Julep Angela Swatch

I need to blog more, so I'm going to start doing quick swatches/reviews of polishes before I add art. All of these posts will probably be from my phone, just so y'all know! This is Angela, part of my (upgraded) July Julep Maven Box, and an "It Girl" polish. It's a gorgeous blue/purple duochrome, or "molten", as Julep calls it. 

The first coat was streaky, but a second coat seemed to even it out, to an extent anyways. The formula is pretty thin, and I had some drag problems. Overall, I like it enough to work with it, since it really is a gorgeous color. The purple in it comes out at certain angles, but it's mostly that pretty metallic blue-green. 

 

All of Nails and Polish...

I missed the 1-year anniversary of my blog and I am just...blah. I'm doing this post because I am so miserably congested that I can't concentrate on my schoolwork and it makes me feel productive!

Gradient using Sinful Colors Crystal Clear

Water spotting using Julep Millie and Sally Hansen Golden-I

Freehand Evil Eye accent mani.

More Hex Nail Jewelry! This time on a dot/gradient mani.

Gradient/delicate leopard print nails.

New favorite! And ASOS Swim-inspired nails.

Super Bright! China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, topped with Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in Fuzz-Sea (adorable).

Title: I switched up "All of time and space" a tiny bit...It's possible I'm in the middle of a Doctor Who marathon.

Hex Nail Jewelry/Abstract Floral Mani

Hi y'all! I'm so excited about this mani I could explode:

How gorgeous is this?? That pretty lil' bee is Hex Nail Jewelry's Bee No. 1 and I'm obsessed. I got my order in last week and I cannot wait to try out the other ones...but I love this one so much it might take me a bit to get to the others! The floral is Monet inspired and was SO easy. From the bottom up I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, Julep Popova, NYC High Line Green, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac, Breezy Blue, Coral Reef, and White On. I got the brushstroke-y look by dragging my topcoat instead of floating it (INM Out The Door) while it was kind of wet.

It's Passion, It's Not Love

I found my camera! With dead batteries, of course. Oh well, I still have two finals and the first part of an online course to finish up before I can take a little time off, so I probably wouldn't be using it anyways. It's Instagram again, sorry y'all!

Julep Alice (gorgeous), with OPI My Vampire Is Buff and Golden-I flowers.

MVIB base with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac, Zoya Daul, Sinful Colors Enchanted, and Julep Popova flowers, ring finger accent with Essie Ballet Slippers and Born Pretty studs, pinky uses Zoya Daul again! I'd forgotten what a pretty color it is!

My actual current mani! Julep Zelda with loose holographic glitter, from Born Pretty Store.  It's so pretty in real life, like tiny disco balls or fish scales. It's pretty chipped now, though-we got a hail storm with baseball-sized hail last night and I spent a lot of today helping clean up.

Title: City and Colour, Confessions (LOVE LOVE LOVE)

Slow It Down

It has been a rough week, to say the least.  Just one of those where you want to scream and cry and then adopt a million Scottish Folds and snuggle them all.  As of right now though, I only have six pages of writing and three finals between me and the end of the semester AND my baby cat is sleeping on my legs so...not too bad. Once again, it's going to be a bunch of Instagram pictures. I swear I'll find my camera!

This was a pretty popular post for me and I got a lot of compliments IRL! I used OPI My Vampire Is Buff for the base, as well as China Glaze First Mate, Maybelline Fierce N' Tangy, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coral Reef, and Julep Annie.

OH LOOK, it's more Vampire and First Mate, but also China Glaze Angel Wings! Also the same flowers...

Zoya Ivanka with a little Vampire on top...

Pretty purple flowers sure make the Vampire look nice, don't they? I used Julep Popva, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac, Wet N' Wild On A Trip, and Sinful Colors Enchanted.

I had to cut my nails to nubs because they were getting too long for me to be super comfortable handling my contacts, so I did some lil' galaxies using the same method/polishes as in this post. 

See y'all soon!

Title: Slow It Down, The Lumineers

Dots on Dots on Dots

So lately I've apparently been on a polka dot kick AND I've decided that not blogging is not an option because it's something I like to do and Instagram just isn't cutting it.

Nautical colors are my favorite! The blue is China Glaze First Mate and I LOVE IT. I've been searching for a navy blue creme for what seems like forever, because every time I found one that seemed ideal, it always ended up having a shimmer to it I didn't like. The ivory is OPI My Vampire Is Buff and the gold is Julep Sienna.

Another mani I absolutely loved. I used Julep Rebel as the base (unfortunately, it was cloudy the day I wore this and it wasn't as gorgeous as it is here). The neon coral is China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy; the purple, mint, and blue are all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac, Mint Sorbet, and Breezy Blue.

I did a Purple Nails for Boston Mani as well, using Lacey Lilac as the base, Sinful Colors Enchanted as the first, bigger dot, and Julep Rebel as the smaller dots. I was actually asked if these were nail wraps a few times! Extremely flattering, in my opinion.

I'm The Worst

So life has been hectic and I've been lazy...and here is a bunch of Instagram pictures of everything I've done for like, the last TWO WEEKS. Three? I dunno, but I'll be back to blogging this week!

Glitter Gradient with Zoya Song and Ivanka

Glitter Gradient (Sinful Colors All About You and China Glaze Angel Wings) with Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac, Coral Reef, and Mint Sorbet. Studs from Born Pretty.

Julep Lynn with Born Pretty studs again.

Sally Hansen Coin Flip (LOVE THIS) with white detail (Color Club striping polish) and Born Pretty rhinestones-I have a wheel of these bad boys, so I should probably use them more.

Lacey Lilac again, this time with China Glaze Scattered & Tattered-seriously love this glitter too, part of their Glitz Bitz N' Pieces collection.

St. Patty's water marble with Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet, White On, and Coin Flip, featuring my wallet (from Urban Outfitters).

Current (until later) mani! Julep Popova with All About You and individually placed glitter for the rainbow and pot o' gold.

A couple of my pics didn't show up in my downloads and I'm too lazy to manually download them (sorry guyz), but they are totally on my Instagram!

Valentine's Day Water Marble!!

I did another one! AND I only redid like...six of them because I didn't like them. Is that a lot? I'm picky.

Sorry for the sloppy pic, but I had to take it with a self-timer, holding the camera with my chin...don't ask. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I as my base, and the marble with Julep Delaunay, more Golden-I, Julep Eileen, and Julep Georgia. One coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go!

Valentine's Day Ruffle Manicure

When I saw this tutorial for a ruffle manicure over at Chalkboard Nails, I knew I would have to do my own one day, and that day was today!

Unfortunately, today will also be the day I take it off, due to sloppy floating and a VERY runny red. I'm thinking water marble next? It's so easy to do different things when I only have x amounts of colors to choose from!

From top to bottom I used: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Sonic Bloom, Sephora by OPI And a Cherry on Top, Julep Eileen, Julep Maya, Julep Delaunay, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Coral Reef, Julep Mischa, Xtreme Wear Golden-I, and Julep Georgia. Some nails I did repeat colors on since my nails are long and I underestimated how many "ruffles" I would need.

Glitter Chevron V-Day Mani

Real quick post-I have to go get an outfit for mah Valentine's date thingy? But I did this yesterday!

I don't know why, but this was stupid hard to photograph. Base is Julep Georgia and chevrons/heart (done with a dotting tool) are a gold glitter Color Club striping polish.

Seersucker and Roses

So, for all of you out there who don't know this about me, I'm a complete sucker for seersucker. I almost bought a pair of seersucker pants a couple of days ago, but they didn't have my size...and out of my depression came an idea. Julianne, a smoky blue creme that came in my last Maven box, is almost the same blue as the blue on the seersucker shorts I may or may not be wearing right now. This is just a (sloppy) swatch of Julianne, taken in sunlight:

Gorgeous, right? Now look what happens when you add stripes (for optimal seersuckery-ness) and ROSES. 

I know I have atrocious cuticles, but I did do these right before class so...there's my excuse. I've done roses before with a dotting tool, but this time I decided to try freehanding them with a teeny tiny brush I found lurking in my art supplies, and I'm pretty proud of myself. Like always though, my left hand is a little more...abstract. And now here is a gratuitous shot of my nails with my shorts, which are Levi's that I bought maybe two years ago?

So perfect.

p.s. my ring is from Foreverrrr 21!

I Belong With You, You Belong With Me

Updated NOTD from yesterday's plain ol' Julep Rebel:

I did a little bit of a tribal-esque design when I had some downtime before class with my Color Club white striping polish. I did have some drag problems with Rebel, but I'm chalking it up to ridges since I haven't been able to find my dang buffer recently. Look at that, a post two days in a row! Tomorrow I only have one class AND I'm hiding a chip on my middle finger, so there could potentially be a new post tomorrow as well!

Title: Ho Hey, The Lumineers

Can I Still Make A Resolution?

So I realize I've been a horrible blogger lately, but I have excuses! I moved and I started school and I HAVE FRIENDS. I'm still doing my nails every two days, but I'm just not getting around to posting them. I did spend the weekend browsing for inspo on the interwebz, and I PROMISE I will be back with new and potentially exciting things! Here's some Instagram nonsense 'til then:

LOVE this palette. It's my go-to shadow-as-liner palette.

Sally Hansen Golden-I with stripey accents (done with my Color Club striper polish)

My beloved Ariats. Perfect for a beach bonfire, whee!

My Julep Boho Glam February Box-IN LURVE. (plus add-ons!)

Get your own HERE!

Julep Rebel, named after the glorious Rebel Wilson, and a gorgeous holo polish on top of that.

Julep's Oxygen Nail Treatment, on my (never nude) nails.

Playoffs Nails, Texans Style

I guess my luck reversed itself for playoffs, because the Texans won today! I ultimately want the Broncos to win it all, but I'll cheer for Houston until they potentially face off. I will admit, I did just switch up a color from the Broncos mani I did waaay at the beginning of the season.

Colors Used: Julep/Eileen and Gunta, Sephora by OPI/And A Cherry On Top

Happy Holidays, Y'all!

So I hope all of y'all had a great holiday season/are still having one (I'm counting New Years!). For the first year in a while, we had Christmas at my uncle's house instead of ours, which was kind of a relief, not going to lie.

 

 I want to name these bad boys, but I don't know if my uncle would approve. I guess I don't have to tell him, right?

 I got to see my cousin's kids, who are the little lights of my life. The three-year-old asked me for help drawing a shark (because that's what big sister was doing), so I asked her if she was scared of sharks. She said no, so I asked her what she would do if she saw one. She replied, "I would feed it. Sharks are always hungry because nobody feeds them", in that self-assured way only very small children have. Did I mention she's the cutest thing? However, I now have to make a dozen reindeer cookies for her big sister when we get back from a mini vacation to the coast. And I've been recruited to do their nails for their next dance recital, thanks to my rhinestone-bedecked Christmas mani!

That magnificent book in the back is Jenny Lawson's (The Bloggess) Let's Pretend This Never Happened and also proof that my hint/threats about seeing a dead (ethically taxidermied) mouse under the tree worked.

I used Julep Delauney and Sienna, and my rhinestones from Born Pretty. I got Sienna in my Julep New Year's Mystery Box-if you want to check that out, as well as some photo blurbs from Christmas, look after the break!

Ice Queen

Another day, another mani using Shine Of The Times. I like the colors together, but I had some smudging problems...and I'm changing it in time for Christmas Day anyways.

It took FOREVER to get my watermark app to work, but tomorrow night there will be a post on my bangin' Christmas mani. Trust me, it's awesome.

Colors Used: Julep Piper, Essie Shine Of The Times

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Today, I baked. I baked and I baked and then I baked some more, and our house smelled like gingerbread and chocolate and amazingness.  And tomorrow I'm going to bake EVEN MORE. This year we're gifting cookie tins, so I got a little creative. However, I did the opposite with my nails:

I didn't want to risk anything falling off into the dough and between baking and dishes, I knew it wouldn't last long anyways. It's already chipped off on a couple of nails as of right now!

Colors Used: Julep Jodie, Essie Shine of the Times

Festive Garland Mani

When my Christmas tree mani chipped off, I decided to keep going with the Christmas thing and used my dotting tool to try and make little garlands on my nails, with some success! I did underestimate how much space I would need/how big the dots would be (still not a dotting tool pro), but the overall effect was fun.

Colors Used: Julep Popova, Mischa, and Isla, Sally Hansen Golden-I

Teeny Tiny Christmas Tree Mani

Mine isn't as cool as my inspiration over at Pshiiit, but I still think it's pretty snazzy. I'm not sure how I feel about the base color-it's a little more olive than gold in some light. Maybe another coat of Seche Vite will make them a little shinier?

Sorry it's Instagram-ed!

Colors Used: China Glaze Angel Wings, Julep Popova, Julep Mischa

Rhinestone from: Born Pretty Store

Trampy, Vampy, Leopard Print Nails

I love these. Like, truly, madly, deeply, kind of love.

And I want my nails to look like this forever. 

Colors Used: Julep Delaunay, Sally Hansen Golden-I, Sinful Colors Black on Black