Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear VIP Pink

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today there's more layered glitter polish in store with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear VIP Pink over China Glaze Sugar High.  I don't know much about VIP Pink other than that I had it in a box of polishes and it's a pretty pink with glitter, but it looked a little sheer for me to wear alone.

I don't know if I ever showed you a picture of what I think is the easiest way to get an idea of the opacity of a polish without having to open it, so I took one to show you today.  I just hold the bottle a little bit tilted and above eye level, then roll the mixing ball around a little.  How well I can see the mixing ball is an indication of how sheer it is.

Mixing Ball in Sally Hansen VIP Pink Bottle

That's pretty sheer since I can see it so well, so I grabbed a creme that was a good match for the shade, China Glaze Sugar High, to put under it.  Here's two coats of Sugar High, a two coater, alone.

China Glaze Sugar High Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of VIP Pink and top coat.

Sally Hansen VIP Pink Nail Polish over China Glaze Sugar High

That's much better.  Now that I'm all pink and sparkly, it pretty much has to be a good day today.  That's just about all I have for you, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Girls Just Want to Play & Fairy Dust

Good morning, Dear Reader!  On this Memorial Day, I want to say thanks to servicemen and their families for paying a very high price for all of us in the US.

I figured I'd go with a patriotic manicure today, and I picked OPI's Girls Just Want to Play, which is a red creme.  It's particularly well pigmented for an OPI red, so I like it better than most of theirs.  It only took two thin coats to be totally opaque, and since the fake tip I'm sporting is crystal clear, I need opaque.  I tried to just leave it alone, but my current and likely short anti-creme phase wouldn't allow me to, so I topped it off with two coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust before adding top coat.  Here it is in the sun, and there are a few spots where you can get a sense of just how much it sparkles.

OPI Girls Just Want to Play and China Glaze Fairy Dust, Two Coats Each

I already ran some errands and went for a walk with my dad today, and on the walk it was challenging to keep myself from staring at my nails.  This is really super bright and sparkly, so it makes me happy.  I know it's not terribly different from the OPI Text Me Text You manicure I recently wore, but it's different enough for me, and I really just plain love fine holo glitter over red.

That's the manicure for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

2011 Las Vegas Weekly Awards!

This past Wednesday I was invited to attend an event held by the Las Vegas Weekly, a weekly magazine here in Las Vegas. I was selected as the recipient of the 2011 'Best Blogger' award in the 2011 Weekly awards!! SO exciting!! :) Of course, since I was going to the event, I had to do Las Vegas Weekly nails, so I used one of the copies of when the story about me was in the Weekly last May to work into the manicure. (I was a tad overzealous in getting spare copies to keep, so I had a few issues to spare :-P) Check out the blurb about the award here!

Forgive me for not including my thumb in the picture- I swatched another color over it without thinking before I got around to photographing it. Stupid me. For the texture in the background, I transferred bits of the original article using alcohol onto the white background, then painted the Las Vegas WEEKLY logo over it. :)

My name on the big screen! :)

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with Claire's Stiletto for the red, and American Apparel Hassid for the black. Topped it all off with two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Zoya Touch Collection Swatches

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have swatches of the upcoming limited edition Zoya Touch Collection, which Zoya sent for review.  The sun peeked out for a moment between storms, which means I hadn't been planning on swatching and hadn't fixed up my pinky yet, so the pictures leave that out, but at least they're in the sun so you can get a good look at the polishes.

All three Zoya Touch shades are extremely well pigmented, so much so that I think with careful application, one coat would be enough for them to be opaque.  Because there's a lot of pigment, they weren't perfectly smooth without top coat, so all three of these swatches are with both base and top (which did smooth them out perfectly), and I gave the top coat a couple of minutes to dry before taking the pictures.  Without the top coat, they dry surprisingly quickly and shiny, but I figured not using it wouldn't be a fair representation of the polishes.  I left the last one on the four fingers I swatched, and it's dried well in a reasonable period of time.

Minka is the palest of the three, which Zoya describes as "latte beige cream with a metallic kiss."  I think it's a light beige shimmer.  The color would likely be a very good match for many people's skin (it's darker than mine), and the shimmer in it is that very fine, subtle kind, but there's a whole lot of it so it shows up quite well.  Here's Zoya Minka.

Zoya Minka Nail Polish, Two Coats

Shay is next in line, and it's a shade darker than Minka and more rose, but has the same cool shimmer.  Zoya calls it "desert rose sand beige cream with a metallic kiss," and I'd call "cream with a metallic kiss" shimmer, but description of the shade is probably more clearly explanatory than any other words I'd choose.  Here is Shay in sunlight.

Zoya Shay Nail Polish, Two Coats

The third and last in the Zoya Touch Collection is Pandora, which Zoya describes as "mauve beige cream with a metallic kiss."  Again, I'd scratch "cream with a metallic kiss" and go with "shimmer," but I'm glad for the suggestion of "mauve beige" because that's a very accurate way to put it.  Here is Pandora, which has the same subtle but dense shimmer as the previous two.

Zoya Pandora Nail Polish, Two Coats

As I mentioned, the sunlight I had was just peeking out between clouds, so it wasn't glaringly bright.  When taking the pictures, I was lamenting that, thinking it wouldn't show the shimmer, but it actually worked out very well.  You can see how the shimmer in these really glows when the light hits it, and that they're distinctly shimmers even without bright light, and the colors didn't get all washed out.

I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite of these because all three of them are really cool, and they're coming out just in time for my renewed love of shimmers.  The Zoya Touch Collection is available for pre-order on Zoya's site now, with a release date and pre-order ship date of June 1st.  They're $8 each and the little boxed set of three is $24.

That's my Zoya Touch review, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby & Konad H4

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a manicure with SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby (dun, dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun...) and the tip pattern from nail art stamping plate H4, which I bought from Chez Delaney but have seen elsewhere since.  Aside from having a name that makes me think silly thoughts, Ice Ice Baby is an opaque shimmery white which required three coats, and I did the stamping in rainbow colors (or a selection of five of them) using various Konad Special and Princess polishes.

SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby Nail Polish and Nail Art Stamping Plate H4

I'm extra happy with how this one turned out, and were it not for the fact that my pinky's fake tip is looking worse for the wear, I think this manicure would go on my list of absolute all-time favorites.  The tip has actually held up quite well this week with daily polish changes including an OPI Burlesque glitter, but I noticed an edge of it lifting, and before I even had time to register a conscious thought about that, I pulled the lifted part off and made a big ledge in it.  That was really the result of being tired - I'd gotten all adjusted to sleeping really well, then in the last week something that's no big deal keeps waking me up super early, which is also why I'm posting this hour.  At 3:30 a.m., there's amazingly little to do - I'm not particularly interested in any Ronco products, and anyone I'd call at this hour would likely either be really drunk or really PO'd at being awakened to shoot the breeze, and I don't feel like talking to either.  Proof reading this paragraph, I'm simultaneously impressed and horrified that I wandered from an analysis of a fake tip to Ronco in so few sentences, so I think I'll leave it that way.

Lest I ramble on about every tired thought that drifts between my ears, I'll just wrap it up here.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Nfu Oh 40

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd bring out an Nfu Oh flaky today, and I went with Nfu Oh 40. For the base color I chose Misa Quirky Smile, a teal shimmer. Quirky Smile was a two-coater, and I just ventured over to Trans Design to see what collection it's from (a recent one, I know), and noticed all of Trans Design's OPI pages are gone - everything OPI-related is just missing (TD got back to be, see update at the bottom of the page). Hmmmm... I'll have to remember to email David to ask what that's about. I also didn't find which collection the Misa's from, to get back to the topic of today's post, but that doesn't especially matter.

I added two coats of Nfu Oh 40 to Quirky Smile, and it turned out being a little bit better in real life than the best picture I could get with artificial light. It's a little mermaid-y, a little like a mosaic, and reminds me why I like Nfu Oh flakies.

Nfu Oh 40 over Misa Quirky Smile, Two Coats Each

I didn't alter this picture, I just had the good fortune of catching one where the bottle really shows how cool Nfu Oh flakies are. I only used one coat of top coat, and now that it's totally dry, the manicure could use one more to smooth it out completely, but I don't think it will take more than that. The only thing I dislike abut flaky glitters is the removal, which always makes me wish I had a mini sandblaster. I'm sure the neighbors would enjoy that show, me sitting on the lawn sandblasting away with my tiny portable sandblaster. Like they don't have enough questions about what the heck I'm up to, always taking lots of pictures of secret things I'm hiding in my hand...

That's the manicure, the made-up removal method, and the Trans Design news for today. If I'm able to get more information regarding the OPI situation, which I just stepped aside to send the email about, I'll pass it on as soon as I get it. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Update from Trans Design: OPI products are on a new site, www.nailsupplies.us, so they're still available. Good news for all of us!

Get Your Groupon On!

Many of you may have heard of Groupon by now, but if you haven't, it's amazing. Businesses in your area (or sometimes online businesses) will over products or services at a hefty discount if you buy during the Groupon sale. I've used Groupon for Barnes & Noble gift cards ($10 for $20), Gap ($25 for $50), American Apparel ($25 for $50), Zipline Rides down Fremont St ($10 for $25), Restaurants for 50%, Redbox coupons, admission to LV shows, Mani/Pedis, movie tix, all sorts of things. You can even purchase them as gifts for a friend! :)

Right now they're running a special where if a friend signs up and purchase their first Groupon by June 13, you get $30!! So Sign up, and then get your friends to sign up so YOU can get money towards free Groupons!!!

I wouldn't recommend something that I don't already use (way too much), so check it out, I think you'll like it- and it's offered in cities all over the US! :)

If you like me, and want to sign up with MY link, here it is! Melissa's Groupon Signup Link

Zoya Jo & Konad m34

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Zoya Jo, the lovely blue shimmer from Zoya's Twist Collection from a while back.  It's what I think of as a jeans color, and it's loaded up with a sparkly shimmer.  For the manicure, I used Nubar Foundation as a base, two coats of color, and finished it with Nubar Diamont.  Jo applied quite well (although as there was some discussion of yesterday, I have to work more carefully with the relatively small brush), and it's one of those where while applying the first coat, I think "This will need at least three coats..." but then the second makes everything nice and evenly opaque. It dried well with this combination, although I know that Zoya strongly recommends their Color Lock system, which I've never used in its entirety, to ensure that everything works out nicely.

I decided to Konad an accent nail again today just because I'm digging the Konad kick for cheerful manis, but I didn't want to mask the shimmer of Jo because that's my favorite thing about this polish.  Also, on the lazy front, it takes about thirty seconds to do one stamp and about ten more to top coat one nail to seal the stamp, so it's pretty tempting to go that route - I think it's a great payoff for minimal effort.  I used the Virgo design from plate m34 in Konad White Pearl for the stamping.  Here's the finished manicure under artificial light (Spring storms mean the sun's nowhere to be found).

Zoya Jo Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Konad m34

You might notice there's no way to leave comments today (on any post), or even read them for that matter.  Comments are back for now...  That's because the commenting service I use is having tech issues.  It's on the agenda to switch to another that comes highly recommended, but because of the way the current one was installed by the service, a lot of coding will be required to remove it.  Due to the constant tech issue and general lack of interest in customer satisfaction, I don't exactly trust the current service to strip out the code for me.  Since Blogger now offers a zillion times more drag and drop features than it did a couple of years ago when I was coding workarounds for things I wanted (and learning html that way, so coding many of them poorly), I'm leaning toward just completely redoing the whole blog rather than stripping out what I want removed.  There won't be giant changes since I'll never want a loud background or music playing or that kind of thing, and I'm limited with page layout since I use humongo pictures, it would be more a matter of tidying up the things that are either now offered by Blogger as pre-written elements I'd be content with or the things that make me cringe when I see them and know how I'd address them differently today.  I just thought I'd mention that's been moving toward the front of my brain lately, but today's complete lack of comments anywhere pretty much solidified it.

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

Sally Hansen Honeydew & Konad m60

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd do a "real" blog post today in addition to the Zoya Touch Collection pre-sale announcement, so I figured I'd show you the manicure I'm wearing today.  It's Sally Hansen Salon (the now discontinued square bottle) Honeydew with just a little bit of white Konad.

Honeydew is an all-time favorite of mine and it's perfect for Spring.  I've been delving into my train case of most precious polishes lately, and that's where this one belongs.  The polish is a two-coater, and it applies beautifully.  Here it is by itself in the sun.

Sally Hansen Honeydew Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added a little flower pattern from Konad plate m60 in Konad White Pearl Special Polish to my ring finger for an accent nail.

Sally Hansen Honeydew Nail Polish with Konad m60 in White Pearl

It's very Spring-y and happy, so I like it.  That's just about all there is to tell you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Zoya Touch Collection Pre-Order

Hello, Dear Reader!

[Here are Zoya Touch Collection Swatches]

I'm fast asleep by now, but I have some news I couldn't give you until May 25th Eastern time, and since that's now, I wrote this several hours ago so you could get the word promptly. Today begins the pre-order for Zoya's upcoming limited edition Touch Collection.

Zoya Touch consists of three opaque nude shades, but not our mamas' kind. They're the kind of edgy, muddied variation of neutrals that are really taking off now, with the cool twist being what appears to be a downright killer shimmer in each. I'll be swatching these for you as soon as I can because I'm really fired up about them based upon the press pictures - I'm a big fan of traditional shades with a good twist, and these appear to be just that. Since I don't have them yet, I'll share with you the press image and video (assuming I embed it properly, I've never posted one here before) that have me excited about this release from Zoya.

Just so you know what you're looking at, here's Zoya's description of the three polish colors:

Minka - latte beige cream with a metallic kiss
Shay - desert rose sand beige cream with a metallic kiss
Pandora - mauve beige cream with a metallic kiss

This is the promotional image I have, which you can click to open in a larger size in a new tab.

Zoya's Touch Collection

In this video, there are closer pictures of the color swatches that give you a better idea of the shimmer in them. I think the shimmer looks awesome.

How cool do those look??? I think the reason I'm hyped up is that they're totally wearable, office-appropriate shades for any profession at all, but the cool shimmer is like a secret over-the-top element. I just think that's really fun.

Zoya's polishes are all free of formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, and camphor, so in addition to being cool, these are safe to wear. For me, being devoid of formaldehyde has mattered for a couple of years since I saw what a difference it makes in discoloring my nails. Quite frankly, vanity aside, all carcinogens are really on my mind a lot more lately because my closest cousin, a breast cancer survivor who's been diligent about check-ups and all, very recently had a sudden aggressive recurrence that spread to her bones and lungs before it was caught. I don't want any one of us to deal with that, so I'm becoming far more conscious in general of risk factors, so having cool nail stuff that's not adding to the problem matters to me, and these don't.

These three limited edition shades will be available for pre-order starting today on Zoya's site, and I'll have swatches for you as soon as samples arrive. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Shu Uemura Tanzanite Aquarium

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today's polish is one from a few years ago that I truly coveted, although I don't recall there ever being a great hoopla about this one, and I'd set it aside for a rainy day when I got it. I figured these days are pretty rainy, so I decided to wear it, Shu Uemura Tanzanite Aquarium.

It's a dark tanzanite shade, kind of a blurple, and is loaded up with super fine holographic glitter. I used two coats and it was opaque, and it applied nicely. There wasn't a ton of sun for a picture, so the glitter isn't as fantastic in the picture as it is in real life.

Shu Uemura Tanzanite Aquarium Nail Polish, Two Coats

This kind of glitter is tough in pictures - if it's in focus at all, it just looks like silver specks. The reality of it is that it brightly reflects all kinds of colors. The glitter in Tanzanite Aquarium is very fine, so the polish is smooth with just one normal coat of top coat.

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

OPI Extra-va-vaganza

Good morning, Dear Reader!

My festive nails theme continues today with OPI Extra-va-vaganza, one of the OPI Burlesque glitters from Holiday 2010. I used three coats of it for complete, not one empty square millimeter coverage, but this polish sucks up top coat like nobody's business. I used three coats when I applied the polish, but the surface was bumpy a few hours later, so I added two more. Then a few hours after that, I noticed it was bumpy again, so I added two more. This morning, it's still a little bumpy, but since I want to cling to the hope of ever removing it, it's as good as it's getting.

Here's the manicure in the sun this morning.

OPI Extra-va-vaganza Nail Polish, Three Coats

I left my thumb in the picture so you can see the surface in profile - it's not perfectly smooth by a long shot. However, my nails sparkle and shine like ten little suns, so I'll be easily distracted from any inspection of imperfections by sparkling glitter.

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

Edit: One more thing... Today's the last day for the Konad giveaway. Jessica emailed me, and I tweeted it, but I totally forgot to post it. I'm sorry about that, but there's still time to get entries in!

OPI Met on the Internet & Text Me Text You

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

For today's pictures I have OPI Met on the Internet, a red shimmer, and Text Me Text You, a glitter top coat.  There was a third in this release, Log On to Love (I'm not sure why, put that polish name just makes me cringe), and I think they were a Valentine's Day release a few years ago, but they're still widely available.

Met on the Internet is a very pretty pinkish red shimmer, and it applied very nicely and needed just two coats to be opaque enough for me.  In today's pictures, my pinky nail's fake tip is way too big, so I'll just ask that you forgive it.  I made the tip from perfectly clear soak off builder gel, and it was really hard to see what I was doing, so I thought it was good until I applied Met on the Internet and saw that it was bigger than I wanted it to be.  I've since fixed it, but since reshaping also required adding and curing a new coat of sealer, it was just a more involved project than I cared to begin when I became aware of it.  This is Met on the Internet alone, with no top coat at all.

OPI Met on the Internet Nail Polish, Two Coats

Text Me Text You is a clear base with very fine holo glitter, and I added two coats of it and then one coat of top coat to complete the manicure.

OPI Text Me, Text You Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Met on the Internet

As with most holo glitters, a picture can't so it justice - this manicure was really fun to play with in the sun.  This mani also made me realize that despite the fact that I genuinely enjoy muddied and/or washed out cremes, since we've seen so many in the last few years, I'm beginning to grow quite weary of them.  That's just fine since there are about a billion sheer shimmer and glitter choices to layer over them, and Konad is limitless, so they'll still get used, just not alone quite so much.

That's just about all there is today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Color Club The Lime Starts Here & Konad m60

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This is the last picture I had saved up, and it's a manicure for several days this week, Color Club The Lime Starts Here with the plaid pattern from Konad plate m60 in white.

The Lime Starts Here is the neon green from th Wicked Sweet Collection, and this is your fair warning that the picture will make your retinas sting.  It needed several coats to be opaque, I either four or five, but that seems typical of good neon greens to me.  I'm sure that using white under it would reduce that.  The fragrance of it is very pleasant, more like a good margarita mix than straight lime - it's identifiable as lime and has a nice citrus scent to it, but it's not sharp or that overly artificial lime Jell-O smell.

Color Club The Lime Starts Here Nail Polish, 4-5 Coats

I gave The Lime Starts Here a bit of time to dry, then stamped it with Konad White Special Polish and the pattern from m60.

Color Club The Lime Starts Here with Konad m60

Although I really liked this one, the real reason I wore it for several days was that I ripped off my pinky nail, the whole free edge and lots of layers about halfway down the nail bed.  The good news is that the manicure didn't chip, and I decided that another chop just wasn't in me and I made a sculpted soak-off gel tip on it last evening.  This is the first time I had the luxury of sculpting a tip using my right hand, so it was about a thousand times easier than before.  I thought I had it as good as it would get, but the down side to clear builder gel is that it's really hard to see tiny detail.  I can just thin it out a little with a bit more shaping, but I'll have to reseal it once it's good, so the pictures I have for tomorrow will include my big fake tip pre-refinement.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

ZOYA CAITLIN & DOVE PROMO!!!

Limited time only

Get Zoya Dove and Zoya Caitlin FREE with ANY** purchase on Zoya.com! 

Special Promotional Offer*!

Try the Zoya "French Twist" manicure created by Haven Spa for the Joy Cioci presentation at NYFW! For a limited time with any** purchase (excluding Zoya Color Spoons) on Zoya.com you get Zoya Nail Polish in Caitlin and Zoya Nail Polish in Dove for free!! Just enter the code ZB52 when you check out! These trend setting spring colors are MUST have in any collection! This offer is only good until Monday May 23 (11:59PM EST)! Act now and try the "twist" everyone is talking about!

*Online only, cannot be combined with any other offer , promotion or coupon. US ONLY. Promotion ends Monday May 23 at 11:59 PM EST. Offer good for 1(one) open stock .5 oz bottle of Zoya Caitlin  and 1(one) .5oz bottle Zoya Dove with the purchase of any NON-SPOON item on Zoya.com. Art of Beauty Inc. will not honor promotions that are submitted after promotion has ended - No exceptions. No exchanges. No returns. Worst case scenario please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Comments, videos and pictures posted about this Zoya Nail Polish Exchange outside of Zoya.com or zoyanailpolish.blogger.com are not representative of the opinions of Zoya Nail Polish, Art of Beauty, Inc., Qtica and Qtica Smart Spa and we do not confirm the accuracy of any postings. Customers are responsible for maintaining active accounts. If username or password have been lost we (Art of Beauty, Inc.) are not responsible for restoring accounts or giving out any account information. S/H not included. 

**offer excludes Zoya Color Spoons. 

Nubar Baby Sprout & Konad m83

Good morning, Dear Reader!

My Konading streak continues today with Nubar Baby Sprout, the green one from Nubar's Spring Garden Collection.  It's a very delicate barely-green with just a hint of shimmer, just enough to keep it from looking like pastel chalk.  I think I used two coats here (I'm a couple days behind on showing you pictures).

Nubar Baby Sprout Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added the fern pattern from Konad plate m83 in Konad Green Special Polish to it.

Nubar Baby Sprout with Konad m83

Again, it's a little loud after stamping, but this one was fun to wear.  That's just about all there is to tell you today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

SpaRitual Reveal Yourself & Konad m83

Good morning, Dear Reader!

The Stay Chipper Through Festive Manicures Campaign continues with the one I have for you today, SpaRitual Reveal Yourself with two of the patterns from Konad plate m83 stamped on it.  Reveal Yourself is the pale pink from SpaRitual's Truth Collection, which took three coats here (not too bad for a shade this pale), and I stamped the hearts-on-stems pattern on it with Konad Psyche Pink, then decided to perch the vixen kitty pattern atop a heart in Konad Black Special Polish on an accent nail.

SpaRitual Reveal Yourself Nail Polish with Konad m83

It's hard to get too mopey when the kitty's winking at me...

That's just about all there is today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

The Real Dill

I know it's been awhile, and for that I apologize. Time slips away too quickly, and things never seem to get caught up on. However, I'm posting tonight, and I hope you dig it, because as the post title says, it's the 'Real Dill'. ;)

I grew up in a very small town, a town where farming, fishing, and hunting were mainstays of the local lifestyle. One of the crops grown in the area was cucumbers (or, as I've always called them... pickles!), and those cucumbers got made into dill pickles in the very same town. These pickles still remain my favorite pickles ever. I grew up on them, and even love to drink the pickle juice from the jar when the pickles are gone. (Gross I know, but SO delicious!!!!) Anyway, as an homage to the vinegar soaked bites of awesomeness, I did pickle nails! To achieve the pickle bumps, I used nail pearls from Born Pretty, then painted over them, and to get the mottled look of the pickle skin, I sponged several different greens.

I used butter LONDON Dosh as a base for all nails, and over top of the nail pearls on the bumpy nails. On the bumpy nails, I used Dare 2 Wear Rio De Janeiro, Icing True Beauty, and RBL No More War, and MAC Dry Martini to sponge over butter LONDON Dosh. For the pickle inside nails (thumb and ring) I used Dare 2 Wear Rio De Janeiro over the base color, then mixed with American Apparel California Trooper and some Icing True Beauty to make the highlights and shadows of the seeds. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Mmmmmm, pickles.

Nubar Blue Hydrangea & Konad m60

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have Nubar Blue Hydrangea to show you, one from their Spring Garden Collection.  It's a very light blue with just a hint of shimmer.  It went on well, and I think I used two coats (the pictures are from a couple of days ago so I don't remember with certainty).

Nubar Blue Hydrangea Nail Polish, Two Coats

I stamped it with the argyle pattern from Konad plate m60 using Konad Blue Special Polish.

Nubar Blue Hydrangea with Konad m60

I like it.  That's just about all there it today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul & Konad m74

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I wanted something happy and sunny, so I wore SpaRitual Enlightened Soul with the diagonal flower pattern from Konad plate m74 stamped on it in Konad white.  Enlightened Soul is a yellow creme I showed you a while back, and I used three coats for this manicure.  It turned out pretty well.

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul Nail Polish with Konad m74

I needed something sunny because looking for work is taking quite a toll, and I've finally hit the point of having to selling off some things I really don't want to get rid of, and that bums me out.  This will be the only mention of it here because I'm going to just auction off what I need to on Ebay, and since I don't want anyone to feel duped by later finding out they bought something from me, I changed my user name there to the_nailphile.  I often get emails from readers when my pictures are stolen and used there, usually with an uncomfortable "I don't know if this is your auction..." as an opener, and I have no plans to use blog pictures there for anything, but I wanted to let you know that's me.  Nothing's listed there yet because I didn't want someone to place a bid and be uncomfortable with it later, but I ask that if you have questions, comments, problems, concerns, etc., about anything there please feel free to contact me through their private message system, as I'm not willing to let that necessity to take over the comments here.  That's the last you'll hear about any of it on this blog.

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

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoats

Good morning, Dear Reader!

On the off chance you're not weary of crackle nail polish yet, I have two from the Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat release to show you today, Antiqued Gold and Distressed Denim.  These are the only two I have from Sally Hansen - the others seemed close enough to OPI or China Glaze ones to me.  The biggest thing the two of these have in common is a long, skinny, floppy brush that make them very difficult to apply thinly, which puts a huge damper on how much I like them.

I'll start with the one that was a letdown, Antiqued Gold.  The shade is pretty, a nice shimmery pale gold, but the polish is a little thick like the China Glaze Fault Line, the tricky purple shimmer, and the floppy brush in Antiqued Gold made it impossible for me to use the same technique to successfully apply it as I did the China Glaze.  The manicure here is Illamasqua Scarab with one thicker-than-I-wanted-it coat of Antiqued Gold, the thinnest I was able to apply, then top coat.

Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold Crackle Overcoat over Illamasqua Scarab

I like look of the polish, it's that there are so few cracks that I don't care for.  Applying it more thinly would fix that, but the long, skinny, floppy brush makes that a challenging feat.

Distressed Denim is much thinner, so I had a little more success with this one since I was able to apply a thinner coat.  It's a bright blue jelly, so I paired it with OPI Last Friday Night to let the glitter sparkle through.  It worked out well.

Sally Hansen Distressed Denim Crackle Overcoat over OPI Last Friday Night

I hadn't used Last Friday Night before, so I took a picture of it to show you before adding the crackle.  The color of it builds slowly, and on my hands I think it makes me look like I'm really, really cold.  This is three coats.

OPI Last Friday Night Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's what I know about Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoats.  Most likely, I'll return them because I really hate the brush a whole lot.  I considered decanting them into another bottle with a workable brush, which I've never done before, but partway through the process of picturing what it would take to do that I lost interest, which pretty much gave me my answer on whether that's something I want to do.
That's it for today, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!