Tag: Glisten & Glow
Gorgeosity
I have been dying to try Julep “Mila” – charcoal multi-colored glitter, an add-on to my August Julep Box. Since the base is clear, I decided to use a color underneath it. I chose Julep “Annemarie” – warm cocoa crème, a polish I picked up over a year ago from Julep’s Red Marker sale. It’s just been sitting there, waiting for me. I can’t believe I’ve let it sit there that long!
I started with Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. I did a single coat of “Annemarie” and a single coat of “Mila”. I used “HK Girl” on all my fingers, EXCEPT my ring finger. I couldn’t resist seeing what it looked like matte, so I used Zoya Matte Velvet Top Coat. My nails are the height of gorgeosity.
So my husband says that “Annemarie” is skintone. As I tried to argue that it wasn’t, he made me hold the bottle up to his arm…and it matched fairly closely. (He’s a whiteboy, but that 1/16th Cherokee comes out in his – and my kids’ – skin.) I would highly recommend “Annemarie” as a nude for olive and darker skintones.
Blurple?
Is it blue or purple? Blurple? I don’t know exactly what Sinful Colors “Let’s Talk” is. It looks more purple in artificial light, but in sunlight – it is definitely blue.
“Let’s Talk” was recommended to me by two different nail aficionados – Angie (from my Dallas crew) and Rachel (from my Work crew). Great minds definitely think alike…this is a fantastic polish! Luckily, it’s a permanent shade – I didn’t have any trouble finding it.
This is two quick coats of “Let’s Talk” over Sinful Colors Base Coat. (I was watching Impractical Jokers and only half-ass paying attention to my nails – I amazingly didn’t fuck them up.) There’s nothing like breaking open a new bottle of “HK Girl” – I just started my third one! I’m seriously going to look into buying this stuff in bulk – it’s THAT good.
Wicked x 3
I couldn’t try just ONE of my new Deborah Lippmann Wicked polishes – I had to try them ALL.
After Orly Bonder, I painted a thin coat of “Defying Gravity” on each nail. I then did a coat of “Popular” on my thumb and ring finger – who knew that green + pink = purple? I did a coat of “One Short Day” on my index and pinky. I finished my middle finger with another coat of “Defying Gravity”. I topped them all with “HK Girl” for shine.
By far, my favorite polish of the collection is “Defying Gravity”. A single coat reminded me of Jade. (I’ll be trying it with gold glitter for the full jewelry effect). After two coats, it reminded me of the green chalkboards of my grade school days – I also need to try a matte top coat with it. Speaking of chalkboards, schools don’t have them anymore – my kids will never know the horror of nails on a chalkboard. Lucky.
Pewtery Black
Is it me, or do all blacks look the same?
Pick your jaw up off the floor…I’m talking about NAIL POLISH. Although you can’t tell from the picture, Zoya “Anais” is not your average black. It has a pewter shimmer to it that is wholly unique. A tiny bit of that glimmer is evident on the bottle. This is just two coats of “Anais” with Zoya Anchor and “HK Girl”. (I would have used Zoya Armor, but it was 30 minutes before bedtime and I needed my nails dry immediately.)
I love the way black polish looks against my skin, but it’s so hard to apply neatly – every flaw is immensely visible. And normal edge wear appears abnormally shitty. Even so, I keep doing it.
Worth a Pretty Penne
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Penne, like Penne Pasta – oh OPI, I just can’t get enough of your stupid, puntastic polish names.
This is OPI “Worth a Pretty Penne” from The Venice Collection – I got it in this month’s Birchbox. I’ve been obsessing over Rose Gold lately (someday, those Rose Gold Tieks will be mine) – so I was happy to get this color.
After Orly Bonder, I did two clean coats of “Worth a Pretty Penne”. It went on smooth, with no bubbles after the second coat. If you look closely at the polish, you’ll notice that it’s not solid rose gold, but a fine mix of gold and copper pigments. I topped it with “HK Girl” – gotta have my quick dry shine. I have a love/hate relationship with those little sample bottles. They’re hard to hold and manipulate, but the smaller brush is perfect for painting the edges of your nails without getting polish all over your fingernails. I almost prefer them to full size!
Purple Pride
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Sinful Colors “Pride” has to be the most jam-packed glitter that I’ve ever come across. It’s a rainbow of glitters of all different sizes. This is just one coat of “Pride” over Sinful Colors Base Coat and two coats of OPI Sheer Tints “Don’t Violet Me Down” – I wanted a color underneath the glitter for a little pop. I feel like 2 coats of “Pride” would have been 100% full coverage.
“Pride” was a fairly smooth glitter, but I used “HK Girl” to protect it. This has to be one of the longest lasting manicures I’ve had – I did it…Wednesday night? It’s Sunday and it still looks perfect, except for a few spots on my right index finger. That being said, I’m not looking forward to taking it off – I’ll probably need a fucking jackhammer.
Datsun 210
Nancoco “Orange Wonderland” reminds my of my mom’s very first new car – a 1980 Datsun 210. That little car was a big deal to her…so it was a big deal to us. She had a Gremlin before that and it was a piece of shit. Even though it was probably the cheapest car on the market at the time, it was NEW.
I was able to coax the last few drops out of my bottle of Sinful Colors Base Coat – I get to use my new one next time! Then I painted 2 coats of “Orange Wonderland” – it’s a swirly shimmer, so there were a few brush marks…and bubbles, oh the bubbles! At least with a shimmer, the bubbles aren’t too noticeable. “HK Girl” for the win.
I wish I could remember what happened to that Datsun – I’m thinking she just traded it in when she got a Sales Rep job that required a lot of driving or maybe it was because I bitched too much about having to wiggle my long legs into the backseat.
Do You Like Fishsticks?
I LOVE fishsticks. But that’s a story for another time.
Sally Hansen Pearl Crush “Rainbow Fish” is an all around frustrating polish. It was thickish and goopy out on the brush, but I had a hard time building the color on my nail. I waned it to be as blue as the polish in the bottle, but I was only able to get a bluey opal color. (This is two thick coats.) The shimmer was unforgiving of any polish mistakes and the opalescent glitters gravitated towards the edges of my nails. The base coat – Sally Hansen Diamond Shine – might have been too smooth. Luckily, “HK Girl” hid my worst flubs.
Once on my nails, it was really frustrating to get a good pic. I literally took 50 or so pictures before I just said, “Fuck it.” All my whining aside, I REALLY like the way the polish looks. It’s like fish scales and slime stuck on my fingernails after gutting a fish – but in a beautiful and not at all macabre way.
Lainey is Spelled Wrong
Don’t they know that’s NOT how you spell “Lane”??? Gosh.
I picked this polish because it is my sister’s name, even if it’s not spelled correctly…although she would never every wear this color. Julep “Lainey” is summer berry shimmer – but it looks fuchsia to me.
I used Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat with two coats of “Lainey”. I waited between coats, but there are still a few dratted bubbles! I topped with “HK Girl”.
Notice my little nubbins – usually I would have had a break by now, but the Biotin has made them strong. But I’m going fishing this weekend, so I’ve got to be prepared for baiting and gutting…
Matchy Matchy
I found the perfect polish to match all my new lipstick – Ulta “Sunset Bronze” – a tiny little bottle from one of my old gifts with purchase.
Although it was thick, the polish went on smoothly, but there were a few bubbles on the second coat. I couldn’t decide on shiny or matte, so I did both – “HK Girl” and Zoya Matte Velvet Top Coat, with Orly Bonder as the base. I like the matte better, but my husband likes the shiny better.
I found an eye shadow that matches perfectly – theBalm “Flirty”. I even wore a sweater and shoes to match – matchy matchy!