Soak Off Gel vs Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I decided to get over myself and deal with uneven nails for a week for many reasons, the greatest of them being that I wouldn't like myself as much if I were so high maintenance that I'd change it right away.  I've also been enjoying have sparkling pink nails far too much to interfere with them, so I figured that today I'd show you some better pictures of IBD Be Mine and do a rundown of what I see as the advantages and disadvantages of the soak off gel (or gel polish) as compared to nail polish from my current newbie point of view.  I'm sure in a month I'll have even more opinions, but it seemed like it might be useful to do now as well.

When I took pictures of Be Mine on Saturday, I wasn't yet over myself or my uneven nails enough to take the seventeen trillion different pictures it took to get a couple that are color accurate and show the cool glitter, but I am today.  I didn't want to sell this one short because I really fell in love with it when I saw a color dot on IBD's site.  It's in a Valentine's Day set called Kiss and Tell with three other colors for $25, but after doing some heavy-duty searching, I found it for $9 shipped, which was reasonable enough to try it.  So far, I'm thrilled, but since it's pink glitter in a pink base, that's predictable.  It still took two pictures to give you a fair look.

IBD Soak Off Glitter Gel in Be Mine, Accurate for Base Color

IBD Soak Off Glitter Gel in Be Mine, Better View of Glitter

It seemed like it might be handy to have gel pictures on the same page as the pros and cons for visual reference, but since we're all really clear on what nail polish looks like, it didn't seem necessary to put a picture in for that.  To compare them, I'll just start at the start, and my use of the word "gel" refers to both soak off gel and soak off gel polish.

• Nail Prep: gel carries two extra steps, application of primer and bonder.  Otherwise, it's the same as for polish, just filing, cuticle care, and cleaning up, but as we see this week, errors in filing aren't as easily corrected with gel since breaking the seal on the gel kind of defeats the purpose of wearing it.  I prefer nail polish for this part.
• Application: nail polish is much, much faster.  For me, neither is easier because a consequence of the slower pace of gel application allows for greater care to be taken, which makes it easier.  Mistakes with gel application can largely be corrected before curing, with the exception of the thing giving me a hassle, perfectly even sealer that doesn't touch any skin, applied with a nail polish brush.  It's so shiny that it's difficult to tell that it's uneven, and in both gel applications I've flooded one corner of one cuticle with sealer.  Next time, I'll apply it with a gel brush and that may solve that.  I prefer the outcome of gel application, but my attention span strikes again making it difficult for me to wait for things to cure between steps, so as far as the actual process of application, I prefer nail polish by a lot.
• Wear: here, gel very obviously is preferable.  My Gelicure Hot Pink lasted only six days with zero wear showing  (chips, worn edges, and break in the seal) because the outgrowth bothered me.  One of these days I'll have the nerve to commit to wear one until there's a chip.
• Appearance:  gel's a clear winner to me because of the finish - it's really much more shiny than polish can be.  The Be Mine manicure pictured above is finished with a sealer not as shiny as last week's and it's on its third day.  Even at that, it's shinier than polish with Seche Vite or Diamont an hour after applying it.  I think the fact that I can say that when the gel's a heavy glitter with one super thin coat of sealer is pretty impressive - it would take a ton of top coat to smooth out that much glitter in a polish.
• Protection of Nails: protecting my nails has always been just as important as appearance with wearing nail polish.  My nails break almost immediately if they're bare, and polish does a decent job of keeping them okay.  Gel, however, does an amazing job.  In addition to not breaking, my nails aren't wearing down in their usual spots from everyday life, and this is the first time that has ever happened.
• Removal: nail polish is way easier for me.  The biggest complaint I have about soak off gels in general is putting the stupid foil on my nails, it's just such a ridiculous hassle.  If I'm going to be adult and reasonable, I'll admit that it's a weird annoyance and it's not really a big deal, but either way, polish is far easier.  There's also the fact that in trying a new to me brand (IBD) and a new to me product (soak off gel in pots rather than a polish bottle), I am concerned about whether it will come off, which simply isn't an issue with polish (I always know that even the scariest glitter will eventually come off).
• Other: I had a slightly odd experience with the IBD gel over the weekend - late Saturday afternoon, my nails started to feel a little too tight for my nails beds.  Not painful or bad, just like they were about three pounds to heavy for the jeans they wore to a good Italian restaurant where they loaded up on pasta.  It's gone now, but was odd.  The other thing worth mentioning for me is the convenience of gel as a base for nail art - I find I'm willing to spend 20 minutes decorating, where if I have to apply a polish base I'm far less motivated by the time I'm able to finish it, and there's also the benefit of unlimited do-overs with gel as the base for nail art done in polish.

That's just about all that I can think of that has occurred to me thus far in the grave matter of soak off gel versus polish, Dear Reader, so I suppose I'll just wrap it up.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

 

IBD Soak Off Color Gel Be Mine

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I decided to change colors yesterday, at the end of six days of wearing Gelicure Hot Pink.  I took pictures right before removing Hot Pink yesterday, but I can't find them anywhere!  You'll see as today's tale unfolds, I was completely out of sorts yesterday.  That means the last picture of wear is from Day 5, and that was yesterday's picture.  There was no chipping or wear at all, and even the gel on the edges of my nails from wrapping my tips had no wear, but outgrown polish has always been distracting to me so it had to go.

Removing Hot Pink wasn't bad at all.  The worst part of it was getting the stupid foil to stay on my fingers.  At one point, I got all mad, took them off, swore a whole lot, then redid them so they'd stay on.  What a frustrating expenditure of effort!  The remover stayed on for ten minutes, and when I checked the first nail it looked like it might need more time.  I used an orange stick to scrape down the middle of the layer of gel, and that made it come off.  By the time I removed the last foil a few minutes later, the gel fell off in one big piece.

After the swearing episode, I should have taken a break after removing the old gel, but I didn't.  At the time, tidying up the shape of a few of my nails using the coarse grit sandpaper-y file I had handy to break the seal on the Hot Pink before putting on the remover seemed like the wisest choice, so I did it.  Quickly, and evidently without comparing the length of nails I'd filed to those I had not.  Then I applied new gel, which complicates matters further, you'll see.

I used an IBD Soak Off Gel that came in a little Valentine's Day pack of four shades called Be Mine.  It's a pink base with pale pink and hot pink glitter.  I went through the preparatory steps of applying primer and bonder, and then the gel.  I did one thin layer of clear before two really thin layers of the color.  This kind comes in little pots rather than being packaged like nail polish, so I used a gel brush to put it on.  The gel brush is a squared off, somewhat flattened, short brush, and the gel itself is WAY thicker than Gelicure.  Gelicure's about what I'd expect gel to be, but the pot kind is more like cookie dough that spreads out.  The down side to that is that in mixing it up before application it's hard to avoid air bubbles, but the up side is that it's really easy to control.  After applying the gel, I put on a coat of IBD Intense Sealer, one of two recommended ways to finish the manicure.  Intense Sealer is not soak off, so I'll have to file it off in order to remove the gel under it.  Here's the finished manicure, with better and thinner application than last week.

IBD Soak Off Color Gel in Be Mine

Want to hear the thought process that resulted in that markedly shorter ring nail and misshapen pinky nail?  After my "it was a good idea at the time" filing, I considered filing all of them, and thought, "Eh, no one will notice."  In what universe is that not noticeable?  It reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in a long time.

When I was a kid, my mom always wanted a dog.  She'd wanted one since she was a kid really, but once my sister and I weren't tiny was the her first opportunity to have one.  She'd try to convince my dad that "the girls really need a pet," which would result in a trip to Fish Emporium with my dad and a toiletside ceremony a few weeks later.  When I was 8, she finally just told him she was getting a dog and went through a process of interviewing breeders until she found the perfect dog, a black miniature poodle.  She'd hold him in her lap at night and pet him, and she especially loved his long, flowing ears.  One day when I was 9, after we'd had him about a year, my sister and I were home alone after school (that was normal), and she decided we should play Hair Salon with the dog.  I was a nervous little kid, always the one standing ten feet back saying, "I don't know if this is a good idea..." and she was the adventuresome kind with bad ideas that could and did result in injury and/or property damage, always answering my concerns with, "It'll be fine."  This case was no different than any other...

I was willing to participate in Canine Hair Salon only as far as having an arm around the poor dog to keep him calm.  She got the scissors and gave the dog a little trim on one ear.  But that made him uneven, so she had to trim the other.  I checked her work, and now the first ear was longer.  After a few rounds of that, she got serious, did it right, and had me check.  The dog's ears were finally even, but each looked like a little puffy triangle with the third point at the middle of the dog's ears, like his stylist had put a Dorothy Hamill  twist on traditional poodle ears.

Triangle Hair

My response at first was to laugh, then of course I got nervous.  I said, "Mom's going to be mad."  She answered, "Mom won't notice."  Even nine-year-old me knew that was ridiculous, and after I finished my nails and saw the uneven ones (there are two others on my right hand!), I had a moment where I simultaneously felt like my sister as she sat there looking me dead in the eye and telling me my mom won't notice that she just Dorothy Hamilled the poodle and skeptical nine-year-old me knowing there's no way that's going to fly.  The lesson I take away is that if there's something I knew was a ridiculously stupid idea thirty years ago, it's likely that it will be at least as stupid today.  Hence my nails.

The complication here with the sealer is that if I file to even things out, I'll break the seal.  If the sealer were soak off, I'd just do that and apply a second coat of sealer to the whole thing, but this sealer has to be filed off and I made an effort to keep it very thin, so a second coat of it isn't something I'd be up for.  Just filing and leaving the seal broken would normally be a reasonable approach likely to shorten the life of the manicure, but I don't want to do that since it would be an unfair (well, useless) product test if I did.  So my options are change it or live with it.

I'll probably have to change it just so I don't have to cringe and say, "WTH, Self?" every time I go to take a picture this week.  I can't believe I Dorothy Hamilled my nails!

That's about it for the State of the Nails and today's storytime, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Olive You, Leopard!

I love weird leopard print color combinations, and this one is no exception. Its colors remind me of green olives with the pimentos in them, sitting in the jar waiting to accompany some poor schmuck's gin. 

I can't take credit for this color combination, to be honest, I saw a rug that had the pattern, and I adored it (I wish I had bought it!) so I snapped a picture knowing that it would find its way onto my nails at some point.  I love the 'gradient' (ok not so much a gradient as a color change) from the tip of the nail to the cuticle edge.  The color of the orange shows up really red in the pictures, but its more of a burnt orangey red in real life. I think someone needs to develop one of them so I don't have to mix it. (think Essie Alligator purse, but more orange than red)

Anyway, on to the nails- for now all I have are pictures from the iPhone, because my camera is MIA right now. Hopefully I find it tonight, so I can take a picture of them with a real camera before they get destroyed by acetone. :)  

I used American Apparel California Trooper> as a base, with American Apparel MacArthur Park for the green, and a mix of Essie Alligator Purse and China Glaze Life Preserver for the orange. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Plate XL A - The Puzzle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

My Gelicure mani is still hanging in there, so I'm still changing it around to keep it interesting.  For yesterday's variation, I brought out the XL plates and looked for something to do in white, and I chose the puzzle pieces tip pattern.

I stamped that in Konad white, but it still looked a little plain, so I hunted down some nail art pens to fill in a few of the pieces.  I added Color Stay top coat and Poshe, and this is what it looked like when I was finished.

Stamping Plate XL A - Puzzle Pieces and Nail Art Polish

I really like how this one turned out, and to be honest, I was surprised to see a few tiny smudges in the nail art polish when I was selecting a picture - I can't see them even when I'm looking for them.

What I'd forgotten about changing color once a week is how much I hate it when it looks grown out.  Yesterday was the five days of wear, and I was reminded by my own annoyance that it's always around the fifth day of a manicure that it starts to bug me with the line at the cuticle.  However, the soak off gel has otherwise been so painless that I'm going to let it slide until tomorrow.  Other than the giant gap, it looks just like it did right after I applied it.

That's today's variation on the Hot Pink theme, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

My Impressionist Funky French

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After using a dotting tool for the dots I added to the chevron tips I showed you yesterday, I got to thinking that filling in my tips with just a bunch of tiny colored dots might be interesting.  I gathered about a zillion nail polishes that are Springy and opaque, got the dotting tool and a paper plate, and had at it (this was from a few days ago, so the gap at the cuticle's small).

As I was placing the dots, I thought it looked like an Impressionist's rendition of a Funky French, being characterized by bright color, open composition, and super tiny brush strokes.  Here's what I came up with.

Impressionist Funky French over Hot Pink Nubar Gelicure

I think under many circumstances, I could look at the finished manicure and say, "Yes, I see how that could be an Impressionist mani."  Unfortunately, I can't.  As I looked at the manicure after sealing it with top coat, I could think of one and only one think that's set apart by the use of bright colors and an ornately orderly multicolored edge, and that's folk socks.

The price I'm paying for reading too much Interweave Knits Magazine is that my brain now perceives my manicure in terms of socks.  That's an unexpected outcome!

I think we can all agree to pretend that this manicure is actually a deep, meaningful artistic statement, connecting an innovative 19th century Parisian art movement to the crafting traditions of the back hills of Appalachia.  I'll have to go ponder the meaning of existence for a bit to come up with something equally profound for tomorrow, so until then, love and nail polish to you!  

Nubar Gelicure Soak Off Gel Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have something a little different for you, something which I never thought I'd try: soak off gel polish.  I've seen various reviews in the year or so since OPI's Axxium and CND's Shellac made a splash, which had me interested enough to see what was out there and whether I was willing to try any of it.  Reviews on OPI's Axxium seemed to all have at least one person chime in with a complaint saying that her otherwise strong nails were damaged by the removal, which made me afraid of soak off gel in general, and the Shellac reviews said that product came off well, but I've never had success with CND products for natural nails, so I took that as hope for soak off gel and moved on.  Several other brands who do mainly fake nail stuff had a good selection of colors (IBD, EZFlow, Harmony,...), but  I settled on Nubar's Gelicure as the one to try just as a personal preference - my experience with their products is that they're kind to my nails (the only acrylic patches I've ever been able to grow out and to remove without damage were with Nubar acrylic), and I trusted that it would really soak off.

I did do a test of the gel removal before applying the gel polish (I trust no brand that much!), and I found that I could remove the gel with relative ease in 10 minutes, and that it pretty much fell off when I touched it after 15.  The dissolved gel is really weird - it's like older rubber cement got kind of wet.  I know that's an odd description, but I'd bet if you tried this you'd see exactly what I mean.  Anyhow, knowing that I could take this stuff off when I wanted to, I went ahead and applied it.  I've never applied gel before (heck, I've never seen it in person before), so it's not the best application ever, but it shows some real potential for the product for me.  I'll show you the picture of my Gelicure mani first, then tell you how I put it on and why I'd want to.

Nubar Gelicure Soak Off UV Gel Polish in Hot Pink

It's not too bad for a first shot at gel, I think.  The trick thing about it for me was that gel polishes say that they go on like polish, but I discovered that's true only in the narrow sense that they're both applied out of a bottle with a brush.  What was strange to get used to was the fact that after touching the product to my nail, I had all the time in the world to get it perfect since it doesn't cure at all until it's under the UV light.  There are a couple of preparatory steps for the nails (primer and a bonding agent), then I applied the clear base coat gel.  I made it as thin as humanly possible and cured it.  Then I added color, also doing the super thin coats, but employing a kind of a completely rookie way to go about it.  I was applying as thinly as I could, then wiping the brush off in the bottle and then using it to take a little off each nail.  That just meant I put the gel polish on too thinly and needed more coats.  The last step was to seal it with top coat sealer and cure the sealer.  For curing, the directions said two minutes under the UV light to cure each coat, I gave it three for each just because that was how the light was set and I didn't want to mess around with it.

Why would I possibly want to wear a colored gel polish that doesn't come off for weeks, you ask?  Lots of reasons...

The gel functions as an overlay, and my opposition to overlays in the past has been functional rather than aesthetic - my experience with having acrylic overlays for a few days and acrylic patches here and there shows me that they diminish sensation in my nails, and when your nails do a lot of the work that fingertips do for people with short nails, changing how they feel doesn't work well.  Acrylic isn't that durable for color changes, either.  With this gel, my nails have as much feeling and as much "give" (like bending a little when pressed) as without, it just takes a little more pressure, and I can polish at will.

The gel keeps pigment from ever touching my nails, which would seem to indicate that there's hope to completely and permanently grow out the stains on my nails.  In applying the gel, I was instructed to wrap my tips with base, color, and sealer, and with the edges protected my guess is that tears and breaks won't happen and that my nails might wear evenly (typing makes all of them wear more on the pinky side of the nail).  I have no ambitions to give Lee Redmond a run for her money even though I'm a fan, it would just be nice to quit having my blog and photo accounts look like a flip book of nails growing and getting chopped.

As for the monotony of wearing one color, that's not a problem.  I'm sure of that because I applied the gel on Saturday, although yesterday's polish is the only picture I've shown with it on.  I polished and top coated over the gel and later used acetone remover (not recommended by the manufacturer!) to remove the polish, and the gel looks exactly like it did before the polish.  So polishing over gel works, and I really like the idea of having the base for nail art ready all the time.  I can embellish the gel polish with Konad or whatever and just remove it later.  That's handy.  In fact, here's my first shot at adding a bit to the pink.

Nubar Hot Pink Gelicure Soak Off Gel Polish with Chevron Tips in Nail Polish

That's just black and white nail polish with top coat added to the gel, and I can see doing stuff like this for a while before getting bored.  The shine on the gel is really amazing, too, and it feels like a new plastic coating it's so smooth.

Today, on my fourth day of having the gel on, it looks like it'll last me about a total of a week before it starts getting too grown out looking.  Test removal and this application took just about an hour, which really isn't too much effort for me once a week - that's exactly what my routine was for about twenty-five years to change a manicure without quick-dry top coat.  With the ease of application and removal as well as all of the benefits of soak off gel, I really think I've been converted to it.  Now all the people who've asked me about fake nails, to whom I've consistently and emphatically replied "Never!!!", can mock me for wearing gel all they wish - I have it coming.

So that's the recap of my four-day experience with Nubar Gelicure and my first with soak off gel.  Before I do the complete removal and next application, I'll take a new picture of the gel alone so we can all see the before and after of how the poor mistreated gel holds up.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

Sephora by OPI Celibacy Club and Sue vs Shue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a manicure using two of the Sephora by OPI Glee mini set exclusives, Sue vs Shue and Celibacy Club.  I got the mini set on Valentine's Day when Sephora was giving out a free bottle of Sephora by OPI Access 24/7 with any order - I've had my eye on that one forever, and I was interested in the minis, so now they're here.

When I opened the set's box to check out the polishes, I noticed Celibacy Club, described by Sephora as a diamond top coat.  That was the one I was least interested in before seeing them in person - I figured, another fine silver glitter top coat can't be too different than any other.  It looked like it might be holographic when I was sizing it up, so I set it aside to try out.  I looked at what to put it over, and I chose Sue vs Shue, a pretty standard navy blue shimmer (which I wouldn't be astounded to hear was just the regular $OPI navy rebottled).

Sue vs Shue applied very well, with one coat being just shy of enough for even coverage.  I used two coats, then added one coat of Celibacy Club before finishing it off with a coat of Poshe.  For this, I wish I had sunlight, but I don't.  I took about seven billion pictures to get one that would even hint at the glory that is Celibacy Club, and this is as close as I could get in artificial light.  It's pretty impressive at full size, so give it a click to see a full screen version.

Sephora by OPI Celibacy Club over Sue vs Shue, Glee Mini Set Exclusives

Here's a blurry picture from the same batch that shows the colors reflected by the glitter pretty well.

Sephora by OPI Celibacy Club over Sue vs Shue, Blurred to Show Glitter

The real kicker is that this is how the manicure looks in regular indoor light.  Truthfully, I'm a little bummed that Celibacy club isn't offered in full size.  It's the coolest polish I've seen from the Sephora by OPI line (and I'm a fan of $OPI despite the price tag), so selling it only as a limited edition mini seems like a waste of a dang good polish.

That's the scoop for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Color Club Yum Gum & Hello Kitty Decals

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another of Color Club's Wicked Sweet Collection, Yum Gum.  It's a neon light-ish pink creme, and it smells like bubble gum.  It applied well, covering in two coats, but the scent is initially a little unnerving.  You know that kind of off plastic smell the really cheap individually wrapped bubble gum has?  When it first goes on and is wet, Yum Gum smells just like that.  I almost took it off right away, but was glad I didn't as it dried because that weird plastic smell diminished and it really just smelled like bubble gum.  Here's Yum Gum with a base and a top in the sun.

Color Club Yum Gum Nail Polish, Two Coats

I just could't get the neon to show up in a picture after trying a million different light sources, so I went with the picture that on my monitor is closest to the color on my nails.  Neons can be maddeningly frustrating to take a picture of!

You can tell from the title I didn't stop there.  I'd gotten some of the Sephora Hello Kitty nail decals, but I hadn't used them because they made me a little angry - they're just one small sheet of tiny decals for $5, and I felt ripped off.  I figured it was time to get over it and use them, and when I did I was so impressed with their quality that I got over their price.  The adhesive is just right (it sticks well and doesn't come off the decals, but doesn't hold with a death grip), they're extremely thin and flexible so they lay perfectly flat easily, and I didn't have a single problem with the rhinestone ones (while rhinestone decals often lose stones).  I loaded up my left ring nails with decals, then sealed it with Poshe.

Sephora Hello Kitty Nail over Color Club Yum Gum Nail Polish

And a closer look...

Sephora Hello Kitty Nail Decals, Close Up View

My thinking is that if I'm going to be a ten year old girl and wear bubble gum scented neon light pink nail polish, the least I can do is be consistent and load it up with Hello Kitty decals.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Broken Hearted & Fault Line

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I did a little playing around with some China Glaze Crackles, Broken Hearted and Fault Line.  When I first unpacked and examined the Crackles, my first thought about Fault Line was that it's similar to Nubar Pasadena purple, and this manicure is where that thought took me.

I started with a base coat, and for the base color I alternated nails with Nubar Pasadena Purple and Nubar Hollywood Pink (both from their California Dreamin' Collection) - I went hunting for a pink similar to Broken Hearted, and Hollywood Pink is close in color but is a shimmer.  After two coats of color, I top coated it to dry it.  For the Crackle, I alternated nails with those as well, putting Broken Hearted over the Pasadena Purple nails and Fault Line over the Hollywood Pink nails.  After letting it break up for a minute or two, I added a coat of Gelous to smooth it out and a coat of Poshe to dry it.  This is what the manicure looked like completely dry.

China Glaze Broken Hearted and Fault Line over a Pink and Purple Base

I like it.  At first glance, the colors confuse my eye as it tries to discern which colors are where, and I like that.  As to the color choice in general, my affinity for violet and bright pink together comes from my childhood.  Last week I mentioned that my dad would take us to school in the morning, but when he dropped us off we didn't get to go straight to school (the "get to" will become clear, and young childhood is always "us" for me since my sister and I were a package).  We'd get there at about 7:05, an hour before the school's doors were unlocked, and the rule was that the early kids had to go to daily Mass.  After a few years of being in Mass six days a week (my mom took us on Sundays), it was sometimes more than I could bear to go in, but the principal would come out and herd kids into the church periodically, so there was no escaping it.  The principal was also the one with the keys to the school, so there was no hope of the school doors opening early.  So I'd sit in Mass, appropriately bored out of my skull for a kid, but during Advent the officiant would mix things up a bit with the violet and pink stoles (that's the long silk scarf thing that a priest wears over his robe to say Mass), and the church would be all decorated in violet and pink, all of which was light at the end of the tunnel for me - the minute Advent ended, I was on Christmas break and free of it all for a couple of weeks, so those colors together are always a happy sight for me.

Christmas Break Countdown

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Sephora by OPI Traffic-Stopper Copper

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Sephora by OPI's Traffic-Stopper Copper is a glitter top coat that I wanted to try out, and I have a picture of it for you today.  It's a copper version of Only Gold for Me - a clear base with lots of copper hex and regular glitter.  I wasn't entirely wild about the gold, but thought I might like it in copper.  As luck would have it, I do.

I started with a base coat, added two coats of OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (another polish name I don't fully understand - it sounds dirty to me!), and then I added one coat of Traffic-Stopper Copper to it.  I applied it using small strokes with the brush to more evenly distribute the glitter, then added a coat of Gelous to smooth it out and a coat of Poshe to dry it all.

Sephora by OPI Traffic-Stopper Copper over Suzi Loves Cowboys

I like it with the brown a lot.  Suzi Loves Cowboys is a kind of dull brown, and I think both the color and sparkle of the glitter liven it up a good bit.  With Gelous plus Poshe, it's almost completely smooth, and any quick dry top coat should work over Gelous (Poshe is somewhat thin, so it's not contributing much to leveling things out).

I have a little brown nail polish tale that I thought of when doing this mani.  My beloved (a much less ridiculous term than "boyfriend" when referring to someone over 40) is always very encouraging and supportive of my blog, but he doesn't really have much of an opinion at all regarding what I put on my nails.  If I ask for an opinion, I get the A answer from the Men's Official Guide to Non-Opinions, "they're all great on you," which is perfectly fine.  Except one day not too long ago he paid me a compliment saying that, which was nice, but after a long pause he tacked on a very emphatic "No browns!" so loaded with emotion that it made me laugh.  It would seem that he really hates browns a lot!  I don't, so I'm wearing this manicure anyhow... The male reaction here is probably to wonder why I asked for an opinion if I'm just going to do what I want to anyhow, but my thinking was that if a preference was expressed with which I agreed, I'd go with that more often.  No one's taking my browns away!

I like Traffic-Stopper copper a lot, I think because the copper color is unexpected - I can't think of any other reason I like it so much more than the otherwise-identical Only Gold for Me.  It doesn't seem like a real copper color is used too often, but I'm glad to see it showing up lately.  I think I'll have to mess around with Traffic-Stopper Copper to find out what colors I like it with - brown was the easy solution today, but I think it would be better over a less predictable base shade.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

GINGER & LIZ and Barielle Nail Treatments on Hautelook!

Fun stuff for pretty nails today on Hautelook today!

There are Barielle Nail Treatments, as well as a bevy of Ginger & Liz nail colors at great prices!

Check it out at Hautelook

Sephora by OPI Hell to the No

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I needed a little change of pace and wanted to wear a good shimmer, and Sephora by OPI's Hell to the No from their Glee Collection fit the bill perfectly.  Hell to the No is a beautiful medium purple with a strong gold shimmer.  I'd wanted to pass on all from this collection, but after seeing a few sets of swatches, things didn't quite shake out that way...

The application of Hell to the No was very good, with the polish being a bit thick but easy to control and two thin coats providing excellent coverage.  Here it is in the sunlight.

Sephora by OPI Hell to the No Nail Polish, Two Coats

Hell to the No really melts my heart - it's spectacular.  I love purple combined with gold, but there just aren't that many polishes like that, so I sprung for this one and it's perfect.  Well, the polish itself is, the name, not so much...

My impression is that whoever names $OPI's tries hard to be cute and punny and edgy at the same time, but is lacking a good bit of sense.  I recall a lot of women being offended by the contender for Pro-Ana Color of the Year 2010, Iris I was Thinner, and it strikes me that as far as potential to offend, Hell to the No is right up there with it.  Although the word "hell" doesn't harm my delicate ears, I have quite a few friends roughly my age who are active members of very conservative faiths who are offended by the word - I've been told so after using it.  I'm not a proponent of the super politically correct ways that would have everything so universally inoffensive that it's watered down and indistinguishable from anything else, not at all, I just don't think the name Hell to the No is good enough to use when it is likely to offend many.  If it were as funny as Tickle My Triangle, likely more offensive to more people and probably my all-time favorite nail polish name, I wouldn't have a complaint since that's well over the line of funny enough to keep no matter what.  It's not a huge deal, but I didn't want to just ignore the name.

Hell to the No is a gorgeous polish in every way except for that pesky name.  Good thing that in real life, I never have to mention the name so it doesn't matter in a practical sense and I'm going to enjoy wearing it.

Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

Color Club Raspberry Rush

Good morning, Dear Reader!

The sun is shining on a beautiful warm Spring day and I'm wearing scented neon raspberry nail polish.  Does life get better than this?  I don't think so.  The first Spring days of every year bring me back to being a kid all dressed for school in my hideous plaid uniform, reveling in the fresh air and playing jump rope in the driveway until my dad came out to drive us off to school on his way to work.  A scented neon raspberry nail polish sort of completes that whole mood very well.

Today's manicure is Color Club Raspberry Rush from the Wicked Sweet Collection, and it's also a very good one.  It has that artificial raspberry fragrance, but it's light and not terribly sweet, so I don't think most people would find it offensive at all.  Those Revlon Fruitful Temptations from a couple of years back could be a little much after several hours, but the two Color Club scented neons I've tried have had about half of that intensity of fragrance and nowhere near as sweet.  Raspberry Rush is a neon raspberry that's halfway between a creme and a jelly, almost entirely opaque in three coats, and it was easy to apply.

Color Club Raspberry Rush Nail Polish, Three Coats

I was out grocery shopping really early this morning and stopped to pick up a cup of coffee on the way home, and at both places this polish received compliments, which is always fun.  I didn't want to make the women who noticed it terribly jealous by telling them that in addition to being fabulous looking it smells like raspberries, too, so I didn't mention it.  Ha!

That's just about all that I can think of to tell you this morning, so I'll be off to go about the rest of my day while discreetly sniffing my nails when no one's looking.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

Gild the Lily

Last week, I showed a photo of the lovely flowers I received from my boyfriend. In the arrangement, there were several of a flower called Alstroemeria, which are commonly known as the Peruvian Lily, or Lily of the Incas. Since those flowers are still alive and going strong (all but the roses and one of the tiger lilies), I decided to use the Peruvian Lilies as inspiration for a nail art design. I love the way the color gradates from fuchsia to white with just a touch of yellow, then is punctuated with dashes of dark brown! I tried to represent it the best I could on my nail, using a drier brush than normal, and sort of 'flicking' from the cuticle toward the nail tip.

One of the Alstroemeria from my flowers- the inspiration!

and the nails:

I used MAC Vestral White as a base, with Finger Paints Heavenly Hydrangeas and Essence Surferama 'flicked' from the cuticle edge up, a mixture of American Apparel Trenchcoat and BB Couture Kokomo for the dash of yellow, then a mixture of American Apparel Hassid and Barielle Coco Bar for the dark brown dots/dashes. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat

WOOT! That's 3 posts in 2 days, trying to get back on track now that my hours are slightly reduced!! :)

Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After yesterday's swatchfest, I was surprised that I was up for changing polish this morning, but I was.  I really wanted to try out on of the Color Club Wicked Sweet colors, so I looked through them and the one I was most curious about was Wicked Sweet (the color - when the collection and color have the same name, I always have to think to specify!).  I really wanted to see how the coverage was, how the shimmer translated to the nail, and of course, exactly what the smell of Wicked Sweet would be.

Wicked Sweet applied well, but the polish is somewhat thin.  After the first coat, it looks like it'll take a zillion coats to be opaque, then the second coat makes it completely opaque.  Color Club's keeping me on my toes!  Although the shimmer is relatively understated in the bottle, on the nail Wicked Sweet glows.  Here's two coats in sunlight (I apologize for the wacky angles here).

Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think it's absolutely gorgeous.  As for the fragrance, this is probably the most subtly scented polish I've used.  It does smell a lot like Juicy fruit gum, but like Juicy Fruit had about half the sugar, and I had to sniff within a few inches of my nails to catch it.  This one's definitely not so scented that it would offend.

I thought a little white Konad would perk this up well.  I wanted the polka dot pattern, but I ran into a dotting tool before the Konad plate, had a lazy moment, and used the dotting tool.  It's not bad, but I prefer the perfectly uniformly shaped and spaced dots that I get with Konad.

Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish with Dots

That's my nice smelling manicure for the day.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

China Glaze CRACKLE Glaze (Preview)

I know you've all probably been bombarded with this press release, but for those of you that haven't seen it or haven't heard of this collection (have you been living under a rock?! JK!! :-D ), I'll post it up here because I am SO freaking excited for it! I'm a dork, I loved Crackles when Cover Girl had them back in the 90s, and was elated when I saw that some of the bigger nail polish companies were bringing them back and making them better!! This China Glaze collection is no exception- the colors it contains are so beyond wonderful, and I can't wait to get my eager little paws on them!! (Especially Cracked Concrete and Crushed Candy!!!)

Here is the release from China Glaze in all her beautiful glory!!

LET’S GET CRACKING!

China Glaze Introduces Six New Crackle Colors

Los Angeles, CA – December 2010: Roughed up grunge meets gorgeous glam! China Glaze brings a whole new level to the game with “Crackle” polish! Create endless edgy looks and make a statement with fun, fearless, color. Everyone has asked for it, and now China Glaze is giving it to them! The six different Crackle colors include:


Lightning Bolt – White Crackle
Black Mesh – Black Crackle
Broken Hearted – Pink Crackle
Cracked Concrete – Grey Crackle
Fault Line – Purple Crackle
Crushed Candy – Teal Crackle


An innovative technology allows you to play with a wide array of color combinations and achieve an edgy, new wave look. This unique formula was developed to give your nails a “crackled” design over traditional nail color. Contrasting colors are used one over another to achieve a deconstructed shatter look that takes place right before your eyes. Instant art for your nails!


How do you do it? It’s easy! Apply your favorite China Glaze glitter, shimmer or crème. Depending on the color you are using, apply either one or two coats for full coverage. When the colored enamel is dry, brush on a thin layer of the Crackle color. Allow the Crackle to work its magic during dry time. After approximately 5 minutes when the crackled design has completely formed, apply a top coat to seal the design for prolonged wear.


China Glaze Crackle will be available starting February 2011 at Sally’s Beauty Supply and BSG in 12 piece displays and 3 pack color kits which will include a base color, a crackle glaze (Black Mesh, Broken Hearted or Crushed Candy) and a China Glaze Top Coat.


China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde.


China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com>www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze>http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze


China Glaze is a division of American International Industries.


About American International Industries
For nearly 40 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women. Our product lines include Ardell, Andrea, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, Jeris-Lustray, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi- Care, Waterworks, Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com>www.aiibeauty.com

Love Stinks!

OK, so love doesn't stink, and my Valentine's Day was wonderful, but I didn't want to post the gooey, sappy, heart-laden mushfest that comes out every Valentine's Day. I wanted to do a fun twist on love, since I experience a fun twist on it every day. My boyfriend is the sort to surprise me with a fountain Dr. Pepper instead of flowers, a bubblegum squirt gun instead of jewelry, and that shows me just how well he actually knows me. Anyway, I digress. This Valentine's Day, I did a quirky ode to love, and it was a super quick one too because it was late, so it's far from perfect. I did two skunks- a boy skunk and a girl skunk, and their tails make up the heart on the middle finger nail. I also used the Nicole by OPI Step to Beat of My Heart polish for the heart shaped glitter on my thumb and pinky. (the pinky hearts fell off during the day- sorry)

I used American Apparel Rose Bowl as a base, with American Apparel Hassid and MAC Vestral White for the skunk bodies. FOr the eyes, I used MAC Vestral White with a small dot of CND Anchor Blue for the iris. On the girl skunk, I painted a bow with Milani Red Sparkle, as well as using Orly Candy Cane Lane to paint lips on her and hearts on the ring finger and index finger nails. For the heart glitter, I used the Nicole by OPI Step to the Beat of My Heart nail polish from the Justin Bieber collection. (I cringed a little because it had his pic on the tag, but it's actually a cute polish) Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

PEE-EWWWW! ;)

U-G-L-Y, You Ain't Got no Alibi

Ok, so I'll admit, these nails are from several days ago, and I either didn't have the time, energy or what have you to get them posted. Fun thing is, when I DID have the time/energy (read: last night), my damn laptop (which boasts a hefty 7.5 years of heavy use) decided that it no longer wanted to recognize its airport card. What's this mean to you and I? It means no internet unless I want to haul my happy ass (and my power cord, since my battery no longer holds a charge) upstairs to the office where I could lay on the office floor, plug in the ethernet cable, and write up a fun little post for ya. Not gonna lie, I mean, I love you guys, but that's a little more work than I had energy for.

However, due to that little hiccup, you get two nail design posts today!! Rock 'n Roll, right?!

This nail design was requested by Chris, who suggested on multiple occasions that I do 'Ugly Doll' nails. If you're not familiar with Ugly Dolls, they're little stuffed monster dolls that, despite their name, are quite adorable. I'm showing both hands on these because both hands were different, please excuse the horrifying cleanup job- my hands were super dry when I tried cleaning them up, and the black pigment in the polish kind of sunk into the skin. (awesome.)

I used American Apparel Hassid as a base for all nails.

Left hand:

Thumb:

Finger Paints Chrysanthe-mum's the Word for the monster, MAC Vestral for the eyeball, a mix of MAC Vestral White and Orly Candy Cane Lane for the tongue, and American Apparel Hassid for the mouth and eyes.

Index:

China Glaze Life Preserver for the monster, MAC Vestral White for the eyballs, and American Apparel Hassid for the eyes and mouth.

Middle:

Finger Paints Carnation Creation for the monster, MAC Vestral White for the eyeballs, American Apparel Hassid for the mouth and eyes, and OPI Banana Bandana over MAC Vestral White for the teeth.

Ring:

Heavenly Hydrangeas for the monster, MAC Vestral White for the eyeball and teeth, and American Apparel Hassid for the eye and mouth.

Pinky:

A mix of American Apparel MacArthur Park and BB Couture Poison Ivy for the monster, American Apparel Manila for the eyeball, MAC Vestral White for the teeth, and American Apparel Hassid for the mouth, eye, and hair.


Right Hand:

Thumb:

Finger Paints Aren't You Glad-iolous? for the monster, American Apparel California Trooper for the eyeball and teeth, and American Apparel Hassid for the eyes and mouth.

Index:

Essie Alligator Purse for the monster, American Apparel Trenchcoat for the eyeballs, MAC Vestral White for the teeth, and American Apparel Hassid for the eyes and mouth.

Middle:

I THINK this monster is a mixture of Essie Alligator Purse and American Apparel Trenchcoat, but not 100% sure. For the eyeballs and teeth I used American Apparel California Trooper, and for the eyes and mouth, I used American Apparel Hassid.

Ring:

For the monster, I used American Apparel MacArthur Park, for the mouth and eye, I used American Apparel Hassid and for the tongue, a mixture of Orly Candy Cane Lane and MAC Vestral White.

Pinky:

Sally Hansen Gray by Gray for the monster, with American Apparel California Trooper for the eyeball and teeth, and American Apparel Hassid for the eye and mouth.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Color Club Starry Temptress Collection

Hello again. Dear Reader!

I'm back with the swatches of Color Club Starry Temptress that I mentioned earlier.  The collection is six neons with glitter and one glitter top coat.  The glitter top coat, which is named Starry Temptress, is about the consistency of one of the Color Club Japanese glitters.  In fact, it bears such a striking resemblance to Bishop Weed that I took a picture of them together.

Color Club Starry Temptress and Bishop Weed Comparison

The biggest difference is that the base of Starry Temptress is whiter, and if you click on the picture to make it giant in a new tab, you'll see that Bishop Weed seems to have a little bit more of the pink glitter.  It looks like they contain the same glitter.

The six neons were unusual (not in a bad way, just different).  The polish smelled a bit different, and the consistency reminds me more of paint than of nail polish.  However, it does what it's supposed to really well.  All six were sufficiently opaque in only two coats while allowing the glitter to show.  That's a pretty impressive feat, to make a neon opaque enough to be a two-coater and sheer enough to let the glitter show.  Additionally, all six neons are quite smooth with one coat of top coat (although Starry Temptress made them bumpier).  They're quite nice.

For all but the last two pictures, which are of the one I'm wearing, I've got two coats of the neon on all nails and one coat of Starry Temptress added to my ring and pinky nails to show you how each looks layered, and I put a coat of Color Stay top coat over all of it because the nails with only the neon were drying fast, so they'd look matte compared to the others without top coat.  All of the pictures are in natural sunlight.

Glitter Envy is a really neon green creme with fine gold glitter.

Color Club Glitter Envy Nail Polish, Two Coats

You can see that over Glitter Envy, Starry Temptress just imparts a bit of blue sparkle.

You've Got Soul-ar is a blinding neon orange creme with silver glitter.  Fabulous!

Color Club You've Got Soul-ar Nail Polish, Two Coats

Over You've Got Soul-ar, Starry Temptress just seems make it a little more sparkly, it doesn't add a whole lot.

Otherworldy is a neon blue creme with silver glitter.

Color Club Otherworldly Nail Polish, Two Coats

Here, Starry Temptress makes no real difference.  If I held my hand really close to my face in good light, I could see it was more glittery, but that's it.

Wink, Wink, Twinkle is a purple neon creme with silver glitter.

Color Club Wink, Wink, Twinkle Nail Polish, Two Coats

Starry Temptress does make a real difference over Wink, Wink, Twinkle.  Without it, the glitter doesn't have the same appearance of depth to me as it does with it.

Ultra-Astral is a deep neon pink with silver glitter.  I love this one.

Color Club Ultra-Astral Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think Ultra-Astral is also improved by a coat of Starry Temptress.

Finally, Space Case is a neon Barbie pink shimmer with silver glitter.  Here it is all by itself with no top coat at all.

Color Club Space Case Nail Polish, Two Coats

I took that picture just so you could see Space Case without Starry Temptress, which I added to the manicure.  I topped that off with one coat of Color Stay to smooth out the glitter, then a coat of Poshe to dry it all.  I was torn between Space Case and Ultra-Astral, but the notion of having fairy princess nails won out.  The sun went behind the clouds for the day as I went to take this picture, so it's not as brightly lit as the others.

Color Club Starry Temptress over Space Case

I love these.  Color Club always makes me happy with the quality of their neons and the cool twists they put on them, and as far as I'm concerned, these are another success.

That's really, really all for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!