Author: Adventures in Polishland

Monthly Nail Polish Haul: June Edition

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I’ve noticed that many other nail bloggers include this type of post at the end of each month, so I decided to do the same. This June has been a very special one for me and Adventures in Polishland. Though the blog began in April, it wasn’t until this month that I really took it to the next level. I got involved with the nail blog community, created a Facebook page, and even made it to 73 followers and over 1200 page views. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful support I’ve received! With that said, I would like to show you the polishes I purchased this month, and the deals I got on all of them. Don’t forget, Adventures in Polishland is dedicated to fabulous and affordable nails!

Left to right, here are all of my June scores!

  • Jordana Glitters in LA City Nights. I purchased this for just one penny on Copious because I had $10 in credit for signing up. You can sign up HERE and read my post about the polish HERE.
  • Fabulous Nails in 104 (white). I purchased this for $2.95 on HauteLook after applying a credit I had earned. You can sign up HERE and read my post about the polish HERE.
  • Julep in Susie (a beautiful mint green) and Niecy (a creamy bright pink). I got both plus pedi creme for just one penny! Julep Maven is a monthly subscription that typically costs $19.99, but you can get your first month for a penny be entering COLOR2012 at checkout. You can always skip a month if you don’t like the selections or don’t have room in your budget. Join Julep Maven HERE. You can read all about my first Maven box HERE.
  • Revlon in Impulsive and Siren. I got these just a few days ago at CVS. Both are originally $5.99 each, but with coupons I only spent $4.98 plus I got $4 in Extra Care Bucks to spend on my next purchase. I haven’t tried out these  polishes yet, but stay tuned for them in coming posts!
  • Sally Hansen HD in Byte and Laser. These were also a CVS purchase, getting both polishes on clearance for a total of $3.47! Read my post about Sally Hansen HD HERE.

In all I purchased eight polishes and paid a grand total of $11.69! How awesome is that?! All I did was use discount websites, special sales, and coupons. That’s what I call fabulous.

What polishes did you purchase this month?!

Today’s Forecast: Cloudy

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Once again I’m sporting a mani that was inspired by Pinterest (see original HERE). The cloud trend seems to be sweeping through the nail blogs lately, and I love it! Because I”m not much of an artist, this technique allows me to have nails that look fancy yet aren’t difficult to accomplish. Just pick three of your favorite colors, make sure you’ve got time for the polish to dry, and be patient! A steady hand is extremely helpful when painting on the clouds. Here are the polishes I used– left to right we have Julep’s Niecy, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear’s Lacey Lilac, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear’s Celeb City.

I began with Niecy from Julep. It’s the first time I’ve used this polish and I LOVE it! Applied beautifully with no streaks. It also dries super fast. I accidentally bumped my hand right after I painted the second coat, and it didn’t smudge! That is some super awesome polish. Here’s a quick photo of Niecy on it’s own. Don’t forget, you can by Julep products HERE. 

I began painting the clouds with Lacey Lilac once the pink base had dried, which luckily for me was almost instantaneous! To get the cloud design, paint three strokes of polish on each nail, each one a bit shorter than the previous. You want to aim for rounded edges on each stroke to get the cloud shape, so try to start with a drop of polish, and then drag the excess up. It was definitely hard on my pinky nail (too small!!), and painting my right hand was darn scary. I have to say, I was pretty excited after Lacey Lilac was completed. Pretty good for my first try, no?! 

Lastly, I finished up with one of my all time favorite polishes, Celeb City from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I haven’t used it in a long time, so I made sure to include it in this mani. I also thought it would be a good choice to have a nice, shiny silver along with two creamy colors. I think it goes together very nicely! Plus, after doing round one of the cloud shape with the lilac, I was a pro with Celeb City. My biggest tip for this mani, besides having patience, is to make sure you let each coat dry before moving on. You don’t want the colors to blend together! This is especially important when applying your topcoat. 

I’m really pleased with the finished product! It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely awesome for my first try. Not only is this mani easy enough for those like me who aren’t good at art, but the products I used were all under $3! Talk about being fabulous AND affordable! Oh, and don’t forget about my giveaway! Go HERE to enter to win some free polish.

Love this trend! Have you rocked clouds yet?

50 Blog Followers Giveaway!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Thank you all so much for your support! I started this blog just over two months ago in April, and I am so happy with how far I have come already. I now have over 900 page views and I am up to 57 followers. To thank you I am giving away some awesome products which were donated to the giveaway by LASplash Cosmetics. See how I used their polish and glitter HERE.

As this is my first giveaway, we are starting out small. Over time the giveaways will get bigger! This is only open to those in the United States, as I am still learning about international shipping. Here is what you can win:

LASplash Glitter Top Coat, Blowfish Blue polish, and Mardi Gras nail art glitter.

Please enter by completing these actions. The first two that are bolded are mandatory. In other words, if you don’t do both of them your other entries won’t count. Rafflecopter won’t work on my page, so we’re doing this the old fashioned way.

  • 1 entry for following my blog. WordPress users follow by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the page, others by entering your email to the right. 
  • 1 entry for “Liking” my Facebook page HERE
  • 1 entry for “Liking” the LASplash Facebook page HERE
  • 1 entry for “Liking” this blog post.
  • 2 entries for Tweeting about the giveaway
  • 2 entries for posting about the giveaway on Facebook.

You must comment on this entry with the actions you completed for your entries to count. Please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions! Giveaway will be open until midnight on July 7th.

Try it on Tuesday: LASplash Polish & Glitter

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I recently received some products from LASplash to try out and I am very pleased with them! Today I am wearing a beautiful peachy pink color dressed up with nail glitter in One for Fun style. I had never tried this polish before, and saw it on a fellow blogger’s site. I knew I had to have some! Even though it retails for just $3.99 (go HERE to shop!), it looks and applied like a more expensive brand! The polish had a nice texture that was not streaky. It took only 2 coats to look the way I wanted it to. The brush size was also the perfect– not too big or too small. I really enjoyed the color, too. It is called Blowfish Pink and has a slight shimmer to it. I would call it more of a peach than a bright pink, so it’s very pretty.

In addition to the polish, I also got some nail art glitter. It comes in a little pot, and to apply you just dip your finger into it. Make sure your nail polish is wet so the glitter sticks. Carefully press the glitter into the polish a bit and be sure to finish with a generous layer or two of top coat. LASplash even has a special glitter top coat, but you can use any kind that you already have. The glitter I used for this mani is called Spring Fling, and is a beautiful mix of pink, blue, lime green, yellow, and clear confetti. It goes perfectly with Blowfish Pink! My tip for using the glitter is to make sure you have newspaper or wax paper on the table for easier cleanup. I didn’t experience too much runaway glitter, but it’s better to plan for a mess! 

What do you think of my mani?! I love it! LASplash is another brand that lets you have fabulous AND affordable nails! But the most exciting thing is that you can try out LASplash polish and nail glitter, too. Because I have reached 50 blog followers, I am having my first giveaway! Stay tuned for another entry today with the details.

This product was sent to me for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

The 11 Question Meme!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I’ve been tagged! Thanks for including me, Narmai! Check out her blog Made by Me HERE.

The 11 Question Meme

I. Each per­son must post 11 things about them­selves on their blog.
II. Answer the ques­tions the tag­ger set for you in their post.
III. Cre­ate 11 new ques­tions for the peo­ple you tag to answer.
IV. You have to choose 11 peo­ple to tag and link them on the post. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her. No tag backs, and you legit­i­mately have to tag 11 people.

PART I

  1. I’m a Bravo addict. I’ll watch the Real Housewives any day and every day!
  2. Justin Timberlake is my boyfriend.
  3. I love coffee, and I pick both Dunkin’ Donuts AND Starbucks.
  4. I crochet in my spare time, and am trying to set it up as a small business called Captain Hook Crochet.
  5. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are pretty awesome book series.
  6. Growing up I played the trumpet. One day I will again.
  7. I saw Clinton Kelly in Macys’ and rode in an elevator with Christian Siriano.
  8. I could eat pizza and ice cream every day.
  9. I aspire to be an entertainment and sports lawyer.
  10. Couponing is a worthwhile hobby of mine.
  11. I love to be silly.

PART II

1. Describe your ideal sunday morning.

Sleeping in just a little, then enjoying a nice breakfast and cup of coffee. And, of course, browsing the ads in the Sunday paper.

2. Are you a fan of gadgets or do you stay away from technology?

I have an iPad that I am obsessed with, but I’m not into too much other than that.

3. What TV programme do you never ever miss?

I don’t really watch TV shows on a weekly basis, but I love Smash and Dancing With the Stars.

4. If you could invite anyone for a dinner, who would it be?

JT.

5. Who was your childhood hero?

Difficult question. Not sure that I had a hero, but I wanted to be a pop star like Britney or Christina.

6. What three words would your best friend use to describe you?

Silly, sincere, smart.

7. What would be your favorite place in the world to live?

I don’t think I’ve been to enough places to really know yet, but I am very happy to be moving to NYC!

8. If you could be someone else for a day, who would you want to be?

I’d be Elle Woods. That’s anybody, right?!

9. Where do you see yourself in three years? (annoying question, I know)

Graduating law school, baby!

10. If you could change or erase something that happened in the past, what would you choose?

So many things I would change! Probably my choice of undergraduate school.

11. What’s the best april fools joke you have pulled on someone or someone pulled on you?

I stay away from April Fools! I’m not a fan. I enjoy a good prank on other days, though.

PART III

  1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  2. Who is your favorite clothing designer? Why?
  3. What song gets stuck in your head most often?
  4. What was your favorite school subject growing up?
  5. If you won the lottery tomorrow, how would you spend (or save!) the money?
  6. Top 5 books you would recommend to a friend.
  7. Do you remember your dreams?
  8. Coke or Pepsi?
  9. What is your guilty pleasure TV show?
  10. Do you enjoy gossiping?
  11. What’s your favorite color?

PART IV

  1. Naomi at Bewitchery 
  2. Amie at Am1e’s Nail Diary 
  3. Liz at My Life is FabuLIZ
  4. Ami at EverySensory 
  5. Jesse at BeautyByMsJesse
  6. Andra at LacquerLust
  7. Christie at TotallyChristie
  8. Lucy at NailDays
  9. Holly at MissHollyBerries
  10. Tiffany at 2thelastdrop
  11. Fancie at Fancieland

First Copious Purchase: Jordana Glitters!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Thanks to fellow nail blogger Never Naked Nails, I was introduced to a great website called Copious. Similar to eBay or Etsy, users buy and sell different products on Copious. Luckily enough for me, there are lots of people selling nail polish at discounted prices. You can even find some polishes that have been discontinued! For my first purchase I chose a beautiful polish from Jordana Glitters called LA City Nights. I have never used this brand before, and I am pretty thrilled with the result! It did take 4 coats of the glitter to get the result below, but it looks so fun I can’t complain. This color includes both blue and purple glitters. The blue are larger squares, but the purple are smaller grains. 

I think next time I am going to try layering this glitter. Even though it does look good on its own, it would definitely be better with something else. I can even picture this on top of a hot pink! What do you think?! If you’d like to join Copious, simply click HERE. When you sign up today you’ll receive a $10 credit! Just an FYI, you will need to spend $0.01 of your own money, but it’s still a fabulous deal. Have you ever tried Jordana Glitters before? Let me know what you think of it!

P.S. Only 4 more blog followers until my giveaway can begin!

Make Your Neons POP!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland
Fabulous Nails Color 104

This season neon colors are definitely in. I first tried this trend out back in April (see that post HERE), but I felt as if I needed a highlighter color on my nails once again. Yesterday I received the white nail polish that I ordered from the Fabulous Nails sale at HauteLook, so I decided to do a mani using the trick my friend Eve taught me a couple years back. If you want to make your neons shine brighter, simply begin with a white polish! Believe me, you will love the result!

I began with two coats of the white. This was my first time using Fabulous Nails, and it didn’t excite me too much. The coats were quite streaky, and the color wasn’t opaque. Thankfully for this mani the white didn’t have to be perfect, because I was placing another color on top anyway. Make sure you let your white polish dry before you put on your next color, or the polishes might smudge and blend together. I decided to top the white with Did I Dye it Too Blonde? by Spoiled. I used two coats of that polish as well. Now my nails are definitely popping! Below are two pictures of my mani. The first one is without the flash, but to give you an idea of how bright my nails really are I took one with the flash as well. What do you think?

 

Julep Maven Box: My July Pick!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Today Julep announced the Maven boxes for the month of July and I am super excited! All of the boxes are beautiful, but I decided to switch from Classic With a Twist to American Beauty. Here’s what I will be getting in my box:

Image
Source: Julep website

Stunning! The best part of July is that every Maven will receive an additional polish for FREE! You get a different polish depending on your country. I’ll be getting the gorgeous one for the U.S.A.

Image
Source: Julep Facebook Page

If you haven’t joined Julep yet, this is the perfect month to do so! Not only do you get the regular Maven box, but you will get the extra polish. Don’t forget– you can use the promo code COLOR2012 to get all of this for ONE PENNY!! People have asked me if this is a joke, but I assure you it’s not. Julep believes that once you try their products you will keep coming back for more. Remember, you can cancel your Julep subscription at any time and you can skip any month that you don’t want. Go sign up here: http://www.julep.com/?r=21760558 and become a Maven! Let me know if you join 🙂

Somewhat Failed Gradient Nails

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Well, friends, not all of my Adventures in Polishland are successful. Last night I attempted the gradient nails trend, and it was more difficult then I thought it would be! What are gradient nails? Click HERE to see what I was going for. Basically, it’s smudging two or more colors together to make them appear blended. I had looked up a few tutorials on how to achieve this effect, and tried one method. I guess it wasn’t the right one for me!

Base of Lacey Lilac from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear

I began this mani with Lacey Lilac from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I used two coats and let the polish dry completely. Then, I got to work with a makeup sponge and dabbed O.P.I’s Lourve Me Lourve Me Not along the tops of my nails. I’m not sure if it was the polish that didn’t want to cooperate, but it seemed as if the sponge was soaking up the polish instead of putting it on! In the end, I’m not too thrilled with the look I got, but I’m not going to give up. I’ll probably try this out again in a week or two. Here is a photo of my left hand, which looks so much better than my right! What do you think of my mani? Have you tried the gradient trend?

Before I end this post I wanted to announce here that once I reach 50 blog followers I will be hosting a giveaway! So if you want to score some free polish make sure you hit the follow button at the top of the page or sign up to receive updates via email. That button is in the column on the right.

P.S. We are only 20 followers away from that goal!

Mani Upgrade and a Mini Tragedy

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland
My sad glitter polish

Ever since I upgraded my glitter french manicure, I knew it would be a fun idea to do a series on the blog of all my mani upgrades. Sometimes it’s fun to take your nails to a new high. Today, I added some flair to my mint green nails with some glitter. I have had Julep’s Susie on my nails for a few days and the tops had started to chip a tiny bit. Since I will probably do a new manicure tomorrow, I just wanted to update my current one a little bit. So, I touched up the mint green base, and got out my ever-faithful Wet ‘n Wild glitter. But I had a little surprise waiting for me. The top of the bottle from the glitter got separated from the brush! Luckily I was able to dig out the brush and still use the glitter, but I think it might be time to upgrade that polish.

And here are my upgraded nails! I added two coats of my clear glitter to get this effect. It’s a bit hard to see the true beauty of my nails with these photos. I’m still learning the best photography methods for nails! And I don’t have a super fancy camera either. What do you think of my upgraded mani? Don’t forget, if you like the mint color, go to Julep’s website HERE to join and enter COLOR2012 to get your first box for a penny!