Julep Catherine w/ KleanColor My Valentine

Oh how excited I am for Valentine's day in 2 weeks! I unfortunately have not once spent a Valentine's day with my husband because he works at a restaurant and that is one of their busiest days... but this year I get to spend it with my daughter Violet!

So what better way to start off my return than with a Valentine mani?!!?! This one I chose because the colors fit the holiday and well... the KleanColor is called, My Valentine!

Julep Catherine is a classic bright red. Nothing too special about the color but the formula was easy as ever to work with, which I find consistent with my Julep polish. It's not VERY opaque so I used 2-3 coats. My Valentine is a clear base with fine purple glitter and green silver and yellow/gold hex glitters. It is like most KleanColor glitter... perfect for layering and goes on with 1-2 coats for good glitter coverage.

^ I did 1 coat of My Valentine on every finger except my middle finger (2nd from top) I did 2 coats to show that you can do 2 coats but really only NEED 1.

14 more days, tomorrow... until Valentine's Day! Keep an eye out for more V-Day manis!

My apologies...

I have decided to take a break from posting to focus on a few things in my life that need much more attention.

I WILL be returning very soon :)

>>>>>Casandra

Soft Landings nail wipes! -non polish post-

Hello!!!!! Just wanted to share a non polish post tonight!

I usually use OPI Expert Touch nail wipes to remove my nail polish with OPI Expert Touch remover (great for gritty and hex glitters by the way!) but I had taken notice to another brand out there in the interwebs and such, Soft Landings towels. I see them at spas and salons a lot when I dusty hunt or get my hair did, and also on other blogs (www.thetracefacephiles.com had a giveaway a few weeks back).

On the Soft Landings towels website you can request a sample of their nail wipes. I did this to see if I would like them and I DEFINITELY do! They sent 6 4x4 wipes that reminded me of a dry baby wipe that I use for Violet! They were great with my OPI Expert Touch remover and one 4x4 sheet removed 10 painted nails each nail had 2-3 coats of a dark purple shimmer with a HITS flakie 2 coats on top and 1 coat of INM Out The Door top coat! That is pretty awesome!

before use

after use (10 nails see above)

oh noes naked nails dont look! haha 

I think I will stick with the Soft Landings nail wipes!
edit: I'm such a ditz! I was staring at OPI wipes and typed that instead of Soft Landings! I definitely will switch from OPI wipes to Soft Landings for 3 major reasons, size of wipe, less remover needed, and not as much wipe used... honestly i could remove another 10 nail mani with that used wipe there.

Revlon - No Shrinking Violet !!!

Well I had some inspiration today to do a post to show off a gorgeous violet purple. What is the difference between violet and purple? (okay Traci and Hashley!) Violet has more of a blue tone to the purple where a standard purple has well.... a purple tone! its one tone one one one! How boring! I say we all need violet nails :)

Not too long ago I received a surprise from my friend Taylor from Nailed to the T blog, a bottle of Revlon's No Shrinking Violet. I love how everyone knows how much I love violet, maybe my daughter's name gives it away :)

In the bottle it looks pretty plain for a shimmer and not very violet. I have learned not to judge a polish by it's bottle. On the nail in some light you can totally see the blue tone to it, there is a slight slight slight pink shimmer in there too but I see little fine glitter bits of a purple-pink hue. It is the base color that truly makes this a violet! It applies super smooth and easy, no weird drying like I have had with some other Revlon polish I own.

All pictures are in sunlight, 2 coats No Shrinking Violet, 1 coat Nubar Diamont seal&shine top coat.

can you see the blue tone? can you??? :)

NYX - Dorothy!!

Today I have a polish that is technically not 3 free! OH NOEZ! I love it anyway and it is one of my favorite polishes! The ingredients to this NYX polish say "may contain formaldeyhyde" but it isn't listed in the direct ingredients so if you are 3 or 4 free concerned then use your best judgement on this one.

NYX - Dorothy, is a black jelly base with bright ruby red fine and medium hex glitter! I would suggest putting this as a layer over a solid black polish. I used L.A. Colors - Black Velvet 1 coat and 1 coat of Dorothy...

OPI - It's A Girl! and Color Club - Covered In Diamonds

Well I figured it was time for some girly nails... hehe. I love sheer polish... jelly polish... nude polish... with glitter or flakes! One of my untried bottles of OPI, It's A Girl, was a baby shower gift from my friend Traci! It was one of my lemmings from an older OPI collection and of course since I was having a baby girl this was perfect! <3

It's A Girl, is a simple soft (very) sheer pink, no shimmer or anything which is nice it gives a crisp color. On the nail it is almost the color of my skin and I did 3 coats since it is sheer and it applied great no problems and is a great formula for a sheer polish. A lot of people don't like that "visible nail line" from the tips showing through... I LOVE IT! I think it looks like there is liquid floating on my nail... it just looks cool, alright! :)  I once tried to but down on a nail because I thought it was part of my Jolly Rancher candy... oh yes... I did.

I of course do not like plain nails unless the polish is gorgeous on its own like a flakie or uber glitter hehe :) So I added some chunky flake polish from Color Club, Covered In Diamonds, it is a PAIN in the tush to apply because it is so chunky and the brush is a little small.. but it gave me the look I wanted so I'm complaining no more! 1 coat of Covered In Diamonds.

Julep - Gayle!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and new year celebration! I enjoyed my little break from well... almost everything :) Spent some great time with Violet and the family but totally stoked to start posting again!

Sometime around the holidays I received my penny Julep Maven Box! Inside I received Julep nail polish; Gayle and Catherine. How did they know to send me a dark Violet purple and a knock out red?! My fave nail colors! They are damn good! This coming month I will be starting back up with Julep Maven and I cannot wait! These two colors were a dream as far as formula and shade go... seriously. They apply like butter and I think their bottle brush is one of the best I have ever used!

My favorite cream polish has been found! FAVORITE! FAVORITE!

FAVORITE!

Okay sorry haha I HAD to emphasize... I am IN LOVE DEEEEEEPLY with Julep - Gayle.
Gayle is a dark but not too dark VIOLET purple! I say violet because sometimes when I used the flash on my camera or caught sight of my nails in sunlight I saw some blueish purple hue... VIOLET! I LOVE VIOLET (yes yes hence the baby name)! This is such a simple color but it is definitely NOT plain! There is just something about this color that melts me :)  plus I'm still loving how easily this polish applies, high five Julep!

This is 2 coats of Gayle <3

Now for this picture I did only one coat on my middle finger to show that you do need 2 coats, there were 2 MINOR thing spots that were covered in a second coat! yay!