Review: Lauren B. Beauty Nail Couture

                                 

Today, I'm reviewing two polishes from Lauren B. Beauty.  I had never heard of this brand, but I love to try out new nail polish brands and I'm glad that I did. Here's a little info about the brand and the polishes:

Lauren B. Beauty Nail Couture is a collection of everything you need for a salon quality, do-it yourself manicure that lasts for 2 weeks without chipping or fading. These on-trend colors inspired by the city of Los Angeles. All of the formulas are eco-and vegan-friendly, contain no harsh chemicals, and are proudly crafted right in the U.S. These polishes stay true to the pigment that you see in the bottle and require just one coat! From base to color to topcoat, the groundbreaking treatment system is good for your nails and highly functional and fashionable for the modern woman.

Just reading that, I was eager to try it. More and more nail polish lines are becoming eco-friendly and vegan-friendly, so it's exciting that this one is, too.

The backs of the bottle have a little more information about the polishes. They are "5-Free," no formaldehyde, DBP, toluene, formaldehyde resin, or camphor. 

It's also cruelty free! 

The fronts of the bottle. Each bottle is .50 fl oz. A beautiful glass  bottle with a shiny black cap. The font is cute, and the whole bottle just looks classy! From their website, they have a lot of nail polishes in mostly bright colors that are gorgeous. I just want to get all of them!



Nude No. 2. On the website, it's described as "a champagne hue sweetened with a hint of honey." They have five different nude shades for sale, and this one managed to perfectly fit my skin tone! I hate most neutral polishes, because they very rarely match my skin and usually make my hands look just plain weird. Plus, I love colors. This is one that will definitely become a favorite of mine when I become a professional and have to start wearing neutral-colored polishes. It's a favorite of mine right now! It applied very smoothly, the picture is after two coats. The site says that you can do one coat, which is doable because it's quite opaque, but two coats makes it perfect.

L.A. Smog. The website describes it as "A hazy pale grey with dusty blue undertones – soft, ethereal and exceedingly cool."















I loved it from the first brushstroke. This grey is right up my alley! I would not consider it a pale grey because it's actually pretty dark and reminds me of my former favorite grey, Sally Hansen Gunmetal. But this one applied so smoothly (although it definitely needed two coats). I applied it second after swatching some other polishes because I knew, just from looking at the bottle, that I would love it. Maybe not the most spring-y color, but I think you can never have enough grey toned polishes.

So the polishes themselves. A bottle is $18, which is a little bit more expensive than Butter London (my former standard for high brand nail polish), but this one is amazing quality. I've had L.A. Smog on my nails for four days and it hasn't chipped yet. It applies smoothly, because "the brush is packed with twice the standard amount of bristles." The colors are beautiful, and so is the bottle. I would definitely re-purchase and in fact, I've already been going through the website for polishes to add to my wishlist.

(This product was sent to me for review, but all thoughts and reviews were mine. There are no affiliate links in this post).

Nail polish haul

A quick post on the nail polishes that I picked up! On a Facebook group for selling things at my university, there were a couple of girls selling nail polish. I received these three, which was really the main reason that I bought them (both girls threw in a couple of extra polishes, like some "Dior" (I put it in quotes because from the quality, I am not sure how authentic it was) and a random off-brand polish. 

All in all, I got these three polishes and three other polishes, as well as a bonus costume necklace, for $10. Considering that these three alone would retail for around $24, I definitely think it was a steal! Plus, none of these polishes have been used that much, they were basically full. 

I know people who don't like to buy used polishes, but I don't think it's a big deal. If it's thickened, as old nail polish that hasn't been used in awhile often does, Seche makes a great restoring product. If you're really concerned, you could always clean the brushes in Acetone before using it (I have never done that, so don't take my word for it). 

From left to right: Essie Luxeffects in Stroke of Brilliance, OPI All That Razz-Berry, and OPI Tutti Frutti Tonga. 

I'm not sure how I feel about the All That Razz-Berry because I'm not a huge fan of deep purple-reds like that, but the Tutti Frutti Tonga and Stroke of Brilliance are just my type. Expect to see a design with them soon! 

Review and Swatches: Pure Ice Stars & Stripes collection

Today, I have a review of a new collection that's being released in Walmart stores nationwide, from a brand that I love!

The first nail polish that I remember buying (way back when, in 2007) was a pink, glittery Pure Ice. I ran the bottle down to nothing because I used it so much (well, that and I didn't have the skill that I have now and painted my cuticles a lovely shade of pink most of the time). Before I was working, my first collection (if you consider ten polishes a collection) was completely made up of Pure Ice polishes. Since I live in a small town with only a Walmart, and Pure Ice is only available at Walmart, it worked out fabulously. Also, all of the Pure Ice nail polishes are super cheap, around $2-3, and they worked really well and had a lot of colors.

So, Pure Ice has always had a special place in my nail polish fiend heart. So I was super excited to get this collection for review! Today I have some swatches of the five polishes for you, and then next week I'll have some July 4th-themed nail art to share! This collection has two creme polishes, and three gorgeous glitter polishes.





First up is Superstar!, which is your average creme white. Pictured, it is two coats. As you can see, Superstar! is just a normal creme white, which means it streaks and applies weirdly in the first coat. If you use two coats and a top coat, though, it evens out just fine.





Siren. A bright creme red. This was actually completely opaque in one coat, but I used two coats just to make sure. This is a very bright, gorgeous red color. I don't have a lot of reds in my collection because it's too bright, but I like this one a lot. Plus, it applied really nice and easy, and cleaned up very easily, unlike some other reds that stain your fingers. (Maybe I'm just removing my nail polish wrong?)





Wide Awake. Bright blue fine and micro glitter in a clear base. This is two coats, but if you applied it a little more evenly (it looked more well-applied in person), you could get it opaque. Or a third coat would make it perfect. Can I just say how much I loved this nail polish? The blue is a perfect color, and the glitter is beautiful. It applied very smoothly and, like most glitters, dried ultra-quick (which is another reason that the application is a little wonky). I highly recommend buying this one. I own a lot of glitters, but Wide Awake is unique to me.





Dazzle Me. Silver glitter and silver hexes in a clear base. This applies the best out of the glitters, and thankfully all of the mirror hexes didn't bunch up at the tip of the nail. This isn't too special or unique, but it is very glittery and reflective in sunlight. It reminds me of fireworks, too, which I would imagine is the goal. I definitely love using glitters in my designs for July 4th, so I'll for sure use this in my nail art!





Freedom. Red micro glitter, red and blue hexes and silver stars in a clear base. I really, really love this polish, so I saved the swatch for last! It is absolutely gorgeous. Pictured is two coats. As you can see, the red and blue hexes kind of bunch up at the tip when you don't let it dry enough between coats. And I would definitely wear one coat of Freedom over a different base, that way the glitter doesn't pile up over the hexes. I think this nail polish is super unique and absolutely gorgeous, and pretty much a nail art in and of itself. I did have to pick out the stars, and I had to do it on the second coat so that I wouldn't cover it with glitter. Still, it's beautiful! I highly recommend buying this one.





I tested out putting two coats of each of the glitters over two coats of Superstar!. From left: Dazzle Me over Superstar!, Wide Awake over Superstar!, Freedom over Superstar!, and two coats of Superstar! alone.

Dazzle Me and Freedom look wonderful over the white base, but Wide Awake, because the glitter is so dense, barely lets the base show through. I really think that Freedom over Superstar! or any white base could be a festive July 4th nail art on its own. I thought that I would have to pick out the stars from Freedom with a toothpick, since the heavier glitters and shapes usually fall to the bottom, but I happened to pick up two stars on my brush. Plus, the glitter, hexes and stars just look really nice over the white base.

Stay tuned! I'll post a couple of July 4th nail art ideas next week, using this collection!

(I received these products for review, however, all thoughts, pictures, and opinions are my own.) 

Nails of the week + A nail haul!

I actually got my nails finished early this week!

My pseudo-flower design. I would have liked if each of my nails looked more like the design on my thumbnail, but c'est la vie. The base is Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl. I love this color, except that it's extremely sheer and needs multiple coats to be opaque. And with each coat, if you accidentally nick it or make any type of imperfection, it will show through. But the color is so pretty that it's almost worth it. So, about three coats of Tokyo Pearl, then I used Seche Vite to dry it.

To make the designs, just draw the black outline with a black striper (I used L.A. Colors Black), then line the inside with a pink striper (I used L.A. Colors Pink).

Plus, my nail haul from last week. All Sinful Colors are from Walgreens (which had a 99 cent sale for SC), and the other picture is all from Rite-Aid. I know, 17 polishes sounds extreme. But they were all such a good deal!

From left to right: Sinful Colors Savage, Queen of Beauty, Nirvana, Boogie Nights, and San Francisco.

I'll update with the names later tonight because I don't have the polishes right next to me. As always, will swatch on request.

I love buying nail polish on a discount because, even if the color doesn't suit my skintone or tastes, I have friends who, knowing I'm a nail polish junkie, are always willing to take it off my hands.

And that's it! I'll have a new design hopefully on Monday, and maybe I'll get around to posting up all the nail art tools and decorations that I got off eBay (: 'Til then!

Nails of the week

I have two nail pictures to show y'all this week! (:

The first one is not my nails, but my sister's. This is the first time that I've done nail art on someone else's hands. If I'd been doing it for myself, it probably would have only taken 15 minutes at most. But... it took closer to 45 minutes, I believe.

I got the design off of one posted on soompi, but I didn't write down the username. This design was done using Zoya Skylar and a black striper and a grey striper.

This is a swatch of China Glaze Dorothy Who. It's so pretty! I got my nails professionally done that time. I know, I could have spent the $10 on a bottle of OPI and done my own nails, but I wanted to see how they shape my nails, do my cuticles, etc. Sadly, I do not own this polish because I didn't get it either time China Glaze released it. It is now my dream to own it though.