Fresh Frog of Bel Air by OPI and Midnight by Love and Beauty

This was my Engagement Pictures Round 2 manicure. My wedding colors are eggplant, emerald, and sapphire, so when I dreamt up this combo I couldn't get over how perfect it was. This picture shows three coats each of the glitters covered by "Matte About You" by Essie. I used this matte top coat in order to tone down the flash a little bit so my nails wouldn't steal the show. I love the final product. This was also my first experience with the Love & Beauty brand (purchased at Forever 21), and I was pleased with the quality. The glitter matched OPI's in color, shape, size, and durability, and it was a fourth of the price! Overall, both colors dazzled me and added a fun pop to the engagement pictures (seen below!). 

Frenzy by Sinful Colors

This honestly might be one of my top manicures ever. I began with a base of Xpress Nails "Black Out" and DL "Between the Sheets," and topped them both with the gorgeous sparkle blend from Sinful Colors. I used two coats of the glitter to really make it pop. I love manicures like this because the accent nail adds diversity, but the glitter provides unity to the look. I don't have much experience with the Sinful Colors brand, but this polish held up for a week and a half--I loved it so much that I just couldn't bring myself to take it off. I'm excited to play around with other combos for this color, and even try it solo. 

Rating: A+++++

Crushed Candy Crackle by China Glaze

I have experimented with crackles before, and I've consistently found them hard to use. This time around I determined to figure out the secret to crackle success, and I DID! Now, first things first for any crackle beginners--you can't brush over any portion of the nail that you've already put crackle polish on. This is not a multi-coat friendly nail effect. The second thing to know is that it's best to be generous. Often times if you put the polish on too thinly the crackling won't really be dramatic enough. So, you only have one chance to get the perfect amount of polish onto the nail. I've always tried to accomplish this with one broad swipe with the brush on the center of my nail. THAT IS NOT THE BEST WAY. When using the China Glaze crackle I figured out that I should start from one side of my nail and work my way across! This allowed me to completely cover the nail with two or three side by side stripes of color. This method was so much less stressful, and I LOVED the result. 

Now that we've covered method, let's talk color. This polish is very similar to China Glaze's For Audrey (which we will get to at some point in this journey). I paired it with Essie's Fall 2011 gem Powder Clutch (which we will also discuss in further detail down the road), and I adore how the two colors contrasted with one another. A huge benefit of crackle is not having to wear about tipwear or chipping, because it looks like it was intentional. That being said, I was still impressed with how well this manicure held up. I wore it for an entire week and it looked just as good on day 6 as it did on day 1. 

Rating: A+

Kim by Julep

As you guys might remember, I recently enrolled in the Julep Maven program. When my first order finally arrived I was so excited to try out the colors, and Kim was first up to bat. On the nail the color becomes a dark silver, almost charcoal, metallic. This was perfect for me. I can't get enough metallic, but the classic silver metallic can sometimes appear juvenile and more often than not looks cheap. Julep's take on the color successfully avoided both pitfalls. My only complaint is that the brush is on the thicker side and therefore proved a bit unruly. Since I'd grown a little tired of just one color being on my nails I decided to spice this manicure up with a stripe of OPI's DS Magic across the top of my nail. This is a color I adore, but we'll get to that full review down the road. 

Rating: B-