I'm really into matte polish right now.

Update: I haven't been back to my blog in quite some time, but I thought I'd post right up here in my last blog post that I no longer wear any of my Mentality nail polishes, unfortunately.  It seems the company had really suspect business practices and a significant number of customers ended up experiencing chemical burns after use of their products.  I never had the issues they experienced, but I'm not comfortable risking it!

Hey y'all.  I had to do a slew of manis lately for the Winter Olympics challenge in TFIMP, but I really wanted to share this one- Mentality polish in Tempest.  they do an awesome range of matte collections, and this is the darkest from I think it's the grayscales?  I also have the next lightest, Monsoon, but I haven't tried it yet.



All I have to say is omg gorgeous.  The red in this just GLOWS.  And I didn't top coat it (I had to move on to the next challenge!) but it's just SO great shiny, too.

For the last day or so, I also wore their polish in Panna Cotta.  I didn't get a pic of it until I busted a nail trying to pry a beer bottle open with a screwdriver, though, so that's what you get.  Forgive me, because on top of the broken nail I'm showcasing, I also applied this in a rush because I was running out the door Sunday evening to meet family for dinner and couldn't live with naked nails for the event.  Otherwise, this polish, too, was so drool-worthy.  I think my nails should naturally grow out Panna Cotta-colored.



So now I'll just have to wear Monsoon and Tough (a gorgeous blue I picked up from them) and I'll have worn my little set of Mentalities!



After last night's break, I used yet another untried matte (texture, really) in Nicole OPI My Cherry Amour.  I picked this up because in the bottle, it looked like a textured version of Zoya Blaze, which is basically what runs through my veins.  While it doesn't look so much like it on the nail, I still just adore this flavor of berry.  :)  Also, I could not get this to work on my camera.  It just would not focus, and it's color inaccurate like WOAH.  IRL, this is darker, more of a wine color, not hot pink.  Direct sunlight, but it did the same in shade, too.  Oh well.



I wish I had more to say, but I'm really not feeling all that chatty today.  I finally got around to finding and building my yarn shelving/cubbies last night, though, so that's progress?  One day, I'll be unpacked, I just know it!  Oh, I DID cook food last week.  Like, with ingredients, not from a can/box/pouch.  WIN!  Maybe I'll post pictures as proof later.

Mani matching WIP

I posted about the Collor Affection I am working on (well, "am" is a strong word- I WAS working on it, until I moved, and now I can't find it) and a challenge in my nail group during the Winter Olympics was to match your WIP.





This is:
Orly Top 2 Bottom base coat
Thumb and middle- Essence Jacob's Protection x2, SV, Gelous, SV
Index and pinky- Ruffian Delirium x2, Darling Diva Ringer, SV, DD Ringer, Gelous, SV
Ring- Broadway Nails Mystery Pumpkin x2, SV, painted with a fan brush dipped into Zoya Giovanna and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Speedy Sunburst (both thinned on a plate), Gelous/SVx2 (Gelous smeared the SH on my left, so I opted for just SV on the right.  Lesson learned!)

And a reminder of the WIP - swatch picture because the actual WIP is only the purple right now, haven't reached a stripe section yet):



So people may be all critical about the size of my polish collection (there are definitely people who have more than I do) but I was able to poke through and find exactly the colors I needed to match not only the colors of my yarn, but the finish as well- I didn't do a black polish, I picked one that was black with blue sparkles throughout- the yarn has a halo of blue in it.  Instead of just purple polish, I layered it with Ringer to give it the red halo (though it was difficult to pick up in photos) that the purple yarn had.

Needless to say, I'm rather pleased with myself.

January Catch-Up

When last we spoke, I was flailing around, very excited about SNOW!

Now that I've survived the numerous bridge closings and terrible traffic while moving (yes, I moved during snowmagedon...), I figured I should post the manis I skipped in all the hullabaloo.

When last we spoke, I was flailing around, very excited about SNOW! Now that I've survived the numerous bridge closings and terrible traffic while moving (yes, I moved during snowmagedon...), I figured I should post the manis I skipped in all the hullabaloo.

 First up is a satin polish from Julep called Noelle. I wore it with the matte/satin finish for a few days:



This was Revlon Gel Smooth base coat plus Noelle x2.  There is still some VNL, but in-person, it wasn't so apparent.  Three coats definitely would have cleared that up, though.

I then got the stamping urge (so rare for me, I'm dying for my Vivid Lacquer squishy stamper, but I can't quite convince myself to get my package sent to me- what if she releases some new color I must have?!)  I tried out my Klean Color Metallic Navy.  I've heard other people complain about this as a stamping polish, but man was I blown away- I seriously did all 10 nails in one shot, I didn't wipe my plate down at all.  Normally, after one or two nails, I have to clean off the plate or I won't get good image pick-up.

Spam, because I loved this mani so so so much:







Never mind the fact that the stamping looks fab, but the two coats fo top coat smoothed it out and really brought out the shimmer in the Julep!

Then I broke out one of my most recent Zoya purchases, Zuza.  I got this with the Godiva promo.  This is Revlon Gel Smooth, Zuza x2, and Seche Vite.  I'm not going to include pictures, but I finally got my hands on the F'ngers spotted top coat and did a test run on this mani before removing it and it, too, looked fab.  The spotted peels like nobody's business, though, so it would probably be beneficial to do multiple layers to really seal it in.  when it peeled, it was like latex coming off my nails.



Next up, I tried out Revlon Italian Leather- it's one of the new polishes from their scented line and let me tell you- I actually LOVED the smell of this.  Not overpowering at all, but when I was diving, I would suddenly catch a whiff of something and think, "Man, that's a nice smell!" and then realize it was coming from my nails. OMG, love.



In the shade above, Revlon Gel Smooth base, two coats of Italian Leather, and one of top coat.

much chic
shiny x200
very scent
wow

That is how I feel about this polish.

Sunlight shows the lovely shimmer:



Next up was a Cover Girl Glosstini in Hawiian Blue.  I had trouble applying this.  It just seemed... gloopy.  I loved the color and top coat made it a lot better, but application was not fun.  I did my Gel Smooth base, Hawaiian Blue x2 (I think) and on ring and thumbs, I slapped on some Darling Diva Wild Child for fun.





And that brings us up to the snow mani, which I shall remind you was based on Zoya Liberty because we can all spare a moment to look upon this lovely color:

Memorializing the Snow

Even though I'm mani-backlogged, time is of the essence with today's:  snowflakes!  Now, here in coastal SC, we mostly got sleet and saw flakes falling, but never got the powdery stuff on the ground.  So sad.  :C

But I have snowflakes o my nails, so life isn't THAT bad!

I started with the Zoya Liberty x2 I've had on for the past few days.





I then stamped Color Club On the Rocks with Vivid Lacquer 006.  I tried to smooth it with Gelous before SV, but it drastically smeared one nail, so they all have SVx2 to get the texture filled.



I, of course, took my pictures with the hood of my car as the background.  ;)

For fun, there are a ton photos I took this morning of the yard behind the break.

Puppy Paws

For Giftmas, I got my littlest sister a Klutz Nail Art book.  It's a set I had when I was about 10 and since she's always oohing and ahhing over my nails, I thought this would be a nice treat for her that also fits my stepmother's requirements of peel-off and non-toxic.  I had her flip through and pick out a few designs she liked, and then with my big-girl tools (a fine paintbrush and various sizes of dotting tools) I did some adorable nail art for her.

She wanted blue and red base color:



I did two coats all around.  Then she wanted puppy paws and little puppies.



Thumbs ended up being painter's palettes.  (I think because they required me to use all the colors, including mixing up some brown.)



So even though I explained to her that since they are water-based and designed to peel off, they wouldn't last very long (woe is me, though, the art on a squirming child easily took over an hour) she was devastated when she lost a few.  Hopefully she realizes that she can just ask me to do it again next time we have some spare time!

Cast-On: Color Affection

Ok, let's hit on the knitting aspect of my life.  I love knitting, but I change manis far more often than I hit any kind of knitting milestone- cast on a new project, learn from a mistake, finish knitting, or even blocking.  But I've got a project start today, so yay!

I decided that I really needed to find a use for one of the several variegated lace-weight yarns I have.  I really wet through a phase and then it hit me that I had not a clue what to do with them.  So gorgeous in the skein, they kind of knit up not-so-pretty.

The one I've had the longest is a Zitron Filigran in the Indian Summer colorway.



Look at this.  It's freaking gorgeous.

I tried to start knitting with it a few times, but always felt meh about it.  Someone suggested incorporating it into a Color Affection, though, and that sounded like a great idea!  So I hit my LYS to try to find two colors to compliment the royal/jewel-toned colors in the Zitron.

I ended up with two balls of Nico Feza- a purple with a red "halo" and a black with navy "halo."





I did the black-and-white-photo test, and I think the color choices will be successful!



I even knit a min-swatch (ain't nobody got time for all those 4x4" squares...) to see if I liked the colors next to each other:



This shawl will probably take me a thousand years to finish, given my history of project completion, but I think I'll like it in the end.  :)

New Year's mani- in late January!

Several things happened between Christmas and now.  Mostly, though, I was stuck on a browser that wouldn't allow me to function in Blogger.  So I have a lot of catch-up to do.

I did the most epic mani ever for New Year's Eve.  Actually, as much as I loved this, I probably should have switched my accent polishes, but whatever.

I took so many pictures.  These two are indoor.  First under a crazy LED light, but the purple is off.



Next under just a regular overhead light.



These two are a few days later in my car: first in a shady kind of place, then in direct sunlight.





On all but ring:
Revlon Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Essie Sexy Divide x2
Maybelline Lavishly lilac x1 on middle finger
Maybelline Gilded Rose x3 or 4 on ring finger
All topped with SV or Gelous and then SV.

I have to say, Sexy Divide was TROUBLE to apply.  The first coat looked awful.  the second coat hid all imperfections, though it would have been perfect at 3- I was just too lazy and no one is looking THAT close.  I would have probably also either worn a gold under the Gilded Rose so so many coats wouldn't have been needed (it was still sheer after the above) and also, I probably would reverse the Lavishly Lilac (so you could really see the purple in it) and the Gilded Rose over Sexy Divide.

Here's me wearing it in action- the BF and I spent NYE with a few friends playing Cards Against Humanity while practicing being not-sober.



Best.  Card.  Ever.  (But no one in the room thought it was funny, I guess you gotta be a cephalopod-loving hoar to truly appreciate this.)