Teal Mix n' Match Manicure

I decided to try something a little more adventurous lately.  Being on Spring Break, I have some extra time on my hands, so I get to try things I normally wouldn't.  I used China Glaze's "Luxe & Lush" and "Re-Fresh Mint", Essie's "Penny Talk", and Julep's "Lena" for this look.  I used two coats for each color except "Lena" where I only needed one.  Julep polishes have amazing opacity!  Enjoy!

Let me know of any fun manicure's you've tried lately.  Leave me a link to your blog post if you did one on it.  :)

-polish. impress. repeat.

OPI - Cuckoo For This Color

I want to start off my apologizing for these photos.  I painted my nails a couple days ago, but never got around to taking pictures until now.  You can see a little fading on the tips, so these don't look as good as they did a couple days ago.

Anyways...  This is OPI's Cuckoo For This Color.  It is a dark teal/turquoise color with shimmer.  I like that the shimmer gives it a swirly looking effect on your nails.  This is from their Fall 2010 Swiss collection.  I painted two coats and aside from the little bit of fading at the tips, this polish always has a good wear time for me.

It's almost spring and so I'm trying to enjoy my little bit of time left to wear darker colored polishes.

What is your favorite darker colored polish?

-polish. impress. repeat.

Exclusive Butter London Polish - Two Fingered Salute

Wowza.  I have been hoping I'd get this polish one day.  Nordstrom's was having a buy two get one free sale after Christmas on their Butter London polishes.  If you don't know, Two Fingered Salute is a Nordstrom's exclusive color.  It is GORGEOUS!  It is a dusty robin's egg blue/green with copper glittery flecks.  There are moments when my manicure hits the light at just the right point and I am mesmerized.  This is probably one of my favorite polishes just because it is so incredibly unique.  This is two coats and it is opaque at that point.  It was hard to photograph this polish to get the copper flecks to stand out.  I apologize for some bad pictures, but I was trying really hard to get you all a good idea of what this polish really looks like in person.

What is your favorite 'unique' polish?

-polish. impress. repeat.

Comparison of Ulta 'Island Hopper' and Julep 'Miranda'

First off, apologies for my dry cuticles.  I didn't even think about it before snapping these pictures.  Since I've started this blog, I've tried to get in a variety of colors from week to week.  I was about to paint my nails and was picking through my collection when I came across Ulta Professional's 'Island Hopper'.  I thought it would be a great color and then Julep's 'Miranda' which I had already done a post on.  They look nearly identical in the bottle, so I decided to compare them to see if they are dupes or not.  ****Note:  in the pictures of my nails, from left to right it is 'Miranda', 'Island Hopper', 'Miranda', 'Island Hopper'.

 Miranda, Island Hopper, Miranda, Island Hopper

 Miranda, Island Hopper, Miranda, Island Hopper

left:  Miranda          right:  Island Hopper

Conclusion, it the direct sunlight, they look almost identical.  In natural lighting, the slight differences are a little more apparent.  'Miranda' is more jelly-like while 'Island Hopper' is more creamy and opaque.  They are both a light teal/turquoise color, but Island hopper is a little more blue-ish.

Dupes?  Not quite.

-polish. impress. repeat.

China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint & Turned Up Turquoise

Here's a fun manicure I did this week.  It's a twist on the 'every other nail' pattern.  The two colors I used were China Glaze's "Re-Fresh Mint" and "Turned Up Turquoise".  My thumb nails are the color that my middle and ring finger are on each hand.  I've gotten numerous compliments on this!

"Re-Fresh Mint" is a wonderful mint pastel green.  I've been on the search for a color like this and finally got this one.  It isn't as opaque as I would have liked.  I used three coats and there were still some thin spots.  Other than that, no complaints.  I LOVE the color.

 "Turned Up Turquoise" is STUNNING.  Unfortunately, my camera doesn't pick that up.  It's neon and my camera doesn't like that.  I need to get a better camera.  This color is vibrant, bold, and has just the right amount of shimmer.  It dries with almost a matte finish that looks like a nasty highligher look.  With a clear top-coat, this polish comes to life.  I highly recommend this color for Spring and Summer.  I'll be rocking it frequently.

Do you like the twist on the 'every other nail' pattern?

-polish. impress. repeat.