Tag Archives: Nail Polish

JulieG Gelato in Venice

Posted on May 27, 2012 by | 6 Comments

When I did my Top 10 Polishes of 2011 post I surprised myself when it included a polish from Jesse’s Girl. That’s just not a brand that was really on my radar. But when I found out JulieG713, one of my favorite beauty gurus on YouTube, was doing her own collection with Jesse’s Girl I wanted to try one of her polishes. I ended up LOVING Party Dress. I wore the crap out of that polish last Fall! So when Julie announced she was going to have her own polish line that was being manufactured by Jesse’s Girl I was super excited.

I finally spotted the JulieG polish line at Rite Aid about a week ago and picked up Geltao in Venice. Not only did the color look gorgeous in the bottle I love about anything named after an Italian city and who doesn’t love gelato?

Anyway, on to the nail polish. Gelato in Venice is a beautiful minty pale green creme. It’s not too minty though, if that makes any sense. The only true mint green polish I have in my collection is wet n wild I Need a Refresh-Mint and it has significantly more blue.

Like Party Dress, the formula of this polish is superb. Especially for being such a pale color. The formula is on the thicker side, but not hard to deal with, and very opaque. I only used 2 coats in my swatch.

I am so impressed with this polish! I will definitely be trying some other JulieG polishes in the future. JulieG polishes are available at Rite Aid (and on jessesgirlcosmetics.com) and retail for $3.99.

Below the jump there are pictures of the bottle (which I love), the brush and just for good measure a picture of the best gelato I’ve ever had (which also shows my naked nails…scary!). I bought it from a street vendor in Sorrento, Italy and no gelato since has even come close. Surely I can convince some polish brand to make a polish called Gelato in Sorrento….

Continue reading →

→ 6 Comments

Posted in JulieG

Tagged ,

Pixi Vivid Coral

Posted on May 24, 2012 by | 4 Comments

I know, I know, another coral nail polish! But really, who doesn’t love coral? It’s the perfect no brainer color for Spring and Summer and if you are even a casual reader of this blog you know I am obsessed.

Recently Pixi launched a polish line. Vivid Coral is the first of their polishes I have tried so I didn’t really know what to expect.

Vivid Coral is a bright neon pink with red undertones. I’m not sure I would call this coral, but it certainly is vivid! I was surprised that this was a neon and I wasn’t at the same time. It does look quite bright in the bottle but not so bright that it was obviously a neon.

For a neon the formula was quite good. This polish does have a jelly feel to it so 3 coats are definitely required to get an opaque color. There is still a slight visible nail line but it is not near as noticeable to the naked eye as it is in the swatch. And as with all neons, this dries to a semi matte finish, so a shiny top coat is definitely required!

The wear from neons is usually pretty bad. A day, or two, at the most is all you’ll get. But this polish actually wore quite well.

Overall, I do like this polish though it is not particularly unique or groundbreaking. Below the jump there is a comparison to some similar polishes in my collection, including Essie Camera and SinfulColors Pink, but I don’t have any dupes. Also in that comparison I did one nail of Vivid Coral over Ulta Snow White. Layering Vivid Coral over a white polish gives the polish an entirely different look.

One thing I do love is the bottle. They are just so cute and different! But they only contain .25 fl.oz of polish and are $8. That is on the expensive side. Until I try a normal (read non  neon) polish from this line I can’t really say whether or not I think they are worth the somewhat steep price tag. Pixi is available at Target and on Pixi’s website.

Make sure to check below the jump for a bunch of other pictures including brush and bottle shots.

The product(s) used in this post were provided to TDV for review. For more information check out our disclosure policy.

Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Pixi

Tagged , ,

Celeb Nails: Taylor Swift

Posted on May 23, 2012 by | 6 Comments

I have publicly admitted previously that I, Allison, love Taylor Swift. I just can’t help it! Her songs are so catchy. And I know I’m not the only one! I was forced to admit this slightly guilty pleasure after I purchased Deborah Lippmann Today Was a Fairytale, though straight up copying Taylor’s manicure may be a bit more crazy….

After seeing this picture of Taylor on what looks to be a coffee run I just had to replicate her nails. I don’t know if she did it on purpose or if the manicure was a total accident but she had all her nails except her pinky nail painted a light blue. The pinky nail was a bright cherry red. This was the perfect opportunity to use 2 of my favorite nail polishes; Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Barracuda and Madame X.

As I was doing this manicure I was very unsure of it. I thought it might look really strange. But as it turns out I ended up  loving this combination of colors. I even tweeted about it from my car while I was waiting on my boyfriend to get his morning coffee. Clearly I was obsessed!

In the original picture I couldn’t tell if Taylor had any nails on her right hand painted red. I decided to do my pointer finger on my right hand in the cherry red color just to add some continuity to the look.

This is a manicure I could see myself doing again. Maybe even trying out some other color combos…. What do you think? Is this something you would try?

There are quite a few more pictures below the jump (including a proper swatch).

Continue reading →

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Celeb Nails

Tagged , , ,

OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Apps Fishnet

Posted on May 22, 2012 by | 4 Comments

I must confess…I’m a bit addicted to nail strips, appliques, whatever a given company wants to call them! It’s just so nice to do your nails and know your manicure is going to stay in tact for more than a few days. So when I saw OPI started making them I had to give them a go. I spotted the display at Ulta. There were actually 2 displays…one labeled “cream” and one labeled “shimmer.” I pretty quickly settled on the Fishnet design. It’s actually the design featured on the cream display which I find interesting since there is obviously shimmer in this design….

Anyway…Fishnet is a shimmery aqua with a fishnet overlay. I love this design for Spring and Summer. It’s just so fun and different for a fishnet design.

These OPI strips are made from real nail polish. I much prefer these kind of nail appliques to those that are more like stickers such as the Julep Nail Appliques or Nail Rock Nail Wraps.

For all the details on application, removal, etc, etc check below the jump!

Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in OPI

Tagged ,

Nail Art: Alternating Polka Dots

Posted on May 21, 2012 by | 9 Comments

I’m kind of crazy about polka dots. Not only when it comes to nail art…I wear alot of polka dots. Along the way I’ve done several polka dot manicures, including an Auburn themed manicure and the ever popular Neon Polka Dots manicure. But this polka dot manicure is a bit different.

For this manicure I did alternating polka dots and base colors. So for half of the nails I used a base of Ulta Snow White and Essie Bazooka for the polka dots. On the other nails I used Essie Bazooka over Ulta Snow White as a base and Ulta Snow White for the polka dots.

I loved this manicure. I loved it so much I even tweeted a picture of it. It was so much fun to wear and I was constantly getting compliments on it. But the best thing about this manicure is the combinations are endless!

As usual, I did not use a dotting tool. I just used the large end of a bobby pin. Worked perfectly!

There is another swatch below the jump.

Continue reading →

→ 9 Comments

Posted in Essie

Tagged , , , ,

Revlon ColorStay Marmalade

Posted on May 20, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Last Summer my favorite nail polish was butter LONDON Macbeth. This Summer it is Revlon Marmalade. I can literally not stop myself from wearing this polish! It’s been on my toes for a solid month (with a few fresh pedicures, of course). I’m very surprised I like this polish as much as I do. Generally speaking, Revlon has not been one of my favorite polish brands. But they have really stepped up their game with the (fairly new) ColorStay line.

Marmalade is a bright tangerine orange creme. It has slight pink or red undertone, it is not a yellow based orange. It’s basically the it color for everything fashion and beauty for Spring/Summer 2012 in a nail polish bottle.

The formula is good. I did use 3 coats on my nails for this swatch, though when I’m doing a pedicure I only use 2 coats. Basically, for any normal person, 2 coats would likely be sufficient! As with all of the ColorStay polishes, Marmalade dried to a super shiny finish.

At first I was kind of wary of this line of polishes but now I just love it. For more information about the ColorStay line (including brush pictures) check out my post on Vintage Rose. There are pictures of the bottle and  label below the jump.

If you haven’t tried out the ColorStay line this is a great week to give it a try. CVS is running an awesome sale. All Revlon polishes are on sale for $4.99 with $3 back in Extra Care Bucks. Plus, if you are lucky enough to have this Revlon polish display (I have seen this display at CVS, Rite Aid and Ulta), grab one of the $1 off coupons and you have yourself an $8 nail polish for $.99!

For my $1 nail polish I picked up Provence. I can’t wait to try it!

Now I seriously need to go listen to Lady Marmalade because it has been stuck in  my head since I started writing this post! Cue Christina belting out Creole Lady Marmalade.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Revlon

Tagged ,

essence Gagalectric

Posted on May 19, 2012 by | 6 Comments

This polish is from a collection essence released last Summer. It was their @holographics.com collection. I recall seeing that collection at Ulta but I never really had any desire to purchase anything from it. Duochromes generally aren’t my thing. But Katie sent me this polish along with a bunch of other goodies so I of course had to give it a try.

Gagalectric is a very sheer duochrome that flashes between a lilac and an aqua. The duochrome is as strong on the nail as it is in the bottle, which isn’t always the case with duochromes.

While the polish looks pretty good on the nail, application is kind of a pain. The formula is quite thin and reminded me alot of Wet n Wild Gray’s Anatomy. I used 4 coats in my swatches and as you can see there is still a visible nail line.

I’m thinking this might look good over a white or black base. I’d love to hear some of your suggestions for a polish like this!

There are a bunch more pictures below the jump :)

Continue reading →

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Essence

Tagged ,

Ulta Snow White

Posted on May 17, 2012 by | 6 Comments

I’ve had this polish for almost 2 years and to be honest, when I got it, I didn’t expect it would be a polish I used often. But it is by far the most used polish in my collection. If you are at all into any kind of nail art a good white polish is a necessity and this is a fabulous polish for that.

I wanted to do (another) post on this polish because of the frequency I mention it in my posts. But Ulta’s salon formula polish line has gone through several changes since I initially picked up this polish. So when I was at Ulta a couple of weeks ago I checked, and Ulta still sells this polish, though the packaging is different from  mine.

The reason I love this polish so much is the formula and application. White, like yellow, can be a bit of a pain if the formula isn’t perfect. I consider Snow White to have the perfect formula. It is very opaque and a tad on the thicker side but not difficult to work with. In this swatch I used just 2 coats.

So, if you are on the hunt for the perfect white polish to use under a neon or to use in nail art, or heck, just to wear on it’s own, I highly recommend Ulta Snow White. It retails for $6 but never pay that! Ulta runs sales on their house brand all the time. I usually stock up on Ulta polishes when they are $2 :)

Do you have a perfect white? I’d love to know some other favorites. I know Katie really likes OPI Alpine Snow!

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Ulta

Tagged ,

Essie Bazooka

Posted on May 16, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Lights! Camera! Action! Bazooka? Yeah, I don’t get it. But, despite me being dense, or Essie just not making any sense, Bazooka is part of Essie’s Summer 2012 Lights, Camera, Action neon collection. I spotted the collection at CVS and really wanted all 4, but I settled on just getting Camera along with Bazooka.

Essie describes this polish as a bright orange neon. Straightforward and accurate. Much like camera, this isn’t an in your face neon. It’s bright but it’s not quite as bright as your normal traffic cone orange a la SpaRitual Flashback.

Application was on par for a neon polish. The formula is a bit thin and has almost a jelly feel to it so I did need 3 coats to got an opaque color.

The best way to get the most impact out of any of Essie’s neon polishes it to wear them over a white polish like I did with Camera here.

I really love this polish. After wearing it a couple of days I tried doing a tiger stripes manicure with Bazooka as the base. It turned out ok….there is a swatch of that below the jump. After that I ended up doing some nail art I really loved with this polish. I’ll do a post on it in a few days but here’s a sneak peek over on TDV’s Twitter page :)

Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Essie, Nail Art

Tagged , ,

Cult Nails Scandalous

Posted on May 14, 2012 by | 10 Comments

I’m just going to say I have seriously mixed feelings about this nail polish. Katie sent Scandalous to me in her surprise May nail mail package. I was so excited to give it a try because I have definitely embraced the orange and coral nail, fashion and makeup trend for this season. I just can’t get enough of it!

Scandalous is a more subtle version of this season’s coral trend. It’s more like an orange sherbet creme jelly, if you will. I have no complaints about the color. It is lovely and different from the rest of my collection.

Now for the things I didn’t like; the formula. It is very thin, even for a jelly. I had no choice but to use 4 coats to get anything close to an opaque color. The worst thing about the formula though was the smell. It smelled SO STRONG it actually made my eyes water. This is the only Cult Nails polish I own, so I asked Katie if she had a similar experience with Toxic Seaweed. She said she didn’t remember there being a strong smell. So hopefully the terribly strong smell is just an anomaly.

My other complaint is the bottle. It looks nice but I loathe wide caps. It just makes it difficult to apply the polish.

Overall I am a bit disappointed in my first Cult Nails experience. For $10 a bottle I expect alot. That being said, I do love the color. I topped Scandalous with Julep Sarah after wearing it for a couple of days and love the result. Check out the swatches below the jump!

Continue reading →

→ 10 Comments

Posted in Cult Nails

Tagged ,