June 30, 2013

Northern Star Polish UFO Party and Sunburst Swatches & Review

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.

Hello Everyone!  I hope all my fellow Canadians are having a great Canada Day long weekend.  After several cloudy and rainy days the sun has returned which means I can finally show you swatches of the two polishes I received from Norther Star Polish.

Sunburst, UFO Party and Honeysuckle Tangerine cuticle oil.
First up I have UFO party.  This polish is an 'alien' green with a subtle gold shimmer.  The formula reached opacity after three coats and was easy to work with.  The pictures show three coats of UFO Party with no top coat in direct natural sunlight.



Next up is Sunburst.  This polish is a clear base packed with small copper glitter, medium silver hexes, large gold hexes and some gold bar glitter.  There's the odd light pink hex glitter tossed into the mix as well.  I thought this glitter went with UFO Party really well so I added some on top.  The formula was a bit thick and you will have to do some dabbing to get the larger glitters evenly distributed on the nail.  However, it does dry fairly smoothly so I only needed one coat of top coat.  I don't think a glitter polish with this many large glitters is going to get any easier to work with.  Pictures show one coat of Sunburst over UFO Party topped with one coat of Gelous.


You probably also noticed that little bottle of cuticle oil in the picture.  I must say, I have fallen in love with this stuff.  First of all, it smells amazing.  Kristin makes this herself using olive oil, glycerin, almond oil, grape seed oil and cosmetic grade fragrances.  I've been using it after every manicure, so about every other day, and have noticed that my cuticles are smoother than before.  I will definitely keep using it.

So what do I think overall?  These are the first polishes I've tried from Northern Star Polish and I really liked them.  The formulas were great and the glitter polish had great coverage.  I also love their new taller bottle shape (the one UFO Party is in).  It's really easy to hold while painting your nails.  Norther Star Polish is a brand I will be keeping my eye on in the future.  Also, all of their polishes are 4-free, cruelty-free, gluten-free and vegan friendly.  If you'd like to get some polish of your own check out their Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthernStarPolish and their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NorthernStarPolish.  What do you think of the these two polishes?

June 25, 2013

Getting Organized - What To Do With The Stuff You Use All The Time??

I always do my nails sitting on the couch, watching tv, with all my supplies strewn across my coffee table.  Slowly but surely the surface area of my coffee table that wasn't covered in polish bottles was getting smaller and smaller.  I still haven't found a permanent solution for my actual polishes, but I'm guessing I will end up with something along the lines of a helmer or a melmer unit.  That deals with polish, but what about those things you use all the time?  Really, there's no point in my stashing my base coats, top coats, files and tools in another room because I'm going to bring them back out almost instantly.  I was walking through Michael's one day when I stumbled upon this little caddy in the clearance section and I instantly though it would be the perfect thing for all my regularly used polishing supplies.  The fact that it was only $8.99 (in Canada) was a bonus!


Here it is all filled up.  The tall sections on the side fit a sleeve of cotton pads and a small bottle of remover from Sally's perfectly.  I keep the larger bottle of remover stashed away and just fill up the smaller one when needed.  The shallow compartments in the top are great for clippers, files, dotting tools and brushes.  In the drawer I have everything else.  My top coats, base coats and treatments are all at the front for easy access.  In behind I have all my stamping stuff in a little plastic ferrero rocher box and other miscellaneous things like nail wheels.




Such a simple little change but it makes finding my stuff so much easier and my coffee table look a little less cluttered.  Now I just have to deal with the sea of polishes that surround my nice organized nail caddy.  What solutions have you found to deal with your polish addiction?

June 24, 2013

Stamped Jelly Sandwich Manicure Tutorial

I love jellies.  They can add such depth to a manicure in just a couple coat.  I also love stamping.  You can add a complex design to your nails in minutes.  Today I tried combining the two and add some dotting into the mix as well.  Here's what I ended up with.


The colour is just so rich and squishy looking!  This is definitely a manicure that will be staying on for a few days.  Scroll down to find out how to do this yourself.  It was actually really easy.

You will need an opaque polish, a sheer jelly polish, a stamping polish and a glitter polish.  You will also need a small dotting tool, stamping supplies and a shiny top coat.

Contrary Polish Firebrand, Zoya Paloma, CND Blackjack and Zoya Blaze.

Paint your nail with the base colour using as many coats as it takes to get opaque.  I used two coats of Firebrand.

Add one coat of your jelly polish.  I used Zoya Paloma.

Wait until the jelly polish is completely dry.  Stamp on the design of your choice.  I used the Bundle Monster BM203 plate with CND Blackjack.

Add another coat of the jelly polish.  Try to minimize the brush strokes needed so you don't smudge your stamp.

 Using your dotting too, add dots on top of the design where appropriate.  I put a dot of Zoya Blaze in the center of each diamond.

Add a coat of a shiny top coat to smooth out the dots.

Clean up around your nail with some acetone polish remover and enjoy your shiny new mani!

Contrary Polish Firebrand Swatches & Review

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm really excited to show you my first Contrary Polish, Firebrand.  FYI Carrie is a fellow Canadian and I love to try home grown brands.  Firebrand is a deep wine coloured polish with a burgundy shimmer.  If the light hits it at just the right angle you also get flashes of purple.


As I was applying the first coat I was afraid the polish was going to be streaky, but after a second coat my fears were cleared right up.  This polish goes opaque in 2-3 coats depending on how thin you make them.  It dried very smoothly and I just added a topcoat to protect against potential chipping.

Two coats of Contrary Polish Firebrand with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat in natural sunlight.  Top left was taken in shade and the rest are in direct sunlight.

Bonus picture with the dahlia I planted yesterday! They are a perfect match.

Overall I really like this polish.  I'm not usually drawn to reds but I really like this shade.  The subtle pops of purple make it different than the usual shimmery red.  Application was easy and so far I've had it on for a day with no chips.  Contrary polish has lots of polishes in this style, that is, a creme base with tons of shimmer and I hope I get to try more of them in the future.  What do you think of this classic colour with a twist?

June 21, 2013

China Glaze Hanging In The Balance - The Polish That Wouldn't Let Me Take It's Picture

There is nothing more frustrating for me than not being able to capture the true colour of a polish.  China Glaze Hanging In The Balance definitely tested my patience a couple days when I was trying to take it's picture.  No matter how I changed the camera settings or the lighting I took the picture in it continued to look more blue on camera than it did in person.


The pictures above were taken in natural sunlight.  In person the polish leans slightly more towards teal.  The polish itself was great though.  It applied easily and went opaque in two coats.  I love blues and teal polishes and this colour has just added to that love.

Julep Miami Destination Mystery Box Review

I finally got my Miami mystery box in the mail today.  I got box #3, which seems to have been the most common one.  Here's what it contained.


Let's do the polishes first.  I got three polishes including Isla (Boho Glam), Paris (It Girl) and Lauren (Classic With A Twist).  Isla is described by Julep as a soft milky-white metallic but to me it definitely just looks like a metallic silver.  Paris is a multidimensional holographic glitter top coat and Lauren is a hot pink creme.  I like the polishes although some are dupes for other colours I already own but that's the risk you run with a mystery box.

Next up is the lip balm.  I really like this.  It smells really good and I'm very happy they opted for a balm rather than a gloss or a lipstick.  Everyone can use a balm.  I'm also happy that their balm comes in a 'stick' form rather than a pot.  So much easier to apply and I feel as if pots get contaminated since you have to dip your fingers in them over and over.

Finally I got some Invisible Dry Shampoo.  I'm disappointed with this one.  When I signed up for Julep I was under the impression that it was a polish and nail care oriented subscription.  They seem to be branching out lately into other areas of beauty and body care (lipsticks, DD cream, dry shampoo, etc.) which are things I just don't use very often.  My nails are always polished but other than that I don't use a lot of makeup.  Dry shampoo just doesn't seem to fit into the overall "nail care" theme the same way a moisturizer or a scrub would. (I realize lip balm also doesn't fit that theme, but it's a small item so I don't mind).

Overall I'm feeling neutral about this mystery box.  I don't hate it but I don't love it either.  I think in the future I'll be waiting for some reviews to start popping up before I order another.  For $24.99 I could easily get 4 polishes I know I will love with a buy one get one free coupon code (which seem to get released fairly often).

On another note, I did splurge during their recent warehouse sale.  Get ready to see some awesome haul pictures.  I may or may not of placed 5 orders, haha.  The benefits of maven free shipping.  Did you get one of the destination mystery boxes?  How do you feel about what you got?

June 20, 2013

Dot all the nails!

Thursday means it's almost Friday aka time for a fun manicure!  I decided to take my manicure from yesterday, add a matte top coat and then cover it with dots of various colours.


The manicure I already had on was two coats of China Glaze Hanging In The Balance with one coat of Pipe Dream Polish Capture A Moment.  I used Gelous to smooth out the glitters.  Today I added Julep's matte top coat and then did rows of dots using China Glaze Watermelon Rind, China Glaze Exotic Encounters and China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise.  I opted not to add another top coat because I like the contrast between the shiny dots and the matte base.

I love dotting because you can quickly add a fun design to any manicure and you don't have to be super precise for it to look good.  Do you like adding dots to switch up a manicure?

June 19, 2013

Pipe Dream Polish Capture A Moment Swatches & Review

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.

Happy Wednesday! Today I have the final colour from the set of six polishes I got from Pipe Dream Polish to review a few weeks ago, Capture A Moment.  This polish is a blue shimmery jelly base with small and large blue hex glitters.


Since I didn't feel like having an all out me vs glitter war in a few days I decided to use this as a topper over a solid base colour.  I do think it is pigmented enough to build up to opacity in 3-4 coats though if you wanted an extra glittery manicure.  I used one coat of Capture A Moment over China Glaze Hanging In The Balance when I discovered that the large glitters were curling! Oh no!


I found that if the glitter was laying such that its edges were curling towards the nail I could get it to lie flat but if the edges were curling away from the nail it wasn't going to cooperate.  Here's an up close shot so you can see what I'm talking about.


I emailed April at Pipe Dream Polish letting her know what I'd found and sent the above picture.  She emailed me back almost instantly letting me know that I was right, it's curling too much and immediately went into testing/swatching mode with her current batch of this polish.  On her nail wheels the polish dried flat but as she said "pictures don't lie" so she is pulling the polish for now until she can find a replacement glitter.

April tests all of her glitter polishes for at least a month before putting them up for sale.  I understand that some flaws can make it past a testing stage.  I'm sure that there are glitters out there that take more than a month to start curling.  It's this kind of situation that show whether a seller really stands behind their product.  By pulling the polish she shows that she really does want to produce a quality product for her customers.  This is what I like to see in a seller and it's what brings me back!  I should also note that I was able to get a smooth finish using two coats of Gelous so if you already have this polish and the glitters are starting to curl, all is not lost.

Time to take a trip down memory lane... where memory lane involves the six Pipe Dream Polishes I've reviewed over the past few weeks.  Overall I love this brand.  The application for the other five polishes was flawless and I was consistently amazed at how smoothly the glitters dried and how easy it was to get the jellies opaque.  This polish was the exception but April showed that she stands behind her products and that makes it up to me.  I would much rather deal with a seller who has dealt with an issue well rather than a seller who won't admit there was an issue in the first place.

You can't get Capture A Moment for now, but go check out her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/pipedreampolish and pick up some of the other polishes I reviewed.  They were all amazing but if I had to choose, I think Pink Elephants And Lemonade was my favorite...  with Collaborate And Listen at a close second.  Act quick though since April will be closing the shop from June 27th until July 6th for her honeymoon but until then you will get 1 free mini polish with any purchase of 3 full sized polishes.  Sounds like a good deal to me.

June 18, 2013

Nebula Nails

I love the look of galaxy nails, but I've never actually tried them because they just look like they would take so much time to do.  I was playing around with my current manicure, Zoya Natty and Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What, and trying to decide on a top coat to change up the look.  I settled on Ruby White Tips The Sword and once I put on a coat I was struck by how similar the colouring was to galaxy nails.
Zoya Natty, Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What and Ruby White Tips The Sword.
Thus, I call this manicure Nebula Nails!  Because The Sword is a duochrome you end up getting patches of purple depending on what angle the light hits your nails.  Much easier than sponging purple polish onto specific spots.


To get this look use two coats of Zoya Natty, one coat of Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What and one coat of Ruby White Tips The Sword.  I used CND Super Shiney as a top coat, but any shiny top coat would do.  Hope you like them, and maybe you can do some 'lazy' galaxy nails too!

June 17, 2013

Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What Swatches & Review

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.

I decided it was time for a good ol' glitter polish.  What You Are Or What is a purple base filled with purple, fuchsia, blue and teal glitter of various sizes.  I decided to use this as a topper since I didn't feel like spending hours trying to get the glitter off in a few days, haha.


I used one coat of What You Are Or What over Zoya Natty (a dark blue-grey).  I did have to do some dabbing to get the glitter even over my entire nail.  If I just brushed it on normally most of the larger hex glitters ended up near the top of my nail.  What I love about this is how smoothly it dried even though it was full of glitter.  I just had to use one layer of a thin topcoat to make it perfectly smooth.  No Gelous needed here.


The photos show one coat of Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What over Zoya Natty with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat.  The picture on the bottom right was taken in the shade, the rest were taken in direct sunlight.  I continue to be impressed by Pipe Dream polish considering how young of a brand it is.  Getting glitters to dry smoothly is tough!  If you want a bottle of your very own head over to their Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/pipedreampolish.  What do you think of this glitter combo? Do you like glitter toppers or do you prefer something with more coverage?

Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What Swatches & Review

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.

I decided it was time for a good ol' glitter polish.  What You Are Or What is a purple base filled with purple, fuchsia, blue and teal glitter of various sizes.  I decided to use this as a topper since I didn't feel like spending hours trying to get the glitter off in a few days, haha.


I used one coat of What You Are Or What over Zoya Natty (a dark blue-grey).  I did have to do some dabbing to get the glitter even over my entire nail.  If I just brushed it on normally most of the larger hex glitters ended up near the top of my nail.  What I love about this is how smoothly it dried even though it was full of glitter.  I just had to use one layer of a thin topcoat to make it perfectly smooth.  No Gelous needed here.


The photos show one coat of Pipe Dream Polish What You Are Or What over Zoya Natty with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat.  The picture on the bottom right was taken in the shade, the rest were taken in direct sunlight.  I continue to be impressed by Pipe Dream polish considering how young of a brand it is.  Getting glitters to dry smoothly is tough!  If you want a bottle of your very own head over to their Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/pipedreampolish.  What do you think of this glitter combo? Do you like glitter toppers or do you prefer something with more coverage?

June 16, 2013

Pipe Dream Polish Candy On The Beach Swatches & Review

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.   

Time for more Pipe Dream Polish!  The next colour I chose to try was Candy On The Beach.  I'm not normally drawn to coral colours but I really like the gold shimmer and larger gold glitter in this one.


Candy On The Beach is a coral jelly with find gold shimmer and larger gold hex glitter.  The formula is great and was really easy to apply.  No dabbing was needed to get the larger glitter all over the nail.  It takes three coats to get opaque and dried quite smoothly. 


The pictures all show three coats of Candy On The Beach with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat.  The first two are in direct sunlight and the third is in the shade.  The third picture really captures how shimmery this polish is.  I think this polish would look awesome on my toes too.  Such a bright summery colour!  If you want a bottle of your own check out the Pipe Dream Polish Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/pipedreampolish.  What do you think of this shimmery coral polish?

The Lady Varnishes The Second Chance Romancer (Captain Wentworth) Swatches & Review

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.  

The last polish I have for you from The Lady Varnishes is The Second Chance Romancer (Captain Wentworth) from the Brooding Boys Collection.  Whenever I get a choice of what colours to review I always try to choose one that's a bit out of my comfort zone.  Captain Wentworth was that polish because I'm not usually drawn to copper coloured anything.  Because of this I was expecting this to be the polish I liked least out of all the ones I got to try.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I like all of them... but there's always one you like best.   However, when I actually put this polish on my prediction got flipped upside down.  I love this polish!! It's super unique and I think it my be my favorite from the four I tried.


Ok, back to actual polish itself.  The Second Chance Romancer (Captain Wentworth) is a navy blue jelly with a subtle copper shimmer and two sized of iridescent copper hex glitter.  Despite being a jelly it is highly pigmented and goes opaque in 2-3 coats.  The bottle needed a good shake before I started to get the glitter off the bottom and mixed throughout the polish.  The formula was easy to work with and it dried smoothly.  I did have to do a little dabbing to get the largest copper hexes where I wanted them.


The pictures show two coats of The Second Chance Romancer (Captain Wentworth) with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat in natural sunlight.  I love how much depth this polish has without having to apply a ton of coats.  Want a bottle of your very own?  Check out her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheLadyVarnishes.  What do you think of this polish?  Has it changed your mind about copper like it did mine?

June 12, 2013

The Lady Varnishes Mr. Rochester

Disclaimer:  These polishes were offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.  

More purple polish! Today I tried  The Lady Varnishes Mr. Rochester.  This polish has a grapey purple base filled with silver shimmer and two sizes of silver iridescent hex glitter.



It took a good shake to get the larger hex glitters off the bottom but I only had to do this once.  The formula was easy to apply.  I found that I did have to fiddle a bit with the largest hex glitter to get them where I wanted since they were easily picked up by the brush and often got dragged to the top of the nail.  It didn't add much extra time though so I didn't mind.  It took three thin coats to get opaque and dried very smoothly.




The pictures show three coats of Mr. Rochester with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat.  The purple base of the polish is just slightly lighter in person that the swatch photos show.  No matter what I tried I could not get my camera to capture the colour on my nails properly.  However, the colour shown in the bottle pictures is accurate.  It looks exactly the same on your nails. 

I love the depth that the silver shimmer adds to this polish.  The Lady Varnishes has this skill mastered.  If you want a bottle of your very own check out her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheLadyVarnishes.  What do you think of Mr. Rochester?

Daisy Nail Art Tutorial

Today I want to show you how to do some really cute and easy daisy nail art.  The manicure that I had on already was still in good shape so I just decided to mattify it and add some cute flowers.


To do this mani you will need a base color, an opaque white creme, an opaque yellow creme, a matte top coat and a small thin brush.
Pipe Dream Polish Shot Through The Heart, Finger Paints Paper Mache, Rimmel Sunny Days, Julep Matte Top Coat




 

Start off by putting as many coats of your base colour on as it takes to get opaque.  Then add one coat of your favorite matte top coat.

 Then using your brush leave a small gap in the upper corner of your nail and make a line pointing down towards the opposite bottom corner of your nail.  Try to make this line a little wider on the outer end.

Continue adding more lines in this style up towards the top edge of your nail.  Try to have the inner ends of the lines touch while leaving small gaps between the outer ends.

Continue adding more lines of this style towards the left edge of your nail.

Using the tip of your brush make yellow dots around the inner edge of your white petals.

Continue filling in the flower center with yellow dots.

Wait until your first layer of yellow dots is somewhat dry and then add another layer of dotting.

Continue until your are happy with the opacity of the yellow polish.  Then repeat on the rest of your nails.

 I did not add a top coat on top of the nail art because I liked the contrast between the glossy flowers and the matte background but you could if you wanted to.  I hope you enjoy painting thes.e little daisies.


y