A love affair

so, listen. I know I said I would post last night but stuff happened. Good stuff. I went to Zumba with my bestie and then Skyped with  my sister. SHE'S MOVING BACK TO BUFFALO. This little lady is coming back home, this summer. I'm so excited. Her boyfriend got a transfer to our airport. AH. Yay ^_^

Okay. I told you I had a rad mani for you girls. And, I do. I was a little wary of doing this mani, but it turned out fabulous. I got the idea from Jane @ Nailside. Her nail art and manis are AMAZING. I'm so envious of her skills.

For this mani, I used OPI Russian Navy. It's a new favorite. It's GORGEOUS. I'll show you the pictures then we'll chat. I have another gem to share with you in this post too.

holy God.

This color has such depth to it. I say it's because of the red and purple flecks in the navy base.

I found this bottle when I went into a salon on Saturday. I had a gift certificate for $10 and the salon is kind of expensive so, I thought I'd use it for a good cause--adding to my stash ;)

I was poking through the nail polish (limited selection) and had just about settled on Planks-A-Lot, but I stumbled on this and I was done. I took one look at the bottle and how the light was hitting it and I was in love.

Check out the rest of the pictures :)

These are all with flash under artificial light.

I did two coats. Application was fabulous. The perfect consistency. A little sheer on the first coat but the color buildup after two coats is lovely!

Natural light.

How did i do it? I know you're asking. It's suuuuuper easy. All you need are a base coat, your color of choice, hole reinforcements, and top coat. I tear the reinforcement stickers in half and stick it to my nail. Then you just paint 2 (or 3 or 4, etc) coats on of your color and peel them off. Easy-peasy.

Now...the other bit of the post.

I got my first Julep Maven box today! I just got the shipping notification on Monday so I couldn't believe it was here already!

my package included a full-size Glycolic Hand Scrub, which I'm hoping will help the skin around the free edge of my nail

safe as kittens!

I received Anne (purple) and Kelly (nude)

I'm hoping that the nude will be a full coverage nude and be my go-to for "mannequin hands."

That's all for tonight. I can't wait to do manis for these and share them with you!

Until next time!

xo, ali.