Manicure Monday [Swatches]

Hello! Sorry for the lack of posts from me for the past two weeks. I was away on holiday (to Venice!) and then I got super busy with my major project for my Master's degree. I had a great time in Venice and it was so nice to get away from my laptop and work for a solid five days. I've been working around the clock nearly 7 days a week between my part-time publishing job, my major project, and writing a new novel. I am a very busy lady!

Here's a few photos from Venice. Note how sweaty I am! I barely wore any makeup while I was there because I just sweat it all off as soon as I walked out the door!

But that's not what you came here for...

After a very stressful day of housework, writing, major project feedback (ugh), and beginning to fill out my visa application to stay in the UK after my university course ends, I decided to take a little time to paint my nails. As usual, I was being horrifically indecisive and let Pete pick the colors to paint my nails. He picked Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Scarab for my toes and Julep in Natasha for my finger nails "so I can wear red lipstick to match." Bless him.

However, as soon as I put Scarab on my toes, I just HAD to put it on my fingernails as well. I forgot how absolutely stunning this polish is. And the best part? It came from the pound shop!

I'm a huge fan of Sally Hansen's lustre shine line. The colors are just beautiful and multi-faceted. It's so hard to capture a good photo of all of the different colors you can see in the nail varnish. I'm absolutely in love with all of the colors in the line and actually have a spare bottle of Plume in case I run out!

Anyway, happy Manicure Monday. I'll do my best to be back with some more palette swatches later this week!

-Amy

Manicure Monday

 Today's manicure Monday is a super cool combination tat I created when I had realized that when I painted my nails yellow with the Wet N Wild wild shine polish that I had touched something (my phone) and smudged them like crazy on my right hand. Now I am not saying this is an acceptable way to fix it and by all means you should probably just redo the ones you messed up, but I am lazy and took the shortcut to nice looking nails. I painted over the yellow with my black sparkle crackle paint from Funky fingers.
In some lights the black polish looks green over top of the yellow. I don't know why, I'm not a scientist. Also I discovered if your nails hip on the ends, it kind of adds a cool grungy effect and makes it look even cooler. I like stuff like this and have really been enjoying this polish.

<3 Allison

Manicure Monday

Since summer has pretty much just started, I decided to go for a nice bright orangey sparkely nail.

The Orange polish under the glitter is from Funky Fingers in the shade Kingston I think. I am pretty sure this polish came from 5 below and the glitter is just an orange glitter that came from Claire's. It is too sheer of an orange to wear on its own, so it is great to use over other polishes. 

Also I am not the nail artist and I'm not sure why I am in charg of this from time to time, so just a side note

<3 Allisin

Manicure Monday [Swatches]

Happy Monday!

I was inspired to paint my nails a bright vibrant red after watching a documentary on Netflix called Advanced Style which is about women aged 60+ who have incredible style. One woman in the film stated that "No woman should go out without her nails done" and I looked down at my poor chipped nail polish and hung my head in shame. Then I promptly pulled out my red nail polish (since that's the color her long, beautiful nails were painted) and I went at it!

I used this BEAUTIFUL red nail polish from Essie called Russian Roulette that I picked up last year from a shop called And That! It went on really smooth and only took two coats to get a nice opaque color (which was good because it was getting late and I didn't have 10 years for my nails to dry. Ahem.)

I actually didn't get a chance to photograph my nails until AFTER I'd scrubbed the entire upstairs floor of my flat with my hands and you know what? That polish didn't chip. Praise! So ignore my dry hands since I was doing some pretty horrendous housework and just bask in the glory of this stunning nail polish.

-Amy

Manicure Monday - Looking Wicked

ACK! I almost forgot about Manicure Monday and I could not wait to share this mani so I'm posting right before midnight. Also, I promise reviews of my May Ipsy bag and Beauty Box 5 are coming the next two days.

I hadn't intended to sit down to do my nails the other day but I had some time to kill while I waited for my boyfriend to Skype me. I waited... and waited... and was conveniently perched at my vanity, where my nail polish is housed so I took off the chipped blue polish I'd been rocking and got my nails did.

I had initially intended to just do some matte black nails with a glitter accent. Cute right?

So I painted my nails with a coat (or two...) of NYC's Longwearing Nail Enamel (don't let them lie... it's not long wearing at all but kinda does the job for a few days) in 119 Black Lace Creme with a layer of NYC's Matte Me Crazy topcoat. As much as I complain about the longevity of NYC's polishes, I LOVE the matte top coat and you can't get it cheaper anywhere else, really.

Then I was like... check out this cool glitter by Candies called White Noise that I got for Christmas and haven't used yet. I'ma use it for my accent nail. I painted my ring fingers, watched it dry, fell in love, and promptly paints all my nails.

Seriously, why did I wait so long to try this glitter? AHH!

The pictures above are obviously pre-cleanup. I just couldn't wait to take pictures. Pictures below are a day after I painted them so there might be a few chips because I was crafting and mess them up. Go figure.

I can't stop looking at my fingers and even though my nails chipped and the glitter pieces have begun to peel up a bit, this is my favorite mani. How wickedly awesome does that look?

Has a nail polish color ever surprised you and instantly become your favorite?

Manicure Monday - July 22, 2013

This week I got to try out my new Julep polishes that I got in my first (and only) Maven Box.

I'm not going to lie, I was so excited to try these polishes together and I'm surprised I made it this long without doing my nails. I was in LOVE with the glitter (and I rarely do my nails without incorporating some form of glitter polish into them) and the orange red grew on me.

Colors used: 

Julep - Natasha

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Starry Gaze

Julep - Paris

Revlon - Stunning (my FAVORITE polish ever)

So far, I love this manicure but I'm not as impressed by Julep as I'd like to be. I did my nails last night (as per Sunday ritual) and had to touch up several of the nails before photographing today! It could be my fault for not applying at top coat (criminal) but at the same time, I expected more from Julep. 

Anyone have the same experience with Julep polishes or am I alone in these thoughts?

Manicure Monday

I'm trying to get into a better routine of doing my nails... which is my most hated beauty activity mostly because I lack the patience for them to dry. Nails also really weird me out... I get little shivers just thinking about it. But last night I sat down in front of the TV with Pete and did my nails since the polish I'd previously put on them was... disgraceful... and after redying my hair this weekend my nails had turned a very vibrant shade of magenta.

So I went with it.

Here's my after work photo of my very pink and sparkly manicure.

I used two shades (the second shade was totally pointless and didn't even show up) of neon Funky Fingers polish and did a glitter gradient with another Funky Fingers polish. For cheap polish, it's pretty good stuff (but you NEED a top coat or it looks really flat and cheap). I'm also in love with the top I wore today. (H&M!)

Then I get inspired and was like "I need more nail polish if I'm going to make this a regular thing" and signed up for a Julep Maven box (promo code FREEBOX-- only pay shipping for first box!!). I only intend to get this one box since I had a promo code and only had to pay for shipping and I'm a broke little girl.

Then Pete found out I signed up for another beauty box and put me in the cone of shame.

Alas. I should probably go on a no buy for a while and just blog about all the makeup I've bought recently. Merp.