Category: Nails

Try it on Tuesday: Half Moon Edition

Try it on Tuesday is all about finally putting on a color or two that you have in your possession, but that you haven’t used yet. This week I decided to not only use new colors, but to try out a new nail trend as well. I have seen people trying out the half moon design using binder reinforcement stickers, and I wanted to do the same. Most of us have some of these stickers laying around the house, so why not put them to good use? The trick is simple, but does require some practice. I’ll tell you how I achieved the look, and show you two Anise polishes along the way!

Bronzed Babe by Anise

Anise polish can be found as DSW stores. That’s right– at your favorite shoe store! When I found that out I was very surprised. How had I missed them before? Well, you can find these polishes right at the register. They are $6 each, but they are typically on sale for buy one get one half off, so you get two for $9. Not too bad, especially since I had a bit of a gift card to put towards my purchase. I bought two complimentary colors– Miss Inspector and Bronzed Babe. I knew that I wanted to use them both together.

For this half moon mani, I began with Bronzed Babe. This is a gorgeous shimmery gold. Its formula and look is very similar to Celeb City from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (one of my favorites!), except that it is gold and not silver. I used two coats, but it looked good with just one! It was very easy to apply, and dried rather quickly. I actually wore it alone for a few hours because I didn’t have the time to finish this mani all in one sitting, and I loved it! This is one of my new favorites!

Next, I applied a sticker to each nail. This method is very similar to the scotch tape trick, so be sure to press the stickers firmly down on dry polish. Once the stickers are in place, paint your next color. I used Miss Inspector, a creamy brown. Though this color looks very nice, I am not overly thrilled with the formula. Of course, this is the first time I’m using it, so I’m not sure how it would look without Bronzed Babe underneath it. The first coat was streaky and thin, but the second coat was much better. The worst part was the smell. Phew! So stinky! I’m not sure why that was, but it turned me off a bit. I’m not sure I’ll be using this color too much.

Stick ’em on!

Just as you do with scotch tape manis, be sure to peel off the stickers of your half moon mani while the polish is still wet. Finish up with your topcoat to even out any imperfections. While my mani didn’t come out perfectly, I am pretty happy with my first half moon attempt. I can see that I positioned the stickers a little too high on the nail, especially on my right hand. I’ll be more careful about that next time.

Miss Inspector by Anise in half moon style!

What do you think of this mani? Have you tried the half moon style before? What about Anise polish? Let me know!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway HERE!

Ride the Waves with Elle Surfer Babe

Here at Adventures in Polishland, I focus on bringing you nails that are fabulous and affordable. Typically, I don’t like to spend over $5 for polish. I never expected to pick up any of the Elle line new at Kohls stores, which retails for $10. However, I have the best mom, and she let me use her Kohls Cash to get a free bottle! I picked up Surfer Babe, a beautiful light blue. Even though I got this bottle for free, I was still a bit skeptical about it. Why is this polish $10 when it is sold at Kohls? Isn’t Kohls supposed to be inexpensive? I’m very happy to announce that this bottle of polish surprised me and turned out to be fabulous!

Surfer Babe by Elle

Surfer Babe is a light blue a bit on the teal side, with a shimmer running through it. I was a bit nervous with the first coat of polish. It applied evenly, but was very sheer. Luckily the second coat worked like magic. My nails look exactly as I hoped they would! The color is now opaque and extremely gorgeous. I am honestly impressed with Elle’s formula. At the same time, I am not sure that I would spend $10 regular price for this polish. If it was even $6 I might purchase them every once in a while, but I would rather go for a drugstore brand that is comparable in quality. Do you think $10 is a lot for Elle polish? Have you tried this brand yet?

Instagram shot!

P.S. My Kohls store was offering $1 off coupons for Elle polish! The coupons were located right next to the display. Make sure to keep an eye out for those if you’re going to buy this brand!

Second Chance Purple with e.l.f. Polish

I was so disappointed with yesterday’s manicure that I took it off the first chance I got. Sorry, Revlon, but I’m mad at you! Because I was still feeling purple nails, I tried out the polish I recently got by e.l.f. (eyes, lips, face). After yesterday it was a dream to use this color! I am much happier with the formula, the shade of purple, and the overall manicure.

Royal Purple by e.l.f.

This is the first product from e.l.f. that I’ve ever used. I purchased it off Copious using credits, so I only paid $0.54 of my own money! (Don’t forget, you can get a $10 credit when you join Copious HERE). Normally, these polishes retail for only $2 anyway, so they’re super affordable. The color I purchased is called Royal Purple, and it is a beautiful, shimmery hue. It’s a bit lighter than I thought it would be, but I really like it. I would say it is a more on the magenta side than a deep purple.

In terms of application, the first coat was a little streaky, but still applied evenly. The second coat took care of any problems I had and looked great! I also really liked the brush for this polish. It was very full, and easy to use. I think the one drawback I have with this polish is that it’s very similar to an OPI I already own called Lourve Me Lourve Me Not. It’s always hard to shop for polish online!

You can really see the shimmer in the bottle here!

All in all, I am MUCH happier with this purple than I was with Revlon’s Impulsive. Sometimes you just need to give your mani a second chance! Have you ever needed to give yourself a second chance mani? What was wrong with the original polish you used?

Try it on Tuesday: Revlon’s Impulsive

For today’s Try it on Tuesday I went with a purple from Revlon that I purchased a couple weeks back at CVS. I’ve never tried Revlon before, and to be honest I am a bit disappointed with it. Let me tell you why.

Impulsive by Revlon

The formula on this polish was definitely off. My first coat came out streaky and uneven, with some areas thicker than others. With a second coat the polish looked much better, yet I still wasn’t won over with the color. I think it just isn’t right for my skin tone (although my mom likes it on me). The real problems occurred when the polish was drying. For some reason I now have tiny, little air bubbles on almost every nail. I know this can happen when you shake the bottle before using the polish, but I didn’t do that so I’m not sure what happened! Tomorrow I am going to try another coat on top to see if that evens everything out. I sure hope it does!

Even though I wasn’t happy with this bottle from Revlon, I won’t give up on the brand just yet. I have another polish that I purchased at the same time as Impulsive that I will try out, too. I do have to say that I am surprised with the lack of quality in this formula. It retails at about $5 at drugstores, and there are plenty of polishes that are cheaper that are much better. What do you think? Have you tried Revlon polishes?

Mani Upgrade with Geometric Glitter

Remember my manicure from my last post? It was a beautiful nude color from Julep called Lynne. I loved it, but it was time for some sparkle. I knew I wanted to use another color from my July Julep Maven Box called Yumi, so I ran a short poll on my Facebook page to determine what style I should do. The winning trend was geometric glitter, and I was excited to try it out. I’ve done a few other geometric styles, but I hadn’t tried it out with glitter before. It turns out to be just as easy, and it looks super fun!

 To get a geometric look, all you need is scotch tape and scissors! Simply cut small strips of scotch tape in any shape you want and place it on a completely dry manicure. You can do any design you want- stripes, diagonal lines, chevrons, etc. I like to do a different shape on each nail. Once the tape is on your nail, make sure it is pressed down so that no polish will leak through. Then, paint right over the tape with your new color. Make sure to take off the tape before the polish dries! For my mani, I used three coats of Julep’s Yumi. It is a beautiful, multi-dimensional glitter in a light pink base. It is very sheer so it is perfect for layering. It is also opalescent, so the colors shine in the light. It looks perfect with Lynne!

Above is a photo of my finished product! Notice how I used all different geometric shapes. I love this look! It is perfect for a mani upgrade because your nails will be already dry, plus you can cover up any imperfections with the new color. People will also be impressed with your nails, even though you know all you used was scotch tape. Have you tried out this trick yet? What colors did you use?

Macro shot of my thumb. Don’t you love this design & color combo?

P.S. Don’t forget you can join Julep Maven HERE! Enter code COLOR2012 to get your first box for one penny.

Get Off Me, Glitter!

Back in April when I first started Adventures in Polishland, my friend Steph requested a post about how to successfully remove glitter. Though I sport glitter polishes rather frequently I have never needed to seek out alternate methods of removing glitter until today. My beautiful Julep America was practically glued onto my nails. It took quite a bit of effort to remove, but now I know the trick that works, and will share it with all of you!

I first tried to take my glitter off with THIS method that I found on Pinterest. I’m not going into too much detail here, because sadly it did not work for me! Basically, you’re supposed to take a cotton ball, break it into pieces, dip it in remover, and set it on your nails for 1-2 minutes. The polish (any polish is the claim) is supposed to magically slide off your nail. I don’t think so! Here is what my poor left hand looked at after trying this out three times! That’s right– I repeated this three times.

Not for anything, but you can see that my regular nail polish on my ring finger didn’t come off completely either. Boo!

Onto method number two– tin foil glitter claws! I was hesitant to try this out because it uses a lot of materials at once, but alas, I needed clean nails. Basically take a cotton ball dip it in remover, and wrap it up with your finger in tin foil. Repeat on each finger and let sit for about ten minutes (yes, that long). The good news is that this really does work. You look a bit silly, but who cares?! The important thing is the glitter WILL come off. In case you’re wondering how these glitter claws look, I snapped a photo.  

Now if your glitter seems to be easily peeled, I wouldn’t go through all this trouble. Instead, gently peel off the polish. Don’t dig into your nail or you might take off some layers, but simply peeling it off is fine. Most importantly, always be sure to apply base coat! You want to provide a protective layer between your nail and the glitter. 

There you have it! The best method to removing glitter is tin foil claws. Now you don’t have to fear the sparkle.

P.S. Julep is having a sale on HauteLook today! Lots of discounts. Go shop HERE.

Monthly Nail Polish Haul: June Edition

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

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?

Try it on Tuesday: LASplash Polish & Glitter

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.

First Copious Purchase: Jordana Glitters!

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!