Don't Mess with Me

 

I borked a nail.  In my defense, I did so changing my oil.  "Don't Mess with OPI" and don't mess with a girl who changes her own oil.  I thought it would be fun to take a nail pic while my hands were still all dirty and I hadn't yet fixed the nail.

The OPI Texas collection was one of those that really didn't blow my mind when I first saw it, but a good year after it came out, I find I now own four of them!  I stumbled onto a buy-one-get-two free OPI clearance at the Wal-Mart salon the other day.  Score!  I added the above "Don't Mess" to my collection, along with the below, "Guy Meets Galveston."  They join "Austin-tatious Turquoise" and "Houston, We Have a Purple."

I luuuuuuurv jellies.  (Oh, 'scuse me, Suzi, "sorbets.")  Has a nail polish collection ever sneaked its way into your stash like that?

Lazy Lotus

Hoo boy, have the post-holiday blahs bitten me squarely in the arse.  It hurts a little bit, and I should probably bandage the wound, maybe disinfect it, but that sounds like an awful lot of effort.  Therefore, I'm just gonna keep sitting on the aforementioned arse with little thought to infection or pain.  Take that, blahs.  I'd tell you to kiss my arse, but...alright.  That horse is sufficiently deceased.


Here.  Have a mani I did months ago.  It's Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus with a lame experimental funky French tip done with Scotch tape and a pair of scrapbooking scissors.

I like this color.

I don't like this lame post-work, racing the sun, against-the-steering-wheel shot.

I'm baaaaaack!

Have I used that title before?  It's been so long, I don't remember!


I'm so sorry to have taken such a lengthy leave.  Between the holidays, the time change, the loss of my camera...it's just taken me some to get back on track.  I've been painting my nails very regularly in the interim, I just haven't gotten into the flow of photographing and posting like I should.  Honestly, I have no delusions that anyone missed me, I'm just always embarrassed to take up a hobby and then drop it at the first inconvenience.  I made promises, and didn't keep them...for shame!


'Nuff o' that.  So, I got a new camera!  I love it, but I haven't taken the time like I should to REALLY learn how to use it, so you guys are gonna see some rough pics along the way.  AND, I got an OttLite for an early Christmas present!  I have yet to set up a proper picture-taking place; I'm just using the light to do much better-looking, precise manis.  We'll all learn together! 


Today I bring you Zoya Cynthia, with a topcoat of China Glaze Fairy Dust:

Cynthia is a very dark, green-leaning teal, and she's a lovely.  But that is not the point here.  If you don't own CG Fairy Dust...CHANGE THAT!  It is blingalicious; glittery, but not hard to remove at all.  I mean...DANG.  It ain't Christmas yet; still PLENTY of time to ask Santa for some kickin' stocking stuffers.

Speaking of which...Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  I hope to speak with you more in the future.  Bless y'all!

Cruisin'!

I'm heading out on Monday for a much-needed, long-awaited cruise the to Caribbean...woohoo!  I've actually done several cruises in my time, but it's been a few years since I was on one, so I can't wait!  On the agenda is a port I haven't visited and a cruise-line-private-island dealio where my party and I will have one of those nifty private beach cabanas - complete with water slide, hot tub, our own chairs, catering and free house drinks.  Sweet Pete...it is unwise to write a post like this several days in advance.  Makes it that much harder to wait out these last few days!

I've been sitting on this mani for a little while.  I really loved it, but I just kept waiting for the time to be right. 

How beachy is that?  It's H&M Deep Sea and an unlabelled Sally Girl mini glitter that I got as a freebie in a swap.  Seriously, this makes me want to dive into the Caribbean rightthisverymoment.  I wish it had a longer life span; it would be PERFECT for cruising. 

I wore it for one day shiny with Seche Vite, which made it shrink back; then I mattified it with Essie Matte About You.  THAT's when it really popped for me.  The shrinkage is frustrating, but I've come to accept that as the trade-off for how often and easily Seche Vite allows me to change my polish.

While I'm gone, I'll be testing out the weartime of Sally Hansen's holiday Salon Effects Polish Strips.  I'm very excited about the plaid and argyle patterns, and I can't wait to show them to you when I get back. 


Have a great week, ya landlubbers!

Butter London - Mixed Bag

The good news:  While in Austin recently, I picked up four new Butter London polishes.  I showed you Pink Ribbon in a recent glitter sandwich.  Today I bring you All Hail the Queen (top) and Victoriana (bottom), two lovely shimmer-packed polishes.

The bad news:  This stuff chips and wears WAY too fast for what it costs.  No other way to say that.  I've bought polishes that cost half as much and wore twice long.  It's a good thing Butter London puts out some beautiful, unique colors, because otherwise I'd think twice before purchasing.


Truth time:  What's the priciest polish you've ever bought, only to be disappointed by the quality? 

Sparkles, sparkles everywhere!

Another Sunday night, with another Monday morning just around the corner.  Boooo!


This week has been a sparkly one for me!  I didn't set out to have this happen, but it just happened that I had an awful lot of glittery polishes sitting in my untried pile that I decided to give a whack this week.  This also means that I've got a full-collection post for you this week!  Let's get to it...


I'd been really keen to try out Revlon's Impressionists collection, so when I found them at a Target recently, I snatched each and every one of them up.  This week I wore all three for at least a full day, but the results had a tendency to dictate my urgency to photograph.  See if you can draw your own conclusions:

L to R:  Blue Mosaic, Starry Night, Facets of Fuschia

 Blue Mosaic was an absolute model to photograph.  Gorgeous, shimmery, reflective...lovely.  It leaves bald patches even after about three coats that are really only noticeable in macro-shots.  Good coverage for what it is. 

Facets of Fuschia is equally lovely.  I know a lot of people are swatching this over a black creme, since technically it's a jelly, but I don't think that's necessary.  It has adequate coverage with two coats, superb with three.  I don't own Lippmann Bad Romance to do a dupe comparison, but luckily I no longer feel the need to own it!  This is beautiful.  It only gets minimal photgraphic coverage because it did chip pretty quickly.

The bummer of the bunch is Starry Pink.  I'm gonna give Revlon the benefit of the doubt and hope that I got a bad bottle, because this thing was a hot gloopy MESS.  Silver glitter in a delicate pink...file this under "Lots of promise, fails on follow-through."

All three were a NIGHTMARE to remove.  No other way to say that.

I also decided to try a technique I'd wanted to have a go at for awhile...a glitter sandwich!  Below you'll see one coat of Butter London Pink Ribbon, one coat of SOPI Traffic Stopper Copper (a real favorite of mine lately) and then another coat of Pink Ribbon.

Sorry for the lighting.  Sunsets are very pink around here!

This is one of those great, subtle work looks.  Most people aren't going to see it as anything but a simple nude mani, but you'll know there's that extra something going on.  Love that!

After having spent SOOOO much time removing glitter from my hands this week, it's apt to be cremes and holos for me for awhile now, but it was fun being blingy this week.

Hello, Austin...tatious Turquoise!

Happy Sunday evening!  Everybody ready for the week to come?


I recently made a quick trip to visit Austin, Texas.  I'd never been there before, and I'm game to go ANYWHERE I've never been!  Helps when you know someone in the city, too.  I had vacation to burn, so I figured, why not?

They've got a BEAUTIFUL capitol building.  I snapped this after we'd spent the day wandering up and down Sixth Street at the Pecan Street Festival.  There were LOTS of great vendors, and I bought a couple of pairs of gorgeous locally made earrings.  I just love bringing back locally-crafted souvenirs.  Got some soap, too.

Fans of "Dazed and Confused" will appreciate this snapshot, taken on the drive back from the Pecan Street Festival.  Should you have a hard time catching the reference, I give you the following:

Alright, alright, alright!

There was an Ulta near my hotel, so of course I insisted on visiting it.  If you'll recall, my nearest Ulta is a good hour away, so this seemed like a good time to bring back a mini haul.  Of course, you know what I HAD to get...

Yep.  OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise. I'd been familiar with this for awhile, but held off in the event I ever DID make it to Austin, but also because it just didn't seem all that unique.  I was a bit wrong about that.  The picture doesn't quite capture it, but in full sunlight, it reflects a good bit of shimmer and a faint indication of some pinks and purples.  Really quite lovely.  One coat of this is very sheer, two leaves a faint hint of VNL (seen pointer finger for an idea), and three will get you the opacity shown on my ring finger.  All in all, a most excellent and very appropriate souvenir!

What are you in the mood for?

On my recent trip to the big NYC (during Irene, go me), I picked up a number of Forever 21 polishes.  (I'm gonna take haul pics tomorrow...geez, get off my back, conscience!)  One of them was the first color-changing polish I've owned since my lacquer obsession began.  Check out this MoodStruck Teal to Turquoise polish:

Shade.  Stop hiding, Pinky!

 

 

In the first pic, the index finger is cold, and the accent/ring finger has one coat of Finger Paints Art You Wondering on it.  Cold turns the blue-based aqua into a green-based teal.  The Finger Paints polish was sitting in my untried pile, and it turned out to be a great complement to the color change polish! This is really one of my favorite manis I've done since before my fall travels began.  Yes, my nails are still in pretty rotten shape (especially after a recent shaving incident), but my cuticles are quickly improving.


I really loved how this MoodStruck polish dried supah-fast and with a kind of rubbery finish.  I opted to leave it without a topcoat for this very reason.  I've seen a few MoodStruck reviews that rated it pretty poorly, but I'm gonna give this a big ol' thumbs up.  I'm going on a cruise in late October, and I can't wait to pick up some Del Sol color-changing polishes during that trip.

Free Weekend!

Yaaaay!  It's the first weekend I've had in a while where there wasn't much of anything I just HAD to do, and it's been very nice indeed.


I've got a lot of untrieds to work through, so I spent some time just playing around with the colors I had in waiting.  On my hands, I tried out Sally Hansen HD "DVD."

It's, uh...meh.  In the bottle, it looks like an intriguing blue-purple foil duochrome, and indeed it is that on the nail.  BUT, it took four coats to achieve the bottle color, and that's just too many in my book.  Also, as you can see by my pinkie, it doesn't last long.  I just applied this yesterday.

Now, I am loathe to show off my tootsies; not because I think they're hideous, but because I know some people have...issues with looking at feet.  But I have to show you the first color I've tried out from the import grab bag I recently got from Chris at Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes.  I hate that she's leaving the blogging community, but I'll tell ya, I got some GREAT colors from her blog sale.  Below is an unknown color from a manufacturer called Etude House.  The color label has some writing on it that appears to be Korean or Vietnamese.  I'm not totally sure what the color is or where it came from, but it's lovely!

Hope everyone else has had a lovely weekend.  If you'relucky, it isn't so stinkin' hot where you are!

Savages, Savages!

I really am starting to think that Sinful Colors is becoming the unsung hero of my nail polish world.  They're $1.99, they come in a gorgeous array of colors, they wear and apply well...what more could you want?


Today I bring you the second part of my foray into the Sinful Colors sorta-like-OPI-Texas collection.  This turquoise is not much like Austin-tatious Turquoise as far as a I can tell, but it is nevertheless a beautiful turquoise.  Heeeeeeere's Savage!

I am REALLY loving the French guides I brought recently.  "They changed my life" might be a bit melodramatic, but I really am sorry I didn't get some sooner.  Here I've tipped SC Savage with Zoya Indigo.

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

Essence What Do U Think.  Doesn't it make you want to head to the ocean and go for a swim?

***

Yeah, me neither.

Experimenting with glitter coats

Here's a quick nail-of-the-day type of post:

Knowing I was going to be doing a Predators manicure today (check back later!), and given that I was unable to sleep last night, I got my butt up outta bed and tested out a couple of different glitter coats over the Ski Teal We Drop that I was still wearing.

 Here's Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in...Diamonds!  Not bad, but a little boring.  The base is sort of a milky clear with very small, dense silver glitter throughout.  Please excuse the cuticle of my thumb.  I'm still cursing the picking I did while I was stuck in the Great (1-inch) Snowstorm of 2011.

Thaaaat's better.  This is Pure Ice in Don't You wish.  The base is much more clear, and the glitter (which consists of vaguely holographic pinks, blues and greens) is much more sparse.  I'm pleased to have this.  Very inexpensive, and it'll be great to have for extending the life of cool-colored manicures.

Curses, snow!

I have fallen off the wagon.  I blame it all on the snow.  Something about a nerve-wracking commute that takes four times as long as it should that'll knock a person right off the track to kicking a nervous habit.  I didn't do too much damage, so I didn't take any pics, but I'm still not proud.  Stupid snow.

Now, remember that trip to Ulta?  Well, this store may have taken Target's place in my book as the land of happiness and dreams.  I could (and did) do serious damage in the place!  Here's what I got:

Essie Sew Psyched and Revlon Suede Matte Ruby Ribbon.  I've had long wear-time with the only other Essie I have, and the Revlon color will be a foray into a finish I've yet to play around with.  I'll be sure and swatch that one, for sure.

 Here are the three OPI colors I picked up (L to R):  Coronation, Ski Teal We Drop and You Don't Know Jacques (it looks pink, but it's really a light milk chocolate color).  I gotta say at this stage in the game that I'm gonna have to go with OPI as my favorite brand, for the range of colors alone.  The formula is great, and the wear-time seems to be decent as well.

Here's Ski Teal We Drop.  It's a creamy teal that leans towards blue.  It came out a bit darker than I expected, which is not really a complaint.  I did have some application problems, to be honest.  The left hand (I'm right-handed) went on just fine, but by the time I got over to my right hand, it was going gloopy.  Because of that, it was a messy manicure, and cleanup was a BEAR.  

Excuse the bizarre choice of background in the last picture above, by the way.  I'm still experimenting with manicure photography, and when your studio is a garage, you get creative!