OPI Espresso Your Style

This is one of the shades that I posted bottle pictures of a while back and never got around to actually wearing. I'm so glad I finally did. This is two coats of Espresso Your Style, a warm chocolate brown shimmer from OPI. This color is sooooo pretty and shimmery in the sunlight (which, unfortunately, disappeared when I went to take pictures)! 

The leaves are just starting to change here, so in honor of that, I stamped a leaf/lotus image onto my thumb and ring finger nails with Orly Luxe. I hope you are all enjoying the fall-themed overload that is happening on all the blogs right now; I certainly am!

P.S. I finally bit the bullet and joined Twitter! Will you follow me? You can find me HERE. 

Color Club Backstage Pass Press Release

COLOR CLUB BACKSTAGE PASS COLLECTION

Get Your Rock Glam On this October with a new Rockin’ Glitter Collection from Color Club

September 2011 - New York, New York - Color Club, the veteran nail polish brand, announced today the debut of Backstage Pass, a new rockin’ glitter nail polish collection. The aptly named collection features six nail polishes -- from Wish Upon a Rock-star to Platinum Record -- that are sure to “rock your world.” Whether you’re a rocker – or just aspire to look like one – this new vegan, Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP and paraben-free collection from Color Club is your ultimate backstage pass and sure to be a hit!

The Backstage Pass Collection includes:

Take the Stage: Gold Glitter with Silver Flakes

Wish Upon a Rock-Star: Multi-colored Glitter with Purple

Backstage Pass: Silver & Purple Hex Glitter

Platinum Record: Silver Glitter

It's a Hit!: Purple Big Glitter

Fame & Fortune: Red Base with Silver Flakes

All Color Club products are made in the USA and are not tested on animals. Products are available at shopcolorclub.com.

About Color Club

A favorite of celebrity manicurists and nail color fans worldwide, Color Club is renowned for its high performance rich shades and exceptionally safe products. From the brightest neons, to glitter and French, all nail colors are vegan, Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP and paraben-free - and made in New York, NY with the best raw materials. 

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Zoya Neeka

I got Neeka in a swap with the lovely Pennie of Conceptionail and it is everything that I had hoped it would be. A dusty, medium purple base with shimmery golden flecks, Neeka is part of Zoya's Fall 2011 Mirrors Collection. Two flawless coats were all I needed for what you see below.

I wanted to spice Neeka up a little bit without covering it up too much, so I stamped some flowers with Orly Luxe and added a rhinestone. This is my third Zoya polish and so far they are totally winning me over. Now I just need to get my hands on Yara...

Snakeskin Mani

I've been seeing a lot of these snakeskin manis online and since I was feeling adventurous this past weekend, I thought I'd give it a shot. It was much easier than I expected and it turned out so awesome! Seriously, I can't stop looking at my hands.

First, I painted my nails with two coats of China Glaze Pelican Gray. After that dried completely, I painted some blobs of Revlon Stormy and OPI Skull and Glossbones and mixed them around a little bit. When I was satisfied with that, I stamped the snakeskin image from my Bundle Monster plates with OPI Lincoln Park After Dark and called it a day. What do you think? Have you tried this? Are you going to?

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go

First of all, dumbest name ever. Seriously. It's a good thing that I don't judge a polish by its name! Rococo A-Go-Go has gorgeeeeeeeous deep purple glitter in a blackened base and is, apparently, a dupe for Zoya Jem. Regardless, it's super pretty and applied like a dream. Two easy coats were all I needed for the photos below.

This last photo shows a little bit of the different colored flashes that happen within Rococo A-Go-Go. When I was outside, I found that it looked mostly like the first photo, but indoors, the glitter seems to take on a more red-ish pink tone. Do you see all that multichrome goodness in the very, very bottom right corner? It would have been so awesome if that translated from the bottle to the nail...

Hello Autumn! (OPI Romeo & Joliet)

Let me just get this out in the open: I LOVE autumn. I love how it gets colder out and I get to break out my jeans and sweatshirts, I love apple cider, pumpkin pie, Bath & Body Works Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin candles, and of course, the gorgeous foliage. And what better way to celebrate the beginning of my favorite season than with fall-themed nail art? This is OPI Romeo & Joliet stamped with OPI Chop-Sticking to My Story and Orly Luxe leaves. 

Here is a swatch of Romeo & Joliet pre-stamping. It's a really gorgeous deep red shimmer from OPI's Route 66 collection. I used two effortless coats for what you see here; the brush in this bottle was so perfect.

Neon/Gradient/Crack Mani

My lady-love, Jess, gets all the credit for suggesting this idea. She sent me a photo of something kind of like this and asked me to try it, so I did, of course. I used two coats of China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy as the base, then sponged a neon orange Sally Girl polish over that (I know it's hard to see because my camera hates neons, but trust me, it's there), then sponged/painted CG In the Limelight and finally painted CG Turned Up Turquoise at the very tips. After that was all dry, I went to grab my bottle of OPI Black Shatter and realized that the damn thing had solidified since the last time I used it. After over half an hour (seriously!) of mixing/thinning/shaking later, I was finally able to get it to a usable consistency. Talk about disappointing.

On the plus side, my Black Shatter has never shattered as awesome as it did today. It turned out so cool that I'm even going to give you a photo of my right hand! I've been informed that adding a few drops of thinner to Black Shatter every so often will keep it from doing this again, let's hope that works!

Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Instant Cover

I know, I know. This blog is called "The Nail Network" and this is not a nail-related post/product. However, I know that a lot of you, my awesome readers, are interested in make-up/beauty products just as much as nail polish and I'm sure you'd be interested in this! Here is my review of Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Instant Cover concealing cream:

Incase you were unaware, Dr.'s Remedy provides nail and beauty product alternatives that use natural ingredients instead of the harsh chemicals used in many other brands.  Because of that, their products are great for the health-conscious individual (and the color diversity of their polish makes them a great choice for polish lovers!).

Dr.'s Remedy says that you can use their Enriched Instant Cover (which comes in three different shades: Light, Medium, and Deep) to cover up just about anything, be it tattoos, sun spots, or even birthmarks. I have this really pronounced vein in my foot (spider vein?) that always irks me, so I'm going to attempt to cover it up with the Light shade.

One of the many awesome things about this Enriched Instant Cover is the sponge applicator. It makes it so much easier and less messy to apply and I was so excited about it that I used it before I took a photo, sorry! Another cool thing is that it smells really good! I was really afraid it was going to have one of those nasty, drugstore make-up smells, but it definitely doesn't.

I darkened that first foot photo just a smidge so that you can see what the vein looks like in reality... This next photo is after two/three coats of Enriched Instant Cover. I say "two/three" because I kind of just smudged it on and blended it until it looked right; I didn't wait for each coat to dry like I probably should have.

That looks really good, right? I was skeptical at first of the coverage that Enriched Instant Cover would provide, but it really delivered! I'm sure the three shades that it's offered in won't match up perfectly with very many skin tones, but this isn't an issue; when you're done applying it, just lightly blend some of your normal face powder with it to help it match your skin tone.

This last photo was taken in my room with a flash, but is more realistic than the outdoor photos above. You can tell that from a normal viewing distance, my obnoxious vein is completely gone! I'm glad to say that I am genuinely impressed with this product and I'm happy to give Dr.'s Remedy a big thumbs up!

Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Instant Cover retails at $40 for 3.5oz and can be purchased on their website, HERE.

Also, head on over to FACEBOOK and give their page some love! :)

(This product was sent to me for review)

Julep Jennifer

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend's sister got married and I fell in love with sheer bridal nail polish. I was contemplating buying the OPI Femme de Cirque mini set, but then I received some referral credits from Julep and decided to see what they had to offer. Coincidently, the sheer I most wanted from their website is named after my boyfriend's sister! Here is two coats of Jennifer, a sheer pale pink.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Press Release

 COLOR CLUB LAUNCHES BEYOND THE MISTLETOE HOLIDAY COLLECTION

You Better Watch Out, Here Comes the Most Festive Manicure in Town

From New York-based Color Club, the new Beyond the Mistletoe holiday collection—bright sparkly fine glitter nail polishes that are sure to dazzle everyone on your holiday list - naughty or nice - and even those who are not. From glittery turquoise to pink and gold—each color perfectly captures the holiday spirit. Seven formaldehyde, toluene, DBP, and paraben-free shades celebrate the holiday season with names including: Sugarplum Fairy, Beyond the Mistletoe, Holiday Splendor, Jingle Jangle, Candy Cane, and Gingerbread (as shown below left to right).

ABOUT COLOR CLUB

Color Club is a nail polish brand developed by Forsythe Cosmetic Group.  Founded in 1979, the Forsythe Cosmetic Group is a New York-based cosmetic company widely regarded worldwide as a pioneer within the professional beauty industry. A global brand with products represented in more than 95 countries, Forsythe was one of the first companies to recognize and address the needs of the professional nail salon, a new phenomenon at the time. Rather quickly, the Forsythe name became synonymous with excellent, performance-proven products available in a diverse range of eye-catching shades. Today, more than three decades later, the Forsythe Cosmetic Group remains a vanguard in the beauty business by constantly introducing new concepts and elevating industry standards. Forsythe manufactures every product it offers, a practice that ensures superior color-matching quality control and the ability to respond quickly to consumer demands for the latest and most exciting trends in nail color, nail treatments and lip color. Color Club products are available at www.shopcolorclub.com

LIKE COLOR CLUB ON FACEBOOK! * FOLLOW COLOR CLUB ON TWITTER!

What do you guys think? They look awesome, right?! I can't wait to get my hands on all this glitter for the holidays! 

Julep Alfre

Alfre was the second polish that I got in my Introductory Julep Maven box. I don't love it nearly as much as Cameron, but it's still pretty in its own way. Alfre is a frosty silvery purple that needed three coats because of the brushstrokes. The formula was loads better than Anne or Amanda; I feel like the formula is really hit or miss on these Julep polishes. Luckily, thick polishes can be fixed quickly and inexpensively! 

China Glaze Midtown Magic

If you're reading this post, I'm sure you may have noticed that The Nail Network got a major makeover this weekend! I'm pretty sure I love it, but I want your opinions! Is it easy to navigate? Are the fonts a good size/style for reading? Along the same vein, I also wanted to introduce my new watermark! Ta da! I hope it's not too intrusive! :)

This is Midtown Magic from China Glaze's fall Metro collection. Hands down, this is one of the best polishes from that collection. Midtown Magic is a brownish burgundy base with gold shimmer pieces that change between gold, red, and orange in certain light. Absolutely gorgeous. First coat was a little streaky, second coat was perfection.

I had a bottle of OPI Espresso Your Style sitting on my desk and thought for a second that these looked kind of similar. I must not have had my glasses on since they are very obviously not... at any rate, I compared them below.

ANNNNNND here is Midtown Magic with one coat of Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice! I've been absolutely dying to use Pumpkin Spice and I think it looks totally perfect over MM! I love how you can still see the gold shimmer underneath the orange glitter! I can't wait to wear this as a whole mani.

Julep Amanda

Darlings, here is Julep Amanda! Amanda is a lovely, summery apricot creme. Unfortunately, this polish suffered the same issue with thickness that Anne did and would definitely benefit from some thinner. You can tell in this photo that it applied kind of uneven, but it wasn't really noticeable in person. I used three coats. 

P.S.
As you've probably noticed, I've been doing a lot of Julep posts lately (hope no one minds!) and the reasoning behind it is that I've noticed there's not very many swatches available for their polishes. I'm trying to get as many of mine out there as I can to help people who are looking for these colors.

OPI Shim-merry Chic

Shim-merry Chic was released with the 2009 Holiday Wishes collection from OPI. It's a bronze-y polish with green and silver micro-shimmer and red flakes. I'll be honest, I don't really like this one at all. It's interesting to look at, and maybe it would look nicer on a different skin tone, but it does my skin no favors. I used three coats with no top coat for this swatch. 

I wish that I could just change the base color to something more flattering! I guess maybe I'll put this on my list for swaps and someone else who will appreciate it can enjoy it :) Here's another one of those close up shots... 

Julep Anne

So remember how I mentioned in my last post that I had four more Julep polishes coming my way? Well, they arrived safely inside that adorable little gift box there to the left (which was inside of a shipping box obviously). I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for packaging and man did Julep win me over. I would be beyond excited if someone handed one of these to me as a gift!

Down there on the right is the inside of the box... The four polishes I ordered are, from left to right: Amanda (a light, creamsicle-esque orange),

Gwyneth (a sheer blush pink), Jennifer (a sheer, very pale pink), and Anne (a vivid lilac-ish purple).

Below is the gorgeous Anne. I know the photo is too dark, but this is literally the closest I could get to accurate color (and the bottle color is actually more accurate). Really, really awesome, stand-out polish and probably the brightest purple I've ever seen. However, Anne's downfall is her formula, which is terribly thick and goopy. I used two coats and they covered extremely well, but it definitely could have used some polish thinner.

Julep Stefani

As many of you may know, Julep has been having some technical issues with their Maven box subscriptions and referral codes. I've been told that they are working out the kinks, so hopefully they will be running smoothly in no time. I'd like to give this company the benefit of the doubt and not give up on them just yet.

Regardless, I am still very happy with the products that Julep offers. In my September Maven box, I received the polish Stefani, which is a glittery olive shade with tiny gold shimmer. The formula on these Julep polishes is pretty great. I used two coats for the photos below; this was a super quick and easy manicure. I have four more polishes from Julep on their way and I can't wait to get them! :)

Here's a nice close-up of all the gold shimmer pieces:

And lastly, if anyone is interested, this was the contents of my September Maven box. In addition to Stefani, I received a cuticle oil with roller-ball top (!!!), a crystal file, and Julep's SPF 30 hand cream. The cuticle oil is pretty good and it smells nice too, though the smell actually reminds me of lemon Pledge. Random, I know. The file is okay as well, it doesn't work as quickly as my cheap file from Sally's, but it's probably better for nail health in the long run. The hand cream was the only disappointment in the bunch. It smells like bad sunscreen (normally I LOVE the smell of sunscreen) and leaves my hands greasy after I use it. I think I'll stick with my Avon Intensive Moisture lotion...