NOTD: Cake Pop by Orly

This week has been busy, busy, busy, hence the lack of posts.  I did a whirlwind of spring cleaning and purging my office at the university, and I'm hoping that will carry over to my house at some point.  But for now, I've got the palest pink cream to show you, called Cake Pop.  Perfect for a minimalistic Easter look, no?

I received Cake Pop in the spring FabFitFun box, and to be honest I wasn't that excited about it at first.  However, I'm really liking how it looks on.  It was a relatively easy 2-coater, and on my index and ring finger I tried Julep's pink shifting Tyra, which added a barely there shimmer, kind of like the glow of a pearl.  Added bonus:  Cake Pop makes your hands look really tan.

My Easter plans consist of a birthday party for my mother's 1 year old Sheltie.  There will be an Easter egg hunt for the dogs featuring plastic eggs filled with treats.  I'm sure fun will be had by all :-)  Linking up with The Nail Files hosted by Jennie Shaw:

NOTD: Miss Conduct by Orly

Miss Conduct will be making my "best of" list for 2014, it's that good.  I know it wasn't released in 2014, but I'm just now getting around to wearing it, and I'm a smitten kitten.

This raspberry scattered holo has a nice formula that is easy to work with, no issues to speak of.  I'm going on 4 days of wear as I type this and have minor tip wear only.

This is 2 coats with Seche Vite as my top coat.  Seriously, what's not to love?  I'll be revisiting this beauty, no doubt!  What are you wearing this week?  Linking up with The Nail Files hosted by Jennie Shaw:

NOTD: Toni by Julep and Oui by Orly

I'm consistently being drawn by darker, moodier colors, probably an indication of my longing for cooler weather and fall.  It will come (at least I hope it does - last winter was warm), I'm just wishful thinking it to happen a bit sooner!

Toni

I recently subscribed to the Julep Maven program because apparently, I don't get enough packages in the mail as it is:-)  For those who may not know, Julep is a boutique nail salon in Seattle, WA that makes their own polishes.  They started a subscription box where you can get two of their polishes and an added extra (pedicream, hand cream, mascara, nail files, etc.) for $20 a month.  There are 5 different profiles and I chose Boho Glam, but you can change to one of the others if you like that box better on any particular month or skip a month if nothing appeals to you. 

Toni was part of a Mystery box offer Julep had in August.  It's a muted purple cream with greige undertones.  If I could coin a word like greige (gray/beige) to describe it, I guess it would be purge, and that just won't work.  Oh well.  Here is two coats of Toni with Seche Vite base and top coats.  The formula bubbled on the first coat but smoothed out nicely with the second and top coat. 

Oui

I'm not usually a purple girl, but I like Toni.  It's different but not in your face and will probably work really well with my cooler weather clothes.  In the meantime, however, I felt the need to top it with something and Oui by Orly was the perfect choice.  I got this in an after Christmas sale at Sally's Beauty Supply.  It's purple jelly with a shiny gold iridescence.  So pretty!  This is one coat over Toni with no top coat.

Disclosure:  I purchased these.
 

NOTD: Graphite Gravity, Don't Blink & Androgynie

I recently received a Sally Hansen magnetic polish in the charcoal gray Graphite Gravity as part of the Summer Beauty Box from Influenster.  I was excited to see how it worked, having not tried one before.

Instructions are pretty simple.  STEP 1: Apply 1 coat of base coat. Shake Magnetic Nail Color to activate. Remove overcap with magnet and set aside. Apply 1 coat of Magnetic Nail Color to all 10 nails and let dry. STEP 2: Apply a thick second coat of color to 1 nail and immediately hold the built-in magnet over the nail. Rest the guide just below the cuticle without touching the wet nail polish. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat for all 10 nails and let dry. Finish with top coat.

My results were a bit mixed.  Some nails showed the effect, some did not.  The key seems to be in placing a thick second coat, so perhaps the nails that did not work for me were not covered with enough polish.   Below you can see the effect on my index finger, but not so much on my middle finger.  I also managed to touch the magnet to the polish, even though there is a guard (raised ridge on the magnet cap) to prevent that from happening.  My fault - I was trying to get the magnet as close to the nail as I possibly could. 

I like the color of Graphite Gravity enough that I can see using it even without the magnet, especially since it dries quite fast.  The price for the Sally Hansen magnetics is ranging from $9-10, although I've seen then on sale for $5.99 at Walgreens online this past week.

Seche Vite did some major shrink damage to my tips, however, which left me less than satisfied with my manicure.  So, I decided to do an accent nail with NerdLacquer's Don't Blink, a light gray creme with micro silver and black giltter and larger silver hexagons.  I've seen some lovely swatches of Don't Blink, but the two times I've tried it, I wasn't in love.  Putting it over Graphite Gravity also left some black edges, so still not happy with the look.

I'm a stubborn one, though.  I went looking through my stash to see what could salvage this manicure.  Orly's Androgynie looked interesting and I hadn't tried it yet, so that was the winner.  Androgynie was part of Orly's 2011 Holiday Soiree collection and is a black jelly packed with multi-sized and colored glitter.  I've seen reviews that said this polish didn't translate as well on the nail as it looks in the bottle.  I used only one coat and I think it looks pretty good!  I'm guessing using it as a layering polish as opposed to trying to build it up with multiple coats is the way to go.  I also decided to add a layer of OPI's Pirouette My Whistle from the NY Ballet collection to Don't Blink, as it just wasn't singing to me.  If you're counting, or even still with me, I'm up to four different polishes now.

A few final thoughts.  Seche Vite, I'm about to quit you and your shrinking ways.  Amanda of NerdLacquer, if you are still out there, you need to come back and make more polishes.  I can't afford the ones on ebay and I'm reduced to doing accent nails because I only ever got mini bottles to begin with.

Disclosure:  I received Graphite Gravity for testing and review as part of Influenster's Summer Beauty Box.  The rest I bought.