NOTW: Essie After School Boy Blazer & OPI Russian Navy

A month has passed since I posted my last blog post and I apologize for being inconsistent. Near the end of November my nails started getting very brittle and cracking, especially on my pointer and thumb nail. When December came around, my family was setting up the Christmas tree. In the process of setting it up, I got scratches all over my hands and the dry and cold weather was taking a big toll on my hands. I didn’t wear much nail polish. I recently acquired Essie’s After School Boy Blazer and I was really excited to try it out. I swatched the polish on a couple of nails but felt compelled to finish the rest of my hand. I realized that it resembled another polish of mine (OPI Russian Navy) and wanted to compare. I don’t know if you can tell but my middle finger has the OPI polish and the rest have the Essie polish.

The two look quite similar except for the fact that Essie’s is a flat color: just a really dark navy almost black polish while the OPI’s color has slight purple shimmer and not as dark.

Review: Julep Maria

Consistency: nice and smooth

Application: Overall the application was easy BUT only if you work fast. If you work slowly, the polish drags and you don't get an even coat.However, it you apply the nail polish quickly with a steady hand, you only need to apply one coat and it is both opaque and even. Also, be careful of your brush strokes. With this nail polish, each brush stroke is very visible so be cautious and work quickly.

Color: This is one of my most unique polishes. It has a metallic look and is a really pretty color. I would say it looks like rose gold except more on the purple side than a rose side. I haven’t seen many colors like it; therefore I would recommend any one to try it just because of the color. 

Longevity: Whereas the nail polish did well on the other categories, the longevity is the reason this nail polish does not have an A grade. Even on the first day I noticed chipping. The edges wear off really quickly and probably will not last for a week.

How Many Coats: one average coat should be sufficient

Top Coat/Base Coat: Sally Hansen Mega Shine Top Coat/ Julep Nail Therapy (+ Sally Hansen Miracle Cure)

7-Day Wear: To be honest, I have only worn this nail polish for two days, so in this post there is not going to be a 7-Day Wear. (Even at 2 days, I could see chipping and worn edges)

You can get it HERE on Julep.com for $14.00 (Currently on Sale: $7.99) 

Overall Grade: B+

 

NOTW: Zoya Caitlin

 

These past two weeks I have been wearing this Zoya color. The name is Caitlin. I love this color. It is so unique and I don't have anything like this.

You can find the color here

Tutorial #2

Tutorial #2: In this tutorial, I utilized tape once again, like my last tutorial. This one definitely didn’t turn out as I pictured it in my head, but in life you always learn things through failure. As you can see in the picture above, the line between the coral and grey is pretty messy, but the line between the blue and coral is a lot more precise. I did some trials and errors to get a clean line, which I will share concluding this post.

***Sorry, about the lighting, like I also said in my last tutorial, I’m not a professional. I’m just sharing my interest for nail polish with the world. Anyways, what I mean to say is that I don’t have professional equipment to get perfect shots, so some photos are darker than others.

*The following steps don’t match up to the photos because in the steps I fixed the problem*

1. Apply base coat

2. Apply the first color to the entire nail - Let it dry completely (I even waited an entire day)

3. Align tape diagonally covering the top part of the nail

4. Paint one nail the second color

5. Remove the tape (no need to wait till it dries)

6. Repeat step 4 & 5 to the rest of your nails

7. Let your nails dry completely (Again I waited an entire day)

8. Align a second tape diagonally, in the opposite direction of the first, covering about 2/3 of the nail

9. Paint one nail with the third and final color

10. Remove tape

11. Repeat step 9 & 10 to the rest of the nails

12. Let nails dry

13. Apply top coat

Tips that I have learned:

•  Remove the tape tight after you apply the nail polish (This was the big mistake). In my last tutorial, I wrote that you don't want to remove the tape too early, but actually should

       Actually you have two options:

• Remove the tape immediately after you apply the next coat - before the nail polish gets too tacky
• Wait till your nails dry completely - Also reducing the tackiness (However, you are probably going to have tape on your fingers for a long time and it gets uncomfortable therefore I would recommend the first option)