Tag: lacey lilac

Indie Spotlight: Charm Your Nails in Instant Gratification & Follow the Chartreuse Brick Road

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Today I have another post for you featuring an indie brand that is sponsoring my giveaway!  Charm Your Nails sent me two amazing polishes from her shop to review for you. I am in love with both of them and highly recommend her shop! Let me show you the gorgeous, glitter topcoats from Charm Your Nails!

Firs up is Instant Gratification, which I layered over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac (see Lacey Lilac on its own HERE). Instant Gratification is filled with black, white, and purple glitters, with some fine pink glitter thrown in the mix. There are black and white bar glitters, white hexagonal glitters, and purple and black square glitters (my favorite!). Not only does Instant Gratification look amazing, but the formula is easy to work with and dries quickly. I applied two coats in the photos above. I love purple, so this is the perfect polish for me! I can’t wait to use it again.

Next ups is another glitter topcoat called Follow the Chartreuse Brick Road (FCBR). It may be a mouthful, but this polish is gorgeous! I applied two coats over Julep Lisa to get the look you see in the photos (see Lisa on its own HERE). FCBR is packed with gold and red glitters. Both colors are used as fine glitters, and then the gold is seen in small and large hexagons and the red in square glitters. Once again, the formula was fantastic! It is easier to work with than other glitter topcoats I’ve tried in the past. I was also surprised by how much I liked FCBR. I am not the biggest fan of gold or red nail polishes, but I loved it in glitter form. Also, by wearing this polish over a neutral shade, it subdued the red a bit more.

All in all I am really impressed by these polishes from Charm Your Nails! You can purchase this brand on Etsy HERE. Full size polishes are $8.50 and minis are $3.50.

Don’t forget, you can also win a bottle of nail polish from Charm Your Nails in my current giveaway! Enter HERE to win one of 13 prizes!

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

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?

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!

Brand Power: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I admit it, I am a polish picker. In other words, while wearing nail polish, I tend to pick and peel it off. It’s a horrible habit, but it just means that I get to paint my nails more often! Yesterday I realized I had taken off about half off my One for Fun nails, so I decided to change up my look. As a part of this blog, I will be reviewing different brands of nail polish so that you don’t have to stand in the drugstore worrying if the bargain nail polish is going to be clumpy and dumpy. Let’s face it, as young women in the twenty-first century, we want things to be perfect on the first try!

First up at bat is one of my favorite brands, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear. You can buy Xtreme Wear at drugstores and department stores such as Target for under $3! Bargain hunters like myself can often find this on sale, too. Like many inexpensive nail polishes, Xtreme Wear is a bit of a hit or miss deal. Some of the colors are absolutely my favorites. Not only do they have the perfect texture and thickness, but they stay on for a long time, too. Others, though, are a weird consistency. Because they are so affordable, though, I am of the opinion that it is always worth it to buy Xtreme Wear! 

Xtreme Wear
From left to right, the colors are: Green With Envy, Blue Me Away, Celeb City, Rockstar Pink, Lacey Lilac, Mint Sorbet, and Mellow Yellow.

Above  you’ll find all of the Xtreme Wear colors that I own. I find that Celeb City, Rockstar Pink, and Lacey Lilac are the best of the bunch. The others are nice, too, but I tend to find more smudges and imperfections on my nails when I use them. No matter which color I pick, though, I always get compliments! People are often surprised when I let them in on the secret of Xtreme Wear.

Today I painted my nails with Lacey Lilac. Not only is the pale purple great for spring, but it is subdued enough that I can wear it with many color combinations. Lacey LilacI find that this color also lasts for over a week usually. This pastel is great for those of you who don’t want loud fingers. Or, if you want to liven things up a bit more, you can paint your nails all different shades of purple. Adding some sparkle never hurts either!

There you have it– my first brand review! Have you ever tried Xtreme Wear? Do you like it? What are your favorite colors?