Nail Lacquer Swatches

February 2, 2013

Julep February “It Girl” Swatches 2

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , ,

I’m totally in love with my Julep box this month!  I chose the “It Girl” box and it came with three polishes, a top coat, a cute little travel eyelash curler and two chocolate heart candies (which I devoured instantly!).  If you’ve considered signing up for the Julep Maven program, I highly recommend it.  Each month you receive a box of goodies worth at least $40 in retail value for only $19.95.  They send you an email to preview the boxes that are available and you can select a different box than the style profile they match you up with, or you can gift the box to someone else, or if you are strapped for cash or just don’t like the selections you can opt out for that month.  Pretty simple.

Here are the gorgeous polishes that were in my box this month.  First up is Joan, which is described as raspberry plum with rose gold shimmer.  The shimmer on this one is really amazing.

Julep "Joan" Swatch - It Girl

Next is Marion which is described as a smokey blue with silver shimmer. My swatch doesn’t do this one justice!

Julep "Marion" Swatch - It Girl

And I saved my favorite for last… this is Rebel.  At first I thought this was just a silver shimmer, until I applied it and it dried.  Hello… this is a stunning silver holographic polish.  It dries with a semi-matte finish, but with a top coat it’s nice and shiny.  I can’t stop looking at my nails and playing with the holo effects in different lighting.  Holo effects are so hard to capture on camera, so here are a few shots.  I’m thinking about doing some nail art over this one.  :)

Julep "Rebel" Swatch - HolographicJulep "Rebel" Swatch - Holographic

Julep "Rebel" Swatch - Holographic

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December 27, 2012

Julep New Year’s Mystery Box Swatches 4

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Well as you can see I just couldn’t wait to try out the new polishes that I got in my Julep mystery box.  I thought I would just try out one or two today, but I ended up swatching all five of them!  I’m really pleased with this box… all of the colors are gorgeous.

I’m going to start with the polish that I thought was my least favorite in the bottle, but turned out to be one of my favorites once applied.  This is Lauren, a HOT pink with a creme finish.  I’m normally not a fan of bright polishes, but I really like this.  It applied very smoothly and was pretty opaque with two coats, but I applied a third coat for good measure.

Julep Lauren SwatchJulep Lauren Swatch

This is Sienna, a gorgeous shimmery gold.  This one also had a great formula and only required two coats.

Julep Sienna Swatch

Julep Sienna Swatch

This is Cindy, an emerald green with gold micro-glitter.  I wish I had this one before Christmas, it would be great for some holiday nail art.  :)   The little micro-glitters sure did get all over the place during removal though!  It took a bit of work to get rid of it all.

Julep Cindy SwatchJulep Cindy Swatch

This is Georgia, a shimmery peach.

Julep Georgia SwatchJulep Georgia Swatch

And last, but not least, this is a mystery color with no name.  This one has a semi-clear base with a grey/black tint and is loaded with different sized glitters.  There are teeny tiny black glitters, and then larger orange and other metallic glitters.  This one reminds me a bit of Halloween.  I applied one coat of the mystery polish over two coats of OPI Black Onyx.

Julep Mystery SwatchJulep Mystery Swatch

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December 14, 2012

Adoring Adorée Polish 6

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , ,

I tried a new brand of polish called Adorée which you can find over at Esther’s Nail Center.  I have several polishes to try from this brand, but these are a few that are solid colors… the next batch will be of the glittery variety. They all had great formulas and applied flawlessly.  I didn’t even have to do any cleanup on any of these because I was able to control the brush very well and stay in the lines.  Each of these swatches is three coats of polish with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

The bottle shape is rounder than any others that I own so I decided to try some new “poses” for these photos.  Let me know what you think of them – yay or nay?  I think my hand looks too angular in a few of them, but I’m probably being overly critical.

First up is Buckland Blue – a gorgeous light blue with a chrome finish.

Adoree Buckland Blue Swatch

Adoree Buckland Blue Swatch

Next is Jewel Peach – a frosty peach unlike anything else that I own.

Adoree Jewel Peach Swatch

Adoree Jewel Peach Swatch

This is Garrison Red – a frosty, coppery brown.

Adoree Garrison Red Swatch

Adoree Garrison Red Swatch

And the last one for today is Rosy Apple – a bright red with a slight slight pearl finish.

Adoree Rosy Apple Swatch

Adoree Rosy Apple Swatch

 

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December 13, 2012

Julep Harper & Ivy 9

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , , ,

My December Julep Maven box contained three gorgeous shades this month:  Harper – a glitter packed aqua, Ivy – a duochrome blue/purple, and Vivien – a glittery gold.  The box also had a ring with a clear stone.  It didn’t come with an explanation, but I’ve seen these on Etsy before and I think the idea is that you apply a nail polish color to the underside of the stone and then you have a ring that matches your polish.  I really liked the look of Harper, so I decided to use it with the ring which you can see below.

Julep Harper:

Julep Harper Swatch

Julep Harper Swatch

I have to be brutally honest and tell you that I didn’t have a good experience with Harper.  The end result is gorgeous, but the polish was extremely thick and goopy (ew!).  This is the first negative experience I’ve had with a Julep polish, and I hope it’s the last.  I did read other reviews about this polish and they said the formula was nice.  Unfortunately mine will likely be going in the trash.  :(

Ivy:

Julep Ivy Swatch

Julep Ivy Swatch

I had a much better experience with Ivy.  It applied flawlessly and is a very beautiful duochrome polish.  Depending on the light it can look blue, purple or both.  I had a hard time capturing the purple with my camera, but it looks much more purple in certain lights.  You can see this more in the bottle of the second photo.

I haven’t tried Vivian yet, but I will be sure to show you if I do!

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November 20, 2012

Julep Viola Swatch 1

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , ,

I recently signed up for a Julep Maven account.  I had been contemplating this for some time, but finally figured I would give it a shot.  It’s a monthly program where they send you $40 worth of products for $19.99.  I found a coupon code that allowed me to get my first Maven box for only a penny + $3.99 shipping.  The coupon code is COLOR2012… I’m not sure how long it lasts, but hopefully through the end of the year.  I spend so much on polish as it is, I thought it might be fun to get a surprise in the mail each month and if I want to skip a month I can, or I can cancel at any time.

This is one of the polishes that came in my first Maven box called Viola.  It’s a really dark purple with a creamy finish.  I love to wear dark colors like this in the winter months.  I had pretty good coverage with just two coats, but I opted for three coats and then topped off with Seche Vite top coat.  I really like this polish, but I’m not crazy about the shape of their bottles.  You have to hold onto them or they tip over easily, and it’s harder to polish with precision with longer brushes.

Julep Viola swatch from Chickettes.comJulep Viola swatch from Chickettes.com

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November 8, 2012

Showing Support for No H8 with China Glaze Stella 5

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , ,

It’s been a crazy day and I almost didn’t have time to do a mani today, but I really wanted to show my support for this anti-bullying movement. Like many, I was bullied in high school and it can be really detrimental to a person’s self esteem. We are all unique individuals and deserve to be treated with respect.

Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.

Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color…even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people’s view of “normal” dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

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November 1, 2012

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes 0

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , ,

This is another China Glaze that I just picked up, Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection.  In the few swatches that I saw  it looked like the shimmery flecks were silver/grey, but they’re actually green.  The swatches below show two coats of this polish with one coat of Seche Vite on top.  I actually got great coverage with just one coat, and didn’t really need the second coat.  I wore this for a few days and really liked it.  I apologize that my fingers look a little icky in the photos though… I did a messy job when polishing and had to do a lot of cleanup with acetone and forgot to moisturize before taking the pics.

China Glaze Smoke & AshesChina Glaze Smoke & Ashes Swatch

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November 1, 2012

China Glaze Fifth Avenue 1

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , ,

I recently purchased several China Glaze polishes that were on sale. I’ve heard from many people that the Romantique collection is great for stamping, so I grabbed several shades from that collection. Below are swatches of Fifth Avenue, which is a lovely dusty rose color. I stamped it with Passion and BM314 stamping plate from the 2012 BM plate collection. I’m actually having some problems with these plates and am talking with BM about getting a replacement set. The impressions in my plates seem to be too shallow and I’m having a hard time picking up images. This is one of the good ones of the bunch, and you can see that the stamp quality isn’t great. In person it doesn’t look horrible, but you can really see the imperfections when it’s magnified.

China Glaze Fifth Avenue stamped w PassionChina Glaze Fifth Avenue stamped w PassionChina Glaze Fifth AvenueChina Glaze Fifth Avenue

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October 25, 2012

Sinful Colors – Cinderella Floral Manicure 1

by Andrea • Nail Art, Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , ,

I took advantage of the sale going on at Walgreens right now – Sinful Colors polishes for $0.99 each.  I purchased three shades of blue, which are all featured in this manicure.  The light blue is Cinderella, which has a real pretty subtle pink shimmer to it.  I wasn’t able to capture the pink shimmer in the photos unfortunately.  The color on the accent finger is called Kissy and it’s a dark teal with a glittery finish.  And then I stamped the floral pattern using Bundle Monster plate BM323 with Sinful Colors “Gorgeous”.  I love the softness of this.

Soft blue floral manicure with Sinful colorsSoft blue floral manicure with Sinful colorsSoft blue floral manicure with Sinful colors

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October 23, 2012

Sophie by Amy’s Nail Boutique 0

by Andrea • Indie Polish Swatches, Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , , , ,

This is the second polish that I won in the I Feel Polished 300 Likes Giveaway, called Sophie by Amy’s Nail Boutique.  The base for this polish was very sheer so I layered it over two different shades of pink to see what it would look like.  This is two coats of Sophie on to of 2 coats of OPI Pink Friday (light pink), and L.A. Colors Pink Chiffon (dark pink).

I’m not as crazy about this one because as I mentioned before, I really prefer glitters that have colored bases and can be built up better.

Sophie by Amy's Nail Boutique

Sophie by Amy's Nail Boutique

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