Orly Elsbeth’s Rose

I got some nice nail polish from a Ross visit yesterday and got to try one last night.

This is Orly’s Elsbeth’s Rose. I feel like this could also be categorized as Color of the Year- Radiant Orchid. (Personally, I don’t really know how to deal with Pantone’s color winners… Emerald went out of fad really quickly last year!) Anyway, I used to own a Sephora OPI nail polish color this color, that I liked much, but had to throw away because it got too sticky, so I am happy!

I would also label this pink as Barbie Pink because it seems to be very similar to the pink used in Barbie boxes!

The photo is of base coat and two coats of Elsbeth’s Rose. I don’t think it shows up well in the photo but this polish has a pearly finish. The polish itself is pretty opaque, and one might have been good, but I used two. And as always, Orly brushes are always good, and like other Orly formulas, this one runs kind of runny, but at the same time, it’s astonishingly opaque.

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

Butter London Fiddlesticks Swatch

The polish on my middle finger is OPI Serious Sparkle, and I will write a review on it later! But for this entry, I’m going to write about Fiddlesticks.

I think many girls know that London Butter make fantastic nail polish! I got this as a London Butter nail polish set deal from Zulily, gave some away as presents for friends, and kept some for myself. Not to sound selfish.. but I am glad that I kept this polish.

Fiddlesticks is a raspberry-glitter polish mixed with raspberry gel-polish. The finish texture is little bit rough, but can be modified with a good top coat.

Doesn’t this polish remind you of fruit preserve?

Anyway, below photo is of my nails with base coat, two coats of Fiddlesticks, and top coat. 

Mineral Fusion Pink Crush

Mineral Fusion was on my list of nail polish that I want to try. Their nail polish products are 5-free (not containing 5 chemicals considered bad) and they also have other beauty products. There isn’t that much reviews out there for this brand. But I wanted to try it still, because this brand is 5-free!

I came across four Mineral Fusion nail polish at Bartell. I wasn’t interested in the it the two green polishes, one sheer-looking gold, and this pink shimmery sheer. I decided to get the pink once because I don have many light pink.

These photos were taken under indoor light, and is of 3 coats. (I usually try to get photos under sunlight, but I removed these right away as I didn’t like it enough.) but here is one more online review for Mineral Fusion products!

This polish is very sheer, and very frosty, and I don’t do sheer nails. I might give it a go again with it over white polish perhaps, and not try Mineral Fusion for a while in the mean while.

Julep Zelda

This is a long overdue review of Julep Zelda! Yes, the name of this polish is Zelda! It’s not Zelda Ocarina Time of Zelda, though. This polish was named after Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the Great Gatsby. I got this polish as a part of Julep’s May Maven box, which was flapper styled (I think because many beauty product companies expected The Great Gatsby movie to leave a great impact on the female viewers…)

This polish consist of silver shiney coat, and light copper ‘dye’ that colors the silver pieces. is very similar to Julep Sienna, but it feels cooler because of the silver base tone. And like Sienna, and Cindy, this Julep metallic nail polish puts on really well without leaving streaks. I think I remember Julep blog calling this color a pink gold polish. I guess I can see that but I still would label this color copper-ish silver polish.

First photo is under shade, and second one is under direct sunlight. All of them are with two coats of Zelda, and Essie Good to Go top coat!

And most of the time, the nail polish shines line this.. It’s very interesting!! And I like interesting polishes. 

Like I said, it puts on well. It’s a good nail polish, but I feel like it kind of overlaps with Julep Sienna. I should definitely try to use it more often though.

Julep Minnie

One of the colors I got from the March Julep Maven Box is Minnie, a pastel salmon, pink color. The big theme for Julep for March was pastel color and playfulness. And so here is a pink nail polish that is slightly pastel.

As with other photos, these photos are taken outdoor, under cloudy or sunny natural light, with no filter. Julep Minnie was finished with Julep fast drying top coat!

Do you see the pinkish hue in the bottle? There are actually a number of Julep nail polishes with a slight ‘tinted’ hue that doesn’t really show up on the nail. It would be cool if there was additional cool effect, but I don’t know if there is a different between colors with these ‘tinted’ hue, and ones without them.

I like the color. But I feel like all the Julep nail polish I have been getting recently comes out thick, and so the nails take longer to dry. I will be trying China Glaze so I will be able to compare Julep with other nail polishes. I am also thinking of investing in buying a formula that is supposed to ‘loosen’ the nail polish (as my friend Lisa informed me).

[UPDATED]

This nail polish is hard to remove. It might be because I put on thick coat, but it was as hard to remove as glitter nail polish. Interesting?

Julep Oxygen

Julep Oxygen is a nail treatment formula with pink tint. According to the back of the box, it’s made with anti-aging plant stem cell (fancy?) and protective UV filter.

That’s a pretty pink!

— Updated Section —

Here is with two coats of Oxygen. Don’t my nails look healthy?? Oxygen made my nails look a bit milky, like pastel except in shade of flesh color, and closer to what my nail color should actually be, instead of yellow. I like it a lot!

Below is with just one coat, and shows a better representation of my stained nails. Yup, two coat makes more sense.

I removed oxygen right after applying it last time because there were other colors that I wanted to try! But it has been a whole since I let my nails ‘rest’ so this will be the time it rests!

I applied one coat of Oxygen. The direction says apply Oxygen twice in a week. From my previous experience, (see below), I have learned that Oxygen takes a while to dry, so I need to be especially careful in applying thin coats of it.

As you can see, one coat is not enough to cover up yellow stain on nails. It makes the nails glossy, and I think little bit lighter.

I am starting to have a different thought on going bare nails because its supposed to be good for my nails! I appreciate that I can go ‘bare’ without revealing

Oxygen smells kind of funny, but not in an unpleasant way. It does feel more like a health product because of the smell, however, you know, like medicine that is supposed to be good for you but tastes horrible.

— End of Update —

So I put on one coat…

It made my nail very glossy but didn’t change much of my nail color.

So I tried putting on another coat…

And my nails turned more pink. It would be nice if this was how I was supposed to use Oxygen. Unfortunately, Oxygen is really soft, and even after drying my nails for a while, two coats of ‘Oxygen’ still doesn’t solidify.

I wish there were more blogs about Julep Oxygen so I can see what other people think about it and how they used it but I couldn’t find any yet…!

Sorry for the bad photo quality!! Maybe I should really invest in a DSLR camera like my dad is suggesting.

Ikat print nail

 

Ikat nails!!! This is actually from awhile ago, but I am so proud of this, and this was the most effort I have put on nail art.

The nail polishes:

• Pink is Palm Beach pink from Sephora Bohemian Brights mini nail set. (It’s a wonderful shade of pink, but no longer available at Sephora )
• Blue is Julep Annie.
• White is random OPI white polish that’s sticky and old, but was good enough for this.
• Black is Kiss Nail Art Paint. Its brush is thin, which made drawing the ‘outline’ easier.

I followed the tutorial from this YouTube video.

Although some of these polishes are not available anymore, I’m sure any nail polish will do as well. This may be a summer design, but who knows how other color combinations will work out? I really want to try ikat in a different color combination soon.

Few things I noted from this experience:

• Having thin brush for the black helps a lot. **Nail polishes specifically for nail art have thin brushes. 
• I liked that the pink is translucent, and this inspired an idea of trying  ‘watercolor’ effect nail art in the future
• The white, and the base color, which in this case, was blue, has to be completely opaque!