Julep May 2015 Swatches, Comparisons, and Nail Art

Hi everyone! It’s past the end of the month, but I still have my monthly Julep Maven box post for you! Today I have my picks from the Julep May 2015 collection (Set Sail) and some really adorable chintzy nail art that I made using the polishes. This month’s collection was very creme-heavy, but I did find that I liked a number of the polishes and, luckily, was able to fill some gaps in my collection. While the collection overall seemed to have a nautical theme, I instead used the polishes I got to make some nail art that had been on my to-do list for a long time: floral china patterned nails! You know, like fine china that people serve afternoon tea in. Kinda kitschy, kinda girly, very cute.

By the way, if you haven’t yet entered my 1 year blogiversary giveaway, it’ll be open until the 21st of this month! Follow the link!

Julep InstaGrim Part II: Ghastly Gradient

Hi everyone! I have another design in my series that I made for the Julep InstaGrim contest (see contest rules here), which I talked about being a part of in my last post showing the “Haunted Hollow”. As I said earlier, Julep (whose polishes I love!) let me make a Halloween-themed nail art design for the contest and, instead of coming up with just one, I ended up with three ideas that I simply could not choose between! So each one is getting its own blog post!

This is the second part in the series, which I call the “Ghastly Gradient” (like my alliterative names?). I was inspired by Julep’s Casper, a glow-in-the-dark glitter polish, to make something that glows and – naturally – I thought of ghosts given the name (how obvious of me…). Glow-in-the-dark ghosts definitely screams “Halloween” to me! I decided to make small ghosts so I could put multiple on each nail, and opted to put them on a smoky purple gradient to make them look mystical. On with the nail art!

My Favorite Things Series – Red and Gray Poppy Bedding

Hi everyone! I have a new post in the “My Favorite Things” series today (nail art inspired by my stuff). Design #1 was based off of a starry scarf and Design #2 was meant to look like a pair of dichroic glass earrings. This time, I’m showing off some nail art that looks like my bedding! A little over a year ago, I bought an awesome duvet cover from Bed Bath & Beyond by a brand named notNeutral that has some bright red poppy-like flowers and light gray leaves on top of a darker gray background. I really love home decor like this because it has everything I like: florals, bright colors, and graphic print. Also, the family dog’s name is Poppy, and so – not gonna lie – I was partly drawn to it because it has poppies on it. The bedding is actually still available to look at on the Bed Bath & Beyond website, but it is no longer for sale online. You can find it on Wayfair, if you’re interested in buying it (it’s $80 I think).

Julep August 2014 Maven Swatches, Comparisons, and Nail Art

Hi everyone! I’ve got some polishes from Julep’s August 2014 collection today (Wanderlust) that I swatched individually, and then combined into a sari-themed nail art design (with a tutorial!). Most of the polishes from this month were very vivid shimmers and microglitters, plus one glitter bomb. It’s a very rich and opulent bunch of colors – I love how it all together looks like jewelry! This month I picked the Bombshell box (again) with Neha and Tazeen, and added on Avni (Classic with a Twist) and Waleska (Boho Glam).

The whole collection seems to have been inspired by India, specifically sari colors. I can definitely see how the colors fit the theme, with the vibrant, saturated jewel tones. So I used all of the colors to create sari-inspired nail art! It’s easier than it looks, and I made a tutorial for it if anyone is interested. You can see everything below, starting with swatches:

Disney Series – Frozen Princess Anna Dress Inspired

Hi everyone! I’ve got a quick couple of items first before I get on with the nail art. First, I am very grateful to all of you subscribers/commenters/people who like my posts/readers – basically all the people who come in contact with my blog – for checking out my manicures. I am really appreciative of every single notification that, somewhere out there in the world, someone is looking at my stuff. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. It makes my day when someone likes a post, or comments, or subscribes to my blog. It really does (hearts!). So thank you all for reading! Second, I started a Pinterest account under the emismanis name  but I am so far using it only to pin other people’s nail art that I like, and not to post my own stuff. I’m ambivalent about whether I should use Pinterest to post my nail art because I like how widely used it is as a platform, but I prefer this blog and Instagram, and I’m pretty afraid of my pictures being stolen on Pinterest. Let me know what you think about this possible development in the comments.

I am continuing my Disney manicure series today with a new installment inspired by Princess Anna’s coronation dress from Frozen! If you haven’t read the earlier posts on my blog, I came up with a series of Disney-themed manicures that I was supposed to paint on my friends and myself before a trip we took to Disneyland a few weeks ago. I only got around to painting three out of five of the manicures on my friends, which I featured previously (these were themed off of Minnie Mouse, Robin Hood‘s Prince John, and the Tangled sun). This design is one of the two I didn’t get around to painting on my friends, but since it’s so pretty, I thought I’d feature it on the blog anyways.