Tag: Fingernails
Lady Deathstrike
I’ve decided that these fingernails make me Lady Deathstrike. Oh, you didn’t know that in addition to being an amateur manicurist, soap hoarder and makeup junkie…that I’m also a nerd? And a giant dork.
Julep “Braiden” is one of the new polishes that I received in July’s box – The Poolside Collection. Julep describes it as graphite stardust (textured matte glitter), but I guess adamantium is probably trademarked or something.
No base coat or top coat – just 2 coats of “Braiden”. It dried within seconds and only has minimal edge wear after 24 hours. Great formula!
Between Julep’s Stardust and Zoya’s Pixie Dust, I’m starting to really like these textured polishes.
The Perfect Nude
Say hello to RUFFIAN “Sahara” from the Endless Summer Collection….the perfect nude.
Well, the perfect nude for ME anyway. It’s almost a perfect match for my skin. It’s almost freaky looking – like I don’t have any fingernails at all. It’s like that nude patent pump trend from last year – to me, it looked like the illusion of no feet. Now I have no fingernails!
After starting with Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, I did just one coat of “Sahara”. It was a bit streakier than “Blue Lagoon”, but since I cut my nails, I didn’t have to worry about peeling ridges. I topped with Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat. These Revlons are quickly becoming my favorites!
The Dude Abides…and Glitters…
This fingernail polish really pulls the room together…
Behold Funky Fingers “Gnarly, Dude”. It’s a solar polish that is supposed to change color in sunlight.
Indoors, “Gnarly, Dude” is a pink jelly with a veritable Hobby Lobby Bukkake of glitter. (I just want Hobby Lobby to be forever linked with “bukkake”, kinda like what happened with “Santorum”. Please don’t Google “bukkake”, Grandma.) There’s silver glitter, pink glitter, holographic hex glitter, black hex glitter – every kind of glitter, just globbed on my fingernails.
I suspected it was a specious claim, but “Gnarly, Dude” proved me wrong – it did EXACTLY what it was supposed to! Sunlight turned the pink jelly dark purple – almost black. In fact, this picture was taken after cloudy sun. I went outside at high noon full sun and my nails were very nearly black.
I used Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat in case of staining. I covered with a thick coat of Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, but it still didn’t smooth the curling edges of the hex glitter. If you like smooth nails, this is not the polish for you.
This is a great summer polish, but the hex glitters do peel off easily, leaving blank spots. Luckily, it mends easily with a little dab from the brush.
Black Dahlia
I’ve been wanting to try Zoya Pixie Dust for FOREVER…so finally…this is Zoya Pixie Dust “Dahlia”.
No base coat, no top coat, just 2 coats of “Dahlia”. Isn’t it divine?
Oh, and I finally cut my nails. They were starting to break, so I just expedited the process. Imagine how much sexier this polish would be on longer nails…
I am getting obsessed with Pixie Dust…I just bought three more! It’s the last day of Zoya’s Fourth of July Promotion – 3 free polishes for $12 shipping. Click NOW before it’s too late!
America, Fuck YEAH
Don’t these patriotic nails just say, “America, Fuck YEAH!”???
I’ve been waiting at least 6 months for the 4th of July. Julep “America” isn’t just an everyday polish…
I started with Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat. Rimmel “Blue Eyed Girl” for my blue, Julep “Bunny” for my white and Zoya “Sooki” for my red. I used just a single coat of each. I topped each nail with Julep “America” and then finished with Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat. The Revlon dried fairly quickly and didn’t bubble or crack…good news!
My BFF also did “America, Fuck YEAH!” nails.
Her blue was Sinful Colors “Ciao Bella”, her white was Julep “Bunny” and her red was Sinful Colors “Gogo Girl”. She also topped with Julep “America” – I got a dupe in my Cupid Mystery Box and gave it to her.
We’re twinkies!
Modern Mermaid in the Blue Lagoon
I went full mermaid this morning.
Captain Blankenship “Mermaid Mane” Sea Salt Spray in my hair – in a loose, wavy bun. After showering with Bath & Body Works “White Citrus”, I tried Atelier Cologne “Cédrat Enivrant” Cologne Absolue. I played a tense game of “eyeliner chicken” with my Vasanti Kajal Extreme Intense Eye Pencil in “Electric Navy” – luckily I won. (“Eyeliner Chicken” is when you keep putting on more eyeliner, trying to get it even. You know you’ve lost when you look like a raccoon.) The most important part was my mermaid manicure…
This is RUFFIAN “Blue Lagoon”. As beautiful as it is, it is a very unforgiving polish. I got full coverage in one coat, but it shows every imperfection. I have a few peeled tips on my right hand and they show. I also gave Sally Hansen “Diamond Shine” another try as a top coat…it didn’t dry fast enough and I got a few bubbles. Next time, I’ll use a faster drying top coat to try to avoid the bubbles. “Diamond Shine” can kiss my ass.
Oil Slick Tar Ball
This weekend was our 5th annual Cuzzins Camp, where our family and friends get the kids together at LaLa’s in East Texas to enjoy a weekend of farm living and each other. This year, I couldn’t resist bringing nail polish for a night time activity for the girls. NOTE TO SELF: Bring more polish next time. Lily was insulted that I only brought 6 polishes to choose from!
Unlike Lily – who always wants to paint herself and make a mess, CK asked me to paint her fingers and toes. I was honored! She chose Julep “Jeanne”, “Estelle” and “Oscar” for her fingers. She chose “Caitlin” and “Tatiana” for her toes (not pictured). Lily slopped “Caitlin”, “Yumi” and “Tatiana” all over her feet, and had started on her fingers when I made her stop. She was paying a little too much attention to The Lego Movie and I did not want polish all over the kitchen. I put Sally Hansen “Diamond Shine” on her toes and sent her packing…
For myself, I chose Julep “Estelle”, originally from the Galaxy Mystery Box, but I got it in Golden Ticket Mystery Box #2. Julep’s site describes it as midnight black with holographic shimmer, but doesn’t mentioned that it is a lightly textured polish. It isn’t quite as rough as their stardust finish, but I wasn’t expecting it. As first, I freaked out that there was some weird chemical reaction between the Sally Hansen “Diamond Shine” and “Estelle” – it took over 30 minutes to fully dry! A quick Google confirmed that the polish is supposed to be textured – phew! even so, I am not thinking that “Diamond Shine” is nearly as good as “Diamond Flash”. I’ll have to try it with a few more polishes to be sure…
When my nails were wet, I thought they looked like an oil slick, but as they dried – they totally reminded me of tar balls. We are definitely used to seeing tar balls in Galveston! I don’t hate this polish, but it’s definitely not summery.
Speckled
Julep “Kimberly” is from the April 2014 “Speckled for Spring” Mystery Box. I didn’t get this mystery box, but I did pick up “Kimberly” for $2 – couldn’t resist.
“Kimberly” is lavender with black specks. It’s not quite a creme and not quite a jelly, so it’s what the Internet Nail Polish Mafia calls a “crelly”. (Yes, I’ve been googling and educating myself.) The impression one is immediately left with is speckled Easter candy. As soon as I showed my husband, he said, “It looks like Easter candy.” The problem is that it’s June. This one probably won’t come out again until next Spring. I’m sad that I didn’t also order “Emerson” – the same thing in baby blue.
My Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat is almost empty, but I probably have a few more uses left. I used Sally Hansen “Diamond Flash”, so “Kimberly” looks super-shiny. I got a little too much “Kimberly” around the sides of my fingernails and it crinkled under the top coat. The top coat dried before the polish and I had to press it down. Total amateur move.
National Pink Day
So yesterday was another one of those made up holidays – National Pink Day. So why not pink nails?
Don’t my nails look like tufts of cotton candy? Say “hello” to Sinful Colors “Pinky Glitter”. It’s sheer, but with 2 coats, I got nearly full coverage. By itself, the polish was slightly more matte. I used Sally Hansen “Diamond Flash” to shine it up.
I’m slightly embarrassed about the orange tint on the bottom half of my nails. Before I realized that I was tearing up my nails by not using base coat, I managed to stain my nails pretty good. (The worst offender was Zoya “Bobbi”!) I’m starting to freak out because my Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat is almost empty. I don’t know if I want to buy another bottle – it’s good stuff, but pricey. Help! What base coats do you people use???
Cinderella, Cinderella
If you can’t decide, why decide? That’s why I like going to Chinese buffets – you can have a little bit of everything.
After Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat, I started with one coat of Sinful Colors “Cinderella”, a baby blue shimmer with pink/orange undertones – it’s one of their more popular colors. It’s fine by itself, but I wanted to try out a bunch of green and blue glitters that I had recently bought.
On my thumb, I used one coat of Sinful Colors “Green Ocean”, a limited edition St. Patrick’s Day polish. It’s a sheer jelly, with iridescent flakies. It gave only a slightly green cast to “Cinderella”. I need to try it over a black or a dark blue. It was the only one that felt a bit bumpy after my top coat (NYC In a New York Color Minute Quick Dry in “Grand Central Station”). This was also the first time my topcoat cracked! Only on one thumb though, thank GAWD.
My Index Finger got Sinful Colors “Green with Ivy”, which isn’t green at all, maybe teal-ish? It’s another sheer jelly, but with holographic glitter bars. It’s from the Summer 2014 “Destination Color” collection and a Walgreen’s exclusive color. I was not wowed by “Green Ocean” or “Green with Ivy” over “Cinderella”.
My middle finger is like WHOA with Sinful Colors “Nail Junkie”. The base is turquoise, so it is the only one that really changed the base color of “Cinderella”. I wanna do my whole hand in it!
My husband liked my ring finger the best – Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in “Sea-ly String”, from the Fall 2013 Collection. The base is sheer blue, with a variety of silver, blue and black glitter and bar glitter.
Finally, my pinky got Sinful Colors “Ice Dream” from the Holiday 2012 “Winter Shimmers” and Holiday 2013 “Glitz & Glittered” Collections. This look could be Frozen, part 2.
Which one is your favorite?