Color Club "Reign In Spain" (Birchbox Wanderlust Exclusive) & Funky Striped Nail Art

 Hi everyone!

According to the calendar, summer is officially here! 

That means it's time for travel and adventures under the sun.

Whether you breaking out neons, glitterx or hanging on to your spring pastels, your summer nails should be bright.

This month Color Club and Birchbox had their subscribers covered.

Photo Courtesy of Birchbox.com

 The Wanderlust Collection includes four mini (7ml, 0.5 fl.oz) polishes, an exclusive to Birchbox.
The set retails for $8.00 and can be purchased here at Birchbox.com.

The mini collection includes three neons shades and a stark off-white:

From left to right:

Reign in Spain

Mod in Manhattan

London Calling

Pardon My French

Every Birchbox subscriber received one of the four polishes in their June box.

Included in my own box was Reign in Spain.

Reign In Spain is a super neon, coral creme.
(One coat shown over Sinful Colors "Snow Me White.")

If only the camera could capture the true color. 

You heard me say it before and I'll say it again. Neons are impossible to photograph correctly.

In person this color is much more bold and much more bright.

The formula was so incredible that I questioned whether or not a white base was even necessary.
While most neon polishes are semi-sheer and require building, this particular shade was incredibly opaque and creamy.

I think I've found my go-to summer shade.
It makes my skin look nice and sunkissed, and I can imagine it's a flattering shade for just about anyone.

As much as this color stands out on it's own, I couldn't help but add a little something.

This bright shade needs to shine, so not wanting to stay inside too much longer I grabbed minimal supplies and went to work.

I knew I wanted to keep it simple with either stripes or dots, so I reached for a dotting tool and the Salon Perfect Nail Art Striper Polish in "White Out." 

Creating the look took no more than five minutes!

First, I simply drew three stripes with the white striper: the first being off center and twice as thick, followed by the two thinner stripes closer to the edges of the nail.

Taking the dotting tool and the white polish, I dabbed dots on alternating sides of one of the stripes to create a waved effect.

I then took the same dotting tool dipped in a dot of the CC polish and dotted down the line in between the two remaining white stripes.

It's quick, it's quirky, it's perfectly imperfect.

What do you think of this funky summer look?

Are you a Birchbox subscriber?

Let me know in the comments below and give this look some love on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest.

If you're interested in becoming a Birchbox subscriber, you can sign up at Birchbox.com.
For $10 a month you'll receive 4 to 5 beauty samples and access to exclusive sales and specials on full size products in the Birchbox Shop.

You can also check out Birchbox on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
While you're at it, check out Color Club on Facebook, Twitter too!

Thanks for reading!

- Melody



**Birchbox subscription is paid monthly with my own money. This post contains referral links.

E.L.F Essential Spring 14 Piece Nail Cube Swatches and Review (Part One)

Hi everyone!

Today I have a part one of a two part review of the eyeslipsface (e.l.f) Spring Essential 14 Piece Nail Cube.

With Mother's Day coming up in a few weeks many are searching for the perfect girly gift for mothers, wives and other maternal figures in their life. 

If you're wondering if the e.l.f nail cube is right for a special lady in your life, keep on reading!

The Collection

Photo Courtesy of eyeslipsface.com

The Spring nail cube consists of 14 mini size (0.2 fl.oz.) bottles including 7 creme shades, 3 shimmery shades, and 4 glitter top coats.

For the first part of this review I will be showcasing the following:

From left to right:

Metallic Elegance

Nude

Flirty Fuschia

Electric Fuschia

Smokin' Hot

Mango Madness

Sunflower

Price & Availibility

The nail cube is available for $14.00 at Target and on eyeslipsface.com.

That's $1 per shade. Fair price for the amount of product.

The set is supposedly limited edition, but e.l.f said that about the Holiday Nail Cube too (which I rushed to purchase at the time), and yet it's still available for purchase on their website.

Full size (10ml, 0.34 fl.oz) bottles of Nude, Flirty Fuchsia, Smokin' Hot and Mango Madness are currently available for $2.00 each.

The Colors

Metallic Elegance is a frosty, champagne pink shimmer.

e.l.f "Metallic Elegance"

Okay, so on my first attempt with this polish I thought the formula was horrible. However, after swatching more shades I realized the problem is in the brush, not the polish.

For a frosty shade like this one, a bad brush is a big bummer. Frosts have a naturally streaky application as it is, but a brush that fans out too much and gives you little control over the strokes causes an overall messy manicure.

It's really not possible to paint thin layers without experiencing major baldness or dragging. It took me FOUR coats to even out the streaking and to achieve full coverage, but in the end the polish pooled and sat thick on the nail.

It's a shame really; it's a pretty color.

e.l.f "Metallic Elegance"

Nude is pinky, deep nude creme.

e.l.f "Nude"

Luckily, all of the creme shades gave me much less trouble. While a little bit of streaking was impossible to avoid, Nude was entirely opaque in just one coat, and all strokes were smoothed out with top coat.

I'm still not sure if I like this type of "nude" on me. My skin tone is in the odd in-between of peach and olive undertones...and this particular shade just clashes. It's also too dark to be "my nude" and too light to pass as pinky brown. Can you tell I'm conflicted?

e.l.f "Nude"

Flirty Fuchsia is hot coral-like pink creme.

e.l.f. "Flirty Fuchsia"

I have no idea why this has fuchsia in the name. Nevertheless, this shade is gorgeous! It's borderline neon when you see it in person. Fine for spring, fine for summer, fine for me!

The formula is just a bit thinner than Nude, which resulted in the easiest application. Even and opaque in one coat, and it's very glossy even without topcoat.

e.l.f. "Flirty Fuchsia"

Electric Fuchsia is closer to actual fuchsia, but not quite. It's more of a rich, raspberry pink creme.

e.l.f. "Electric Fuchsia"

Indoors this shade shifts to more of a berry reddish color, but it's still beautiful.

It goes on more sheer than the others, requiring two coats to eliminate the nail line.

e.l.f. "Electric Fuchsia"

Smokin' Hot is a cherry red creme with purple undertones.

e.l.f. "Smokin' Hot"

The formula is identical to Electric fuchsia and required two coats for total coverage. I actually prefer a thinner composed red because it typically leaves less stains in the cuticles during removal.

e.l.f. "Smokin' Hot"

 Mango Madness is an almost neon, coral orange creme.

e.l.f. "Mango Madness"

Mango Madness and Flirty Fuchsia are great examples of the opposite ends of the coral spectrum. Their formulas are identical and are both equal in brightness. 

I immediately saw Mango Madness and thought "TOES!" For $2.00 I'll happily spring for a full size of this one and wear it on my toes all summer long. It's fantastic.

There was a total downside to this one. A hair completely came off the brush and I had to completely remove the polish from one nail and start over.

e.l.f "Mango Madness"

 Sunflower is true to it's name as a pollen colored yellow frost.

e.l.f. "Sunflower"

This is one of the most interesting shades of yellow I have ever seen. The yellow itself has green undertones, but the silver microshimmer gives the overall finish almost a peachy golden glow. 

You can't explain that!

The formula was definitely thicker, matching that of Metallic Elegance. I didn't have quite the same issues as I did with the other which I attribute to the color being much more saturated.

I usually don't care for frosts at all, and boy is this one frosty. But the shade is so interesting and somehow flattering that I feel inclined to make an inception. The brushstrokes almost mimic the actual texture of a sunflower...so well played e.l.f., well played.

e.l.f. "Sunflower"

Overall

So far, it looks like you get what you pay for. As I mentioned before, it's not the polish that's a problem, it's the brush. If you really like the colors, I say buy it anyway. It's still a fantastic deal for the price, and with a little patience you cane make every shade work. The packaging is very gift-friendly and it's a great option for any polish or makeup lover when you aren't sure what colors they'd prefer.

Which colors are you favorite from these shades? 

Will you picking this set up anytime soon?

Let me know in the comments below and share your thoughts about frosty polishes, tricky brushes and anything else!

Keep up with the Manicured Amateur on Facebook, Twitter, and Bloglovin' for part two of this review, updates and more!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thanks for reading!

-Melody