Five Finger Friday: Jade Greens

Happy Friday, Lab Partners!

Welcome to another Five Finger Friday. This week, I continue to work my way through the greens by focusing on five jade green polishes: Make Up Store Paula, e.l.f Teal Blue, Julep Emilie, Picture Polish Jade, and LA Colors Palm Tree:

Make Up Store Paula

Starting on the thumb, I used Make Up Store Paula, a gorgeous, streak-free one-coater with a cream finish. I'm in love. Admittedly, polishes from Make Up Store, a Swedish company, aren't terribly easy to come by. You can't purchase from their web site, so unless you're near a store that carries their polishes, your best bet is to place a phone order. In the U.S., call 303 708 0086 to reach the Denver/Lone Tree, Colorado store, which is currently the only U.S. stockist of Make Up Store polishes. This polish is worth the effort!

On my index finger, you see e.l.f. Teal Blue, which isn't very blue at all. Yes, next to the other greens, you can see a blue undertone, but this polish is distinctly more green than blue. In fact, it looks slightly bluer in the photo than in real life. I was skeptical of this polish, but--WOW!--was I ever surprised! You're looking at one gorgeous, streak-free coat. Not bad for a polish that normally retails for $2, eh? I only purchased e.l.f. polishes after they'd been reformulated, and then only when the wonderful Rebecca from rebecca likes nails gave her recommendations.

From L to R: LA Colors Palm Tree, Picture Polish Jade, Julep Emilie, e.l.f. Teal Blue

Continuing on to my middle finger, you'll find Julep Emilie. It's the darkest of the five polishes--definitely a dark jade that might be classified as evergreen.  Two coats gives a beautiful, streak-free finish.

On my ring finger is Picture Polish Jade, which is more mint than jade This one has some shimmer to it. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with this one. The application was okay, but it was a bit streaky on the first coat. It wasn't the glorious application I experienced with Picture Polish Wisteria. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I later tried Jade on with a different base coat, with the same results. Again, the application is okay, but I expect more from Picture Polish.

Finally, my pinkie features LA. Colors Palm Tree. For some reason, I often wear this one on my toes. You're looking at two coats. It's nice--not glorious like Make Up Store Paula or e.l.f. Teal Blue, but nice.

If I had to pick a favorite of this bunch, I'd go with e.l..f. Teal Blue, followed closely by Make Up Store Paula. Which one do you like best?

Until next time, sending you lab love,

Allison

Holiday Splatter Mani with Simple Tutorial--Photo Heavy

Hello Lab Partners,

First, I'd like to wish happy birthday to my hubby, who probably isn't reading this, but in case he is . . . Happy Birthday!

Yesterday, I showed you Zoya Haley. After several days, it was wearing so well and I loved it so much I didn't want to take it off, so I decided to do a holiday splatter mani using Haley as the base color:

If you've never done a splatter mani, it's a fun, easy way to add some interest to your nails. I particularly like doing a splatter after I've been wearing a polish for several days and am ready for a change but not ready to remove the polish, as was the case with Haley. I've broken down the procedure for doing a splatter mani into several easy steps.


Materials:

• An old towel, paper towels or newspapers
• Scotch tape
• Drinking straws (I suggest one for each color you'll use for splattering). Medium sized straws work best--neither the jumbo kind, nor the little stirrer type.
• A paper or plastic plate
• Your regular mani supplies (base coat, remover for clean up, top coat, etc)
• Polish to use as base color
• Polishes for splattering. For this mani, I used two colors: Sinful Colors Envy and Zoya Snowwhite. But you can use more colors. Or you can splatter with only one polish.

1) Cover your working surface with an old towel, paper towels, or newspaper. This is a messy process!

2) Make sure your base color is completely dry before doing the splatter portion of the mani. As I said, I usually splatter a few days after I've put on the base color.

3) Once base color is completely dry, put Scotch tape around the side and bottom edges of your nails on one hand to make the process less messy. You will work one hand at a time. In other words, you will complete the entire splatter process on one hand and allow that hand to dry before splattering onto the nails of the second hand.

Skin around nail edges taped in preparation for a splatter mani

Straw has been dipped in polish, which will be splattered on nails.

4) Dip a straw into the first polish to splatter. You can try pouring a little polish on your paper plate, but I have greater success when I dip the straw straight into the bottle. If you do dip into the bottle, make sure you change to a new straw for each splatter color to prevent mixing your polish colors. If you only have one straw, you can try cleaning it very well, but it's not an easy task.

5) Using a short, strong puff of breath, do a few "test splatters" of polish onto your paper plate before splattering onto your nails, redipping the straw into polish as needed.

6) Once you've splattered all nails of one hand with the first splatter color, move on to the next color, if using one.

It's a messy process . . .

A really messy process!

7) When all splattering is complete on the first hand, remove tape, apply top coat, and allow the splatter polish to dry.

8) Repeat process on other hand.

9) Have fun cleaning up the mess you've made!

Post splatter mani mess

All cleaned up!

I like this one because you can see my hand reflected in an ornament. 

And there you have it!

I hope you've enjoyed this splatter mani edition of The Polish Lab!

Until next time,

Allison

Bench Work: Zoya Haley

Hello Lab Partners,

Today, I have an oldie but a goodie for you: Zoya Haley. Even though this isn't a newly released polish, it's a new acquisition for me. I've been in my red polish phase lately, and Haley is my new favorite!

Haley applies very smoothly. You're looking at two coats of what Zoya calls a "pin-up girl classic." As my husband put it, Haley is "bright without being garish." Not bad from the hubster, eh?  One of my friends (you know who you are) feels matronly when she wears red polish. Not me! I feel retro glam, especially when wearing this red!

                                

Haley wears wonderfully. After three days, I had only minor tip wear. I'm very hard on my polish, so three days is an eternity for me!

So what do you think of my new favorite red?

Until next time, sending Lab Love your way!

Allison