Holly Leaves

Ok I've wanted to try out a Nailside tutorial for some time but I've been nervous that it wouldn't come out anywhere near as clean and crisp as her amazing and perfect nails. Or that it'd be too difficult. So I was a little stunned when I pulled this one off nearly perfect my first try.This is done using her Holly Leaf tutorial:

Obviously I need a bit of practice with this technique but all in all not bad! No tape is needed for this one - you just have to really take your time and be patient. For the holly the base color is Julep Emilie and the top color is OPI Thanks a Windmillion. The vein on the leaf is a mix of the two and the holly berries are Sally Hansen Red Carpet. The other nails are done in Julep January and topped with Essie As Gold As It Gets.

Can we say Christmas??? LOVE it!

When you get a chance head over and check out her tutorials - this honestly wasn't hard to do and has serious wow factor. No tape to do this manicure which is the best part. I really want to try out more of her tutorials now. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Summer Challenge: Day 1 My Favorite Color

I have been singing various songs from Sound of Music this last week due to planning out my favorite things manicures. I decided to take the plunge and do a scheduled challenge but this one is just on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A brilliant challenge concept that Ooh La La Polish came up with <3

The first challenge was favorite color and mine is green. But you know how colorful I am! One green just isn't enough.

Bottom layer is Orly Green Apple and then I sponged Julep Emilie down and topped it off with Polished Component Earth's Day which is a green toned holo topper.

True to the name of this challenge this turned into my favorite green manicure to date!

Here's the challenge itself:

Fun, simple, and pretty stress free which I can totally get on board with. Hop over to her blog if you want to participate.

Let's Layer: Shamrockin' with Emilie

So I posted a while back about Huemorista Shamrockin' Green that Constantly Redone doted on me with. I was saddened by the polish since it wasn't as vibrant as the pictures had shown and was quite thin. The bottle is tiny and it's a gorgeous polish but with there being so little of it I feel hesitant to use it. Well when I got Julep Emilie a solution presented itself:

A single layer of Shamrockin' Green over a layer of Emilie brings the earthy green and the gorgeous glitter right out without having to use so much! It's pretty much perfect <3

I went ahead and did an accent nail though I can't remember the color (if you see the burn on my finger there and you've read my blog for awhile you'll know this manicure is month's old!). But I DO know that glitter. It's Copper Crunch by Brash which is hand's down one of my most favorite glitters. I think I'll be doing some more Let's Layer posts. My daughter loves to mix polish so I'll get her in on the action. Until next time!

P.S. My toddler is intentionally rolling off the couch, yelling OW, laughing hysterically, and then doing it all over again. What.a.boy.

Candy Cane Tips and all the shimmer

I just love this manicure! The first version was stripes over the whole nail which was an epic fail. I am not experienced enough to stripe with my non-writing hand. I could hear my striping brush laughing at me it was so bad. But this version is fun (could it be more perfect? why yes, but I don't care)

Step 1: Tips. You can use tape or stickers or a french tip dip kit (which is what I used). I had my tips on in about a minute and half for both hands with it. SUPER handy and no wasted tape. Happy, happy.
Step 2: Stripes. I used two different sizes of stripe brushes from my kit I bought here. It's an ebay store - shipping is slow but it's dirt cheap and has free shipping. You could also just use the tip of a toothpick and a safety pin for two different sizes.
Step 3: Paint on set of colors first diagonally. I started in the center of the nail to try to get my designs about even on all nails. Colors I used were Julep Emilie and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet.
Step 4: Apply Essie Pure Pearlfection. I LOVE THIS EFFECT TOP COAT! It's amazing and gives a gorgeous pearl effect (perfect for a candy cane like luster).

 Step 5: Stamp on desired designs. For the holly I used a dotting tool to go back over the berries. On the tree I put a tiny bit of Julep Olivia in the stump and Julep Emilie for the tree part. I brush a layer of Essie Luxeffects for the lights on the tree and topped with a holographic large hex glitter I extracted from LA Colors Goddess. Instant bling!
Step 6: Top with favorite top coat. I'm rockin' the 3 minute topcoat from French Tip Dip and it's got gorgeous shine to it! Super glossy.
Total time: 20 minutes. Fast, easy, and great results!

Have a wonderful day - I am. Kids are all being so good, most of the Christmas shopping is done, and there is coffee and macaroons waiting for me in the kitchen. Life is so good ;)

Julep Maven Unboxing and Review - SWATCHES (photo heavy)

So I mentioned the Julep Maven box last week and I received it this last weekend. To watch the video of the unboxing click here. You'll see how it was packaged and what was in it as it came in the mail.

For now here's the contents of the box:

A nice box of fabulous nail and hand care items.

Let's not lie though our biggest interest are the nail polishes and whether they are worth all the hype (and the 14.00 a bottle).

First is the Nail Therapy I received. I know the intro boxes are probably just pre-assembled and that's why I received this, but it was strange to get a nail strengthener when I said my nails are nice and strong. I do have nice nails (as I'm sure you can tell), BUT I do normally use a nail strengthener for my base coat so it's not a big deal in the slightest. The brush on this is amazing and this painted on nicely so we'll see how it holds up over this next week. All in all I do like it quite a bit.

Pre-cleanup and top coat - wanted you to see how this paints out by itself. This is dry and 2 coats.

I am "IT Girl" - my two colors are Sienna (the cult classic) and Emilie (the not yet released from the Fall 2011 collection). First off: I AM SOLD. Wow! The packaging is super clever, the brushes are nice, long, flexible, but strong and the polish itself is INCREDIBLE. One coat would have been enough. The nail polishes paint out with a nice gloss and the formula is silky smooth. Dries in a reasonable time and is 3-free. Safe for me and my little girl:

They look great on her too (it is Minicure Monday after all and she loves to have nails that match mommys - her favorite is the green).
Emilie: A green creme that dries with a high gloss. Super pigmented.
Sienna: A platinum that looks more silver in some lights and more gold in other lights. Smooth formula and dries as a foil.
Now do they stamp? Oh yes, yes they do!

So I am looking forward to getting more boxes and more colors. I'll be posting a further review at the end of this week on the glycolic hand scrub, but so far I'm loving that too.

http://www.julep.com/AP.aspx?ID=XX&EID=14785602

Code: smh9oxu (this is a 15.00 off code so you can try out Julep Maven for 4.99)