Essie "Allure"

Once again I seem to be on a neutral kick.  This color is "Allure" by Essie.  I purchased this color when I realized that the beautiful Kate Middleton wore it when she walked down the aisle this past spring to marry Prince William.  Kate is so fashionable and everything she wears is classy.  “Allure” is a very classy nail polish that is very sheer.  I think this color is a great addition to my collection since it isn’t too flashy and can be worn to any occasion.

The color is sheer, and streaking was a bit of a problem.  In the picture above I used a clear base coat and top coat, and three coats of “Allure.”  I used the three coats to help even out the streaking and to make the color a little more noticeable.  However there is still some noticeable streaking, especially on my thumbs.  Other than the streaking the only other thing I had any problems with was getting it to dry.  Between all five coats it took almost 2 hours, with pauses in-between coats, to get it to dry, and I still ended up smudging both of my thumbs.  (Did I mention that I am very clumsy?)

Overall “Allure” by Essie is a nice neutral color with a lot of potential.  I would probably recommend using it in a French manicure, though I am enjoying it just as a nice simple polish on its own.  Also I used three coats of color, but two coats would probably suffice if you aren’t looking for the polish to be very noticeable.

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If you would like to give this nail polish a try it is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)

Essie "Ballet Slippers"

After wearing my bright and festive Cornhuskin' nail polish for most of the week I was ready for a lighter and more peaceful color.  I decided on Essie’s “Ballet Slippers” because it is a very pale pink and is a nice neutral color.  I usually tend to stay away from neutral colors simply because a. it isn’t my personality (I am pretty outgoing), and b. it makes me feel too grown up.  I originally purchased “Ballet Slippers” because I LOVED its name.  I have danced now for many years and Ballet is always my favorite style.  However, when I put it on I realized that while it is a neutral, and does make me feel more grown up, it also makes me feel very dainty and sophisticated.  Another thing I like about “Ballet Slippers” is that it can be worn all year!  It is not season specific, which makes sense because you aren’t classy and sophisticated for just part of the year (hopefully).

Essie nail polish, for me, tends to work very well and dries without any real issues.  The only thing I noticed is that because “Ballet Slippers” is a very pale color it streaked a little.  I ended up using three coats of color and the streaking has almost entirely disappeared.  And as always to make my nail polish last longer I used a clear basecoat and topcoat.  (“Invisible” by Sally Hansen.)

Over all I really like “Ballet Slippers” by Essie because it is sweet and simple.  The pale pink color is pretty and looks good with just about any outfit you put on with it (from pajamas to stilettos).  And while I am not ready to grow-up entirely wearing “Ballet Slippers” is a nice start.

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You can grab this nail polish for yourself on Amazon (affiliate link)

Cornhuskin'

I know the title of this piece is kind of weird and confusing unless you are a Meredith College girl, which I am.  Before I attempt to explain Cornhuskin’ you should know that Meredith College (in Raleigh, NC) is an all women’s college that prides itself in high quality education (and high tuition prices in my opinion), but it does lack one thing, and that is a football team.  You are probably confused about how some random thing called Cornhuskin’ goes with football and the answer is it really doesn’t.  Since we don’t have a football team at Meredith (I mean we are all girls) we cannot have a homecoming!  Well that isn’t okay, so we have Cornhuskin’ instead.  Cornhuskin’ (usually referred to as Corn by MC girls) is this week long event that takes place the first week of November every year.  During Corn there are bonfires, singing, school unity, and ultimately one big competition between the classes just to boost the moral and have some fun.  At Meredith College the girls will tell you that Corn cannot be described and that “You just have to experience it!” and they are right you really cannot fully understand it unless you see it.  And while not everyone reading this will be at Cornhuskin’ this Friday night you can find some videos from past years of Corn on YouTube.  (You might specifically want to look for Meredith College Class of 2010’s skits.  There’s were always the best!)

Anyway onto the nails.  Now that you understand Cornhuskin’ a little better you probably aren’t so confused about my yellow and green nail polish!  I have never really tried to do patterns and multiple colors on the same nail before, so I started first by looking around the Internet to see how other people do it.  What I discovered is that many people use blue painters tape.  Well I didn’t have any of that but I do have regular masking tape, which I am here to tell you does NOT work!  Lucky for me I only tried it on two nails (my ring fingers).  I am going to leave the polish on until after Cornhuskin’ simply because it shows school spirit, and I worked really hard on my nails!

The colors I used are both by Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear.  The yellow is called “Mellow Yellow” and the green is called “Emerald City.”  And just like every time I paint my nails I always start with a clear base coat and finish with a clear top coat. (My top coat of choice is still “Invisible” by Sally Hansen.)  Like most yellows “Mellow Yellow” is very streaky, but once I applied a second coat it does even out, however a third coat would probably make it look better.  I did two coats of “Mellow Yellow” and didn't do a third because I knew I was going to add a second color on top and didn’t want it to get too thick!  As for “Emerald City” it goes on very well, though I still recommend two coats.  I applied two coats of “Emerald City” to the tips of my ring fingers just to ensure that the yellow beneath that area was fully covered.

 Overall “Mellow Yellow” is a nice vibrant color that most definitely won’t go unnoticed, however you do have to live with a little streaking.  “Emerald City” on the other hand makes a great year-round color because it is a cooler color, and doesn’t have any problems with streaking!  Also as a side note Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear usually sells for around $3 a bottle.

So before I forget I just bought a bunch of new polish this weekend and I am very excited!  ULTA was holding a sale and I had a 20% off of one item coupon!  So I bought four new OPI polishes, which I cannot wait to try out!  I also went to Sephora and bought one of their polishes (also made by OPI), and the last place I went was Claire’s.  I know that there is a big gap price wise between Claire’s and the other two stores but I have had good luck with polishes from there.  Claire’s was doing a pre-Halloween sale on beauty supplies so it was buy one, get one half off!  I couldn’t resist getting a bottle of their glow-in-the-dark polish, and three bottles of mood changing polish.  I haven’t tried yet to see if they work, but I am really excited!!!  Also on the way here is my first two bottles of Zoya polish!  Thanks to @YouGotNailz on Twitter I found out that Zoya was doing a Halloween treat!  If you put in their special code you got TWO polishes ($8 a piece) and you only had to pay shipping and handling!  (Unfortunately that sale ended at midnight on Halloween).

Thanks for reading my blog!