Random Swatches

Hey there folks. This is a bit of a random post with some photos I had saved. Polishes I've used as bases, didn't like how they turned out etc. Not going into huge detail with each one, but thought I would just throw this out there anyways....

Julep Lissa two coats plus top coat.

Index and pinky are China Glaze Derailed. I tried water marble decals. My application of them didn't work. They were done with Derailed, Barry M Sugar Apple, MckFresh Do Ba Dee Goo Goo.

MckFresh Nail Attire Do Ba Dee Goo Goo. Blurple creme. I couldn't get good shots of this. The colour and my camera didn't get along. 2 coats plus top coat.

                           

So there you go. I told you it would be totally random! Have a great day.

Teal Gradient with Julep Lissa and Donna

The Crumpet's Nail Tarts 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge has begun!

The challenge for this week is two colour gradient plus teal. You can use one of the prompts or both. So I went for straight up teal. These are two untrieds from my collection, so it was a nice was to incorporate that in as well. I also tried a new technique. Obviously, that didn't turn out so well. I still liked the colours though!

Thanks for the visit and make sure to check out everyone else that is participating!!  

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping Over A Purple Base

The Sunday challenge this week was stamping over a purple base.

My base is Julep Morgan, which is a lovely pearly purple. I decided to stamp with Konad red and used Messy Mansion plate 07.  Nothing terribly exciting, but I like it.

For those interested, here are a couple pics of Morgan without the stamping. Two coats plus top coat.

Thanks for the visit. I hope you enjoyed today's stamping.

Julep Elisa swatch and review

Julep Elisa swatches for you today.

Elisa is a lavender creme with shimmer. Although the shimmer is VERY subtle. The formula was on the thicker side, so apply with caution. I used two medium coats for full coverage. This polish mostly self leveled and top coat took care of the rest.

Overall thoughts are that this is an okay polish. Nothing unique or spectacular. I tend to feel this way about most of my Juleps.
For information on becoming a Julep maven, you can find the details HERE.
Hope you enjoyed the swatches.

*polish purchased by me and all opinions are my own.*

Tri polish Tuesday challenge

I'm back with another tri polish challenge submission. Please don't laugh too hard at this weeks entry! I'll give you a bit of background first. This week I decided to try making my own stamping decals. First time! The decals themselves actually turned out pretty good. Now for epic facepalm - I put them on my nails wrong side up. Duh ;) Yeah, I really did that. And then not enough time to redo them so you get my partially failed mani this week. And yes I know I didn't do a very good job of trimming them to my nail. It's harder then it looks!
All polishes this week are from Julep. Black - Cleopatra, red - January, yellow - Blake, orange - Parker.

Thanks for having a look. Be gentle with me! Don't forget to check out the other participants below.

Julep Cleopatra black latex polish

Julep Cleopatra is a black polish with a waxy finish. Please note that this does not contain latex. I actually really like this type of finish. I even have the Wax That top coat from Cult Nails so I can do this to all my polish. So even though I like this type of polish, this particular one just didn't cut it. You need to apply VERY precisely or else it will be noticeable where you missed or applied too much. You'll notice this in my photos. I like my polish to be a bit forgiving when it comes to this. Or usually a top coat will help to even things out, but this is designed to be worn without top coat. You'll also notice that I ended up with some little clumps of something (pigment maybe) on a couple of the nails. Really unappealing to look at! This is two coats of Cleopatra with no top coat.

So this is ending up in my nail art only pile! A disappointment to be sure. Thoughts? Am I the only one that has mysterious clumps in their polish?  Thanks for stopping in today. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

*polish purchased by me and all opinions are my own*

Festive Stamping with MoYou London

Yes, I know this isn't the best stamping ever, but it was a victory of sorts. I finally managed to get a squishy stamper to work! (mostly)

I used MoYou London plate Festive 04. Base colour is Julep Kate and stamped with Mentality Sexy. So, overall this turned out okay. I think the biggest problem is that the designs are too big for my itty, bitty nails! Live and learn, I now know not to order the XL plates. The regular will be fine for my nail size.

As you can see, the patterns were too big for my nails. Still proud of myself for making improvements. Thanks for having a look today!

*all products were purchased by me*

Julep orange shades

With Halloween and autumn here, I thought I would swatch some orange shades to help you find what you might be looking for! I know I constantly sit down and start thinking about what the right shade would be for a particular design. Today I am starting with three Julep shades for you.

Hayden is described as a neon peach creme. This definitely leans orange to me. Maybe it's just my skin tone. I have used two coats plus top coat. As it's a neon it does dry to a matte finish. Applies nicely, but as you can see, my polish has some areas that the pigments won't mix together any longer. Unfortunately this is visable on the nail. Yes! I did shake, rattle, and roll! Nothin'.

Kaylen is a bright/neon orange crelly. Officially they call this a creme, but no, it isn't. Dries matte, so you'll need a shiny top coat. I have used three coats and still have vnl. Not so noticeable in the pics, but it definitely is in person. My brush in this was wonky, it looks like it has swelled up, making it difficult to apply. Other then that, I like the colour.

Parker is a tangerine creme. Full coverage in two coats, but be careful of pooling at the cuticles. The formula is a bit thin. Photos are with top coat. This is my personal favourite of the three!

Julep polish can be found HERE. They currently have some sales going on as well. Thanks for stopping by today!

*polish purchased by me and all opinions are my own*

Julep Matte Suede Collection

Today I have the entire Julep Matte Suede collection that was released in November 2012. As all the formulas were consistent I'll just give you the rundown now for all of them. Each polish shown is three coats with no top coat. They applied easily. Dried very quickly. I recommend a good coverage base coat because they did tend to highlight all my nail flaws. Please note that I only swatched these, so I can't comment on wear time or staining. Colour descriptions are from the Julep site.

NORA - silver aubergine

AMBER - golden bronze

BRIT - graphite silver

HAILEE - khaki green

MINKA - copper red

Do you have a favourite from this collection. Mine would have to be Hailee. I'm a sucker for green! If you are interested in becoming a Julep Maven you can sign up HERE. Better deals if you are a maven. And the suede's are currently in stock!

Thanks for stopping in to visit!