Julep Glenn

Julep Glenn
Today deserved something bright and cheery! I let a friend pick the polish for the day, and she could not resist this rather stunning red.
The quick run down on Julep since we have not had a polish from them yet; Julep is available from Julep.com . Their polish retails for $14 a bottle, and if you'd like to try them, I recommend the Julep Maven box. Julep Maven  is a monthly program which cost $19.99 including shipping. In the program you receive two bottles of polish, their choice but based off the results of your style test, and usually one other treat like hand or body scrub. I am less than thrilled with the packaging, and honestly the amount of polish in the bottle. The polish comes in a thin, tall rectangular bottle (which always falls over when I open my drawers of polish) and style reminds me of a bottle of stripping polish. Well, the style looks like a bottle of stripping polish because it only has about as much as a stripper! For example, my bottles of Kiss Nail Art Paint contain .25 oz, and Julep bottles contain .27 oz- by contrast OPI and China Glaze have .50 oz.
Glenn is really a great color though! It came in their February, celebrating the Oscars. It is a very red carpet red, described on their website as a bold berry red shimmer. It applied like a dream! No muss, no fuss, just red carpet treatment for your nails! I could really tell the formula was fantastic because of how quick I was able to finish painting my nails- being able to skip clean up really saves time!The pictures are two easy coats and the color is completely opaque!
I have mixed feeling on Julep. As I mentioned, the polish is just fantastic, but at $14 for .27 oz, it is a very high end price. I have a few more bottles of their polish to try, so many after a few more I'll be able to give a more solid opinion on the brand.

Zoya Skylar

Zoya Skylar from the 2012 True Collection

Today am I very excited to review a Zoya polish for you! Since we have not done a Zoya before, let's do the quick run down...
Zoya polishes can be purchased from Zoya.com, from many online retailers such as Aveyou.com , Bloom.com, and ImageBeauty.com, and shockingly enough, even at many Whole Foods grocery stores! Their Italian glass bottles are certainly pretty , and are relatively stable. They hold .5 oz, like China Glaze or OPI. The handle on their brushes is a little shorter normal, but I actually found it easier to use than many, as I was able to use my pointer finger to help stable the end of the brush when painting my right hand. The brush itself is nicely trimmed, not exceptionally wide or thin.
Skylar is a dusty, denim blue with quite a bit of beautiful silver shimmer. The first coat was a bit scary- kind of streaky and uneven. To the credit of the polish, it was very easy to manipulate, no flooding or goopy messes. Much to my pleasant surprise, the second coat of polish fixed everything! With just two coats it was opaque, drying quickly, and totally worth the minimal effort I had to put out.
Just an FYI, I have read in several places that this is a near dupe to OPI I Have A Herring Problem from the Dutch collection. In this case, I hear the Zoya has a better formula, so I would gladly recommend Skylar!

Nail Mail from Bloom.com

I am so excited when nail mail comes! I recently got an awesome box of goodies that I purchased from Bloom.com ! I have purchased several times from this website and have had nothing but good experiences. Even better, my purchases have been quite the steal since their gift certificates have popped up on LivingSocial for half price.
They offer free shipping for any purchase $49 or above. They also give free samples that you get to chose yourself based off the amount you spend. Brands they sell that might entice the nail enthusiasts include OPI, Zoya, Essie, Pop Beauty, and Priti.
And now for the good stuff!

Not only was it well packaged, it was pretty!

With my love for flakies, I am delight to have Zoya Flecked Effects!

Zoya Ivy, and from the True collection Lotus and Skylar

Some nice little samples they included for free!

Very happy to get these goodies! Are there any you want to see???

You Can't Always Get What You Want.... Butter London Black Knight Franken

but you try sometimes you might find, you get what you need!

Now that I've successfully got a Rolling Stone's song stuck in your head, we'll move right on to today's post...

Sometimes I can't get what I want- for example, a $14 bottle of Butter London Black Knight nail polish, but if I try, sometimes, I can get something close enough to satisfy that need- and for much cheaper!

I was recently on a forum where someone had posted their 'franken' of Black Knight, and seeing how close it was, I decided to give it a shot. For those unfamiliar with frankens or frankening, it is when you mix together different polishes to create a new one. I have tried it once before, in a frantic attempt to make a version of OPI's Mad As A Hatter, but came up with a loose interpretation at best. From all the feedback I received, it appears that this is a much more successful franken!

I used Sinful Black on Black, Sinful Secret Admirer, Sinful All About You, and Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink for this. I chose Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink as the glitter because the best description I found for Black Knight mentioned it having red and gold glitter in addition to the pink and aqua blue I could easily see. I used a bit of Secret Admirer since that same description mentioned there may be a hint of silver in the polish as well.

I had cleaned out an old nail polish bottle for this project, sure to keep the two silver balls to ensure what ever I used it for would be able to mix properly. In it I poured approximately 2/3-3/4 of the bottle with Rockstar Pink. To that I added a touch of All About You- I didn't use too much since Rockstar Pink already had gold in it, then 1/16-1/8 of the bottle of Secret Admirer and topped it off with Black on Black. Finally, it was time to shake and pray...

the results:

On the nail wheel, it's one coat over black on left, and two coats by itself on the right

One coat over black

My awesome friend Karianne who does have Black Knight is letting me her picture to compare. Please go check out her very cool blog at Neglelakkmani

The REAL Black Knight

and here is my frankened Black Knight

I'm very pleased with this, as it means one less polish on my wish list, and $14 in my wallet! Thanks for reading!!!

Nubar Reclaim

Nubar Reclaim from the Going Green Collection

After a week of damp, murky weather, we were blessed with a bit of sunshine, so I decided to celebrate with a linear holo because they look so pretty in the sun!

Up today we have Nubar Reclaim! Since I have not reviewed any Nubar polishes yet, we'll do the full run down on this brand. Nubar can be purchased directly from the company at www.bynubar.com , and by quite a few sellers on eBay and Amazon, though I have never seen them at any brick and mortar store. The bottles contain .5 oz, the same as OPI or China Glaze. The design on this bottle is flawless! Nice wide base, tampers up to a small opening for the brush, reminiscent to a skirt. I love bottles with a nice wide base- they are much harder to tip over, so we can avoid mini-disasters while polishing. The handle on the brush is very ergonomic, making it comfortable to use. I have no qualms against the actual brush and think it did a good job on controlling the polish.

Reclaim is a beautiful soft jade linear holo polish. I can not say enough good things about it! It only took 2 coats to get fully opaque- quite an accomplishment as many holo polishes are pretty thin and need many coats or “undies” to be opaque. The consistency was great, not too runny, not too thick, and was easy to paint just where I wanted it. The pay off was stunning- in the sun the holo effect on the polish reminded me of peacock feathers.

If you do not have a green linear holo, hunt this one down online- I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Think I squeezed the bottle too tight!

Matches my favorite tea cup!

So pretty in the sun

More than a bit distracting- don't worry, I was stopped for this pic!

Icing Written In the Stars

Base: New York Summer Hot Purple
Layer 1: Wet'N'Wild Hannah Pinktana
Layer 2: Icing Written In the Stars
Topped with: one layer of New York Summer Hot Purple

Okay, time to wrap this sandwich up!
Since we were making a jelly sandwich together, and already have layers of New York Summer Hot Purple and Wet'N'Wild Hannah Pinktana, I thought it was time to throw in some chunky glitter.
Icing Written In the Stars can be purchased at the accessories store Icing. The polish is made up of medium and large hex semi-holo glitter with blue stars in a sheer purple base. I believe the base is sheer enough where it would not change the color of a polish it was layered over, but it seems it would be safest to stick with layering it over blues or purples. I found it fairly easy to pick up the hex glitter, but you really do have to pick out the stars with a toothpick or orange wood stick to get any on the nail.
I absolutely love chunky glitter in a "jelly sandwich" because the large pieces of glitter look so pretty trapped in between the layers of jelly polish! I do not usually wear large glitter by itself, but layered like this, it's just slightly muted while still sparkling back at you. Not easy to describe, so I will let the pictures do the talking:

And that, my friends, is a completed jelly sandwich! Hope you enjoy <3

Wet'N'Wild Hannah Pinktana

Base: New York Summer Hot Purple
Layered with: Wet'N'Wild Hannah Pinktana

In my previous post I mentioned we would be making a jelly sandwich. We started with a yummy, squishy two layers of New York Summer Hot Purple- it's time to move on to the next layer.
Wet'N'Wild is a brand widely available at most drugstores and many all purpose retail stores (such as Target). What makes the brand especially attractive is that they keep their price point quite low and affordable while generally delivering quality products.
Hannah Pinktana is from their Fast Dry line- I have several of these, especially in some of the fun glitters they've released- the polish itself is pretty darn good. What keeps me from buying much more than their glitters, which I generally layer over another color, is that their brush stinks, making precise application a chore. Specifically what I don't like it that it is rather "moppy", often has stray hairs, and is just not trimmed with enough care to make me want to use it most of the time.
Now that you've tolerated my mini rant, let's get back to the good stuff! The base for this color is a very sheer purple, where you could layer it over purples or pinks without changing the color of the polish you layered it over. It has very fine glitter, and in the right light, even picks up a lovely scattered holo.
I think it's awesome for adding some delicate sparkle to any purple or pink manicure!

With flash to pick up some of the scattered holo effect

What do you think?

New York Summer Hot Purple

Polish: New York Summer Hot Purple

I've read so many posts written by people who just love "jelly" polishes but being someone who favors opaque polishes, I rarely wear them myself. Since I do have three bottles of jelly polish by New York Summer, I figured it was time to share some grape jelly goodness!
I have only seen the New York Summer brand in a small mom and pop nail polish store, but from what I understand, it is available online as well. They come in a rather inconspicuous bottle with no frills, and extremely inexpensive (I believe I paid $1.50 for mine)- if you did not know what you're looking for, you may leave it on the shelf 100 times. However, I had heard rumor of the magic these bottles held, and get it share it with you today.
Jelly polishes are thinner than most polishes, taking many layers to build up opacity, though the pay off is a rich, jelly like finish. Honestly, this polish really does look like I very carefully applied concord grape jelly on each one of my nails.
Here are the results with two pretty painless coats:

This is the base for the next few posts I will show you, as we make a "jelly sandwich" together!

Nom, nom, nom <3

OPI Royal Rajah Ruby

OPI Royal Rajah Ruby from the Spring 2008 India collection

I had an intense day of cleaning today, and after destroying my manicure, despite wearing gloves, I decided to dye my hair to unwind a bit. The color ended up a little more brown than I wanted, but the Deep Cherry Brown name on the box was not entirely inaccurate. With my hair successfully dyed, I figured it was a good time to change my polish too.

Feeling especially indecisive, I decided to ask my husband what color I should paint my nails. His reply was, “What colors do you have?”, which nearly made me spit my tea out, since at 493 bottles my first thought was, “What color don't I have?” Ultimately, he suggested I paint my nails to match my nails- challenge accepted!

From all that, I ended up with OPI Royal Rajah Ruby. I can't sell you how many times I've picked up this polish and put it back, but I'm glad it made it on my nails. The color is a deep, deep red with just a touch of brown and beautiful shimmer. I was surprised to find the formal was a bit watery, though still workable- I suppose I have been spoiled by cremes lately. It took 2 coats, but the end color was worth it. Deep, a bit vampy, and perfect choice for my recently shortened nails.

I highly recommend this polish! After all, what girl doesn't want rubies on their nails?

Sinful Colors Starfish

Sinful Colors Starfish from the 2011 Adventure Island collection

I recently had an occasion where I did not feel bold nails were appropriate. *gasp!* As rare as those occasions are, it makes me glad I have a few nice pinks in my collection.

Sinful Colors Starfish released in 2011 with the Adventure Island collection that was their knock off the the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection. They had a few colors that were nearly dupes for the OPI's, such as Sinful Color's Open Seas to OPI's Mermaid's Tears. However, I do not consider Sinful Color's Starfish to be a dupe to the OPI color Steady as She Rose from the Pirates collection.

Those things said, this was a very pleasant soft pink crème. The application was very easy, and I would recommend most of Sinful Color's cremes to those who have not tried the brand yet. This really did not require any clean up, and I believe it would be a pretty universally flattering color. This was a very nice color for those who want something delicate that will still leave them feeling polished.

Color Club Antiquated

Color Club Antiquated from the 2011 Foiled Collection

I shared my love for Color Club in my recent post reviewing Blue-Topia, and in the post, the love continues. Antiquated came from the Foiled Collection, a set of six lovely foils in various colors, that released this past year. The color is a soft gold, reminding me of the tone of a well loved vintage gold ring.

This polish won me over in several ways. Without a question, this was a foil done right! The consistency of the polish was perfect, no running, no goo, just smooth fine foil goodness. I just love foil finishes because they give you sparkle and shimmer, but they aren’t as loud as glitter might be. The color was also great for my skin tone, as often brighter gold tones are not flattering on me at all. This almost felt like wearing a golden nude.

I’d highly recommend this polish to anyone looking for a great gold, and the entire collection for anyone who wants an excellent set of foils.

Essie As Gold As It Gets

Base: OPI Grape Set Match from the 2011 Serena Williams Glam Slam collection

Layered with: Essie As Gold As It Gets from the 2011 Luxeffect collection

Tips: Wet’N’Wild Fast Dry The Gold & the Beautiful

This is going to be a shorter post since I found the picture on my phone recently, but I did this manicure at least a month or so ago.

This seemed like a great picture to show off how much Essie’s As Gold As It Gets can glam up a polish. I just loved how royal the combination of a regal purple and rich gold looked together.

Anyways, not too much else to say about this since I don’t recall much else but really, really liking this manicure J

Enjoy!

Visit me at I'm Still Thinking... today

I am doing a guest polish at I'm Still Thinking... today! I'm so excited to be networking with other bloggers. Feel free to click over to Jenn's page and see my post about Orly Rocco A Go Go
Teaser pic!

Nabi Sky Twinkle

Base: Color Club Blue-topia from the 2011 Back to Boho collection

Layered with: Nabi Sky Twinkle

Nabi Sky Twinkle is a polish with fine silver holographic glitter and the occasional slightly larger blue fleck in a blue/purple jelly base.

This polish came from a Random Act of Kindness received from a friend in Ireland, and while I have never seen this polish in stores where I live, they are easy to find on eBay and quite affordable. The bottles hold .53 oz, just a smidge more than OPI but slightly less than Orly. The shape of the bottle reminds me a bit of Revlon bottles, though slightly less tapered at the top. The cap is quite large, and does not have a removable top (example, Butter London polish has a very wide cap, but the top is removable, making it easier to use). I did not find the larger cap too awkward to polish with despite the size. The brush is quite standard and created no issues.

Back to the polish itself, one thing I noticed on the cap was a sticker highlighting their “New & Thick Formula”. They were not kidding on that! The jelly base was very thick, though not goopy, I did end up putting in a few drops of thinner. I will say, given the choice between watery thin and a bit thick, I will take thick any day because that is so much easier to fix! What I did love about this polish was the density of the glitter. This was an awesome polish because the density I saw in the bottle translated exceptionally well to the nail. I used two coats, I could have easily done just one, but that glitter was calling to me. In lower light, the glitter just looks like find silver flecks- with my dark blue base it looked like the night sky. Under brighter light, the holographic glitter really popped and played in the light- it really looked like millions of twinkling stars on my nail. Love!

Do you have a favorite glitter polish?

Have you ever used Nabi polishes before?

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue from the 2011 Holiday Soirée collection

Orly Ingenue is a stunning purple leaning pink with fine golden particles. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Orly polishes- from the generous amount of polish the bottle holds to the bottle shape that prevents the polish from toppling over to the rubberized cap, they’re pretty great.

As far as the actual polish is concerned, we saw many similar colors to this released in 2011- there are several dupes, or near dupes such as OPI Rally Pretty Pink. This certainly does not take away from my love for type of color though, and since I do not own Rally Pretty Pink, I was happy to pick this one up. The formula was a bit thin for my liking, but I think I’ve just been spoiled by too many rich crèmes. The thin formula really did not impact application though, and this was reasonably opaque in 2 coats.

This is such a tricky polish to photograph because of the color shifts! In low lights, the pinky purple base really comes out, and in bright lights, the gold shines and sparkles. I think I loved this polish on me most when I was in a lower light situation with a small chandelier over me in a bar area of a restaurant- the way the light hit my nails the pinky purple came through but they glistened with golden shimmer.

I’m not sure how flattering the color was on me, but it was still very pretty!

Do you have any colors like this?

Did you get any of the Holiday Soiree collection when it was released?