Jamberry Accent Nails: Review & Swatches

I've got a couple different manis to share with you guys today, all of them incorporating Jamberry nail appliques. Nine times out of ten, if I'm wearing nail wraps and someone comments on them, they will ask me if they're Jamberry, so they seem to be pretty well known. But if you're not familiar with Jamberry, they're kinda different from other nail wraps, so here's a quick crash course for you!

Jamberry is sold through individual consultants. This time around, mine was Maureen. She was super sweet and willing to help troubleshoot if I had any questions or application issues. Consultants offer their appliques through their own websites, which feature a TON of designs. Click HERE if you want to check out Maureen's.

The biggest difference between Jamberry and other nail wraps in that you have to heat the appliques.  After you peel them off the sheet, you have to expose them to heat for 3-5 seconds to make them more flexible. I always use my blow dryer and that works perfectly. Next, apply the wrap to your nail, trim and file the excess, then hit them with a little heat again to fully bond the wraps to the nail.

These are a little more time consuming to apply than traditional wraps, since you have to involve a heat source, but I've found them to be extremely sturdy on the nail so taking a little extra time with them typically equates to long, worry-free wear. I also like that if you get a crease or a bubble when applying, you can smooth it out with a little patience and an extra blast from the blow dryer. To remove, soak them in acetone for 30 seconds to break down the adhesive, then gently peel them off.

Maureen sent me a selection of different Jamberry accent nails to play around with. These little sheets feature six different wraps, each with a different design, so that you can see what patterns you like and get a feel for how Jamberry wears and applies. I'm obsessed with nail wraps, but I've never tried them as accent nails. Here's a couple quick and easy combinations I came up with using these designs!

Grey: Barielle Feathered Slippers

Green: Essie Chillato

Red: Barielle Blushing Beauty

There's a bit of a learning curve with Jamberry, but I've found I can get the hang of it pretty quickly. It's been a while since I used any Jamberry wraps, so my first attempt (the flower wrap with Barielle Feathered Slippers) wasn't perfectly smooth, but this was due to user error rather than a flaw with the product. After that though, I got back in the groove and didn't have any issues applying the rest of the wraps.

My favorite of these was the overlay wrap I wore over Essie Chillato. I believe the name of this design is Island Energy. It adhered really well to the polish already on my nail and added a fun bit of depth to my existing manicure.

Have you tried anything from Jamberry before? I'd love to hear how what your experience with them was like in the comments!


Disclosure: These products were sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: Mattify

I am not the biggest matte fan, but it's still a fun finish to play around with every now and again. For today's mattify theme, I thought it'd be fun to do something with a bright shade. So I paired Sally Hansen Poppin' Paprika (another beauty from the Amanda files) with my favorite matte top coat, Jamberry Matte Top Coat.

Welp, I gotta run. My boss' boss' boss is coming to my work today, and guess who gets to oversee the visit? Think good thoughts for me!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Azature Lavender Diamond

 Azature Lavender Diamond is a seriously misnamed color. It's really more of a...dusty magenta, I guess? Whatever it is, it ain't lavender. But it is a very pretty creme with a beautiful shine to it--could have something to do with the fact that every Azature polish is made with a real black diamond!

The formula is stellar and very, very close to being a one-coater. I used two total, just to cover up a few stray patches.

Just for funsies, I decided to try mattifying Lavender Diamond, using Jamberry's Matte Top Coat. As much as I love the high-gloss finish of Azature's polishes, I thought it'd be interesting to mix things up a bit. I don't wear mattes too often, but I've been itching to wear a matte purple lately.

So which way do you prefer this polish? I kinda like it matte, myself!

You can purchase Azature from their website.


Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Jamberry Giveaway Winner

Jamberry consultant Amanda was kind enough to host a giveaway on my blog for a Jamberry Glitter Top Coat and today I'm very excited to announce the winner! The winner is...

Ashley S!

Congratulations, Ashley! Please check your e-mail, as I've already sent you a message about how to officially claim your prize.

And last but not least, thank you to everyone who entered! :)

UPDATE: I have heard back from Ashley, so the giveaway is now officially closed!

Jamberry Liberty & Matte Top Coat: Review & Swatches--Plus A Giveaway!

Jamberry is well known for their nail wraps, but did you know they make polish too? Yep, Jamberry now has its own line of polish, as well as other essentials like base and top coats, and today we'll be taking a peek at some of what they have to offer!

Jamberry sells their products through individual consultants and the consultant I worked with this time is named Amanda. She was very hands-on and willing to help! You can visit her Jamberry site (where you can also place orders, if you are so inclined) HERE. She had me pick a color to try and I selected Liberty, an inky shade of navy with a high-shine finish.

The formula is excellent--virtually a one-coater. I did use two just to even a few patches out on a couple of the nails. I like that Liberty is visibly blue, not black (Near-blacks are a pet peeve of mine.) and it's got such a beautiful shine to it, too! The pictures you see above were taken without top coat, so it has that gleam all on its own.

I skipped the top coat because Amanda was also generous enough to send me some of Jamberry's Matte Top Coat to try! Here it is over Liberty:

It is, quite simply, the best matte top coat I've ever used. The consistency is spot-on and it delivers a true matte finish in no time. I was very impressed!

But wait, there's more! :) Amanda is also offering a free Jamberry glitter top coat to one lucky Nailed reader! See the Rafflecopter widget below for details and the giveaway rules. Good luck, everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  


Disclosure: These products were provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: Chevron Manicure

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is one I have not been looking forward to: a chevron mani. I've never attempted a chevron before; I'm not coordinated enough to freehand it and experience has taught me I'm pretty terrible with tape any nail art techniques involving tape. So nail wraps to the rescue!

A while back, I did a review of some Jamberry Nails wraps and my Jamberry consultant, Amy, was kind enough to send along a few extra individual strips to practice with before I used the set sent for review. (You can read more about my experience with Amy and Jamberry HERE, if you would like.) I still had a few of the strips left over and luckily for me, one of them featured a chevron design!

I used the chevron wrap on my ring finger, then tried to find some polishes for a Skittles mani that would correspond with the rainbow of colors on the wrap design. My thumb is Essie In The Cab-ana, my index finger is China Glaze Creative Fantasy, my middle finger is OPI On The Same Paige and my pinky is Adore Blushing Bride.

I'm pretty pleased with my color matching. I didn't have an exact match for the orange, but I think I came close enough. Originally I used China Glaze Urban Night as my purple and it was waayyy too dark so I swapped it out for Creative Fantasy.

So there's my chevron mani. It's kind of cheating and it's nothing to really get excited about (although the wrap design is adorable), but thankfully I have some very creative Twinsies who always pick up the slack. ;) So be sure to take a look at their gorgeous chevrons!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Traci at DrinkCitra

Jamberry Nails Autism Awareness Nail Wraps: Review & Giveaway

TGIF! How about a little giveaway fun to start off your weekend? I've got some awesome nail wraps from Jamberry Nails to share with you today AND a chance for you to win a set of wraps of your choice too!

Let me start with the wraps themselves! I received these wraps for review from Amy, an independent consultant with Jamberry Nails. Amy was an absolute pleasure to work with and always willing to offer help and advice. There are a lot of fun Jamberry designs to choose from (you can see them all on Amy's website, if you like) and the design I received was the Autism Awareness wraps. They retail for $15 and one of the cool things about this particular design is that Jamberry Nails donates $2 to the Autism Society for every purchase of these wraps. The puzzle piece is a commonly used symbol for autism awareness campaigns, so the design serves as a beautifully colorful reminder of the cause it supports.

The nail wraps themselves are easy to apply. Each sheet of wraps comes with lots of different sizes (some wraps are big enough to use on toes too, if you like) so you just peel off the size that is closest to your nail. You can trim the wraps too if you need to. I find it works best to choose a wrap that is slightly bigger, since the shrink a bit in the application process, but not so big that the wrap is touching your cuticle or your skin. Then, heat the wrap under a blow dryer for a few seconds and place it on your nail. A rubber cuticle pusher or something similar helps to seal the wrap completely in place around your cuticle. Cut off the unused half of the wrap and save it for another nail. File down the excess using a downward swiping motion, then give your nail another blast of heat. Press down to completely seal the edges and you're done! You can watch this video if you'd like to see the application process in action.

I think the hardest part for me is getting the placement right, but that's more a user error issue than anything wrong with the product. You don't need to put any topcoat over the wraps and they wear like iron when applied correctly. I once wore a set of these when I moved out of my apartment and they stayed completely intact through the whole ordeal! These wraps are especially great if you need a mani that will stand up to whatever you're going to throw at it or if you're going on a trip and don't want to worry about regular polish. Plus, they're just plain fun!

To remove the wraps, you just soak them in acetone for 20-30 seconds, then rub them off. Or you can blast them with heat from your dryer again and use an orange stick to help break the adhesive seal on the wraps.

Want to try some for yourself? Well, Amy has also been kind enough to host a giveaway for Nailed readers! Thank you, Amy! The winner will receive a set of Jamberry Nails wraps in their choice of design. Just go to Amy's website and pick out your favorite Jamberry Nails design, then leave me a note in the comments about which one you like best!

For the rest of the giveaway rules and more ways to earn entries, just use the Rafflecopter widget below! Good luck! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclosure: The product in this post was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Review: Jamberry Nail Shields

I've always wanted to try nail decals but never bit the bullet on them. So when Adriane, an independent consultant from Jamberry Nails (check out her site HERE), recently contacted me about reviewing a set of Jamberry Nail Shields, I was very excited!

Jamberry Nail Shields cost $15 per sheet and are sold through independent consultants (think like Mary Kay or Avon). There are literally hundreds of designs to choose from, so no matter what your tastes or interests are, there's going to be a design for you. I had a hard time picking but ultimately settled on a design called Birds. One sheet is said to be enough to do 2-3 sets of nails or toes, which seems accurate to me based on the fact you get 18 nail shields with each sheet and they're pretty generously sized. The stickers arrive on a sheet, like so:

And here is what they look like on the nail right after applying:

Cute, right? There's a small learning curve involved, but application is simple once you get it down. The nail shields come with clear, detailed instructions and Adriane also included several of her own tips and tricks that were very helpful for a newbie like myself! Basically, you heat the appliques up with heat from your blowdryer. After you stick the shield to your nail and smooth everything out, cut off the excess half of the shield (You can re-heat these, so stick the unused half back on the sheet and save it for next time!) then file in a downward motion until the shape of the sticker lines up with the edge of your nail.

The shields come with a clear protective layer over the design, so you don't need to use any topcoat, although I suppose you could if you wanted to. Although I am holding my topcoat bottle in the pictures above, I didn't use any for this mani because I wanted to see how well the shields wore on their own.

I moved this past weekend, so I seriously put my poor nail shields through the ringer while wearing them and they held up very well despite the major beating I gave them. At first I kept worrying they were going to rip or fall off, but these things are tough! They lasted through packing, moving, prying open a rather stubborn storage locker, cleaning, swimming at my new place's pool (Yay!), you name it. Some of the shields dimpled around the edges over time, but overall they really stayed put and none of the shields peeled, ripped or fell off. Here is what they looked like after four really rough days of wear:

These would be perfect for a vacation when you don't want to pack polish and remover. They're surprisingly sturdy and stood up against whatever I threw at them. The shields still had a lot of life in them when I took them off and I could easily see these lasting at least a week or more. Removal is just as easy as application. Just get under the edge of the nail shield and peel the shield off. The shields didn't leave any residue or adhesive on my nails afterwards. Since I've still got a lot of shields left, I want to try these for my next pedi!

I'd say my first foray into nail shields was a success! I was very impressed with how much these shields were able to withstand and I had a great experience with my consultant Adriane. Although I didn't have any issues applying my nail shields, she assured me she would be available for any questions or troubleshooting if I did need any help. To learn more about Jamberry Nail Shields or about placing a Jamberry order with Adriane, you can access her website HERE.


Disclosure: This product was provided for my honest review. For more details, please see my disclosure policy.