Nail It! Magazine

Hi guys!  So usually I stick purely to nail polish but when I was in my local Sally Beauty Supply store a week or so ago I discovered this brand new nail polish magazine called Nail It!  So I pulled it off the rack and started looking through it and basically it is every nail polish junkies dream magazine!  It talks all about new nail trends, celeb nails, and has fabulous pictures of new nail polish collections!  It was more than just pictures though there were great articles too!  Also this first issue had some free nail decals to try out!  (I mean who doesn't love to try out a product before they buy it?!)

I definitely plan on buying this magazine again when their next issue comes out and I just thought I would pass on how awesome this magazine is!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Luxe & Lush"

China Glaze "Luxe & Lush" over butterLONDON "Jasper"

 China Glaze "Luxe &Lush" over Sephora by OPI "Havana Dreams"

China Glaze "Luxe & Lush" over Essie "Splash of Grenadine"

Hi guys!  So over the last month or so I have been testing out China Glaze's "Luxe & Lush" over several nail polishes!  "Luxe & Lush" is this really fun chunky iridescent flakie nail polish!  "Luxe & Lush" is part of China Glaze's Spring 2012 Capitol Colour Collection, which was the collection created around the movie The Hunger Games.

China Glaze "Luxe & Lush" is such a fun nail polish, however not meant to be worn by itself as it has a clear basecoat.  I was worried that "Luxe & Lush" would be difficult to apply, but I was wrong and it was super easy to apply!  Because it is not meant to be worn alone I spent some time testing "Luxe & Lush" over several different colors and brands of nail polish that I have worn in the last month or so.  (See the pictures above to see how it looks with several different nail polishes!)  However because "Luxe & Lush" is a flakie, which is like a glitter, removing the nail polish was fairly difficult!  It took a decent amount of time to remove "Luxe & Lush" and then the nail polish underneath it as well.  But in the end "Luxe & Lush" is so pretty that I don't mind the little bit of extra work at the end!

Overall I really like China Glaze's "Luxe & Lush" is one of my favorite flakies/glitters in my collection and I cannot wait to try it out over more of my nail polishes!

Also please forgive that some of my base nail polishes are chipped in the pictures, but I wanted to know how long the base coat nail polishes would last before chipping without "Luxe & Lush" on top of it.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

"Luxe & Lush" is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)

Orly "Sweet Peacock"

Hi guys!  So now that we are halfway through April I think it is time to start pulling out more Summery nail polish colors!  Every summer for the last several years my parents and I have gone to Florida and stayed at the beach.  I love the ocean so it is no surprise that I wear blue nail polish a lot during the summer!  (And even though it isn't actually Summer yet I am keen for it to be so I thought I would go ahead and rock some Summer nail polishes!)  This week I decided to wear Orly's "Sweet Peacock."  This is my very first Orly nail polish that I have ever worn, aside from my quick drying topcoat ("Sec"N'Dry).  I was pretty excited to try out a new (to me) brand of nail polish!

First off I should let you know that I got this Orly mini bottle of nail polish free abut six months ago.  I read Seventeen magazine and in one of their magazines was a coupon for a free mini bottle of Orly nail polish from ULTA.  There a few choices and I decided to pick "Sweet Peacock" because it is such a gorgeous dark blue.  I will say I did have a bit of a hard time applying the nail polish.  "Sweet Peacock" is a glitter nail polish and the first coat was very streaky.  However I was pleasantly surprised with how well it evened out after applying the second coat of color.  "Sweet Peacock" definitely requires two coats of polish to become opaque, but once it is on it is super pretty and shimmery!  The glitter flecks shine yellow and green in the light and really does remind me of the ocean!  As for chipping I swear it started almost instantly!  Within 12 hours the tips of all my nails were ruined and small chunks missing from the ends of several nails!  I am definitely disappointed by the amount of chipping!  In terms of removing this glittery nail polish it was a bit difficult and did require to spend a bit of time working, but it eventually came off.

Overall I like Orly's "Sweet Peacock."  The color is fantastic and makes me think of the ocean and Summertime.  However it was a pain to remove!  It did not want to come off of my skin and took a fair amount of time to remove.  But for a free mini bottle of nail polish I will definitely be using "Sweet Peacock" again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Essie "Splash of Grenadine"

Hi guys!  So now that Spring is in full swing, pollen and all, I am looking forward to the weather continuing to get warmer and warmer!  This week I decided to try out Essie's "Splash of Grenadine."  I had heard lots of amazing things about this Essie nail polish and I admit I was eager to try it out!  And I am very happy to say that Essie's "Splash of Grenadine" lived up to its name!

Essie's "Splash of Grenadine" is this gorgeous purply-pink color, which is perfect for Springtime!  I adored the color in the bottle but once it was on my nails I really fell in love with it!  It is purple, it is pink, and it is super pretty on my finger nails!  I was a bit worried about the application, because in the past Essie has not always been the easiest for me but "Splash of Grenadine" surprised me and went on super easily!  "Splash of Grenadine" left not streaks and went on in nice even coats!  And to make me love "Splash of Grenadine" even more the nail polish was completely opaque in just two coats, which always makes me happy!  As for chipping some very minor tip chips started on the second day.  However as the days passed this chipping did not get any worse.  I ended up wearing Essie's "Splash of Grenadine" for five days!  I was very impressed with how long "Splash of Grenadine" lasted because my previous experience with Essie is that it chips horribly off my nails!  So I was very pleased to find an Essie nail polish that didn't chip off quickly!

Overall I adore the gorgeous purply-pink color of "Splash of Grenadine" and Essie's "Splash Of Grenadine" definitely lived up to its hype and I would totally recommend getting this nail polish because it is totally perfect for Spring and Summer!  Also the fact that I was able to wear it for five days without hardly any chipping is amazing!!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

If you want to give this polish a try it can be bought on Amazon (affiliate link)

ULTA "Flamingo"

Hi everyone! Now that Spring is officially in full force I decided to wear a wonderful hot pink by ULTA called "Flamingo."  I originally purchased this color because of its name!  My elementary school was called Flamingo Elementary and I have always been fond of flamingos since!  :)  But aside from its awesome name it is a super fun Springtime hot pink!

So ULTA's "Flamingo" is a bubbly-gummy pink with fun light silver shimmer!  (Which is slightly more apparent in the bottle than on the nail.)  It is a fantastic color and definitely screams Springtime!  Like other ULTA nail polishes I found the application of "Flamingo" very easy and for me ULTA nail polishes have nice sized brushes making it very easy to apply the nail polish without any streaking!  "Flamingo" required only two coats of nail polish to become completely opaque, which I always appreciate!  As for chipping I saw some minor tip chips around day three.  But by day five the nail polish started to crack around the edges of my nails.  It was so weird.  It kind of looked like the layers of polish were separating from each other!  I have never really seen anything like it!

Overall I found ULTA's "Flamingo" a fun Springy color.  And I was pleased with how easy it was to apply, but the weird cracking and separating layers were definitely a downer!  However ULTA's "Flamingo" did last for five days, which is pretty good for nail polish!  In the end I will definitely be wearing "Flamingo" again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Stone Cold"

China Glaze "Stone Cold" with no topcoat. 

China Glaze "Stone Cold" with Orly "Sec'N'Dry" topcoat.

Hi everyone!  (And Happy Belated Easter!)  So I know that in Spring it is typically about pastel colors and flowery colors but after wearing so many in a row I just needed a bit of a change, so I decided this week to wear China Glaze's "Stone Cold."  "Stone Cold" is part of China Glaze's The Hunger Games collection, which came out in Spring 2012 and it is this really pretty shimmery grey/black matte nail polish.

When I originally purchased "Stone Cold" I did not know that is to was going to be a matte polish, so I was pretty surprised the first time I tried wearing it.  However I ended up actually thinking matte nail polish is pretty neat after wearing "Stone Cold."  Right now "Stone Cold" is the only matte nail polish I own, but I definitely want some more!  (Or a matte topcoat!)  So "Stone Cold" is definitely a one coater and covers really well, but I did two coats because I almost aways do two coats.  The top picture shows how China Glaze's "Stone Cold" looks when it is dries without a topcoat.  I think it looks neat, but in order to make sure the nail polish was dry I needed to add a quick drying top coat.  I always use Orly "Sec'N'Dry" as my top coat because it dries in about 15 minutes and then I don't have to worry about smudges!  (Which makes me very happy!)  As much as I love "Stone Cold" as a matte nail polish I also love the effect that a shiny top coat creates!  I don't know if you can tell in the second picture or not but the topcoat really brings out the shimmery gold flecks in the nail polish!  In terms of chipping it started after about a day, and the chunks came off in fairly big chunks.  The chunks started mostly on my tips but quickly moved up my nails until the nail polish started to peel off.  I must admit I was a bit disappointed by how fast he nail polish chipped off, but I really do like the color so I am willing to wear "Stone Cold" anyway.

Overall China Glaze's "Stone Cold" is nice and is fun to play with, since it can be a matte or a shiny nail polish!  Also I am happy that it is a one coater (even though I may never wear it that way) because it makes it faster to put on the nail polish and get on to other things without sitting for as long to get the nail polish dry!  I definitely love this nail polish and wear it a lot during Winter, usually, and really enjoy it, even if it chips very quickly.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)