On Trend?

A England "St George" (vegan) is a favourite of mine! I used some nail stickers I got off of Ebay to create the lightning bolt type shape. That polish is Julep "Sienna" (vegan).

L.A. Colors "Amethyst" (should be vegan) topped with Finger Paints "Twisted".  Are flakie polishes still on trend? I have no idea. I was really into nail polish for a few years but not so much anymore. I mean, I still love to paint my nails but I don't buy polish often or keep up with what's new! 

Stripes and Glitter

Glitter party! Base is Julep "Daphne" (vegan) topped with two Julie G polishes (no longer in business), "Graffiti" and "Trick or Treat" (vegan).

The base is Sally Hansen "Pink Blink". The glitter is Pure Ice "Spitfire" (Cruelty free, not sure if its vegan). The grey stripes, which appear kind of blue, is Bettina "Sand Blast".

Gradients, Of Course!

Two gradient looks this week. I swear I never tire of them. I like using a makeup sponge to apply the second colour at the tips.

Nina Pro "Like Butta" (vegan) with Salon Perfect "Exploded" (I couldn't find info on whether this is vegan or not).

For this one I started with Zoya "Avery" (vegan) and topped it with Wet n Wild "Diamond in the Rough" (vegan).

Floral, Stripes, Polka Dots and Bling

I used this Beauty Department tutorial to create this vintage floral look. It was very easy to do! I liked this colour combo because it has a vintage feel to it. The white polish is Julep "Kate" (vegan), red is Zoya "Sooki" (vegan), yellow is Bettina "Birds" (pretty sure Bettina is vegan) and the green is Sinful Colors "Innocent" (parent company is not cruelty free) 

I never tire of polka dots and stripes! The base colour is Julep "Simone" (vegan), one of my favourite shades. I used Julie G "Crushed Candy" (vegan) for the nail art.

In person this was SUPER BLINGY haha It was kind of blinding in the sun! You can't tell here though. I'm sure I've blogged this polish before, I've had it for a while, but oh well. It's Fingerpaints "Sand and Stilettos" (vegan)

Lazy Dress

This is my comfy lazy dress. Everyone should have one. Well, every woman I guess. I added a statement necklace and studded shoes to add some visual interest.

Target dress (currently on sale), shoes

Lots of pictures to show my latest hair cut! 

The lipstick is NYX "Haute Melon" over NYX "Amsterdam". 

Icing "Mint Chocolate Chip"

Jamberry

Ashley from Follow the Yellow Polish Road sent me some Jamberry samples to try out (after I made sure they were vegan). I'd heard a lot about these and was excited to try them! I've never had much luck with nail wraps/shields like the Sally Hansen ones but these are different. These are more like a sticker that you warm (I used a hair dryer) and press to your nail. They were easy to apply! I did get some bubbling though so next time I will be more careful to make sure they are really pressed down. I wore them for a few days and they wore well. The chevron one had more bubbles so it started to lift at the edges a bit but it would have stayed put if I'd chosen to wear them for longer. Overall, I really like these. I do think $15 is pretty pricey but compared to similar products, I prefer these.  I am able to get two nails from each sticker so one pack would give me two full manicures. They have sooo many cute designs!

Ashley's Jamberry Facebook

and Jamberry website.

I did a simple gradient earlier this week using Julep "Nikki" (which is my mom's name. Happy Mother's Day!) and Julep "Teri" (vegan).

You can't go wrong with stripes and floral print! For the base I used Julep "Hayden" (vegan).

New Polishes

 

This week I wore two new polishes I picked up from Rite Aid. A scattered holo and my first textured polish!

Textured polish has been out for a while now but I didn't get around to trying it until now. I actually really loved it! I mean, I expected to like it since I did in pictures but it exceeded my expectations. This shade is especially gorgeous! This is Julie G "Sugar Rush" (vegan).

I love scattered holos. This reminds me of the Zoya Ornate collection!  It's LA Girl 3D Effects "Brilliant Blue" (vegan). It's gorgeous! Application was perfection too. Only downside was I got tip wear pretty much right away (you can see it in the pictures) even with wrapping my tips.

Mani Catch Up

I skipped this post last week because I couldn't find some of the pictures so I have extra for you this week!

First up is a crackle mani. I know, crackle is so last year or whatever but I wanted to give it another go. I thought it would be cool layering it over a somewhat similar colour. I really liked it but somehow only ended up with these two craptastic pictures! Not sure what happened.  Anyway this is Salon Perfect Crackle (unknown) in a gold shade over Julep "Nikki" (vegan).

This simple look is Julep "Shenae" (vegan) topped with Ludurana "Flocado" (unknown).

This was my favourite of this week. I know I've said it before but I just love these Born Pretty Store studs! Also, Jessie's Girl "Mermaid's Lagoon" (vegan) is such a gorgeous, rich shade. Although I do wish the gold flash you see in the bottle showed up on the nail.

I currently have this on. China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy" (vegan)" topped with a spectraflair topcoat. Perfect for the sunny weather we are now having!

I've had this no name Rite Aid glitter since November and hadn't worn it yet! I actually really like it though. I like that it is pink and purple. The base is OPI "Planks a Lot".

Easter Nails

I started off the week with this tribal look. The base is NYC "Lexington Yellow". I used a Bundle Monster plate and the polishes Zoya "Natty" (vegan) and OPI "Dutch Ya Just Love OPI". 

Easter nails! I did a simple pastel skittle and then added the bunny and carrot this morning.

Index: Color Club "Blushing Rose' (vegan) but it chipped so quickly so I switched to Sally Hansen Insta-Dry "Pink Blink".

Middle: Julep "Shenae" (vegan).

Ring: Julep "Simone" (vegan)

Pinky: Essie "Borrowed and Blue"

Gradient & Flowers

This gradient came out kind of space-y! I started with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Celeb City". Then I used that, Zoya "Natty" (vegan) and Nicole by OPI "A Million Sparkles".

 This I loved! I wanted to do a floral/stud combo. The base colour is a very old polish of mine, Revlon "Make Mine Mango".

I couldn't get decent enough pictures of this manicure. It was much prettier in person! I started with Butter London "All Hail the Queen" (vegan) which has some pretty holo sparkle in it and then I added Zoya "Daul" (vegan) which has a gorgeous gold shimmer.

I'd like to note that I'm going to be listing when a polish is cruelty-free or vegan from now on. I will also do this for other beauty items. If I don't list anything, it means that company or their parent company tests on animals. Like, OPI doesn't test but the company that own them, Coty, does.

Spring Polishes

Remember when I did this jelly manicure? Well, I found myself wishing I had a nude jelly to make a sandwich with. Then I stumbled across this post and thought, perfect! So I picked up Wet n Wild "2% Milk" (gross name) at Walgreens where it was $1 off.  For the glitters I used a Forever 21 polish as well as Sparkles by Julie "Trick or Treat" (no longer available).  I was very happy with the results! "2% milk" applied well, not streaky, but very very sheer. I actually did three coats on both the bottom and top. haha They were thin though, so it worked.

The next two manicures feature new polishes from the Julep Maven March box. I had meant to skip the month but forgot. Well, I'm glad I did because I reeally love these shades! They are all ones I've been wanting to get for Spring, actually.  A gorgeous coral and two pretty pastel shades with subtle shimmer.

Simone, Teri and Shenae. 

I played around with different lines  here using a striping brush. Far from perfect but overall I liked it. Isn't "Simone" such a pretty shade? It actually arrived totally broken but I decanted it into an empty Julep bottle I have.  Still, Julep is sending me a new one so I will probably franken with this one... perhaps add some glitter and clear? Oh and I'm holding "Shenae" in the pictures.

Here I used "Shenae" for the base. I adore mint shades but they always look more blue than green on me! The design is created with "Teri".  To make it, I added 4-5 drops of the polish into some room temperature filtered water then sprayed it with perfume (any alcohols spray should work) which created "holes". Then I proceeded like you would with water marbling. Downside, I didn't get all of the fingers to look similar. Upside? I reeeally love both looks.  On my left hand, the first few came out so delicate! It reminded me of coral but I bet if it were black it would look similar to lace! Then on my right hand some look more like bubbles (which is normally the affect you get).  What do you think? I will definitely try this again, maybe with hairspray. Perfume was smelly- my nails are still scented two days later!