This week's Hubby's Picks does polka dot present (HP15)

Hubby's Picks got skipped last week and I apologize for that. Life happens as you know. But this is a fresh week with a fresh set of picks! For you newer followers my hubby is my best friend and is the kind of man a polish loving gal dreams of. Indulges me and encourages my manicures. One week he challenged me to do a manicure with only the polishes he picked and it became a weekly routine. Each Wednesday or Thursday I post his picks and then Saturday or Sunday I post what I came up with. He has yet to stump me to the point of not being able to pull it off ;)

The lineup from base up is Wet N' Wild Bite The Bullet, then Julep Jaime at the tip, topped with Spoiled Shuffle the Deck (a repeat pick), and dotted with Revlon No Shrinking Violets.

While the colors are fun and playful this isn't my favorite one ever, but I do love the contrast of glitter and creme and want to play with that idea a bit more.

Unrelated but oh my word it's a million degrees in this house! We're having the hottest day of summer today (Thursday) and I am not loving it. Kids seem fine though so I guess I should happy they aren't whining at me...instead I'm whining at them! Roles reversed is fun ;)

Hubby Says: Rainbow Dash

It's been a little while since I did a layers inspired by My Little Pony. After this I only have two more in the series and then I will be beginning a whole new series that I've been planning for quite some time now. For now Rainbow Dash (and probably my favorite pony):

She is kind of a tomboy so I avoided all sparkle. She's fast and she's cool and I just love her!

Base color is Essence Absolutely Blue then I striped on in this order from the tip down: Julep Anne, Julep Jaimie, Wet N' Wild Undercover Graffiti, Zoya Creamy, Wet N' Wild Scratchiti, Wet N' Wild Writings on the Wall. For those of you unfamiliar with this great pony:



Also I have a guest post up over at Geeky Owl. Be sure to check out what I did with two of the Zoya Pinterest minis I got and give her a follow while you're at it - you won't regret it!

Blue on blue and Monday Minicure

I have GOT to get better about my Monday manicures. This week's challenge over at PAA on Facebook is blue on blue. Also I got distracted by cracked.com....that's random but how random are different textures in a duo tone manicure with different blues? Ok not that random....anyhow.....

Starting from the base up we have Julep Jaime, Sally Girl Blue Glitter, NYC Skin Tight Denim, and then China Glaze Crackle Oxidized Aqua. I did a top coat over the glitter and then top coat over the whole thing at the end so this ended up pretty thick.

  I love the effect! The Sally Girl is my first of this polish type and I totally love it!

 Such a wonderful manicure but the thickness of it was quite a bit. The differences of textures and all the blues made my hubby happy who thought it was amazing! Now onto the cute part of this post.

The other day my daughter announce she was big enough to do her own nails - when asked at the dinner table what the best part of her day was she said, without hesitation, the part where she got to do her nails. Such happiness!!!

Look at how carefully she brushes off the excess polish and how neatly she paints!!! So much cuteness - my hubby says I've created a monster. Welcome monster to the nailaholic ranks - where we chase lemmings and dusty hunt to feed our passion ;)

Julep Maven October "IT" Girl unboxed, swatches and a dupe alert

Guess what I got in the mail yesterday? That's right! My October Julep Maven box!! Featuring a frost finish silver name Leighton and a creme blue named Jaime as well as age defying hand creme I was really looking forward to this one (and if you go watch my unboxing you'll see how excited I was to "open" it).
Anyhow onto the good stuff:

Like my last box I both swatched and stamped to see how these faired in the many areanas of stamp-aholic showdows. When I pulled out Jaime was pretty certain, right off, that it was a dupe for Zoya Breezi (more on that).

So the good and the bad. I love both of these colors. They are stunning and easily one-coaters (I do two because that just feels right to me for some reason). Big warning here: like many super-saturated blues Jaime stains BIG time. I mistakenly painted my accent finger and went to take it off while it was still wet. Stained the entire nail bed, finger and fingertip. Oy!

Leighton....well I didn't know Leighton would be a frost finish and I don't ever seem to mesh well with frost finish. I can not get it to paint out non-streaky or without bubbles. I don't shake my bottles - I always roll - but bubbles persist on this finish type. If someone knows what I'm doing wrong PLEASE tell me!
Stamping, however, both excel at! It's just a little sad that I smeared the silver one. I didn't want to redo it because I didn't want blue fingers again.

Now what's this about a dupe alert? Alright not ENTIRELY a dupe but pretty darned close. Here's the Zoya and Julep bottles next to each other:

Look's pretty close right? Well they certainly are!

I'd have to say that Jaime is brighter and slightly more vibrant while Breezi is just a touch dustier and slightly darker. My husband liked Jaime better, but I'm a little attached to both honestly. It'll be hard to boot one from my collection but I do have a friend who is crazy about bright blues so one may just be moving on. We'll see.

The Julep Glow On lotion. I LOVE the smell. It's incredible! Lemony deliciousness and the formula is so silky and smooth. Also free of mineral oil so it's actually getting into my skin (seriously my skin feels like it's drinking it in). It retails at 32.00 which feels steep to me, but we'll see how it works out on my hands. 32.00 felt steep for the hand scrub but after using it everyday I'm not sure I'd want to be without it. Hat's off to you Julep.

Interested in the program and want to get your intro box for 5.00? Click here and enter the code "FB" into the promo code area when checking out and viola! 5.00 and you can get started on this fabulous program!