Summer Greenery Nails

One thing I love about late spring and early summer in Georgia is how green everything looks on rainy days. My back yard is a semi-intentional nature preserve, so it's full of lush greens in every shade when the world is wet. I did my nails on such a day, and this is the result. (I took the pictures that day as well, which is why they all turned out blurry.)

For the background color, I used OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow. It's very dark, but definitely still looks green, particularly in the light. On top, I stamped a circular leaf pattern from Red Angel plate RA-120 with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mint Sprint. After the fact, I think this would have looked better if I used two more similar greens. Aragon Tomorrow is a yellow based green, where as Mint Sprint is much bluer, but I was still pretty happy with the result.

You can see the base color better in this one.

How much do the seasons influence what you wear on your nails? What kind of seasonal nails do you like?

Bits of Pink Mani

I didn't have a lot of time for this mani, so I decided to just stick with a little quick layering.

This consists of two coats of Essie French Affair topped with two coats of OPI I Lily Love You. Sadly, I don't think these two really go well together. French Affair's appeal is that it's super light and springy, but I Lily Love You made it darker. On the other hand, I think I Lily Love You would look better over something darker with more contrast. Oh well, you can't win them all.

OPI Warm and Fozzie

This will be a short post, since I just had time for a quick polish change when I did my nails. I haven't picked up many of the OPI Muppets collection because, while I love the theme, most of the polishes didn't blow me away. One exception is OPI Warm and Fozzie.

Warm and Fozzie has a sheer base with large particles of dark gold, bronze, and brown shimmer. The result is a gorgeous warm metallic finish. It applied smoothly, but did take three coats to be completely smooth and get rid of a little patchiness. As much as everyone I know is used to seeing my nails done, this one attracted several compliments.

I know a lot of people have been very excited about the Muppets polishes, so what are your favorites?

Garish Green Mani

I was in the mood for something funky when I sat down to do this mani, and I decided to sort of recreate one that I remembered really enjoying in my pre-blogging days. Sadly, there was no sun to be seen when I wanted to take pictures, so these aren't that great. They're still pretty color-accurate, but I've got to start working on a way to take better pictures in the upcoming winter months.

Inside, no flash

For the main color, I chose OPI Fiercely Fiona, a greenish-yellow creme that a friend described as "pleasantly weird." It applied smoothly and easily, but is definitely a three coater.

Inside, with flash

For my accent nails, I used one coat of Fiercly Fiona, covered with two coats of Confetti My Favorite Martian. This polish has a lime green jelly base with bunches of same color...large shimmer? Small glitter? The finish looks sort of like a glass fleck, but the particles don't. It's pretty unique. It's also pretty sheer, which is why I used one coat of the creme underneath.

The final combination was really, really bright, which was a pleasant antidote to the icky, grey weather we were having.

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous!

First, some news. My recent unannounced hiatus was due to my being too overwhelmed with two (or three, depending on how you count) jobs. I've now quit one of them, which should mean I have more time to get back to doing my nails and blogging about it. Yay!

I was short on time and energy when I did my nails this time, so I just did a quick polish change and applied OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous!,which is a great polish with one of those awkward OPI names.

This polish falls somewhere between a foil and a glitter. Like a foil, the finish has a smooth, metallic shine; however, like a micro glitter, you can still see individual particles. The base color is grey and and it has both darker gunmetal particles and lighter silver ones. In certain lights, there are very, very fine pink and blue sparkles in there as well, but they don't show up most of the time. Compared to this year's crop of gunmetals, this has smaller particles and none of the hints of gold or other warm colors.

This polish flowed well onto the nail and was easily to control. It took three coats to eliminate all bare patches, but they were very thin coats. Dry time when finished with a coat of Out the Door was average.

Fall Water Marble

I will admit to being intimidated by water marbling. I've loved the look since I first started reading nail blogs and became aware of it. It just seemed like it would be too difficult and messy. However, Colette of My Simple Little Pleasures helped me get over my fear with her fantastic series of tutorial videos. I started with her Blues and Purples water marble tutorial, which illustrates the basic technique and dipping several fingers at a time. She has some more advanced designs on her Youtube channel that are beautiful, but I'm not quite ready for those. So, without further ado, my first water marble.

For this pattern, I used one coat of OPI Bling Dynasty, a brownish gold shimmer as a base. Then I used Bling Dynasty, CND Cedar,  a really old reddish brown I have hanging around (hence the old fashioned bottle in the picture), and Revlon Hot for Chocolate, a dark brown creme, for the water marble.


There are some flaws in the pattern that resulted from my inexperience with the technique, but I loved it anyway. In these fall colors, it reminds me a little of the marbled endpapers in the front of old books. I also learned a few valuable lessons:

1. Use a cup deep enough that your fingers won't easily hit the bottom of the cup and mess up your tips.
2. Nail polish melts styrofoam. I can't say for sure that it impacted the outcome of this manicure, but I have my suspicions. Paper cups will be used in future.
3. Now I know why Collette has tape around her fingers in all her tutorials. I mean intellectually, I understood why before, but now I know. Along with paper cups, tape will be used in future.

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.

Purple Haze Mani

For this manicure, I decided to try a new technique: gradient color. I've seen many versions of this on a lot of blogs, and I love how it looks. For some reason, I'd gotten it in my head that this was going to be really hard, but I think it turned out well, particularly for a first effort.

I started with a base of Essie Nice is Nice, which is a pale lavender creme. The texture of this formula was nearly perfect. It applied very smoothly, with no tendency to run or pool. On the other hand, the pigmentation was very light. It took three coats (thin ones) to get rid of some bare patches and be opaque.

Next, I used a small piece of makeup sponge to dab an uneven layer of OPI Planks a Lot on top of Nice is Nice. After a little experimentation, I found that it worked best to start from the tip and work my way toward the cuticle. This helped ensure that the darkest color was near the tip. I also added some additional dabs of Nice is Nice to blur the edges. Finally, I repeated the sponging process near the tips with Finger Paints Purple Palette. I finished with two coats of Out the Door to eliminate the slight texture that came from the sponge.

I have gotten more compliments on this mani than any I've done in a while. It's fairly subtle (comparatively), with just the right amount of sparkle from Purple Palette. I could use some more practice to avoid making strips instead of having the color fade smoothly, but I can definitely tell you to expect to see more of this technique.

Geek Nails: Swamp Thing Edition

Ever since Sammy of The Nailasaurus did her Week of Geek featuring nail art tributes to various topics of geeky fandom, I've been brainstorming ways to do some theme nails of my own. Since I'm not at all handy at freehanding nail art, I have to think of ways to use color and stamping to reflect my favorite characters.

Today's geek nails are inspired by one of my favorite comic book characters: Swamp Thing, created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. In comics, Swamp Thing is both a human soul seeking to find a life in an inhuman body and an earth elemental with a deep connection to life of all kinds. I could wax on about the character for an entire post, but this is the wrong blog for that, so on with the nails!

 

I started with a base of OPI Stranger Tides, which is a murky, light olive green. The formula on this was a little tricky, as it was thin and runny. It badly wanted to pool around my cuticles (which is pretty obvious in some of these pictures). It took three coats to be opaque and even. That said, it is a great color and dried quickly despite the three coats.

On top of Stranger Tides, I used a makeup sponge to add random dabs of Revlon Hot for Chocolate to give the background some texture. Finally, I stamped a cluster of flowers from Bundle Monster plate BM15 three to four times to cover each nail using the slim brush dark green from KleanColor Nail Duo Bright. This polish comes in a two ended bottle that has a base color with a regular brush on one end and a nail art color with a thin brush on the other. The polish worked great for stamping, but the shape of the bottle was a pain, as there was no easy way to put the brush down between stamps.For my accent nail, I stamped a rose using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Ton of Bricks. It didn't really pop as much as I wanted, so I added a red rhinestone on top.

Finally, I used Essie Matte About You topcoat (over my normal Out the Door topcoat) to give my nails a matte finish, since neither swamps nor swamp monsters are well known for their glossiness. It also seemed to change the color a little, minimizing the yellow undertones.

Pre-mattification

The roses on my accent nails are a reference to one of my favorite Swamp Thing story lines. In issue 52, Swamp Thing's wife Abby has been arrested in an attempt to trap him. Using a rose that Abby has carried into the courtroom, Swamp Thing grows a new body covered in roses and puts Gotham City on notice that he's taking over until she's released. He then covers Gotham in impenetrable plant life until she is, in fact, released. This story was written by Alan Moore, who's run on Swamp Thing is the best in the series. If you want to give Swamp Thing a try, I highly recommend reading his take on the character, which ran from issue 20 through 64 and is available in trade paperback form.

Lava Mani

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a blog post someone did where they put a black crackle over a sparkly red polish and commented that it reminded them of lava. That idea really stuck in my head, and I decided to do my own version. Unfortunately, my Google-fu has failed me, and I can't find that original post. I'd love to give credit where it's due, so if you posted that and happen to see this, let me know!

For my version of the lava mani, I decided to use KleanColor Chunky Holo Scarlet for the red. This polish is fairly sheer, so I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow to give it a bright base. I followed that with two coats of Holo Scarlet, which went on very smoothly. It has a red-orange tinted jelly base, but somehow doesn't seem as gloopy as a lot of other glitter-jelly combos.

I topped it with OPI Black Shatter. Most of the time, I like it that Black Shatter has a thinner consistency and cracks more than some other crackles, but in this case, I was hoping for something that would look more like the skin of cooling rock on top of lava. I was thinking of something more like my Turquoise Stone Mani, so maybe the China Glaze black would be better for this look.

The KleanColor Chunky Holos that I picked up all seem to have the same holo glitter in different colored bases. In a few cases, the base color has enough of an effect to make the glitter look different. Holo Scarlet is one of those; it really makes the glitter look much redder. In this case, it glinted like hotter points in the lava. It didn't pick up well in the photos, but I really enjoyed it.

Moon Flowers Manicure

I love morning glories, and I bought some seeds to plant around the fence in my yard a while ago. While I was shopping for them, I found some seeds for moonflowers. They appear to be similar to morning glories, but they're white and bloom at night. Life being what it is, all of these seeds are still sitting in a drawer, but I have a beautiful mental image of what it will look like eventually.

For this manicure, I started with OPI Steady as She Rose from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. For some reason both this and Mermaid's Tears made me do floral manicures, maybe because they're delicate shades. Steady as She Rose is a pale greyed pink. On the nail, it has hints of lavender as well. The formula was a little thin, and tended to want to run away and pool up around the edges of my nail. In part because of the puddling issue, I used three thin coats to get it opaque. It dried pretty quickly and very glossy.

On top of Steady as She Rose, I stamped a little vine pattern from one of my Bundle Monster plates using Revlon Top Speed Emerald. I'm going to have to grab a back up bottle of this polish because it is perfect for stamping leaves and plants. On top of the vines, I used a toothpick to add dots of Wet and Wild French White Creme for the flowers.

I absolutely love this manicure and was almost hesitant to take it off. However, it was time for Nail Night, so my next post will show the results of our first Nail Night at one of my nail mentors' house.

Blah Blue Mani

I find that the (mostly) sunny (consistently) hot weather makes me want to stick to brighter, or at least lighter, colors. For today's manicure, I decided to go to nice light blue.

I started with Kleancolor Blue Pearl. While they vary somewhat, Kleancolors are usually very good for their low price tag ($1.99 in my area). Blue Pearl is a good example. It went on smoothly, was just thick enough not to puddle, and dried quite quickly. It evened out pretty well, but it really would have needed three coats to be completely opaque. I only used two as I planned to put some glitter on top. By itself, it is a beautiful, very cool, well...pearly, blue with a slight shimmer.

On top, I added a layer of OPI Last Friday Night  from the Katy Perry collection. I'm not going to give it much of a review because I have it in the tiny, stupid four-pack bottle. I had lots of trouble with application and bubbling, but I don't know what to attribute to the polish and what to attribute to the really small brush and bottle. All I'll say is that there is some really pretty, opalescent glitter combined with some unnecessary small silver glitter. I think the extra small glitter added to  the appearance of texture without adding much to the sparkle, so I could do with out it. Here's a blurry shade picture , which shows the sparkles a little better. In the grand scheme, I wasn't very happy with this, so I took it off right after taking these pictures. My next manicure is awesome though, so stay tuned.

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?

First Silver Shatter Mani

I've been excited about this polish for a while. It's the new OPI Silver Shatter from their Pirates of the Caribbean collection. This polish and Mermaids Tears were the two I've had my eye on, and I surprised myself by wanting to try Mermaids Tears first once I had them in hand. Once I'd tried that, this had to be next. Since finding out about it, I thought it was a little odd that OPI decided to release Silver Shatter with a collection full of pale, muted polished. I've always thought it would look better with a darker color that would give it more contrast, so I went with that look for my first try.

I started with a base of Revlon Plum Night. This polish looked like a creme in the bottle, but in fact it's a dark jelly. It's a thickly pigmented dark purple with a brown tinge. Once it's on, it looks almost black. It was thick and opaque in two coats, but I had to use a light touch and be careful not to drag thin spots in the polish with the brush on the second coat. Silver Shatter is thinner than the other crackle polishes I've used, which made it easier get a thin, consistent coat. I actually don't think that is a good thing, as I feel like thicker, more random coats make for more interesting crackle patterns. I'd also read that Silver Shatter changed its color depending on the base coat, and I think that's why it looks almost gunmetal over Plum Night. I want to try it again over something a little lighter and compare the colors.

Sleeping Beauty Manicure

It's been a rough week here at Digit Decor headquarters. However, there have been some bright spots: being appreciated for my work, having really great in-laws, and fabulous nails. I did these before the proverbial excrement collided with the whirling blades of my week, and I was in a cheerful, springy mood. There is some particular variety of rosebush that is planted lots of places in my town that has these very bright, yet dark, pink flowers that are in bloom right now. They were the inspiration for this look.

The base color is OPI Mermaids Tears from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. First, I love this color. No, seriously, I LOVE it. It looks almost mint green in this picture, but in person, it's closer to a light sage. I think OPI described it as a sea green, and it does a good job of evoking that to me. The application was ok. The texture of the polish is a little thick, meaning it didn't spread out as easily as some things, but it wasn't bad. I still got uniform, opaque coverage in two medium coats, I just had to pay a little more attention to do it. Overall, a definite winner for me.

Next, I stamped little bushy plants over about the bottom 1/3 of my nail using Revlon Top Speed Emerald. I finished it off by using a toothpick to apply pink dots of Revlon Top Speed Bubble. I tried to make the dots big enough compared to the leaves to read as flowers rather than berries. I've mentioned it before, but I find that the Revlon Top Speed cremes work really well for stamping because they're thick, very opaque, and really do dry quickly.

This is one of my favorite manicures that I've done in a while. I think I'll get the plates back out and do some more floral stamping this weekend, as those often turn out to be my favorites.

Polish Milestone

This week, I reached a polish milestone: 100 polishes in my stash. Lucky number 100 was this unnamed Hot Topic grass green polish, which was a gift from one of the circle of lovely ladies who gather from time to time for Nail Night. As Nail Night is where my interest in polish started, this is highly appropriate, and I like that the milestone was reached with a gift. So, thanks to Ms. A for bringing my stash up to a big, round number.

 

Of course, having reached such a milestone, the logical thing to do was to pick up a few more. I've been looking forward to the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection for a while, and they've hit Athens this week. For some reason the Georgia Square Mall Trade Secret did NOT get them in, but the Regis salon, almost right across the mall from Trade Secret, DOES have them, so I snapped up a couple. The first thing on my shopping list was Silver Shatter. I also wanted Mermaid's Tears, and interesting greyed green, which seems to be one a lot of people are eagerly awaiting. I expected to want Plank You Very Much, since I love purple, but in person it was pretty similar to some other shades I have. I ended up with Steady As She Rose, a very light and also sort of grey-ish pink, as it was the color that was the most different from anything I already have (well, except for the one that totally didn't appeal to me, i.e. Skull and Glossbones).

And with that, I intend to stop adding to the stash for a while, as there isn't anything (that I know of) coming out that I have to have. So, now I just need to get busy and do some cool mani's with my new-and-improved  100+ stash.