New Schedule

Instead of killing myself, and my cuticles, to update this thing every single day, I'm going to update on a more leisurely basis of at least twice a week.

Odds are that it will be more, but I've got some changes to shake out here pretty soon, and I don't want to over-commit and derail my burgeoning click through readers.

It also means I get to wear some of my favorite looks for more than an hour.

Happy 2013!

Water You Waiting For?

I wanted to sneak in another of the gorgeous China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil polishes before the NYE sparkle.

I layered Water You Waiting For, a really great small glitter blue and green in a blue tinged base over Color Club Cold Metal, a gorgeous metallic blue, and loooooved the result.  I think WYWF could build up to opacity, but I don't really like the all glitter look, myself.  I would also wear CM by itself, and you'll get perfect coverage in two coats.

You can see the larger green glitter amongst the blue.

BAM!  Underwater goodness all kinds of up in yo' face.

It's got a great texture too, if you don't have to have everything shiny and high gloss.

Can't Get Enough Sandwiches

Here's a hot pink variation of the green sandwich I did earlier this month.  I am love-love-loving the way this transforms all my glitters.

Two coats of Zoya Roxy, one coat of Zoya Astra, and another of Zoya Roxy

So squishy!

It reminds me of a terrible Jell-O salad.  Maybe one filled with salt or small shards of foam.
Yummy!

La Isla Bonita

I'm recycling title stuff lately, though I can assure you that this is not South Park related.

Yes, that song has been stuck in my head for days and YES I ONLY KNOW THE CHORUS.
My life is hell.

Everyone is looking for that perfect red for themselves in a nail, a lip, a shirt?  Whatever.  It can't be too blue, and it certainly can't be too orange, and the reason there are four trillion reds is that there are four trillion lovely shades of people out there to compliment.

This makes my list of top five red nails, in case any of my fellow vampire skin folks out there are still looking.

Zoya Isla

I feel like these two pictures are out of an old Highlights magazine "Can You Spot The Differences?"

I almost couldn't, but there are one or two, and I'm just lazy enough to leave them both posted.

Zoya Isla is a fantastic blue red shimmer polish that absolutely glows.  You see how in the shade it's got some dark reflection to it?  Now that's vampy, my friends.  Two coats will have you out the door, and the formula stays where you place it (as can be evidenced by my brush strokes above that I didn't clean up).  I HAVE OTHER THINGS TO DO.

No I don't.  I'll do better next time, Internet. 

Stepping Away From The Jewel Tones

I'm about wore out on the deep sultry tones of winter.  I was rooting through my local Ross for Christmas presents for yours truly the other week and came upon an unnamed set of Color Club neons.  I've compared them to swatches of CC collections, and I just can't pinpoint it.  So though it drives the OCD monster inside of me crazy, the swatches remain unnamed.

I have loved using my thin nail art brush more, and I thought about creating a tie-dye look, a la the rubber band method we did in high school one time.  To disastrous results.

I am happy to report that not only were THESE results not disastrous, I quite like them.  You can see the progression as I couldn't leave well enough alone, and added a layer of Essie Carnival on top for some glitter.  I'm sorry, but there is nothing glitter can't make better.

I started with a base of Barielle Enduring, a creamy snow white.  I then laid down a thousand brush strokes each of the unnamed Color Club Hot Pink, Electric Blue, and Neon Yellow.  You can see where the blue wasn't quite dry yet, as the yellow turned green.

And now for the reason anyone cares - the pictures!

Like a beautiful radioactive sky.  Get your gas masks, the colors are lovely tonight.

Another angle!

This is the opposite hand with glitter!  Which kind of dulled the colors, sadly enough.  Weird.

Not weird enough to make me un-love you.  You're my precious.

A teeny bit time consuming, I consider this method completely worth the results.  I got to the point where I wasn't even cleaning the brush because, hell, it was just going back and forth anyway.  I liked the stripe variations, and yes, even the globs.

A Pretty Mild Disco

Purple and green is probably my favorite color combination.  I like playing with light purple/dark green, dark purple/light green, frosts, glitters, you name it.  They were also the colors we used for the wedding many, but not so many years ago (awwwwwwwwwwwwww!) and I love them still.

The polish was one of the gifts Ulta was handing out during the holiday Buy 2 Get 1, OPI Gift Cards For Everyone!  It's a dark purple with blue shimmer that's, apparently, pretty hard to photograph.  It's lovely and thick in one coat, but I'm not careful so I did two.  I have a whole box of hex glitter to use, and I thought I'd whip a new tub out for today's manicure in the peridot green color.

I used a toothpick dipped in topcoat to place the hexes in a kind of alternating row pattern, shellacked two coats of quick dry on top, and called it a day.

OPI Gift Cards For Everyone & Lime Green Hex Glitter

It may look like I missed one on my ring finger but I assure you - I did not.

Oh disco green, why must you torture me with only looking good in tiny doses!

Merry Christmas!

My final manicure for the Christmas season - it's kind of bittersweet, actually.  Not only because Christmas is so well encapsulated by so many awesome colors, but there are tons of cool stamps, great designs, and so much talent out there.

Until next year, Christmas.

Color Club Wild At Heart with a Bundle Monster Stamp in Barielle Enduring

Can you see some of the awesome holo in WAH?  It's all over the place.

I'll have to get the plate number, but the snowflakes are the best.