Julep Swatches

Hello there! I have been meaning to post for a few days now but alas, I started tutoring again which has left me a little bit of a scatter brain. So my last post was about my lovely Julep box. Just by looking at the bottles, I could tell that I would love my two new polishes. Oh how right I was! These two colors are just gorgeous. First off here are some pictures of Julep Megan. I thought this was going to be a darker aqua color but really it turned out to be a sheer shimmery aqua, which is absolutely beautiful. 

Most of the time I feel that nail polish needs a little more to it, which is why I usually will snazz it up with a stamp or hand paint an image or something. Adding nail art to a plain polish is so fun and really makes things festive but with Megan I felt no need to add anything to it, it's just lovely all on its own. 

Next up there is Carrie, and as I have mentioned before this reminds me of Sex and the City. This is such a cute cotton candy pink. I really loved this color and took lots of photos with it, so here are just three haha. 

Carrie is also another color I could just wear by itself, it's simply pretty and makes me feel oh so girly. However, I was curious how it would look with stamping so I tried a combo that I have always loved, pink and brown.

Base Coat: Essie ridge filling base coat
Base Color: Julep Carrie
Stamping Polish: Essence color and go, Date with the Night
Stamp: BM 16
Top Coat: Seche Vite
**And the dots in the flowers were made with the OPI exclusive, A Sparkle Yule Love and a dotting tool.

I was also curious how this design would look with a matte top coat. I just painted one hand and I must say I wasn't all that impressed with it. Having the shine with the color combo was a much better fit. It was hard to capture the matte top coat on my camera but the third picture below is with the matte top coat.

With Matte top coat.

So who else has gotten a Julep Maven account? How do you like them or dislike them? I hope you enjoyed my post. Always feel free to leave me comments, I love hearing what you guys have to say.

Until next time,
☮Erin

Julep Maven

Hello! Good news, I got my Julep Maven box today! YAY! I've been on and off about joining up with Julep since I have heard both good and bad news about it. Mostly good, however I have read complaints about their customer service. Anyways, I saw that they were having a promotion to sign up for just $5 and I just couldn't say no. For just 5 bucks, how can anyone who loves nail polish not want to try it? Here's a look at what I got:

Like my scarf? 

When I took the style quiz I ended up getting Bombshell. I never thought of myself as a bombshell but in this case, for the most part, I think it is fitting. I do love my bright colors and prints. So my box included two polishes, age defying hand brightener, and a sample of glycolic hand scrub and SPF 30 hand cream.

Carrie

Megan

Both colors are just gorgeous. Carrie is described as a, "cotton candy pink crème" and Megan is a, "Mediterranean aquamarine shimmer." Carrie makes me think of Carrie Bradshaw from the HBO show Sex and the City. I absolutely adore Sex and the City, so expect some Carrie inspired manicures in the future.

Now I want to watch Sex and the City. haha. I'm excited about this Julep Maven program and I can't wait to use these goodies! 

Until next time,

☮Erin

Broken nail sadness and remedy

Hello! Quick post for today. Sadly, the other night I broke my nail. Quite violently I might add. Luckily I was able to clip and file all of my nails to the same length, which is very short but at least they will grow! So the remedy for the sadness was to paint on a simple and cute design. I got the inspiration from my weekend bag, which has a cute hounds tooth pattern.

Here's my weekend bag :)

I also want to make note that I was experiencing such a goopy mess with this polish, which was sad because it was a brand new polish that I got for Christmas. Any tips for how to make a polish less goopy? I've also been having a hard time with black polish. It is so staining! Here's what I used:

Base coat: Essie ridge filling base coat

Base color: China Glaze For Audrey

Stamping color: Konad Black stamping polish

Stamp: BM 19

Until next time,

☮Erin

First Taped Mani

Hello! This post is late but... HAPPY NEW YEAR! For the new year I wanted to start out with a type of mani that I have been wanting to try, a taped mani, inspired by this manicure that I saw on Nailside. Nailside has the cutest taped manicures.

Before I used tape.

Also for this mani, I used my favorite name color acquired in 2011, OPI's Mermaid Tears from the Pirates of the Carribean collection.

So I painted two coats of Mermaids Tears, then stamped BM 19 on top of it. After full drying, I painted a layer of Mattify to make the polish matte. (Which is a look I am starting to really love by the way.) Once completely dried I put masking tape diagonally on each of my nails and then painted only one layer of Sinful Colors Black on Black. Viola!

Thumb came out the best.

Base coat: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat

Base color: OPI Mermaids Tears

Stamping plate: BM 19

Stamping color: Konad special stamping polish in black

Top coat: Seche Vite/ Warpaint Mattify

*Taped part: Sinful Colors Black on Black

Apologies for the lateness of this post. I was just spending the day watching the Big Bang Theory with the boyfriend. How did you spend your new years? I hope you all had a wonderful time.

Until next time,

☮Erin