Pop Beauty Radiant Ruby and Purple Plum

*These products were sent to me for review by PR. All opinions are honest, without bias.*

I am back!!!!!! So sorry for the hiatus. I have been extremely busy and needed some time for my family as well as myself. (Nothing wrong with that right?) I have some random pictures I need to post of past manicures, but that will be taken care of later.
   
On with the show! I was recently sent two nail polishes from Pop Beauty. I will be honest, I have never purchased any of their products before. I have walked passed their products many times at Ulta and just not had the urge to splurge. Well, I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised by their Nail Glam. Both colors were beautifully pigmented and leveled out without any help from me. It was nice to have a trouble free manicure for a change. I was sent two of their nail polishes in Radiant Ruby and Purple Plum. They retail for $10 in the US and are sold at Ulta. (One of my favorite stores!) Both colors were stunning! They are definitely fall colors that I can't wait to wear more of.

I lightened this photo so you could see that Purple Plum was purple and not black.

Radiant Ruby

Radiant Ruby is a stunning red that makes me think of the red carpet and Dorothy's ruby slippers. It has a beautiful, subtle gold shimmer that is just breathtaking in the sunlight. This swatch was two coats with no topcoat.

Purple Plum

Purple Plum is a darkened eggplant/plum color that is to die for. Most of my pictures make it look darker that it is in sunlight, but I promise it is purple. I lightened the last picture so you could see more of the purple in the polish. This color had a great shine and almost a jelly quality to it. This swatch is two coats with no topcoat. 

I was really impressed by the formula of the nail polish. I had always assumed that Pop Beauty mainly focused on facial cosmetics when walking past the display. This product is well worth the money, and I think I might have to go to Ulta for some more Pop Beauty Products. What do you think about these colors?

*These products were sent to me for review by PR. All opinions are honest, without bias.*

Layla Velvet Effect in Passion Mood #10: AKA Fuzzy Nails

 * These products were sent to me for review by PR. All opinions are honest, without bias.*

I received this nail art effect from Layla about a month ago and was trying to decide what to do with it. I have said before that I have issues with texture and that is what "Velvet Nails" are. So one evening, I decided to be brave and try it out. It was a definite learning experience. Let me start off by admitting this manicure did not stay on for more than 1-2 hours, mainly because it grossed me out after I washed my hands. NO, they didn't stay soggy, but as a nurse, it was slightly unnerving. I do think it looked really cool and if I could be less weird, I could have kept it on. Well, that's just me...weird. Alright, I need to focus. The flocking powder or "Velvet Effect" comes in their standard bottle with one little modification, there is a little plastic insert that narrows the opening so (I am assuming) all of the powder doesn't fall out. Honestly, I think that made it  a little difficult to get out. I tried doing this by shaking and tapping the bottle over my wet nails to sprinkle the powder over them. This was very frustrating and not very effective. I think my powder was slightly compressed inside the bottle. I did tap and shake it to loosen it but it just wasn't a very efficient delivery system. I decided to go with a more traditional method of putting it on a surface and dipping my wet nail into it. This worked a hundred times better! I was able to achieve full coverage with a lot less effort. As I hope you can assume, this type of manicure is very messy to create. I had red fuzz all over the place. I think I started to resemble a Muppet after a bit. Luckily it was easily brushed off and I was surprised and pleased with the results. It looked pretty cool! I wish I could get past my own idiosyncrasies and truly wear this about, but I just can't do it. Sorry. Besides, I think it disturbed my husband a bit, LOL! I wish I had taken a picture of his face when he saw it. With the pictures, I am also going to show you what I did, step by step. Enjoy!

Don't forget to click on the pictures for a closer look.

Here is what your manicure will look like. I told you it looked cool.

I used OPI Kennebunk-Port as my base color, a piece of paper to work over to minimize mess and the brush provided by Layla. It helps to choose a base color close to the color of the powder.

I started with one coat of OPI to start to build color. I didn't do any clean up around the cuticles yet since I knew I would have quite a mess on my hands (literally) by the time I was done applying the Velvet Effect. 

I applied a second coat of polish and then dipped my nail into a pile of the Velvet Effect powder, while it was still wet.

Yes, you now have a Muppet finger! This is completely normal. Don't be alarmed!  Press down gently, all over the nail, to make sure you have good coverage of the powder.

Using either the Layla brush or a fan brush, gently brush off excess powder into a container or paper, so that it may be used again.

Ta daa! This is what it should look like after "grooming." I still haven't used my acetone and brush to clean up the cuticles at this point. 

Here it is all cleaned up. Do not put a top coat on, and don't forget the nail polish underneath the fuzz needs to still dry, so be careful! My Muppet nails!

What do you think of the Velvet Effect nails? Do you like your nails sleek and shiny or soft and fuzzy? 

You can purchase Layla nail products online at  Ninjapolish.com. The Velvet Effect retails for around $11.50.

* These products were sent to me for review by PR. All opinions are honest, without bias.*

Pixi Summer 2013 Polishes

* These products were sent to me for review by PR. All opinions are honest, without bias.*

Hello all. Sorry for the posting hiatus, I have been working more and more at the hospital, and been enjoying some nice weather with my family, and running. You know how it is. When it is pretty outside, it literally draws you out like a siren. You have no choice but to follow its song. I have the Summer 2013 Pixi polishes for you today. They released three new colors to add to their nail polish collection. Wakeup Wisteria, Summer Sunset, and Fluoro Flamingo are three bright and fun colors that I definitely like. The color coverage on these were very dependent on the color and type of polish it was. Nothing that wasn't easily managed though.  All of the manicures have a clear topcoat on. Don't forget you can click on any of the pictures to get a much closer look!

Wakeup Wisteria

Artificial Lighting

Artificial Lighting

Outside

Wakeup Wisteria is a gorgeous medium lilac cream polish. This great looking purple makes a clean and fresh looking manicure. Wakeup Wisteria was the first color I tried out and liked it so much I did a full manicure, and received tons of compliments on it at work! This was the easiest of the polishes to apply with full coverage at two coats. 

Summer Sunset

Artificial Light

Indirect Outdoor Lighting

Outside

 Summer Sunset is a blazing pinky-orange coral with a gold shimmer that has an almost jelly finish. You can still see a visible nail line at three coats, but it dose not detract at all from its fiery beauty. The most color accurate photo is the indirect outdoor lighting one. Like with all colors, it does look a bit different in different lighting. The shimmer is on the more subtle side, but very complimentary to the bright nature of this polish.

Fluoro Flamingo

Artificial Light

Indirect Outdoor Lighting

Outside

Fluoro Flamingo is great hot bubblegum pink cream polish. I swear, this is as close to being neon, without the matte finish, as you can get. I did find this a bit streaky and thin, having to use three coats for full coverage, compared to the other colors in the release. This wasn't exactly surprising since lots of neon polishes work best with a base coat of a white polish underneath it.  I found it was much easier to apply once I had my "underpolish" on with only two coats.  

 Here is a comparison of Fluoro Flamingo with and without one coat of a white base polish. You see that there is not much difference in appearance.

Clearly my favorite of this bunch was Wakeup Wisteria since it is purple, but all of these colors will definitely be added to my permanent rotation of colors! All of these polishes can be purchased online or in store at Target or online only at Pixibeauty.com for $8. A neat little side note: Pixi states that these polishes have built in UV protection to prevent polish discoloration, besides being chip-resistant and 3-Free! 

* These products were sent to me for review by PR. All opinions are honest, without bias.*