Foto Friday

It's casual Friday....well, on a Saturday morning. I am in love with Zoya's Wednesday. Great robin's egg blue.

Work It Wednesday! with Julep Adrianna

It is Wednesday and you know what that means....Mani Cam!!!!  Time for these nails to strut their stuff!

Today's red carpet beauty features Julep's Adrianna.  It is a great pistachio cream with beautiful color.

Adrianna

I love this color.  Pretty, pastel green that is so easy to apply.  It could be one of my 4 season colors.

YOU BETTER WORK!!

Julep Maven Sea Salt Polish Review

Oh texture nail polish.....how I love thee....and thank you Julep for my sea salt textured nail polish!
When I received my Julep Mystery Box in the mail, I quickly tried this sea salt polish out to see what fun was contained in the bottle.  I was that happy.  But, this polish needs more than a quick paint over my current mani.  It needs its own quality time!

Jill and Vivien

In the bottle, Jill looks like a simple beige-y brown cream nail polish.  It goes on thick, to the point where you could almost use one coat.  I never feel comfortable with one coat, so I used two.  The polish goes on like a cream, but almost like when you put on polish a bit too aggressively and it gets air bubble bumps.  As it dries, the texture really develops.  

The texture is still a flat cream with a texture that is comparable to a fine grit nail file.  It has a nice feel to it and after almost 2 full days wearing it, not a single chip off these suckers!

I like the mix of texture in this mani with the glitter, if I do say so myself.  Vivien is a gold micro glitter with larger hex glitter mixed in.....I had the worst trouble getting this to photograph properly with sea salt polish at the same time.  Apologies.  

Overall, I like the Julep Sea Salt Finish nail polish.  I hope they plan on making it available outside of the mystery box as I would love to try the black one that had silver glitter mixed in to compare.

Julep Maven Sea Salt Mystery Box

I have been very excited to receive my mystery box from Julep this month.  To the point of stalking the mailman.  I have been eating up the textured polishes that have been coming out all over the place.  I think my favorite is still the Zoya Pixie Dust, but I love the OPI Liquid Sand as well.  Texture AND Glitter?  Oh, you had me at texture!  So when Julep had their own texture polish in a mystery box, I said "SIGN ME UP!"  and have been anxiously awaiting that sucker to ship.

Mystery Boxes from Julep contain a range of product and have a feature product.  This one promised a range of product from $70 - $200 of product and one of the three Seal Salt Textured Nail Polishes.  It is a bit of a gamble if you are a monthly Julep Maven subscriber as you may get a duplicate color.  But, like any good surprise it is worth the risk.  This month, I received box version number 6.

Box 6 contained 5 nail polishes, toe separators, and a nail file. 

I did peek on Instagram to see what other people were receiving in their boxes.  Some contained 4 bottles of polish and hand creams or body scrub.  That would have been nice too.  :)  

  

From left to right: Claudette, Vivien, Jill, Simone.

The 5th bottle of nail polish is a matte top coat...does not make for a very interesting picture. 

The only duplicate I received with the gold micro and hex glitter bottle, Vivien.  Claudette and Simone are both from the Classic with a Twist style profile from Julep.  Which is cool, because my default profile is It Girl and if I switch it tends to be Bombshell.   I don't think I have any nail polish from this profile.  I think I am going to like them.  Be on the look out for upcoming swatches of these nail polishes!

Have you ever ordered a Mystery Box from Julep?  Is it hit or miss?  Or always a great find in your mailbox?  At first, I thought it was a miss, but now I may be changing my mind....

NOTD: Orange for Prevention of Animal Cruelty

This manicure is for my assistant to this blog, Frankie.  We adopted Frankie from The Dachshund Rescue of South Florida just over 2 years ago.  He's sooo cute, playful, and smarter than a dog should be.  He's our perpetual 2 year-old toddler running all over the house and leaving a wake of toys behind.

Frankie

April is Go Orange month in support of Preventing Cruelty to Animals.  Supporting efforts to provide animals with happy lives.  

I love this little doggie, so what better way to express it in the moment than with a manicure!!

I used Zoya's Sharon for the majority of this manicure.  The grass utilized Essie's Pretty Edgy, Zoya's Dea, and Julep's Laura.  The little doxie is a small vinyl sticker from Your Lips But Better.  They can be purchased from HERE.

Zoya Sharon

What's your adoption story?  Frankie kept was brought to a kill shelter on two different occasions before he was rescued and put into foster care, which is where we adopted him from.

GO ORANGE!!!  Have you done an orange mani in support of this awareness cause? Please share in the comments below.

Foto Friday

It's Foto Friday! Time for casual Friday and casual nail pics...
My, sad to say, lame Boston Marathon tribute nails. Done in a hurry and not very well...oh well....

Work It Wednesday!

It's Wednesday! Which means it is mani cam time. Time for nails to work it on the red carpet!

Today's star is from China Glaze and their neon collection. Introducing Pink Voltage!

YOU BETTER WORK, :)

NOTD: Neon with China Glaze Celtic Sun

I have a confession....I have been late to the game in obsessing with neons.  I have been ALL about neon color lately. I don't know if it is the weather, or the boring, I mean to say muted, clothes that I wear to work typically or what. But I find when I am thinking about my next mani, I keep reaching for the bottles of neon. I could be guilty of a lot worse I guess. ;) And in light of all that happened in Boston yesterday, this bright color gives me a bit of peace and sunshine when I think of what a lot of my friends are dealing with at home right now. Small as that may be...

I used China Glaze Celtic Sun with Whirled Away on top. I originally started out with Celtic Sun on top of just base coat. But the color is a bit watery, so after layer upon layer, I scrapped it and put a white base coat down first. This is 2 coats on top of the white. MUCH BETTER! I also love this glitter....well. The look of it anyway. I am not a fan of its actual application. It s just a nightmare. The glitter wants to stick to the brush or clump up at the end of my nail. I ended up having to use a tooth pick to place it on my nail. The overall result was worth it!

NOTD: Starfish with Julep Claire

Good afternoon!

Hello Nailies!  Today's Nail of the Day has a beach theme to it.  I went to the beach over the weekend to take advantage of some warm Florida sun and to collect some shells for our wedding.  We had so much fun, got way too much sun, and found some really great shells.  Naturally, last night's manicure HAD to be beachy.

Starfish

I used Julep's Claire for the water with a light layer of China Glaze's Fairy Dust.  I used a brush to create the starfish in Sinful Colors Hazard with white dots.  The beach utilized Zoya's Pixie Dust in Godiva.  Finished off with Seche Vite quick dry top coat.

Topping off a fun beach day with a fun beach manicure!!

Tigertail Beach, Marco Island

NOTD featuring China Glaze Pink Voltage

Happy Saturday!

The sun has finally come back out here in Florida!  Woo hoo! It has been raining for two days straight.  I was starting to think I was living up north again.  I must admit, I am spoiled by the constant sun of southern Florida.  This kid is happy to have the sun back.

The sun is back out. 

What better time for Neon Pink Voltage!

Polishes used:  Deborah Lippmann's Putty In Your Hands, China Glaze Pink Voltage [Neon], and a little sparkle with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  

I decided it would be a good day for a little bit of gradient fun on a Saturday.  I love playing with gradients.  And I love this fusion of nude and neon.  Sparkle on!!

Foto Friday.

It is Foto Friday!

It is casual Friday...so it is casual Foto Friday.  I enjoy snapping random pictures while I am out and about, and that also applies to my nails.  Foto Friday is my random picture sharing experience.  

I was in a matte mood the other day...above is the result!  Polka-dots, stripes, and zebra stripes, OH MY!!  I love Essie's Matte About You.  Fun and subtle was to play with black nail polish.  

Happy Friday!!

Work It Wednesday! With spring daisies and Zoya Kristen.

It's a beautiful day here on the nail red carpet.  Spring is has now officially arrived and is ready to work it.  What better way to embrace it than with daisies!

A bit of colorful flowers featuring Zoya's Kristen.

I enjoyed painting this manicure.  Zoya is one of my favorite brands because it goes on so easy with great punches of color.  Kristen is a pretty heather gray/blue color.  Two coats more than does the job.  I am looking at this mani....Remember the movie Clueless?  Cher is having one of those moments describing what someone looks like:  "She's a full-on Monet....From far away, it's okay, but up close it is a big old mess."  I am having that same reaction to this manicure.  It is cute and I am happy with it...then I look at it in more detail and it is more an Impressionist painting.  We will look at it more as daisies on a theme.  I haven't been 100% in the past few days, so my desire to pay attention to detail is not really there.  But, it is Work It Wednesday.  So, I am going to WORK IT!!