Look at this polish!

Goodbye, Soul-Killing Job!!!

2011-10-05T17:39:00.002-04:00

I have been gone so long!! I'm back! New job, new camera, crappy nails. But I have some great makeup to take a look at.

I'll be posting any minute now.

Check out what the hurricane did!

Just A Great Polish

2010-02-27T09:28:00.015-05:00

This is OPI - Ginger Bells.

Part of the 2009 Holiday Collection. It's a muted pumpkin color, suitable for wall and finter etc. It just looks GREAT. That's the word I kept thinking. I even said, "Doesn't this look great?" and my coworker said, "Yeah."

Not everyone gets it, do they?

I just kept looking at it all day and enjoying.

Even though I don't think it does any favors to my skin tone, it's just unusual enough to look very current.

With a matte coat however,

not so much. It sucked the life right out of it.

Here it is with its compatriot OPI - Shim-merry Chic.

I'm going to put the bottle picture in too, even though it sucks. The picture, not the polish.

It's hard to cope with this bleak winter light.

It's got flakes and glitter and makes an excellent top coat. Turns Ginger Bells brown, but the flakes are the color of the Ginger Bells. Very pretty and would work on a number of colors as the base. I haven't tried it alone yet.

Here's OPI - Absolutely Alice over Orly - Witch's Blue (mini bottle).

I've been reading mixed reviews about this and the Avril Lavigne song for the movie - but I really like both of them!!

Here's the little Witch's Blue and it's a beautiful blue on its own. I just didn't get a pic of it.

This is a fabulous polish, but it gets noticed. If you work in the kind of place where they don't really approve of this kind of thing you probably want to use it on the weekend. Yeah, I got some looks. I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be professional. Borrrring. lol

Last for today I have RBL - Bruised.

I bought this a while back. It is professional and I have a sweater that matches it...very nice for working.

I can't remember why I bought it because its mauve-ness is not really me.

But it's brownish without being brown, it's purplish without being pinkish and that works and I like the name.

The love of my life is bugging me to go do something today. I think he's in denial about the state of affairs with the snow. I told him, "I am doing something - I'm writing my blog!" and he got all nasty. It's the cabin fever. I shouldn't tease him, he could get aggressive. But come on, the man is looking at kayaking creeks and bike trails. Hello?

The view out the back.

I think this calls for watching a movie (We got Whip It on Netflix) and sending my newly driver licensed son out for Ben & Jerry's and taking a nap with the kitties.

Am I right?

Orly Gems - My Loving Tribute

2010-02-20T11:56:00.021-05:00

Yes, this came out for Fall 2008 so you probably saw the swatches that summer before. Yet, I love all of these so I decided to do the whole collection.

We have here, L to R, Golden Jubilee, Sea of Light, Star of Bombay, Golden Maharaja, Mandalay Ruby and Midnight Star.

I started swatching these Fall of 2009 when they were first on sale and did two of them. They are named after actual gems, and I'm telling those stories too.

First we have Mandalay Ruby.

This was the cheapest one, $2.99. The others were $4.49 and I searched everywhere to find all of them with their rings. Seems that people shoplifted the rings! You might still find these around.

The real Mandalay Ruby.
Mandalay is in Burma where they have ruby mines.

I read up on the Mandalay Ruby and found out that a good color for rubies is the shade of "pigeon's blood." Great. Now that's all I can think of.

Glamorous! All in all, a very respectable red. Clear color, just a hint of darkness, a priceless ruby! I found out that real rubies always have flaws. That's how you can tell it's real.

The other one I swatched previously was Golden Maharaja.

This is not golden, really, except when you look up close.

Isn't that cool? The first coat comes out very reddish, then you get a rich brown, and with the last coat this shimmer comes out strong.

Here's the real Golden Maharaja.

The Golden Maharaja is a 65.57 carat diamond!! Holy wow. It's not Indian, however, and has no cool historical tale. It's from South Africa, was shown at the Paris World Fair of 1937, spent some time in a museum and was sold in 1991 for $1.3 million. Snore. I was hoping for it being in the crown worn by some ancient ruler's elephant or something. Pretty though. I didn't know diamonds came in this color.

Looks great on me. Would have been cooler if they made it that teardrop shape though.

Next up let's go with Sea of Light.

I was convinced this would look horrendous on me, and guess what? It doesn't!! I gave my first one to my sister before I even wore it. Took me awhile to find one with a ring on it.

I think it's coral enough to really work on a variety of skin tones.

The real Sea of Light. How amazing is this. It's called the Darya-ye Noor Diamond of Iran. One of the largest diamonds in the world, and pale pink, one of the most rare.

The shape of this one is pretty accurate!

Golden Jubilee.

I wasn't sure how this one would work on me either, and I really liked it. A whole lot. It was a lot sheerer than the others and came out a nice soft peachy gold.

It looks really cool posed on my jeans here.

Here's the real deal:

The Golden Jubilee Diamond is the largest faceted diamond in the world. It used to be called "The Unnamed Brown," and was considered a bit of an ugly duckling in the gem world.

Makes a nice ring.

It's a fine feeling to wear all of these priceless gemstones!

Star of Bombay.

I've heard of people (Jen from Nevertoomuchglitter) like to franken with this because it's such a pure blue. No red or green in it.

Here is the real one.

The real Star of Bombay is a star sapphire, a really interesting stone. It's blue and when you put it in the sun this star appears. This gem was given to the Smithsonian by US movie star Mary Pickford. It's from Sri Lanka.

The polish is a lot darker. Looks close to black.

I think even navy blue is lighter than this. It's as close to black as you're gonna get while still being blue. Love this!

The last one is Midnight Star.

It's a gorgeous pearly muted purple. Really unique.

And what does the real Midnight Star have to tell us?

This is also from Sri Lanka and there was some debate over whether it was really a ruby, but no, it's also a sapphire. It has a reddish tone which was deceivingly ruby-like to some. It's compared to the color of the sky after sunset.

Well, this polish isn't really like that, but boy is it ever pretty.

It does have that same smokey, mysterious look.

These are fun to sort.

Two frosts (orange & purple), two cremes (blue & red), two sort-of-shimmers (pink & brown).

Two round rings (red & purple), two oval rings (orange & blue), two rectangular rings (pink & brown).

Warm colors (pink, brown, orange), cool colors (red, blue, purple).

It has traditional (red and pink)
Gothy (purple and blue)
Season-appropriate (brown & orange)

I wish there were more of them to do! I loved the formula of all of them as well as the colors and the fun of the names.

I like the uniqueness of this collection and I really love swatching a whole collection, it's really fun!

Aargh...A Dupe. I hate that.

2010-02-14T10:35:00.004-05:00

I found this really pretty Essie - Bahama Mama and I should have known.

It's exactly like Borghese - Palermo Plum.

I love a nice plum. I'm at the point with polishes that I really need to check if I have something close. I'm not the kind of collector who needs every variation of something. You can see that the Essie is just slightly pinker.

My cuticles are so unhappy these days. Winter is getting really long. My application kind of sucks here too.

I'm busy watching the olympics! The luge guy makes me sad though.

Anyway, everyone, enjoy your day, no matter what kind of expectations are involved. It's still a great day and only a few weeks left to Spring and pedicure weather shortly after that!!

Lots of love to you!!

Black Radiance - And The BRUSH

2010-02-06T10:17:00.011-05:00

Looks like Black Radiance revamped themselves a bit to be even more vampy! New bottle, shiny colors, added "Bold & Sexy" to the name. Wow. I'm feeling a little coquine....

On the left is old school - Red Ebony. Middle is Passion, right is Naughty (Coquine!)

The Red Ebony is not swatched here. I may have done it at some point in the past. It's actually one of my favorites, a nice brownish-red. Kind of luxurious.

Okay check out the package for a second.

See that "dome cut brush" thing? It's crazy, man!

They are not kidding. This thing is huge. Take the Insta-Dri brush and add two OPI brushes.

The new one is on the right. It doesn't look as big here, but that thing is 3-dimensionally huge. It's a little hard to deal with, but I have fairly small nail beds. Would probably work really well if you have wider and longer ones.

Hey, I feel really dumb, but I just found out Black Radiance is marketed for "African American Women." Hm. I didn't even guess that. I'm what should be marketed toward "Dumb Blonde." Well, their product is good and I'm going to buy it. I'll just insinuate myself into their demographic for a minute.

Here's Naughty.

It's gray with just a taste of something greenish. I thought it was black. I like this, although would put on another coat; this is two. It's similar to other grey metallicy hint of color things that I have.

Here's Passion.

I love this. It's an awesome black red. I know I have something similar to this, probably Petites, but the red glitter is a lot more obvious in that. This is subtle, a real undercurrent.

Now I want to get the rest of these. The old school Red Ebony someone gave me a few years ago after I admired it and I've worn it many times. In fact, I would compare it to Essie Rock Star Skinny. These two new ones I just bought the other day at Cherry Hill Beauty Supply for $3.39 and they had more.

I love really black polishes. I keep hearing how people wish it would go out of style and I say BLACK POLISH FOREVER (or when I most feel like it!!!)

Here we are a little closer to Passion. It's what I strive for.

The Other Blogger RBL

2010-02-04T20:50:00.008-05:00

The other of the three blogger RBLs is Mismas.

Now see this is only ONE coat. Mismas is courtesy of Michelle from All Lacquered Up. Look it up.

Just a teensy bit of cuticle pull (which is something that Michelle historically doesn't like).

ALU is one of the granddaddies of all nail polish blogs. It's a behemoth. Lots to see there.

How cool is it to have an RBL named after you?

This is actually a really lovely purple. In the bottle you can see a lovely blue collecting around the top before you shake it. This is a dark purple that holds its own and is in no way black or vampy. I think she really achieved her goal with this.

Except...I stand by my disappointment with RBL although this formula is way better than Scrangie. Cuticle pull? Really? When that's one thing that means a lot to Michelle?

This is one of the things that truly annoys me about marketing. It's so fake. RBL said "Let's jump on the blogger bandwagon and act like we care." They made these three blogger polishes, with their input and did not really listen to what was important to them.

Diatribe with no new photos - you can leave now if you want:

This is why I don't need a disclaimer for my blog although I should have a disclaimer disclaimer. I only post and review what I have paid retail and sales tax for. Or if I got it from someone for a gift or borrowed or stole from a family member or friend.

Many bloggers advertise and almost all of them get the products from the companies for free. That's fine and I love seeing the new stuff that's coming out, but I wanted to blog about the consumer experience and give some genuine buying advice for a product that you can never tell how it's going to act until it's on you. I hope the marketers pay some attention to blogs like this too.

I think we deserve quality products that make us happy! I know my nail polish makes me very happy during the day and I love trying it out, writing about it, wearing it around. I also love the fact that we can all get together and benefit from each other's experience and say, "I would really love to try that color, where can I buy it?" or, "I love that color but I'm not paying $18 for it if the formula sucks," or "My skin tone looks really terrible with that but maybe a bluer version of it would work." Stuff like that.

Thanks for joining me!

Disappointed!

2010-02-02T20:01:00.004-05:00

You know, I love Scrangie. Just look at scrangie.com. I was really excited about the RBL blogger polishes, and bought all 3. Today I just have Scrangie and its inside with no flash because it's winter and my job is consuming all my time and I feel bad about neglecting my blog!

This is two coats and I can't think Scrangie is happy about that.

The color is awesome though...unusual and complicated! Bright blue flash, but wait, there's a green flash too!

Reminds me of two other favorites, Color Club - Ultra Violet and Wet n Wild - Eggplant Frost.

But darn, you guys, the formula on the RBL just sucks. It's gummy, it doesn't dry for all day, kind of rolls up when you bump something and does not work well with top coats. And it's expensive! Those other two are under $3.00. The RBL is freaking $18.00. I bought it on sale, $9.00.

It surprises me because Scrangie is all about writing about the formula. I wish RBL had done her some justice.

I'm gonna go put on another coat. Much as I think the color is cool, I don't recommend you buy this. But go read Scrangie's blog. She's the best.

Random Swatch Generator

2010-01-03T17:07:00.011-05:00

This is about me forgetting what-all I took pictures of and seeing what comes up in the camera memory card. Ready?

Oh yes. Orbis Non Sufficit - Rescue Beauty Lounge. One of the "blogger" ones.

It's an army green, but when army was green flowy camo, not pixellated camo. Like this.

See the green here? Like that. It came out slightly bluer on my camera.

(FYI - headbands are not army issue lol! Cool headband though. I'm an army brat and this is what camo looked like in the 80's.)

The Polish Addict is the one who designed this one. She is a lawyer, was in the process of passing the bar when she was working on this polish with RBLs designer.

Orbis Non Sufficit means "The World is Not Enough," a James Bond film.

I wonder if she was mad when Orly came out with Enchanted Forest around the same time. I bought Enchanted Forest first and I like it, but I like both of them. EF is more of an evergreen, ONS is definitely olive-toned.

Next I have OPI - Holiday Glow.

It annoys me that everyone and their dog is posting this color in their blogs.

Oh well. It's interesting to see it on different hands, right? And to get everyone's review.

This color's really beautiful, with pink glitter mixed into gold and brown. It's original to treat brown like a party color.

Next I have Inferno - Wet n Wild, which the love of my life picked out.

This is a deep, rich tangerine. It made me long for summer so I can put it on my toes! Remember toes?

I just did a pedicure yesterday and gave them some TLC. Boy, did they need it.

Behold the ghostly white hand. Wonder at its ability to blend into the white wall. But besides that terror, the Inferno is really very pretty. A mismatched name again. It's more of a shiny tangerine dress than a fiery conflagration.

And then there's OPI-Saphire in the Snow, with Merry Midnight layered on top. Because it came that way in this kit with a bracelet.

It's not at all blue, it's purple. I swear. I couldn't get the color at all. But Saphires are blue so I don't really understand this one.

Now talk about idiotic marketing. This says 2 holiday nail lacquers for 4 great looks. So I'm trying to figure out the looks:
1) Saphire in the Snow
2) Merry Midnight
3) Both layered
4) Add the bracelet?
Or do they mean each one layered over the top of the other with the bracelet and each by itself, or layered just one way and with or without the bracelet???

Layered it looks a lot like Holiday Glow only not brown. It has flakes instead of glitter. To illustrate my apathy, I didn't even take any other pictures or wear the bracelet, which is a nice silver cuff. I don't know why.

This is what I have for now, and hopefully will have more soon of the following:

I got the kit with the gold bracelet and Ginger Bells and Shim-Merry Chic, but I haven't tried it yet. I also gifted myself with SEVEN RBLs during their SALE!!! I got the three sparklers, the three bloggers and an awesome matte coat. More on those later. Teaser: I was a little disappointed!! Which surprised and dismayed me!!

Looks Good At Parties

2009-12-12T08:38:00.021-05:00

This is part of my holiday stash. Look at that, only $6.99. Color Club is one of my favorites. These are a little smaller than their normal bottles.

One thing I like is you can count on their dense glitter in not too many coats. Here's everyone out of the box.

L to R, Wonderland, Under The Mistletoe, Yule Love It, Clear Top Coat (hee)

Here's the best one first.

Wonderland is a big silver glitter in a gold base so it comes out this pretty white gold.

In bright sunlight though, and this is true for all of them, the glitter actually casts its own shadow and looks too dark. These all look better in low lighting. I would rename Wonderland as Candlelight.

BUT! On each tiny label it says CAUTION: AVOID HEAT & FLAME. I was holding a candle last night and had no idea I was being so reckless.

Here're the other two.

I think these two are just too light for my taste for holiday marketing. These seem more like late spring colors - imagine azalea and grass. The green has a lot of yellow and the red has a lot of pink.

Here's everyone up close and then full hand.

The texture is pebbly, but smooth. It appears exactly like that thick foil paper you see wrapped around champagne bottle necks or in gift bags.

I didn't even wear the top coat, and these are two coats each. They could have used another coat or two for density, but the coverage of glitter was fine in two coats.

You can see here where the glitter casts a shadow and defeats the purpose.

The top coat made the polish smooth as a creme. It was nice to have a top coat in there. At first I was disappointed because I would have liked another color instead of clear, but when a polish is chunky that top coat finishes it nicely and I like having a new top coat instead of some old thing I have laying around. Feels kind of special.

I think this would make a nice gift for a work pollyanna. The Wonderland looked really nice for a holiday dinner and I got a compliment on it!

Shopping For Myself

2009-12-09T13:57:00.015-05:00

Because what are the holidays for except that you use all those holiday bargains for your own happiness? We should all just spend lots of money on ourselves. It's also my birthday around now, so more reason to buy myself presents.

Here's a stash I bought at the beauty supply store and Ulta the other day.

Look at all that holiday happiness! It almost makes me want to get in the mood and decorate. The OPI ones came with a free gold and silver bracelet.

On the left in the middle is Orly - Pixie Dust. And here it is.

You also get a pixie charm. I love this color. It's just enough gray not to be blue and it has silver micro glitter and tiny silvery-gray flakes. Pretty as anything. Work-appropriate? I say yes.

I found Essie - Jackie Oh My on sale but my pictures came out blurry for some reason.

I must redo this because it's beautiful. Sheer and subtly sparkly, applies without streaks, made my nails look amazing.

You can almost see the shimmer in this one.

For you younger folks, there was an autobiography called Jackie Oh! about Jacqueline Onassis (Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of pres.). She was a big fashion scion in the late 50's, early 60's. Tab collars, giant sunglasses, pillbox hats, etc. Really cool fashion of the time. Her eyes were very far apart. You gotta look that up now don't you?

I bought some Jessie's Girl because I wanted to test it out. It was very cheap, like $2 or something at CVS. The bottle is a little rectangle.

This is called Midori. Good name. It's a little pearly for my taste. Just looks kind of cheap. Like the kind they put in little girl sets with a disney character or snoopy or something.

Here's a Midori Sour. I could go for one of these right about now.

Here's my overdue Halloween effort.

Such a cute bottle! I will always love bar glitter, but it always looks hairy. Good for Halloween. This is called Fantasy Makers - Black Magic. It's clear with pink, blue, yellow and black bar glitter.

Here's an old CG Nailslicks I found somewhere. It's called Midnight Forest.

I like the name, but don't really see any green here, if that's what they meant.

It reminds me of Sally Hanson - Gunmetal more than anything. Let's see if I can find my swatch of that.

Yep, it's a little darker, but much the same feel.

Next post will be all those new holiday things I got!! MAYBE I'll start doing them NOW!!

Posting From The Sickbed

2009-11-27T11:57:00.010-05:00

I have the dreaded H1N1. I'm so bored and sore from laying in bed I decided to get up and do some nails. Forgive my application because I'm shaky-handed.

First we have two Fire Opals from Sally Hanson. My sister had extras so she gave me these. I heard they were hard to find.

Earthen Opal. I really didn't expect to like this at all, but it looks really cool.

It's sort of a reddish-coral. Very bright and notice-me.

It has a grainy, shimmery texture. It's quite sheer, but this is three coats.

I cropped this next one really close because my application was pretty spectacular.

Goldspun Opal. Extremely sheer. This is also three coats.

This has a nice pinky-gold shimmer. I think it would look nice layered, perhaps over a brown or tan? I'll have to give that a try. Maybe even over a gold.

It doesn't flatter my skin tone like this, just plain, and makes my nails look very stained.

I'm in love with these Claire's 3 in 1 Mixables.

The bottle I got was a little shaken. This is Liberty (supposed to be Red, White and Blue).

I got this cool fuscia shade from the red and blue mixture.

There's a sparse, chunky glitter and you just never know what you'll get! They dry matte so they're also very trendy.

Last we have a polish that I picked up on sale and tried and immediately dismissed because it seemed really outdated.

Chine Glaze - Princess Grace. I hated the frost and it looked pink and girly and like something my grandmother and mother wore, etc. etc.

Then you know what happened? I ended up wearing it all week because I just didn't have time to change it and I fell a little in love. It's a greyed-out pearly LAVENDER.

I didn't use a top coat and it wore like iron. It was very flattering, very business-like, and not too frosty. More pearly.

Also, anything with "princess" in the name just sells me. I don't know why.

So there's what we have for today. It is really awfully overcast and I was taking pictures from my bedroom window, but not too bad. Now I will be laying back down with my head spinning. Man, I hate being sick.

Stained Glass and Starry

2009-11-15T11:10:00.009-05:00

I purposely did only one coat of each of these.

This is Sinful Colors - I Miss You on the left and Finger Paints - Shades of Dark on the right.

Shades of Dark is one of my favorite colors. I crave its peaceful grape jellyness.

This is one coat. It looks much better with two or three, naturally, but I wanted a sheer, kind of stained glass look so I left it like this.

I added the top coat of I Miss You in an attempt to make it sheer and sparkly, yet dark.

Mission accomplished, yet I was a little disappointed.

I was hoping that the I Miss You would look more dimensional and mixed in, rather than just laying on the top. You can't really see that it is a purple sparkle.

I like the sheer look, but I might try another coat of each just to see if that makes it look more cohesive.

I've featured my one dog, Joe, here, so here's the other four footed friend.

This is Patches. She's an Australian Cattle Dog. She's 5 years old and I've had her from a puppy. She was always gray, or blue, as they call it.

She is petite but keeps this guy in line.

Joe is a mix of a bunch of things including Staffordshire Terrier, aka Pit Bull. I think there's Lab, maybe Boxer? Some Shepherd? Who knows. He was on his last day in the world when I took him home two years ago from the pound. I think he's about 3 years old.

I walk him with a leash and muzzle at all times and I wish everyone would make sure to keep their dogs leashed. He's not dog friendly and I don't want anyone getting hurt because of dog miscommunication.

Here's me!

I'm trying to pretend I'm not being photographed. I'm reading a graphic novel and I have coffee on the shelf beside me. I love Sundays! Now I'm gonna go read Post Secret.

A Plethora of Red

2009-11-08T10:55:00.018-05:00

First we have a sympathy case. A background story: you know how I will choose a poor, dusty clearance polish and give it love? I also save mice from glue traps (horrible things, look it up). I found this sad little bottle of polish at my sister's house and brought it to the nail polish hospital.

I forced the lid open with my teeth and then pliers, added some thinner, cleaned off the gunk on the bottle neck and polished away.

It smells bad. Definitely not 3 free. Colorama. I can't read the back label either, I'm guessing...

Somethingberry Spritzer? Cute name. Cute red, sparkly. My work here is done. I guess I'll give it back to my sister.

And THIS. I looked at this for a long time wanting, but telling myself I had too many reds.

Orly - Haute Red. What to my wondering eyes appeared a wonderful creamy tomato red! Opaque in one coat, looking perfect in two. Here's a little aside: when my gas light comes on I'm famous for saying, "What, are you kidding me? I could go all the way to Virginia and back," and then....

Whoops.

Gotta haul out the gas can in style.

This next is what I would call "a perfectly serviceable red."

Sinful Colors - #245 Satin Shoes. I believe it. They probably do have 245 reds called Satin Shoes that look like this. Perfectly boring.

I have a few bones to pick here. The bottle looks like a nice brownish fall red and shows up on the nail as a bit of frosty, plain red. My bottle neck was gunked up and the polish was gloopy, so this was probably returned by someone, but I paid full price for it at the drugstore! Mad.

Here's OPI - DS Ruby. I have a well-documented love of the DS holographics, but this left me nonplussed.

See, I like my reds to have some moxie, and this just falls a little wimpy.

It's pretty, but it's barely there. This could have been so much better. Also, it doesn't look very good with my skin.

This next one is killing me. It looks like an elegant evening dress in the bottle. I was even intrigued by it's shiny luxuriousness in the bristles of the brush. I applied it, hoping for that awestruck moment when you know you have something really cool going on....and as soon as it hit my nail it lost all will to live.

OPI - I've "Red" the Script. PASS.

Shortly after this next photo, the bottle suffered a fatality on my back paving stones. I thought it would be like a Jack Russell Terrier and just bounce, but it shattered. Thankfully, I had worn it a few times so it was almost done anyway. Sad, tiny bottle.

Sally Girl - Firecracker. Lit-from-within, brownish-burgundy-red. It was a big polish in a little bottle.

What is going on with Sinful Colors? This next one was practically solid in the bottle. I had to load up the brush to even get it to flow. What's worse is it doesn't even look like the same color. Very similar to Firecracker up there, but not half as good.

Sinful Colors - Burgundy Apple. I thought it would be darker and browner, maybe vampier. This is 3 coats and still uneven.

As promised, here is the heinousness:

Look how pretty it is!!! But not on me!!! China Glaze - Sex On The Beach.

It's a silty, silvery, chunky, grayed-out mauve. Really special. Like Unicorns having sex on the beach. For real.

On me?

Headache.

Wow, I really complained a lot in this post!! I really love red though!! I just want us all to get good value and our expectations met. My advice: don't underestimate it; expand your red horizons. You might be very surprised. There is a red for everyone.

Even this guy. Look at that nice fall red he's sporting while stopping by to see what I'm up to today.

I'm Into Reds

2009-11-07T15:57:00.010-05:00

This first one is making me mad because I totally forgot the important macro setting on the camera. It looks like this:

Don't forget. It's good for flowers and nail polish.

So this is way blurry, but it's China Glaze - Sacred Heart.

It's part of my search for a tomato red. Looks okay blurry.

Here it is closer and you can see the problem.

It's not tomato red, just plain red. It looks really different from the bottle which looked like a muddy tomato red, and interesting. This is four coats and it still looks too red and very uneven. Not happy.

Here is what really looks like a magenta to me (see last post, which did not look like a magenta and was supposed to).

OPI - Don't Toy With Me. Part of one of the holiday collections. At first it looks like yet another sparkly red, but this has pink tones and what looks like pink glitter. It's a subtle magenta and just what I was looking for!

This is my on-purpose, inside-out sweater.

I love it because it looks so wrong! Got it at Target, cheap, just thought I'd share.

Since I'm sharing, here's my bubba (generic word for male dog) Joe.

We got the chaise just for him, I think. He fits on it perfectly.

And here's the view with our kayaks.

There's a great blue heron hanging around this lake. If I can get a picture of that I'll post it. It's the most amazing huge thing you've ever seen.

I still have a few more reds. I went through a red thing when I wasn't posting. I also have a color that's so pretty but looks heinous on me so I'll post that for a laugh.

Ms. November

2009-11-01T17:09:00.007-05:00

Hi! I'm back, y'all! Now that I figured out that a memory card can be put right into my darn computer, it's all good over here in New Jersey. Plus, the Phillies. And my new home and job. You can see how it's been difficult, but now I'm back with my polishes! Let's begin.

OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark - Suede. Make no mistake that this is suede. Love that sticker.

I really like this. It looks like a dark bluish purple. More purple than this. I never owned the original, so I don't know what that looked like.

This has a gritty looking finish, but it's smooth. It's matte, and very flat, but the texture keeps it interesting.

This one is from the Holiday in Hollywood collection.

OPI - Call My "Agent" A. A shiny red. Unimpressive.

That collection had some cool duochromes. In fact, I only bought this because I thought it would be cool and then it wasn't.

I wish it looked more like a crayon.

Magenta is a difficult color to capture. Some look very pink, some very red, but it's supposed to be a shade of purple. This polish looks like just red.

That's what I have for now. I will see you soon!

AARGH The Cords Don't Work

2009-10-06T12:37:00.002-04:00

So I have to look thru the manual and figure out what kind of cord I need to buy....

I have off next week so I will make it a priority to find that out.

In the meantime, this morning I put on some Wet & Wild - Wild Orchid because I was in a purple sparkly mood but I forgot it needs like six or seven coats for opacity and I swore I would only buy expensive stuff from now on.

But then I had on some OPI Suede stuff last week it stained my nails and I swore to buy only cheap stuff.

So, no pics yet, but promise, coming soon. Until then, I'll put on another coat of Wild Orchid...

I'm Almost Back!

2009-10-01T08:14:00.002-04:00

I have the love of my life's camera and I downloaded the manual because it has all kinds of dials and settings and I have no clue, but I see the little macro flower and that's all I need! Except I also need the cords, which I think are still buried in the "dining room." In quotes because no dining occurs there yet as there is no table or chairs, only boxes of the last detritus of moving otherwise known as What Is That Stuff? So I'll see you soon. I've already taken a couple of pics. Maybe later tonight? Maybe maybe I hope so!

No Camera!

2009-09-12T20:38:00.002-04:00

I'll be back as soon as I unpack my boyfriend's camera, or maybe get a new one? I had the next Orly Gem for you guys too and now it's in the trash....I'll have to swatch it again. It's the purple one. A preview is that the ring is prettier than the polish. I found the pink one, but the ring has no gem. Anyway, soon I will have these and more back up!

The Difficulties Interfering With My Blog Interest

2009-08-27T16:47:00.006-04:00

My camera got dropped on the floor about nine times too many during the move. Look at this ridiculousness.

It's a fuzzy version of OPI - Here Today Aragon Tomorrow.

Here's a clearer one, but badly positioned. Hello, I posed my green-tipped hand in front of green bushes. Duh.

This is a super dark slime green. It's awesome.

It looks like black, but when you really look there's no mistaking that it's green. I love it so much I wore it with a coral colored shirt and I didn't even care. It's one of the new Espana line. I wasn't very excited by anything else in that line, but this odd green came up out of nowhere and stole my heart.

My camera's batteries are being held in with duct tape and the camera has brain damage. Here's another color.

OPI - My Big Break.

It's a greyish frosty berry. Almost a duochrome, almost metallic. I was surprised how flattering it was. I was afraid it was too pink and too metallic, but I was in the middle of a polish frenzy and I didn't even know what I was buying and when I applied it in my buyer's remorse phase I was most pleasantly assuaged of guilt.

These are both kind of "fall" colors, but fall is on the way.

I always want to jump the gun on the next season anyway. (Season as in season of the year, not fashion seasons. In fashion seasons I think we're up to Spring of 2012.) I think this was part of the collection with Have You Seen My Limo, which I don't even know when came out, but which is awesome. I recommend this color!

I'm going to post more often but I'm still trying to unpack and the love of my life accused me of ignoring him in favor of the blog. (Which is TOTALLY UNTRUE YOU GUYS. He only said that because I was accusing HIM of ignoring ME. You would not believe the horrible communication skills that two therapists have.) So I kind of left my computer alone for a few days and put my clothes in the dresser and books on the shelf and stuff. I GUESS I could ENTERTAIN the concept of doing a little procrastinating and shutting out the world. I GUESS. (But he didn't really mean ignoring him, he meant ignoring the god-awful mess in the house. HE DOESN'T REALLY CARE ABOUT ME!!! And all that.... Can you imagine this ring of hell right now?)

Right now he's walking the dogs so ha ha. Here I am. I like you guys better. So there.

The Honeydew One

2009-08-22T07:33:00.007-04:00

Here's my last of those new Sally Hanson Salons.

Honeydew.

It's a frosty-looking greenish almost turquoise. A pretty color, kind of fun. You know what though?

Totally NOT the color of a honeydew melon.

How pretty would it have been in that light green? I'm really raking them over the coals for these names.

Here, look at it again.

It's on the greener side of turquoise.

And look here.

These are called "old pawn" bracelets made by Zuni and Navajo silversmiths.

I would have named this polish Southwest Jewelry. (Since I'm not sure if you can name things after native american tribes.)

Okay nail polish companies....I'm offering my naming services.

I like this polish. The wear is excellent. I even messed it up after I finished and I kind of pushed it back into place and it wore just fine. The application was pretty awful, but three coats worked out in the end.

You can't even tell I messed up my index finger.

All in all with this line: it's a little bit too expensive, the application is difficult, but the wear is good and the colors are pretty and unique. They all have a bit of a cloudy, frosty feel and look pretty on your hand. I kind of want to try the other colors now. Uh oh.

A Good Solid Purple

2009-08-19T18:40:00.005-04:00

And that's about all I have to say about it.

Sally Hanson Salon - Night Hydrangea.

Can you dig the soft focus? That's how stinking humid it is today, my camera lens is fogged! I should take my portrait.

This is a hydrangea.

A flowering shrub. Blooms range from reddish purple to blue to violet. It blooms all summer.

People use these in fresh or dry flower arrangements. They get darker as fall gets closer. The reddish ones turn a pretty wine color. I used to have one of these in my yard where I moved from.

I thought the "night" part might be a certain kind of hydrangea, but no, I guess it's just the color of one at night.

This is about three or four coats.

It has a bit of a grainy texture and some fine glitteriness in direct sun. Kind of nothing special, yet I wore it for three days. It's a very fine shade of purple.

Not What They Seem

2009-08-16T17:26:00.015-04:00

First of all I have one I was lemming at hello.

The fabulously ugly Sally Hanson Salon - Forsythia.

I must have one of the oddest skin tones on the planet because this matches mine. I love it! According to most women's magazines I have a cool skin tone yet I am sallow. Cool tone because the veins in my arm appear blue, not green, and sallow because I have a golden hue to my skin and I tan easily. Yet, I also burn, freckle and am blonde. Very odd. It's a massive dose of several types of Scandinavian with a possible dash of Cherokee Indian. If you have this skin tone, Forsythia is very flattering! Hard to describe, hard to match.

My biggest problem (besides the formula: tricky, but putting a little extra polish on the brush reduces the pull) is that the actual forsythia looks like this.

One of the first things to bloom in springtime here in the eastern part of the U.S.

Like all early spring colors, it's cool-hued, like a daffodil, but has none of the mustardy, grayed-out, murky yellow of this polish.

In my opinion, I think the word that best describes Forsythia is ELEGANT.

It reminds me of gowns from the 1800's when they were still using plant dyes.

We think of them in black and white, but they had some really funky colors back then!

You might think it's retro-70's, but it's not. If it were a creme, possibly, (I'm thinking of Tupperware from my childhood) but this polish has a pretty pearlescent delicate texture to it's look.

I bet they couldn't have conceived of us wearing this color on our fingernails.

What's best, there are matching shoes!!

Have you ever? This color is fantastic!!

Even if it doesn't match you, I recommend it. It has a deep hue and is unique and retro to when retro had no retro.

My other swatch for today is a sad story. I've been looking for a nice tomato red and I thought I found one at Whole Foods.

No Miss - Boca Red.

The nail doesn't match the bottle at all. I don't know how they managed that. What's worse is the formula applied like A DREAM. It was so easy to work with, I wanted to offer it a job.

If you look close up you can see the problems.

It dried so weird... it looks darker on my nail bed, looks like I dipped my nails in blood. An interesting effect, granted, but not what I was going for. I thought it would make a nice pedicure color, but what I got was a bad jelly red.

It could possibly build, but basically this is a fail.

Does anyone have a really nice tomato red to recommend?

Pretty Jellies

2009-08-15T13:29:00.010-04:00

I have two totally unrelated things here.

Orly - Sweet Tart. A light berry red jelly.

This is four coats and I still have the VNL, but only if you look up close. This reminds me exactly of

that Sally Hanson Insta-Dri - Racy Rouge. Dupe!

Look at Sweet Tart in the shade (cuz that was an overcast day for Racy Rouge).

The color is the same, but the formula, of course, is different.

I love Orly formula, and if I'd had time I would have let it dry nicely and then top-coatted it. Maybe a coat of insta-dri and then a coat of this Orly and it would be perfection. I needed so many coats that the Seche dried, but the coats underneath did not, so it got messed up as soon as I breathed. I really only bought it because the love of my life calls me Sweet Tart as a pet name (which is vaguely insulting, but I'm sure he doesn't mean it that way...). It doesn't look one iota like a Sweet Tart.

Right? Am I right? (Lol, when I googled sweet tart images I got lots of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears)

Well, enough about that. It was a dumb reason to buy a polish, but I've bought polish for some dumb reasons!

Here's another of those Whole Foods earth friendly yuppie polishes.

Suncoast Water-Based Nail Polish - Number 22. I wish they would name these. I name this - Swimm.

Although swimming pools are not so earth-friendly with all the chlorine and stuff, but swimming is very healthy.

It is super-sheer and would need a few more coats for bottle color and you need to apply it super-thin or it looks like pudding. It comes out like a sparkly jelly.

Like a swimming pool sparkling in the sun!

It has pretty depth of color, but needs many many coats. Dries nicely, doesn't wear very strongly at all, but I kind of like these. My earth goddess soul is soothed.

99 Cents Is Good

2009-08-13T14:52:00.007-04:00

I found two little clearance bins at Image Beauty and they were full of 99 cent awesomeness. I also met a very nice mother and daughter (daughter had great taste and color sense!) and told them about nail polish blogs and how helpful they are when you want to buy.

Rainbow Nail Reflections by Brucci - Taupe Rainbow.

I'm usually not crazy about Brucci polishes. They have a lot of variety, but the colors look shallow and unimaginative somehow. This was VERY NICE. Those rainbow people know what they're doing.

It's taupe!

It's goldish and greenish! (I love "ish" colors.)

It's mauvish!

This is three coats with a ridge-filling basecoat (CND) and Seche Vite top coat. I wanted to build it up a lot for more protection for my nails while I continue unpacking.

My nails made it through pretty well, but I'm trying to be very nice to them.

My worst habit is picking at them, even when I'm grooming them. I realized that I used to pick at them and not groom them and now I pick at them using grooming tools. I need to be more gentle and just leave them alone after I push the cuticles back and trim any hangnails.

What you see (if you go close-up) is hangnails after pushing and before cuticle oil. See how tempting to grab those little pieces with tweezers?? Cuticle oil makes them pretty much disappear. I don't have a pic of my nails with the oil though...I forgot...and now my camera batteries died...moving....don't do it unless you really have to!!

Some New Stuff After The Move

2009-08-12T12:13:00.012-04:00

New to me, that is. You may have seen these before...

It's the morning sun making this look blurry. It's actually the writing on the bottle reflecting on the polish.

These are Sally Hanson Salon: Honeydew, Forsythia and Night Hydrangea! I've been wanting these for a long time and I never saw them anywhere. I was in the CVS near my new home and they had the whole collection!! Full price, but I went ahead. Some things you gotta have.

I'll swatch these individually at some point, but here's my skittles to tide us over.

I love them all. They all have dimension and slightly unusual hue. Buy them! I command you!

To continue my love of Orly, here is another of the unsung hero collection...those ring dealies. I reviewed Mandalay Ruby in a previous blog and I can't figure out how to link it, so if you're super curious it's called "Anthropomorphizing" and I did it some time in July.

This is Golden Maharaja. Three coats for evenness.

This is not golden, really, except when you look up close.

Isn't that cool? The first coat comes out very reddish, then you get a rich brown, and with the last coat this shimmer comes out strong.

Here's the real Golden Maharaja.

The Golden Maharaja is a 65.57 carat diamond!! Holy wow. It's not Indian, however, and has no cool historical tale. It's from South Africa, was shown at the Paris World Fair of 1937, spent some time in a museum and was sold in 1991 for $1.3 million. Snore. I was hoping for it being in the crown worn by some ancient ruler's elephant or something. Pretty though. I didn't know diamonds came in this color.

Looks great on me. Would have been cooler if they made it that teardrop shape though.

That's it. I'm breaking down and buying the rest of these. Plus, I love the ring. It photographs really beautifully! You'd never guess it was the plastic gumball type. They're getting a little harder to find, especially with the ring intact, but I'm going to get them. I have a whole slew of new beauty supply stores to check out.

By the way, here's my new view:

This is out the back yard!! You would never guess that to the immediate right and left of this is MILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE. It's a townhouse development.

When I look out here though, I can pretend I'm the only one seeing this. I love it!

I Went And Got Them Did

2009-08-05T20:02:00.004-04:00

Yep, I went and got 'em did by someone else and I realized something. I don't ever have to do that again in my life until I can't reach my feet or see.

He cut my middle finger cuticle and I bled.

I do much better application and the design is cute, but I could pull that off too.

This is a cute flower and I'm happy with the design and the colors. They're China Glaze and I don't have these, although I have something like them.

But look at my cuticles!

Look how dry and crusty they look.

Look at my thumbnail already.

This will save me time on Friday because I will literally have no time to do my nails between now and that wedding I'm going to.

The things I enjoyed about it were: not having to do it myself and just sitting there, I like the little designs, they did a little massagey action and I loooove getting massages, it was time for me to browse through a magazine and turn off my brain, the chair was also massagey and she gave me an extra 7 minutes.

I'm so glad I learned how to do them myself. I like my own work so much better. I'm disappointed, but I guess I'm also feeling confident about my abilities.

Ow, my cuticle hurts and I'm concerned about fungus.

NOT WORTH THE MONEY although the people were really sweet and I ended up giving them good tips because you know, I've been on the tip-receiving end in my life and you need all the help you can get. (I just won't go back)

Wow, These Claire's Layered Things Are Cool

2009-08-04T17:06:00.004-04:00

I think the trick is to pour it out on a plate and swirl the colors around and then swirl them onto your nails, but until I have a minute to try that, I present to you

Claire's Cosmetics - Technopop. All I'm getting so far is the top layer, but I like it.

It dries matte too! Trendy! For the shiny look, a top layer is necessary. Also, it doesn't dry very quickly and there is instant tip wear and the polish formula is thick and gloopy, but NO MATTER!

I like this purple just fine.

And for your close up to see how pretty sparkle is in matte form:

Loving it. Like purple concrete. I should carve my initials in it.

I love this stuff! I love nail polish so much!

August Is Orange

2009-08-03T19:26:00.010-04:00

For some reason I'm totally attracted to orange these days. I wanted something to make that Claire's - Crush look prettier.

This is N.Y.C. - Times Square Tangerine Creme by itself. It's a soft, milky medium orange.

Here it is with the Crush bottle:

Not nearly a match.

Together they look okay though....

The Crush brightened up the tangerine a little and the glitter is cute. Not super-fantastic, but I wore it all day.

When I got home I thought of a better match:

Crush with Color Club - Explosive.

Explosive is a neon butternut squash color. A very weird neon indeed.

Explosive by itself. No matter who you are I think it would make your skin look gray. Yet, I like it!!! It photos slightly yellower. Imagine a nuclear squash.

And here is the layered love child:

Yeah, I know, right? Don't tell them they have an ugly baby.

Closer up cuz you can't really see that at all.

It makes me not care.

I went searching for a peaches-and-cream-type color, but I think I lent it to my friend. THAT ONE will be the perfect match, I just know it! THAT ONE will make MAGIC HAPPEN!!!!

A Claire's Mini-Haul!

2009-08-02T20:38:00.009-04:00

Mini-haul because we're moving and the love of my life said we can't be moving more pounds of nail polish. These were buy one, get one half-off!! I think I showed amazing restraint.

Seriously, how cool are these?!

It's night time and that doesn't even stop me from taking crappy halogen light pictures of crappy application.

First of all we need to discuss that blue with the glitter in the cap. It has no name, but there's a number 39 on the bottom of the bottle.

It looks like a little salt shaker! I was all happy and asking the woman at the register what you do with it and she treated me like I had three heads and wanted to eat her baby.

I guess you can shake glitter on top or shake glitter into the bottle. Those were her ideas. Said with no enthusiasm. And I'm grinning like an idiot. Some people just don't get it.

I'll probably shake the whole thing into the bottle. The glitter changes to a bit green when the polish is on top of it and stays white when it is on top of the polish. It's really pretty.

Sadly, the orange wasn't as thrilling.

The lighting is doing it no favors, but it's sheer as all get out and always will be. I'll layer it on top of something. It's called Crush. The glitter is BIG. And orange and blue.

These cool layered things have DO NOT SHAKE labels on them. Funny. I shook it. I didn't mean to, it was muscle memory.

Scrangie wrote about these suckers. She said the layers don't mix up, and they don't but I kind of wish they would. At least a little bit more than they do. I think I have to get farther down into the bottle before I get much of the effect.

This is called Joker and the turquoise didn't make an appearance. It's a nice marbled effect with the purple and black, dried very matte so I put on a top coat.

This one is Ocean Breeze and came out very marbled with mostly blue showing up.

Really pretty!

I'll try to make these look prettier tomorrow or the next day, but I couldn't contain my excitement, wanting to play with them and procrastinating packing up the kitchen!

I Am Enamored Of These

2009-08-02T10:31:00.009-04:00

I just had to show you what I have on my toes, but swatched on my fingernails.

Essie - Clam Bake, such a pretty, clear tangerine color.

Orange can be difficult to wear on fingers, but this is easy to pull off; I think because the color is so pure.

It doesn't look quite like a jelly, just a straightforward creme. A tiny bit sheer, but three coats made it opaque. It makes me feel happy!

I bought it in a discontinued clearance bin so you can probably find it at a beauty supply store. This next one, I can't remember why I bought it, but I actually sought it out.

Essie - E! Live From The Red Carpet. Much as I hate the media-whoring name of it, this is a nice red that is also not too jelly-like, but a clear creme.

I'm surprised I like red so much, but I do. It feels conventional, but I can't argue with my feelings. I'm more likely to swatch this and admire it secretly than wear it out in the world.

There's just something about red polish....

And then there is the famous and noteworthy......

Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear - Emerald City.

It's like a shiny christmas ribbon. I wore it to a holiday party last year not even realizing how christmassy it looked. Hello, clueless!

Yet here I am in August, and I think it works just fine.

I need to show you another picture of it.

It looks a little funky on my middle finger, but I think it's just the reflection from the porch roof.

A pretty, clear, shiny and slightly shimmery medium green. The love of my life chose green as the color of the day (this is after he's all involved in his email and mutters, "Purple," and I said, "Honey, I already have purple on from yesterday," and he goes, "You never want what I pick so don't ask me anymore," and I coax, "Please, I love when you choose a color, it's fun!" and he goes "Okay, green," and I go "Light or dark?" and he's like "I don't care... light," and I picked this even though it's not light, but I've been meaning to swatch it for awhile).

Love my honey! Also, he reads my blog and ALSO, he scouts out nail polish for me. I'm lucky to have him!

Both Are Not Purple

2009-08-01T08:39:00.006-04:00

I find myself buying a reddish brownish plumish color frequently. In fact, nine times. I counted. Here's the one I reached for when I wanted to showcase this color.

Essie - Rock Star Skinny. It's an indefinable color by one name.

It has almost a pearlescent glint to it and I think this color would flatter anyone's skin tone. If you look closely there's almost a greyish undertone. It's mysterious.

The love of my life called it "Conservative: especially for a Saturday." I'm sure naming it Rock Star Skinny means Essie was off the mark on this one. I don't think it's very rock star either.

I asked his opinion on this other one.

Sally Hanson Insta-Dri - Pronto Purple. He proclaimed this one "fun."

Which is odd, because when I first bought it he said it was "boring," and I agreed. I just can't get it with these Insta-Dries. (I cracked myself up with that plural.) The bottle is a cool shape, the brush is awesomely different, the application on SOME OF THEM is good, (I've had streaky mess experiences with the lighter colors) but the colors.....I don't know! I like them. I LIKE them. I don't love them. I think we should see other polishes.

They do dry quickly, even while you are brushing them on. They can get a little gummy on the ends.

I guess I'll go with the Insta-Dri for today so we can have fun. Which involves packing as we are moving next weekend! Which is NO FUN, but the nails should help. I'm determined to keep up with posting because it gives me joy, but if I miss a couple days here and there don't worry that I'm dead.

A Good Summer Red

2009-07-30T19:15:00.007-04:00

I need to be in court for work tomorrow and started putting on a really dark red and I thought to myself, "Self, what would be a good summer red instead of this dark vampire red?" And I answered myself,

"Self, that would be Sally Hanson Insta-Dry - Racey Rouge, of course."

I'm not a fan of the Insta-Dri family as a whole. I find them streaky and dull. This one applies fine though and I like the bright cherry red. The brush is okay; it's a cool shape, you know, but I find that it makes a weird point when you press down and it's a little hard to fit on my nails.

You know what? I miss my longer nails! These feel a little stubby now!

Seriously, nobody is more surprised than me that my nails grew past the tips of my fingers and were fairly strong and unpeeled. I think I got freaked out and cut them short because I wasn't ready for being a superstar.

This is an older China Glaze holographic called He's Going In Circles that I layered over that Pure Ice I had on yesterday. It's pretty sheer on its own.

That bottle was in bad shape in the clearance bin.

It looks fantastic! I'm glad I bought it.

Whilst I wait for my nails to grow I will continue swatching random things. Boy do I ever want that Nubar Wildlife, but I don't feel like buying the whole collection. I wish they'd sell those things separately.

I Thought This Was Greener

2009-07-30T07:03:00.004-04:00

I don't know why, but the bottle seemed greener. Or metallic, but it's like a turquoise frost.

Pure Ice - Frosted Ice Calypso. Well duh, frost is right in the name.

That's tip wear from sleeping. It even has a top coat on.

It kind of reminds me of Sally Hanson Gunmetal. Kind of like a summer version of that.

Pretty, but not what I expected from the bottle. I'm not a huge turquoise fan or a huge frost fan and I keep ending up with it on. Maybe I should just go with this trend and see what else I have and post them all and be done with it!

Pedicure Before And After - You Have Been Warned

2009-07-29T20:20:00.005-04:00

After about a week in the summer the pedicure needs some love - for real.

I'm sorry. I know, it's gross. One of my favorite pedicure colors though, Revlon - Plum Seduction.

That's not a flesh-eating bacteria on my pinky toe; it's New Skin over a scrape. I pulled a chair out from the table on top of my foot. Ow. I always seem to injure myself in bandaid-impossibility zones.

Anyway, gross huh? I decided to show you before and after so people can see that giving them a little attention makes a big difference. I did a really quick pedicure. Soaked them in some Epsom salt, washed them with some sugar scrub, put on some cuticle cream, pushed cuticles back, clipped a teeny bit and filed and polished.

I'm sparing you my injured toe on this pic. Essie - Clam Bake. Discontinued! I got it for $2.99. I'm loving orange on my toes lately.

I could have spent a little more time on application and it would be neater, but look how much better the whole thing looks just cleaning it up.

Here's another discontinued Essie for $2.99.

Jackie Oh My. I thought it was a white sparkle, but it looks to have a slight pinkish tinge. I thought it would be more sparkly, but it wasn't very sunny today. Oh well.

I was bored all day.

I want to try the Clam Bake on my fingernails. It's such a pretty clear orange.

Peacock

2009-07-28T15:16:00.006-04:00

This is a suggestion by Lucy who tempered my dislike of Lime Lights. She said why don't you put it over black? She really liked it and thought my whining had something to do with my mood. I totally agree.

I chopped my nails off in a fit of pique last night so this morning I put on a dark color because I love a really dark color on really short nails.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Dead Calm. I love this blue. I'm pretty sure it's like Orly - Star of Bombay, although that might be slightly darker from what I can tell. I don't have that one.

I put the Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear - Lime Lights over it because my application was truly horrific. I had cotton threads stuck in my index nail and everything.

Here are the two bottles. They look really cool layered!

Like a peacock, in fact.

Pretty bird.

It is so humid today that my pictures look foggy!

Again, serious bad application, but I didn't want to smear the blue all over the place and layering requires a bit smaller bottom layer.

Thanks Lucy, good idea - I hope you like it!

If you're horrified by my nail chopping, I am too. I cut them with clippers and everything, no filing!! I think it's because I was frustrated and working late and really tired and I started destroying them so I just cut them off. I was surprised how long and strong they were getting, so I'm sure I'll be back there again soon. They feel weird when they're longer than a millimeter anyway!

A Good Summer Color

2009-07-26T07:56:00.005-04:00

This is another Color Club, but not part of of the ElectroCandy stuff.

Bizerk Turq. Cute name.

It's a dark turquoise jelly. This is three or four coats. It applies a bit sheer, but thick.

I think this would be a nice pedicure color too.

It reminds me of Essie Greenport a lot, but darker.

When I'm nervous I pick my nails and I had picked this off within hours. That is REALLY BAD for your nails. Mine now have a couple of tears in the middle of the nail bed.

Anything that applies thick and needs more than two coats is pretty much done for with me by the end of the day. Not that I'm always nervous, but you know how it is.

Posting Im Mittelnacht with Skunk Smell

2009-07-25T03:16:00.006-04:00

That means In The Middle Of The Night. A skunk got defensive outside and must have blasted the whole backyard and my eyes are on fire and my nose won't stop running so instead of staying up in the bed all frustrated I came down here to show you two truly awful polishes.

Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear - Lime Lights. I'm so mad at myself. I looked at this forever and knew it wouldn't be right.

Yet today I bought it and how right I was.

A very pale frosty pastel turquoise.

Super cute for a baby blanket or something, but on my nails, bleah. I KNEW IT!!! Why don't I listen to myself???

And for the second one,

Nicole by OPI - It's Possible. No it's not. I loved the color because it matches some shoes I have.

Granted, the lighting sucks, my application sucks, I could have used a ridge-filling base coat, my mood sucks, and this looked a whole lot better with only one coat and this is two.

But, come on. Double bleah.

I will now remove these and get myself back to bed now that my eyes feel less like sandpaper and my nose is slowing down to a drip. Stupid skunk. So what if I'm living in his or her territory and he or she has nowhere else to go because suburbia is taking over all of the wilderness.

Plum Duochrome - Gray, Green, Gritty, Gorgeous

2009-07-22T09:48:00.005-04:00

I never would have bought this if my friend hadn't worn it. I swear these companies owe us commission. Lower thy prices, high-priced polish!!

OPI - Have You Seen My Limo? It's a little more stunning in the sun, of which there is none today, but the bottle and pics capture it well anyway.

Here's a closeup of the bottle.

Plumish, grayish, greenish.

On the nail you can really see the gray and green when you're inside, mostly plum outside.

It's a great dark plum with a twist. I love this polish.

Like I said, I never looked twice at the store and then my friend had it on and I was like, "WHAT is THAT???!!!!!" And I bought it that day.

As for the grittiness, I just love how a lot of OPI polishes have texture without glitter or too much shimmer.

They look so THERE, know what I mean?

So, OPI, my friend gets a portion of your proceeds. I never would have bought it without her. Also, I get a portion of your proceeds too because she buys a lot of stuff I wear and post.

We would like you to donate those proceeds to the Humane Society. Get right on that.

The HD Is Not All That

2009-07-21T14:31:00.008-04:00

I read a review of the Sally Hanson Hi-Definition nail polishes and they looked nice, but every time I saw them in the store they looked boring. Weird, that blue, green, purple etc. would look boring and it's in this really pretty HD deal that's supposed to look dimensional and futuristic and all.

Sally Hanson HD Hi-Res. In my opinion - it's boring!!!

I bought this dark pink because there was no red and you know my pink problem. And I was just bored by the blue, green, purple and yellow.

I'm bored by this too. It doesn't look special, just kind of shiny.

Oh well. It was buy one, get one half off, so I bought another Sally Hanson kind:

Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear - Brick Wall. I love that name.

I've heard that reds can get addictive. I'm feeling it. There are so many different reds, and I thought a brick color would be a nice change, something different.

It is different! It's a much darker red than other reds (although close to my Mandalay Ruby) but not brown in the least, not pink or orange in the least. Picture colonial brick with bright white mortar.

Here's the mortar.

OPI Alpine Snow. Four coats of it. It applied nicely, but I wanted it completely opaque. This does not work as a sheer at all. Streaky.

I was looking for a sheer white, but this didn't turn out to be that so I decided to do that RETRO look that I'll probably never wear.

Guess what? I really like this!! It's just so cool looking. I wish I had some mod dress to wear with it. Sadly, I'm wearing khaki's and a blouse. Anti-mod.

Maybe I'll have an outfit I can wear this with at some point. I actually would wear this again, but it's a special look. It would look nice with a big white ring. Hmmm.... like they have in Annie Sez..... uh oh.... I feel some shopping coming on..... I'm totally building an outfit around these white nails.

The Beloved

2009-07-20T10:15:00.004-04:00

Yes, this is my beloved polish.....

Orly Cashmere Cardigan. Feast your eyes.

This is not lilac and not purple.

There's enough blue in it to preclude it from either lilac or purple.

Yet, it doesn't really look blue either.

I truly love this. I'm wearing it today and maybe tomorrow. Two coats does the job, and it applies kind of thick, so two is really all you need.

This color makes me feel good. It's calming yet eye-catching. Flattering, and looks great with anything. This should be showing up at beauty supply stores soon because I think it was a spring 2009 color, along with Country Club Khaki, which I wore a few days ago. This one is so cool though.... I love these colors that make me think, "That's different."

Just Swatching Some Stuff

2009-07-19T18:19:00.011-04:00

This polish is pretty. It's just so pretty. I heard about it all over the place and found it on sale so I bought it but never tried it. I knew it would be fine. This is one of the polishes that as soon as I started brushing it on I thought to myself, "Wow."

Barielle Date Night. This is from last winter or something. My local CVS doesn't have any of the spring or summer ones.

This is a really nice green. It's not overly Christmassy like Emerald City (which I love and I'll post soon) and it has a nice mossy color.

It also has a pretty green shimmer.

Since I'm in "work appropriate" detention lately, unfortunately, I have to take this off.

Otherwise I would wear this tomorrow. I'm loving it.

Ok, off to a couple of other colors. Here are two more CQs that I bought.

Sienna Cream. I didn't have high hopes for this and I was pleasantly surprised.

The bottle looks much like baby poop.

On the nail though, it has a nice mauve base to the light brown and it's very pretty and just slightly unusual.

Here's a promising bottle:

CQ All Heart. Lots of thick gold glitter in what looks like a sun-dried tomato color.

Unfortunately,

Yeah, not so much. The first coat was tomato and it got redder. The gold glitter became glittery red. It's pretty, but all the glittery reds are pretty. I'd pass on this one.

After the red I swatched a sheer on that same hand. Should've done that the other way around.

Orly My Beau. I think this is a wedding-type one. It's a nice sheer that isn't pink. It's a strong ivory and it takes on the natural pink of my nails so it works and looks very clean.

This might possibly work for a french manicure. The white part of my nail is very wide even though my nails are short so I don't really like the look of a french manicure on me and it's pretty, but boring. Give me a Date Night over that any day.

Bar Glitter Love

2009-07-18T10:43:00.008-04:00

I saw someone put bar glitter over black (someone's blog, I'm sorry I can't remember who or I would give credit) and I lusted, so here's my layering combo.

My screen door looks rock-out awesome as a background.

The bottom layer is L.A. Girl Rockstar and the bar glitter is Bon Bons (no name - hot pink and turquoise)

Here's the Rockstar by itself.

This is a sheerish black with flat purple glitter. Only two coats because I didn't want it to get too thick. I would do three if I left it at this.

This has that galaxy look and the black and purple give it a nice plummy color.

This would look good with a purple shimmer layer too, but I wanted something colorful.

I love how bar glitter looks hairy. If you really pack it on it gets to looking like a muppet.

Some of them hang off the edge, so I need to file those off.

I think it looks better in the shade. The sun blends it too much.

My nails are getting long. I don't usually keep them at this length, but I'm tempted to see how long I can comfortably get them. Taking care of them makes them stronger. I haven't torn one in awhile and they are getting less peely.

My problem is extreme clumsiness and rushing around. I know I'm going to end up hurting something if they stay long.

A Bit Of Layering

2009-07-16T07:04:00.006-04:00

I have a Sally Hanson that is purple with gold shimmer and I just bought this purple sparkly thing with circles and glitter that has gold in it so I thought they would go well together.

Sally Hanson Salon Plum It and J2 Purple Dazzle.

You can't really see the gold shimmer in the Sally Hanson and the purples don't match as well as I thought, but they look nice together.

Stars and planets in space.

I might want to leave this on for awhile!

This is a base coat, two coats of Plum It and two of Purple Dazzle and a coat of Seche Vite. Kind of thick.

I'm tempted to pack this glitter on and see how that looks.

I really love dark polish.

Probably shouldn't be wearing this to work, but I'm gonna go head on. Vive le Revolution!!

Some Tools Of The Trade

2009-07-15T06:51:00.005-04:00

Anyone can do a home manicure with simple stuff. Here's the stuff I use.

I like cheap nail polish remover that smells like strawberries (sort of) because it doesn't dry me out as much as the pure acetone, which is even cheaper. That's an old kool-aid container that I keep cotton balls in and I throw them in the lid.

I like Nutra-Nail products because they are gentle. I used some Sally Hanson cuticle remover (green stuff) and I didn't wash it off immediately and one of my toenails came off! Horrible.

This is a container my son made for me that I keep shea butter in. Isn't it completely gorgeous?

My cuticles do not grow very thick, so I can use some gentle stuff like this. I use the side of tweezers to push them back and pick off the extra skin. I also keep a pair of cuticle cutters handy so I can clip of any hangnails.

I have a glass file for my nail edges, but I use an emery board for the sides of my nails because it's thinner. I tend to get some thick edges along the sides of my nails. I clip the edges sometimes instead of filing them because I'm impatient. Shorter nails are way easier to deal with than longer ones.

Glass files are nice because they don't wear out, but they are kind of thick.

Once I'm filed I wash my hands, put on a base coat, polish, top coat, cuticle oil and shea butter.

I buy this stuff at an Amish farm market. It comes in a little condiment container and it's like $4.00 and lasts forever and a day.

A little goes a looooong way. It's a bit greasy at first, but that goes away. I love it!

That's all you really need for nice looking nails. You can get way fancier, and I have some fancier stuff, but if you start simply you will probably get in the habit of taking care of them. I used to pick my nails and cuticles to death and always had sore and ragged hangnails. This feels much better, is healthier and got to be a great hobby for me.

Pedicure, same thing, if you can reach your feet. If you can't you can probably get them done about once a month or so to keep the cost down. I think it's important to take care of your feet too.

Wow, Orly Satin Is Cool Looking

2009-07-14T18:27:00.007-04:00

AND I got it for $1.75 in a clearance bin at the Beauty Supply Store!!!! I heard this one doesn't look so good all on it's own, but here it is layered over Orly Country Club Khaki.

Orly Satin Hues - Satin Grace. I just threw it on over my current mani to see what it would do, and I like the effect so much I'm going to do the other hand and wear it tomorrow.

Here's Orly Country Club Satin on it's own.

This is lighter than OPI You Don't Know Jacques, but it's in the same family. It's the same color as chocolate milk.

Satin Grace gives it a burnished, yet matte, look.

Goes with my gold collection.

Here is my pedi, a weird picture, why did I stand in the shade?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bruised. I love it. Not mauve, not brownish-red, not brownish-purple.

Here is a quick shot of CQ Coral Pink in the earlier day sun.

This looks good on toes too. It's a strong enough color to not get too lost in the pastel.

I keep feeling the need to layer things, so I think that's where we'll travel next.

No Way! A Pink That Works

2009-07-12T19:42:00.005-04:00

Well I'm cheating a little. It's really a coral, but you can see, the word pink is right there in the name!
CQ Coral Pink.

I would never have thought this color would look anything but BAD on me, and I really like it.

Sunset pictures. I bought another couple of CQs so I'll take another pic of this tomorrow morning.

I wasn't sure my skin would allow this and then it did. Thanks, sallow skin tone! Maybe I'll be done with this pink obsession since I have reached peace with coral pink. These CQs are really impressing me lately.

Half-Price at the Dollar Store

2009-07-11T13:17:00.004-04:00

This came in a pack of two at the dollar store:

CG (Cover Girl?) Nailslicks Mystic Peacock.

Maybe they were at the dollar store because the pack had two of the same color. I gave the other one to my friend (Hi Jaime!) and she wore it first. I really admired it on her. She didn't like the wear, but she never applies a TOP COAT, HELLO!!!!

It's like a marriage between Rodeo Diva and Gussied Up Green. I don't have Rodeo Diva, and I don't feel like swatching GUG, so just imagine.

This is two coats. I will put on a top coat. It looks kind of greasy because I couldn't stand my cuticles anymore and I had to oil them to make them more photogenic.

My base coat is really bad, so it's not the Peacock's fault.

Isn't this pretty? At $0.535 (that's with tax) it's has to be my cheapest polish.

BUT.

Proctor & Gamble tests on animals, chemicals are bad for the environment, I'm exhausted trying to figure out what is best, I'm trying not to spend too much money, polish makes me happy.

This is why I'm not advertising on my blog, and I will not.

You're GOLD! You're Indestructable!

2009-07-11T11:29:00.012-04:00

Remember Spandeau Ballet? I put on this first color here, Essie Shift Power and the light of my life starts singing and then found the song on Youtube and sang it and we both had it in our head the whole day, so I decided to do a Gold Post.

This was an Essie clearance for $4.99. Kind of a lot for clearance.

It reminds me of real gold because it has a brushed look and it's soft and dentable. Seriously. I could still dent this after wearing it all day.

People bit gold coins (and Olympic medals) to tell if it is pure. The less pure gold, the harder. So this Essie polish is pure gold!!

China Glaze It's My Turn. Gold Holographic!! 'Nuff said. This is stunning.

I can't resist putting the close-up in here. Holographics. Buy Them.

This is OPI Oh So Glam.

White with a gold flash. Not super necessary. I used it in my flag manicure. It's pretty. So...yeah.

When stores put stuff up by the register for impulse-buy manipulation, they are totally thinking of me. I get sucked into that web with little to no resistance.

Orly (tiny un-named bottle of gold glitter). This is a good layering polish, but I wanted to show it by itself.

Look how chunky this glitter is! Also, it's different colors of gold, some really light, some very dark.

It looks like pepper.

Just to show you why I had to spend $2.50 for this tiny thing.

Awww..... look how cute! Momma and Baby.

Here's OPI Megawatt?! I'm trying to compare it to something and coming up empty. It's as if someone came up with a modern antique gold.

A very yellow gold, but cool in hue. Shiny, but not metallic. Shimmery, but not glittery.

Unusual! A hint of green.

This is a perfect example. This company makes Victorian picture frames, but it's a wood-resin composite with a finish. You can choose mahogany, walnut, bronze, etc.

This is antique gold.

The last of my golds is part of the Icing mini-multi-pack of shimmery things.

They had no names. This is the gold one.

This turns out to be my favorite! It's a soft, smooth, pale beauty of a gold.

Some of the Orly glitter is still there being stubborn, but isn't that something to see?

It reminds me of those expensive foils like Lippman Nefertiti, although you'd have to build it up or layer it to get the density of a foil.

And it was teeny and cute so I had to get it anyway. Here it is next to full-size Icing. One of these things is not like the others.

At first I thought the Pure Ice was the larger size, but it's not! Same bottle shape, same font, different company.

I would not consider gold anywhere near my favorite color for polish. I don't own hardly any gold jewelry, but it was fun to see what I had and put them all together. I suspect that everyone can find a gold that looks good on them. Gold has the magic gift of bringing out beauty in skin, no matter what shade.

CQ and Petites - Swatch Happy Review

2009-07-09T21:04:00.027-04:00

I've been wanting to swatch a collection, so this was my first choice. This is a group of polishes I have that came from WalMart.

CQ and Petites.

They are the same brand and ingredients. Same company, Scherer, Inc., makes them. Petites are "the only" half-size polish. CQ bottles are deep, Petites are wide.

These are extremely affordable. CQ is $1.94 and Petites are about $1 or so. I swatched all of these because I think this is the cheapest brand with the most quality.

Crimson Pearl. A red shimmer. Fine, fine. Excellent application. Two coats.

The ingredients aren't listed on the bottle and there's no packaging so I emailed the company and they wrote back the next day with a list of ingredients. It says they are DBP FREE 155.

I copied that from the email. Does that mean 3 free? I know I could do more research, but I don't feel like. I will blindly believe DBP FREE 155 is a good thing.

This is Caramel Delight. Also two coats. Light brown with gold shimmer. I thought this would be more difficult for me to carry off, but it looks really nice. (You know my recent candy fetish)

I like the shape of the bottle! You know how important that is.

Silver Taupe. This is actually one of my favorite polishes. A sand color with a dense silver glitter. Subtle and pretty. This is sheer, however, needs at least three coats for opaqueness.

I like how the name and number is on the front of the bottle.

Another favorite, Shimmering Bark. This is a taupe with a pink flash that acts like a duochrome. A bit sheer, this is three coats.

Here's a close-up.

This is really sophisticated and interesting. A unique mushroomy girly color.

CQ has a good design team. CQs aren't trendy, but they are current and give a unique spin on some modern shades.

Silver Violet. This is like the OPI lilac shades, but it has a silver and pink shimmer. Quite sheer. This needs four coats to get opaque, but it applies in a thin coat that does not bulk up. I like my pink ring with this!

This next one is just crazy and there's no way to work with it at all, but I love it because it's ornery. First look at the bottle and then at my thumbnail.

Mystique. It looks NOTHING like the bottle!!!! (or the X Woman)

In the bottle: a swirly golden dust cloud in a regal pink desert.

On the nail: flat, metallic, ridge-filled despair. My son named it "Dolores."

Yet I took all these pictures. I've worn it. I've done a loving manicure. I've covered it with Seche Vite which fixes everything.....THIS POLISH IS IMPOSSIBLE AND I'M FASCINATED BY ITS TRAINWRECKNESS. I would challenge someone to franken how it looks in the bottle but I'm afraid a hole would be ripped in the universe. I'm exhausted by it.

But hey, it only cost $1.94. No big deal!

The Petites are even cheaper and a little more trendy. Also, they are teeny and cute.

They tend toward the sheer, so are excellent for layering. They build well, but if you have a similar base color that's fairly opaque in one coat you will save some time.

Lime Freeze. Yep, a medium green. Yet, this has bright green shimmer in it and applies looking slightly yellow-pearl. Unique if you get really close. Only you know for sure.

My application was getting kind of messy because at this point I was racing the setting sun.

Black Rouge. I love this so much! It's a thick red glitter in a sheer black base. This is three coats. It gives the gothy black nail something else to think about besides how nobody understands.

Dare. A vivid blue with pink and silver chunky flakes and my favorite Gorillaz song. The edges don't define very well, so I think I would prefer this layered, but it's very cool. I'll have to swatch it layered and show you.

And, finally,

Bronze Baby. Very mulitcultural. An extremely shimmery pure dark brown. In my mind it's a dupe for OPI At Your Quebec And Call, but that has way more glitter color variety and gold. This looks like the glitter is the same color brown as the polish. Cool.

This brand has my support for many reasons. Quality, Price, Variety, Availability Of Information, Interest, Awareness of Fashion, Respect of Tradition, CRAZY-MAKING.

It has it all! The website copy is kind of sappy, but they sound good-hearted. Scherer, Inc. is the company. I don't know if WalMart everywhere has these, but I've seen them pop up in blogs here and there. I say, trust this brand, and if it doesn't work out, no big deal. It didn't cost that much. Everybody wins!

A Possibly Work Appropriate Green

2009-07-07T20:19:00.008-04:00

I said POSSIBLY. Depends where you work. Where I work nothing is stated, but everything is implied. With a disapproving look. This is Milani Original.

Not super original though. I think we've all seen half a million pastel green cremes.

The ad said it was part of a "retro" line. 'Scuse me? Retro from when? The future? I've been around for awhile and don't remember green nail polish being much of a trend before now. I'm tired of ad copy treating us like we're stupid.

I'm so bored. Let me just....

China Glaze Frostbite I love you!!!! You feed my soul!!!!!

Okay, let's talk about the good:

1) It looks passingly like those expensive mint polishes that are pretty hot right now.

2) It reminds me of the green mint substance inside what we call "Ande's Candies."

Things are reminding me of chocolate lately. MMMmmm.....

3) The price is good. Milani polishes are only $3.99. I approve of that. I think we should all be able to afford to adorn ourselves.

4) Milani has trendy colors, unusual combinations of glitter and lots of variety in finishes (cremes, metallics, frosts, glitters, etc. etc.)

5) If you are environmentally and chemically sensitive, the formula is 2 free - says right on the bottle. No TFF and DBP.

The bad:

1) You can find these same colors, and finishes in more or less expensive brands, but the quality is going to be so much better elsewhere.

2) The formula is gloopy and needs more than two coats to look even, but more than two coats looks too thick. True of every Milani I've tried.

3) I don't like what the bottle looks like. I don't know why. I guess that's kind of a dumb reason.

4) If it's 2 free, why not 3 free? Why did they keep the other chemical? What's the benefit? Don't make me wonder stuff like this! Either you're 3 free or you're not! Don't hand me 2 free. It just confuses me.

5) I don't usually have issue with wear because I change polish so often, but, by the end of the day I'm peeling this Milani off of myself. It seems to thicken and dull out and warp over time on the nail.

Compared to Orly Green Apple out of curiosity. Not very close, but in the same neighborhood.

At the beauty supply store the Orly was probably about $1.50 more and I've worn it many times. More worth the money if you divide cost by numbers of times you wear it. Makes sense, and I'm not even good at math. (Secret Hint: this is also a good way to rationalize buying an expensive pair of shoes or whatever your weakness is)

If you see it around, I recommend steering clear of Milani brand, no matter how tempted you feel. I have not been impressed by any of them, and you can definitely find the same thing in a better brand.

In happy news, I replaced my OPI DS Original, as I said, but I want to show you the packaging.

I've never seen so much packaging for nail polish! To discourage shoplifting perhaps because of the amazingness? There's probably a magnet in there.

It's inside a plastic insert inside the box! I think I should leave it there and return it after every use. That shiny silver top is slippery: do not put it in your mouth and expect it to stay there!!!

A Couple of Spectaculars

2009-07-06T18:05:00.012-04:00

Today, when replacing my OPI Original that I broke (it cost $11.99 so I spent about $24.00 on that polish total - ouch) I bought Orly Moondoggie.

It's a sparkly "Barney" purple.

I'm just guessing you know who Barney is.

Don't make me sing the song.... please, don't make me!!

No, cuz then I'd have to claw my own brain out of my head tonight when I can't sleep.

It has a hot pink micro-glitter and tons of depth and interest.

I tend to take Orly for granted. You can count on them for awesome formula, color, originality and classics. They cost $4.49 at my beauty supply store - WELL worth it.

I also want to share one of my all time favorites. It's China Glaze, but unfortunately, I lost the label in my shower gel nail polish bin flood of 2008.

Please help me!! What is the name??? Whatever it is, ROYAL should be in it because this is the most royal blue I've ever seen.

In my top whatever, this is consistently number 2. Know why? My number 1 changes pretty much daily, but this is always number 2, unless it's number 1.

Up close shows up much more turquoise than it really is. It has a very subtle lighter blue shimmer, which is showing up in the sun here.

Just the prettiest blue ever. Deep, but not dark. Nothing but blue. If you don't tend to wear unusual colors and only want one blue, this is the one. It's totally and completely unprofessional. I love wearing it as a pedicure too.

Nope, I can't even capture the majesty.

That one nail looks like a kayak paddle. Creepy. What can I compare it to so you understand? This?

No, no.....( and AHAHAHAHAHA!)

This?

AYIEEEEE!!!!!!! (That's a real tarantula!! Apparently they come in lots of colors.)

Here we go.

Yes! Picture this color on those pictures of my nails.

I don't know what this thing is. Ah ha... it's a candy dish. Here's some info:

Royal Blue (1924) - Royal Blue is a transparent cobalt color that has ben associated with Fenton since early carnival glass production. This color was often used as the base color. An applied iridescent finish was sprayed and fired on to obtain the carnival glass color. Clear Royal Blue items have been confirmed as early as 1924.

So my China Glaze color should have something to do with cobalt, Fenton Glass, royal blue, or KICKASS!

The Price Of Beet

2009-07-05T13:55:00.007-04:00

I wanted this color so badly that I marched myself into Ulta and paid whatever full price was.

OPI Miami Beet. It's part of one of their 2009 summer collections.

I forget why I wanted it so badly. It's pretty though, isn't it?

Only two coats. Could have used one more to even it out somewhat.

Maybe I wanted it because actual beets are so pretty.

They got the color exactly right!

Inside a beet is really pretty too.

Here it is with a ring.

I'm thinking I'll go with this for the wedding I'm attending next month. It will look eye-catching when I raise my glass for a toast.

To Beets! And the lovely married couple.

Holiday Manicure

2009-07-05T11:48:00.004-04:00

This reminds me a little bit of an elementary school teacher who wears holiday-themed sweaters. I thought I'd go ahead and jump on the July 4th manicure bandwagon.

I think this would make a really cute pedicure too. See how I made it look like a flag?

I used RBL Dead Calm and a Sally Hanson nail art pen for the starry field and OPI Oh So Glam for the white and Sally Hanson Insta-Dri Racey Rouge for the red. Oh So Glam has a gold shimmer which I thought was appropriate because we like to pave our streets in it.

I couldn't resist a ring. It was stuck in my Napoleon, so it was meant to be.

I left this picture larger because it looks so American with our front porches, our colonial-type (well maybe about 100 year old) houses, bright blue sky and stars and stripes! I always thought we had a pretty flag.

Hella-Graphic Porch Smash

2009-07-03T12:04:00.013-04:00

That would be a good band name. Feel free to use it. Ideas are all part of the zeitgeist, none of us own them.

Yes, holographic nail polish...you must own one. I have two OPI ones that are fabulous. A dark blue and a light purple.

This is DS (designer series) Glamour. It took only two coats and any more would have been unnecessary.

Awesome. What more can you say? What a pretty blue. These were prohibitively expensive, however. I think about $12.99 in the beauty supply store.

Here's the light purple. I think it's called DS Original.

It's a lilac color! Love it! This was very sheer and with two coats looks pink, so it's versatile. This is four coats. It gets darker and darker.

Wondering where the bottle is?

Hence the "porch smash" part of the title.

I had both bottles and stuck this one in my mouth so I could take a pic of the blue one and it FLEW out of my mouth. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. I will pay to replace this. I've worn it many times and I want to wear it again.

Speaking of sharp tools, check this out!

I'm pretty sure I can sharpen nail clippers and cuticle nippers and tweezers with this.

Other sharpening stones are shaped like a block and it's not possible to get the edge onto the stone. I think this spike might work. My intention is to not have to keep buying tools. I love when they are sharp and accurate and I hate when they get dull and I have to replace them. That could get expensive too. I'll let you know if it works. Total of about $15 to keep sharp tools. A good clipper can cost even more than that.

My pedicure today is intentionally conventional. You've all seen a cheery coral summer pedicure at least four million times a day. I'm to the point that I'm so tired of being rebellious that I have to rebel against myself and do something conventional.

This is China Glaze A Rose Among Thorns. The label fell off, but I remember because I love that name.

This color is hard to describe because it can look orange, tomato red, bright coral, and hot pink. This color is VERY different from what I usually use, so for me, it was a real change!

It is really cheerful and pretty. Four million women can't be wrong, right?

Two more things: holographic when not in the sun is still pretty.

It looks like a metal mug that I used to drink hot chocolate out of.

You couldn't even touch it or drink out of it until the drink was cooled down or you'd burn yourself.
Mine didn't say Stratosphere. Imagine grabbing that handle and it's scalding hot?

I have to show you a close up, full-on sun.

It looks so much more depthy in 3D. Really, you gotta get one.

China Glaze makes good holographics too. They're usually more expensive, but well worth it. Kids love holographics!! They go, "OOOOOoooooo!!!!!"

Can I Wear Brown?

2009-07-02T07:54:00.008-04:00

This polish looks just like Hershey's chocolate in the bottle. I have Maybelline New York Express Finish 50 Second Nail Color - (There's no name! I hate that! That's half the fun) I'm naming it Hershey's Chocolate, even though I'm breaking copyright laws. Those long brand names kill me. 50 seconds for the first crap coat and add an exponential 50 seconds for each coat after that.

There is a surprising amount of plum color in this. I didn't expect that from the look of the bottle.

I do not recommend this color. Application is difficult, there is an uneven brush and cuticle pull, there is nothing to recommend it. The color is okay, but you can build up anything into a passable color. There are better options out there. I don't remember how much I paid for this, probably around 4 dollars in the drugstore. Beauty supply stores or online gives you more quality for less money.

I'm also feeling like this is not a stylish look right now. Sometimes I like doing the opposite of what the season or the style is about, for example, a soft lilac in the middle of winter, but I'm not feeling this dark brown today. I'm gonna go ahead and wear it to work though. Give it some love. It looks like chocolate syrup. That's all right with me.

Maybe some decals? A ring?

I'll post later with an update.

UPDATE: I figured out how best to accessorize this color:

KING SIZE OR NOTHING BABY!!!!!

Ok Maybelline Express Finish 50 Second Nail Color - Hershey's (tm) Chocolate, you have won me over. Especially because you look cute with these shoes.

Disclaimer: this is not a real pedicure. I just applied it to the visible toes for illustrative purposes, and it's badly done and it's thickly applied on top of previous pedicure.

Payless! $14.99. Cute! I love gingham.

I'm looking up this polish next time I'm PMSing, and now I'm going to eat that Hershey bar. It's been killing me all day to not just pose with an empty wrapper.

Thank You Beauty Supply Store Young Women!!!

2009-07-01T20:08:00.025-04:00

I'm writing this for the young women I saw today and wrote down my blog address so they could check it out.

In the winter I was lemming China Glaze Wagon Trail because I wanted to find a polish the color of this purse. Not to match necessarily, although that would be kind of cool, but just because I see things and I want that color in a polish.

It's from REI (I forget what those stand for, but it's an outdoorsy campy active yuppie store) and it was $10.00 on sale.

Around the zipper that is totally a reflective strip. Look at this.

Lol, nobody's gonna run me over when I'm walking down the side of the highway because my car broke down.

I couldn't find Wagon Trail anywhere because it was kind of popular. I found the other Rodeo Diva stuff, but not that one. I went to the beauty supply store and mentioned to the young woman ringing me up that I wanted that one and she said, "Wait, I think we have one of those on the shelf in the back. I swear I saw it." She went back and looked and it wasn't being held for anyone and I got to buy it!!!

It's a very dark, sparkly, olive brown.

Didn't match the bag perfectly, but it matches a lot, it's a very exciting neutral. Look at it up close, the sparkle is interesting.

This is with a flash because I was losing light. It looks a lot darker in regular light, but look, there's red in there!

Not too long after that I found OPI At Your Quebec And Call and thought it was a better match for that purse.

It's much lighter, but it seems like they contain the same things, but Wagon Trail just has black added.

Here's this one up close.

Lighter, more golden, more muted, but basically the same.

Here are the bottles together.

Wagon Trail on left, Quebec on right. (Quebec on my thumbnail and it looks really golden in the light.)

And on the nail.

Switched them again. Wagon Trail on right, Quebec on left.

It's a hard decision to recommend one of them (if you only want one). I think the Wagon Trail applied better, perfect in two coats and it's gorgeous and changeable in the light. It's very dark though, so you can't easily tell what color it is. At Your Quebec And Call was quite sheer. That's two coats and it could have used another one. I think Quebec is probably more versatile. They're both gorgeous.

On another Olive Note, I bought Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War!!!

This was during their 50% off sale. Have another one!!!

Besides feeling like a rich chick while using it, I freaking love this color!

It is sooooo ugly and I LOVE IT!!!

Unless you live in a very chic city, trust me, you will be the only one wearing this. It's incredibly cool. I don't even know how it looks good on me because it's a warm, split pea soup color. But I love it unconditionally.

And on a Totally Unrelated Note, here's Orly Goth!!! I passed this by in the store for a long time until I read Scrangie's review. I was making my own glitteryblack with whatever black I had and the Hot Topic black glitter.

But this is different. Know why?

As soon as Scrangie said the glitter in it was different sizes, I had to see it, and then I had to have it. Check it out.

This is seriously pretty. It looks like the night sky in winter in the upper peninsula of Michigan. (Anyone know what a Yooper is?)

It also reminds me of fun times with my son when we had to be quiet because we lived with a truck driver who went to sleep at 6pm and wouldn't allow us to watch t.v. (You don't have to tell me....what was I thinking?!)

We would harass the dogs, throw socks at each other, try to laugh quietly, pose for album covers. My memories about those years are all about having a blast with my hilarious and wonderful son while surviving a tough time.

He was about 13 or 14 here.

Here's gothic me. I must have been...37 or 38!! I look young, don't I? It's soft focus, people!

This is kind of how I felt back then.

I LOVE THOSE SHOES!! I still have them.

How weird that I didn't have any nail polish on. I was rebel-goth when goth was cool. I'll always have a soft spot for black nail polish, black clothes and my pony tails!!

Baby chic. I'm working the olive green and brown here too.

If you Beauty Supply Store young women are reading, thanks for being so nice back to me when I was friendly to you! In this part of New Jersey people are nicer than in North Jersey, but most of the time you still get treated like kind of a loser if you're friendly. These young women made me feel special and like a valued human being. Thanks!

Why Is This My Favorite?

2009-07-01T06:50:00.010-04:00

Well, my favorite right now anyway, but I have worn this polish more than a few times. It's a good one for feeling calm, and for me, what Skinny Dip'n In Lake Michigan probably is for people who love that one.

OPI You're A Doll

Three coats, a bit messy.

I hope it shows up, but if you click on the picture and make it huge, there is a surprise in this polish.

See how it looks a little gritty? There is RED microglitter in there!!

This is along the lines of getting away with something, even though you're wearing a work-appropriate nail polish. Nothing like passive-aggression at work.

To remind you, here's how bad Skinny Dip'n looked on me.

Weird how one works and the other does not.

Here are the bottles next to each other.

You're A Doll looks gray next to Skinny Dip'n In Lake Michigan, but it's not really that gray. The sun went away for a second. It's a grayed out pink.

I have a sallow skin tone, so pink will never look very good on me, and warm colors are hard for me to pull off. This is why I can wear the one well and not the other.

Here is a pedicure color that I wouldn't be able to stand on my hands.

Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear - Wild Life.

Pink, but a cool pink. Totally wouldn't match my mood on my hands though.

Back to You're A Doll. I love this polish and it surprises me that I do. I'm usually wearing unusual or really dark colors.

I love the way it looks like sand and I look for the red glitter and it just makes me feel happy. This is a beautiful, calm polish. I'm not sure why I even bought it, but I'm glad I did. I encourage you to try something you might not otherwise look at. It might be a miss - see above! - or you might find a new favorite.

In other news of the stupid: I tipped over an ENTIRE bottle of polish remover on the carpet last night. I was sitting there doing my nails and watching t.v. and looked down and it was on its side. I just bought that! FYI it didn't seem to damage the carpet at all, and might be a new invention for carpet cleaning. Boy did I feel dumb. Then I talked to myself and said, "In the grand scheme of things, this isn't that big a deal." But you can see I still haven't let it go! I hate when I do dumb things.

Aargh...I'm Not Feeling Any Of These

2009-06-29T08:10:00.007-04:00

It's Monday and I can't get happy with my polish! First I want to show you a polish lots of people LOVE. OPI Skinny Dip'n In Lake Michigan.

This is three coats. It has a clear shimmer in it.

I think people who are in a fascist nail polish state at work like it because it's a neutral, but there's that little bit of shimmer that makes you feel like you're getting away with something.

On me it's a NO. I think it matches my skin tone too closely, or not closely enough. I just can't do this one.

Next is Milani Totally Cool which a very wonderful man (who I live with) bought for me at Target. I thought I was going to Totally Dig this, but I didn't.

This is one of those "gorgeous in the bottle" ones that doesn't quite translate to the nail.

It's really pretty, but the bottle has a hot pink and gold duochrome-like effect and the nail looks like when I layered glitter over navy blue.

The polish does not show up with any dimension. It's a pretty purple though. Sometimes I'm not in the mood for all the glitter.

I ended up here, and I have to leave it here because I have to go to work.

One of my Orlys where the label fell off. Anyone?

This is the most rabid, metallic, glittery pearl I've ever seen.

Brush-stroke heaven.

You can see the glitter in the extreme close-up.

It's just not what I was hoping to find this morning.

Okay, enough whining! This just means I try something else later on.

Anthropomorphizing

2009-06-26T07:02:00.005-04:00

Once in awhile I see a polish languishing in a sale bin. I feel bad for it. Nobody wants it. I buy it and add it to the stash and when I get a chance I do a nice, loving manicure. Such was the case for this Orly Mandalay Ruby.

Look at the giant sale sticker. A shame.

Here it is after my loving manicure.

This polish was only $2.99.

This is three coats. I'll probably put one more and a top coat.

Or not. I'm already late for work.

The real Mandalay Ruby.
Mandalay is in Burma where they have ruby mines.

I read up on the Mandalay Ruby and found out that a good color for rubies is the shade of "pigeon's blood." Great. Now that's all I can think of.

I love when they give you a little giftie on your bottle!

This ring doesn't go all the way around, so it fits on any finger!

Glamorous!

All in all, a very respectable red. Clear color, just a hint of darkness, a priceless ruby!

In my reading I found out that real rubies always have flaws. That's how you can tell it's real. True also for my manicure.

And the polish is happy to be living in my polish bin and being featured on my blog!

The Rest Of Electrocandy

2009-06-25T19:22:00.006-04:00

OMG Michael Jackson....I just found out. How sad. It's so weird when someone who is part of the general consciousness goes unexpectedly.

I quickly swatched the rest of Electrocandy (that I have) while the sun was out. I didn't want to swatch it in the shade because it's really so pretty.

First we have the pink one called....Electrocandy. Hm. Cool name.

This has a silver shimmer.

It's great how these have hot and cold aspects in each one. This separates well from the purple with the blue flash. This pink with a blue flash would've been too similar. Alas, I love the pink, but the pink doesn't love me. It clashes with my skin tone in a strange way and makes it look grayish in real life. It's also quite sheer - above is four coats and could've used another one.

On to the green - What a Shock! (That's the name)

Very very pretty grass green with a subtle blue shimmer.

Love this one. Good coverage, nice application. This is second to Ultra Violet in my book.

The blue is called Pure Energy.

Gorgeousness and gorgeosity. That's from a kid's book, I can't remember which.

This has a lighter blue shimmer. Absolutely beautiful and opaque in three coats.

I didn't get the yellow one because my Icing Cosmic looked just like it and Siobhan of The Nailphile said it took five coats to be opaque.

Are there more than six? I didn't notice.

My recommendation of this whole line is a great big YES! I love them all and they are all unique amongst nail polish as a whole. And, at a beauty store price of $2.99, WELL worth the money.

Here they all are again so you remember.

These were so much fun to photograph!

In order of my preference,
Ultra Violet (purple) - if you only want one, this is far and away the one to have. The color, the application, the uniqueness, it's got it all.
Pure Energy (blue) - because it's sooooo pretty.
Tangerine Scream (orange) - because it is REALLY unique.
What a Shock! (green) - so cheery and pretty, especially if you love the greens.
Electrocandy - if you like pinks, definitely worth your money. I'll probably try a pedi.

And Michael Jackson, R.I.P. No matter what, I think he deserves good remembrances. The man seemed to suffer from a lot of pain and anguish. He was an incredible talent.

Joining With The Weather

2009-06-25T07:44:00.006-04:00

Still no sun...this is getting ridiculous and depressing. I feel bad for everyone taking their vacation at the Jersey Shore this month. I was looking for a polish to lift my mood but nothing was grabbing me, so I decided to join with the weather and do one of my never-trieds, Sally Hanson Gunmetal.

Longest brand name ever!

This polish is different from all the other metallic grays in that it's not super shiny and it has an interesting blue-gray color. I think the ManGlaze polishes look more like gun metal, but I'm not an expert. I've never held a gun. Gunmetal could be referring to cannon though, and maybe they had this blue-gray galvanized look.

This is three coats. Two would have been okay, but application was slightly uneven.

I had to thin this out with Seche Restore. Not sure why it came out so thick. I've had it for awhile and not used it.

See how it matches the light outside? Gloom.

The brush was wide, like the Insta-Dri brushes, but longer. Easy to work with, but the brush holds a lot of polish, so you need to wipe most of it off.

This polish matches a dress I bought for a wedding! The blue-gray is really quite unique. Hopefully this attempt to accept and work with the weather will lead the weather to a change!

Update: That totally worked! Ha! The sun came out, so here is Gunmetal in the sun.

Looks about the same.

Yay! Sun! Now I want to put on something really bright.

Another Near-Dupe and a Cool Pedi

2009-06-24T09:04:00.013-04:00

If you only want one, part 2. Essie Sexy Divide and Orly Velvet Rope.

Sexy Divide is another of those polishes that I heard great things about, looked at in the store every time and thought about forever until one day I bought it.

A dark grape with pink sparkles that you can see only in direct light or, I'm guessing, sunlight. We still have no sun.

It's pretty, but reminded me of something.....

Orly Velvet Rope, a bit lighter grape and a lot more pink sparkles that you can see, even inside, even in the shade.

Here are the bottles next to each other.

Velvet Rope on the left, Sexy Divide on the right.

And on the nail next to each other, in the same order this time!

Both applied well in two coats.

Not a dupe, but similar. If you only want one, I recommend Orly Velvet Rope.

I prefer Orly's formula in this case. The Essie had a lot of cuticle drag, even on the first coat. Velvet Rope is a bit brighter and more interesting. Sexy Divide is creamier and subtle.

As for my pedi, it's cool because I love the color: Orly Cashmere Cardigan.

And work shoes.

My application wasn't the neatest either, but you can really get away with a lot on your toes.

I'm not a fan of toe cleavage and these shoes hurt my bunion, but they're a slingback and look professional for summer. I'm ALMOST to the point of not wearing things that hurt.

I love this color so much. When I have it on my nails I can leave it on for many days. Not only does it wear supremely well, the color is just so pleasing.

I should have wrapped my toes around the bottle!

Even though this is in the shade, the color stays true in all kind of light. It's a soft blueish periwinkle that I think is a great work-appropriate blue. I'll show it to you on my hands at some point. The formula is a little thick so you can definitely use two coats. In fact, I recommend only two with careful application because it tends to make a ledge if you don't line up your edges perfectly. I can only do that without glasses, super close up and I can't get that close to my toes!

If You Only Want One and Electrocandy Teaser

2009-06-21T11:16:00.003-04:00

I bought China Glaze For Audrey first, and I liked it because it was unique and a pretty pastel for springtime.

A little while after that I saw Essie Greenport come out and I kept looking at it, not buying it, and then thinking about it until I finally went and bought it.

And it looked so familiar!!! Aargh.

No, they're not a dupe, but they're pretty close, which surprised me as one is a "tiffany blue" and the other has "green" in the name. Look at them next to each other.

Greenport on the left, For Audrey on the right.

Here they are on the nail.

In this picture, For Audrey on the left, Greenport on the right. Whoops.

You can definitely see the difference in this picture. You can even see the blue and green difference.

If you only want to buy one - I would recommend the Essie Greenport. It is more densely pigmented, full coverage in one coat rather than three, and applies more smoothly and evenly. The China Glaze For Audrey is thicker, chalkier and streaky.

Here is the teaser for the rest of the Color Club Electrocandy that I bought.

This makes a really cute "Skittles" (as Scrangie calls it) manicure or pedicure!

I don't normally buy a whole collection, but these are unique, amongst other neons and even amongst themselves.

It's fun to pose them all together too!

I plan to do the whole hand or foot on each of these at some point. Truly uncooperative weather this June. We've had something like 18 days of rain in 20 days. If you click on the pics and look at the closeup you can see some of the magic of these polishes. They are so much fun to look at and wear!

Best Polish Ever!!

2009-06-19T19:25:00.004-04:00

This is Color Club Ultra Violet. Bad name. It needs a name like Supersonic Hypnotic.

I'm in love.

Look at that blue flash and the purple is light as a feather.

Check it out up close:

This is three coats and a coat of Seche Vite because it dries just slightly matte. Wow, wow, wow, this line of colors is amazing!! I also bought the blue and green! I just love how the color is heated, but the flash cools it down. It's like fried ice cream, like nuclear winter, like icy hot, like soothe your burning retinas!

Polish & Shoe Choice Suggestions

2009-06-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

I had some time during the bad, non-photo-good-for weather to think about matching shoes to nail polish, so I took a bunch of photos of quickly swatched pedis and what they might look best with, or look NOT best with.

Here's a red shoe with metallic polish.
Metallic polish looks good with pretty much everything.

Here's a turquoise shoe with metallic polish.

And here are these two shoes with matching polish.

A little bit boring, but cute.

For a change, try the contrasting color.
I wouldn't wear them like this exactly. I would probably match my feet. But you never know what you're in the mood for. Could start a new trend....

I think the contrasting color does a lot more for the look.

Now what if you picked the wrong color wheel?
Not obviously bad, but you can tell the red is just a bit too blue, and the turquoise is just a bit too green, and a little too dark. Reminds me of secret make-overs I do at the mall on people. ("If she just re-thought the length of that skirt....")

I'll put these close together and you can really tell which looks better.

Now black shoes....they look good with just about everything, especially with metallic, especially if they are a little "edgy" or "hooker." lol

And anything kind of glittery and eye-catching looks great with black too. If you have a shoe that is eye-catching (or glittery) it's a good idea to coordinate a color and not compete with the shoe.

A good pedicure helps it look better too.

You might think the glitter and the black snake-print (fake) shoe would be too busy, and the orange doesn't really match the print shoe, but they add an extra element, and that is style. The black shoe can carry off something glittery because it's on the extreme end of all things black and strappy. The flowered shoe is actually a little bit sporty.
See the stripe? It can carry off an orange that doesn't quite match, but falls in the same basic color family.

If I switch these you will see all kinds of wrong.

Pastels and near-pastels and black do nothing for each other but wash out and look harsh. Flowers (sporty or not) and glitter do nothing for each other but remind you of what the other is not.

Remember to polish ALL of your toes!

So what looks good with metallic shoes? What looks good with neutral shoes?

Metallic shoes look great with a dark polish because it sets off the light bouncing off the shoe, but adds the interest of color. Red looks good with anything neutral, and pretty much any red will do. These are the same colors that didn't look good with the red and turquoise shoes.

Metallic shoes do not look good with a neutral color.

I almost can't stand to look at this! Granted, this color is hard to pull off anyway.

But check out that same color on this shoe. Neutral shoes look good with a different neutral color.

How about metallic shoes with a different color?

Not bad, but how much cuter does that color look with the turquoise contrast?

And speaking of contrast, let's contrast contrast and see what monochrome looks like.
I could have put silver polish with a silver shoe, but I thought it would be more interesting to use a different color of metal. So I'm counting it as monochrome - metallic with metallic. Pretty!

And that same polish with the brown shoe:

Also pretty! Not the most eye-catching, but pleasing.

I'm not making any rules here, but these are what I have found out through experimenting and considering harmony and discord. And having time to play around on a rainy day when I didn't have to work.

This adds another dimension to your summer wardrobe! And if you only do your toes every few weeks, you know that it will probably suit you better to choose a color that is fun enough to look at a lot, but egalitarian enough to match most of your shoes.

If you change your toe polish a lot, have some fun and pick some colors that ONLY match that one pair of shoes. It's a fun activity to find something that matches well in a really unique way.

An Unusual Orange

2009-06-18T07:41:00.005-04:00

Orange is a color I mostly fear. It never looks quite right on me. Michelle on All Lacquered Up suggested around New Year's to try a color you've shied away from. So, I have bought some oranges and they look very nice, but I can never stand to have them on for longer than a day.

Color Club - Tangerine Scream

This, however, is different. It's a COOL orange, which seems impossible. I tilted the bottle so you can see the cool shimmer of it. Yet, it's also a neon, so it's a white hot orange. Like when water is so hot it feels cold.

It is so pretty and unique!

Last night I put it on as a pedicure. (It's no longer on my nails) I'll have a pic of that someday if the sun comes out again. We have had the crappiest, overcast, rainy weather for about three weeks now!

If you have a color you bought and are reluctant to try it, or if you have something you think doesn't look quite right, I encourage you to try it again!

You never know, it could become a favorite. I never would have thought an orange polish would be in my top 20!

Nevertoomuchglitter's Gradation Tutorial Experiment

2009-06-17T09:21:00.007-04:00

The sun is back! I took some quick pics of the mess I made of a gradation that Jen taught on her blog http://nevertoomuchglitter.wordpress.com

I used these colors and the top coat that is almost gone, which is good because the nail polish got on the top coat brush.

Dark - Icing Envy
Middle - OPI Greenwich Village
Light - Orly Green Apple

I put a stripe of each color, dark on the nail bed, middle, then light on the tip.

Then I took the top coat and kind of swirled and blended. I made it all very thick and it settled
down and flattened out.

It reminds me of that balloon blowing kit where they would give you a tube of liquid plastic and a tiny straw and you would mash a glob of the liquid onto the end of the straw and blow up an awesome marblized balloon that smelled really evil.

I suppose you could also use the exact same kit to huff in a back alley along with smoking your candy cigarettes.

I did the other hand light to dark and painted the whole nail, then half, then the top bit, like in Jen's tutorial.

And a ring, of course!

I like this! It's a fun effect, and I dig the texture - thick and wavy.

I dare you try it!

Now what shoes.....

Harmony and Discord - A Concise Color Tutorial

2009-06-16T16:23:00.029-04:00

I'm all for putting unusual colors together and making things deliberately not match. HOWEVER. If you've ever wondered how some people can put a bunch of stuff together and it looks good while other people put a bunch of stuff together and it looks like a bunch of stuff....this may be why.

If you look at a color wheel you will see that certain colors either go together or stand out together. Colors next to each other complement each other while colors farther apart make each other stand out.

Colors that are not even on the same color wheel tend not to do much for each other. Look at the bright red and the pastel green, for example.

Here is an example in the nail polish and decal world.

Here we have Color Club Tangerine Scream on the left with some cute neon skulls and hearts and China Glaze Sex on the Beach with some pretty purple paisleys, hearts and leaves on the right.

Funny how neon goes with skulls and pretty goes with leaves. You don't often see pretty pastel skulls or screaming neon leaves.

Although I love putting things together that totally don't match just to make a point, you can see how each decal set and color do nothing for each other when they are with their not-perfect mate.

You will soon get a "feeling" when you put things together that are in the wrong color wheel. Try it out with some of your clothes, shoes and especially nail polish.

Kandinsky wrote about art, spirituality and color and one of his tenets is that the eye will react to color and from that comes a feeling. When color is in discord you will feel irritated. When in harmony you will feel a whole host of other emotions.

Discord; I notice the edges lifting and the background color looks muddy. Colors are uninspiring. I'm looking at my cuticles. I feel irritated.

Here are the colors and decals in harmony.

On the left it looks fun, young, exciting and happy and on the right it looks pretty and chic and modern and restful. I don't notice the edges of the decals as much and my cuticles look fine.

Isn't that cool? I love working with color and design for this reason. If you feel irritated and negative, something's not in harmony. If you feel happy and have a whole host of descriptive words coming to mind, it's absolutely working!

Love/Hate

2009-06-16T08:47:00.010-04:00

I got two polishes that are very different socio-economically. The one on the left is J-2 Autumn Berry from Tilton Beauty Supply. The one on the right is Suncoat Water-based Nail Polish (number 14) from Whole Foods. J2 cost $1.99 and Suncoast cost $14.00.

Seriously, water-based? I know. But it's not tested on animals, as the bottle says.

Autumn Berry is chock-full of chemicals, but no toulene. Not sure if it's tested on animals. I hope not.

The suncoat applied like yogurt and when I tried to apply Seche Vite it turned into snot. I had to start over again and carefully apply coat after coat to build it up.

This has to be five or six coats and it's still very sheer.

Hate:
The consistency
The sheerness
The way the polish clogs up in the neck of the bottle like a snotty nose and you have to wipe it
The price
The way you can't use a top coat when it's still even a little bit wet

Love:
The way it looks like galvanized steel (like this flower bucket.)

Look at the texture. The streakiness adds to the effect.
This is not a dupe in any way to the several other grays I have.
The unexpected micro-cosmic glitter in this which is colorful and can only be seen in sunlight (which has been eluding New Jersey for awhile now - and rain and overcast is the forecast for all week AGAIN)

And the J2...I bought it because it was so cheap. If I got brave enough to look I would find about five thousand of these red-brown autumn berry types in my stash, but I'm really drawn to them and they are always beautiful.

I had to have that huge square bottle in my collection! Now I have to get another one because I can't just have one. I can hardly get my hand around it for the picture.

You've seen this a million times, but it's a decent cheap version and I'm all for that. The fun and pick-me-up of playing with pretty nail polish that's also safe for us and for animals shouldn't have such a high price tag.

This is three coats.

Love:
The price
The shape of the bottle
The very decent quality of the polish

Hate:
There may be animal testing going on - I hate that. Unless they are putting it on the animal's nails, it seems unnecessary as I don't intend to put this in my eye or apply it generously to my skin.

Since the weather has been overcast I haven't wanted to take pictures of really special stuff, but I will keep swatching some of the more esoteric stuff that I buy and then forget about. Actually, I love when people swatch older polish or unknown polish. Cool to see it all in action.

Metallic Pedicure

2009-06-15T21:38:00.007-04:00

One of my favorite things to do is match my toes to my shoes. (Did you realize toes and shoes are spelled much the same, but they do not rhyme?)

Metallic polish and metallic shoes - what could be better! These shoes are from Marshalls or Ross and were probably around $12.00.

The polish is Milani - Key Lime Shine, (probably bought this at the drugstore CVS) and I have some major problems with it.

1) It doesn't make me think of Key Lime. It's metallic - since when do you name metallic things after pie?
(Here it looks gray, but it has a nice mellow verdi gris effect. I would have named it Tarnished Silver.)
2) I had to add a lot of Seche Restore because this polish was the gloopiest, thickest most difficult bunch of slop to ever stick to a brush.
3) Application showed such horrible brush strokes that I ended up putting on about four way-too-thick coats to try to get it looking okay.

This picture makes me laugh because I stuck my foot up on the desk, right under my light, between my laptop and computer. I'm surprised it came out so well!

The picture, not the polish...yuck.

But it looks really pretty with the shoes, doesn't it? And seriously, you don't notice mistakes much when you look at feet. It's a holistic, gestalt effect going on way down there.

I have an awesome metallic blue I'll have to show you some time that looks fantastic with these sandals.

Frankenlayering With Four Colors

2009-06-15T20:56:00.009-04:00

I had some polishes I never really used and they seemed to go together, so I played around to see what would happen. From left to right we have Sally Hanson Salon - Navy Baby, Orly - French Manicure (this probably has some sort of name, but some shower get spilled in my nail polish box and I lost a lot of labels), Sally Hanson Salon - Plum It, Orly - Take the Plunge.

I thought the blue would go with the blue and the plum would go with the pink and I would get some sort of mother of pearl effect. Index and ring are the plum and pink; middle and pinkie are the navy and blue.

What the heck? The plum turned blue and the navy turned metallic peach!

Here are the four original colors: (just one fairly thick coat)

And here is the pink on top of the navy, the blue on top of the plum and the two top coats on top of each other.
This time the navy turned a blackened cornflower blue, the plum turned into a gentle peachy duochrome, and the other two look about the same as each other.

Please excuse my crappy application (crapplication?). I was playing around and not really doing this seriously, although I wore the first, alternating version all day. I thought it looked kind of cool because they are in the same color family.
My edges look rough.

When you're layering a top coat over something really dark, make sure the dark polish is well away from the edges of the nail and cuticle. That way the top coat can completely cover it.