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Manicure Monday | Anise Bronzed Babe

Posted on February 2, 2015August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Monday! I’ve been enjoying showing you my manicures each week, so I think I’m going to continue with that this year. One of the nail polish groups I’m a member of on Facebook is hosting an Alphabet Theme Week for the next 26 weeks. I thought this would be really fun to take part in, and so this week I’m joining with the letter A! This week’s brand was A-England, but I don’t own any A-Englands at this point, so I rummaged through my collection to find another A brand. I decided to go with an Anise polish I got three years ago when I first started blogging!

Bronzed Babe is a gorgeous metallic polish that lives up to its name in a bronze shade. It is opaque in two coats and has a great formula that applies with ease. I love the golden shimmer that is mixed throughout Bronzed Babe. It really gives a shiny and liquid metal feel to the look. I did apply a glossy top coat to finish the manicure, and I love the result!

I’m so glad I had an excuse to pull this Anise polish out of my collection to use again. I purchased it almost three years ago in the summer of 2012 and haven’t used it since then! You can purchase Anise polishes at your local DSW store. They are usually located near the cash register, and are often on sale for Buy One Get One 50%. In addition, you can use your DSW coupons on them! I definitely will be checking out my DSW soon now that my love for this brand has been rekindled.

Please let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any Anise polishes, and what shades you recommend!

Monthly Nail Polish Haul: July Edition

Posted on August 1, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Adventures in Polishland is dedicated to fabulous and affordable nails. At the end of each month, I show you the polishes I purchased, and the good deals I got on them. I rarely pay full price for anything, and that includes nail polish. Although I did go a bit overboard in July (33 new bottles!), I only paid a fraction of the retail value for all my new polishes. Get ready to see this awesome haul!

Polishes I bought at retail stores in person, left to right:

Anise in Miss Inspector and Bronzed Babe. You can purchase Anise polishes at DSW stores for $6 each. Typically they are on sale for buy one get one half off, so these polishes came to $9. I had some money left on a gift card, so I only paid $6.96 for these two polishes! You can read my review of these two colors HERE.
China Glaze in Hook and Line and Mahogany Magic from the Hunger Games Collection. I bought these two polishes at my local Sally Beauty Supply store on clearance. I paid a total of $6.58 for both, but they retailed at $8.99 a piece when they came out! Sometimes patience is the key to getting the colors you want.
Elle in Surfer Babe. I scored this beautiful blue at Kohls for FREE when my mom let me use her Kohls Cash. Usually Elle retails for $10. If you go to Kohls, keep an eye out for coupons near the display. When I went there were $1 off coupons available! See my post highlighting this polish HERE.
NYC in High Lime Green. I bought this polish at CVS and used a coupon for $0.50 cents off any NYC purchase of $1.79. Lucky for me this polish was exactly $1.79, so I only paid $1.29 for it! I found this coupon on a store display also, so be sure to keep an eye out for those at CVS, too.

Polishes I bought through Blog Sales or Swap Groups, left to right:

I purchased Deborah Lippmann in Pearly Queen and Oh! You Pretty Things from Diana over at Polish Monster. As a special surprise, she threw in Miami Spirit from the new Wet ‘n Wild Fergie Collection! I paid a total of $15 including shipping for all three of these polishes. What a bargain!
I purchased all three Jesse’s Girl polishes (in Center Stage, Cupcake Frosting, and Confetti) from a special Blog Sale. A few months ago, a member of the nail blogging community passed away. As a benefit to support her family, her daughter was selling her polishes. I sent her a total of $22 including shipping, and asked her to throw in a few mini polishes that hadn’t been sold yet with the three Jesse’s Girls. I was completely surprised when I got the OPI Spiderman mini collection! From left to right is Into the Night, Number One Nemesis, Just Spotted the Lizard, and Your Web or Mine? Not only did I save a few dollars off the retail price, but I helped a family in need. See my post featuring Your Web or Mine? HERE.
The mini on the far right is Sephora by OPI in I Don’t Bite. I purchased it from a Swap Group on Facebook. A mini from this brand typically retails at about $5, but I paid only $3 including shipping.

Polishes I bought on Copious using credits first, left to right:

e.l.f. in Royal Purple. I paid only $0.54 for this gorgeous polish that retails at $2. See my blog post featuring it HERE.
Matte.n.a in Film Noir. My first matte polish! I got it for just $0.01 with my credits, though they typically sell for $2.25.
piCture pOlish in Citrus. I got this beautiful orange for a mere $0.13 even though they retail at $9.50. I’ve heard great things about this brand and I can’t wait to use it.
Pretty & Polished in Forest Phire. My first indie purchase, and I only spent $0.30! Minis from this brand usually sell for $5.25, so I got a great deal.

Polishes I bought online, left to right:

Julep in Yumi, Lynn, America, and Alfre. I got all of these polishes for FREE! The first three were in my July Julep Maven Box, which I had a free credit for. In that box I received a voucher for another free polish, and I picked Alfre! I love the Julep Maven program. Did you know that you can get your first box for one penny with the promo code COLOR2012? Join HERE and read about my July box HERE.
Orly in Rock Solid. I purchased my first Orly during a sale on HauteLook. I had credits to use, so I only ended up spending $0.45! HauteLook has all sorts of sales, but there is often nail polish from all different brands. Join the site for free HERE.
Zoya in Rea and America. I originally purchased Zoya’s Trixie to get America free during the Fourth of July sale, but when it arrived I realized it was a dupe of a polish I already had. Lucky for me I was able to swap Trixie for Rea in a Swap Group! I did have to spend a little extra for the shipping, but I ended up with both of these Zoyas for just $9.95 instead of the full $16. You can purchase Zoya polish HERE and read my entry about America HERE.

Whew! Did you make it through all that with me? If so, here is the most exciting part! While I did spend $66.21 this month, if I did not use credits, buy sale items, and coupon, the retail value of all these items would be $205.24! That’s right– I saved $139.03! How is that for fabulous and affordable?! For all of these 28 bottles listed above, on average I paid $2.36 per polish. Woo-hoo!

Before I close out this post, I wanted to add in some “bonus” polishes that I purchased through Little Black Bag. I can’t really estimate how much I saved on these polishes, since they came along with other items in a monthly subscription, but I definitely got a good deal on them. Retail value of these five polishes is $77. Left to right, the colors are: ncLA in Hollywood Hills Hot Number & Miss Sunset Strip, and Michael Marcus in Brilliant Sand, Fuchsia Have a Good Time, and Paradise Pink. You can join Little Black Bag HERE.

Please note that this post does not include polishes I received as a gift, as a giveaway win, or as a product to review for my blog. My purpose is to show you how to get great savings on nail polish.

Try it on Tuesday: Half Moon Edition

Posted on July 17, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

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!

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.

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!