- - Monthly Manicures | January 2014 - -

Happy Friday everyone!

I have decided to start up a series of monthly posts, which I'm going to call "Monthly Manicures." Since I don't post my nail polish attempts designs on an individual basis, I'm going to try out posting whatever colours/designs I did experiment with for a given month at the end of that month. Right now I'm really rusty with my polish application as well as the lighting for my pictures, but I really hope you bear with me while I work on improving my techniques! Please read further to check out some of my manicures from January 2014...

*  All of the photos in this post were taken indoors with either flash/no flash. *

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Mani #1

Maya & Fiore (Julep)

This was my first experiment with polka dot nails. To achieve this design, I used a dotting tool from the Born Pretty Store. It was really interesting to finally try out a polka dot design. I decided to dot only half of most of my nails and I mirrored the design on my right hand. Next time I'm going to see if I can play around with more colours, and I'll probably cover the whole nail with dots as opposed to only half the nail. 

Interestingly enough, I did this manicure around midnight (a typical thing for me) and as soon as I finished I realized that it would take a while for the dots to dry. To speed up the drying process I used Julep's Ta Da! Quick Dry Drops and it worked miraculously! Within a minute after using the drops, my manicure was dry and after I woke up the next day, I found absolutely no smudging or sheet/hair imprints!

A note about the nail polish - I truly admire Maya and I think it's a perfect everyday kind of colour. The formula is pretty good. The only problem is that Maya chips easily. This manicure did last me several days without chipping, but I know my mom has had chipping problems when she uses Maya. In my opinion, it's a lovely colour to have on -  even if it is for a little while.

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Mani #2

Misti (Julep)

I quite like Misti. I chose it as an add-on for my December 2013 Maven box and I certainly wasn't disappointed. It's a good shade that's described by Julep as a "Smoky blue-grey crème." For the design, I was hoping to create something intricate, but the glitter that I purchased from the Born Pretty Store was way too small for me to work with (it also gets everywhere!). In the end, I put the glitter on my accent nail and I think it worked out quite nicely.

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Mani #3

 Charlotte (Julep)

I'm a big fan of (pleasant) surprises, so I purchased the Secret Gift Packs from the Born Pretty Store and these nail stickers were part of the pack that I got. I had to trim the stickers down a bit, but the basic idea was that the white curved edge would line up with the edge of my nail. As you can see, my middle and ring fingers were too wide for this to happen, but I tried it out nonetheless. 

One of my favourite parts of these nail stickers is that they glow in the dark! I actually didn't find this out until I turned off all the lights when it was time for bed! One of my least favourite aspects of the nail stickers is that they started peeling off - ruining the polish underneath - shortly after I put them on even though I put on a top coat. In any case, this design was worth a try.

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Mani #4

Joelle (Julep)

Sometimes, when all else fails, I decide to stop kidding myself and just stick to one simple colour of nail polish for all of my nails. After purchasing three Maven boxes in a row, I got a chance to select a free nail polish (shipping is free as well!). I had some idea of what I wanted to get, but it's only after I saw swatches of Joelle that I knew that I had to try it out. Joelle is described as a "full coverage smoky holographic glitter." The polish does become somewhat opaque after about 2-3 coats. In the pictures, my ring finger only has about 2 thin coats, so you can still see a bit of my nail.

The picture of Joelle that Julep has on their site doesn't really do justice to the polish, so I tried to take a picture of a few angles to give you a sense of what this polish looks like in person. 

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This brings me to the end of my January manicures! I will be sharing a similar collection of manicures/designs at the end of February, so I hope you guys get to see those when they come out. I typically do my nails fairly casually, but I will try my best to accumulate a good collection of photos.

Have you tried any of these nail polishes? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!

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Julep - Basic Info:

- - Frequency & Cost: $19.99/a month (price increases with add-ons) (referral link)

- - Promo Code: use code FREEBOX to get your first box free! (small shipping fee applies)

- - Products: at least two nail polishes and one beauty product

- - Shipping Cost: FREE (7 - 10 days)

If you'd like to know more about Julep, you can also check out this post.

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Thank you so much for reading! Have a lovely day! -A.~