Giveaway! Julep Lip Gloss - ETA: Winner Announced!

This is because I have always wanted to know how Rafflecopter works. And because giveaways are fun!

The prize is a brand new in box Julep Lip Gloss in Zinnia. (Side note: I'm actually more of a lip balm/gloss person than I am a nail polish person, but much of the appeal gets lost in pictures of flavored lip balms.) This lip gloss is great because it's sheer enough to put on without a mirror, has a yummy light smell, and is not sticky. It also seems to last quite a while. I'm very impressed with it, and I would love to share with you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!

Heartfully,
Janelle

Zoya Mira, Zoya Malia, and Rainbow Honey The Element of Magic

I'm going shopping with the lovely Sara at My Life in Polish tomorrow and I am seriously excited. I'm on a quest for shimmer purples and I have these two specific creams I love the shades of, plus I have been dying to use my Rainbow Honey! Instead of hauling around bottles for color inspiration, I figured this mani would do the trick. I have been known to enter this particular store with 10 or more different colors on my fingers for a point of reference when I was trying to match something up. :)

This is two coats of Zoya Mira with an accent nail of Zoya Malia, and 2 coats of Rainbow Honey The Element of Magic on top of that.

Hmmm ... now I see how hard it is to photograph purples. It is less blue toned than this, and really deserves a better shot in the sun I imagine. Sadly, I went and played around with dotting and other combinations on my nails - so a do-over will have to wait for another day. :) Not an issue - I love this combo!

A note on Rainbow Honey - these mini bottles are really difficult to use. The brush is so short, you can barely dip it in to get polish and I can't imagine what that means when the level is low. Also, the big honkin' round cap dinged another one of my nails while I was painting. I may decant mine, even though I love the RH bottle so much. I'm not saying don't by a RH, I'm just saying - buy a full size LOL! The polish really is so lovely, it's worth it. (I got a peak at Sara's 20% Cooler and another friend's A Little Kindness, and they really are beautiful). Also, their flat rate shipping is pricey (I've heard it's because they choose to ship BY THE BOOK and disclose that it is nail polish?) so - save up for a big order to spread out the cost. **TOTALLY ENABLING HERE**
 
Happy polish shopping to Sara and me, and happy Tuesday to you!

Heartfully,
Janelle

Zoya Kieko and Elixir Lacquers With a K

Quick post for a quick mani - I painted my nails hastily on my bathroom counter with my 4-year-old running around. I can normally pull off quick jobs like this with a decent outcome - but this one was bad. Uneven application (my fault, not the polish), dust from nail filing and uneven edges, had to remove and repaint a few nails, ended up tainting my topcoat with a smidgeon of glitter that looks like bubbles on the nail ... hot mess. Anyway, it's still a fun mani and will last a few days anyway.

Here's 2 coats Zoya Kieko with an accent nail of Elixir Lacquers With a K (about 1.5 coats - I was trying to add more hexes without getting too much more of the sparkle jelly base on there):

Hope you have a great weekend. :)

Heartfully,
Janelle

Rescue Beauty Lounge Poco a Poco and Once Upon a Polish Princess and the Pea

This is Rescue Beauty Lounge's Poco a Poco. Ji has a lovely story on her site for this. Not only did I love the color, and find it pretty unique, I really loved the story. It's about clouds and the sun and it reminded me of the the color in the sky when my husband proposed. This is a pinkish almost lavender color with warm pink shimmer that is stronger in the bottle than on the nail. I love the warm pink shimmer because it doesn't scream orangey gold WARM to me (which I do NOT like). The formula was pretty good.

My accent nail is Once Upon a Polish Princess and the Pea. I knew I had to have this the second I heard of it because my daughter's room is decorated in pink and green. So, long story long - here are the pictures!

At night using my flash bouncer. This pic is darker than I prefer, but I have yet to learn how to Photoshop and color adjust. (2 coats RBL, 1 coat P&tP on accent nail, all with top coat)

With the flash to show the shimmer.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I finished a final paper for one of my online classes (relieved!), and I thoroughly enjoyed the monsoon weather while driving through my first haboob!

Heartfully,
Janelle

Color Club Wild at Heart, Nubar Treasure, Zoya Malia gradient fail

Well, it isn't terrible - but it wasn't what I was looking for. I think my two colors weren't different enough for the look I was hoping for. And I just wasn't having luck with the various sponges I tried. I will try again, just need to get the right colors I think. Even though it's kind of a failure, I did want to follow up from my last post. Now I have an excuse to try one of my new polishes that have come in recently. Can't complain! :) (PS. It is true that you can't judge a gradient until you apply top coat!)

Color Club Wild at Heart "gradient" over Nubar Treasure over Zoya Malia.

Heartfully,
Janelle

Nubar Treasure with Zoya Malia

Today I'm wearing 2 coats Nubar Treasure over one coat of Zoya Malia for some good underwear. The Nubar is pretty sheer and does build to a decent opacity at 3-4 coats, but the Malia underneath adds the perfect base for a really solid purple - and saves me from having to go for that fourth coat. I love this polish for so many reasons - it's a nice purple that's not too light or too dark, it wears really well, looks amazingly glassy for days without a top coat, and it has just enough scattered rainbow holo for me without being over the top (I'm not a fan of linear holos at all).

So, it's not the best kind of weather to photograph a holographic nail polish. But I managed to capture a little bit of rainbow with indoor lighting (click to enlarge the second picture - the best rainbow effect is captured on my middle finger LOL). I'm hoping to recycle this mani in a few days by adding a gradient element. However, that requires practice AND this is probably one of my top 5 favorite polishes, so I would like a few days alone with it. :) First pic is outdoors but cloudy. Second is indoors under a light and near a window.

Hope you had a great weekend.
Heartfully,
Janelle

Zoya Angel, Black Cat Lacquer Let Them Eat Cake, Wet N Wild ColorIcon Jewels For Your Highness

Today I had a job interview. I didn't make time to paint my nails like I had wanted to, but with 15 minutes before I had to leave - I decided I could make it work. I painted 3 coats of Zoya Angel (I swore it was a 2 coater) because it's as neutral as I can handle. I don't love colors that match my skin. I was worried - 3 coats in 15 minutes - disaster waiting to happen. I was going to opt for my Zoya Fast Drops but they were buried in some pile of stuff I needed to put away - a few rooms away from my room. Since I keep my 'melmer' in my bathroom, I decided it was safer to not dig through a pile of stuff and just opt for the Color Club 0-60 Speedy Topcoat safely stored in there instead. Shockingly, I dinged my ring finger *while* grabbing the topcoat. HAHAHA. So I quickly fixed it with a Q-tip, put on the 0-60 and went to the closet for my interview purse (read: laptop bag that looks more professional than my mommy diaperbag/purse combo - stylish as it kind of is, all things considered). I told myself to be careful but I banged a finger on a purse, held my breath as I checked the damage, and literally giggled out loud that the 0-60 topcoat did it's job so well! My nails were smooth, glassy, shiney, AND not a mark on them. I am impressed AND amazed. Anyway, that was a long story to tell you how awesome that topcoat is. I don't even care if it causes shrinkage (I am still verifying if this has happened, because frankly I'm not sure HOW to tell).

When I got home, I wanted to dress it up a bit. Please forgive the hand shot without a bottle in it. I promise I have more poses (and more colors than light pink!) but I couldn't fit all 3 bottles in my small hand. I really think 1 is my max. :) Here's 3 coats Zoya Angel with 1 generous coat of Black Cat Lacquer's Let Them Eat Cake on all nails (you can find her on Etsy). Accent nail has 2 coats of Wet n Wild Coloricon Jewels For Your Highness, with one more coat of LTEC on top of that for good measure. CC 0-60 used on top of the Angel before and after the glitter, because I did this mani in 2 parts.

 

 

Click to enlarge, so pretty!

Happy Friday!

Heartfully,
Janelle

Zoya Flora, CND Violet Shimmer, China Glaze Snow Globe

This mani right here, started it all. Up until this point, I just liked polish. I collected it - sure. But I just liked one color on all nails - unless it was for a holiday or event. And then I discovered the accent nail - with glitter. And it was all a pleasant ride downhill from there. From a dozen or so polishes in my a carrier to a "melmer" with indies and more - welcome to my current hobby - nail polish!

Click to enlarge the picture. The CND and CG really sparkle when this is maximized.

This is 2 coats Zoya Flora with 1 coat CND Violet Shimmer and a top coat. The accent nail is China Glaze SnowGlobe. This is the moment where my heart fell in love with layering, glitters, and subsequently indies!

Heartfully,
Janelle