Tag: Fingernails

 
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Can’t Hardly Wait

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I placed a Jamberry order for my party (couldn’t wait), but I haven’t gotten it yet. Kimberly sent me some samples to hand out (hit me up if you’re local) and I couldn’t resist snagging one to try out – “Cheetah Illusions” on my ring finger. Doesn’t it look like a 3D image without 3D glasses on? The red and the blue shift?

I decided to pair it with two of my new polishes – Sinful Colors “Flower Power” and “Petal be the Day”. I thought they would match a little better, but whatever. I LOVE “Flower Power” – the light pink base gives good coverage to my stained nails. I wasn’t thrilled with the lack of coverage with “Petal Be the Day”. As Luci said, I need to start a pile of “top coat only” polishes. Of course, Sinful Colors Base Coat and “HK Girl” for the top coat. I swear, “HK Girl” shrank again – look at my middle finger!

My Party is still going – click here to join.

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Rosa Naked

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So I totally forgot that Julep “Rosa” – Amethyst for February has a clear base. I thought it was darker, but I had forgotten that I had used another color underneath it. Hmmm…it decided to shrink away from the tips. Now it looks like I don’t know how to paint my nails. I even used Orly Bonder to make sure it stuck.

What the fuck?

 

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The Owls are Not What They Seem

Since yesterday was “Twin Peaks Day” – February 24, 1989 was the day that Special Agent Dale Cooper arrived in Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of Laura Palmer – I decided to use Hare Polish “The Owls are Not What They Seem”.

It kinda reminds me of an owl, but more than anything, it looks like my granite countertops. The countertops are not what they seem. There should be a green version of this polish called “Green Formica Table”?

I used Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat and “HK Girl” for the top coat. The “HK Girl” shrank! Ugh. On the bright side, it’s a fairly uniform shrunken edge.

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Embers Only

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Can my son pick a nail polish, or what?

He really just wanted to go to the grocery store to get free samples, but I stopped at Walgreen’s first. I forced him to hold the basket as I filled it with nail polish. As I was checking out the “Bloomblast” display, he handed me Sinful Colors “Embers Only”. Where in the world did he find it? It wasn’t on the new displays, but I’d never noticed it in the regular display. It’s a reddish/pinkish/red jelly with shimmer, micro-glitter and iridescent hex. Why in the world did my husband say this polish is plain? It’s shiny on it’s own, but I used “HK Girl” to give it a glasslike finish.

I need to lay off the Sinful Colors Base Coat – I woke up with a few severe edge chips this morning. I’m thinking I need something stickier?

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Sexist Nail Polish

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Why can’t this polish be called “Be a Millionaire”? Nope, it’s China Glaze “Marry a Millionaire”, from this month’s ipsy bag.

At least half the nail polish on the planet have ridiculous names that have no relationship to the actual color. But it’s the sexist ones that irritate me for some reason. No, not the sexist ones…it’s the golddiggery ones. (Both China Glaze AND Essie have a polish called “Trophy Wife”, if that tells you anything.)

End rant…besides the stupid name, “Marry a Millionaire” is amazing. It’s got fine purple and silver glitter, with green bar glitter – it’s a different color, depending on the angle of light. I got full coverage in just 2 coats, even though it has a clear base.

Even with Sinful Colors Base Coat and “HK Girl” for the top coat, it chipped horribly quickly. I think it was my fault though – the bar glitter hung off the edges, and I get rubbing it and picking at it to make it smooth. I had to take it off already. On the bright side, it actually came off really easily – no chainsaw needed.

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Stunning

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Zoya “Binx” is one of the most stunning in Zoya’s lineup. Zoya describes “Binx” as a spicy orchid purple dappled with gold metallic and holo sparkles. It gives off a foil effect, but without the glare.

I started with Zoya Anchor. “Binx” is almost completely opaque in 2 coats. I topped with Zoya Armor. Armor dried slower than I would like, but it was faster than over a creme polish like “Lara”. OH! And did I mention that my “Lara” manicure was featured on Zoya’s website this week? I squealed when I found out!

What kind of name is “Binx” anyway? I googled and I came up with 2 options. Most of the results referred to a model named Binx Walton, currently in the news for bullying Kendall Jenner (Wahhhhh.) The rest were either about Binx, the talking cat from the movie Hocus Pocus or random shit. I really hope this polish is named after a talking cat and NOT a bitchy model.

 

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Work of Tart

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I hate the sun. Like a lot. But I had to brave a shaft of the bright winter sun – from the safety of the garage – to show off the sparkle of Sally Hansen Sugar Shimmer “Work of Tart”.

It’s a mermaidy blue/green, with a subtle gold shimmer. After Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, I used two thin coats – it has a great texture – like a sugar cube. Although it is almost opaque, I can still see a hint of nail line. It shrank a tiny bit around the tips of my nails, but not too bad.

By the way, there’s nothing like eating lunch with old friends that you haven’t seen in a year or so and the first thing they say is, “Let’s see your nails.” My reputation precedes me…

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The Titular Polish

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Okay, I guess technically Zoya “Lara” isn’t named after me, but it might as well be – it’s the perfect pink.

I have a love/hate relationship with creme polishes. They look really good – if I can manage to keep them out of the crevices between my fingernail and finger skin – which I absolutely have not figured out how to do. The polish pools in the crevices and forms gross, crispy edges. I’ve definitely gotten better at it than I was a year ago, but I still struggle with the crevices. I cannot stand how some of the big time polish swatcher bloggers meticulously refuse to paint their entire nail – that’s cheating! A few millimeters of naked nail looks worse to me than a bad paint job. I don’t ever want to see naked nail!

 Off my soapbox…I used Zoya Anchor and Armor – it’s not a Quick Dry, so I had to lay in bed, absolutely still, for an extra hour watching TV – oh, the horror!

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Ch Ch Ch, Ah Ah Ah

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I was gonna do another Valentine’s Mani, but then I was like naw – it’s Friday the 13th!

After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. I used my nifty chinese dotting tools to make little hockey masks. The black is Zoya “Willa” and the red is Sinful Colors “No Text Red”. I should have used a different red, like Zoya “Sooki”, because the Sinful Colors was too thin. I topped it with Glisten & Glow “HK Girl”. They turned out a heck of a lot better than my Freddy Krueger Nails!

How about those dia de los Muertes Converse? They’re my favorite shoes right now…

On a side note, when I finished my nails last night, I grabbed my socks to show my husband while he was brushing his teeth…he nearly choked to death – because he laughed at me. Apparently, matching fingernails and socks was too much for him to handle.

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So Cute I Could Puke

My nails are so cute…they make me wanna puke. Look at those hearts – gross!

After Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, I used two different polishes – Julep “Lindy” on my thumb and ring finger and Julep “Carol”. I thought you would be able to tell the difference between “Lindy” and “Carol” – “Lindy” has shimmery flakies and “Carol” is a sheer jelly – but they look almost exactly the same when topped with Julep “Hartleigh”.

Julep got it right with “Hartleigh”. I had no problem getting the hearts on my nails – the bottle was packed! I got eat least two hearts on each nail and three on a few of them. It also wasn’t all goopy like “America”.

I topped with “HK Girl” to give those hearts extra security. Those suckers aren’t coming off unless I use sandpaper.

At least this Valentine’s Day is preceded by a Friday the 13th…I have that to look forward to.