Jolly Holly

Here is my Christmas Day manicure.  Not very creative but still I thought it was pretty.

I tried a new product today.  When I ordered my polish from Maya, I noticed they also had a new Smoothing Coat for Glitter, so I picked up a bottle.  I didn't have a chance to try it until today.

I really think it made a difference.  I used a base coat, two coats of China Glaze Jolly Holly (a perfect Christmas green IMO), one coat of kbShimmer Candy Cane Crush, one coat of the Maya Smoothing Coat for Glitter and a coat of Seche Vite.  Using the Smoothing Coat and the Seche really made my nails smmoth and even.  I think one more coat of Seche would have made them perfectly smooth.

The smoothing coat is not a quick dry topcoat and is recommended that you  use it under a fast dry topcoat.  I did and had no issues with the dry time.

The Chine Glaze went on perfectly as usual and dried very fast.  The topcoat of Candy Cane Crush gave it a nice contrasting look but I wish I had been able to pick up more red on the crush.  It still looks all festive and Christmassy anyway.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Nails

I have had festive nails for the last week or so for the holidays.  Red of course, my favorite color.  First of all I have a plain red manicure using Julep's Ellen - a very nice red creme.  It applied flawlessly and covered in two coats.  I love the color. :)

Later this week I did another red mani with Catherine by Julep - another glorious red polish.  I have a lot of red polish.:)  I followed it with two coats of kbShimmer Candy Cane Crush - a clear base with red and white hex glitter of varying sizes.  You can't see the red glitter because I layered it over red polish, but I think I am going to use it over green for Christmas Day.

And the best part?  The Candy Cane Crush smells like peppermint!  The scent lasted quite a while too.  It made me feel all happy and Christmassy.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

Ellen by Julep

I really love Julep polishes.  I wasn't sure at first - the first bottle I tried was very icky and thick and the application was terrible.  I contacted them and they sent me a replacement bottle for free - no questions asked.  I really liked that, and the next polish I tried was heavenly.  Eleen was also.  It's a beautiful red creme polish and if I'm stuck I what I want to wear, I always go the the red cremes.  I love this one.

The application was perfect - two coats covered everything with no visible nail line.  It even covered by bruised and icky index finger in two coats.  Ellen dried quickly and I got three separate compliments on my nails today at work - two from men.  I think this is a good color on me. :)

This mani is a few days old - base coat, three coats of Ellen and a Qtica topcoat.  I had very little tipwear - I just had to add the extra coat because my cats claws are like daggers these days and Riley put a huge scratch in my polish last night.

Smitten with Smitten

I tried a new indie polish today.  Flurry by Smitten.   It is a gorgeous polish and extremely appropriate for today which was gray and cloudy and overcast.

Smitten is a gray polish with blue and silver glitter.  It is a little sheer and this is three coats and two coats of Seche Vite.  I think I'd like to try it over a light gray polish to see how it looks. 

The polish applied beautifully and I got a nice amout of glitter without having to work too hard for it.  It did seem to take a little bit longer to dry.  I finished my manicure and even after applying the Seche I still managed to smudge a nail, which I haven't done in a long time.  It doesn't detract from the polish at all in my opinion, I just have to let it dry a little longer between coats.  The surface is a little rough becuase of the glitter but two coats of Seche smoothed it right out.

I love the name of this polish and think it describes the color perfectly.  It absolutely reminds me of a winter sky before it starts snowing.  I got compliments on it at work too.  And no, the bottle did not come like this.  My dog managed to grab it when I wasn't looking and chewed the top.  Big surprise there.  At least she has good taste. :)

I habe a couple of other colores by Smitten that I am eager to try out as well.  You can visit her Etsy shop to get some Smitten polish for you very own.

Some New Favorites

Since I have been having a lot of trouble lately with my nails peeling and breaking, I started using two new products to try to help with my problem.

The first one I got was Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle serum.  I try to remember to apply it evey night before I go to bed and I'm actually doing it pretty regularly.  A drop on each nail and then rub it in.  It makes my cuticles look great.  And since I have been using this my nails do seem to be growing faster and are stronger.  The only thing I don't like about it is that sometimes it's hard to get the serum into the dropper.

I also started using Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimultor.  I've been using this as my base coat since the last time I cut down my nails which was November 19th.   Please try to ignore the staining and the chewed up cap.  Ruby got ahold of it somehow (and I don't know how) but fortunately, I noticed before she ruined the bottle. :)

My naked nails - I am getting ready to paint them before I go to bed, but this is what they look like right now - no lotions or serums or anything.  I am dorry for the yucky picture of my bruised nail.  I slammed it in a cabinet in October and I think it's going to take a long time to grow out.

The last new thing I tried was OPI's glass nail file.  OMG - true love.  I will never use an emery board again!

Fash Pack

Since I am currently fascinated with my butter LONDON, here is another one.  This one is called Fash Pack and is another neutral color that BL's website describes as "mushroom meets putty".  I think thats a pretty good description.

 I don't like this one as much as Yummy Mummy.  Although it dried quickly, the formula was kind of thick and draggy.  After I finished my mani, I notice big patches along the sides of my nail where the brush totally skipped over my nail.  The polish also seemed to miss the tips of both of my index fingers.  That may have been me, but the polish was a bit difficult to work with.

It is a plain creme polish, no sparkle as far as I can tell.  It did dry quickly and althogh the surface of my nail looked a little uneven becuase of the dragging issue, it smoothed out nicely with BL PDQ topcoat.

Yesterday I ended up doing two more coats the fill in the bald aptches.  So I ended up with 5 fairly thick coats of polish, plus a base and top coat.  I think 5 coats is a lot.

Aside from that, I do like the color.  It's quite a bit darker than Yummy Mummy, but I like the color on me and it does look good with everything.  I think next time I may try using a little bit of thinner and see if that helps. 

 

 

Yummy Mummy is defintely the winner in my book, but I'll be wearing this one again also.