Sunset Nails Tutorial

It's September now and so summer is officially over, but it's still hitting the 80's most days I thought one last summer nail tutorial would help us say goodbye to summer right.  And what could be better than a sunset nail tutorial? 

Step 1- Gather materials.  You will need a white polish, two or three colors, and optionally, a glitter polish.  You will also need base coat, top coat, something to use for cleanup, and a cosmetic sponge.

Step 2- Paint your nails white.  Make sure it's more or less opaque.  Let it dry very well.

 Step 3- Cut the sponge to the approximate size of your nail.

 Step 4- Paint the colors on the sponge in the order you want them.  You will need to do this after each nail.

 Step 5- Press the sponge onto your nail.  Bounce it around and let the polishes blend together at the edges.  You will probably need to let it dry and do a second coat.  Your fingers will be a ridiculous mess.

 Step 6- Clean up your nails.  I use a small brush and acetone.

 Step 7- Optional, add glitter on top, because glitter makes everything better!

 Step 8- Enjoy your new mani and try not to be too sad that summer is over.  It'll be back next year :)

My Favorite Manis

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I am going to show you a few of my favorite manicures I've done recently.  You may have seen a few of these if you follow me on instagram.  I guess you could call it Mani Monday today.  :)

For my multiple accent nails with chevron and a bird mani I used:
China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle

Julep Niecy

Julep Shoshanna

Julep Sienna

Nail vinyl stickers

For my blue ombre mani I used:

Essie Blanc

Essie Mint Candy Apple

OPI What's With the Catitude

Sally Hansen Blue Me Away

Essie No More Film

 For my light pink leopard mani I used:

Essie Fiji

Color Club (didn't come with a name label...)

Julep Carrie

 For my textured stripe mani I used:

Julep Cameron

Julep Glam Roc

Julep Jennine (All 3 are stardust finish)

 For my pink 80s mani I used:

Julep Avery

Julep Max

 For this modern french tip I used:

Nailtini Frappe

Julep Noelle

Julep Brigette

 Oops I guess a pedi snuck in here.  For this rainbow polka dot pedi I used:

Color Club Blue-ming

China Glaze Highlight of my Summer

Julep Blake (I just bought it for the name really)

Julep Parker

Julep Minnie

Julep Brigette

 For my coral and gold mani  used:

Julep Gloria

Julep Shoshanna

 For this striped white mani I used:

Julep Brigette

Silver striping tape

 For this bejeweled floral mani I used:

Julep Avery

Julep Brigette

Small nail jewels

 For this springtime floral mani I used:

Julep Avery

Julep Denver

Essie Fiji

Revlon Posh

And lastly, a color so great it doesn't need anything else.  This is Julep Abigail.  It has a silk finish, which is so beautiful.  It's shimmery and slightly matte, but not too much.  Perfection.

Let me know if you want me to make a tutorial on any of these looks.

Fourth of July Nail Polish Tutorial

Since it's July 2 today, it's about time to start working on your Fourth of July manicure ideas.  Today I'm bringing you the tutorial for what I was able to come up with.  I wanted to go all-out with this one since you only get one chance to do a Fourth of July mani/pedi every year. 

Supplies:

You will need a top coat and base coat, red, white, blue, and silver nail polish, a striping brush, a dotting tool, and chevron stickers.  You can also use a sparkly silver top coat, cuticle oil to moisturize after you're done, and acetone with a brush for cleanup.  I used Essie top and base coats, and the Julep colors Brigitte, Bailey, Jackie, Rebel, and Joelle.

Toes:

For my toes I kept it pretty simple.  I started with a base coat (Essie Millionails) and used the red polish (Jackie) on my small toes and the blue polish (Bailey) on my big toes.  Then I used my striping brush to draw stars on the big toes with my silver polish (Rebel.)  Then I finished with a top coat (Essie No Chips Ahead.)

Fingers:

This is where I went crazy.  I painted the thumbs with the blue polish (Bailey), the pointer and ring finger with the white polish (Brigitte), the middle finger with the silver polish (Rebel), and the pinky finger with the red polish (Jackie.)  After it was all dry, I added silver stars to the thumbs using my striping brush.  I used the dotting tool to make red and blue dots on my pointer fingers.  I added a coat of the sparkly silver (Joelle) on top of the silver on my middle fingers.  For the ring fingers, I used my striping brush to make wide stripes with the red polish.  And finally, after sticking the chevron stickers to my skin a few times to make it less sticky, I applied them to my pinky fingers and then painted over it with the silver polish.  I removed the stickers right away before it had a chance to dry.  After that I added top coats (Essie No Chips Ahead followed by Essie Good To Go) and I was done!

This manicure isn't too hard if you have the patience for it.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  Feel free to show me your 4th of July nail polish!

Julep Maven May Box Upgrade

Julep's May box had a 1920's theme which I loved.  It's so classy and elegant.  I couldn't decide on just one set so I upgraded and got the whole collection! 

This month they threw in a free set of flower hairpins.  They are very cute.

I haven't had a chance to test this mascara out yet since I have some I'm using right now, but after those get too old I'll be testing this one out.

The Sugar Smooch Lip Scrub smells like butterscotch.  It is delicious.  It makes my lips silky smooth.

I got two sets of lipsticks, the Paris Jazz Trio and New York Jazz Trio.  They each have two unique sheer colors and then one opaque lipstick called Lady in Red.  Lady in Red is a perfect red and supposedly looks good on everyone (it does on me at least.)  I feel like the sheer colors are really too sheer to even do anything, so that was somewhat disappointing.

Millie is a slightly smoky navy blue.  It goes on pretty dark but looks nice.

Zora is a pale pink frost.  It is a nice neutral-ish color.

Paris is a gorgeous glitter.  I wish glitters were easier to get off because I would wear this color all the time if they weren't such a pain.

Gabrielle is a dark smoky purple color.  I really like this one.

Alice is a shimmery lavender.  It's not too light and not too dark.  This is one of my favorites from the collection.

Clara is a peach-colored creme.  I haven't used it yet on it's own so I'm not sure how good it looks on my skintone, but I used it in a design with a seafoam color and I think it looks great!

Coco is a deep oxblood color.  I think it is a very sophisticated and classy color, but it seems a bit too mature for me after putting it on. 

Zelda is fun because in some lights it looks gold and in some it looks rose gold. 

Myrtle is a nice, somewhat deeper red.

Etta is a fun, shimmery/metallic bright green. 

I'm glad I upgraded to the whole collection!  There were lots of colors that are unique to my collection and some fun products too.  If you're interested in Julep, use my referral link: Julep

Meryl by Julep

Meryl is the perfect grey color.  It isn't too dark or too light, and it doesn't lean blueish or purpleish at all, just a nice, medium grey.  It needs two coats and wears very well.  If you are looking for a grey polish, try out Meryl!

  

Essie Grow Stronger Base Coat

I love Essie's Grow Stronger base coat.  I bought it because I was having some issues with peeling nails, and it has completely solved my problem!  I am a big fan of Essie products in general, and so this was the first brand I turned to when I was looking for a strengthening/nourishing base coat.  It goes on clear and shiny, and dries reasonably fast.  If you paint your nails a lot and they need a little attention, try this product!

VS Pro Airbrush FX Illuminating Primer

I received a sample of VS Pro Airbrush FX Illuminating Primer with a purchase I made in store.  I wasn't exactly blown away by it, but I think it works well enough as a primer and does add an oh-so-subtle illumination to my face.  I'm definitely going to use this product, but it isn't something I would go out and buy. 

April Ipsy Glam Bag

April's Glam Bag was lots of fun! The theme was 'Pretty in Pink' and I am a big fan of pink, so I really enjoyed this bag.  One new thing they did this month is that all of the items had variations, instead of just one or two.  I got all of the variations I wanted except for one, so I'd say that's pretty awesome!

The bag itself was a little boring, but it is very well-made and seems durable.  Of course, it's white, so I don't expect it to look good for very long.

 The first item was a full-size Be A Bombshell blush in the color Sweet Cheeks.  They sent out this color and another one called Beach Please which is a super bright pink.  I'm glad I got this one.  As I've said before, I'm not way into blush, but this is a soft enough color that I will be able to get plenty of use out of it.

The next item is a deluxe sample of Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Renewal.  It says it can be used in wet hair to help it dry faster as well as on dry hair to reduce frizz.  I'm not sure if it's really helping yet, but I could use some products for healthier hair, so I'll be continuing to try this one out.

There were two different brands of eyeshadow sent out, one was this full-size eyeshadow duo by Two Cosmetics and the other was an almost full-size shimmer powder by Mica Beauty.  I was hoping for the Mica one, but I got the Two Cosmetics duo instead.  However, after using it a few times I do actually like it.  It's soft enough pink that it doesn't look strange, so it looks like a neutral but with a twist.

 

The last item is a full-size Sation Nail Lacquer.  This was sent out in two colors, the pink one that I received and then a peachy one.  I am glad I got this one!  It is a bit more sheer than I like, but it is a nice neutral pink.  I actually got lots of compliments on this color when I wore it for a few days.  It doesn't seem to chip easily and looks semi-opaque in 3 coats.  This will be a nice color for when I don't want my nails to stand out as much, as it is somewhat close to my skin color, just pinker.

This bag was an amazing steal for $10!  If you want one too, Ipsy has now started a referral program, so please use my link to sign up: Ipsy.