Where Have I Been?

So sorry fellow bloggers! I've been in Ohio for my boyfriend's brother's high school graduation. When I returned, it was back to work and so forth. I've been a little stressed. But I have continued to take pictures of my nails.

The worst part about being gone is not commenting on all of your lovely nails. I feel bad :(

I'll try to catch up! The gorgeous Lizzy always sends me an email and checks up on me when I've missed a few days. She's the best :D

So here are some nails. I wore these for graduation. See how far behind I am on posting? Graduation was three weeks ago!

Essie - Geranium (2 coats)
Seche Vite top coat

Although there are many different colors of geranium, this color perfectly matches the red/orange geraniums. My grandmother always has geraniums at her house on the lake. 

Isn't this polish great? 

Love, Bethany

Why Do I Buy Black Nail Polish?

I like black nail polish on other people but I NEVER like it on myself. So why do I buy it? I have no idea.

Anyways...I didn't fight to get the glitter out in this black jelly. I just stuck my brush in and slapped in on the nail. I feel like that's more accurate than digging around to get a lot of glitter.

Orly - Androgynie (2 Coats)

Added a coat of Essie - Matte About You

There's lots of glitter, so I might try this again and actually work to get it out, but maybe not because, as previously stated, I don't like black. Lol.

Love, Bethany

Round Nails

My daddy is home from the hospital. Of course there's still a long road of recovery ahead. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

On to the nails: I felt like round nails so I cut all my nails. Now I miss the square ones. Lol! This is the crackle that Lizzy sent me!

Base: Essence - Nude It
Then Essie - Matte About You (because I knew the crackle was going to dry matte)
Crackle: Nabi - Hot Pink

The essence polish bubbled. Sigh. But it's okay because the crackle covers it up!

Love, Bethany

Blue Comparison

I realized that I had three very similar blues, so I decided to do a comparison.

Pinky: Ulta - Blue Streak
Ring: Essie - Mezmerised (yes, they spell it incorrectly)
Middle: L'Oreal - Jet Set To Paris

Two Coats of each:

The Ulta took the longest to dry, by far. The L'Oreal was the quickest to dry. 

Here they are with Essie - Matte About You

For some reason the matte top coat seemed to go on best over the Ulta, but that may have been my imagination. I guess I need to get rid of two of these. This was my first time using L'Oreal polish and I was really pleased with it!

Do you see a difference?

Don't forget to enter my first giveaway!

Love, Bethany

Flakies Comparison

I used my last Julep here. It's a dark green jelly. The application was fine but it needs three coats to be opaque.

Base: Julep - Diane (3 coats)
Flakies on thumb, middle, and pinky: Zoya - Opal
Flakies on pointer: Finger Paints - Flecked
Flakies on ring: Finger Paints - Motley

Here it is with Essie - Matte About You:

Here is 3 coats of Diane by itself:

Anyone else hate the new blogger?

Love, Bethany

Girly Girl Challenge Day 8: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

What's more fun than a jelly sandwich?

Essie - Better Together
Confetti - Tasmanian Devil
Essie - Better Together

My jellies are always so light. I promise my next one will be brighter!

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Devilish Polish

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Jess of LuvMyLacquer

Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Love, Bethany

Julep Review

Blogger is annoying because it just deleted all of my post. So here it is again. I received 4 Julep polishes this week. Two were from Adventures in Acetone's Blog Sale. Check it out because she still has polishes for sale and some are only $1. I bought Michelle and Diane.

I received the other 2 in my first Julep Maven box. This is $20 a month for 3 items. My third item was a hand soap that exfoliates your skin. I haven't tried it yet. I got Penelope and Portia. You can see Penelope in my previous post. It's a soft pink that, like most light colors, takes 3 streaky coats to get it opaque. Sigh.

Here is my new Julep mani:
Base: Julep - Michelle
Glitter: Julep - Portia
Top Coat: Seche Vite

Michelle is a deep blue. Formula is average.

Portia is a fabulous glitter with teal, blue, orange, and yellow specks. It had a fantastic application and was surprisingly easy to remove.

Top Coat of Essie - Matte About You

The problem with Julep: Each 8ml bottle is $14. There's no way in hell it's worth that much. The application is average (OPI is definitely better) and the colors aren't THAT special. It is 3 free, but so are a lot of cheaper polishes. Still, because Portia was so awesome (that might be worth $14) I'll give the Maven box one more month before I decide to cancel.

Pictures of the bottles

What do you think about Julep?

Love, Bethany

Splatter + Matte Coat Comparison

First up is my pretty splatter:

Dark Purple Base: Zoya - Pinta
Light Purple: Zoya - Marley
Medium Purple: Zoya -Tru

Now for the Matte Top Coat comparison:

Can you see a difference in the matte top coats?

I can't either. 

Pointer and Ring: NYC - Matte Me Crazy ($2.00)

Middle and Pinky: Essie - Matte About You ($8.00)

Save yourself some money and buy NYC.

Love, Bethany

Lots of Dots

Yay for dots! I'm entering this in Rebecca Likes Nails contest. Check it out and see if you'd like to enter.

Base: China Glaze - Sweet Hook
Yellow: Sally Hansen Salon Manicure - Yellow Kitty
Green: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mint Sorbet
Top Coat: Essie - Matte About You

Three Coats of Sweet Hook with Seche Vite Top Coat

I love dots and I can't wait for my dotting tools to arrive!

Love, Bethany

Bright Enough?

I bought this bright China Glaze and it dried matte like Turned Up Turquoise. I didn't like it matte so I didn't even take a picture. Here it is shiny:

China Glaze - Flying Dragon
Top Coat - Seche Vite

The tiny blue glitter is my favorite part!

Then I added Essie - Shine of the Times

Yum!

What do you think? 

Love, Bethany

For The Love of Grey

Guess what? My mom is getting married tomorrow! I'm the maid of honor (and the only bridesmaid)! I'll post my wedding manicure tomorrow if I have time. Here's some lovely grey:

Base: Essie - Chinchilly
Then a layer of: Spoiled - Paying With Platinum

Here is Chinchilly by itself:

This is only two coats. I think it would need three for full coverage. 

Grey is my favorite color of clothing! Do you like grey?

Love, Bethany

Stay Within The Lines...Or Not

Using nail art brushes is still new to me. I have for your viewing pleasure: stripes. As per usual, I need more practice!

Pink: Pure Ice - Flirt Alert
Black - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out
Silver - Pure Ice - Silver Mercedes

You know how I love the matte coat! Essie - Matte About You

Maybe I'll use tape next time :)

Love, Bethany

Spring Time

I am so ready for Spring! I decided to do a spring flower bouquet mani! I'm also entering this in Ooh Shinies nail contest! 


Base: OPI - Stranger Tides
Stem: China Glaze - Holly-Day
White Flowers: Revlon - White on White
Yellow Flowers: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure- Yellow Kitty
Orange/Coral Flowers: Essie - Tart Deco
Top Coat: Seche Vite

 Stranger Tides by itself:

Don't you love Spring Flowers?

Love, Bethany

Blue Blazes

Blue is my favorite nail polish color. I'm addicted to it. Here I use a blue that I've had for awhile with a new China Glaze from The Hunger Games collection. 


Blue: Revlon - Royal 
Flakies: China Glaze - Luxe And Lush

Here is Royal by itself (2 coats):

Of course, I had to matte it with Essie - Matte About You

Oops, my thumb is cut off!

The application of Luxe And Lush was a little difficult because it was very thick. Also, it left a very bumpy texture when it dried. One matte coat smoothed it out, but I don't know how many clear top coats it would take.


It's so pretty that I don't mind the slight difficulties. What do you guys think?


Love, Bethany

Matte Foil? Yes Please!

I tried out a new foil from Revlon, which I thought was very pretty. Then I decided to matte it, because I'd never done that with a foil. I LOVE it. I'm very addicted to matte.


Revlon - Copper Penny
Essie - Matte About You


Here it is without the matte coat: 

Now Matte:

Like?

Love, Bethany

Red-y, Set, Go!

My boyfriend gave me this fabulous red for Christmas. It's name is perfect because red geraniums really are this color!


Base: Essie - Geranium
Gold: China Glaze - Champagne Bubbles

Red is my favorite color! Yay!

Love, Bethany

Once More With Feeling

This post is the same as the last. The only difference is that it is MATTE.


Matte Top Coat: Essie - Matte About You

Isn't Matte Magical?

Love, Bethany

Wicked Witch

I love flakies! This is my first time using all of these polishes and they're all great!


Base: Essie - Wicked
Flakies: Finger Paints - Flashy

Yummy, right? On my right hand, I put glitter on my ring finger instead of flakies, to make an accent nail.

Glitter: Ulta - Pinata-Yada-Yada

Love, Bethany

Polka Dots

I don't have a dotting tool, so I used a bobby pin to make the dots. I absolutely love these, but I wish I had made the dots more precise. As per usual, I need more practice!


Base: Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear - Coral Reef
Dots: Pure Ice - Silver Mercedes 

Then I Used Essie - Matte About You

Love, Bethany

My First Roses

Here is my first attempt at roses. I free-handed them, which should be pretty obvious because they're a little messy. 


Base: Sally Hanson Insta-Dry - Pink Blink
Light Purple: Essie - Lilacism 
Dark Purple: Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear - Plum Power
Leaves: China Glaze - Glittering Garland 
Top Coat: Seche Vite

Love, Bethany