China Glaze Bump & Grind

As I have said many times...I LOVE the textured finish polishes that are out! I can't get enough of them! So today I am bringing you my latest textured polish purchase. China Glaze Texture in Bump & Grind. This one is a bright pink textured finish. These do not have glitter in them they are just the textured finish. I can describe the finish as something similar to concrete. I use a base coat under these because I want to try to prevent staining I tend to get staining with bright colors, it might be just my nails).

 

I applied my base coat, 2 coats of color (allowing some dry time in between coats), and no topcoat. This is such a beautiful almost raspberry color and I am very pleased with this one. As with all the China Glaze Textures that I have used, they wear well and are just plain fun! I usually get about 4 days before I notice a slight bit of tip wear. I can wear these about a week before I need to change colors. I haven't had a problem with chipping on these either. They just wear like iron!!

 

I am truly impressed with these and I hope that they come out with more, maybe in some nice fall colors! Oh a girl can dream!

 

 

These pictures are with 2 coats, no top coat, and they were taken indoors with a flash. The color in the pics are pretty much true to life except that in my pics they look a little shiny but that's just cause they were a tiny bit wet yet and the flash just seemed to bounce off them.

 

 

 

Then just for something fun I added a couple clear rhinestones to my middle finger for an accent. Since I wasn't using a top coat I applied the rhinestones with a tiny drop of nail glue to secure them. They have even lasted 4 days, I haven't knocked a rhinestone off yet and so far I'm on day 4 of wear.

 

 

China Glaze polishes can be purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply, Ulta stores, some salons, and other beauty supply shops. This one I found off of Amazon (because everywhere around me was sold out) and it was $4.55 with free shipping.

NOTD: Mint Candy Apple Dotticure

For this cute little dotticure I did I started out with my base of Essie Mint Candy Apple. For the dots and flower I used Zoya Natty and Purity. I thought this would be a cute little mani.

I will admit that once I added the Natty dots it slightly changed the way the Mint Candy Apple looked to me. Alone the Mint Candy Apple looks like a pastel minty aqua but once I added the Natty it looked more like a pastel blue. Kind of like Zoya's Blue. I find it amusing how adding different colors to a manicure can change the appearance of the base color.

I hope you enjoy this one!

Essie Mint Candy Apple

This color is one that I had been wanting for a very long time but everytime I went to go purchase it they were all out. Well, this time I got lucky and they had just restocked. I am happy to be bringing you Essie's Mint Candy Apple. This creme is a minty pastel aqua and it is gorgeous! I am totally in love with this color!

I have to say I was afraid that it was going to apply streaky like some other polishes I own in this color family but not this one. It didn't streak, it wasn't thick and goopy, and it wasn't watery and runny either. The formula on this one was perfect! It applied like a dream!

2 coats is all this one took to achieve the opacity I desired and it dried in a reasonable amount of time. It even had a bit of a shine on it's own so you maybe could get by with not adding a top coat. I added a top coat of Out The Door just because I like the extra shine and protection and I wanted to speed up the dry time so that I could get on with my day.

These photos were taken indoors with flash.

Essie products can be purchased in multiple places such as Ulta, WalMart, Target, Walgreens, salons, and other beauty stores.

Nicole by OPI: Alex By The Books

Today I am bringing you something I picked up on my recent grocery shopping trip at WalMart. I was looking for a minty aqua blue/green and they didn't quite have what I was looking for so I picked this one up instead. I figured that since I didn't have anything like it in my collection I would add it. This is "Alex By The Books" from Nicole by OPI from their Modern Family Collection. It is more of a mint green creme than what I was shopping for but still pretty none the less. I have shockingly never tried this brand before so I thought, "what the hell" and threw this one in the cart.

Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this one, I don't really know how I feel about the color on me but it's nice to have a color like this in your collection cause you never know when you are going to want it.

This is a creme and I used 3 thin coats for this one because it was a little streaky so the third coat smoothed out all the streaks. This pic was taken indoors with a flash.

I was going to do some fun nail art with the stamping kit I picked up also but my dogs kinda ruined and smudged the mani so bad that it was beyone repair (they just HAD to go outside as soon as I finished and my nails were still wet, then they just HAD to come right back in right away, lol). I just took it off and haven't really started again, that's why there is only the one pic.

Nicole by OPI can be purchased just about anywhere like WalMart, Target, Ulta, etc. There were a few other colors that caught my eye and I just may have to go back for them. Shhhhh...don't tell the hubby, lol!

Zoya Purity and Trixie French Mani

For this mani I wanted to do a non-traditional french manicure (at least I call it non-traditional). I used Zoya Purity and Trixie for this mani, I was somewhat inspired by a mani Zoya posted on their Instagram page for a mani they did for one of the fashion week shows (I don't remember which one but they used these same colors).

 

Once I got my based of Purity and Trixie down. Purity was on the thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers and Trixie was on the middle and ring fingers. I waited for them to dry. They needed to by dry because I am going to add some striping tape to use as my guides and if the base color isn't dry the tape will peel it off when you peel off the tape.

I applied my striping tape to give my my "french" guides and then applied the contrasting color to the tips. Now once I was finished applying the contrasting color I removed the striping tape immediately because I wanted to have a nice clean line. It's very important that you remove the striping tape before the polish you just applied is dry so that it doesn't peel off with the tape when you remove it. I know it's kinda funny that you have to have the base dry before you apply the tape and then remove the tape before the top color is dry but trust me, I've learned the hard way that this is the best way to do it.

Then once it was all dry enough, I added a top coat of Out The Door for shine and protection.

Zoya polishes can be purchased on their website, Ulta stores, and select salons.

All pictures were taken indoors with a flash.

Julep Lacey

This is probably the one color I was most excited about while I was waiting for my Julep August Maven box to arrive. I could not wait to put this baby on when I opened the box!! This is Lacey from the Julep August Bombshell Maven box and it is GORGEOUS!!!

Lacey is described as a midnight blue with purple shimmer but all I can say is wow!! I will be honest that I just didn't know how I was going to like wearing a blue and I wasn't sure how dark or blue it would be on my skin tone but I fell in love as soon as I put it on.

The pictures shown are with 2 coats but in all honesty, I could have gotten by with just one coat. I was all set on just trying it with one coat because it applied so opaque and even in just one coat that I didn't think I needed a second coat but while I was waiting for it to dry, I smudged it. So I just tapped out the smudge lightly with my ring finger and then just applied a second coat and it was gone.

This applied very nicely and smoothly with no streaks or clumps, it wasn't goopy or thick at all. I think that for me it dried in an average amount of time but I always add a quick dry top coat when it's about half dry.

This color is so gorgeous that when I started I had every intentions on adding some nail art with the other color that came in my box but once I got this lovely on, I couldn't add the nail art because it is just too beautiful on it's own. I have even gotten quite a few compliments on this color as well. I hope you loved this color as much as I do.

Julep is a monthly subscription box that you sign up for and you receive a box each month for $19.99 with colors that they have chose based on your profile quiz. You can skip a month if you don't like anything offered in the Maven boxes or if you want to try another box you can do that too. Julep polishes are 4free. Please use my link at the bottom of my page to sign up today, your first box is free (you just pay shipping) and Mavens always receive free shipping. Just click the "What's Your Style?" icon at the bottom of the page.

Cult Nails Tempest and Nevermore

Today I just have a simple little mani I did recently using some of my favorite Cult Nails polishes. I used Cult Nails Tempest and Nevermore for this mani. I wanted something a little simple but yet a little different, I was in a weird mood when I thought up this mani...

Once I got my base laid down, Tempest on the thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers and Nevermore on the middle and ring fingers; and they were dry, I added some striping tape to use as my guides for this.

After I laid my striping tape guides down I proceeded to apply the contrasting color to the tips. Then once that was complete I immediately removed the striping tape to give me my nice clean lines. You want to remove the striping tape right away when the polish is still wet because it gives you a clean line and if you wait until it's dry or somewhat dry when you remove the tape it will take some of the polish off that you wanted to stay (I learned this from trial by error,lol). Make sure that when you are laying the striping tape down you are straight and there is no creases in the tape or lumps in it because the poish could seep down under the tape.

Once everything was dry or dry enough I added a top coat of Out The Door to protect and add shine.

Cult Nails lacquers can be purchased through their website. They are $12 for a full size bottle (0.5 fl oz).

Zoya Stevie~Summer Pixie Dust

Today I am going to show you one of the Zoya Summer 2013 Pixie Dust polishes in Stevie. This is a beautiful lavenderish purple with silver sparkle embedded in this textured polish. I just have to tell you that of all the textured polishes out there right now the Zoya Pixie Dusts are my absolute favorite.

I love that the texture isn't gritty, it's a nice soft sand-like finish. I love that they have glittler/sparkle to them so that they are not just a flat color with texture. The amazing Zoya formula follows into the Pixie Dusts as well. And surprisingly the dry time isn't as long as you would think. I believe that these just take a few minutes longer than a regular polish to air dry.

This picture is shown with 3 thin coats and it was taken indoors with a flash. Just look at how I was able to capture the sparkle of this one! As with all the Pixie Dust polishes, it is recommended for best results that you do not use a base coat or a top coat. Although you can add a top coat if you do not want the textured finish, a top coat will also give it a whole new shine to it.

Zoya polishes can be purchased on their website, in select salons, and Ulta stores.