Comparison: Oui and Julia

While perusing my stash for New Year's Eve polishes, I realized I have an Orly polish that looks strikingly similar to Julep Julia, which I've been wearing a lot recently. I decided to match them up and see if they are indeed dupes!

Below is an after shot. Two nails of each color. Can you tell which is which?

More three coat nails alternating polishes. Hard to tell I used two different polishes, eh?

Now to show you each coat by itself...

These are identical to me. Orly may have a tad better coverage but I generally do 3 coats but that's just me.

Orly is cruelty free, 0.6 floz/18mL, $8.50 USD. ($14/ounce or $0.47/ml)
Julep is cruelty free, 0.27 floz/8ml, $14.00 USD. ($51.85/oz or $1.75/ml)

I'd go with Orly all the way since it's cheaper, more opaque, bigger bottle. I've used Julep Julia for three or four manis (I kept going back to it, but it also kept chipping!) and I've already used about half. No big, I have a back up obviously but those Julep polishes can go quickly given their size, and I don't have large or long nails!

New Year's Eve Manicure Ideas

Do you practice nail art or manicure ideas on fake nails or do you just go with the flow on your own? I have a hard time coming up with ideas unless I'm perusing Google or Pinterest so I like to fiddle with manicures and different colors and textures on fake nails. Here are some fun ones that just may New Year's Eve appropriate!

Glitter Gradient

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with friends and family, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

This is what I am wearing on my nails today. Funny tidbit at the end of the post!

I did these late at night with low lighting, so sorry for the bad cuticles. I had tons of clean up. I think a little more color would have been nice. Some blue or green to liven it up.

I did, however, go to sleep too early I think. This is what I woke up to ...

(please excuse the iPhone picture and before clean up polish - eek!)

And a green accent nail was born!

Products Used:
OPI Matte Nail Envy Nail Strengthener
Essie Marshmallow (3 coats)
Sephora by OPI Be-Claus I Said So Topcoat
Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me Topcoat
China Glaze Glittering Garland (accent nail)
Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

Did you wear anything special on your nails this Christmas?

Christmas Tree Patches

Another Christmas-esque nail art! I have been slow to edit and post which is why these are still coming out.

China Glaze Champagne Bubbles is a super saturated golden yellow with silver glitter, but it was reallllly golden and needed something on top. Little green trees a la Simply Rins did the trick!

Yes, I do paint my thumbs, even though you generally don't see them. Little fat Christmas tree there.

Products Used:
OPI Nail Envy Matte
China glaze Champagne Bubbles (3 coats)
Green, black, and white acrylic paint
Seche Vite top coat

Thanks for looking!

Champagne Bubbles

Champagne Bubbles by China Glaze is a blast from the Christmas Past. It's an interesting mix of frosty, metallic, golden yellow and silver glitter. 

I'm not too wild about this one. It's a pain to paint on due to the streakiness from the frost and the glitter making it a lumpy mess.

I'll show you later some fun Christmas Tree Patches I added to it.

Layering

OPI Matte Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Champagne Bubbles (3 coats)

Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat (sucks. period.)

Thanks for looking!

Christmas Ornaments

I love Christmas tree ornaments. Very fun and bright. 

Based on nail art by MadamLuck.

I really liked the ornaments hanging and the snowflake/ice on the nail edges really anchored the design so the ornaments weren't just floating. Sometimes that small detailing can make a huge difference.

Used:

Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein

Revlon Blue Lagoon (6-7 coats for opacity!)

Black and White Acrylic Paint

Kleancolor Metallic Orange

Kleancolor Metallic Fucshia

Barielle green polish (I can't find it, sorry!)

Color Club Foil Me Once

Seche Vite

I really loved this one!

Poinsettia

I love poinsettias. 

I decided to do something a little different and do the accent design on the forefinger. Plus, I changed the other nails to have a little more bling.

This design was based on this Poinsettia nail art.

Products Used
Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein
Sally Hansen Black Heart
Finger Paints Flecked
Barielle Big Apple Red
Barielle Dinner at 8
Color Club Lumin-Icecent
Rhinestones (unknown brand)
Seche Vite

Santa's Belt

Nail art doesn't always have to be complicated. Sometimes a nice, sophisticated dark polish with a fun accent nail is beautiful. A little glitter on the accent nail never hurt anyone either.

The black polish looks dark blue or dark green for some reason. Strange.

A close up of Sally Hansen Red Carpet. I love the depth this polish has. The red sparkles like it's on fire from deep within the polish. LOVE.

Products Used
Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein
Sally Heart Black Heart
Sally Hansen Red Carpet
China Glaze Passion
Seche Vite

Design based on this nail art.

Purple Christmas Tree

This design was done very recently, based very loosely on this nail art. I did it in purple glitter instead, which brings a little of "me" into the mix.

Products Used:
Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein
Kleancolor Metallic Purple
Milani Purple Sketch
Revlon Stunning
Seche Vite

These were fun to wear! I still need to work on my french tip skills, but I'm getting there.

Very Bare and In Good Taste

Rounding out the five polishes of Barielle's Nude & Naughty collection are In Good Taste and Very Bare. 

I'm putting these together because 

a) They are my least favorite out of all the colors

b) I have the least amount of pictures to show you the polishes

It's not because I'm trying to save time and key strokes. (What? Me? Lazy?)

Barielle In Good Taste is a deep chocolate brown creme. I didn't realize I was having to much reflection from the trees on my nails. It's a great color, very smooth. No topcoat and it's beautifully shiny.

Barielle Very Bare is a lovely pale pink creme that has good coverage. Above is two coats on the tips. It's the closest swatch I have. It was the last color to photograph and in the sunset, every picture came out super orange and saturated and I couldn't fix the color balance. I'm so sorry.

Here is an example of my attempt to color correct the photos.

See? Not very helpful! 

Barielle polishes are 3 free and cruelty free. Polishes retail for $8/each but a set of 5 is $25. This polish is included in the Nude & Naughty collection available here.

Thanks for looking!

Blue

I decided to try my hand at a double liner. I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out. Not perfect, but much better than I was expecting. This was taken before I went to go see the latest Hunger Games film during Thanksgiving weekend.

My inspiration was from Viola at Killer Colours (ie totally copied it as closely as I could - I'll link post when I can find it again) and Phlox at EyeGraffiti has a great one using a different color Wet N Wild liquid eyeliner!

I thought this was a super fun look except for the fact that my eyes watered the entire time. I don't use liquid eyeliner much and my eyelids get this really weird almost numb feeling after I start applying it. I don't know if my eyes are sensitive to an ingredient or if it goes with liquid eyeliner that has to dry or set on your lids. Anyone else get that feeling? Should I be avoiding a certain ingredient? Please let me know!

Product List
Face
  Philosophy The Present
  Too Faced Amazing Face Oil Free Foundation in Warm Vanilla
  Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer in Medium Beige
  Sephora Mineral Matte Setting Powder
  Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Bronze
  Milani Baked Blush in Dulce Pink
Eyes
  Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original
  Buxom Stay There Eyeshadow in Beagle
  Elf Eyeshadow in light purple (unnamed, from kit)
  Wet N Wild Mega Liner Liquid Eyeliner in Blue (862)
  Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner in Perversion
  Lime Crime Nymph (highlight)
  Maybelline The Falsies Flared in Blackest Black
Lips
  e.l.f. Nostalgic topped with e.l.f. Classy to pink it up a bit

A word of advice - I recommend doing it the way Phlox recommended. A thick line of the colored liner followed by a thin dark line near your lashes. I think if I had tried to do a steady line of color above the black eyeliner, it would have turned out much differently, and likely not as good.

I think this could be really fun using gold or silver to spice up a Christmas party look!

Pillow Talk

Barielle Pillow Talk is a gorgeous pale peach. Very soft and warm and surprisingly flattering.

 

Lovely creme polish, opaque at three coats. 

Barielle polishes are 3 free and cruelty free. Polishes retail for $8/each but a set of 5 is $25. This polish is included in the Nude & Naughty collection available here.

Thanks for looking!

Very Bare French tips

I was thinking if No Not Now is a great mannequin hand color, I should try doing a french tip on it and see what it looks like. I used Barielle No Not Now and Barielle Very Bare for the tips. 

I'm obviously still working on my french tip skills.

Below are my between swatch pictures so I can remember what polishes I used!

Do you ever do random colors to make french tips before you change your polish? Or am I the only crazy one that does that?

Rose D'Oro

It's snowing here. Not a light dusting either. Full on cold snapping wind and large beautiful snowflakes coming down. I think we've had 6 inches. This may not seem like a lot to you up north, but I grew up in South Texas, so this is a whole lot to me! I decided to share a look I did a few weeks ago when it first got chilly. I was rebelling against the cold temperatures and did very warm, orange makeup. Obviously it didn't work. Winter is here. 

I tried to focus on warm, golden colors with the blush and eyes, which was actually the same color. The highlight flashes orange, which you'll see better below and bright orange lips. The little bit of turquoise in the eyes was a nice pop of color against all the warmth.

Full face! Sorta. 

Below is a picture that happened to focus on my inner corner. Let's pretend it was on purpose and use it to highlight the highlight color. It's Make Up For Ever Star Powder 90940 which is described as a white with orange highlights. I love that it picks up that orange when the light hits it. It was nice to use to brighten but not whiten and the orange shimmer was lovely.

 

Product List

Face
  Unknown foundation. Sorry! I know it looks super heavy and thick and that's exactly     
      how it felt.
  Milani Baked Blush in Rose D'Oro
  Sephora Mineral Matte Setting Powder

Eyes

  Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original
  Milani Baked Blush in Rose D'Oro
  Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Deep End
  Make Up For Ever Star Powder in 90940 (inner corner highlight)
  Maybelline The Falsies Flared in Blackest Black

Lips

  Milani Lip Flash Full Coverage Shimmer Gloss Pencils in Flash Light

Thanks for looking! Hope everyone is staying nice and warm this winter season.

No Not Now

Barielle No Not Now is a fabulous cool toned light brown with fantastic silvery rainbow shimmer. It's included in the Nude & Naughty collection.

I think without the shimmer this may have been a perfect mannequin color for me. Or close to it.

This last one is blurry but I wanted to show the shimmer. It's not over the top, and mainly looks silvery in most lights, but it does have a rainbow of colors sparkling. 

Barielle polishes are 3 free and cruelty free. Polishes retail for $8/each but a set of 5 is $25. This polish is included in the Nude & Naughty collection available here. 

Thanks for looking!

I Got A Headache

These names crack me up. This whole collection has me blushing a little but this one is the cheekiest!

Barielle I Got A Headache is a great warm brown with golden bronze shimmer. Interesting base color but the shimmer really steals the spotlight. I tried to really capture it in the picture below.

This was the first set of swatches I could edit without much trouble with color balancing. Hopefully the others will follow soon!

Thanks for looking.

Barielle polishes are 3 free and cruelty free. Polishes retail for $8/each but a set of 5 is $25. This polish is included in the Nude & Naughty collection available here.