Julie G "Shark's Cove"

Hi guys!  I can't believe that April is almost over and that Spring is finally in full swing!  A couple of weeks ago I went to the local Rite-Aid and discovered they carry Julie G nail polish, and that it is only $3.99 (USD) a bottle!  I had heard a lot about Julie G but until now had never been able to get my hands on any!  So this week I decided to finally try out Julie G's "Shark's Cove."

Julie G's "Shark's Cove" is a gorgeous aquamarine with a lot of silver shimmer.  It literally looks like sunshine bouncing off of water!  (And happily reminds me of the beach!)  Formula wise "Shark's Cove" was very good and was super easy to apply.  After two coats "Shark's Cove" was nearly opaque and had just a few very minor streak marks.  As for chipping I was able to wear this polish for about four days before it began to chip and scrape off of the tips of my nails.

Overall I am very pleased with my first encounter with Julie G nail polish!  "Shark's Cove" is a gorgeous color, the formula was great, it was opaque and had very few streak marks and lasted a decent amount of time before chipping.  And honestly I don't have anything bad to say about Julie G's "Shark's Cove."  If you are looking for a nice aquamarine polish for Spring, "Shark's Cove" is the way to go and it is very affordable at $3.99 a bottle.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

ULTA "Peach Parfait"

 

Hi guys!  I cannot believe that April is nearly over!  So I am very much enjoying that Spring is in full swing and I decided to wear another fun Springtime color this week!  I picked out ULTA's "Peach Parfait" which is a very pretty pinky-peach colored polish!

ULTA's "Peach Parfait" is a gorgeous color and I had been dying to try it out for a few months, but since I got this polish during the Winter I decided to hold off wearing it until the weather was nice!  Formula wise "Peach Parfait" is okay, but slightly on the watery side.  I had a hard time getting even coats of polish on my nails and after two coats of polish "Peach Parfait" was not anywhere near being completely opaque!  Also I was almost completely unable to get nice even brush strokes which means the tips of my nails are missing a lot of polish and the bad brush strokes also means I had streaks all over my nails!.  In terms of chipping it wasn't so much that "Peach Parfait" chipped off, instead it rubbed off the tips of all my nails making it look like I had only painted part of my nails!  I was able to wear ULTA's "Peach Parfait" for three days before my nails looked so bad that I took the polish off!

Overall I have come to the decision that ULTA's "Peach Parfait" is prettier in the bottle than on my nails.  The formula is only so-so and after having trouble getting even coats of polish on my nails, streaks on most of my nails, and it rubbed off my nails after only three days.  I must admit that I do not love or even like ULTA's "Peach Parfait" as I hoped I would.  I will probably give this polish another try but I wouldn't really recommend going out and buying "Peach Parfait."

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Sand Dolla Make You Holla"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone had a good Easter and enjoyed the long weekend!  This week I decided to try out China Glaze's "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" which is an interesting polish made up of a creamy white base and is full of multi colored glitter.  "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" is part of China Glaze's Spring 2014 Sea Goddess Collection.  I originally purchased this polish because of its name, which I am pretty sure is a spin off of a Honey Boo Boo saying.  (For those of you who live outside the US this is an American TV show about a Southern redneck family.)

"Sand Dolla Make You Holla" is a very unique nail polish and unlike any other in my collection.  The base is a creamy milky white color that is part crème and part jelly.  The glitter in "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" is very small and round and features red, dark blue, silver, pink and gold glitter pieces.  Formula wise this polish was a bit disappointing and it was difficult to apply.  "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" was fairly thick and the glitter made it even harder to apply, and also the polish clumped on to the brush.  After two coats the polish was still see-through and you could tell the coats were very uneven.  As for chipping "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" only made it a day and a half before I couldn't handle how horrible it looked and removed the polish.  (And this wasn't because of chipping but because of how see-through and streaky it looked!)

Overall I am very disappointed with China Glaze's "Sand Dolla Make You Holla."  Just about the only thing I liked about this polish was its name, because the formula was terrible, it was hard to apply, it wasn't opaque after two coats, had a lot of streak marks, and generally just didn't look good on my nails.  I'm not sure if I will wear this nail polish again, but maybe with practice it will become easier to apply.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Nicole by OPI "What's The Mitch-uation?"

Hi everyone and Happy almost Easter!  I can't believe how quickly this year is going by, but I am very happy that it is truly Spring now and the weather is finally warming up!  So now that flowers are blooming I wanted to try out a blue/purple duochrome that just feels happy and Spring-like.  And that polish is Nicole by OPI's "What's The Mitch-uation?" from Nicole by OPI's Modern Family Collection from Spring 2013, which is based off of the hit TV show and features polishes named after each character on the show.

As I mentioned above "What's The Mitch-uation?" is a blue/purple duochrome polish which changes color depending on the light.  Now "What's The Mitch-uation?" is not an extreme duochrome where the colors are very different but the color change is still noticeable.  Formula wise I was worried after I applied the first coat because the polish was a bit watery and I had a difficult time trying to get an even coat on.  Thankfully the second coat went on well and made "What's The Mitch-uation?" completely opaque and streak free, which I was happy about!  As for chipping I started to see very minor tip chips by the end of day two but I was able to wear "What's The Mitch-uation?" for a third day before it looked so badly chipped that it had to come off.

Overall I like Nicole by OPI's "What's The Mitch-uation?" because the color is very pretty and makes me think of blooming flowers!  The formula is decent and the polish lasted an okay amount of time before chipping.  I will definitely be wearing "What's The Mitch-uation?" again because overall it is a pretty good polish!

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great Easter this Sunday!  :)

Formula X "Relentless"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely Spring weather like I am!  (Seriously three days of warm weather have felt so great!)  This week I decided to celebrate Spring by wearing a super bright pink nail polish!  I decided to try out Sephora's new Formula X in the color "Relentless."

"Relentless" is a super bright bubble gum pink polish, which is my favorite kind of pink nail polish!  The formula is very nice, and after two coats of polish "Relentless" was completely opaque.  However I did have some very minor streaks on my nails and I also noticed that because of the way the brush is it holds a lot of polish and that made it a little harder to paint some of my smaller nails.  But the minor streaks and brush were easily managed with a little practice.  As for chipping it started on day two when the polish started to chip off the ends of over half my nails!

Overall I have mixed feelings about Formula X's "Relentless."  The color is gorgeous and the formula is nice, but the fact that after two days the polish started to chip is definitely disappointing!  I am willing to try "Relentless" again and other Formula X nail polishes with the hopes that I'll have better results next time!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

April Nail Art Post: Pinterest

Hi guys!  So this weekend I thought it would be fun to do a little nail art!  I decided to pick out an idea from Pinterest (You can check out my boards here: http://www.pinterest.com/londonlover27/).  Here is the original pin that sparked my nail art attempt:

 (The watermark on the pin says "Piouh" but I was unable to find its original origin.)

Now obviously my nails don't look anywhere close to the Pinterest pin but I did give it a go, and I actually like how my nails turned out!  The original pin reminds me of the night sky and the glitter looks like stars in the distance.  So the first thing I did after looking at this pin was to pick out some similar colors.  Here are the colors I picked out:

(From left to right: Sephora by OPI's "My Personal Serpent", OPI's "Your Palapa Or Mine?", and China Glaze's "Grass Is Lime Greener."

So to do this nail art I started with Sephora by OPI's "My Personal Serpent" at the nail bed of my nail and made small uneven little strokes to cover about one third of my nail.  I did this on all of my nails and then switched to OPI's "Your Palapa Or Mine?"  I repeated the same process as before only cover the middle third of my nail and trying to blend the two colors together where they met.  Then I repeated this same step again using China Glaze's "Grass Is Lime Greener" on the bottom third of my nails.  To finish off my nails I applied a nice coat of China Glaze's "Fairy Dust" (the bottle can be seen in the top picture) which is a major silver glitter in a clear base.  My nails turned out less like the night sky and instead reminded me of mountains fading off into the distance.  Here's a wonderful picture of the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina that I took back in 2012 to show you the fading effect I am talking about:

(Photo courtesy of moi!)

I think by using small uneven brush strokes my nails look like little mountains fading out.  I love the look and definitely plan on trying it out again.  In the mean time I would love to master the smooth transition that Piouh did in the Pinterest picture.  (How do you do that!?!)

Anyways I hope you all enjoyed my simple nail art attempt!  Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Elle "Some Like It Lilac"

 

Hi everyone!  So this week I decided to celebrate Spring by wearing a fun pastel!  I picked out a polish by a new-to-me brand called Elle, which is made for Kohl's.  I found this polish late last year and waited for Spring to try it out.  The polish a lavender color called "Some Like It Lilac."  (And yes part of me bought this nail polish because the name is adorable!)

Elle's "Some Like It Lilac" is a very light pastel lavender and the color is very pretty!  The polish's formula was good and easy to manage, but I did end up with a lot of bubbles that were very visible.  Like many pastel polishes I had a hard time getting even coats on my nails and in the end there were some visible steaks (mostly on my thumbs).  However two coats of "Some Like It Lilac" was enough to completely cover my nails and make the polish opaque.  As for chipping it started on day two, and it looked awful!  "Some Like It Lilac" chipped and seemed to scrap off my nails on everything, which was very disappointing!  Also removing "Some Like It Lilac" was difficult!  For a crème polish it sure did want to stick to my nails!

Overall I have mixed opinions of Elle's "Some Like It Lilac."  I like that the color is very pretty, that the formula is good and was easy to apply, and that after two coats the polish was completely opaque.  I however do not like how quickly the polish chipped, was difficult to remove and that there were visible streak lines on some of my nails.  I am willing to wear this polish again and hope that it lasts longer on my nails next time.

Side note:  Elle is a nail polish that is made for Kohl's stores.  I wasn't able to find much out about the brand.  Also the bottle doesn't seem to list the ingredients so I have no idea if Elle is a 3 free brand or not.  However I do know that each bottle retails for $10.50 (USD) a bottle, and I have not seen them be on sale.  (Which is weird because Kohl's is know for everything always being on sale!)

Thanks for reading my blog!

Essie "Sand Tropez"

 

Hi guys!  I can't believe April is here and here in North Carolina Spring has finally decided to show up!  So after a wearing several bright nail polishes I decided to tone it down this week and go with a neutral polish.  I dug through my collection and found Essie's "Sand Tropez."

Essie's "Sand Tropez" is a light sandy beige, which reminds me of a day at the beach.  (I do love the name of this polish it just fits so well!)  Formula wise "Sand Tropez" is nice, it applied easily and was opaque after two coats of polish.  However the polish leans a bit more towards the watery side of easy to apply.  Also the small width of Essie's brushes meant I had to make many extra brush strokes, but thankfully it didn't cause any streak marks on my nails!  As for chipping "Sand Tropez" lasted four days before I saw any chipping at all and even then the chips were very minor.  I was able to wear Essie's "Sand Tropez" for five full days before the chipping became more noticeable and I removed the polish.

Overall I am very very pleased with Essie's "Sand Tropez"!  I love the sandy beige colors, that it was opaque in two coats, had no streak marks, and lasted five days before really chipping!  I do wish that Essie had slightly bigger brushes so I didn't have to make as many passes across my nails, but seeing as that is my only complaint here I definitely like and would recommend Essie's "Sand Tropez"!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Grab "Sand Tropez" for yourself on Amazon (affiliate link)

China Glaze "Life Preserver"

Hi all!  So last week I wore a cool Spring blue polish, so this week I decided to go with a warm bright color.  I dug through my collection and came upon one of my favorite Summertime nail polishes by China Glaze called "Life Preserver." 

"Life Preserver" is a reddish-orange nail polish.  I usually wear this color on my toes a lot during the Summer because the color really is great!  Formula wise "Life Preserver" is amazing; not too watery or too thick and was very easy to apply to my nails!  After two coats the polish was completely opaque and had no streak marks!  As for chipping I was able to wear China Glaze's "Life Preserver" for about three days.  Now I feel that this may not be an accurate reading of how long this polish would last because I initially tested out "Life Preserver" last Fall and wore it to work an eight hour shift on Black Friday at the mall.  And as I said before I usually wear "Life Preserver" on my toes and can get it to last for nearly two weeks, or 14 days, therefore I do believe if I had worn this polish at a different time (A.K.A. not the craziest day to work retail ever) it would have lasted longer before chipping.

Overall I am very pleased with China Glaze's "Life Preserver" because the color is lovely and the formula is great!  And I am happy that even though I worked Black Friday in this polish it still held up for three full days!  I will most definitely be wearing China Glaze's "Life Preserver" again soon!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

butterLONDON "Slapper"

Hi guys and happy April!  (Yes it is April Fools Day but I promise I am not pranking you with this fun blog!)  I am so excited that it is April and that Springtime nearly completely here!  I am so ready for the warmer weather!  I decided to pick out a super bright and Spring-y polish by butterLONDON called "Slapper" which was originally released in 2012.

"Slapper" is a bright teal colored creme polish.  The teal color is gorgeous and reminds me of the ocean water, which is perfect since Summer will be here soon!  The formula of "Slapper" is fantastic, not too thick or too watery and very easy to get onto my nails!  The coverage is wonderful and after two coats the polish was completely opaque and had no streaks!  As for chipping  "Slapper" lasted four days before I noticed any chips, and even then the chips were very minor.  Since "Slapper" is a darker blue color I worried that it might leave stains on my nails, but I am happy to say that my nails had no blue stains on them after "Slapper" was off my nails!

Overall I am very pleased with butterLONDON's "Slapper."  The color is gorgeous, the formula is fantastic and went on easily, and I also love that I was able to wear this polish for four days before the chipping started!  I will definitely be wearing this nail polish again and again!

Thanks for reading my blog and happy April!  :)