I do believe this is my first Ulta nail polish, and I likey. Strangely enough this green, of all shades (?!) is what jumped at me. All the other colors disappeared when I saw it's deep turquoise awesomeness. I thought at first maybe it was like Color Club Black Widow Green, but this has more blue to it, and the shimmer finish is so much more like satin. I always thought that $5 for a store brand nail polish was jacked up, but I couldn't leave this polish behind. I'm in lust with it. This is two coats, as the formula is utterly pigmented perfection. If you like vampy and/or green and turquoise shades, you NEED this. What is with me and green nail polish lately? I have always been sort of 'meh' on it, some caught my eye, but I barely wore them. All of a sudden there are a deluge of amazing greens that don't make my fingertips look like they're rotting off. Love it.
For this Konadicure I used Shades by Barielle polish in U-Concrete-Me as a base and with Konad plate m78 I put this design on with Pure Ice Celestial. I gave it a title quite lacking in originality, but I love the book, and the pattern reminds me of waves. Ok, I didn't think it through very well, sue me. ;P
I was quite surprised about this polish from Pure Ice. I got it at Walmart for about $2 and it looked like a chrome to me. I'd never seen a darker blue chrome so I nabbed it immediately. The consistency was quite watery, very thin and insubstantial, but it creates a nice effect. The grey was a bit darker in person and there wasn't so much contrast between the shades in most lights. At arm's length, it really appeared as a dark dusky blue with a flash of light metallic here and there as I moved my hands. A very chic and subtle way to do a konad manicure I think.
U-Concrete-Me is a wonderful slightly-darker-than-midtone grey. I can't really say it reminds me of concrete, not even wet concrete, but what a cute name. This polish applies beautifully, but I did require three coats for full coverage. I can't help but think if you're very careful you might be able to get away with two, but of all the (very limited, granted) Barielle Shades polishes I've tried I've required three coats. I don't consider this an issue for me personally, as I normally do three as a habit. The finish of this is very glossy alone, you see above a photo taken without topcoat as I was using it as a base for a Konad design. I tried this polish yesterday to swatch a bit and put topcoat on it (Seche Vite) and it was phenomenal. The bottle is minimalistic, but modern feeling. The total package is lovely and I'm very excited to see what else Barielle will come out with in the future since they've produced some of the most unique shades I've seen in a long time. June Bug anyone? Don't forget that right now Barielle is doing a B2G1Free, so check them out!
Yup, that's a snap bracelet. If you're a girl and you were a kid in the 80s/early 90s, you had ten thousand of these damn things. Now they're back and my 6-yr-old, whose style is oh-so-Eighties, loves them. Especially this one.
The credit for this konadicure idea goes to grayeyez and brazenspider of MakeupAlley. I think that grayeyez did it first, by the sound of this post, but either way, it's such a cool idea. They called it rainbow snow leopoard, and I like that. I used Color Club White for the base, then used OPI Black Onyx and Konad plate m57 for the leopard print. Then I used a dotting tool and China Glaze High Hopes and Grape Pop, Color Club Power Play and Explosive for the dots inside some of the spots. I topped it all off with Seche Vite, which melds the whole mess together and makes it glossy as can be.
Here's a video I did that will acquaint you with the Konad method of nail art.
Part of the new Wildflower collection for Spring, Barielle's June Bug is one of the most unique polishes I've laid eyes on. The base is an an enigma of grey, seafoam green and denim blue. Then when the light hits it, the vibrant light turquoise sheen is visible. To top it all off there is fuchsia glitter embedded throughout. I can see a few stray silver specks as well. This reminds me an egg of some exotic, as-yet-unknown bird and I likes it. Pictured here are three coats under SecheVite top coat as it does present a slightly matted out finish and a little glitter grit before topcoat. The first coat is a bit spotty, two coats you begin to see how gorgeous it is, then at three coats it is magnificent. I'd have never thought of a combination like this but it's fun! I like the formula a lot, and the bottle is pretty simple and lovely. Right now Barielle has a B2G1Free on all their Shades polishes, so I would definitely recommend checking them out!
Ahh, the lace manicure; an inventive and creative nail art option that is the brainchild of Barielle celebrity manicurist Elle. The amazing mani she created uses actual lace and resins to seal the look. Aside from the easy, breezy Konad, I'm completely bereft of nail art skillz, so I went through my plates to see what I could do. Turns out there are designs that are very obviously begging to be made into lace. Namely the fishnet from plate m57 and the floral (I like to call it toile) pattern from plate m71. For the base I used three coats of Essie Like Linen and then let it dry completely without a topcoat. Then I used OPI Black Onyx to stamp on the fishnet on all nails, then the floral pattern on all nails. I sealed the deal with Seche Vite topcoat. While it's obviously imperfect up close, it's killer at arms length, and very sexy. The nude color underneath elongates the finger but there's still something going on on the nails. Love this and can't wait to try it over red. Woo Woo *wink*!
Here's a How-To video about how to use the Konad Stamper. It's crazy-easy, I'm telling you.
Here is the original bona fide lace manicure by Elle. If you want to give the real thing a go, grab some lace and check out this tutorial by Megan McIntyre from Beauty on a Dime.
I have no idea what the heck the name means, but it's cute, right? Evidently it's an Ulta exclusive that's part of a collection in which every single other shade is a core-line polish. I only remember La-Pazitively Hot off the top of my head, but every single other polish in the display was old news. This particular polish is a SUPER-super-sheer warm hot pink with golden glitter. I don't like the look of it alone on my nails, there's just something about sheer pink on my nails that doesn't sit right, it's not flattering. So I decided to layer two coats of it over another pink, in this case 1 coat of OPI DC Cherry Blossom, though I think it would be amazing and perfect over OPI Elephantastic Pink as the base color of the glitter is a dead ringer for the warm pink creme.
TRESemme Waterless Foam Shampoo, $4.99 at drugstores
Having long hair and an oily scalp is a horrible situation to be in. You can either wash every day and watch as the ends of your hair dry out, or wash every other day to salvage the ends only to look like you just came from the gym; and not in a good way.
Falling Star, Shades by Barielle $8 at barielle.com
Coming up over the next week I have a few Shades by Barielle polishes to post. In my years on the MakeupAlley nail board I pushed my love of Barielle nail and hand treatments, but surprisingly I'd never tried any polishes from them. Glad that's over because I'm in love with every polish I've tried. Falling Star is from the All Lacquered Up collaboration. It's a medium opaque cobalt with copper glitter. You would think that an opaque creme polish wouldn't mix well with glitter, but it does. I can definitely say I've never seen another polish like it. It reminded me faintly of a manicure I did with Essie Mesmerize and China Glaze Solar Flare, but it's obviously quite different. I love the consistency of this polish, it's neither too thick nor too thin. It's semi-sheer in the first coat which makes it easier for the glitter to show through. At two coats, the glitter is at it's most glorious, but I did need a third coat for full coverage. Right now there is a B2G1Free on barielle.com and there are 6 new gorgeous Spring shades to check out, too.
Disclosures: The product samples reviewed in this post were received by PR for review consideration. Everything I review is put through the same types of testing, and is reviewed fairly, no matter how I come by the products. I don't "sell" products to my readers or viewers, I just want to help you make informed decisions when you research your beauty choices, and share my views on products I like and dislike with you. See the Disclosures page at the top of the page for more.
