Valentine's Day nail art

Today I have for you a few different styles of Valentine's Day nail art I did. Nothing too fancy, but I thought they were all cute!

The first I have can be seen more in my last post, using one of my new Square Hue colors in Shibuya.

That was definitely my favorite mani I've done in a long time. I used a few chevron vinyl guides I got back in Julep's Zig Zag mystery box, from October I believe. I'm almost out of them so I'll have to order some soon from an etsy vendor or something!

The next was relatively simple, but it's a favorite of mine. When I first got into nail art, I couldn't believe how something as simple as scotch tape could lead to such cool artwork. My absolute favorite is doing angled stripes, it just always looks so cute to me. For this I used Julep Nicolette as the white, used a layer of Seche Vite, taped off and used China Glaze Dance Baby, repeat, and used China Glaze Red Pearl for the top. It gets a bit thick due to all the top coat, but I love it otherwise.

Here's smaller versions of the other steps, just to see what it looks like:

 I also did some simple half moons with Julep Nicolette and Zoya Aurora when my planned artwork didn't look too great. I love the holo glitter in Aurora, but didn't love this combo too much.

And lastly my actual Valentine's Day nails had no special artwork. My Julep Cupid's Mystery Box arrived the day before so I used the new exclusive to the pedi box color, Aphrodite, which was pretty on it's own. I'll go through an unboxing of my millions of new colors that arrived that day in my next post, though!

 

Hope you enjoyed!

-T

Square Hue unboxing and Valentine's Day nail art

If anyone actually reads this blog yet, I apologize for the hiatus between posts. My internet was down for a few days when I did have some posts planned, and then I just never got around to doing them when I got it back up and running. Moving forward I'm going to have a few draft posts on hand so that there won't be such a delay between entries and this will look like a real blog!

Today I have for you the unboxing of my first Square Hue monthly box, and some cute Vday nail art I did with one of the polishes. I'm going to make another post with all of my Vday nail art designs, too!

Square Hue is a monthly nail polish subscription box, much like Julep, but you don't have any hints or choices on your polish. It's literally a surprise what 3 you're getting, unless you read spoilers about them because everyone gets the same 3! I jumped on a recent promo they had for a free box and I absolutely loved it. I currently put my sub on hold due to funds, but will probably renew it in the future.

The polishes were packed super cute, and so secure. I know a lot of people have issues when opening Julep polishes because they're just kind of thrown in. Square Hue uses a box made for holding the three polishes, meaning no flying around during delivery.

This month's "theme" was Tokyo, and the three colors fit very well. The colors received were:
Roppongi - a lime green base with lime green chunky glitters and gold small glitters
Shibuya - a hot pink 'microglitter' which to me was more of a duochrome shimmer with purples
Ginza - a light frosty ice blue shimmer

 

The polishes are all a bit thin but seem easy enough to work with. I wanted to do something Valentines-y so I used Shibuya right away in this chevron/glitter mani. Other colors used were OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the chevron nail, and Zoya Trixie under Julep Joelle for the glitter nail.

One pic in lighting and one in flash to capture the holo that is Joelle.

 

The shipping was super quick on the boxes, too, which was nice. Overall a pretty decent experience, I just wish there was a slight choice of colors.The box runs $14.99 with $5 shipping every month and can be bought at www.squarehue.com, but keep an eye out on their facebook page for promos like I got!

-T

Zoya swatches

Between the recent Zoya 3-free promo, and all the clearance going on at Ulta, I've built up quite the collection of Zoya polishes in the last couple months. I'm really digging Zoya because most of their polishes are a cool foil-shimmer, unlike other brands that just have waves and waves of slightly different cremes or jellies. They've kind of been my "go-to" lately since they're so unique.

So today I have a pixie dust and a holo-glitter to show you. First up is the pixie, Dhara. I don't know why, but I have a big thing for orange glitters/shimmers. They're just so damn pretty on. Dhara is very shiny and pretty on, but I think next time I wear it I'll use an orange base first since it was pretty sheer even after the 4th coat. I had a bit of staining on my ring fingers from the Victoria's Secret glitter in the last post, and unfortunately it shows through on Dhara.

This is 4 thin coats of Zoya Dhara, with a thin layer of top coat.

Between my online and Ulta hauls I managed to get all of the beloved holo glitters Zoya has, but sadly Aurora, Blaze, and Payton are way too similar to me to really love them all. They seemed so different in online swatches, but the biggest difference to me is the shades of pink/magenta and the level of holo. Aurora is definitely the winner in the holo category, Blaze is a slightly more berry/burgandy version, and Payton is just a darker version of Blaze. I really thought Blaze was going to be much more red than it is, so I may end up with Blaze and Payton to swap in the near future.

This is two coats of Zoya Blaze. I added a third thin coat to my thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers to even out the streaks, but I wish I had added more coats to the other two nails as they were still pretty sheer. I didn't like the application of this polish at all, either, it was super thin and messy.

 Without flash, to show the true color.

I'm pretty disappointed in Blaze and Payton, but many out there love all the shades. Maybe I'll make someone very happy in a swap soon!

-T

Julep and glitter

I really didn't mean to go so long without updating, but I hate only having a couple things to show off at once :/. Tonight I have a few pretty things to show you, at least! I have a couple new Julep polishes I've gotten lately and some very pretty glitter to accent them with!

The first I have is Misti. It's actually a very unique color, a slate blue-gray kind of mix. I definitely don't have anything else like it in my collection. A lot of Juleps I have issues with being too goopy to use without a ton of patience, but this and Libby I had no issues like that with.

This is two semi thick coats of Julep Misti.

I'm not usually a Kleancolor fan, but when I saw the Holo Chrome polish on Amazon for super cheap I knew I had to have it. I didn't realize that the polish has two different colors under the exact same name, a marine blue and a purple. I thought I was getting the purple, but I ended up getting the blue. Still pretty, just a bit disappointing. It's a scattered holo/glitter in a marine blue base, so I layered it over Misti.

This is one coat of Holo Chrome over Misti with and without flash to show the holo.

I recently started a second Julep account and ordered the It Girl intro box, mainly to get Libby and the 50% off coupon they send new Mavens. I had to use Libby right away, but also wanted to use a Victoria's Secret teal glitter polish I picked up awhile ago. Luckily they matched completely.

This is two thick coats of Libby.

Two thin coats of Victoria's Secret Break the Rules added as an accent nail.

The Victoria's Secret polish was easy to work with, but it's hard to mess up a thin glitter like that. 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! I'll have a couple more Zoya polishes on the blog next entry. Until then.

-T

Holo spam

Had some pretty awesome nail mail the past couple weeks, including a couple Color Club holos. I bought two last year and remembered them being awesome but never thought to buy anymore.

My current mani is using Eternal Beauty, and Angel Kiss as an accent. I love the holo in these, I just wish the colors were deeper. I feel like this would be more suitable around Easter or something.

Two coats CC Eternal Beauty, 4 coats CC Angel Kiss. I was hoping the color would deepen.

I'm a bit disappointed that color-wise, Eternal Beauty is the same as Jade's Fascinio Violeta, so now I may swap that. Jade seems to have more holo, but the application of the Color Club is so much better. I've been craving a darker purple holo so the other day I layered Fascinio Violeta over Julep Sylvia. I really liked the result, but it still didn't quite give me the rich bright purple I've been wanting.

Two coats Julep Sylvia under 1 coat Jade Fascinio Violeta

To keep with the holo theme, a couple months ago I swapped for Layla's Flash Black, which I thought would be a pure black holo. The holo is nice, but at it's darkest it's a charcoal gray. I even layered it over a black creme, which ended up being a giant mess, and still wasn't black.

Two coats China Glaze Black on Black under 2 coats Layla Flash Black

And the last holo on today's post is my only KB Shimmer polish, Rollin' With the Chromies. I was kind of hoping it'd be a dupe for Enchanted Polish's Across the Universe, but this ended up having way more colors than I thought it had. Next time I wear it I think I'll layer under purple and hope more purples will pop through, but the polish is definitely gorgeous by itself.

Three coats KB Shimmer Rollin' With the Chromies. The flash pic is horrible, I'm sorry, but it had so much holo it was unbelievable

I've been wanting to wear some brighter colors to counter the dark weather, so the next batch of swatches will likely be neons!

-T

Zoya fun

Since I've bought a billion Zoyas recently, I've been trying to use some of them in my recent manis. I got my mini haul from the 3/$12 promo, and now they've released a promo code for a free Monet(Spring glitter topper) with purchase of any 2 from the Spring line or new Magical Pixies line. I'm not at all into glitter toppers, but I will probably get at least two of the three pixies so I might as well get the topper, right?? Ugh.

Here is my mini haul, L-R: Chyna(red pixie), Arabella(pink pixie), Liberty(bright blue pixie), Blaze(berry with holo glitters), Aurora(deep pink with TONS of holo glitters), and Hazel(blueish silver foil)

I started with Aurora first since I've been wanting that more than the others, and added a Dream accent nail. I used one more coat of Dream than I did in my previous mani, and it gave it the deep blue I was looking for.

This is 3 coats Aurora and 3-4 coats Dream indoors and in sunlight to show off HOLO!

I didn't want to take it off since Aurora is just so gorgeous, but I had a tiny chip in one nail after a couple days so switched to another unused, Chita. Chita is an army green pixie. I decided to top coat it with a thin layer of Seche Vite so it would dry a bit sooner as I did my nails right before bed. It didn't take away all the texture, but it did make it extra shiny/sparkly and deepened the color a bit.

Two coats Chita, without and with top coat

And to keep with the Zoya theme, here is another pixie, Sunshine, that I used a couple weeks ago and never posted. This was my first pixie dust, and really my first texture polish with glitter, and I loved it. I didn't top coat this, and got about a day and a half of good wear on it, so I'm hoping Chita will last a couple days with the top coat added.

Two coats Sunshine, without top coat

I had been using one of Sally's pro brands ridge fillers as my base coat, but I've heard great things about Orly Bonder so picked it up during their BOGO Orly sale. I've only used it for two manis so far, but it's holding up pretty great. Two days to get a chip out of Aurora is pretty amazing wear time for me.

Today I should hopefully be getting a small haul in the mail as well, so I'll have to break out of my Zoya shell for a few days I suppose. Until then!

-T

Duochrome and mermaid nails

Nail polish problems...I've bought at least ten new polishes in the last week, and my last two manis have been polishes bought a month ago that I never used. I'm eagerly awaiting my 6 new Zoyas that I got from their 3 "free" promo(realistically they were $4 a piece with the promo shipping, but I'm fine with that for $9-$10 polishes!) I also just picked up a couple of the Gwen Stefani OPI polishes, though I think I may return the chrome one, Push and Shove. I just do not have the patience it apparently takes to get the polish streak free. I do love the base coat, though...

Anyway! I picked up a cheap duochrome from Claire's a couple months back, mostly because it claimed to be holographic, which it sadly is not. It's also ridiculously sheer, but despite the issues it looks pretty gorgeous on. I layered it over another untried, Julep Morgan. I did not get a pic of just Morgan as it was super thick and ended up kind of runny on the nails prior to adding the Claire's top coat.

This is two coats Julep Morgan under one coat of Claire's Chromeance. It was hard to include the shimmer but I think the pics got the duochrome pretty spot on.

I also took a (crappy) pic of my Ulta mini-haul. I've heard that they're discontinuing selling Zoya, probably because of the $1 a bottle price increase, so I've been seeing ridiculous amounts of hauls with clearance Zoyas. Unfortunately both of my Ulta's only seem to have the winter line on clearance, but they're starting to put a few more out every day so I picked up Dream last week and Payton and Chita on clearance the other day for $4 and $5 a bottle. I also got the two Gwen OPI's I was most wanting, though I don't know that I'll ever use either. I also got the Essence stampy set, because I'd like to try stamping again, and just needed a cheap set to tide me over while I perfect my methods.

I attempted to use Push and Shove, but gave up after two nails. I left the Lay Down the Base base coat on when I did my current mani, and I'm not sure if it's just coincidence but I don't even have tip wear on one nail yet and I did my nails over 24 hours ago now. It's rare for me to go without at least getting one chip or tip wear a few hours after doing my nails, so I'm hesitant to return the polish now because of the base coat.

Instead I opted to use a polish I bought last month at Sally's when I heard it was a dupe of a Deborah Lippmann polish I've been wanting, it's their own Sally Girl in Brainy. Too thin to use on it's own without doing multiple coats, which I hate, so I layered it over China Glaze For Audrey. I always forget how much I love that polish til I use it, perfect in one and a half coats, and so gorgeous.

Here's China Glaze For Audrey on her own. My pic took out some of the blue, but I couldn't believe how perfect and streak free it applied over the Push and Shove base coat.

Here's one thick coat of Sally Girl Brainy over it. Perfect mermaid nails!

I'm supposed to have both my Zoya packages tomorrow, so maybe I'll have a Pixie Dust-a-thon since I still have two others I haven't used yet, and 3 coming tomorrow. Or maybe I'll buy more polish and forget all about that.

Oh yeah, and if you're curious about trying Julep, feel free to use my referral link! http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/187469/ Use code "freebox" to get your intro box for free, just pay shipping.

-T

Blue polka dots and more Christmas nails

I got my Julep warehouse sale order today(only two polishes, but any nail mail=a good day) so I picked up one of the Maybelline Polka Dots collection while at Target. I literally last night saw the collection layered over various colors and wanted to try the blue layered over a light blue, and Bess was one of my colors coming.

This is Julep Bess on it's own. Usually I find Julep polishes on the thick side, this was just the opposite. This was two fairly thick coats and you can still see through it.

This is a coat and a half(extra dabs) of Maybelline Blue Marks the Spot. Usually I hate glitter toppers because I can't get the glitters spread evenly, but this did a pretty great job on it's own. The pieces aren't actually glitter, but I'm not sure what else to call em. I absolutely love this.

Here's a couple more photos from December manis. The China Glaze glitter I like, the holo not so much. I used a random green holo I got off etsy a couple years ago that used to be way darker, and I really thought Jade's Vermelho Surreal was a true red holo, but it ended up a copper red.

Two coats of Vermelho Surreal, and 5 or 6 of the unnamed, no longer made green.

This is China Glaze Pure Joy over Just Be-Claws(red shimmer.)

-Tara

Christmas Nail Art and Holo Glitter

Here are some swatches of polishes/nail art I did around Christmas. Right before Christmas I got my order from Julep's 12 days of Christmas spin the wheel promo day, which included the holo glitter bomb Joelle. It was SO pretty on that I didn't want to take it off for days. So I ended up just using a chevron sticker and painting an accent nail over it and calling it good!

The green and red are China Glaze Jolly Holly and Red Pearl, the glitter under is Julep Joelle over Zoya Trixie.

Here is the glitter bomb on it's own. This is two coats of Julep Joelle over Zoya Trixie(a silver foil.) It was SO hard to capture how holo the glitter was.

Prior to that I tried Sinful Color's red and green glitter topper over white, but ended up getting so OCD over the glitter being evenly placed that it took a good half hour just to get one hand done. SO I scrapped it, but at least got a photo of the swatch.

This is millions of dabs of Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel over a couple coats of Julep Nicolette.

Prior to that I was feeling lazy(notice a theme?) so just did a standard green and red mani. I love how the green turned out.

All colors used are China Glaze, the red is Red Pearl, the green is Jolly Holly topped with Running in Circles.

-Tara

Pink, Gold, Black Glitter, and Blue Glitter

For New Years Eve I had tons of ideas, but ended up being simple with gold glitter. I hate to waste manis, so I've spruced it up a bit with hot pink half moons.

This is Julep Avery over Zoya Ziv and Zoya Tomoko. First photo was right after topcoat, second is in a better light to capture the hot pink of Avery and the sparkles of Tomoko.

For NYE I kept it simple with just Ziv and Tomoko. I wasn't 100% on the weird light/muted gold of Tomoko, but layered over Ziv(gold foil) it looked beautiful. I didn't let Ziv dry all the way and only did one thin coat of Tomoko over it, which somehow gave it a pretty smooth finish even though Tomoko is a pixie dust.

Prior to my NYE and after manis, I wore a couple new polishes. I recently found out Beauty Brands allows coupons to be used on their "prestigious" brands(ie, Butter London and Deborah Lippmann) unlike Ulta, so I was able to get my first BL at a discount to try it out. Ulta did have the Zoya Zenith collection on sale, so I got Dream for cheap also.

This is BL The Black Knight in standard lighting. The dry time on it was very fast which is apparently a nice feature of BL's, but it did end up a little gritty due to the glitters.

This is a fairly terrible pic of Zoya Dream, but I had to capture it in the light to show all the colors of glitter in it. It still ended up pretty thin after 3 coats, but I love it.

I'll likely be adding some older manis in the near future just to keep track of them, so be on the look out for lots of swatch spam!
-Tara