Hard Candy "Jubilee"

Hi everyone!  And Happy St. Patrick's Day!  So today is St. Patrick's Day and that means green nail polish!  This year I found a fun green nail polish by Hard Candy called "Jubilee."  Hard Candy is a drug store brand which I buy at my local Wal-Mart and their nail polish is fairly inexpensive at about $4 (USD) a bottle.

"Jubilee" is a jelly polish with multiple kinds of glitter in it.  The base color is green and it has small glitter pieces which are dark green, big glitter pieces which are gold, and bar glitter which is copper colored.  Now this isn't a nail polish color I would wear every day but it just seemed perfect for St. Patrick's Day because it is green and the gold glitter reminds me of a pot of gold!  Formula wise "Jubilee" is pretty good.  I used three coats of polish for the picture above and while it isn't completely opaque it is fairly close.  Also I believe you could use a creme polish as a base coat and then apply "Jubilee" on top and create a nice look.  As for the glitter I read several blogs complaining about how the copper colored bar glitter was curly and didn't want to lie flat but I didn't experience that at all, but I did apply a very thick amount of a quick drying top coat.  (I use Orly "Sec'N'Dry.")  As for chipping I haven't seen any so far but I only plan on wearing this polish through the end of the day.  Basically I think "Jubilee" is great for St. Patrick's Day but it is not necessarily a polish I would wear regularly throughout the year!  In terms of removing Hard Candy's "Jubilee" I was surprised how well it came off, though some of the tiny glitter pieces wanted to stick to my skin.  Also I was pleased that "Jubilee" did not stain my nails!

Overall Hard Candy's "Jubilee" is a pretty nice polish.  The formula was good and I am happy that all the bar glitter pieces laid flat on my nail.  Also it was very easy to remove which is awesome for a super glittery nail polish!  While "Jubilee" isn't necessarily a polish I would wear on a regular day it is perfect for St. Patrick's Day and it could probably work well for Christmas too!  I will definitely be wearing "Jubilee" again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  And Happy St. Patrick's Day!  :)

New York Color "Skyline Blue"

Hi guys!  So this week I decided to tone it down this week with a nice sky blue with the hopes that the Spring weather will show up!  I picked out New York Color's "Skyline Blue."  I originally purchased this polish for football season, as I am a huge UNC Tarheels fan, and it works great for that but it surprised me because it has a hidden silver micro-glitter!  In the bottle the micro-glitter is almost invisible and it wasn't until I got the first coat of "Skyline Blue" on my nails that I realized it was there.  (And my apologies for the picture not showing this polish off enough!)

Aside for the gorgeous color "Skyline Blue" also has a nice formula.  After the first coat of polish there was a fair amount of streaking but after the second coat it looked much better.  There was still a few minor streaks after two coats but it was nearly invisible.  As for chipping "Skyline Blue" lasted about two days before the chipping started, though I was able to wear the polish for a third day before it looked too terrible.  As for removal I really got a sense of the glitter when I tried to remove "Skyline Blue."  It wasn't the worst glitter removal ever but it did take a few extra minutes to work the glitter off!

Overall I really like New York Colors "Skyline Blue" because the color is fantastic and the formula is nice.  As for chipping three days is fair though I love the color so I wish I could have worn it longer!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Beautifully Disney "Broken Arrow"

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone has survived the time change, losing that hour is rough!  So last October when I went to Walt Disney World in Florida I purchased some Disney nail polish and I am just now getting around to trying it out!  I bought two mini set, with four bottles of polish per set.  Each set has their own name and all of the polishes are themed from Disney movies, mostly princess movies.  So this week I decided to wear Beautifully Disney's "Broken Arrow" which is themed from the movie Pocahontas and comes from the set Fiery Spirit.  Here is what the mini set looks like:

"Broken Arrow" is a unique yellow colored polish.  It is a pastel but it also has a hint of mustard, the best I can describe it is a honey mustard color.  Formula wise "Broken Arrow" is pretty good, but because it is a mini bottle the brush was very tiny and it was a bit difficult to get enough polish on my nails.  But after two coats the polish was completely opaque which was nice.  However "Broken Arrow" is a pastel and with the added disadvantage of the very tiny brush there were streak marks on many of my nails, especially the large nails like my thumbs and middle fingers.  But overall my nails still looked nice!  As for chipping "Broken Arrow" lasted about two days before beginning to chip off the tips of my nails.  However my nails looked okay until day three when the chips started to get worse.

Overall Beautifully Disney's nail polish seems to be pretty good.  The formula is nice, though the miniature bottles small brush did make it a bit difficult to get on some of my nails.  I also like the unique color of "Broken Arrow."  I do wish I could have worn this polish longer but three days is an okay amount of time to wear a polish.  I think Disney World did a really nice job on their nail polish.

If you want to purchase some Disney nail polish you can buy it at Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida.  But if you can't get to Florida you can go to Disney's website and purchase this mini set (and others) for $21.95 (USD) a set.  Or if you just want this color a full sized bottle can be purchased on the site for $9.95 (USD).  However be aware that most nail polishes are considered "hazardous" in the United States and tend to be shipped via the USPS's ground shipping and not on airplanes so their may be some restrictions on where Disney ships to.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Strawberry Fields"

Hi everyone!  I hope y'all are enjoying the fact that Spring is going to be here anytime now!  (Of course it continues to sleet and snow and Winter shows no sign of ending any time soon!)  This week I decided to pick another very Spring-y color!  I picked out China Glaze's "Strawberry Fields" which is this gorgeous bright pink with gold micro-glitter and perfect for the upcoming Spring!

China Glaze's "Strawberry Fields" formula is fantastic!  It went on very smoothly and in nice even coats without much effort, and it left zero streak marks which is wonderful.  "Strawberry Fields" was almost completely opaque after one coat and I applied the second coat to make to the color pop and ensure absolute complete coverage.  In terms of chipping "Strawberry Fields" lasted about two days before it began to chip.  It was weird though because it almost looked like it was getting scrapped off my nails as I was going about my day. However after two days my nails looked awful because the tips of my nails were missing a decent amount of polish.

Overall I am split about China Glaze's "Strawberry Fields" because the color is so fantastically gorgeous and the formula was so lovely but the fact that it chipped/got worn off my fingers after only two days was very disappointing!  I am definitely going to wear "Strawberry Fields" again with the hope that it won't chip as quickly!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

If you'd like to try out "Strawberry Fields" it is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)

Essie "Mojito Madness"

 

Hi everyone and happy March!  So I consider March to be Spring (which here in North Carolina has not arrived yet, we got snow yesterday!) and that means brighter, happier nail polish colors!  I decided to start out bright this week with Essie's "Mojito Madness" which is a grass green polish.

Essie's "Mojito Madness" is a nail polish I have heard a lot about and couldn't wait to try it out!  First off I love the color!  It is so bright and Spring-like and it reminds me of fresh cut grass and warm weather!  The formula is pretty good and went on well. After two coats "Mojito Madness" was completely opaque and only had a couple minor streaks.  As for chipping I was able to wear Essie's "Mojito Madness" for five days before I saw any chipping at all, which thrilled me!  As for removal it came of without much difficulty and didn't stain my nails at all!

Overall I am very happy with Essie's "Mojito Madness"!  The color is fantastic (and many people complimented me on it!) as is the formula and how long I was able to wear this polish before it chipped!  I will most definitely be wearing this nail polish again and again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Nicole by OPI "Am I Making Myself Claire?"

Hi everyone!  I can hardly believe that today is the last day of February and that means Spring is just around the corner!  So this week I decided to pull out a Nicole by OPI polish from their Modern Family Collection which came out in early 2012.  All of the colors in the collection are named after characters in the show, which is fun.  The polish I am wearing this week is "Am I Making Myself Claire?" which is named after the mom on Modern Family, Claire.

Nicole by OPI's "Am I Making Myself Claire?" is a dusty pastel purple.  I like the color because it is neutral but with a Springtime twist!  The formula is amazing and with the wide brush it applies so easily!  After two coats "Am I Making Myself Claire?" was completely opaque and streak free, which isn't always an easy feat for a pastel color!  As for chipping small chunks began to fall off on day two, which was a bit disappointing.

Overall I really like Nicole by OPI's "Am I Making Myself Claire?" because it is a nice color and the formula is wonderful!  The only thing I didn't like was how quickly it chipped!  But I love this polish so much that I will definitely be wearing "Am I Making Myself Claire?" again and again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Comparing butterLONDON "Jasper" and ULTA "Cream of the Crop"

Hi everyone!  I can hardly believe that February is nearly over and that pretty soon Spring will be here!  So while I was rummaging through my collection of polishes I discovered two pastel yellow nail polishes that looked very similar in their bottles and I decided to test them out to see if they were dupes.  The polishes are butterLONDON's "Jasper" and ULTA's "Cream of the Crop."  Here's how they looked next to each other in the bottles:

After looking at the bottles next to each other I guessed that they were not going to be identical but I went through with the test anyways.  butterLONDON's "Jasper" retails for about $15 (USD) and ULTA's "Cream of the Crop" ranges anywhere from $3-6 (USD) depending on the sale going on.  And with such a massive price difference I was curious which nail polish would be better.  The above picture shows the finished product of both polishes.  butterLONDON's "Jasper" only required two coats while ULTA's "Cream of the Crop" required three to get better coverage.  But I made sure to take pictures along the way, so here is what they looked like after one coat of nail polish each:

As you can see after one coat it became obvious that the butterLONDON nail polish was brighter in color and that the ULTA nail polish had a watery formula.  But as with all lighter colored polish the first coat and possibly the second can be somewhat streaky.  I continued on and here are what my nails looked like after two coats each:

After two coats of nail polish butterLONDON's "Jasper" looked completely opaque and had very minor streaking while ULTA's "Cream of the Crop" was somewhat see-through and full of steaks.  I decided at that point to add a third coat of "Cream of the Crop" which did help a bunch, but it did still have plenty of streaking after the third coat.

Overall while butterLONDON's Jasper" is very expensive compared to ULTA's "Cream of the Crop" I believe "Jasper" to be the better nail polish.  "Jasper" had better coverage in fewer coats, the formula was decent and the color is prettier than ULTA's "Cream of the Crop."  Plus "Cream of the Crop" has a very watery formula and requires at least three coats of polish to make it look okay.  I would definitely recommend butterLONDON's "Jasper" over ULTA's "Cream of the Crop."

Side note: I have already reviewed butterLONDON's "Jasper" on its own and here is the link to that post: http://perfectlypolished12.blogspot.com/2013/03/butterlondon-jasper.html  So feel free to check it out!  :)

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)