Ulta Haul!

I made two trips to Ulta recently - the first one to use my 20% off coupon, the second to get the things I actually needed and forgot about. With the coupon, I picked up two Butter London polishes and the Nicole by OPI Drying Drops. I've had my eye on Trout Pout for quite awhile, but kept telling myself I had enough coral-y polishes. I'm so glad I finally got it, though! It isn't identical to any of the other similar colors in my collection, and the formula is fantastic. Although I researched swatches of many of their polishes and asked friends for recommendations from the brand, the other polish I got - Scouse - wasn't one I'd looked up at all in advance, it just really caught my eye! I've been curious about drying drops for awhile as well. I'm not sure yet if they're making a massive difference in dry time or not.

The other - slightly more necessary - products are a new face cleanser, dry shampoo, and a glycolic AHA cream. These are all new-to-me products. I've used the Neutrogena Naturals Makeup Removing cleanser before, but this is the other one. The dry shampoo is from the brand Samy, a brand which I've never tried before. Finally, the AHA cream - I'd heard about these a few times, but didn't know much about them. I assumed they'd be pricey for some reason, but when Lauren of RedheadPhD mentioned this one in a recent video, I figured for that price I may as well give it a go!

January Manicures

Another new month means another month's worth of manicures to share with you! I really enjoyed all of them this month - and I was especially into glitters! I also tried Ciate polishes for the first time, and expanded both my Butter London and OPI collections a bit - two brands I've fairly recently come to appreciate.

If you'd like to see, larger photos and names of the polishes I used will be under the cut!

December Manicures

I can't believe how quickly December went - but it's already time for another monthly manicure wrap-up!

Working two retail jobs over the Christmas season was extremely busy, so my nails stayed the same for longer than usual, and there were a few that I neglected to photograph. The week prior to Christmas, I also did silver nails and then added on little red and green Christmas lights on a string on each nail - it was super fun and easy! I just used a dotting tool for the red and green lights and a black striping polish for the cord that connected them. I'm sad I didn't get photos of it, but I could post photos of the trial run I did on my nail wheel if anyone would like to see! For Christmas day, I just red and green on alternating nails.

Now that shopping has calmed down a bit, I should have more time to make January's manicures more interesting! Especially since I've added some polishes to my collection over the past month that haven't gotten a chance to get used yet!

For larger photos of each manicure and the polishes used, keep reading!

Nail Polish Comparison - butter LONDON Wallis

L-R: Safari Gold over Stone Cold, Safari Gold, Wallis, Zombie Zest over Stone Cold

For more photos and detailed information and comparisons, keep reading!

September Manicures

These are becoming my favorite posts to put together! It's fun to see all the colors I used throughout the month. I was definitely in fall mode this month! Although For Audrey is always a favorite & I suspect it'll make an appearance most months.

1. Butter London Aston
2. Essie Your Hut Or Mine
3. Finger Paints Go Van Gogh!, OPI Swimsuit...Nailed it!
4. Sonia Kashuk Two Cent
5. Butter London Wallis
6. China Glaze For Audrey
7. Zoya Shawn, China Glaze Zombie Zest
8. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White, Wet n Wild Through the Grapevine, Revlon Impulsive
9. Butter London The Old Bill
10. L'Oreal Spice Things Up
11. Zoya Caitlin
12. Wet n Wild Wet Cement, OPI The World Is Not Enough
13. China Glaze For Audrey, Milani HD, Milani Gems, Essie Set in Stones, China Glaze Fairy Dust (I did a more specific post on just this manicure here.)

Favorite Fall Nail Polish!

If you thought I was excited about making the fall lipsticks post...that was nothing! This one I'm really excited about! Nail polish is my first love in the makeup & beauty world.

Quite a few of these shades I've either never worn or haven't worn much, since I got them in between this fall and last fall and they didn't seem appropriate in the summer! Others are favorites. A few were limited edition, so I apologize if you see one you love and then can't find it! But I wanted to show the ones that truly are my favorites.

I tried to keep it to the number of polishes that I could swatch around one nail wheel and I was successful - although I ultimately decided to show the polishes on my actual nails instead of on a wheel. To see the swatches and specific names, keep reading!