Tag: Glisten & Glow
The Life of a Showgirl
A few years back, my kids turned me into a Swiftie. I took them to The Eras Tour. I handled their cringe when I declared that my favorite songs were ‘You Need to Calm Down,’ followed by ‘Anti-Hero.’ I made fucking personalized friendship bracelets for every person in my group at work (with the help of my fellow Swifties in the Culture Club, of course). Now they don’t even care about Taylor anymore…my son has moved on to country music and my daughter has moved on to KPOP. Yet here I am, enjoying ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ by myself.
I truly do have a nail polish for every occasion. I created this look starting with Cuticula Mic Drop Base Coat in “Tropical Oasis” and two coats each of Sinful Colors “Turnt-Quoise” and “Cloud 9”. I applied a glitter gradient using my favorite glitter – Nicole by OPI “Pick of the Glitter” (which is super thick and chunky – girl needs some thinner). I finished off with a coat of Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber and Cuticula Limitless Top Coat in “Froot Loop“.
One of my favorite songs from the album is ‘Opalite’ – and I just happened to have an opalite egg handy. It was my mother’s – she was obsessed with eggs in her artwork – and I’d like to think that she would’ve been a Swiftie, too.
…and I don’t care what anyone says – this album slaps. Tay Tay can sing about her man’s dick for a full album and I’m here for it.
The Owls are STILL Not What They Seem
An 11 year old nail polish and it’s still good!
That’s right, I got Hare Polish “The Owls are Not What They Seem” back in 2014. I actually wanted to use “Wrapped in Plastic” for my trip to Twin Peaks (um, I mean North Bend, WA), but it was super thick and dried out. I think I can revive it with nail polish thinner, but that is a project for another day.
You can see how it looked 10 years ago here – virtually the same!
This is two coats of “The Owls are Not What They Seem” over Cuticula Mic Drop Base Coat in “Tropical Oasis” and under Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber and Cuticula Limitless Top Coat in “Froot Loop“.
Neon Lights
I know I say I hate yellow nail polish, but there is something about Cadillacquer “Neon Lights” that spoke to me…it’s from June’s “Vacation Destinations” Polish Pickup and is inspired by NYC’s Times Square. (I’ve only seen Times Square from the inside of a cab, while traveling across Manhattan and I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people.)
I did feel like a straight up clown while wearing this polish…but I was a goddamn sexy Pink Lemonade clown.
This is two coats of “Neon Lights” over Cuticula Mic Drop Base Coat in “Tropical Oasis” and under a coat each of Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber and Cuticula Limitless Top Coat in “Froot Loop“.
Easter Egg Nails
I was feeling festive and got out one of my trusty old dotting tools to make Easter Egg Nails for today’s…ham? That’s really the only Easter-adjacent things going on in the house right now. The real holiday is TOMORROW, when I can go get jelly beans for my husband at pennies on the dollar.
If you asked me directly, I’d tell you that I picked up the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri x PEEPS on sale last year…but looking back at my posts, it was 2022! Time flies when the world is ending…in any case, I’ve already used “PEEPS Blue” and “PEEPS Fruit Punch”, so I used “PEEPS Pink”, “PEEPS Yellow” and “PEEPS White” for this manicure. Nothing too exciting to report – they are plain crème polishes, a bit streaky in one coat, but nice and self-levelling in two coats.
I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, then two coats of each PEEPS nail polish. I dotted with my dotting tool, and then finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
Year of the Snake
So…I already mentioned that my reading comprehension is shall we say – lacking? Allow me to explain…
I was so excited to try the Le Mini Macaron Lunar New Year Nail Polish + Sticker Collection – Year of the Snake. I opened that sucker up and started in with the red one (after a base coat, of course). My first thought was that this stuff sure is goopy. Thick and goopy. I soldiered on. After two thin coats, I started adding stickers to each nail. The stickers slid around a bit, but I’ve seen that before. Surely a coat of Glitter Grabber would help…it did not. Now the red polish has turned to jelly. I make a last ditch effort with my top coat…and the polish totally liquefies. I have red jelly glitter shit dripping from my nails and I have to pick my daughter up from work in 10 minutes. I quickly remove the polish so I can touch my steering wheel. While I’m waiting for her to get done closing down, I start googling…I have made a grave mistake. This gel polish requires a UV light to cure. I do not own a UV light, nor am I interested in getting one. I just spent $40 on stickers.
Ultimately, I redid the manicure using Atomic Polish “Redrum” starting with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, two coats of “Redrum”, my $40 stickers, Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber, and Glisten & Glow Top Coat. About half of these fucking stickers decided to lift off, but the other half stayed nice and flat. What’s the secret? Someone MUST know!!!
There is a happy ending though – my son’s girlfriend does have a UV light, so I gave the polishes to her. I kept the stickers.
P.S. I’m saving some of the extra snake stickers for Reputation (Taylor’s Version).
Xmas Nail Fail
It’s been a while since I had a good ‘nail fail’. My ego wants to say it’s because I’ve achieved mad skillz in the nail game…but we know what it really is. Since I’ve gotten into Polish Pickup, I’ve simply been enjoying swatching my nails with exciting polishes, as opposed to experimenting with drugstore polishes. It’s fine, it’s whatever – I cannot be a nail polish thrill seeker forever?
In any case, right before Xmas, I decided to pull out the nail decals…and these 6+ year old Julep Gold Rose Nail Decals seemed like a good idea…at the time. I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Top Coat, then two coats of Revlon “Valentine”. I only placed decals on my index and ring fingers, then topped with Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber and Glisten & Glow Top Coat. All seemed fine…until we lost the TV remote.
Now…I don’t know if this sucker popped off by itself, or if it was lost as I was digging in the sofa (a few hours after applying – nails were DRY). I chalked it up to the decals being old, so they went in the trash…but then I did a little research. These fucking nail decals lifted off back then, too! I even mentioned that they reminded me of a wax seal, which is exactly what I took a picture of…
25 Fly
Even though this polish is inspired by Veruca Salt’s album American Thighs, it’s giving Pink Pony Club, right? RIGHT?
I picked up Crystal Knockout “25 Fly” from July’s Rewind, but it was originally from October 2023 – 90’s Grunge. It’s a combination of two of the songs – “25” and “Fly”. My boyfriend in college used to play that album, but I’ll be damned if I remember any song except “Seether”. Maybe I’ll put it on next time I’m in the car?
This is two coats of “25 Fly” over Cuticula Mic Drop Base Coat in “Melt Down” and under Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber, then Cuticula Limitless Top Coat in “Champagne Toast“. The heart glitters were definitely a bit lifty, so you’ve gotta use something to keep them flat.
I didn’t realize this this was a thermal polish until after I’d already posted pics…Oopsie! It was BARELY thermal, but I do recall side-eyeing my nails while wearing it.
Blueberry Smash
Sinful Colors “Blueberry Smash” looks like the shmutz at the bottom of a store-brand fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. The color is weird and there are suspicious spots in it…
“Blueberry Smash” is from the Winnie Harlow Fruity Blends Collection, one of the last new Sinful Collections released. I have seen a few random Sinful Colors displays at HEB, but they’re always re-promotes. I suppose I should be happy that Sally Hansen is still going strong…
This is two coats of “Blueberry Smash” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. No top coat, due to the matte finish in the polish.
Bling Pop
THIS polish made buying the whole set worth it. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with The Berry Best or Grape Expectations…but Sally Hansen Insta Dri x Ring Pop “Bling Pop” is a nearly perfect polish. It’s a high coverage hot pink sheer shimmer, with a brilliant flash of blue fire. It lasted for nearly a full week and looked brilliant and shiny until I removed it.
This is two coats of “Bling Pop” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
Now I just have to try the plain yellow polish that came with the set…ugh, maybe in 2026.
Golden Pineapple
I like pineapples…but not like THAT.
Swingers have totally ruined pineapples for me. Walking through an airport with my son a few weeks ago, I commented that one of the geriatric flight attendants was a crusty old swinger because she was wearing an upside-down pineapple necklace. Just a few moments later, we were dying laughing because the couple in front of us heard me, and were like, “SEE! I told you so!” [Note: The man in the couple had a pineapple tattoo on his leg as well, and I might have pondered whether they found each other on the flight…oops.]
In any case, I just want to eat my Dole Whip in peace, and not worry about whether or not my flight attendant likes spouse swapping. I just need to mind my own business.
Anyway, this is Nailtopia “Golden Pineapple” from the SpongeBob Squarepants 25th Anniversary Collection. I love this polish for traveling, because it hides chips like a CHAMP.
I painted two coats of “Golden Pineapple” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.