Fireworks Mani

One of my other hobbies is playing video games on my Nintendo DS. My spouse got it for me largely so I could play what was, at the time, the newest version of the game Animal Crossing. The finished mani in this post reminds me of the celebratory fireworks that happen a few times a year in that game. (Sorry in advance for the hideous state of my cuticles. I'm spending today moisturizing and getting them back into decent shape.)

I started with a base of China Glaze Hologram from the Tronica collection, which is a silver polish with a holographic finish. The formula was just the right texture: thick enough to easily control the placement, but thin enough to go on smoothly. I used three coats to maximize the sparkle, but it was basically opaque after two. I really like all the Tronica polishes that I have, and this one is no exception. Here's an indoor picture that shows the holo effect a little better. It still doesn't really show the full sparkly awesomeness.

For the stamping, I used a round flower pattern from one of the older Bundle Monster plates. I stamped the pattern randomly twice on each nail, once in Revlon Top Speed Bubble and once in Revlon Top Speed Royal. The Revlon Top Speed cremes are great for stamping, and these went on easily.

And now, for comparison purposes, one more mani picture with a picture of an Animal Crossing fan (it was surprisingly hard to find a good picture of the AC fireworks online).

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?

Awessome Aussie Polish Giveaway

Gilded Nails is a great polish blog from a fellow colonist in Australia. Carina has put together several lovely prizes that might give us US polish addicts a chance to pick up something new and different (or older and amazing). Check it out at http://www.gildednails.co/2011/05/1500-follower-giveaway.html.

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?

Spellbinding Nails 500 Followers Giveaway

Spellbinding Nails loves nail stamping! To celebrate reaching 500 followers on her blog, she is holding a giveaway that includes some stamping plates from Chez Delaney, which includes some designs I haven't seen anywhere else, as well as some lovely polishes. Check out the details of the giveaway at http://spellbindingnails.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-second-500-give-away.html.

Nail Night Mani - Awesome 80's

As I've mentioned before, my nail polish obsession started with the periodic Nail Night get-togethers held by a friend. Several ladies (and a couple of colorful gentlemen who do their toes only) get together to share nail polish and friendship. Two of these ladies have extensive nail polish collections and knowledge, and introduced me to nail stamping and nail blogs. In order to make it easier for them (and increasingly, me) to narrow down what to bring to nail night, it's been decided that we'll start having themes each time we get together. The first theme, given what a big trend it is right now, was crackle.

I'm still working my way through trying all of my crackles (I'm intentionally spacing them out a bit so I don't get tired of the look) and trying different ways of applying them. This time, used China Glaze Broken Hearted, which is a bright pink, creamy textured crackle. Like all the colored China Glaze Crackle Glazes, it's thick and dries quickly, but it wasn't really hard to apply. I decided to apply it horizontally, but just to slap it on a little differently on each nail. I took pictures of both hands, so you can see all the different results I got. My favorites are the nails where I applied short strokes from the edge to the middle of the nail from both directions. You can see this best on the ring finger of my left hand in the picture below.

The base color on this is Ruby Kisses Green Tomatoes, which I borrowed from on of my Nail Night companions. In the bottle, it looked like a very bright shimmery green. However, it was not very thickly pigmented, so even after three coats, it still looked much more yellow than green on the nail. It also made for very thick edges for some reason. You can even see in the pictures how a few of my nails have these jagged ridges around the edge, and I couldn't seem to get rid of them. So, I couldn't say I'm a fan of this polish.

BB Couture For Men: Huh?

I've never tried BB Couture polishes, but some of the colors are pretty cool. I don't know where you can buy them in person, but they're readily available online. On the whole, I'm convinced I'd like to try it. My only remaining question is: what's up with the men's line? Several of my favorite men like to do their toes (and might do fingers too if the job related Powers That Be wouldn't object), so I'm down with a line for the menfolk. What's odd to me is that all the pictures of these polishes on the BB Couture website are on women. What's up with that?