Girly Bits Peach Slapped

Let's start the week with something simple and sweet! Today I have the other polish from from the June COTM duo from Girly Bits: Peach Slapped, which is a hilarious name. As the name implies, the color of this polish is peach, and I would call it a borderline neon peach creme. It's bright but definitely not a true neon.

Given the color, it's probably not a huge surprise that I had a few issues with this. I found it went on a bit streaky-- I used a light touch and needed three coats for my manicure below. Even at three coats I still had some streaks, though they weren't too obvious to the naked eye (or even my camera, though maybe you can see a thin spot on my ring finger). After with Here's Lagoon Atcha, the other half of the June duo, I had high hopes for this so it was a little bit of a let down, but I'm not majorly disappointed-- I was kind of expecting it just based on the way these colors normally are.

I like Peach Slapped a lot! It's the perfect summer color. I wish the formula had been a smidge better, but really, it wasn't too terrible. I enjoyed wearing this and look forward to seeing what future duos bring us!

Essence Make Life a Festival

I'll be honest-- I generally ignore Essence releases. They seem to be released fairly sporadically here and are hard to find. However, I stumbled on to an untouched Love & Sound display (inspired by summer music festivals) and because the polishes were all billed as matte textures, I decided to pick them all up. They are also cheap, which helped motivate me. Today I have the first shade from the collection (there are four) that I have worn: Make Life a Festival.

Side note: it drives me batshit that Essence calls them 'desert matt.' Are you kidding me?! I guess that technically, a mat is flat, but matte (with the 'e') is the word the describes a flat color and finish! Argh.

Seriously?! I can't, Essence, I can't.

Anyway, annoyance about their description aside, Make Life a Festival is a peachy shade that is supposed to dry down to a matte, textured finish. I had issues applying this. The formula was a little on the streaky side and I had to apply three coats to even it out-- and I still wasn't completely happy with it. I don't think you can really tell from my pictures, though!

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This polish was a disappointment, honestly. It was slow drying, applied unevenly, and didn't dry to a very textured finish. So frustrating! Now, it was pretty warm when I applied this, which might have contributed to some of my issues. I found it be very slow drying, which was surprising for a textured finish (for example, I applied this in the evening, after my kids went to bed and then went to bed probably 1-2 hours later-- and I woke up with sheet marks. Sadly, I actually liked the way it looked witih the sheet marks more than I liked the actual finish). It also didn't dry nearly as textured as I would have liked-- kind of a weird half texture/half matte that I didn't love. I think the next time I wear one of these polishes I will try to apply thin coats and see if that helps both the dry time and the actual texture finish. So overall I'm not in love this polish but I will try to improve my application with the next one I try in hopes that I get a better result!

Julep Janet

Hey all! Hope everyone had a good Tuesday! My day could have gotten off to a better start, but it ended up being ok. Seattle is experiencing a small heat wave (not uncommon for May) so we got our window AC units up tonight-- more for the kids, but we benefit as well, haha! Piggy backing off yesterday's cantaloupe post, today I have another polish along the same color lines. Today I have Julep Janet, which was from the March Maven POP! Collection. In this box Julep introduced a new "soft focus" finish and there was a trio available as an add-on. Being a sucker for these matte/satin finishes, I of course had to pick this up. According to Julep, soft focus means "semi-matte" and these polishes dry to a soft, eggshell satin like finish-- there is a bit of shine to them. This seems very similar to the Essie Cashmere Mattes that were released earlier this year.

Janet is described as a "pale peach soft focus" and I would amend this slightly to say it's a peachy neutral. I think in person it looks a bit more peach, but my photos seem to mute the peachy tones a bit. The formula on this was definitely a little bit tricky-- a little on the thick side and it wanted to streak when I applied it (and it didn't want to self level). A light hand is definitely needed when you apply this! I used three coats here, mainly to even it out rather than because it was too sheer or anything like that. With the semi-matte finish, this does dry fairly quickly, though you do have to be careful not to dent it while it's drying!

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Despite the fact that the formula wasn't great, I do like this semi-matte finish. I like how soft this looks! How do you feel about the semi-matte finish?

Julep Clara

I was out of town all weekend celebrating my birthday with family, so I'm way behind on posting and on reading my blogs. Tonight I have Julep Clara, which was an add-on to my May Maven box. Julep describes Clara as an "opaque peach creme." I apparently didn't take any notes on this, but since I applied it last Thursday, it's still fairly fresh in my mind!

I used two coats here and while it generally looks pretty good, it was a still slightly streaky. I just didn't feel like putting on another coat. I used a light touch when applying this, because otherwise I feel like this polish would have dragged and been even streakier. In my pictures I am also wearing Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat.

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Today is my last day in 20s-- I turn 30 tomorrow! How crazy is that?! It's amazing how quickly the time passes. This was the manicure I wore on my last weekend as a 20-something and I love how springy this looks. I felt it made my fingers look a little bit more tan and was a great neutral-ish polish to wear that went with pretty much everything!

Nicole by OPI Paparazzi Don't Preach

It's kind of weird to find a polish based on the Kardashians named after a Madonna song, but... whatever. Paparazzi Don't Preach is a peachy pink neutral polish. However, despite the pink in this, it actually as a more beige/tan tone to it that makes it slightly more neutral rather than super pink.

Paparazzi Don't Preach has a nice creme formula and is only a little streaky. Two coats is almost perfect, but I used three coats in my pictures. This was much easier to work with than the other polishes, that's for sure. Formula was good and went on easily. It dried relatively quickly and I didn't have issues with bubbling.

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I guess this polish is a bit boring, but I really like it. It's a great neutral with a nice creme finish, which I have a soft spot for. I love how this looks. I can't quite figure out if it looks great with skin tone, but I also don't really care.

Julep Lynn

Tonight I have one of the polishes from my July Julep Maven box, Julep Lynn, which is described as a "nude blush pearl." Unfortunately, I am still not really in love with Julep's pearl polishes. I feel like they're hard to control and I dislike the frosty, brushstrokey finish.

I used three coats of Lynn here without a top coat. The formula on Lynn was ok-- you really need to use thin coats to make this work. However, using thinner coats also makes Lynn slightly sheer. 

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This reminds me of Lex Cosmetics First Grade-- another peachy pink polish with a frost finish. Disappointing! I like the color but hate the finish. I don't know if it's because my grandmother's name just happens to be Lynn as well, but this really screams "grandma" to me.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Lulu

Tonight's polish is from Rescue Beauty Lounge! The pre-order for the newest Rescue Beauty Lounge collection started today, so it seemed fitting to showcase an RBL polish. I have Lulu for you tonight! Lulu was a polish that wasn't on my radar until I heard it was running low and saw some people raving about it. After looking at some swatches I decided I couldn't let Lulu slip through my fingers. And I'm glad I got it! This is a great delicate neutral that's work appropriate or if you need a palate cleanser.

Lulu is described by Ji like this: "Lulu" will never be a senator, an auditor, or a tax attorney. She will, however, be great fun at a party, able to dash in 5" heels, and wearing this glossy pink peony polish." And indeed, Lulu is an extremely gorgeous light peachy pink. However, being such a light pastel color you do have to be a bit careful when applying it. I found using a light touch was necessary-- it was almost perfect in two coats but I used three here to make sure I had no streaks. I found that it dried fairly quickly, but make sure to wait in between coats so you don't drag any polish. Lulu is nicely pigmented, though, so you don't need to worry about it being sheer!

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I find myself loving this. It's soft and pink, but not too pink-- you what I mean? A really lovely neutral. I think the fact that it's a peachy pink helps liven it up and gives a little pop while still being pretty and delicate. However, because it is close to white and uses a white base, it might be a little stark or chalky on some skin tones. Personally, I love it so I'll wear it regardless (I think it looks good on me, but I'm not always the best judge).  I also think this could make a really pretty wedding manicure-- something a little bit different than just the classic French manicure but still "bridal" enough.

Currently Lulu is still in stock and available for $18 on the Rescue Beauty sit. But once it's sold out, it's gone forever! 

Lex Cosmetics First Grade

I have a lot of polishes that have been swatched and photographed and just waiting to be posted. I decided to go with First Grade tonight because I had a difficult day at work and I kind of wish that I was back in first grade, when you didn't have any worries in the world.

First things first: Lex Cosmetics is a new brand to me, but is a company created by a woman named Lex (of course) who started it when she decided to create her own perfect seafoam green polish. Now people can submit color stories for polishes and these ideas are voted on and then the winning polishes are sold on the site. A portion of the price also donated to the creator's charity of choice, which is pretty awesome.

Is is possible love something while kind of hating it? You'll see what I mean in a minute. First Grade was created by Liz and she says this about her polish: "In the first grade, Liz from Boston's mom let her redecorate her room. She didn't want pink or purple because EVERY first grade girl had a pink or purple room, so she decided on Peach. This color represents the desire to be just a little bit different and to put your own twist on things any chance you get. First Grade is neutral enough for day to day, but just different enough from the pale pink that nine out of ten of your friends are wearing."

Here's the thing-- I love love love the color of First Grade but I LOATHE the finish. First Grade is lovely peach color that's not too pink with silver shimmer but it has a frosty finish. No no no! I want to love this color so much but the frost finish is killing me. In my pictures below I have used three coats of First Grade and no top coat. Thankfully, despite hating the finish, the polish applied really well and relatively streak free.

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So despite hating the finish of First Grade, but I still find myself loving this polish. It's neutral and pretty and flattering and surprising, not as aging I anticipated.

Lex Cosmetics polishes retail for $10 at lexcosmetics.com.