Steelers Throwback Nails

Because, Heather Miller:

AKA Glisten&Glow Great Balancing Act + hehe Hufflepuff stamping plate #029 with Twinkled T black stamping polish.

Everyone in Pittsburgh HATED those uniforms... But just look at him... How can you hate anything he wears?

Aaaaanyway, this was actually a huge fail. It started out with G&G GBA:

This pic is most color accurate:

This is a creamy, pigmented pollen yellow. I really dig the color (I love yellow polish).

Flash:

I did two coats plus one coat of Poshe quick dry topcoat. The weird thing with this Polish was, on the first coat, it laid down these weird lumps and chunks. I can only assume it was unmixed pigment? It looked like bit of my nail were peeling up under the polish (my nails have been in bad shape like that before). I was really worried but I'm glad I persisted because the second coat covered it up completely.

This applied great for a yellow! Two coats for a yellow gets the same status as one coater for any other color. First coat was streaky, but pigmented. Second coat evened everything out, but you do have to apply this in thick coats.

Then I thought, genius I am, how can I make this better? And what I should have asked was, why can't I leave well enough alone???

So, out came the stamping plates. 

Last time I wore yellow polish, I attempted horizontal stripes... get this... free hand. I'm a moron. It looked awful. Pretty sure I have a picture somewhere...

ZOMG! That's awful. It looks like a dyslexic monkey painted my nails. WTF was I thinking? And do you see that streaking??? UGH!

So this time, I decided to use a stamping plate for the same effect. It turned out only slightly better. First, I had major issues with the stamping plate. This was my first scrape attempt, using Cirque Memento Mori (WTF does that even mean?), a perfect one coat black. I didn't use stamping Polish for reasons I outlined in my last post.

Well, this is the mess that happened:

And again:

Then I decided to use a different scraper (even though the one above worked great on my Celtic plate with A England Polish). I used a credit card style scraper from Twinkled T (it came with my smaller clear stamper). And it worked! yay!

This is an XL semi squishy clear stamper from hehe.


It didn't pickup the damn image. grrrr.

Then I did the same thing, but used the Twinkled T black stamping polish and it worked! But... I made a mess on my finger. Now usually I can get this stamping polish off just by kind of picking at it with an orange stick because, as I said before, it's kind of rubbery or plasticky or something, but not this time. Of course not, that would be too easy!

I did the best I could, then got out the clean up brush. Big mistake. This shit is like ink... Acetone just smeared it around and adhered it to my skin even more! UGH!

You can even see what a mess it made on my mat and everything in the vicinity. I had to use a new cotton pad for every single stamp, because if I dipped it in the acetone after using it on the black polish, it turned the acetone black and would then deposit little black specks all over everything. It was almost like the acetone couldn't fully dissolve the pigments or whatever plastic crap they are suspended in. That meant that I used like 20 cotton pads, because sometimes the image didn't pick up properly and I had to clean it off and try again.

I then wised up and put condoms liquid latex on my fingers.

I thought this was pretty cool looking (the lint roller I use to clean my stamper).

Then I realized that, no matter how long you freaking let it dry, topcoat smears it. It's not just this topcoat either. I have tried SuperChic Marvel, Live Love Polish Quick Dry and Poshe. Same result every time.

So I decided to try applying the top coat really thick. And this happened:

But it did sorta work. It looked better than when I let the brush run over the black.

So yeah, it looks like shiz and I nicked the pointer nail. I hated this so much, I didn't bother with the other hand and I am totally taking it off tonight (yay peel off basecoat!!). Oh yeah, and that pink crap? Liquid Latex. oops. Better than black fingers. I really hope that shit comes off.

Celtic Oktoberfest

AKA OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest with A England Katyusha Celtic stamping

So I started out with the OPI Polish. I have a very hard time sometimes selecting what polish I want to wear. It's why I can never really pull off spontaneous nail art... I get a vague idea of what I want then go all over the place. I need a plan. This mani was unplanned, but I rather like it.

I started out going through the China Glaze drawer of my Michael's 3-drawer cube. This is where I keep my favorite polishes and new ones at my desk. The rest are in the basement in an Ikea Helmer (which I have cleared out now a couple of times, I refuse to have more than a single Helmer full of Polish).

Anyway, I was rummaging through, looking at the beautiful Polishes from the Metro collection and deciding, It's Fall Enough, Already!! We didn't have much of a summer and all my dreams of neon Polishes were basically squashed after the first week in July when we got back from the beach. I had a great tan and no where to wear it to. Not a single weekend was nice enough and/or hot enough for the pool. It's a breezy, low 70's September day in Pittsburgh and I am so ready for fall.

You're probably sick of me talking now, so I'll shut up. On to the Polish!!

I started out with just OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, the color is so beautiful and intriguing in the bottle. It's a deep plum purple jelly base with a bronze shimmer running through it. The overall effect is a shimmery wine red. It's gorgeous.

On the nail, however, the shimmer doesn't translate quite as much. It ends up just looking like a blackened-red shimmer. Still pretty, but a bit disappointing, not gonna lie:

I kept thinking to myself, I could make this better. So I did! I was imagining something gold and fancy over top of it. But I don't own a single gold polish. I didn't want nail vinyls, so I started looking through my small stash of stamping plates and saw the Celtic one I ordered from Amazon about a week ago.

Now, I pretty much suck at stamping. I tried way back in the day with the original Konad set and never had any luck. Usually the stamper wouldn't even pick up the image. So when I renewed my interest in all things nails, I, of course, decided that I needed to reopen that old wound and buy some stamping crap.

After some reading, I discovered that there are all kinds of new stamping things out there. The most interesting of which to me were the Clear Stamper and the Squishy Stamper. I have SUPER curved nails and it looked to me like the Squishy Stamper might solve some problems for me. Turns out that the Squishy Stamper picks up images better and with no priming, because it's slightly sticky.

I used A England Katyusha, because it's basically an antique gold holo. It does have a slight green-blue shift, but the predominant color is soft white gold, which was perfect for what I wanted.

Here is the awesome plate that I used. I think I paid like $7 for it on Amazon. I just did a search for Celtic stamping plate. I realize that I should have a taken a pic before smearing it all up with acetone, sorry :-(

Did I mention that it's double sided! Super cool! I used this side:

And of course, I couldn't decide what design I wanted, so I used 3 of the designs at the bottom (the first, second and fourth) on my left hand.

On my right hand, I tried a couple of the full nail designs on my pointer and ring fingers. I think they all turned out great, aside from being a little bit off center. I wish I had used some liquid latex for the full nail ones, because I did end up getting a bunch on my fingers and the shimmer wouldn't really clean off all the way.

I had no issues using this Polish to stamp. I have black stamping Polish that I absolutely have to fight with. It doesn't pick up well or lay down clean. It ends up like dried rubbery stuff and kind of peels off. I'm not sure how to explain it. Katyusha was more like ink. It picked up perfectly and went where I put it (and stayed) there.

Anyway. I love this. I love Celtic knotwork and this color combo is perfect!I'm going to keep working on my stamping skills, because I just opened a package that I got from a place called "hehe" - Harry Potter and Super Hero Stamping Plates!!! Stay tuned.

Quoth the Raven...

AKA Different Dimensions Nevermore


First off, I don't think this is a fitting name for this Polish. A Polish called Nevermore should be black. Very dark gray at the very least.

I have a love hate relationship with this polish. While I think it's beautiful and unique, it's also kinda boring. That doesn't make any fucking sense but that's how I feel.

This is a dark warm brown strong linear holo with a white gold shift and some larger holo or shifty glitters (I can't really tell). Honestly, these indie brands are getting crazy complicated and my Polish vocabulary is insufficient to describe some of the shit going on in these Polishes.

The formula was on the thick side and the brush was like painting my nails with a broom. all that said, it wasn't horrible. It wasn't the best formula, but manageable and would have been better if the brush wasn't bullshit.

But onto the Polish!!

These were all in direct sunlight. The holo is still fairly strong indoors/in shade. My biggest issue with this is that the larger glitter pieces make it look a bit lumpy and textured. I'm a huge fan of silky smooth cremes, so I kinda hate anything lumpy. A coat or two more of topcoat probably would take care of that, but that's too much effort for me.

Thank goodness for peel off basecoat!!

This was a late night/after a few glasses of wine post. I promise to go back to my standard review format next time!!

Oh, and I broke a bunch of nails moving my new renter into my old house :-( So my nails are uneven, sorry about that. The good news is, I really whipped my crazy ass cuticles into shape today! I'm rather proud.

Where I Wish I Was

I went on a many year nail polish hiatus. I just recently got my groove back and not without a little guilt at spending yet more money on, well, paint. I used to use the hobby excuse, but now I knit, crochet, weave and spin. I have bins full of yarn in my house (hoarding yarn is much like hoarding nail polish... Or maybe I am just a hoarder in general).

I just like color, dammit! So, now that I can again have long, decent nails, I decided to paint again. then I discovered the world of "nail art". I pretty much suck at it, but damn is it fun! So I will preface with this, if you come for swatches of the latest collections or perfect, clean cuticles, leave now. If you don't like swearing, get the fuck out. I'm just doing this for fun, so hopefully someone will enjoy it!

So let's do this!!!

I started buying nail vinyls and playing with them. Then I discovered the sponge gradient. THEN I saw the most awesome palm tree manicure ever and I had to try it. It turned out a little sloppy, but I still love it.


This is how it looks in direct light from the window. it's not super sunny out today.

I really botched the pointer nail. This is what happens when you don't take your time. Then I smeared it all up trying to fix it.


Here it is at my desk, in less direct natural light.

The nails I saw had all palm trees. also, the trees were mirrored, they didn't all lean the same way. The vinyls I have are all the same and because only one side is sticky, there's no way to mirror the direction of the tree, so I decided to also do dolphins.

I feel like the placement could have been better with the dolphins and my nails are super curved so it's hard to get the vinyls to stick evenly.


Here's my right hand. Not too bad. I was too lazy to wait for another top coat to dry so I could use a vinyl for the waves under the dolphins, so I tried to free hand it. Yeah... no.

Here are the vinyls I used. They are Bundle Monster from Amazon:

 I used the martini ones yesterday. Definitely getting more of those!!! EEE! I gotta find some vino ones. I'm seeing wine colored polish with antique gold wine bottles and glasses. I like these vinyls. They stick really well, which is useful for me because my nails are so curved and vinyls tend to not lie down flat. With how sticky these are, I can push them down and fake it if they don't lay completely flat. I'll show an example next time.


AAAAANNNDDD... The polishes!! First is Color Club East Austin. I fucking love neon corals. My favorite neon coral of all time is the ORIGINAL china Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy. It's the neon coral by which I measure all neon corals. Anyway, East Austin is much lighter and peacher than that color, but it's still a rockin coral and it is most definitely neon.

Next are two Cirque Colors - Plastik and Rehab. I'm am obsessed with Cirque's Vice Collections. These are from the 2016 collection and I missed out on ONE freaking color in the collection which happened to be, you guessed it, neon CORAL! Damn! If anyone know where I can find Sin City, the neon coral from the Vice 2016 collection, please let me know, I will buy 3 bottles!! Anyway, Plastik is a medium pink/fuchsia creme. I wouldn't call it eye-searing neon, but it is definitely bright an summery. Rehab is the blurple to end all blurples. I absolutely love this color and it is one of my top 5 polishes of all time.

So I did a coat of Color Club East Austin over my basecoat, then I covered my fingers and cuticles with liquid latex and waited for it to turn completely dark pink (that's how you can tell it's dry). Be really careful not to stick your fingers together (I recommend at least one hand at a time, if not one finger at a time) otherwise the latex from each finger will stick to each other and pull off of your fingers. Don't skip this step, if you do, you will have a huge mess. And if you have dry fingers and cuticles like me, you'll never get this polish off with a clean up brush. trust me, the latex is worth it and is super easy to use.

After the latex dried, I grabbed a makeup sponge and put a stripe of each polish on the sponge to create the gradient. Then you just dab the sponge on your nails carefully, moving from side to side and maybe up and down by like a millimeter to blend the colors. Don't move it too much vertically or you will create mud.

I ended up doing about 4 coats and I feel like my left hand could have used more (it doesn't apply as thick as when you paint, so don't worry about having a mound of polish). Once it's mostly dry, slap on a quick dry topcoat. When that is completely dry, 10-20 minutes, do the vinyls. If you do more than one vinyl like I did for the dolphin nails on my left hand, you'll have to wait for the black to dry (use a one coater and remove the vinyl immediately, and carefully while the polish is still wet), then do another topcoat before doing the next vinyl. I you skip the topcoat, the vinyl WILL pull off your polish unless you wait literally hours for it to dry completely.

Top it all off again with a quick dry top coat. Just make sure you wait til the black is almost completely dry before adding the topcoat or it might smear like a few of mine did because I am impetuous and can't be bothered to wait for drying.

Here's what I will do differently next time:

1. More coats of the gradient and maybe wait a little longer in between. I think I may have just been picking it back up with the sponge because I wasn't waiting long enough between coats.

2. Place the vinyls more carefully. I did like the dolphins but they were just a bit too big for my nails and didn't fit quite the way I wanted them to. If I do this same mani, I will get the mirrored palm tree vinyls.

3. Less black on the tips. For the little islands from which the palms grow, I would only do a mound in the corner like the middle nail on my left hand, that way it doesn't cover up the coral so much:

 4. Pull the vinyls off more carefully and do a better job cleaning up the image.

5. Wait for the black to dry more before putting on topcoat and maybe find a topcoat that doesn't smear as much. I had this same issue with this topcoat and stamping.

Now enjoy this kitty picture because... kitties.

Maksim and Daenerys

Grapes of Gold

Aka Zoya Daul

So Zoya names all of their Polishes with women's names. So I'm thinking, WTF is Daul? I have never heard that name before, how do you even say it? So I Google it... The first page of results are some model named Daul Kim who hanged herself in 2009. Lovely. Mooooving on...

I'm really getting into painting my nails again for some reason, so I figured I might as well enjoy it while I can, because there will be no time for it with a newborn babe in the house. Plus, I'll be chopping all my nails off (well, as short as I can get them anyway) and keeping them that way for a while.

On to the Polish!

Daul in natural, indoor light, no flash. 

Sunlight.

Cost: I picked up this one at Ulta, where I think Zoya goes for $8. You can also get them from Zoya.com or Beauty First stores. I don't know of any reputable places to get them cheaper than $8, unfortunately.

What I used: I used Nailtek Foundation II, two coats of Daul, and a coat of Poshe fast dry topcoat

Application: Excellent. Zoya rarely disappoints, especially the foily colors. The shorter, wider brush is one of my favorites too, it really cuts down on Polish dripping and makes it really easy to cover a good portion of the nail and get a good line at the cuticle.

Color/Finish:This is a foily/glass fleck finish. The base color is a medium, cool-toned grape purple and the glass fleck is a yellow, almost coppery, gold. It's very very similar to Zoya Faye, but the purple is darker and cooler. From what I have seen, it's a dupe for Orly Oui (which I never bought because I thought it was a dupe for Faye!).

Most Awesome Polish EVER

Aka Ludurana Aurora Boreal in Show

No, seriously... For me, this is the Polish to end all Polish. I could wear this every day and never ever get sick of it. Unfortunately, my application and pictures kind of suck... Sorry about that.

No babbling for this one, here are the pics:

 Yes, I know this is blurry, but it shows the predominant colors best. When I wore it, this was mostly what color my nails were - this dark metallic aqua/teal with purplish magenta around the edges.

This shows more of the hard angle color shift... You can see the coppery orange at the very edge.

I believe I took these pics after 3 or 4 days of hard wear. It held up really well. This is somewhat color accurate, except that you couldn't see that darker blurple color most of the time.

 This color was NEVER flat. It always showed at least 2 colors, usually more, at the same time.

Another accurate one color-wise. The teal leaned slightly more green than shown here.

Cost: This was $14 at shop.Llarowe.com and worth every single penny (something I have said thus far for every Polish I have ordered from her site).

What I used: I used Nailtek Foundation II, a coat of Orly Bonder, two coats of Show, and a coat of Poshe fast dry topcoat

Application: Pretty good. I have heard bloggers describe Ozotics as being airy or fluffy when applied and I guess you could say this was sort of like that. It was definitely different than most polishes, maybe slightly thicker than normal, but not hard to control. It also seemed like it would be incredibly sheer and it wasn't at all! A lot of people apply these over black for that reason, but I really think this one looks best on its own.

Color/Finish: ZOMGWTFAMAZINGNESSS!!! It's a predominantly darker teal-aqua and purple-magenta multi-chrome that can also flash a darker blurple and coppery orange on the edges at more extreme angles. The finish is a metallic shimmer, but not chrome or foil.