Gooood afternoon, lovely friends! I have a fun little manicure to share with you today. Fun, girly, pink, but still totally perfect for autumn and all it's glory. xoxo!
Main color - "undercover" by wet n' wild
Glitter - essie luxeffects " a cut above"
Couple side notes, for those of you wondering how you can justify an $8-$9 bottle of nail polish...
you can't.
It's a luxury. gas (at least where I live) is about $4.50 a gallon, (lets not even talk about diesel - $5.19 in town last week, ouch) and a .48oz bottle of nail polish is $8.79. It's just wrong. I splurged on two bottles of essie this week and honestly, had to close my eyes when I handed over the $16 to the lady at the register. But I told myself it was okay, this is one of those things you really only get to do when you don't have a husband to reprimand you. Yay for being 17!
Moving on, though..
I've experimented with the expensive brands and not so expensive, and I can tell you, there's nothing wrong with the $1.99 bottles of wet n' wild polish. If you do it right, they can and will last just as long as essie, and while there aren't as many color choices, the ones you do have are pretty rad.
Regardless of what brand you buy though, watch the sales! The CVS where I live has awesome sales all the time. This week they had $.79 off of essie polishes, and buy one get one for all wet n' wild products. I took advantage of both, and got two pretty pinks from wet n' wild and two glitter polishes from essie, which are the only ones I really like. I'm really picky about glitter top coats, therefore, I will search and splurge on those. But considering my manicures only last about 5-6 days before I start picking at them, or I chip them, $2 a bottle doesn't bug me. And, long lasting isn't exactly my main concern. However, it can be done. I've had a wet n' wild manicure last me 10 days. *cue gasps*
Start with a clear base coat. My favorite is sally hansen hard as nails. Let it dry, and paint a thin coat of your main polish over top of it. Let it dry. Paint one more coat, slightly thicker, but just enough to create solid, consistent color, and let it dry. If you're doing an accent nail covered in glitter like I did above, skip the second coat and just paint the glitter - otherwise it'll be way too thick. Paint a thin layer of your base/top coat polish, let dry, and bam! there you go. Reapply the top coat every couple days for a longer lasting manicure.
I hate to be one of those bloggers to discuss nail polish in depth, and I'm sorry I went there, but it's necessary! You don't have to spend upwards of $8 for a bottle of polish. One of the points to doing your own nails is to save money! So. Try it out. Give it a whirl. Here are my favorite colors from wet n' wild right now, and similar colors from essie.
candy-licious, movers shakers || sugar coat, mademoiselle
undercover; demure vixen || tropicalia, your hut or mine
wet cement; don't sweater it || i need a refresh-mint; mint candy apple
Here's to inspiring america to give thrifty manicures a whirl, saving money, and blogging about the finer things in life...nail polish.
xoxo, Ruthanne
One of the most exciting things to me about being is cosmetology school is that I'm now considered a "professional" and am allowed to shop at pro stores where OPI and essie polishes are only $4. :P Before that, I only ever bought one OPI nail polish and no essia polishes in my life--you're right, the purchase is hard to justify but they are so pretty!
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