Search This Blog

Friday, March 23, 2012

Like that date you were looking forward to all day but...

Hello all you gorgeous individuals! It's E and this is my first post about a polish... in blog form lol!

While I hemmed and hawed about what polish to blog about first, Dom suggested my brand new bottle of Zoya - Julieanne freshly purchased from Ulta. As soon as I noticed it on the front of the rack heading up a couple other beauties, I felt I had to have her. I just felt this pull toward Julieanne. 

Quietly urging from my bucket o' polish, Julieanne, has a really loud personality once you notice her. I got excited to try out this beautiful polish from a brand I have heard so many good things about. I started by filing my nails down and making them as uniform as I could. I don't like my nails very long at all. I never have and I never will. I know that's not the popular opinion as far as nails and blogging goes but it's mine ;) 

Next, I put one coat of Seche Clear as my base. Now... with the first stroke of Julieanne I could tell that this polish formula is not like any others that I own. The most important thing to impart is this-  It dries super duper extra crazy fast! This polish is not the type that you can be simple, pretty, and clean with your brush strokes, at least if you can't do that fast. For me, as you can see in the pictures, I had to pretty much slap the paint on and hope for the best lol. 

3 Coats
I did 3 total coats of Julieanne and one top coat of Seche Vite. You could conceivably do 2 coats and be fine, but I noticed that I hadn't seen any of the yummy duochrome-y-ness yet. Therefore I did 1 more coat in hopes of seeing that ever illusive complement of green/gold that shows in the bottle...
3 Coats & Seche Vite Top Coat
Total massive let down. While the finished mani is pretty in a grape purple glitter with dark purple background way, it does not show any hint of the duochrome shift unless you're staring hard and in a weird indirect sunlight. 

Much like the date you were amped up and looking forward to all day but he turned out to be a total nose picking dud, Zoya - Julieanne, was a waste of my time and $8. I have other polishes that are more dynamic on (in AND out of direct sunlight) and quite honestly if I could return the bottle I would. 

Outside and the best shot of the illusive green/gold shift

AWESOME ALTERNATES TO THE RESCUE!!

If you have any of these in your stash or if you have access to acquiring them I would recommend these in lieu of the Zoya - Julieanne. I think you'll be infinitely happier and get more mileage out of these rather than Julieanne.

Pictured from L to R: Sinful Colors - I Love You, Rimmel - Night Before, Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl, OPI - Russian Navy (while a dark blue it has a purple sheen that can be played up with layering or glitter), Revlon - Scandalous (Glitter and a stand alone), Finger Paints - Purple Palette, OPI - Grape... Set... Match


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A little fun with Dom & my iPhone :D

Just because I want to illustrate the kind of absolutely ridiculous people Dom & I are... annnnd the complete and absolute craziness we get into when we're together *big grin*... (p.s. she's going to kill me when she sees I put these up!)




Warm Weather Cool Colors


China Glaze Reggae to Riches


The weather is breaking here in the mid-west and although I love my deep dark moody polish, I have been really trying to step out of my box and get ready for spring and summer in style!  I would be lying if I said it was easy to step outside of my comfort zone!  IT IS NOT!  I am a true creature of habit even when it comes to my nail polish.  I was starting to find that even though I was buying polishes with different names, they began to all look very similar! What I had was blacks, blues, grays and silvers all just a shade different than the next.  Don't get me wrong, I will always be a lover of a good dark nail, but I have begun to see the error of my ways and hope to join the mainstream form of thought. When the sun comes out its time to brighten things up a bit!  So here goes nothing…

Why not start with a pink color?  LOL!  It may not seem like a big step to some, but I am so far from a pink girl its not funny!  I looked around the store for a while before I came across my first out of character purchase… Reggae to Riches by China Glaze!  I will say that I thought the color was ok in the bottle but the name really did something to me; I love reggae music and that was enough to make me want to buy it!  Good thing I did because I LOVE it… just in case you didn't get that the first time… I LOVE A PINK POLISH!!!!  (well that’s what I thought anyway)  I say that because this polish really is an awesome flip-flop of sorts! In some light it looks really pink and then in some light it looks really fuchsia and as a bonus you also get a bit of blue and purple in this duo-chrome! 

I started my polish with a nice coat of Beauty Secrets Hardener as a base coat.  I love this stuff!  It is fairly inexpensive and can be purchased at any Sally Beauty Supply.  It is thick enough to act as a nice ridge filler and it leaves a really nice smooth finish and holds polish really well.  I can keep a manicure for over a week when I use this polish.  Let me clarify that I take care of kids and a pet and cook and do dishes throughout the week so to keep a mani for week is a nice plus!

Reggae to Riches can be purchased for $5.99 ($4.99 if you have a Sally's Club Card) at Sally Beauty Supply.  I applied two coats of the polish... the first coat was pretty thin and then the second coat was a bit thicker.  I really didn't have too much trouble with streaking or thin spots.  The polish goes on pretty evenly and with my base coat it was really smooth and velvety.  I love easy polish and this really was an easy polish!  


The final step on my mani was to add a little pop with the white polka dots.  For this step I used L.A Colors white nail art liner.   Honestly, I found this polish for about $1.50 at a random Dollar General.  I know it doesn't sound too glamorous but some of the best deals on polish can be found at these types of stores.  When it comes to nail art, I would rather spend my money on a nice bottle of polish and be a little more frugal when it comes to nail art supplies.  Using a super small dotting tool I dotted my ring finger.  With a final coat of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat, I had achieved my look!



What you're in for... or... Welcome to our Blog!!

Since we're sure you already read our "about us" page we won't inundate you with information you already know ;)

Our initial goal for this blog was for us to be able to share our insane obsession with nail polish. We found ourselves spending the same amount of time most people get paid for talking about our nails. Discussing new techniques, DIY, polish colors and general likes and dislikes of all of the aforementioned. So one day, during one of our many phone conversations ( E ) came up with the bright idea to start this blog. As a way to share our thoughts as well as get feedback from others like us!

We are not professionals nor do we play them on TV... so please do not take our commentary as gospel. Hopefully anything that you take away from this blog leads to inspiration for your next great polish idea... And remember... share and share alike with others like us! Just give us or our contributors credit where credit is due!

For my last disclaimer... AGAIN we are not professional manicurists lol... we don't get our nails done by anyone else, nor do we have acrylic overlays etc etc. We paint our own nails, our cuticles are always a work in progress and even though we've been painting our own nails since about 10 years old, we are still learning how to be better painters... So please forgive us our trespasses and enjoy our commentary!


Welcome to our little slice of the interweb... we hope you like it here!! Please feel free to email with any questions, comments or concerns!



LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...