave me the whole spiel – as I imagine, my peers thrashed about to ‘The Humpty Dance’ or did ‘Da Butt’. I laughed it off and probably went behind the building to smoke or set anthills on fire or whatever it was that I did at school dances. I surely didn’t dance.
I don’t know what the point of this story is, except that my entire life, my height has attracted and repelled like some kind of magnetic north on a compass. Too tall for the boys, too majestically awkward for sports and DEFINITELY too tall for the stage. Once, I got mistaken for a Drag Queen at The Village. That was one of the fucking proudest moments of my life…so it’s not ALL bad.
I kind of got off course a little bit. ANYWAY, Formula X “Motivated” reminds me of a basketball. It’s a matte metallic orange and I don’t even hate the orange-ness. I do absolutely HATE this polish though, almost as much as I hated playing Basketball. Even though I started with Glisten & Glow Base Coat, this stuff did not want to stay on my nails. This is THREE thick coats and it still started cracking like a crackle polish. In less than 12 hours, it was chipping off my nails in chunks. What the fuck, Sephora?
Hana
Dupe Alert! Julep “Hana” is a pretty close dupe for Sinful Colors “Readie or Not”, which I tried out just a month ago. I’m not even mad though – I love purpley polishes.
Julep “Hana” was the first polish I’ve sampled from this month’s Julep box. I was under the impression that it would be lighter and more rosy from the bottle, but nope.
This is two coats over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I thought that the cuticle on my index finger was looking better, but it’s not. I need to put some oil on it or something.