Monday, August 28, 2017

Essie Island Hopping

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? On Saturday the fiancé and I spent the day in NYC - we got our wedding bands (!!!) and then had dinner and finally tried DO, Cookie Dough Confections. It's like an ice cream shop that scoops edible cookie dough. I honestly didn't think it was that great. The first few bites were like wow this is good and then after a few minutes I felt little sick. I'm glad we got to experience it but I probably won't be back.

Born Pretty Store sent me a couple of stamping plates and other fun nail art treats that I'm looking forward to trying out over the next few weeks. I recently picked up Essie Island Hopping and thought it would make the perfect base for some nail stamping with this leaves stamping plate. Island Hopping is a muted mauve with plum/purple undertones. I love this as a transitional color from summer into fall. It would look beautiful on so many skin tones! The formula is one of the best I've worked with and glides on perfectly without any streaks or patches. This was an easy two coater for me. Believe it or not I used a Revlon polish (Copper Penny) to stamp on this pretty design.





I hope you all have a great week! I'll be in my classroom today getting ready for the start of the school year (booooo). Btw, when you place an order with BPS make sure you use my discount code ASYW10 for 10% off!

xoxo,

Brooke



Disclaimer: The nail stamping products in this post were provided for my honest review by the Born Pretty Store. All opinions are my own.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Julep Pepper & Tali

Hey everyone! How's your week going? I can't believe it's already Wednesday. I've been trying to make the week go as slowly as possible since it's my last full week of freedom before school stuff begins. Next week I have to go set up my classroom and we have a couple of meetings. Ugh. Part of me is really excited for fall weather but most of me doesn't want summer to end.

Today I pulled out a couple of blue polishes I love from Julep. The first is Pepper, a shimmery cornflower blue. I love the formula for this one, nearly a one coater, and it dries super fast. The color on my ring finger nail is Tali, a frosty powder blue holographic. I used my dotting tool to do a cute little dotticure design over Tali.





If you haven't got a bottle of Pepper definitely pick one up! It really is one of my favorite blue polishes. Enjoy the beautiful weather this week!

xoxo,
   Brooke

Monday, August 21, 2017

Solar Eclipse Nails

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? The fiancé had his bachelor party this weekend, so my friend came over on Saturday and we hit up the pool, played with makeup at Sephora, and treated ourselves to a delicious dinner. This is my last free week before meetings for school start and I'm trying to pretend like it's not happening.

I'm pretty excited about the eclipse today so I decided to do a fun eclipse themed mani! It started with a black base and then one coat of ILNP The Magician. This rare pigment is also known as "unicorn pee" and once applied over a base color shifts between red, orange, and green. It is truly magical! I then went in with a small detail brush and white polish to create some stages of an eclipse and stars. I just love how this came out!





Hope everyone has a chance to see the eclipse today! And remember, don't look directly up there at the sun unless you have the appropriate eyewear.

xoxo,
   Brooke
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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Zoya Tinsley

Hey everyone! The move is finally happening this week! We've been living in piles of packed boxes and bags, so we are very excited to get going.

I searched my collection the other day for a polish that I knew would be a little more durable to get through the move. I picked out Zoya Tinsley, a rosey shade of pink with an incredibly strong golden shimmer that really comes through in sunlight. The formula is on the sheer side, but easily builds to full opacity in three coats. I haven't worn this color in a couple years and I forgot how pretty it is! It is just the perfect color for summer and looks especially great on tanned skin.






Enjoy the rest of your week!

xoxo,
   Brooke

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Julep Lillian & Zelda

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend. The fiancé and I have been hard at work getting our apartment packed up for moving day at the end of the week. It's amazing how you think you don't have THAT much stuff but then you start packing and it turns out there's a lot more than you think. We're getting through it though and we're super excited!

I painted my nails Friday night even though I knew they would just get messed up during the packing process. I had this idea in my head that I really wanted to do so I was just like whatever yolo! I used two Julep polishes for this mani. I started with two coats of Lillian, a pale pink creme that looks almost white. If you're looking for something that leans more pink, I would recommend against this color. The formula is a little on the thick side, so I actually added a couple of drops of nail polish thinner (I like the OPI one) and it helped. The other color is Zelda, a gold champagne metallic that I think goes perfectly with Lillian. Zelda is one of my all time favorite Julep polishes and if you don't own it I definitely suggest picking up a bottle! I free-handed this design but you could certainly use striping tape if you want to ensure crisp lines.





Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! It's back to packing we go :)

xoxo,
   Brooke

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Nails Inc. Sparkle Like a Unicorn Duo

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? On Saturday I went with the fiancé and my brother to see Dunkirk in IMAX. It was was pretty cool to see it on the bigger screen and we all really liked the movie! Afterwards we went to Shake Shack AND Levain Bakery so obviously this week I'm eating clean. But man are those cookies good.

I've been meaning to post my review of the Nails Inc. Sparkle Like a Unicorn Duo for a while. It's currently out of stock but keep checking back because I believe they've been restocking. The set comes with two FULL SIZED polishes for $15! Normally just one Nails Inc. polish sells for $15 so I'd say this is a great deal. I bought this set about a month ago after seeing amazing photos of the polishes on Instagram.


Both polishes are long wear, high shine, and iridescent. The color on my ring finger nail is called Dream Dust. It is blindingly sparkly with 3D pigment. To me the color shifts from a pinkish color to rose gold. It goes beautifully with the color on my other nails, Rainbow Wishes. This polish has a softer rainbow kind of sheen. I'd say it shifts from purple to blue. I used two coats of this but depending on how much polish you get on your brush you may want to go for three because it tends to be a little sheer. I need to try Dream Dust over top of Rainbow Wishes next time!





The fiancé and I are actually moving next week (to another apartment in Jersey City) but I'm hoping to get at least one more nail post up before then!

xoxo,
   Brooke