Hey there ladies and gents!
Today's feature will be Nina Ultra Pro "Caribbean Blue" I purchased this at Sally Beauty Supply during one of their Buy 2 Get 1 Free sales, so I paid $2.79 per bottle (that's also with my Club Card, of course).
She's a beautiful aqua blue. I've never been to the Caribbean, so I can't say for sure if this really is the color of the waters there. However, this does remind me of the beaches of Sarasota, Florida. The water there is so incredibly clear and gorgeous that you can see right through it.
Unfortunately this polish's formula is see-through, too. Even at three coats, there's still a wee bit of VNL. I usually use this as a topper. If you put this over black, it turns more green. I actually did a manicure once where I did a black-to-white gradient and put this over it. It looked amazing! Well, it looked mostly amazing--if my gradient skills were better it could have been phenomenal. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but hopefully you get the gist.
One downside to the Nina Ultra Pro polishes is the brush. However, I think I'm in the minority on this. NUPs have a very wide paddle brush. For most folks, that's a good thing. For me, though, with my super narrow nails, it creates a problem. On my pinky and ring finger nails I actually have to turn the brush sideways. Otherwise, I end up with even more polish on my skin than usual.
So is "Caribbean Blue" worth the $2.79 I paid for it? Yeah, I'd have to say she is. Would I pay $4.00 or more for her? Probably not. But at less than three dollars, "Caribbean Blue" is such a stunning color and very versatile as a topper, so I think it was money well spent.
Hey folks!
So... I've started my own YouTube channel (it's Mani on a Budget over there, too, in case you're interested). Since I'll be covering the manis I do over there, I think to reduce redundancy I'm going to change things up a bit here on my blog.
What I'll be posting here will be my hauls, a few tips and tricks, recommendations and reviews of products, and a bit of general mayhem.
To start off that trend, I'd like to discuss the lovely polishes I picked up in Zoya's "try4free" promotion. In this promotion you could get four polishes for free if you paid the promotional shipping, which was $15. That puts each polish at only $3.75!
Of course I went and lost the photo I had of all four... but if you follow me on Instagram (@jennravenwing) you've already seen them. This one here is the entire reason I hopped on the promo bandwagon. This is "Remy". I just heaved a dreamy sigh, because... well, because she's dreamy! "Peacock Blue" comes to mind first and foremost when trying to describe her. She's a deep blue base with teal and gold shimmer. "Remy" has the typical Zoya formula--excellent to work with. She did stain my nails quite a bit, but the color is so very worth it!
I also picked up "Oceane", because I'm a nut for the blues. Especially the cobalt/aqua blues. "Oceane" is a bright aqua blue with lots of blue shimmer. I haven't worn her yet, but I'm betting she may stain, too.
The third color I snagged was "Zuza", a gorgeous turquoise. She also has gold and silver shimmer running through her. I was really surprised at how opaque she was, being a bit of a lighter color. She's the only turquoise in my collection, and I'm excited to try her out.
Polish number four was... not a blue! Whoa.... It's "Cinnamon". Zoya's website describes "Cinnamon" as a "classic bronze liquid metal", but to me, it's much more brown than bronze. I'd say it really does look like its namesake, yet in a metallic form. Definitely something new to my collection!
I'm seriously considering water marbling with "Oceane", "Zuza", and "Cinnamon". Or maybe just "Oceane" and "Cinnamon".
At any rate, $3.75 for a polish that's normally $10 is a pretty damn good deal, and I'm glad I took advantage of the promotion. From what I understand, Zoya usually has an "Earth Day" promotion as well, where they offer 50% off their polishes. I, unfortunately, won't be able to take advantage of that one, but if you're interested be sure to follow them on Instagram @zoyanailpolish to stay in the loop!
Today's feature will be Nina Ultra Pro "Caribbean Blue" I purchased this at Sally Beauty Supply during one of their Buy 2 Get 1 Free sales, so I paid $2.79 per bottle (that's also with my Club Card, of course).
Unfortunately this polish's formula is see-through, too. Even at three coats, there's still a wee bit of VNL. I usually use this as a topper. If you put this over black, it turns more green. I actually did a manicure once where I did a black-to-white gradient and put this over it. It looked amazing! Well, it looked mostly amazing--if my gradient skills were better it could have been phenomenal. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but hopefully you get the gist.
