Some Tools Of The Trade

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!!!