Category: Nails
How’s Annie? How’s Annie? How’s Annie?
In honor of the recently announced return of Twin Peaks in 2016, I created a manicure inspired by the very last words in the very last episode – “How’s Annie?”
I started with the Sinful Colors Basecoat. In order to create the look of bloody glass, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors “No Text Red” and then did a gradient with Julep “Kirby”. I smoothed the jagged glitter with NYC “Grand Central Station”.
“No Text Red” is very nearly a dupe for Zoya “Sooki”. The color match is exact and the formula is very similar. Yay!
My BFF has been vacationing in the Pacific Northwest this week and got to visit The Salish Lodge & Spa – AKA The Great Northern. So, so jealous! I definitely wanna go to Washington and check it out.
October Ipsy Bag – Beauty Candy
My ipsy bag is here…later than ever.
This is the first bag that I’ve gotten that I’m totally BLAH about the contents. There were a lot of great products this month – Figs & Rouge, Smashbox – I just didn’t get any of them.
October’s theme is “Beauty Candy” and I received Ayres Patagonia Body Butter (Rosemary to match the shower gel in my Birchbox?); Épicé International Purifying Exfoliant; ModelCo VOLUMEYES Extreme Eyes Mascara (2 ModelCo Mascaras in one month?); Nicole by OPI Nail Polish in “On a Gilt Trip” (I finally received a polish in my bag!); and noyah lipstick in “Deeply Mauve” (this actually looks like a cool color).
I find it interesting that my ipsy bag very nearly duplicates some of the the scents and products in my Birchbox. Food for thought…
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
FABulous DRAGon
I was not too in love with my Gumby nails. Since I didn’t get to put a shiny top coat on, it was bugging the crap out of me.
Glitter fixes everything, right?
I tried a single coat of essie Luxeffects “A Cut Above” to jazz it up. The glitter looks like badass reptilian scales. Now I look like a FABulous DRAGon – like a real life version of a Drag Queen Dragon! Or that sexy lady dragon on Shrek?
Lunchtime Haul
Sooooo…since I picked up the wrong Sinful Colors top coat, I figured I would look for a better one…but guess what? Sinful Colors doesn’t make a polish top coat that’s quick dry. Well damn. That’s okay – Sinful Colors are still on sale…and the Kempwood location already has a Xmas display out!
I picked up “Twilight Twinkles”, jagged gold flakie glitter; “Gilded”, gold and red microglitter (possibly a dupe for Julep “Love”?); “Calypso”, a dark teal creme; and “No Text Red”, a bright red creme (like I need another one!) promoting their “No texting & driving” campaign. (I’m supposed to paint my thumbnail red to remind me to not text and drive. Weird.)
I also bopped over to Bath & Body Works to use some coupons. I used a coupon for a free travel size – but I got the wrong thing! I’m trading out my travel size toiletries from “Carried Away” to “Mad About You”, but I couldn’t remember the last thing I needed. I needed a shower gel, but now I have 2 lotions. Damnit. I also had a coupon for $5 Body Cream, instead of the normal $12.50. At least I got the right scent – “White Citrus”.
I somehow managed to resist the 7/$24 Hand Soap Sale….even though I also had a 20% coupon…maybe next time.
Gumby?
At first I thought of green Play-Doh, but then I was like…no – Gumby!
Lily also wanted her nails done and she demanded that we match. I tried to talk her into Sinful Colors “Vintage”, but refused. She chose Funky Fingers “Oogie Boogie”, Sinful Colors “Pine Away” & “Mystery Moonshine” and China Glaze “Four Leaf Clover”. I couldn’t handle all of those together…but I picked something close.
I tried out the Sinful Colors Basecoat – it was fine. It went on smoothly and dried quickly, no complaints. I put on 2 coats of “Four Leaf Clover” and then topped with Sinful Colors “Green Ocean”.
I tried out the Sinful Colors Quick Dry…and I totally misunderstood the product I was buying. I thought it was a quick dry top coat, but it is a quick dry oil – like Julep Ta-Da! Well fuck. I already have 2 bottles of Ta-Da! and I don’t really use them. The combination REALLY needed a shiny topcoat – the flakies in “Green Ocean” sank into the polish and made the finish all cloudy. Since I had already started with the Quick Dry, I couldn’t put another top coat over it. Live and learn…
The Walking Dead
So The Walking Dead is back tonight, so I made blood-spattered Zombie Apocalypse nails for the occasion. I’m not all crazy about the show, but I do watch it fairly religiously. I’m not going to riot if they kill Daryl or anything. I will, however, riot if they cancel Talking Dead.
I used RUFFIAN “Naked” (from last month’s Birchbox) for the flesh tone. It’s the most perfect nude polish ever. It is a bit streaky in one coat, but two coats are perfect, with no visible nail line. I used Maybelline Street Art “Wild at Heart” for the blood and gore splatters. I tried a kind of splattered gradient effect by applying a second coat of “Wild at Heart” to the right side of each nail. I went back to using the Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coat, because they are WAY better over non sparkly glitters and polishes than the NYC.
It reminds me more of the comic book than the show…
This is Halloween
It doesn’t get any Halloween-ier than this!
Sinful Colors “Mystery Moonshine” is one of those polishes that you only set to wear once a year – or maybe twice – it has a kind of Mardi Gras thing going. It’s a metallic green, purple and orange jagged glitter in a clear base. I carefully chose my solid colors to match up with their respective glitter colors – Sinful Colors “Pine Away” for the green, Sinful Colors “Amethyst” for the purple and Julep “Zoe” for the orange. (I felt naughty mixing brands, but “Zoe” was just too perfect.)
Each of these polishes looked great after a single coat over Orly Bonder. I’m weary of Sinful Colors “Pine Away” now – it stains like a sonofabitch. I had to dab the “Mystery Moonshine” a bit, but it didn’t take a lot of work to get a good glitter spread. I topped it off with NYC “Grand Central Station”. I really need to get another good top coat.
Confession…I’ve never seen The Nightmare Before Christmas. I know, I know…
Flash! Ah Ahhhhh…
So I was going for a Flash Gordon, lightning type thing…it didn’t exactly turn out how I imagined.
After Orly Bonder, I did one coat of Sinful Colors “Yellow Spotted”. To get a glowy effect, I then did one coat of Julep “Casper”. In retrospect, I should have done 2 coats of the “Yellow Spotted”, because “Casper” totally obliterated the yellow and made it look like a muted gold. Oh well. I then did one coat of Sally Hansen “Star Burst” Crackle Overcoat. Crackle polishes are very unpredictable. You may get a beautiful crackle, like on my thumb nail – or you could get very little crackling, like on my ring finger. “Star Burst” was very thin and grayish, but a coat of NYC “Grand Central Station” made it dark and glossy.
I tried to get a pic of the glowing, but “Casper” doesn’t glow as brightly as Funky Fingers, but maybe that’s just because I only did one coat.
Did you know that one of my nicknames in High School was “Flash”? (My BFF started it – and yes, we’ve been BFFs THAT long.) I’ll divulge no further details, other than it wasn’t for my running speed.
Hemi Harlow
I found it…after trying maybe a zillion polishes…the perfect polish to match my car!
This is Zoya Matte Velvet “Harlow” – not to be confused with Julep “Harlow”. Zoya “Harlow” originally came out in Winter 2009 (along with “Veruschka” and “Savita”), but they’ve re-released them all! Zoya describes “Harlow” as a rich, saturated rose plum packed with sparkling metallic shimmer in a velvety MATTEVELVET finish. Fancy!
I didn’t read the site first – like the Pixie Dusts, you aren’t supposed to use a base coat or a top coat with the Matte Velvets. Oops. I used Orly Bonder first. It seemed to work okay – no bubbles and it dried really quickly. The site also warned that it’s not as long wearing as regular polish…Oh snap!
I can claim that this is a Halloween themed manicure, since my fingers are dressed up like my car, right? The only thing missing is the racing stripes (sorry, Dave).
I Swear…I Only Went in for a Haircut
Really! I hadn’t gotten my hair cut since February, so I figured it was time…OK, I kind of knew that I would probably buy some stuff if I actual went to the salon in Ulta to get my hair cut. Shhhh,,,
Ulta was running a special on Zoya polish – buy 2, get a free gift – “A Matte Story”, which came with Zoya Matte Velvet Top Coat (I’ve been needing one!) and Whore Red Matte Velvet Lipstick. the two polishes that I got were Zoya Matte Velvet “Harlow” and Zoya “Remy”.
I went to the fragrance section to sample “Stella” by Stella McCartney. There was a placard for it, but no bottles. A clerk offered to go check the back and came back with a single bottle – saying they had discontinued carrying it. I made a split second decision to go for it and buy it…not realizing that it was the $72 50 ML size. Uhhhhhh…I got it anyway and in my excitement, I totally forgot to use my $3.50 off coupon. The blow was softened, however, by a VISA gift card I had gotten as a “thank you” from my AVP last week.
I was so excited, that I opened “Stella” in my car and started spraying. I LOVE the way it smells on me, but I was a bit disappointed in the scent’s staying power. It’s just a few hours later and I can barely smell it on me. I had read online that the new 2014 version has less staying power, so I guess I need to be on the lookout for one of the old bottles. Trader’s Village, maybe – or one of those Indian perfume places?