Rococo Mani

All summer long, I've been craving sky blues. I want a truly sky blue polish, a blue that's soft and bright at the same time. I haven't found the perfect one yet, so I've been stashing any number of not-quite-perfect ones. It's a terrible affliction. ;)

The base color for this mani is Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect Air. I stamped the pattern using Red Angel place RA-111 and Sally Hansen Gold Chrome, which is my favorite gold stamping polish. Finally, I added some pink gems for the finishing touch.

The overall design was inspired by the shapes and colors in French Rococo design. I'm thinking about starting a series of designs based on movements in art and architecture, but I've been so sporadic about posting that I'll probably wait until I'm doing it more regularly.

Like this.

Thanksgiving Mani

Okay, so Thanksgiving was over a week ago, but the nails I wore for Thanksgiving would work for any time in the fall. In fact, I've been planning this mani for quite a while, but for some reason I kept not getting around to it.

I started with a base of China Glaze Brownstone, a rich reddish-brown creme from the fall Metro collection. This polish had a great consistency and went on perfectly in two medium coats. Given all the shades of red polish available, this one is surprisingly unique. It's really more brown than red and feels very earthy. 

On top of Brownstone, I stamped a pattern of three leaves from Bundle Monster plate BM04 using Sally Hansen Color Quick Gold Chrome, my usual gold stamping polish. For some reason, I didn't realize how large the leaf pattern was, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was big enough to cover most of my nail everywhere but my thumb.

I realized that I used this same gold polish to stamp on top of Westside Warrior too. They're so rich and warm, they just seem perfect with gold on top. Do you have any fall back color combinations? Things that always seem just perfect together?

Ancient Glamour Mani

One of my earliest serious career ambitions (after I finished the phase where I was going to be a policewoman/ballerina by day and Wonder Woman by night) was to be an archeologist. In particular, I have always been fascinated by ancient Egypt. I periodically go on an archeological documentary spree, which has been made infinitely easier since Netflix has quite a few that can be watched online. This mani was inspired by my most recent spree.

I started with a base of China Glaze Sexy in the City, a bright teal shimmer that tends more toward blue than green. This is a very vibrant color on it's own, and it reminds me of a greener version of Frostbite, one of my favorite China Glaze colors. The formula was unremarkable. I had no application problems, and it was opaque in two coats. You might want three to realize it's full color potential. The only downside to this polish was that is stained my nails something awful!  Be sure to wear a base coat to keep your nails from becoming a splotchy blue horror show.

Over Sexy in the City, I added a coat of China Glaze Cracked Medallion, which is a light bronze with metallic shimmer. I was expecting it to be very thick based on my experience with the other CG crackles, but in fact, it was pretty thin. I actually had to work pretty hard to get it on as thick as I wanted. Since I decided to apply it horizontally, instead of cuticle-to-tip, this was a little challenging. In the end it didn't really matter since part of the point of crackles is being a little random and messy.

As I'd hoped, this combination put me in mind of the colors and textures of tomb paintings and inlaid jewelry. So, I'll leave you with a related reading recommendation. His Majesty Queen Hatshepsut by Dorothy Carter is a fictionalized account of the life of Hatshepsut, possibly Egypt's only female pharaoh,* written for a young adult audience. It was one of my favorite books when I first read it in the fifth grade, and I enjoyed it very much when I read it again as an adult. It's quite historically accurate, and Hatshepsut is a very interesting historical figure.

*There were a number of other women who ruled Egypt as regents or queens, but Hatshepsut is the only one who is known for sure to have claimed the status of Pharaoh and taken on all of the titles and traditions that went with it.

First Half Moon Mani

I'm behind on blogging right now because I'm on day three of a miserable cold. Something just feels wrong about having a cold in the summer. Bleh. I'm feeling a little better today, so I'll show you some nails from earlier in the week before I was stricken.

I've wanted to try a half moon manicure for a while, but kept forgetting to pick up hole protectors to use as guides. I finally remembered, and behold.

I started with a base of OPI Bling Dynasty, which is a dark, brownish gold shimmer. This polish applied very smoothly with no running. It was mostly opaque after two coats, but if I were going to wear it on it's own, I'd want a third to make sure it was completely even. Once Bling Dynasty was dry, I placed the hole protectors over the lower portion of my nail, then applied one coat of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme over the rest of my nail. Black Creme is exactly what is says it is. It applies smoothly, is opaque in one coat, and dries quickly. I finished with one coat of Out the Door.

I'll definitely need more practice placing the hole protectors and making this neat, but I really like the look. In this color combination, it looks sort of art deco. It's very striking in person; I think it would look great with formal wear.

After some research, I found out that in the 1920's and 30's it was considered "correct" to leave the half moon portion of the nail unpainted. At times the tip was left bare as well. I'm not really into recreating vintage looks, but I do like reinterpreting them and even subverting them. I also found it interesting to learn that there were bolder polish colors like green, silver, gold, and blue available back then, even if they weren't widely used.

Wonder Woman Manicure

This week, Sammy of Nailasaurus has been doing her nails with various fangirl themes for her Week of Geek. I seriously love this idea and all her designs. The first of her designs was based on Marvel comics characters. While I am nowhere near as good as she is at painting freehand designs, these really made me want to do comics nails of my own. Being more of a DC Comics girl, I decided to go with a Wonder Woman theme.

For my first three fingers, I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. It didn't photograph well, but this polish is a cherry red jelly with lots of red glitter in it. It's sparkly, but since the glitter is suspended in the base, it's a subtle shimmer. The texture is a little thick for a jelly, which means it stays put and made for an easy application in two medium coats. For the tips, I used french manicure guides and Sally Hansen Color Quick Gold Chrome. This is a nice polish, but I did run into a problem with these tips. Since this polish is in a pen-shaped applicator, it starts out at the base of the brush. This made it a little tricky to get it spread evenly over a small tip and resulted in my tips being, well, lumpy. They're fine at a normal distance though.

For my ring finger and pinky, I started with China Glaze Frostbite, I've reviewed this polish before, so I'll just reiterate that it is great in terms of both texture and pigmentation. For this, I used three thin coats to get maximum color, but two would really be plenty. On top of Frostbite, I stamped stars from Bundle Monster plate BM20 with Konad Special Stamping Pearl White. Of the three Konad stamping polishes I have, this is the only one that really works the way I hoped it would. It stamped nice crisp images. Any blurring was the result of me using too much pressure.

As luck would have it, this was also the manicure I wore for the 4th of July, and it worked well for that as well. I'm currently thinking about some ideas for doing my own Week of Geek (really, it will probably my Geek Every Now and Then, Spaced Out by Other Things). I want to do designs based on Pokemon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Swamp Thing, a few other comic book characters, and the Princess Bride. I'm not really sure what I'll do for that last one, but it's been one of my favorite movies since I was 10, so it should be represented. I'm also adding a tag for "geek" which I'll apply to all the manicures that I do based on my fan obsessions.

Nail Night Mani - Summer Sun

This past Thursday was Nail Night, and several of us gathered with polish in tow to come up with fabulous nail creations. Here's what the table looked like.

I've had an idea for a while of doing a summer manicure using the sun pattern from my Bundle Monster stamping plates. I started with China Glaze Aztec Orange. Despite how it looks in the bottle, the texture of this polish is more like a jelly than a creme. It's a bright reddish-orange, almost exactly between the two, and really doesn't lean toward yellow or blue. It's well pigmented and gave smooth, opaque coverage in two coats. It was squishy enough to be a little difficult to control, so I did have to spend a little extra time on clean up. It came off pretty easily under scrubbing in the shower, so I was happy with it over all.

This picture show a little wear because I misplaced my camera for a couple of days. On top of Aztec Orange, I stamped suns on each nail using Sally Hansen Color Quick Gold Chrome. This polish comes in a pen-style tube with a built in brush. When I swatched this polish on my nail wheels, it was thick enough to be a little difficult to spread, so I thought it would be perfect for stamping. I was definitely right! It stamped very well, although I had to work quickly because it dried fast. Given my disappointment with the Konad Special Stamping Polish Gold, I'm very pleased to find this. Here's a picture taken the day after I did these with a phone camera. The color isn't as accurate, but you can see the stamped patterns really well.

Finally, to demonstrate the heat that made me think of this pattern, here's what happened when I went outside to take pictures.

It's so hot and humid, that my camera lens fogged up!

Gilded Berries Mani

I was feeling a little low on inspiration when it came time to do my nails this time around. So, I decided to let my sweet spouse do the choosing for me. I handed him my stack of nail wheels and told him to pick any color. His choice was OPI Cabernet for the Lady. I've had this polish in my collection for long time. Longer, in fact, than I've had "a collection." I can't actually remember where I got it, but it was apparently a Trade Secret exclusive back in 2005. I'm pretty sure it's one of the older, chemical-ly polishes as it had that good old fashioned chemical smell and a long, thin brush. Despite its age, it doesn't seem to be particularly rare or expensive online and is readily available for purchase at normal OPI prices.

Cabernet for the Lady applied beautifully (as I would expect from a polish full of evil but helpful chemicals). It was opaque and smooth in two coats. I prefer a wider brush, so that posed a bit of a challenge, but it was otherwise perfect. I've also just picked up Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold, one of their new Crackle Overcoat polishes. (In my area, these seem to available only at Walgreens.)  I wanted to add a little something extra to Cabernet for the Lady, so I decided  to add some crackle. Antiqued Gold was nice and thin and applied quite easily. It didn't seem to crackle quite as much as some of my other crackles, but it still adds a little sparke. I was so in love with the base color that I didn't want to cover it up, so I stuck with accent nails.

Where do you come down on the chemical-free issue? Good for you or health-nut nonsense? What are your favorite evil old polishes?

China Glaze Midnight Kiss

Y'all, my gold quest is over. I've been looking for that perfect, edge-of-Bible-pages gold for a while now, and it's mine at last. China Glaze Midnight Kiss is from the 2010 holiday collection, 'Tis the Season to be Naughty or Nice. The silver from this collection, Cheers to You, has been my favorite silver for a while so I had high hopes for Midnight Kiss, and I'm not disappointed.

Midnight Kiss is a true gold foil. It was completely opaque and evened out beautifully in two coats. It doesn't show brush strokes, dried quickly, and really didn't need a top coat (though I applied one anyway to prevent chipping). The color is, as I already said, perfect. My next favorite gold, Finger Paints Key to My Art, is a little too cool and several others I've tried are too brown or green. This is far and away my favorite. I think I'll have to grab another bottle of Midnight Kiss and Cheers to You while they're still available online. Both of these just make me happy to look at, and I'm going to want them in my hoard for a long time.

What polishes do you love so much you need back ups?

An Introduction

I'm an unlikely nail blogger in many ways. I've never worn make up regularly, haven't worn it at all in...I'm not sure, but definitely more than a year, and I only discovered nail polish sometime last year. However, attending Nail Night as an excuse to bond with my ladies opened my eyes to the creative possibilities of polish and nail art.

Less than a year later, I've moved my collection into a three drawer craft chest, and I find myself casually throwing around the names of specific polishes I want, searching for just-the-right shade of this or that color, and watching blogs for announcements of upcoming lines. So, I've decided it's time for a blog. I'll mostly be posting pictures of my manicures, which will include everything from plain ol' polish to stamping, jewels, and decals, oh my! When it's relevant or I feel like it, I'll also include my review of the polishes I try and maybe a little info on nail trends I'm liking.

So, I'll begin with my nails right this minute.

I love metallic nail polish most of all, I think, and this one is part of my ongoing search for the *perfect* gold. It's Finger Paints Key to My Art, and it's not quite there, but it's my favorite so far. I'd like it to be a little warmer and yellower, but it's just right in the shininess and metallic-ness categories. My problem with a lot of other golds is that they're too green or too brown, so this is the closest I've come to an absolute winner. I also like the application, as it's thick enough to be easy to control but thin enough to go on smoothly. Some people might have a problem with the slightly visible brush strokes, but that adds to the "real metal" feel for me. This picture was taken with two coats and a top coat of Out the Door (also a couple days wear, which accounts for the biggish cuticles). It dries very quickly and barely needed the top coat, but I added it anyway to improve wear.

I'm currently waiting for a bottle of China Glaze Midnight Kiss to hit my mail box. Since it appears to be the gold version of my favorite silver (Cheers to You), I'm optimistic that it may edge this one out as my favorite.