Valentine’s Day Nails 2016 Featuring Polish Julep Hartleigh

Happy Valentine’s Day! Yes, I know. I featured Julep Hartleigh for my Valentine’s Day Nails in 2015 as well. After all, Julep sent a free bottle of Hartleigh in February 2015 and February 2016. It is as if Julep thinks Hartleigh makes the perfect Valentine’s polish, and that assumption is probably correct. The odds of me finishing any bottle of nail polish are slim, so I will gift or trade the duplicate bottle. For this look and the swatch, I used my 2015 freebie. My look from last year to this year is actually quite different even using Hartleigh as the main accent polish. This look also uses Julep Oxygen base and top coats and Formula X X ♥ Rouge.

I gave myself a manicure before applying one base coat, one coat of X ♥ Rouge, one coat of Hartleigh, and one top coat. Every layer was thick, so it took a long time for them to dry. Hartleigh is a little difficult to work with, because you have to dig for the hearts. Most of the time, the brush comes up only with the glitter and white dots. Of all ten nails, a heart only came up without extra digging once. This is probably because the hearts are heavy compared to the other items in the mix. Once you get a heart, it is hard to make it lie flat and in the right direction. Eventually, I just let the hearts lay where they did, so they face all different directions.

I also got a pedicure on the ninth using my own Julep Oxygen base and top coats with Julep Iman. The technician applied one base coat, two coats of Julep Iman, and one top coat. Julep Iman looks more like Ruby Slippers than Julep Ruby Slippers, which I also own.

I recently started a nail polish series to swatch and discuss all the polishes I own. In that series, I explain that Formula X X ♥ Rouge is a perfect candy apple red where another (very expensive) polish that claims it is candy apple red falls short. If you want to compare my red polishes, check out the article. You can also compare Iman to Ruby Slippers to see that Iman is more brilliant (even though they’re both made by Julep). Ruby Slippers does have a tad more glitter, so adding it on top of Iman may create the desired ruby slippers effect. Publishing swatches of my other colors will happen soon.

I actually love the way this turned out. It was simple enough that someone uncreative (like me) can do it without messing up too badly. My husband is not a fan of anything other than a single coat of solid polish, so he said it looks messy. The way it sparkles in the light when the topcoat finds the glitter is quite striking.

I wanted to get a close up of the detail, but the camera has a hard time focusing on so many tiny details. Just take my word that it looks brilliant, not messy, in person. There is a little clean up I need to do to the sides, but it will look great when it’s done.

I know I cannot take credit for doing my feet. This is a professional pedicure (where I brought my own polish), but I had to show off how beautiful Iman is. This shimmery, ruby-red polish is one of my favorites in a collection that now sits at 374. Compare these to my other red polishes.

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