Mani Monday!

WHOA! Can you believe it? Another Mani Monday post! I may take a break next week though, my nails are looking pretty rough under that polish. 

So anyway, I had an awards banquet on Saturday night, and I needed my nails looking fancy and a little horsey. I actually had a slightly different manicure planned, but it turns out, that purple glitter wasn't in a clear base. Oops.

Here is the dress I was needing to match:

It's a little tough to see in the photo, but the dress is a very pale mint green with a silver tulle (I don't know how to spell that...) and purple/bronzy sequins. I had wanted to do mint nails with purple glitter done as a gradient, but it wasn't to be! Purple tips worked too. I also used the Jamberry nail wraps you've already seen as accents. Rio on the left thumb, and the horses on the right middle. Here are more pics:

I started as I normally do with Nailtiques as a base coat. The mint color is L'Oreal Mint Glacee. I wasn't in love with it. It took three coats to get full coverage and still was a bit streaky. It did dry fairly quickly though. The glitter is Julep Aviva. It's a great color and I think if you did the entire nail it would only take two coats for full coverage. I finished off the mani with the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat. 

What's on your nails today?

Mani Monday!

It's been a LONG WHILE since I've had a Mani Monday post. But this snowy weekend allowed me the time to get things done in the house AND have time to let my nails dry. That's a feat!
Saturday proved to be one of the laziest days EVER in my 34 years. I got up early, fed the horses, made breakfast, lounged around... Finally cleaned the barn and turned the horses out between 1 and 5, then commenced more doing nothing in the house. It was epic. But as a result, I vowed to be MUCH more useful on Sunday. And I was! So much so that I had time to do my nails! And try out my awesome new custom Jamberry nail wraps. I will apologize in advance for the terrible photos.
Left:

Right:

Close up of my Jamberry nail wrap:

My main nail color is Sally Hansen City Pleasure. It's a subtle, yet shiny gold that is perfect in two coats. I did my tips in Maybelline Color Show Avante Green. I regret the polish choice for the tips. It took heavy coats to show up, and it was really tough to keep them even and straight with the multiple thick coats. A darker more opaque green would have been better.
My Jamberry Nail Wrap was my own custom design. That's Rio! I should have made the picture smaller though, since my nails aren't very long. Poor pony got cut in half! Once I use up this sheet I'll try again with a smaller photo. Stay tuned for nail wraps featuring The Pugs too!

I always start my mani's with Nailtiques as a base coat. Lately I've been finishing them with the Sally Hansen Gel Top Coat that I got from Influenster. It does seem to keep my mani fresh longer!

So that's today's Mani Monday. What's on your nails today?

An **UPDATE** on Sally Hansen® Miracle Gel™

As you may recall from this post, I received a sample of Sally Hansen® Miracle Gel™ to try and review free of charge in exchange for my honest feelings and sharing with the general public. Upon applying it for the first time, I was really happy with how easy it was to use, and with the completed look!

The polish is said to be as durable as the more traditional gel manicure that is cured with a UV light, but without the need for the curing.
So I'm here to report that 12 days later... it's not as durable as gel. I do think if you are a normal person you may get two weeks out of the paint job. But if you're a horse girl and braider like me, you will not. I got almost a solid week out of the mani before it went bad though, and I must say, that's pretty good!
Here's what it looks like today:

What a mess! I can't wait to take this off tonight! I'm not saying I don't recommend the product. I do really like it, and I think in a normal setting the results are perfectly acceptable. The polish is DEFINITELY more durable than your regular polish. But don't expect it to be AS amazing as a traditional gel manicure.

Have you tried Sally Hansen® Miracle Gel™? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments!

My first Influenster box from Sally Hansen® Miracle Gel™!

Awhile back I signed up for Influenster but didn't really think I'd ever qualify to try anything out... Well low and behold, I was chosen to try Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polish. The polish was complimentary in exchange for my testing it out and sharing my thoughts with all my favorite readers! (I apologize in advance for my dark photos, I'm having some lighting issues in the living room..)
So without further ado... Let's take a look!

I was a little not that excited to get a bright red polish, but when you get something free to try, you don't whine about the color! Plus it's called Redgy so that makes it more fun. (Get it? Red + Edgy= Redgy!) Anyway, here's the deal with this polish and why it's different and better than normal polish: Much like a gel manicure, it's supposed to last up to 14 days. The difference is, you don't need to sit under a light to cure it, and you're supposed to be able to remove it like normal polish. Those of you unfamiliar with gel manicures... they are TERRIBLE to remove! I just did this mani quick tonight, so I can't comment just yet on durability or the removal process, but check back in a week or two and I'll let you know!

This is a two step process. Step 1: apply two coats of the colored polish. Step 2: apply topcoat.  Sounds simple right?! I gotta tell you... it's that simple! Let's go through it step by step:

I was really happy when I opened the bottle to find this brush inside. It's wide and flat with a curved bottom. This shape makes it super easy to paint your nails both neatly and quickly. I managed to keep the majority of the polish on my nails and off my cuticles. WIN!
Here's the first coat:

As you can see, the polish covered quite well with one coat! I almost didn't do the second one, but figured it I'm reviewing a product, I really ought to follow the instructions. Also, it's dark in here and there might be lines I can't see. So here's the second coat:

I was impressed with how smoothly the color went on. I really didn't see lines or brush marks. Dry time was reasonable. I didn't pay close attention to how long I waited between coats, but it wasn't too long. I think I should have given it a few more minutes before applying the top coat though, as some of the color came off on the brush:

Oops. Thankfully it didn't mess up my paint job. The top coat dried quickly. Here's the finished product:

I apologize for the semi-terrible mani job. I'm not a professional polish junky, just an amateur! So far I'm impressed with this Miracle Gel Polish system, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how durable it is. I'm sure I'll give it a good test with the horses!

If you'd like to try out Sally Hansen's Miracle Gel Polish, it's available at most drug stores and Walmart. If you try it, let me know how you like it!