america – Adventures in Polishland

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Easy July 4th Nail Art | My Independence Day Manicure

Posted on July 4, 2016June 7, 2016 by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Monday! It is Independence Day here in the United States, and I wanted to share with you the manicure I created to celebrate. I’ve always loved July 4th, and what a better way to wear the red, white, and blue than on your nails! I reached into my nail polish collection to create this really easy nail art look, which can be customized to fit your tastes and skill level. Let me share my Independence Day manicure with all of you!

What You Need // What I Used:

Red Nail Polish // KBShimmer in Chilly Papper [LINK]
Blue Nail Polish // Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant in Out of the Blue [LINK]
White Nail Polish // LVX Fantom [LINK]
Scotch Tape
Born Pretty Store Star Stamping Plate [LINK]
Stamp and Scraper Tool // Born Pretty Store Stamp Set [LINK]
Top Coat // Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat [LINK]

I began my manicure by painting all of my nails red with the exception of my ring finger, which I painted blue. I made sure to let this dry completely before continuing on with the nail art look. If you are in a rush, you can simply leave your manicure like this, or add some glitter on top to dress it up a bit! A white glitter over the blue accent nail would look great.

The final step was adding on some white stars using my stamping tools. I decided to block off part of my nail using Scotch tape, and left only the middle triangle open for the stamp. Make sure to choose a really pigmented white polish so that the stars will really stand out on your nail. Feel free to stamp over the whole nail, or just a portion like I did! Follow up with a glossy top coat once the stamp is dry, and your manicure is complete!

All in all, I am loving my July 4th nail art! It was really easy to create, but looks super festive. If you don’t own a stamping plate with stars, you can substitute nail stickers or simply a glitter polish. Of course, if you’re really fancy you can freehand some stars as well. Make the look your own with whatever you have in your collection! I hope you are having a fun and safe Independence Day! Please tag me on social media so I can see your festive nails!

Some of the products in this post were provided for my unbiased review. This post includes affiliate links. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

July 4th Nail Art featuring Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

Posted on June 25, 2015August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Thursday! July 4th is just around the corner, and today I have some red, white, and blue polishes from Sally Hansen Insta-Dri to share with you. These polishes are part of a new, limited edition collection that is hitting drugstores this July. I decided that in addition to my usual review I would try my hand at some tie dye nail art. Let me go ahead and share these patriotic polishes with you!

First up is Tag, Ur It! a white creme polish. Tag, Ur It! has a great formula that is opaque in two coats. This is an amazingly glossy polish, and I’m impressed with the formula! I’ve already worn this twice – once for nail art and once alone. It’s perfect for summer.

Next up is Vandal Eyes, a sky blue polish. Vandal Eyes has a great formula as well, and is opaque in two coats. It is difficult to catch on camera, but there is a slight holographic shimmer in this one. I didn’t even notice the shimmer until the polish had dried on my nails. It is stunning!

Last but not least is Quick Brick, a true red creme polish. Quick Brick is my favorite of the bunch! It has an incredible formula, and is nearly a one coat polish. I think this is my new favorite red! It is a must have in your collection.

I wanted to use these colors for some July 4th nail art, so I went to Pinterest for inspiration. I found THIS tie dye pin and decided to go for it! It was a bit harder than I expected, but I think it turned out pretty cool! I love how the red and blue mixed together. I’ll definitely ned to test out this nail art technique some more!

All in all, Sally Hansen does it again with another great limited edition polish line. These polishes hit drugstores in July, so keep an eye on the displays. Whether you are looking for some July 4th colors, or simply some fast-drying polishes, these are a win! Be sure to let me know in the comments what you’ll be wearing on your nails for July 4th!

The products in this post were provided for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

July 4th Nails with Sally Hansen Color Frenzy in Red, White & Hue!

Posted on July 2, 2014August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Wednesday! The Fourth of July is right around the corner, and if you’re looking to create a festive manicure without the fuss, I’ve got you covered! Sally Hansen’s new Color Frenzy line contains glitter polishes that have a mix of colors and shapes in a unique suspension formula. There are eight fun colors in the line, but the perfect one to celebrate America is called Red, White & Hue. Let me show you this fun polish!

Red, White and Hue contains (you guessed it) red, white, and blue glitters in a clear base. The glitters are hexagonally shaped, and are in small and medium sizes. I layered one coat over Zoya’s Blu to get this manicure. I am impressed with how easily the glitters in Red, White and Hue apply to the nail, and the coverage with one coat. I didn’t even apply a top coat, as the Color Frenzy base is quite shiny on its own!

I also tested Red, White and Hue over a white base. While the white glitters do blend in a bit, I like how this manicure looks as well. If you’re looking for a fun nail art look this holiday, try layering Red, White and Hue over a skittle manicure of all different polishes!

All in all, I’m loving this easy and affordable July 4th manicure! You can purchase Sally Hansen Color Frenzy polishes at your local drugstore, food store, or department store for just $5.99 each. I’m definitely going to checkout the other polishes in this collection! Let me know in the comments what manicure you’ll be wearing to celebrate America’s birthday! Feel free to use hashtag #PolishlandRWB so I can see your nails!

The product in this post was provided for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Try it on Tuesday: Zoya America (Was it Worth the Hoopla?)

Posted on July 31, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

On the Fourth of July, Zoya had a promotion where if you spent $10 you could get a free bottle of their America polish. Well, shortly after midnight, a photo began circulating on the Internet explaining how you could get a bottle of America completely free without having to spend anything. I was extremely excited about this, as I had not tried Zoya before. I jumped on the chance to get my free bottle, and even shared the news with my Facebook followers. When I woke up the next day, I discovered that Zoya had cancelled my order, along with 14,000 others that had been placed. It turns out Zoya had a glitch in their system, and I would not be getting the polish for free.

This situation caused a lot of drama on the Zoya Facebook page, and throughout the nail blog community. Some believed that since the glitch was Zoya’s responsibility, they should have compensated everyone who ordered the free bottle. Others, however, felt that customers should not have abused the promo code, since it was made public originally that there was a $10 minimum to be spent. As for me, I was quite disappointed. I was unaware of the original promotion. I decided to go ahead and search for a $10 item on the Zoya website. Believe it or not, all of their polishes are $8, so in reality Zoya wanted you to buy two items at $16 to get the free polish. I was about to give up on the promotion, until a few of my Facebook followers informed me of another glitch in the system– only buy one polish and you can get Zoya America for free. Even though this was a glitch too, I received two polishes for only $8!

So after all that trouble, I finally got the chance to try Zoya America for today’s Try it on Tuesday. Not only have I been wanting to test out this brand, but we are the midst of the Olympics– go Team USA! This bright red cream is not usually my typical color, but I am always up for trying out new things. Zoya has a great reputation, and is a vegan nail polish brand, so I had high expectations. In the end I am not “wowed” by it, but it is definitely a nice polish.

Above is two coats of America. I could have gotten away with one coat, but I added a second one to be safe. This polish was a little hard to work with texture wise. I think it was a bit thicker than I was expecting. It did apply evenly, but next time I will know to do thin coats. America dried quickly, but was impressionable for a few hours after application. This red is not my favorite color, but if you do like red you will love this polish. It was quite hard to photograph accurately, so please visit the Zoya website HERE to view and purchase America.

In the end, I do think Zoya America was worth all the hoopla. Though it is not my favorite color, I got to try a new brand at a great price. I look forward to using the other Zoya polish that I purchased in the future!

What do you think of Zoya polishes? Were you included in the Fourth of July upset?

Try it on Tuesday: July 4th Edition

Posted on July 3, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Yesterday I anxiously awaited the arrival of my July Julep Maven Box, and when it arrived I was so excited to try out my new polish. As tomorrow is the Fourth of July for all of us Americans, I knew I just had to put on America the Beautiful right away! I decided to combine this glittery goodness with a red, white, and blue that I already owned. Here are all the polishes I used:

Left to right: unnamed red mini from OPI, Empire State Blue from NYC, 104 (white) from Fabulous Nails, and America the Beautiful from Julep.

To complete the mani, I painted two coats of America the Beautiful on each finger except for my ring finger on each hand. I am loving the One for Fun look lately, and just had to do it again! The glitter was actually pretty easy to work with. Unlike other recipients of July’s Julep Box, I have many stars in my America polish. I do admit, they seem to clump together, but with a bit of careful polishing, you can get them to stand out. I love the mix of glitters, too– fine red grains, blue & silver flakes, and the silver stars! It’s very beautiful.

On my accent finger, I used the scotch tape method to create diagonal stripes of red, white, and blue. I love this trick, but always get impatient waiting for the polish to dry. Remember, when you use the tape, begin from the bottom up. In other words, I painted the red color first, then the white, and ended with the blue. It’s much easier to build on colors rather than attempt to work in between them. With a bit of patience, your nails will look great!!

Though this mani looks fabulous in person, it was extremely difficult to photograph. I tried areas with different lighting and tried shooting from different angles. Finally, my dad helped out with this camera phone macro setting and got the shot below for me. You can see the stars shining bright!

What are you wearing for Try it on Tuesday or July 4th? Let me know! You can always post photos on my Facebook page HERE. Finally, don’t forget to enter my giveaway! Only 4 days left to score some polish and glitter from LASplash. You can see that post HERE.

Julep Maven Box: My July Pick!

Posted on June 20, 2012August 12, 2015 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:

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.

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 🙂