Crafting for Christmas: Part 2 - Necklaces

I started off the Christmas gifting so early, always in an attempt to avoid the last minute gift scramble.  Of course, here it is the day AFTER Christmas and I'm still crafting for Christmas...  This is okay because I had everything for the day'of that I needed to, and I have a few more gifts to give out later, so I'm not LATE, per se...

So we shall continue on my way to creating lovely nail polish necklaces and picture frames.  When last we discussed this, I had just created several sample swatches to begin thinking of what color combos I might want to use for these various creations.  I decided to work on the necklaces first, as they had more of the interesting combinations.  The first gift I completed was a Tenth Doctor-inspired necklace.

I bought little glass cabochan ovals from Hobby Lobby and some bight silver colored settings as well as a few "antique bronze" looking ones.  The bright blue of the VL Oops in Spaaaaace/Revlon Royal reminded me of the blue lights of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, so a silver setting was just perfect for it.   Bestie is going to grab me a picture of it because I forgot to grab one before I mailed it off to her, but here's the lovely lady herself wearing the necklace until then!



Next was a duochrome in the antique setting for my sister- I did Orly Space Cadet with Wet n' Wild Black creme.



I love how straight-on, you get a reddish pink color, but it flashed a yellow/gold from the sides!



My aunt also got an antique setting.  After doing even more swatches, I came up with one layered thusly: Zoya Paloma, Zoya Mary Luisa, Zoya Paloma, and backed with Pretty & Polished Good Vibrations.  This is an interesting one because it utilizes a jelly (Paloma) to tint the golden flakies of ML which shine over the pinky-mauve of Good Vibrations (which itself is a holographic thermal COLOR CHANGER, but under all the pink of Paloma, I doubt the change will be noticeable.  Interesting to see if it make a difference while wearing, though!)



And I also made a necklace for a good knitting friend of mine.  She's a green-lover, so I literally copied the Zoya manicure I had on last week.  First, I loved the colors, second, I know she'll love the colors!  To refresh your memory, I layered Zoya Mary Luisa (again!) and then two coats of Zoya Giovanna and popped it into a silver setting.



I did encounter a few issues with these necklaces, unfortunately.  Though the pieces were all from the same company, the silver settings seemed to run smaller than the antique.  None of the glass beads were the same size, either.  For both silver settings, I needed to buy medium grit sanding sponges and go to town before they laid in the settings nicely.  Actually, I didn't even glue the Zoya Giovanna one- I was testing to see if I'd sanded enough and couldn't get the fucker out.  I figure, if it wants to stay in there so bad, I'll give it to buddy as-is and let her know if it pops out, don't stick it in again, I'll glue it for her.  Or, you know, she can, but I'll assume I will.

One glass bead fit perfectly as-is in the antique setting, and another needed minimal sanding to fit.  All in all, this took me way longer than I thought it would to put together 4 necklaces, bu the results were exactly what I was hoping for, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!  (Actually, I AM doing it again, I need to make two more for a swap in January I'm participating in...)

I'll get back to y'all on those picture frames, too.

Christmas Mani

Just dropping in to post my final Christmas mani- I'm working on completing my Christmas crafting posts, but in the mean time, here's the Color Clube Antiquated from before, but sponger with Zoya Storm.  this is three layers of sponging, and yes, I still suck at doing gradients.  I figure, though, that if I keep trying, eventually it won't look like ass.  this might have been better if I did smaller sponging sections and maybe sponged a black glitter on last, but I don't think I have a fine black glitter, so whatever.





I am happiest with my left index, but whatever.  I still look fantastic to anyone who doesn't know wtf I was trying to do, lmao.

Subtle Holiday Cheer

I'm still totally slacking on Christmas.  I made my first pendant the other day for a gift and realized the pieces I bought at the hobby store from the same brand and labeled as going together don't actually fit each other.  I will have to go find some sandpaper and buff down the glass bits so they fit in the settings.  What a bummer.  I think I'm going to write the company an email expressing my dissatisfaction with their jewelry findings.

Anyway, I felt last night was time for a polish change.  I had a hard time picking something.  I tried to stick to my sizable amount of untried polishes, and then after I started the application of this remembered I'd used it in a last-minute mani a few months ago and forgot to mark it down.  Oh well.



Revlon Gel Smooth Base Coat
Color Club Antiquated x2
Seche Vite

This is a lovely champagne foil from Color Club.  Their foils go on so easily, can be one-coaters if you're super careful, and are just lovely all on their own.  (But I did the blue with glitter and holo on top this past summer and it was TO DIE FOR.  Actually, let me find you a picture...)



You can kind of see the holo peeking out, but it's better when it's kind of in half-shade and blurry:



It was insane how much I loved that mani.

The colors were CC Cold Metal and Wet n' Wild Blue Wants to Be A Millionaire?

Anyway, the point is, CC foils are excellent alone or embellished.

And sometimes before Christmas, I will either stamp this with a red design or try to do a gradient with Zoya Storm.  PLANS, I HAVE THEM.

It's vaguely almost Christmas

I'm still trying to formulate gifts for people.

Mother and stepfather are taken care of.

Youngest sister is taken care of.

Boyfriend is taken care of.

Still crafting for Aunt and Uncle, as well as other sister.

Best friend is still on the fence on what I will craft/buy for her.

That mostly just leaves dad and stepmother, who are ridiculously difficult to buy for.  They will probably end up with a restaurant gift card, if I'm being honest.

Y'all, Christmas is in like 8 days.  WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!

Really, I only have to mail one of my gifts, and it technically won't take long to make, once I decide on a color combo, if that's what I decide.

Moving on, I finally repainted my nails yesterday.  I wore that Pixie dust manicure for about a week.  It saw me through many vents in its time. But today, I've got this slightly-festive looking beauty on:



Seche Clear
Zoya Giovanna x2
Seche Vite

Accents then have:
Zoya Mary Louisa
Seche Vite

Here it is in full sun:



I figured I should get this up while I'm thinking about it.  I started the post yesterday, but I'm finishing up today- trying to calm my nerves as I was in a pile-up on the way to work this morning.  I'm still pretty shaken, still trying to figure out what needs to be done, etc.  No one was seriously injured, thank goodness!  And I was not at fault, so no ticket for me, WHEW.  But I'm starting to get little creeping pains in my back.  Keep your fingers crossed, I really hope I'm fine.  Now I need to focus on insurance companies and getting my car repaired.  JOY TO THE WORLD.

Crafting for Christmas: Part 1

It's late in the season, but I've been hit with the fever.  It's bitten me- the crafting bug.  I told myself I was NOT Making gifts this year (mostly thinking of knitting and how time consuming it is and how unknitworthy most of my family are) so I'd banned myself from even considering it.

But as you know, I have another passion, and with that passion comes a collection of 328 bottles of nail polish, all of them quite lovely.  I was inspired by my nail polish ladies asking about crafts and nail polish on ornaments.  Mostly, this involves buying clear glass ornaments, pouring polish in, swirling it around, etc.  That take s a lot of polish, and I am willing to share in the beauty, but not THAT much.

(Speaking of, let's take a moment to update my current mani- I am still wearing the Zoya Godiva, but I added a third coat and wanted to see what night-time in my car with the overhead light looked like, so here you go:)



It DID eventually develop into talk of nail polish jewelry.  Cabochans, specifically.  (Don't worry, I had to google what they were called, too.  All I knew was "glass painted with nail polish and glued to a setting.")  Unfortunately, for the few pieces I planned to make, the supplies can add up- most internet retailers specialize in whole-sale quantities, I wanted to make 2-4 necklaces.  But I DID come across a tutorial for making them with glass vase filler beads- they aren't uniform ad have flaws, but I think that adds interest.  They won't fit in a specific setting, but you can use them on flat backing or on other crafts.

I decided to play around and plan to glue a bunch onto picture frames for some family members who have a big wall of family photos- they are always looking for interesting frames, and I think they'd love these when I'm done!  I did also buy a few individual cabochan supplies from the local craft store, but I haven't painted them yet- I wanted to use the glass beads to experiment with color combos before committing them to the more expensive jewelry glass.

So now, MOAR PICTURES!

First, I cleaned the beads with rubbing alcohol.  Then I painted the flat half with a sucky top coat (seriously, I bought it at the Dollar Tree because it said "Seche Vite" and I thought it was hilarious.  I figured it would not even come close, and I was right.  But at least I now have a use for it!) and let it sit for a few minutes.



Then I worked backwards: glitter then base color, x2 if necessary.

My first batch was Ruby Kisses Mardi Gras (the bar glitter) with a base of China Glaze Bizarre blurple.  This is what gave me the inclination that glitter polishes were not going to give me the desired "gemstone" effect- the glitter sits right ON the glass, as opposed to when it's on your nail and the polish it's in kind of mutes it.  The bar glitter is a little too jarring, but will still work nicely for one of my gifts.

The second set I did was a combo of Orly Fowl Play and a base of an unnamed (well, it probably HAD a name, but it's so old it's worn off) Sally Hansen dark blue shimmery color.  The flakies in Fowl play were just lovely.  The difference betwen these two made it clear that flakies were well-worth experimenting with, as well as other polishes that had a more hidden shimmer effect that was harder to see on the nail.

After both sets had dried (I gave them a good half hour), I put the same top coat over the base.  I had to keep cleaning my brush, though- the shitty top coat kept trying to pull the color up, hence it being shitty.

Here's the underside as they dried.  In this light, you can't really see much difference in the colors, and on the front side, it doesn't matter as much, but there IS a definite difference between the blue and purple.



And the final result:



I love the Fowl Play stones so so so much.  So rather than make an entire batch of another combo, I pulled out a handful of stones and did a different combo on each, which was fun.  there were some "meh" results, but some were just great.  I'm going to make a few necklace pendants, as some of these polishes are not something I'd like to use a whole lot of on dozens of little stones.

The bottom sides:



And the lovely front sides:

Row 1: Essie Dive Bar x2; Pure Ice Heartbreaker, Salon Perfect Red Dahlia; Vivid Lacquer Oops! In Spaaaaace, Revlon Royal; Orly Space Cadet, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme; OPI Just Spotted the Lizard x2

Row 2: COAT Cosmic, Cosmetic Arts dark green creme; Zoya Opal, Cosmetic Arts dark green creme; Essence It's Grey-t to Be Here x2; Butter London Dosh x2

Row 3: Pure Ice Midnight Show, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme; Essence Chic Reloaded; Vivid Lacquer Evil League of Evil, Revlon Naughty; Essence Jacob's Protection x2

Row 4: Orly High On Hope x2; Maybelline Mod Moss x2

The first of these I did was the Private Show- I thought it'd be a nice blackened glitter.  Nope- far too bright, for above stated reasons.  I didn't try any more glitter after that.  The duochromes didn't do as well as I'd hoped, though they didn't look BAD.  Anything with flakies, however, looked WONDERFUL.  Polish that notoriously gives me trouble and looked "meh" on the nail looked GREAT on these stones.  (I'm looking at you, Jacob's Protection...)  One of my happiest mistakes was the Zoya Opal- I'd planned to paint a light color over it, but I grabbed the wrong flakie and painted it with dark green, instead.  OMG, gorgeous.  

I think I've got a few solid stone combos for my necklaces, and some good ideas for the picture frames, so... Mission accomplished!  

After that rant about smart phones...

...I went and replaced mine.  Thus far, my decision seems to have been a good one (Cyber Monday shopping FTW!)

The new shiny thing is a nice upgrade because it has a camera equipped with a macro mode.  Why, you might ask, is that important?  Because up until now, I've been taking pictures of manicure with my ancient Kodak Easy Share and its battery doesn't keep a charge.  I've been limited to taking pictures while it's on the dock, tethered to an outlet.  Also, sun availability.  So with a phone that is, GASP!, mobile, I think I'll have more opportunity to actually catch my manis now that I'm back to working full-time.

Today is an experiment:  I've applied two coats of Zoya Godiva (a score form one of Zoya's zillions of Flash Promos they've been doing all week) over Revlon Gel Smooth Base.  I would have applied a third, but I was running out the door.  This explains why I did no cleanup, either.  There is a bit of visible nail line, but I'll take care of that later.

This is shot on a very overcast cold and rainy day, so I'm interested in the results.



So far, so good new smart phone camera!

I thought my favorite color was pink.

A few weeks ago, I picked up a cute little trio of polishes from Marshall's (Or Homegoods, or some place like that) that just looked lovely in their little box together.  There is a super deep navy, a shimmery steel, and a lovely light pink frosty/glittery shade.  So I decided I'd try on that pink last week because, HELLO, I love pink.



I can't put my finger on it, but as much as I love pink, this was just not doing it for me.  Don't get me wrong- I was going for a simple palate cleanser kind of thing.  But I was just looking at this and thinking, "Blah."  So I stamped it.



Much better!  I mean, I suck balls at stamping, but whatever.  Stockinette stitch on my nails!  This ended up being:

Seche Clear
Paula Dorf Pinch Me Pink x2
Seche Vite

Stamped with:
Klean Color Metalic Pink
Vivid Lacquer #004
Seche Vite

You kids, get offa my lawn!: Cell Phone Edition

I'm just gonna throw this out there.

I hate that smart phones are a thing.

Yes, they are useful.  Yes, they are convenient.  Yes, I use mine daily and it occasionally makes life easier.

But you know what?  A smart phone just does the jobs of 12 other things that we already had.  And now none of those things is working when I need them to work.

A list of the problems I've been having more and more often over the past month:

• Calls not going through.  For example, the other evening I tried to call my stepmother.  You know, place a phone call.  THE PURPOSE OF A CELL PHONE.  It just kind of sat there and wouldn't DO anything.  So I closed out all of the "apps" running (phone "app included- since when does the call function count as an app?  THAT SHOULD BE THE DEFAULT STAT OF A PHONE!) and went a step further, did a Task Killer thing to make sure nothing was running.  Called again, it went through.  So then the next day when I tried to place a call to Dear Boyfriend, my phone instead decided, "Oh, this is the time I should make that call you tried to make last night!"  Imagine my surprise when stepmother answered.  This happens on a regular basis and causes quite a lot of confusion.  
• Accelerometer (I assume) issues.  Over the pat few days, I've noticed that when I rotate my phone, pictures/pages I want to view in landscape do not follow me.  At first, I thought this was intended with the "updated" apps.  But no, nothing is turning.  Except for my stupid Google Maps, which brings us to...
• STUPID GOOGLE MAPS.  I don't know wtf they did, but it worked FINE until their last update a few months ago.  Now my directions freeze constantly.  I start to exit a highway and freak out because I have no idea which way to turn without prompts.  I'm about to bust out my Garmin again, this ish is getting ridiculous.  BUT AT LEAST IT GOES INTO LANDSCAPE WHEN I DON'T EVEN WANT IT TO.  
• My keyboard.  Every so often, I wouldn't get words prompted by Swype, which is annoying, but hey at least I can still spell on my own.  Now it occasionally just doesn't let me type anything.  I just... I don't even.  It's a cell phone.  Making phone calls and sending texts should be what it excels at.  I don't even.  
• Texting.  I've covered my gimp keyboard issues.  But frequently, I get notified that my sent text was not actually sent, would I like to send it again?  This can happen 3 or more times in a row.  And I'm like, "I don't want this not to have actually sent, even though I have my doubts!"  (I've had issues with that in the past)  And then it turns out that the text DID go through and the poor person on the other end of the line just got the same sentence from me 5 times.  That gets annoying for both parties.
• And this has been an ongoing issue with the handset itself- Want to turn on wifi?  GOOD LUCK, unless you've closed out everything, run task Killer, and even then on occasion it goes, NOPE.  At least when it's done restarting wifi in enabled, but seriously, that gets annoying.  

And there you have it.  You know, before this (my first) smart phone, I only had "dumb" phones.  But you know what?  They reliably called and texted people.  And everything worked and didn't have to load.  It just did what you told it to do.  

I get that technology is advancing and is great, but can we get things working reliably before moving on to the Next Big Thing?  I get that half the problem is just that apps and programming gets too complex for older handsets to handle.  But my phone is a year old and I bought it right when it was released.  And it frigging turns off when it feels like it.  Now I'm faced with the dilemma of purchasing a new one- do I go the route of hoping that more money will equal a better phone experience?  Maybe a fancier handset will be technically relevant for more than a year.  

I just wish we could all go back to when we loved our Nokias and thought T9 was the best thing ever.  

Also, we should get rid of cars and ride horses everywhere except for long trips, when we will all use trains and planes.  

Oh, look, work gets in the way of nail blogging.

We're all shocked, I know.  Whoda thunk that going from 0-60 when it comes to work would mean I'd have less time to properly photograph my hands and then write about them online?  I haven't looked yet, but I know I'm at least 3 manicures behind on blog posts.  I actually feel a bit guilty because the BF is doing this whole "Novemblog" thing (where he writes blogs all month to participate in NaNoWriMo instead of writing a novella) but sometimes ends up going on for 1,667 words about how he has nothing to write about, and here I am with manicures I told myself I'd post (because I gank them from here to post on TFIMP, which is REALLY the point).  I have naked nails, so after this I need to repaint them, but I swore I'd catch up online FIRST.

You know what?  This blog isn't just supposed to be about polish.  I mean, I do other stuff.  I used to bake a LOT.  If I was doing that, I'd post about it.  And I knit.  Maybe I'll show off the bright blue cabled neck warmer I finished recently.  I've been spending a lot of time doing school-related stuff with aforementioned BF.  He likes to bake, maybe I'll see if he wants to make something on Veteran's Day or something.

Anyway, now that I have that off my chest, here we go into some non-polish stuff.

Work is kind of lovely.  I'm at a temporary folding table, and I can barely do anything functional due to waiting for clearances to come through, but all in all, it's working out, methinks.  This, of course, means that I have started back up on my apartment search.  I pretty much narrowed it down to one complex or anything downtown that opens up when I'm more ready to actually go through with a move that is decent and affordable.  I'm kind of psyched.

Speaking of psyched.  Psych.  I think it was on USA or something.  BF suggested we watch that on Netflix when we got home from a wine tasting last night.  I admit, I was pretty under-the-influence, and I don't typically dislike things in general, but I have issues with that show.  He is offended because he thinks it's amazing.  Maybe it improves over time, but there's this guy who is all "observant."  He sits at home, watches the news, and calls in tips to the popo based on how the person being interviewed is acting.

So on this evening in the show, he's like, "Oh, the owner of the store did it" by which he means the owner who is being interviewed on the news has been burgling his own store.  So the police are all, "Why don't you come on down to the station so we can reward you."

But really, the popo want to investigate this guy because HOW WOULD HE HAVE ALL OF THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IF HE WASN'T IN ON IT, HUH?!?!

Except, as far as the viewers know, all the guy did was call in and be all, "Yo, that guy seems suspicious.  Get on that."

So to get out of being prosecuted for all these crimes he calls in tips for (which, btw, people do all the time- have you not SEEN America's Most Wanted?), the guy is all, UHH, I HAVE THIS INFO BECAUSE I'M PSYCHIC... YEAH.

Anyway, the show is stupid.

At this point, I kind of went to sleep.  I couldn't be bothered to finish a television show set on such a shaky premise.  Plus, like I said, I was pretty drunk, and cranky, and BF was trying to write blog posts about nothing and therefore TOTALLY NEGLECTING ME.   Ok, kidding.  Except not.  Anyway.

Nails.  Let's see where I left off.

Ah, yes.  Two and a half weeks ago, right before starting the job that killed my desire to blog.  (This means I have no clue how many coats I did of any of these, so I'll just guess.)

Right before work started, I wanted to continue with another fun mani and knock out an untried- I ended up going with one of the Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots polishes.  Jelly sandwich in a bottle!



PVC glue base (basically, I painted Elmer's glue on my nails to facilitate removal of ALL THE GLITTER)
Maybelline Pretty in Polka x2
Gelous x2
Seche Vite

Then work started.  CUE OFFICE-APPROPRIATE NAIL POLISH!  Actually, by this time, I had several Halloween-themed things to do, so I started my job with bright red, to go with my Dorothy costume.  I don't think Judy Garland wore nail polish in the movie, but if she did, it would be this one:



Seche Clear
China Glaze Ruby Pumps x2
SV
(Later in the week, I did another layer of Ruby Pumps, Gelous, and SV and it was GLORIOUS.)

This wore like IRON, but after having it on for an entire freakin' week, I was dying to try out something new.  I had just picked up the two Zoyas I was drooling over and had to use one ASAP.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures until it started looking like crap, and also apparently I can no longer focus on anything, so we'll pretend the blur is intentional so the sparkles may be seen more easily.



Seche Clear
Zoya Payton (<3) x2
SV

Of course, this had to be followed immediately by her sister color (this was dear BF's choice.  Whenever I ask him what color I should do, he says blue.  My littlest sister always says, "Pink with sparkles."  They are predictable in their preferences.)



Seche Clear
Zoya Dream x2
SV

Payton and Dream were TO DIE FOR lovely.  They got a lot of compliments, too. :D

This brings us to what I wore the past few days.  Mother and Father Dearest sent me an Etsy gift certificate for my birthday, so I cashed it in on four thermal color changers from Pretty & Polished.  Cuttlefish was the one BF chose (again, his preference is evident!)



Seche Clear
Pretty & Polished Cuttlefish x2 (appropriate for an aquarium wine tasting event, don't you think?)
Gelous x2
SV

This one was fun in the office.  (Oh?  Conservative and office-appropriate?  Yeah, that kind of got thrown out the window...)  I could look at my hands and say, "Oh, my nails are blue!  I should put on my coat!"  Then later, they'd go back to white (with teal tips) and I knew it was okay to shed a layer.  My own personal thermometer.

Alrighty, I have nothing more to contribute this evening (except that my BOGO free Zoya order just arrived, DARE I PUT ON STORM AND HOLO ALL THE THINGS?!  Or maybe some Paloma?  DECISIONS, DECISIONS.  Or there's that new tectured yellow I got from Sinful Colors the other day...  How is a girl to decide?)

Actually, after all of these, I think I need a palate-cleansing creme or basic shimmer.

Wear ALL THE COLORS before new job starts!

Man, I haven't been doing this a whole month yet and I'm already slacking.  In my defense, since my birthday water marble, I did a holographic polish challenge so it didn't occur to me to blog about it, so I'm not THAT behind...

Last week, TFIMP hosted a holographic mani challenge to celebrate our 700th member.  I opted to use a combination of Color Club and Zoya for my submission!

Before and after dotting and top coat are represented in my mini-collage.



This consists of:
Seche Clear
Color Club Cherubic x2 on all but accent
Zoya Aurora x2 on accent and dotting
Seche Vite

Y'all just KNOW this was eye-searing in person, right?

Next, I was craving some really bright colors.  For my birthday, the BF surprised me with a few tubes of minis that I'd been hankering for.  (I also may have gone back and purchased a third later, I'll probably post my swatch wheels of them because I love them so much, but this post is already getting crowded.)

I had a shitty day, and we had a Netflix date in mind.  I thought he'd appreciate seeing his good BF listening skills be put to use!



The colors all dried to a matte finish, but a coat of SV makes them look like CANDY.  Mmmmm...



Of course, I couldn't leave it alone, so a few days later, I added an untried glitter.  SO SPARKLY.



At the end of the day, my neon mani consists of:
Seche Clear
Broadway Nails Snow White x2
Broadway Nails Mystery Pumpkin on thumb and pinky
Rite Aid tube mini teal creme on index and ring
Rite Aid tube mini pink creme on middle
Seche Vite
Cosmetic Arts unnamed purple, pink, silver glitter
Gelous
Seche Vite

That's all I've got for now, I'm going to go pain my nails some other wacky color because I start my new job on Monday!  Can't start a new job with clown-barf nails, so I need to get it out of my system until I feel out what is okay in this particular office.

;-)

Opal Water Marble

As I posted yesterday, my 26th birthday is rapidly approaching.  I was, of course, inspired by opals.  I thought about doing plain white with flakie, but I was feeling adventurous, so water marble happened instead.

For my first foray into the technique (I've done some experimenting and practice before, but never a full manicure), I thought I'd stick to simple.  This is:

Seche Clear
Sally Hansen CSM Polar Bare x2
Marble of Polar Bare and Wet n Wild Black Creme
Zoya Opal
Seche Vite

Interview-appropriate

I had two job interviews this past week, so I had to put my next manicure on hold- I'd planned a black and white water marble with a lovely flakie top coat to kind of represent my birthstone (opal) but with added interest.  This will probably be happening later today.

In the mean time, I had to pick something that was toned-down enough to not stand out in my interviews, but had enough interest to keep me happy.  My usual go-to in this type of situation is China Glaze Dress Me Up, but I wasn't in the mood.

I ended up throwing on OPI Just Spotted the Lizard.  Here's a quick direct sunlight picture I snapped when I got home:



Of course, after my interview yesterday, I came home and slapped on another layer (to cover some tip wear) and decided to try out Orly So Go-Diva, an untried glitter.  Funny thing, I thought the glitter was orange, but it's really more of a coppery brown.  I took a lot of pictures of it because either the light or the extra layers of polish made the duochrome flash come out a lot easier today.  I'll spare you and share just a couple.  :)

Head-on:



Angled- check out that green!



And a shot that shows the range of color:



In the end, this was:
OPI Just Spotted the Lizard x2
Color Club mysterious quick dry TC
OPI Just Spotted the Lizard
Seche Vite
Orly So Go-Diva
Gelous
Seche Vite

(And yet this doesn't feel thick on my nails at all...)

Only 25 for one more day, y'all!

I've got daisies on my fingers!

The first Vivid Lacquer polish I ever purchased was Daisy.  The first time I saw it, I was obsessed.  Deconstructed flower bits in a sheer, slightly shimmery white base?  Sign me up!  But I've had it just under a year and though I love how it looks in the bottle, I still hadn't gotten around to trying it.  If I am totally honest, I was terrified of the white + glitter combo.  I knew it'd look great, but I already struggle with my sheer white polishes, and then add in trying to get glitter to look nice and I was just not comfortable with trying it out.

Then I decided it wasn't life or death and I should just suck it up and polish already.  I'm so glad I did!  One of the things I had to let go of, though, was trying to get the polish to look perfect in the first coat or two.  You know, just go with the flow.  

This is:

Nailtiques 2

Seche Clear

Vivid Lacquer Daisy x3

Gelous x2

Seche Vite (and a fresh bottle at that <3)

(Surprisingly, even after eight coats, this doesn't feel overly thick.  WIN!)

Texture before it was a "thing"

Last night I sat down to get started on a black-on-black mani I wanted to do.  It was going to be awesome, involving matte top coat and stamping.  Really subtle, really classy, really ready for October.

Unfortunately, my Orly Liquid Vinyl was not feeling very cooperative, so I had to put it in time out.  (I also took a few minutes to mix in some polish thinner, so maybe next time it will play nicely.  Here's hoping!)

Not wanting to go to bed with naked nails, I pulled out an untried China Glaze, Angel Wings from their 2012 holiday collection.  I find this polish intriguing because when left without top coat (or, probably even with one or two coats...) it's a very rough finish, not unlike the Zoya Pixie dusts, OPI Liquid Sands, et cetera.  You wouldn't know this when browsing the multitudes of polish blog swatches and reviews, however.  In fact, I couldn't find a single review that didn't have this looking glossy as glass, and as far as I can remember, most bloggers didn't acknowledge this slight discrepancy.  A bit misleading, in my opinion.

I'm not an excellent photographer, but I tried to capture the TRUE texture of this polish, if only to satisfy my own need for realistic portrayals of what you get straight out of the bottle.

This is Angel Wings x3, no base coat, no top coat.



Another angle does a better job of showing the amount of sparkle the gold and holographic glitter give this, but in no way does it do this polish justice.



One final photo, because I'm so awesome at these things.  Blurry is never intentional, but hey, it DOES do wonders for holo.

Summer, don't leave me!

Stop.  Take a breath.  Yes, that's acetone you are getting a whiff of.  I find it soothing.

This week, I'm refusing to acknowledge the change of seasons.  Typically, I'd tell you that Autumn is my favorite time of year- we've got Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving...  But this week, I just didn't want to let go of my summer polishes.  Therefore, neon.  Because reasons.

This is:
Seche Clear
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Nina Ultra Pro Solar Flare
Vivid Lacquer Sketchbook
Gelous x2
Seche Vite