Monday, July 20, 2020

ILNP Pink Ombre

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? It was so HOT here! We tried to get outside a little but got sweaty immediately, which was gross, so most of the time we enjoyed our AC in the apartment.

Today I'm sharing a quick pink ombre look using three gorgeous holos from ILNP. I love using holos to create ombre looks because they're so forgiving and easy to use. I didn't even bother sponging these on! I just applied the three colors with the polish brush and went back to overlap them a little to create that more seamless ombre look. 

First, I started with ILNP Paige at the bottom of the nail. Paige is described as a berry pink holo and it's one of my favorite ILNP polishes of all time. The bottle is actually about half empty, which never happens with my polishes! I then went slightly over that and further up with ILNP Citrus Punch, an orange coral holo with a gorgeous golden shift. This one is new to my collection and I think I love it just as much as Paige! The last color I used was Pink Mimosa, a beautiful rosy pink holo. Once I had one coat of each I went back and repeated the process. Easy, right?





Hope you have a great week!

xoxo,
   Brooke

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Olive & June x Zeba Summer Collection

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. We braved IKEA Saturday morning because the cabinet that I store my nail polish in broke, so I wanted to replace it. After some online searching I found one from IKEA that I liked. We were able to get in and out of the store pretty quickly and it's now assembled and all of my polish and makeup has a nice new home.

I finally have all of those nail polishes from the Olive & June x Zeba summer collection swatched and ready to share. It took forever to get this done because I had a whole issue with my order and then on top of that I work full time, so it's challenging to figure out when to paint my nails. But it's finally done and I'm so excited to show you all of these fun colors!


Let me tell you about what happened with my order. I've been following Olive & June for a while but none of their colors really interested me until the summer collection was announced. It looked unique with bright, fun colors and the special ombre box was super cute. I purchased the "Into You Box," which comes in a limited edition ombre box with an ombre pouch and includes the following products:
  • 7 new summer shades (each polish individually costs $8)
  • Limited edition Poppy polish bottle handle in purple
  • The Top Coat
  • Cuticle Serum with Cactus Flower
  • Clean-Up Brush
  • Polish Remover Pot
  • Flat-Edge Clippers
  • Dual-Grit File
  • Nail Buffer Bar
When my order arrived, I was disappointed to see that everything was their usual packaging colors and not the ombre like I ordered. The pouch and the Poppy inside were also not the limited colors. The polishes were supposed to have a special sticker on the top, and only one of the bottle caps had it. This was such a disappointing first impression to the brand, so I reached out to their customer service. To their credit, they were extremely responsive and shipped out another box right away, though I would have been perfectly happy just to get the items that were missing. A week later my new box came and the SAME thing happened AGAIN. I couldn't believe it! I reached out to customer service again and this time the person I spoke with personally checked in with the warehouse to make sure my order would be correct when they shipped it out a THIRD time. Another week went by and when the third box arrived everything was correct. There were no special stickers on the bottles, which still bugged me but I was just happy to have the other items. 

Now that we have the backstory, let's move on and get to the swatches. These are all creme formulas and I generally needed 3 coats for full opacity, but I was able to get away with 2 coats for a couple of them. I also want to note that if you're a fan of a wide brush, then you will love the brushes on Olive & June polishes. I used the Poppy as well and could see someone who is new to painting their nails at home really enjoying it.

The first color I swatched from the collection was Sweet & Gracious, described as an energized orange. I used 3 coats here with their top coat. I LOVE this color. It's totally unique to my collection and super fun for summer.


Next we have Honest & True, described as a serene blue that's calm and centering. This is 3 coats with their top coat. I love this shade of blue for summer.


Bold & Unshaken, described as a bold purple, is another favorite from this collection. I used 3 coats with their top coat. It's a true purple that is bright and gorgeous.


Next we have Grateful & Kind, a true bright pink. I used 2 coats with their top coat. I love pink polish, and this is definitely a new favorite.


Fierce & Loving is described as a fresh lilac. I used two coats and their top coat. I absolutely love this color as well and I think it would be perfect during spring!


The next color is Wild & Free, described as a fierce coral. I used 3 coats and their top coat. I was the least excited about this color when I placed my order and I still feel just meh about it after swatching it. I wouldn't really agree with describing this shade of coral as "fierce," though it is pretty.


The last color in the collection is Bright & Focused, described as a beaming yellow. I used 3 coats and their top coat. I'm very picky about my yellow polishes and this one passes the test for sure. It's a very flattering shade of yellow that isn't too neon but also isn't really pastel. It's right in the middle. 


Let's talk about how these wore, since I had each polish on for a few days with a base coat and Olive & June's top coat. I had no issues with chipping at all, even for those that required 3 coats. The true test was how the polish held up after building that IKEA cabinet because I was wearing Bright & Focused at the time. It didn't chip at all! I was very pleasantly surprised and feel confident that I could wear any of these colors on a trip and not worry about my nail polish chipping.

Despite the issues I had with my order, I think I would give Olive & June another chance based on the great quality of the polishes. The stand out colors for me are Sweet & Gracious and Bold & Unshaken, but I do think they did a great job with the colors for this summer collection and as far as formula goes I'd recommend them all. Which color is your favorite?

Have a great week!

xoxo,
   Brooke