Tag: manicure

Try it on Tuesday: Revlon’s Impulsive

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

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

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.

My July Julep Maven Box!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I have been in love with Julep Maven ever since I got my first box last month. The polish is simply to die for, and the company really takes care of its customers. Here is what I got this month!

I picked American Beauty this month!
Left to right, Lynn, Yumi, and America. Plus a lip vernis in Peony (in box). As a little bonus, some candy!

Although I am technically “Classic With a Twist” according to my style quiz, I switched to “American Beauty” this month because I liked the colors better. I have been in need of a nice, nude color like Lynn! I was also thrilled to be receiving the bonus America the Beautiful polish, which I featured in THIS post. All in all, a great month! The best part of this box was that I got a voucher from Julep for any free polish! How awesome is that? They really want to make us Mavens happy. Plus, who doesn’t love surprises?

After sporting America the Beautiful on my nails for the Fourth of July, I knew Lynn would be a good change for me. Even my mom mentioned that it was different to see me in a shade that’s not so bright! But Lynn is a gorgeous nude that is more on the peach side. It is a bit sheer, but only took two coats to be opaque. It also has a hint of shimmer in it, making it that much more beautiful. It’s perfect if you don’t like bright colors, or if you are looking to play down your nails for some reason. Of course, it’s stunning on its own as well! What do you think of these swatches? The color photographed very well. 

How gorgeous is that polish?! Plus, it will look even better the next time I show it because I’ll be adding a little “sparkle” to it! Keep your eyes open for another entry about a mani upgrade in the near future!

Don’t forget, you can become a Julep Maven, too! Enjoy your first box for just $0.01 when you enter the code COLOR2012 at checkout! This is not a joke! Here are some benefits to joining:

  • You receive a Maven box of at least 2 polishes per month for only $19.99 (plus other goodies & freebies year long!)
  • Don’t like your box? Switch for another!
  • Don’t want to buy one this month? Skip the month & don’t get charged!
  • You’ll always get 20% off all Julep products in the Maven shop.
  • If you find you don’t like Julep, cancel any time.

Join Julep Maven today by clicking THIS link! Let me know if you joined 🙂

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.

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?

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.

First Copious Purchase: Jordana Glitters!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

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!

Make Your Neons POP!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland
Fabulous Nails Color 104

This season neon colors are definitely in. I first tried this trend out back in April (see that post HERE), but I felt as if I needed a highlighter color on my nails once again. Yesterday I received the white nail polish that I ordered from the Fabulous Nails sale at HauteLook, so I decided to do a mani using the trick my friend Eve taught me a couple years back. If you want to make your neons shine brighter, simply begin with a white polish! Believe me, you will love the result!

I began with two coats of the white. This was my first time using Fabulous Nails, and it didn’t excite me too much. The coats were quite streaky, and the color wasn’t opaque. Thankfully for this mani the white didn’t have to be perfect, because I was placing another color on top anyway. Make sure you let your white polish dry before you put on your next color, or the polishes might smudge and blend together. I decided to top the white with Did I Dye it Too Blonde? by Spoiled. I used two coats of that polish as well. Now my nails are definitely popping! Below are two pictures of my mani. The first one is without the flash, but to give you an idea of how bright my nails really are I took one with the flash as well. What do you think?

 

Julep Maven Box: My July Pick!

Posted on 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:

Image
Source: Julep website

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.

Image
Source: Julep Facebook Page

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 🙂