The Nail Junkie SPAM!

All right, all right (a-la Matthew McConaughey).  I'm jumping back into the posting pool with a spam post featuring one of my favorite indie brands.  The Nail Junkie has been around for about 2 years now (give or take) and has amazing collections that she keeps growing and adding to.  Her collections are beautiful and her labels are super cute.  Every one that I have tried has been amazing.  I have a variety to show tonight, polish that comes from several of the available collections.  Let's just jump in and admire the beauty of The Nail Junkie.  

The Nail Junkie: Blog, Shop, Facebook, Instagram

Up first I have Leaf from the Fall 2013 collection.  This is a gorgeous coppery-gold micro flakie glitter topper.  It's actually 4 colors of flakie glitter to create a complex and luxurious look.  It's absolutely stunning and blingy and rich.  Leaf covered really well and I think it would look great over many colors.  Leaf had a smooth and easy to apply formula.  I layered 2 coats of Leaf over 3 coats of Orange (from the Neon Shimmer Jelly Fruits collection).  I'm pretty sure my version of Orange is the original color because the newest versions of the Neon Shimmer Jelly Fruits have been amped up in color).  But this version of Orange was the perfect indie color for Leaf.  This jelly built up great and also had a fantastic formula.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

This is another combo that's all The Nail Junkie!  I started this mani with 3 layers of Grape, another fabulous color from the Neon Shimmer Jelly Fruit collection.  What I love most about this collection is the holographic shimmer.  They are all so beautiful!  Grape, much like Orange, was easy to apply and had a great formula.  I topped Grape with Angel from the recent Winter collection.  Angel is made up of "5 different shades of clear color-shift micro flakies in a clear base."  I loved how delicate and angelic this looked.  Angel really gave an ethereal look to Grape.  I think Angel is another topper that would look fabulous over many colors.  Angel applied with ease and the formula was lovely.   I used 1 coat of Angel and 1 layer of topcoat.  

This turned out to be my favorite combination of the bunch.  I started with one of my favorite Nail Junkies - Blueberry.  Yes, you guessed it, another Neon Shimmer Jelly Fruit!  Honestly that collection is really amazing - if you don't have any you need to try them!  Blueberry has a fantastic formula and applied like a dream.  I used 3 coats of Blueberry.  I then used Fairy, "a whimsical`and fun glitter topcoat full of silver hex glitter, pink stars, purple stars and a dash of holographic micro glitter."  Fairy is gorgeous!  I love it so much!  It's an amazing glitter topper and I am kicking myself for waiting so long to try it!  I used 1 coat of Fairy (hello loads of glitter with 1 coat!) and it applied magically!  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

Hello neon-awesomeness!  This turned out so much better than I'd imagined it in my head!  Unicorn and Watermelon turned out to be an amazing pair!  Watermelon is from the Neon Shimmer Jelly Fruit collection and is a stunning red-orange color.  You know I adore this color so Watermelon is one of my other favorites from this collection.  Watermelon is so bright and juicy!  I used 3 coats and the formula and application were both wonderful.  I topped Watermelon with 2 coats of Unicorn.  Unicorn is a fun "bright and shimmery glitter topcoat polish made up of 5 different shades of neon hex glitter and a dash of micro holographic glitter."  Unicorn had a great glitter payoff and applied easily.  The glitters spread evenly and laid flat.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

Finally we have Peacock.  One of the most recent additions to the Animal collection, Peacock is a an absolutely fabulous mix of "gold, blue and green micro glitters all floating in a barely there blue jelly base."  This beauty can be worn alone in a couple coats or over a base color in one coat.  Since I already had it sitting next to me I used Grape as a base color and layered 1 coat of Peacock on top.  The colors in this polish are luxurious and beautiful.  Peacock had a gorgeous formula and applied like a dream.  I finished this with 1 layer of topcoat.  

Splatter Mani!

I don't even know where to begin on this baby.  I am so proud of it.  I know it's a mess, and my clean up wasn't that great, but I am still learning some tricks to these fun types of manis so don't be too judgemental.  I'll get better, I promise.  I recently went to the New Kids On The Block "The Package Tour" concert.  I wanted something super fun to go with my nails so this is what I pulled out of my hat!  Neon was the key ingredient.  I hope you like it!

This is my first attempt at a splatter mani.  It seemed easy enough.  But first impressions can be misleading.  I learned as I went (which had to be pretty darn quick).  

• Rule #1 - don't use a paper straw.  I'm talking about those super cute swirly white and colored ones that are popular for parties these days. They don't work.  
• Rule #2 - dipping the plastic straw into a blob of polish in a little foil cup didn't work. I had to dip the straw into the bottle of polish to get enough to blow out onto my nails.  
• Rule #3 - try to aim for your nail or all the polish will just spray onto the plate, thus wasting your precious polish.  
• Rule #4 - use a paper plate to "spray" over.  
• Rule #5 - use a different straw for each color/each hand.  
• Rule #6 - tape (or glue) the skin around your nails to help lessen the clean up mess.  

These rules worked for me, they might not work for you.  It's all trial and error and since it's supposed to look like paint spilled on a drop cloth you can't really do it wrong.  It's supposed to be messy so just roll with it.  I started with 3 coats of Orly Day Glow on all but my accent nails.  Day Glow is a white base with blue shimmer.  Very pretty and perfect as a base for neons.  On the accent nails I used 3 coats of Models Own Beach Party, a bright neon orange juice orange.  I topped my accent nails with The Nail Junkie Unicorn, a gorgeous mix of neon hexs in a clear base with holo shimmer.  It's a perfect glitter bomb for summer manis!  Great formula and application with lots of glitter coming out with ease.  All the glitter laid flat on the nails.  I then spent a good hour splatter painting the rest of my nails.  I used Illamasqua: Seance, Omen, Ouija, Essie Funky Limelight, Models Own Beach Party, and NOPI Pros and Confidence.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat and these babies lasted for almost 4 days before they started chipping! 

*I provided the link to the Nail Junkie's Etsy page above but you can also follow Aleta's blog, Facebook page and on IG (thenailjunkiepolish) 

And here I am on my way to see Donnie, erh I mean NKOTB.