Spring waterfallls

Hello everyone! Sorry for the absence of a post last week, I was feeling very tired from the week and just did not feel up to doing a one. Now I am back for another Spring themed nail design! For this design we have another simple look, a waterfall theme using the colors from the Zoya spring collection and two colors from the OPI Hawaii collection. 

Spring color themed waterfall nail design

The nail polishes and nail tools that are used for this waterfall nail design is:

Base and top coat- Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener and - Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polishes- Zoya Mini- Rayne, Leslie, Daisy, Lillian, Eden, OPI mini- Hawaii- That's Hula-rious, and Suzi shops & island hops. 

Nail tools-  A medium length thin nail art brush, and a shorter thin nail art brush. A glass jar with nail polish remover in it to clean off nail art brushes. 

The skill level for this waterfall nail design is: 

 Beginner basic 

This design is great for beginners. This is very simple and basic, with different lengths of short and long lines to resemble a waterfall. 

 
Let's start this colorful Spring waterfall nail design:

1. Start off with a base coat.

2. For all of your nails we will be using shimmery pastel colors. On the thumb and ring finger paint your nails a light blue (Zoya's Rayne), the index and pinky nail a light purple (Leslie), and your middle finger nail a yellow (Daisy). 

3. Once your shimmery colors have dried, we will be using some cream pastel colored polishes over the shimmers, to create the waterfall design.Take your thin medium length nail art brush dipped into a light cream blue (Lillian), and on all of your nails near the cuticle draw different lines, some short and some long. 

4. Then for the next color, first clean off your nail art brush, then dip your thin nail art brush into a cream light pink (Eden) and right next to the blue lines you made paint some pink lines beside that. To fill up your nails just repeat these steps with a light green (OPI That's Hula-rious) and then use a lighter pink (OPI Suzi shops & island hops). 

5. For the ring finger, this has just a small difference to it. For this nail, the lines are longer and all the colors are used. Just like the other nails repeat step 3 and 4, and just make the lines longer and use all the cream colors and the shimmer colors.

 Final Spring water fall nail design

Once your Spring waterfall nail design has dried apply a top coat.

For this design you can always use less colors or more colors for the waterfalls or just one color for the base color, it's up to you. This design can be great for any season and any color theme.

Hope all of you enjoyed this Spring waterfall nail design!

See you next time for my next tutorial!

Julep Mystery Box April 2015

Hello Everyone! For today's post I have something a little bit different. After a few months of looking around for a nail polish subscription box and looking up reviews of the boxes, and generally just deciding do I really need or want this (that's just how I am with everything!) I finally decided to give Julep a try, not the full subscription, but the monthly mystery box just for a single month

Here is what the Julep Mystery boxes look like.

As stated above, Julep is a monthly nail polish and beauty subscription box that is sent to your home. The regular subscription boxes (The Julep Maven) for your first month comes with four items: two polishes and two beauty products. I believe after that you get two polishes and a beauty item. The monthly subscription is $24.99 a month or a month free (just pay for shipping) and then three months for $19.99. 

After looking at what came in the box every month, I personally did not think it was worth it. Then I came across their mystery boxes, that they also have once a month and I thought for all you get in the box it was worth the money, more so then the subscription. Also it is always cool to have a surprise when you get a box like this (at least I think so.)

 Here is what was inside the

 Cora it girl nails only Mystery box for April.

As you can see, the mystery box for April came with some pretty cool stuff. For April their were two choices for which box you wanted, Cora it girl nails only and Pamela it girl beauty mystery box. The box I picked was of course Cora nails only. I don't really care for makeup, so thought this would be the best box, and of course would be the best to review for the M.M.M blog.

Also sorry this is a month late, I wanted to give all the items a fair review, by giving all the products a try. 

Here is a closer look at what came in the box. You can click the names of the product that are linked below, to see more info or if you are interested in the products. 

First we will start off with the nail care products-  

  Julep Rock Star hand creme

The first item we have is the Julep Rock start hand creme 

This was a sample size of 1oz (full size is 3oz) the retail price for a full size is $20.00.

This hand creme is nice, it was not greasy and absorbed into the skin well. The only thing I didn't like was the smell, it just smelled to chemically, it would have been better if maybe it had a clean sent. Otherwise, it was good.

  Sample size .07oz of the Luxe care hand creme

Next we have another hand creme, the Luxe care hand creme 

The retail price of a full size (2.5oz) is $20.00
 

This was a small amount of hand creme. I just got three uses out of it, so it was really hard to tell how well it worked. It did seem very similar to the Rock start hand creme, it was not greasy and absorbed well, this also had chemically smell to it as well but not as bad, maybe due to it being a small sample. 

The Clean slate polish removers

The Clean slate polish remover pads have 10 individual per-soaked with acetone and Aloe Vera to moisturize and condition. For ten pads the retail price would be $10.00.

These are suppose to be a easier and quick way to remove your nail polish. These polish remover pads where okay. I did have to use three pad to remove the polish off all ten finger nails, and the manicure I had on had no glitter, so it might take more pads if you had glitter nail polish on your nails. I personal would just stick to the jar polish remover and cotton balls method that I do, rather then purchases these polish remover pads.

 

 The Mighty nail and cuticle serum.

The Mighty nail & cuticle serum was a full size product (0.09oz) the retail price for this is $28.00!

When I first open this mystery box I thought this was a mascara, but as you can tell from the name it was not a mascara, it just looked like it (at least to me.) This product does live up to the name of Mighty. This nail and cuticle serum is amazing! I have used this product once a day along with the Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle creme at night and my other hand care products. This serum help the dry skin that I still get even after using the Burt's Bees lemon butter. I mean the Burt's butter is also amazing and has helped my cuticles, but this serum has just added some extra help, to help the dry skin around my finger to go away. 

The only thing with this when you first use this product you do have to to twist the bottom a lot to get product out, then it flows pretty well, and when you go to use it every time you do have to twist the bottom two or three times. Also when I looked up the prices on all these products, I was surprised that this serum cost $28.00! But I did find this serum at Sephora.com- Julep Mighty nail serum for $22.00, which is still pricy but a little bit better, so I just might have to get more of this at Sephora.  

     Bonus/ hidden item- The Markkit gold triple threat necklace.

This necklace was a bonus item that some of the Mystery boxes had in them. I got lucky that my box had one in it. On the Markkit website it says that this necklace is made out of metal, not real gold, which I kind of figured that this necklace was not real gold. I have not wore this necklace out, I just put it on just to see how it looked. This necklace does look nice, I just hope that it will continue to look nice due to it being made out of metal and not real gold. 

On the  website Markkit- gold triple threat necklace retail price is $22.00.

Now for the four nail polishes that came in the box-

If you would like to know more or are interested in these polishes click the name of the polishes to find out more information. 

  From left to right- Shari, Hazel, Lizanne, and Cora.

Shari- is a peach neutral color that is described on Julep's website as a sweet pea creme. This color was the only color that I did not paint on my nails, but I did swatch on a nail wheel that you can see after the photo of the polishes. When I did swatch this polish it did go on well with two coats. This color I was not excited about, due to it being a neutral color which I do not care for.

Hazel- is a shimmery purple that is described as a wild violet and bronze duochrome. This color is very pretty, went on smooth, and opaque in two coats. 

Lizanne-  is a shimmery green that is described as a sea green shimmer. This polish was also really nice, went on smooth, and opaque in two coats.

Cora (currently not available on the website)- is a midnight jelly glitter top coat. This was a gift in the April mystery box, and initially this was what drew me into buying this box. Then when swatch this on this on the nail wheel and painted this color on my nails, I was a little bit disappointed. The color just did not look as nice as it does in the bottle, it just looked a little muddy to me, maybe due to the base being a dark/navy blue. The polish is a glitter but just does not seem very shinny, it does look a little bit better in the bright sun light, but in regular light it just does not look that great. 

As for wear, I wore this polish from Saturday to Friday and the wear was great, which is always a good thing, their was little to no chipping and just a little bit of tip wear. 

The retail price for a full size of .27oz, 8ml polishes is $14.00 for each one.

   Nail polishes swatch on a nail wheel. Left to right Cora over Lizanne, 

Three coats of Cora, Lizanne, Hazel, Shari, and one coat of Cora.

  Julep polishes on the nails- thumb nail to pinky nail. Lizanne, Hazel, Cora, 
Cora over Lizanne, and Hazel.

Another photo of the Julep polishes.

In conclusion this being my first Julep box, I think it was worth it to purchase the mystery box. Due to how much you get in this box (9 items, 8 without the necklace) it is worth $24.99 with free shipping. 

The value of this box according to the website is $100 value, when I looked up all of the products including the necklace the actual value would be $156. Do I think this is worth $100 or the actual value of $156? I really do not think it is worth $156 (the actual value) or even the $100 value that Julep says. Really I think the $24.99 is a great price for all you get, and I personally think the value is $24.99. I do know that all of the products on Julep's website (as you can see above) are pricey and are good quality. For example the polishes are good, but $14.00 for one bottle I feel is over priced for the amount you get. 27oz,8ml, when a regular polish is about 15ml and can be cheaper and you get more.

If you would like to try Juleps products it is better to purchase a subscription box or a mystery box, rather then purchasing individual items, due to getting more for your money.

Hope all of you enjoyed this review of the Julep Mystery box for April 2015!

See you next time for my next design tutorial!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello everyone! Happy Mother's day to all the mother's, grandmother's,and mother figures. This week I wanted to honor My mommy (yes I still call my mom, mommy) with a red rose nail design. Red roses have always been her favorite flower, so I thought I would incorporate that into a Mother's day nail design. 

    Happy Mother's Day! Final red rose with hearts nail design.

The nail polish and nail tools used in this Mother's day nail design is:

Base and top coat- Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener and Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polish- Finger paints- Cubism Crimson, Maybelline- Color show- Rose rapture, Color Club Halo's- Harp on, Nicole by OPI- Love your life, and Zoya Mini- Eden. 

Nail art tools- Small glass jar with nail polish remover, and a thin brush- short.


The skill level for this mother's day nail design is:

 Intermediate

This design is intermediate due to the line work that is done to create the roses. Although their is not much to this design just two roses and glitter heart pieces, the roses can be tricky to create. 

Let's get this Mother's day red rose nail design started!  

1. Start off with a thin layer of base coat.

2. Once your base coat has dried, apply a red and pink polish to every other nail.

3. Then once your red and pink polish has dried, we will create a rose outline on the thumb nail. Take your thin nail art brush dipped into a silver holograph polish (I used Harp On by Color Club), then make a small circle in the middle of the nail.

4. Then on the top and bottom of the circle make two curved lines to start the petals. 

5. On the other side of the rose make two more curved lines.

6. On that same side make two more larger curved lines. Then two on the top and bottom, do this until the shape starts to look like a rose. (You can refer to the final photo to see the finished rose.) 

7. For the second rose on the ring finger, we will make a red rose. Repeat steps 3-6, but this time fill in the shapes to create a kind of blob looking shape. Don't worry once we outline the rose, it will look like a rose.  

8. Once the red part of the rose has dried, take your thin nail art brush dipped in a light pink and start to outline your rose. Starting off with a circle, then a few swirls around that, then outline the rose.

9. For the middle finger nail we will add three glitter heart pieces. Due to the hearts being hard to get out of the bottle. First dab a small drop of the clear glitter base on your nail so the heart will stick, then you will need to fish out a heart from the nail polish bottle, take a tooth pick and place the heart on your nail. Due this for as many hearts that you want on your nail.  

To add a little touch of glitter on the pinky and index nail, just take your heart glitter polish minuses the heart shape glitter, and just paint the small glitter on your nail.

Once you rose Mother's day nail design has dried apply a top coat.

As with all nail designs you can always change it up. For this design you can always change it to your mom's favorite flower. Also due to the red, pink, the heart and roses this could also be a Valentines day nail design as well.

Hope all of you enjoyed this Mother's Day nail design. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

See you next time for my next design tutorial! 

Blue Tiger- Tiger Print Design

Hello everyone! For today's blog post we have a blue tiger print nail design. This is a fun and simple design that is great for beginners and really can be done anytime of the year.

Blue Tiger print nail design

This nail design is based off the Jesse's girl cosmetics dual mirror compact. I got this mirror at Rite Aid for $2.99. Apparently, on the website, this is supposed to actually be zebra print, but to me at first, when I looked at the mirror it, looked like tiger print, so I will still be going with that. 

The nail polishes and nail art striper polish used in the tiger print nail design is: 

 

Base and top coat- Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener and Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polishes- Nicole by OPI- A Lit- Teal Bit of Love and Finger paints- Laugh my art off.

Nail art striper polishes- Kiss nail art in black and white.


The skill level for this blue tiger print nail design is: 

 Beginner Basic

This is a very simple design, with a lot of random lines to look like tiger print. Their is no real set way that I did the lines, I really just painted a lot of lines so the design looked like tiger print.

Let's get this fun and simple blue tiger print design started!

1. Start off with painting all of your nails with a thin layer of base coat. 

2. Then once your base coat has dried, paint every other nail a different finish of blue. On the thumb, middle, and pinky finger nail I used a glitter blue. Then the index and ring finger nail, I used a shimmer blue. Also you can always just use one blue, I just like to change things up a bit by mixing up the different blues. 

3. Once you have let your blue polishes dry, we will start to make the tiger print. For this design their is really no set way of creating the tiger print. You just take your black nail art striper polish or a thin nail art brush dipped in black, and begin making random short and long lines to create a tiger print. You can start near the cuticle or the nail tip, it really does not matter where you start at. It also looks more interesting to change up the lines on each nail for a different look.

4. For the final step, take your sliver nail art striper and under and on top of some of the black lines draw a silver line. Just do this on a few of the black lines, not all the lines.

 Final look of the blue tiger print nail design

Once your tiger print design has dried apply a top coat. Now you have a fun and pretty blue tiger print nail design.

Blue tiger nail design

If you want a more realistic tiger look you can also use a orange color or if you still want a look like this one, you can really use any color you would like. 

Hope all of you enjoyed this blue tiger print nail design!

See you next time for my next design tutorial!