Tag: glitter

Try it on Tuesday: Jesse’s Girl Confetti

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

This week I am trying on one of the Jesse’s Girl polishes that I purchased in a blog sale about a month ago. Confetti is a really interesting polish. In the bottle it looks like a shimmery purple, but upon application I realized it is also a holo polish that shifts between purple and blue depending on the light. Confetti is very sheer. I applied three coats and it is not completely opaque. I think it would look great layered over another solid color, though. I had no problems whatsoever with application.

 

I’ve been wanting to try out Jesse’s Girl polishes as they retail for just $3.99. Besides being affordable, they look really pretty. Confetti reminds me of Sally Hansen HD polishes, but at about half the price. Though I’m not thrilled with how sheer the polish is, it is definitely stunning. I love that it has the appearance of glitter without being a glitter polish. I can’t wait to try this out as a top layer!

 

Have you tried Jesse’s Girl nail polish? What do you think of Confetti?

Favorite Friday: Hunger Games Nails on a Budget

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Welcome to my first Favorite Friday post! Even though I love that my nail polish stash is growing, I miss using some of my favorite colors. In order to ensure that I am not only using my brand new polishes, I am beginning a blog series called Favorite Friday. Each week I will use one of my favorite polishes from my stash. The only rule is that it must be a polish that I have not used in a long time. This way, I can try out my new polishes on any day except Friday!

Today’s manicure is one that I created back in March for the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games movie. I really wanted to splurge on some of the China Glaze Hunger Games Collection, but I thought that $8.99 a bottle was too much, especially since I had already paid for a t-shirt and a Mockingjay pin. Instead of spending more money, I knew that I could create my own Hunger Games mani using polishes I already owned.

To get this look, I began with two coats of an unnamed OPI mini that I have in grey. Then, I used a clear, glitter topcoat from Wet ‘n Wild and painted two coats of that. The finished product is a sparkly grey that reminds me of polishes that can be found in the China Glaze collection. I can definitely picture Katniss wearing this mani! I loved it so much on premiere night, and I am glad I got to wear it again for Favorite Friday.

What do you think of my Hunger Games nails on a budget? Do you try to create looks based off expensive polishes?

Feel free to participate in future Favorite Fridays with me! Post photos of your mani on my Facebook page, or send along the link to your blog!

Brand Power: Tip Top Nails South Africa

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Tip Top Nails is a brand from South Africa that creates vegan and 4-free polishes made from natural ingredients. Today I have four polishes from their NailChic line to show you. I really loved all of these polishes, especially the brush! The flat brush applies polish perfectly, distributing it evenly with every stroke. The formula in each polish was also outstanding. More detailed comments to come in the color descriptions!

First up is Sitting Pretty, a bright pink jelly polish. The color was a bit brighter on my nails than I thought it was going to be, but I really like it. With two coats the color was opaque. The one thing I really did not like about this polish, was that even after wearing it for two days, I woke up to impressions on my nails from my blankets. I can understand that this happens when polish is not completely dry, but it was strange that it still occurred forty-eight hours after application. It must just be the formula. Besides this one issue, I love Sitting Pretty and can’t wait to wear it again!

 

Traffic Lights is a metallic red polish with a beautiful shimmer. I am not usually a big fan of red polishes, but this one is stunning. I did apply two coats, but you could honestly just use one! My only complaint with Traffic Lights is that removal took a bit more effort than usual, but other than that I am happy with it. I definitely plan on using this color again during the holidays. It is perfect for Christmas!

Next up is Jitterbug Lime, a metallic lime green. This is also a shimmer polish, with green and gold undertones. I was very surprised by how pretty this color is. Upon first look, it has a frosted finish, but in the light the color truly shines. I used two coats of Jitterbug Lime, and both were necessary to achieve opacity. Brush strokes are visible with this polish, as with almost all other metallics that I’ve used, yet this does not take away from the polish at all. Similar to Traffic Lights, removal of this polish was more difficult that I would like. Otherwise it is stunning!

Without flash
With flash

The last polish I have to show you is Gold Drop Glitter. I assumed that this polish could easily be worn on its own as the bottle read “Apply 2 coats of colour” on the bottle, just as it did with the other three polishes. But as soon as I applied one coat I realized that Gold Drop Glitter is best used as a glitter top coat. I was determined to use this on its own, so I started painting with hopes that I would achieve full coverage. Four coats later I was satisfied with the look. Gold Drop Glitter is a clear base with fine gold grains. If you’re willing to apply four coats you can wear it on its own. Otherwise, it would go great on top of another color. One day I’ll use this in another mani to show you what it looks like as a topcoat.

All in all, I really loved these polishes from Tip Top Nails. I wore each for 2-3 days and only experienced minimal wear along the tips of my nails. I definitely recommend these polishes. Those in South Africa can purchase Tip Top at their local Clicks store. The rest of us can follow the Tip Top Facebook community HERE and on Twitter HERE. You can also view all Tip Top products on their website: http://www.tiptopnails.co.za.

Have you tried this brand before? What do you think of these polishes?

The products in this post were provided to me for review. All opinions are my own.

In a Rush? Try This Quick Mani Upgrade!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

One of my personal nail polish rules is to never paint your nails when you’re in a hurry. I just don’t want to deal with the stress that comes with smudging wet nails! But let’s face it. There are often times when we at least want to add a little something to our manicures before we head out the door for the day. I found myself in that position just the other day. Even though I loved Your Web or Mine? from the OPI Spiderman Collection (see post HERE), it needed to be revamped a little.

Because I didn’t have much time, I grabbed a glitter polish from my stash and added an accent nail. With two coats of Julep Yumi, my manicure was instantly upgraded! Just a flash of sparkle changed the entire look of my mani, and made my three-day-old polish shine. Since I was using Yumi as an addition, I didn’t even need to use topcoat. Plus, Julep polish dries really quickly, so I was ready to go in no time. Looks great, right?!

It gives it a little something extra, don’t you think?

 

You can really see the sparkle in the bottle here!

Mani Upgrade with Geometric Glitter

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

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!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

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.

Try it on Tuesday: July 4th Edition

Posted on 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.

My First Little Black Bag!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Have you heard of this super fun website called Little Black Bag? It’s another monthly subscription that is really interactive. You pay $49.95 (yes, a bit expensive, but fun to splurge!) and pick one item of your choice. Then, stylists pick 3-4 more items for you based on your answers to a style quiz. Don’t like the items you receive? You have an entire week to trade your items with other Little Black Bag (LBB) users! What kind of items, you ask? There are handbags, jewelry pieces, cosmetics, and more. I, of course, wanted some fancy nail polish! After lots of trading (and a few mistakes) here is what I ended up with.

The box has finally arrived!!
My wrapped up goodies!
Hello, new handbag & nail polish!

All together I got a Nila Anthony Ruffle Messenger Bag valued at $75, and two NCLA polishes valued at $16 each! That’s about $57 in savings. Not bad for my first attempt at LBB, but like I said, I messed up a little bit. I traded a handbag that I didn’t like for an item worth half its price, and lost out on that value. Now I know how the trading works, though! I’m hoping in my next LBB I’ll get even more goodies for my $50. I’d love to try out some of the NCLA nail wrap strips, and I’d love some jewelry next time. If you’d like to join LBB, please sign up HERE. I know this is a bit expensive, but you can skip any month if you don’t have room in your budget. I’m sure you’ll love this website as much as I do.

Before I end this post, here’s a closer look at my new polishes. They’re stunning! I can’t wait to try them out soon.

The glittery goodness of Miss Sunset (left) and Hollywood Hills (right).

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.