#HePicksMyPolish, for the first time...

I'm excited to be joining #HePicksMyPolish this week and taking on the challenge! This isn't the first time I've asked him to help me pick out polish or designs, but usually he responds with "whatever you like" and I'm back to trying to get inspired to do something myself. This time it's official - and he knew it!

"He" is my husband, Sam. And he was really sweet about the challenge. He was heading out to work for an evening shift just as I got home from work, and I told him I was really anxious about work on Friday and stressed out thinking about what I will have to be doing. So he set down his things and went to my polish rack and started picking things our - as I heard the bottles clanking I kept reminding him that it's just 2-3 polishes, not a dozen! He came back downstairs and handed me my polishes, and said I should spend the evening on the challenge to take my mind off work, and to make something elegant. I don't think I got the elegant part, but we both think it's cute :)

Here are my materials:

Julep Kai - baby blue sea salt

Julep Mackenzie - sour apple green frost

Sinful Colors - Black on Black

I've actually never used these Julep colors, which is great because now I had to actually try them. On the other hand, I purchased them because I liked them, but they didn't scream at me "use me now!!" which is why I haven't done anything with them - I didn't have a design  in mind with green and blue. And now he's challenged me to it. I went for my stamping plates right away, and after looking through half of them, I picked MM19.
And this is what I made of it.

Verdict: I think he picked good :)

May 25-31, have him pick your polish!

An InLinkz Link-up

Mint Meadows

As I was doing my review of new Aurora Lacquers polishes, Mint Meadows inspired me to do just that- a meadow stamping design!

Vivid Lacquer plate 019, and SC Black on Black. Base color can be seen here. 

Aurora Lacquers: Swatches!

I would say that I'm relatively new to discover the indie polishes, but when I found out that a new one was being created - Aurora Lacquers, I was very excited. I think it's an awesome opportunity to watch a brand be born and expand their collections and create new polishes right before your eyes. So I'm very grateful for being given the opportunity to try their beautiful polishes! These 4 were sent to me for review. 

New polish + new plates: Freaky like Freud & W208

I picked up a new polish at Sephora and could not wait to try it out! So many of my recent additions were justified with "It's my birthday..and I know no one else is going to get this for me." I guess that's the downside of owning a lot of polish, people know what you like but don't know what you have and what to get and end up getting something unrelated, lol

W Series Stamping plates 201-220: Part 1

I bought this set on AliExpress - less than $13 (free shipping) for 20 plates sounded like a win to me, especially since there's a lot of pretty full nail designs!

At first I stumbled onto these plates on ebay, but at $6.50 per plate I was a little hesitant - I've never seen them before and don't know of their quality. Thankfully kind people in various nail polish & stamping groups on Facebook let me know about the better deal on AliExpress and so I placed my first order.

Here's what's in this set:

The swirly flower design on plate W202 reminds me a lot of a phone case I had some years ago - so I'm looking forward to recreating it in my nails!

I'm planning on stamping them all to see the designs more clearly. The size of these is the same as Messy Mansion plates - 70mm. They do not have anything on the back and the edges are pretty sharp - I cut myself for the first time on a plate while scanning these. So I bought some adhesive foam and stuck it on the back to make them easier to handle :) And I did the same to my MM plates and various other random ones without backing. 

Julep Girls: The Fresh Twist - May 2014 Collection

Here they are, all the pretties lined up! Julep May collection - Fresh Twist.

I waited too long to swatch and take photos, our Portland weather came back and it's grey, overcast and rainy. I decided to take pics as is and not wait for weeks to get sunshine :) This was the first collection that I wanted it all, and did get it all! So far I've even worn 4 of the colors!

Julep Girls: Aviva

From the fill line you can tell I like this polish :) Julep Aviva was only available in a mystery box - and it being purple was enough to draw me in. It's a purple jelly filled with silver and purple glitter, and can be full coverage in a couple of coats. I usually only use 2 coats - which is what I've got on in the photos below, plus SV topcoat.

Julep Girls: Priscilla and Denver

As a May baby I had to get the emerald nail polish, and right before checkout I saw Denver as an add on, and when these two arrived, side by side - it had to be a chevron mani!! 

Priscilla is like a green colored jelly packed with tiny emerald glitters, so in the 2 coats I applied, full coverage was achieved!

I used my MODI peel-off base coat once again, to help with the glitter removal, and I'm hoping it works well this time :)
Priscilla - Emerald birthstone. Full-coverage multidimensional glitter. 
Denver - Seafoam green créme

Extra Toppings: Essence Superheroes - Fantastic Girl

There are so many different kinds of polishes and finishes, but I keep wanting to put some of them in a separate category because they have something extra about them, so I'll try to make posts specific to these polishes - my extra toppings! Today's polish is a thermal from the Essence Superheroes collection - 01 Fantastic Girl.

Stamping: Lily of the Valley

My favorite flowers that I look forward to in spring are lilacs and lilies of the valley. More than a decade ago, I got a giant bouquet of lilies of the valley for my birthday (it's in May) so when May comes around - I always look for these flowers. To my delight, grandma planted some in our garden!

Not too long ago I got a new stamping plate from Vivid Lacquer (VL019) and it has an image of this flower on it, so in the back of my mind I've been planning on doing this mani. You know how it is - you see a plate or a polish and have a picture in your head of what mani to do and you must have it right away, and the it arrives in the mail and you're happy that you have it - and put it in the box with the rest of the goodies and don't make the mani right away? Yeah...that's been happening a lot, but at least I have a good excuse - no nail art allowed at work, so I have to save it till the weekends </3

White and green were the easy colors, but what background color to use was the hard part. I was leaning towards pastels, but I'm glad I picked this blue instead! After I had applied it, I noticed how well it compliments my sapphire ring, and even hubby agreed it was a good choice <3

Julep Girls: May 2014 Classic with a Twist

Julep - May 2014 Collection : Classic with a Twist

 Ramona - Muted lavender rose crème
Maddy - Raspberry sorbet shimmer