Savage

Here is a mani for less

Sinful Colors - Savage (2 coats) $1.99

A beautiful bright blue that dries matte because it's neon. The formula was great.

Here it is with a NYC - Quick Dry Top Coat

Isn't it 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

First Mani for Less

Unfortunately, I had trouble with this mani because the polish bubbled. Sigh. Not all cheap polishes bubble. I promise!! The matte coat works wonderfully though!

Color: NYC - Lavender Cupcake ($1.99)
Matte: NYC - Matte Me Crazy ($1.99)

Even with the bubbling it is a pretty color. Maybe I'll keep it for nail art.

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

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

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

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

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

I've Got The Blues

This needed clean-up, which I should have done before taking the pictures. Oops.


Anyway, I really liked this matte nail polish. It's so bright!


Zoya- Phoebe (3 Coats)

Love, Bethany

Make It Matte

I put a coat of Essie - Matte About You on top of my nails from the last post. I love it!


Pinky: Sally Hanson Hard As Nails: Xtreme Wear - White On
Ring: OPI -Skull & Glossbones
Middle: OPI - French Quarter For Your Thoughts
Pointer: A Franken of French Quarter For Your Thoughts
Thumb: Sally Hanson Hard As Nails: Xtreme Wear - Black Out

Love, Bethany

I Love Matte

A fun green matte!


China Glaze - Holly-Day
Finger Paints - Flecked
Esse - Matte About You

The green Holly-Day was such a fun green and had great coverage in two coats. 


This is my first time using Finger Paints. I love the flakies!

Matte

Here are pictures of my nails with a matte finish.


Essie - Bahama Mama
Essie - Shine Of The Times
Essie - Matte About You