Friday, May 30, 2014

- - Monthly Manicures | May 2014 - -


Hey friends!

Did you see? I am now on Twitter! If you'd like, you can follow me: @MagnifiqueRoad.

I'm also in the process of making Magnificent Road more user-friendly. I've added a search feature on the top left of the page (little looking glass icon) to help you find stuff quicker (provided that I actually have that stuff!).

Now, onto the matter at hand - my manicures for May! Check those out after the jump...
*  All of the photos in this post were taken indoors with either flash/no flash. *
*Click on the photos to enlarge them.*
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Mani #1
Paulette (Julep)

Two coats

Paulette was the one polish that I was looking forward to getting the most in my Julep May Maven* Box (review is coming - I'm just really behind and disorganized in this department at the moment, sorry!). Paulette is described as a "golden lilac tulle shimmer" and in person it certainly does not disappoint. The formula is roughly the same as for most of the Julep polishes - not the most difficult to work with, but not the easier either due to its fairly gloopy consistency.

(* If you would like to become a Julep Maven and wouldn't mind using my referral link, you can do so here. Use code HELLOYOU at checkout to receive an awesome starter box for just $2.99!)

Mani #2
Kam (Julep)
02 Vanilla Sugar Yogurt (The Face Shop)


The one colour that I fell in love with even more so than Paulette turned out to be Kam,  the "vintage spearmint crème." For the accent nail, I decided to try out Vanilla Sugar Yogurt, the polish I got from The Face Shop a couple months back. With the knowledge in mind that glitter polishes are difficult to remove, I decided to commit VSY to only one nail.



I did coats of Kam and about 4-5 coats of VSY. Now, here is the best part - when it came time remove this mani, I discovered that VSY is the easiest glitter polish to remove EVER! It was so beautiful I wanted to cry.
Mani #3
02 Vanilla Sugar Yogurt (The Face Shop)


Naturally, I decided to commit to a full manicure with Vanilla Sugar Yogurt. I absolutely love this nail polish! I initially thought that it was kind of grey in the bottle, but it definitely looks white (or at least very close to it) when on the nails.


I remembered Amy of Michi-Mochi had mentioned about this nail polish taking a long time to dry, so I literally did this manicure thin coat after thin coat. I must have done about 5-6 very thin coats.


The polish dries really quickly if you apply it layer by layer like I did, and although the formula can be a little thick, it's super easy to work with.



And as I mentioned above, easiest glitter polish to remove EVER! Yes, you might have to rub a little harder than usual to remove it, but the glitter gives way in seconds (at least in my experience).

Mani #4
Reece & Coretta (Julep)


I was looking at a few old posts and I came upon the manicure that I did with Reece in the Julep Diamond Mystery Box. I remember the little mustache decals from Julep were whimsical and brought a smile to my face, so I decided to do something similar this time around. I used Coretta, the diamond birthstone polish, for my pinky nail. This is a full-coverage holographic microglitter polish that I just now found out has real diamond dust like in the blushes/bronzers from last month. Neat!

Mani #5
Grapevine (Covergirl)
Colored Paper CMX327 (The Face Shop) 


I've been meaning to try the Covergirl nail polish that I received way back in October in my Fall Luxe Box. Believe it or not, this was the first time using it. I kept on thinking that this was not my colour, so I never got around to trying it out. Anyways, one day I was wearing a pretty neutral outfit (grey and white) and I decided that I needed a pop of colour...which is where this polish came in!


The colour Grapevine can look either more purple or pink depending on the lighting. Here is what I mean:

L - natural lighting | R - artificial lighting

For the most part though, I would say that Grapevine leans towards purple.


For the accent nail I used the glitter top coat, Colored Paper CMX327, which I purchased from The Face Shop last week for $6. I believe I had no problem removing it either.

Mani #6
Lilac Chantilly[#30] (Sally Hansen)
Mellow Yellow[#360] (Sally Hansen)


I'm not sure why, but for some reason I wanted to try out the pale purple/yellow combination in a manicure.


I used nail striping tape to create the design on the accent nail after putting two thin coats of Mellow Yellow.

  
Lilac Chantilly is a nail polish from several years ago that I only got to try out fully today. It is incredibly sheer! I think I used something like 4 coats of it to get the coverage I wanted.


Overall, the formula of Lilac Chantilly was more watery than what I am used to with Julep polishes, but it does dry quite quickly. I ended up messing up the lines of Mellow Yellow with the tape and a top coat afterwards, but I think this manicure was on the whole successful.

Mani #7
Black on Black (Sinful Colors)


I'll tell you a little story about the OPI polish I used for this manicure. Around December of last year I saw one of my co-workers with a gold manicure and I instantly fell in love it. After inquiring about the nail polish and where she purchased it from, I found out that she didn't remember the name, but it was by OPI and she got it at Walmart. She also said that the colour was more green in the bottle but it came out as gold. Armed with this information and a mental picture, I set out in search of this mysterious nail polish.


I tried hard to find a similar polish. but nothing quite matched up the one my co-worker had. Anyways, I eventually found out that the nail polish I was looking for was Just Spotted the Lizard by OPI (a dupe for Chanel's Peridot). I believe it was from a Spiderman collection from sometime ago. I looked and looked and couldn't find it anywhere. UNTIL I was walking through Winners with my family last month and I saw a bottle of what looked like Just Spotted the Lizard!

In essence, it was Just Spotted the Lizard, but it had a different name - Frog in My Throat. What? On the back of the package it did actually say "Just Spotted the Lizard." Apparently I'm not the only one to notice the strange new naming.


Anyways, here I am trying out Frog in My Throat/Just Spotted the Lizard for the first time. It IS more gold than green, which I like a lot. The brush makes it easy to get a lot of polish on your nails, so I had to be really careful to not put too much.

I used Black on Black as a base and then added the OPI polish (which is also my first from the brand!) along with scotch tape to control the design.


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I think I'm really starting to branch out here! I'm experimenting with more brands and I'm a little more brave in trying out small delicate designs and finishing touches. I'll have to keep experimenting and see what I can come up with in June!

If you would like to check out my previous months' manicures, you can do so here.


Have you tried any of these nail polishes/brands?

Thank you for reading! -A.~

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