#TheBeautyBuffs – my favorite yellows!

Welcome to another Wednesday with The Beauty Buffs! We are discussing YELLOW this week.  I’m always on a quest to find some yellows that don’t need a zillion coats… and today I’ll share my findings with you.  I’m showcasing my top three yellow two-coaters!

thebeautybuffsNow I know that yellow is not a fave among nail bloggers. The formulas can be disappointing and a lot of ladies find yellow unflattering with their skintone.  But, I happen to love yellow! This stems from my childhood where one year the Easter Bunny gave me two Revlon polishes.  (The bunny never gave me candy.  So sad.  Yet I wonder why I have food issues.)  So one year my easter basket contained two cream polishes- a robin’s egg blue and a pale butter yellow.  I cherished them.  If I got peanut butter cups they’d be gone in two seconds flat.  But my nail polishes… they were the gift that kept giving!  I still remember the exact images of the bottles in my head.  I can’t remember my school teacher that year, but I remember my pastel Revlons.  Oh, Jacqui!!  Anyway, I think those nostalgic feelings about yellow polish carried into my adulthood.  Plus, my mom loves yellow polish and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I don’t know if one-coat yellows exist or not.  But for now, I’ll covet these three yellows which need only two coats each to be opaque:

my fave yellow nail polishes

First up is I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana by OPI.  We’ve all seen a lot of swatches of this one lately.  It’s the perfect true yellow- nice and bright and most similar to the primary yellow on the color wheel.  I thought the formula would be a little chalky since a couple of the other Brazil collection polishes were a wee bit chalky to me. But honestly, the formula is really nice for a yellow.  It dries glossy and you can’t go wrong with OPI !

OPI I Just Can't Cope Acabana Swatch

Next I’ve got Pull Over by Sinful Colors.  This mustard shade has a touch of orange to it.  It’s similar to egg yolks, or a school bus.  I like that it’s a little different than your average yellow.  The formula is so fluid and juicy.  It has some jelly-esque qualities too it, but it’s opaque in two coats so it’s definitely not a jelly.  But it looks sorta glassy on the nail and I really enjoy the hue.

Sinful Pull Over Swatch

Last but not least is Inspire by AVON.  Remember when the 2013 Peter Som Trio came out by Zoya??  The collection contained a yellow, an orange and a mint?  Well AVON sorta copied them and came out with a trio of their own last year.  The AVON shades were darker, but still, very similar in concept.  I jumped on that train and picked up the AVON yellow called Inspire.  Wow, I love it.  How do I describe it?  It’s a bright yellow cream that has a tinge of green to it.  It’s almost a little bit pukey (especially in sunlight), but in the best way possible LOL!  It sorta has a 70’s retro feel to it.  The formula is really good and opaque (but as it ages I notice it’s getting a wee bit string-y).  I love how intense and opaque this yellow is, especially for nail art. I’ve used it tons and tons and now my bottle is getting low.  Good thing I have backup!  Surprisingly, Inspire is THE ONLY bottle in my entire stash that I own a backup of.  That says a lot I think.

AVON Inspire Swatch

My post wouldn’t be complete without a little yellow nail art…

yellow nail art

I hand painted some blue triangles on the base of my nails using Orly Sweet Peacock.  I think the metallic blue really looks cool against my AVON Inspire.  I loved wearing this to work yesterday.  It’s simple but a little quirky and definitely bold.  I hope you like it!

After all this, if you still hate yellow-  oh well, I tried.  I look forward to hearing your opinions though!

Don’t miss what the other Beauty Buffs have to say:


 

 

Nail Art Ideas Linkup (NAIL)- Sea Theme

Today is my official last day at work before my vacation!  Yesss!!!  I need a holiday so bad after such a busy summer at work.  As far as my blog goes- I really should’ve planned this better…I could’ve maybe had some nice guest posts lined up while I’m away.  But I’m afraid I’ve been busy and didn’t get a chance to plan too far ahead.  I guess lately I’ve been a blog-as-ya-go kinda girl!  But I still plan to post while I’m away.   They have the internet in Oregon, right? 😀 I don’t think I’ll bring any nail polish with me for my trip … that way I can just buy more while I’m there, naturally.  I really want to hit up an Ulta Store since I don’t have one near my house!

Anyhooo…Let’s check out my manicure today!  Here’s my SEA-THEMED design for the Nail Art ideas Linkup (NAIL).

sea_inspired_nails

I made some cute blue waves over a white base coat.  I used a detail brush and 7 different blue polishes.  I planned to make every wave strip a different color- but I really love Orly Sweet Peacock so I used that one twice (that’s the color on my tips)!  The waves were super easy to paint because you don’t have to be perfect… but dang!!! This one took a long time.  I have no idea how long but I feel like I have eye strain and I need to lay down!  hahaha  There are 8 waves on each nail… times 10 nails… we’re talking 80 waves here!  Phew.

blue_waves_nail_art

I hope to see more SEA designs coming up for August’s NAIL!  If you want to post a pic of your sea-inspired mani you have til August 18th!  Here’s the link:

N.A.I.L. Theme 2 – SEA :

August NAIL Themes SunSeaSandBook

Day 24 of OMD Challenge- Multicolored Mani

Hi to all the nail fans out there!  I’m excited for day 24 of our challenge because the theme is INSPIRED BY A TUTORIAL!  I follow a lot of blogs and I’ve see so many great nail art tutorials- there’s no lack of inspiration for today’s theme!  Do you follow the Polish Alcoholic?  I always think of her as the ‘Queen Bee’ of WordPress nail blogs!  She was also the VERY FIRST blogger to follow my blog when I started blogging 9 months ago.  So naturally, today’s design was inspired by the sweet and sassy Polish Alcoholic.  Check out her tutorial that inspired my mani:  Blue Manicure for Autism

multi_color_scales_nail_art

I chose 6 rich colors for this mani:

Blue ♥ Sweet Peacock by Orly

Green ♥ Garden Green by AVON

Silver ♥ Bring on the Snowflakes by Sephora by OPI

Black ♥ Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze

Gold ♥ Golden-I by Sally Hansen

Purple ♥ Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI by OPI

bottle_brush_scales_nails

I’ll have to ask the Polish Alcoholic what the name is for this technique.  I just love it and I think it needs to be a real official ‘thing’.  Everyone needs to try this one out!  You don’t need special tools to create these scales- this one is considered a ‘bottle brush’ design!  What do you think?  Are you tempted to try it?

24. Inspired by a Tutorial :

Peacock Nail Art

peacock_nail_art

I recently picked up some more Orly colors from their old Birds of a Feather Collection.  I loved this collection from 2011… but more importantly, I felt the need to hoard a few more of these old Orly bottles.  Have you seen the design of their new bottles?  They look so weird and different to me that I want to get my hands on as many of the oldies as possible! For posterity or something! 

One of my faves from the Birds of a Feather collection is the blue base I’m wearing here called Sweet Peacock.  Isn’t it gorgeous?  It’s the most electric aqua blue foil that I’ve ever seen!  I’m so glad I added it to my stash!

It seemed fitting to pair this polish with a peacock design. I did 2 coats of Sweet Peacock as my base color. Then I applied some chevron nail guide stickers and painted my tips with another Birds of a Feather Orly called Lucky Duck.  The rest of the gold, black, blue and purple accents were done with a dotting tool.  It was actually pretty simple! Here’s the colors I used:

blue Sweet Peacock by Orly

green Lucky Duck by Orly

gold Because You’re Worth It by L’Oreal

purple Eggplant Frost by wet n wild

black Black Lace Cream by NYC

sweet_peacock_orly

These peacock nails are fun to wear!  I just love colors inspired by nature!  Do you own any of these polishes from the Birds of a Feather collection?