Naked Nails

Hi Everybody,

I was having a conversation with a co-worker the other day about my inability to learn the guitar. The sole reason for this failure is the fact that the quick of my nails actually extends slightly past my finger tips, causing the strings to slice between my finger and the nail. I raised my hand to so them what I meant, when I realized I had polish on. So, in the interest of full disclosure, here are my naked nails:

Horrifying isn't it?

Actually they look much better than they used to, for which I thank my Nailtien basecoat that I use religiously.

Let's talk about nail shape for a minute. I consider myself very lucky to be born with the nails I have. They have a long, oval bed, and are prominently arched. I thank God that I born with half-moon shaped nails that are flat and crooked. Perhaps I'm a nail-bed racist, or maybe my OCD has officially taken over my life, but poorly shaped nails really bother me. I even avoid other polish blogs where the author has not been gifted with the genetic code for perfect nails. The only downside to my nail shape is that I cannot pull off the "squoval" look that is so popular among soccer moms and Vietnamese nail tech...

I'm also lucky enough to have little problems growing out my nails. Being a receptionist who types for most of the day, I consider this a skill. Of course I will occasionally have a total nail blow-out...

You would think that I would have noticed breakage of this caliber, and than much blood and cussing would have followed, but the only thing that alerted me to the tears existence was that funny, squishy feeling you get right after cutting long nails short.

As you can see in the pic, I've used the tea-bag and superglue method of mending the rip. Simply empty an unused teabag, and cut out a shape just slightly smaller than your nail. Add a drop of glue top the nail, and position the tea bag paper. Cover the entire nail in another layer of superglue, and finish with a couple coats of a thick base polish.

The mend is obvious in these high-light close-up pics, but it's actually pretty seamless in day-to-day situations. Obviously a coat of polish would make it invisible. The mend should hold the broken nail until it grows out enough to cut, although you may need to replace the glue and teabag once or twice.

Chromalicious!

When I was about 16, Sally Hansen came out with a line of "chrome" polishes that looked exactly like the hubcaps on a rappers car...or at least they did in the magazine ads, targeted to impressionable teenagers like myself. What you actually got was a lumpy, streaky, grey base with some micro-glitter thrown in. If that nail polish were capable of cognitive reasoning, it would wish to be Pure Ice's "Silver Mercedes"

I kind of missed the chrome bandwagon this summer because I had convinced myself it would be just like the old stuff, and fade out quickly like the crackle fad. So I was pleasantly surprised when my nails came out looking like they had just been covered in silver leaf.

Although I have always had a love affair with Pure Ice's brushes (long and springy, with only slight fanning), this metallic color does show all of the brush strokes. A coat of MegaShine helped even it out.

I also had some issues with clean up. Like most shimmers, my hands were left with a silver sheen to them for sometime after removal. Overall, this is still a pretty small price to pay for an awesome chrome, especially considering that it is an economy line, coming in at just over two dollars in most retail stores.

Ratings:

Application: 9 out of 10. Nice full coverage, especially for a shimmer and a light color. The brush is great as always with this brand.

Color: 9 out of 10. Chrome-chrome-chromity-chrome-chrome!

Clean-up: 5 out of 10. After I took the polish off it looked like I had just preformed open heart surgery on Edward Cullen. Shimmer everywhere!

Appearance: 7 out of 10. The color makes up for most of the flaws in this category, but the score was brought down by streaky, visible brush strokes.

Tomorrow I'm stepping outside another comfort zone and doing a blackened green!

Glow in the Dark!

To continue with our Halloween escapades, I thought I would try my first glow-in-the-dark polish. This is the type that "charges" in natural or artificial light, then casts a yellow-green glow in darkness.

This is Hot Topic's store brand. It also has some holo micro-glitter in the mix.

 Pretty fugly, huh? It was waaaay too thick and clumpy, and I had to hold my nails directly under my 60watt desk lamp and snap the picture IMMEDIATELY after turning off the lights, to get even this small amount of glow. The one on the left is just the glow polish; the one on the right is with a white base. 

Tomorrow I should have some new metallic!

It's time for Halloween!

In celebration of the best holiday of the year, I present Wet n' Wild's "Black Magic" from their Fantasy Makers line!

 This is a black creme with copper-colored holo micro-glitter. (Enlarge for the full effect)

This is a great way to spice up a boring black. The glitter come out nicely in artificial light, but is at it's best in natural light. It shifts from deep red to light pink, but reflects a pleasent copper color most of the time.

Ratings:

Application: 6 out of 10. Kinda streaky. Needed a coat of Mega Shine to even things out.

Color: 7 out of 10. Not the best black glitter out there, but unique, especially from a bargian line.

Clean-up: 9 out of 10. Came off easily when compared to other micro-glitters, and left very little color stain. Again, this can't really be compared to a jelly or straight creme, but it's really great for a glitter.

Appearance: 6 out of 10. I honestly think the glitter should have been a bit bigger for a  more dramatic effect, and it could have had a glossier finish. Overall it's a nice change for the season.

Tomorrow we look at glow-in-the-darks!

Old Navy's Tip Toe

Today I offer you the good side of buying off-brand polish from major retail chains! I give you "Marine" by Old Navy's Tip Toe line:

Being named "Tip Toe", it's obvious that this product is marketed for pedicures. And despite the reputation pedicure polishes have for being chippy, I had this puppy on for 3 days without a top coat, with only minimal flaking at the tips. Impressive.

I also really love the color. Though it didn't capture well in these pics, this is a near-black navy. The high gloss finish did a great job of letting the blue only reflect at a certian angle, which gave it a unique effect.

Ratings:

Application: 7 out of 10. Nice, smooth application, with minimal pooling. The brush was a bit stiff though.

Color: 8 out of 10. Very cool near-black navy.

Clean-up: 5 out of 10. Although it came off nails easily with none-acetone remover, it left a blue tint on the dry-patches on my hands, which took much scrubbing to banish.

Appearance: 7 out of 10. I love the color, but it could use just a little more durability, and a more ergonomic bottle and better quality brush would be a bonus.


Tomorrow I start with my Halloween trends!

Glitter Fail

After buying a promising coupler at Icing, I thought this weekend would be the perfect time to try them out. I give you Sinful Color's Midnight Blue and Icing's Magnetic Attraction.

Yeah, pretty boring. I was hoping for a full coverage glitter and used the sinful as a "just in case" background. This is after 3 coats of the Magnetic Attraction ladies and gents.

So I guess I learned not to buy off brand polish from fashion store chains. Ta Da!

Next time I'll show you another off brand polish from a fashion store chain, this time with good results!

As promised: Half-moon manicure

I know it's about a week overdue, but here is a look at that half-moon manicure I promised!

This is basically the french manicure's gawdy cousin. I used a base-coat of Nailtien, 2 coats of OPI's "Take the Stage", and then free-handed 2 coats of OPI's "Rising Star" for the half-moon.

Both of these colors are fabulous foils. The oranges are so vibrant, and a fresh change from all of the neon-orange you see this time of year.

The only issue I have is that there is a significant amount of pooling near the cuticals, which makes it difficult to have a clean finish.

Ratings:

Application: 5 out of 10. Nice coverage, pooling is a serious problem.

Color: 8 out of 10. Very vibrant, has a nice metallic sheen. They go together well for this particular style of manicure.

Clean-up: 3 out of 10. Pooling makes meganchair impossible. Also you wind up with orange shimmer in all the nooks and crannies of your skin after removal.

Appearance: 7 out of 10. I'm happy with this manicure overall, but I wish it looked a little neater.


Tomorrow we're getting back to basics with a Sinful Colors polish!

Better than crackle!

I introduce you to what should be the newest texture craze: The rubber finish!

"Faux Pas" by Illamasqua is quite possibly the coolest thing that has happened to me since OPI reintroduced crackle.

This is a deep eggplant creme, with a semi-matte finish that gives the end product a rubbery look and texture. Everybody I showed them to today wound up grabbing my hand to touch them!

I can't stop gushing about it. I was even impressed with the brush's extra-long bristles, light touch and easy spread. It was shipped on a nifty bed of shredded black paper, and with this snazzy promotional brochure!

Ratings:

Application: 10 out of 10. The formula is just thick enough to paint on smoothly and easily, witout clumping or streaking. Right after applying I was worried that it would show all of the brush strokes, but after about 30 seconds of dry time it was smooth as...well, rubber! It was like magic! The rubber finish also meant that it had an incredibly short dry time, so I didn't have to stay up too late worrying about the dreaded "sheet-smudge".

Color: 19 out of 10. The egplant color lends really well to the rubber finish, but they also have a black and a red. I would love to see Illmasqua apply this finish to other, less-obvious colors like orange, green, yellow, etc.

Clean-up: 8 out of 10. I know this sounds crazy, especially to you professional polishers who like to leave a gap, but it came away with acetone almost too easily. Even the slightest error with my meganchair clean-up (eye-liner brush and acetone) meant the nail was wiped clean and needed to be redone. I'm sure this would make it ideal for most people, but my OCD insists that the entire nail be covered.

Appearance: 10 out of 10. I just can't express how truely awesome this nail polish is. It will probably be my weekend color for all of october!

Special thanks to Scott Watson, who took my "OMGBUYMETHIS" post on facebook seriously. Thanks Scott!!!

It's a good week for nail polish...

I thought I was pretty lucky to find yesterday's "Space Cadet" by Orly, but now I'm two-for-two with duo-chromes! Introducing "Molten Gold" by Nina's Ultra Pro line!

While this polish doesn't have as nice of a "flash" as "Space Cadet", it does show off it's different colors in various lighting. Sometimes it is a deep pink, in others it's a rosy-gold, and still others an orangy copper. Scroll through the pics to compare!

It has a great metallic shimmer finish, which is accented by a coat of Sally Hansen's MegaShine.

Ratings:

Application: 6 out of 10. Took four coats to cover streaky application.
Color: 9 out of 10. The opposing colors in this duo-chrome look awesome. It practically looks like a different polish in different lighting.
Clean-up: 7 out of 10. It took a bit of scrubbing with a cotton ball and non-acetone remover.
Appearance: 10 out of 10. Overall, this is a great polish. My husband summed it up pretty well when he said "It looks like you should be wearing an evening gown...". I think "classy" is a good word to describe it. The color flash makes it unique, but the colors are main-stream enough to look great for a special occasion.

I received a very special package in the mail today, so I'll have a surprise for tomorrows review! You'll love it!

Finally! A good duo-chrome!

Let me introduce you to Orly's "Space Cadet":

...I know, right!?

Space Cadet is a peacock (purple w/ green flash) duo-chrome micro-glitter in a transparant terquoise base. So not only is this the duo-chrome to end all duo-chomes, it is also a metallic foil! I know! Check it out!

Maybe it's the run of disappointing duo-chromes I've tried lately, OPI's "Not Like the Movies", Wet n' Wild's dupe "Gray's Anatomy", and Zoya's "Ki" all want to be "Space Cadet" when they grow up. Pun intended!

Here's the best part; not only is the flash evident even in soft white light and office florecents, but the whole nail flashes at the right angle! More importantly, you can see all colors in this polish's spectrum just by looking at the nail, without movement. This might be less noticable on people with a flatter nail-bed than mine, but most of the time the sides appear mossy-green, the dead center of the nail is a deep purple, and everything in-between is a pinkish-copper. On top of that is a light sparkle from the micro-glitter.

This is also the first duo-chrome I've seen that is able to portray really vibrant hues instead of muted pastels. Just look at this purple!

Unfortunatly it does have it's drawbacks. The turquoise jelly Orly uses for the suspension base dyed my nails through 2 coats of Nailtien base coat, which was even more annoying since I had just sanded off the stains left from Wet n' Wild's "Teal of Fortune". It was also a huge pain in the ass to get off, and wound up using the soaking method (with pure acetone) to remove it, and still had copper microglitter in every microscopic imperfection of my hands.

Ratings:

Application: 8 out of 10. Kinda blotchy during application, but a coat of Sally Hansen's "Megashine" evened it out.
Color: 10 out of 10. Everything a peacock duo-chrome should be.
Clean-up: 5 out of 10. Pure hell.
Appearance: 10 out of 10. The end product is just beautiful.

I would say that the result is well worth the few drawbacks. Congrats to Orly on making one of my new favs!

Ulta's Plum Perfect

I went on a nail polish shopping spree today! I hit up basically every store in the entire Polaris area that sells the stuff, and came away with six brand new colors, including today's Plum Perfect by Ulta.

This is a really rich creme, in a dusty violet color (which is much more muted in real life). The color really is lovely. In my opinion, it is straddeling the line between "retro-edgy" and "Grandma's church-goin manicure".

I had some diffuculty with application because this particular formula was kind of streaky. Fortynatly, it dried to a perfect high-gloss finish. No top coat needed!

Ratings:

Application: 7 out of 10. Streaky at first, but did end up looking great.
Color: 8 out of 10. Nice muted fall color, but not something I would wear all the time.
Clean-up: 9 out of 10. Came off easily with acetone free polish remover!
Appearance: 8 out of 10. Very glossy, and it is a lovely color, but I normall lean toward more "out there" colors.

More to come this weekend, including Icing, Orly, Warpaint (by Hot Topic, including a glow-in-the-dark with microglitter!), and pixel.

A tip for everyone in the Columbus area, the Trade Secret in Polaris Fashion Place is going out of business and everything is drastically reduced. OPI is about $6 a bottle, and I bought several OPI lotions for a buck! Happy hunting!

What's your name?

Hello everybody! Sorry for the delay in posting, but I've been having a lovely bout of kidney stones! You would think all this time off work would give me lots of oppurtunities to paint and re-paint my nails, but sadly sitting hunched over my desk is the last thing I want to do at the moment. That being said, this manicure is actually about 3 days old.

Sinful's "What's Your Name" is a near-black polish packed with teal micro-glitter. These pictures just don't do it justice. Everyone thinks I've been loopy on my pain pills because I just keep staring at my hands (that and the fact that I am loopy on my pain pills...).

It went on like a dream, so smooth and glossy. The only issue I had was a little inconsistancy in the opacity, some nails took two coats, some needed three.

I'm also a little dissapointed by the amount of shrinkage and chippage for not-even a week of wear. Sinful usually leads the pack in chip-free polishes, especially their glitters, so this was a suprise. In this image, you can clearly see the shrinkage on all of my tips, as well as a good-sized chip on my pinky. I have 3 medium-sized chips overall. This is also as close as I could get to capturing the gorgeous teal micro-glitter.

 

Ratings:

Application: 8 out of 10. Close to perfect, but it had inconsistent coverage.
Color: 9 out of 10. Awesome, awesome teal glitter in near-black base.
Clean-up: 8 out of 10. Easily removed, but left a slight stain on the rough parts of my cuticles, as all dark colors are prone to do.
Appearance: 7 out of 10. Color and shine are great, chipping and shrinkage bring the score down. 

Still, the sheer-awesomeness of this color makes up for it's low durability. I think you'll be seeing this color on me again soon! Wouldn't this look great as a marble with a light base? That would really make the teal pop!

I know I've promised you half-moon manicures with the burnt oranges from OPI's Burlesque line (terrible movie, great polishes!), but that will have to wait until I can stand sitting up for long periods of time. Here's hoping!

Another dissapointing duo-chrome...

I'm not sure if the nail polish gods hate me, or if there is something in my body chemisty that makes duo-chromes simply fail. I was really excited by the prospect of Zoya's Ki, because it looked great in the bottle and even better on the swatch in the store. But while it was supposed to be a stealy-violet with a shamrock-green flash, this is what I got:

Looks like a pretty kick-ass purple huh? Which is all well and good, but where is my damn green flash!? I tried it under multiple light sources, all to no avail.

I like the color as it is, but I was hoping for a duo-chrome that didn't require me risking skin cancer to see.

Ratings:


Application: 6 out of 10. Kinda clumpy. I also had some issues due to it's transparency. It really needed 3 coats to reach full coverage, but that many coats lead to pooling at my cuticles.
Color: 7 out of 10. Awesome purple, but you might require a professional stage lighting crew to see the flash.
Clean-up: 7 out of 10. Acetone removed the color easily, but I was left with ragged edges where the excess polish had pooled.
Appearance: 8 out of 10. It has a nice shimmer AND shine without a top coat. It also leaves a really smooth surface if you've avoided the clumps carefully enough. Little to no shrinkage.

Overall a cute, trendy color at the moment. Next time I'll be re-visiting the burnt oranges from OPI's Burlesque collection to show off a half-moon manicure!

Update: Frrrrench Manicure

While I was out yesterday, I noticed that this holo looks much better in the sunlight than it did even in my bright indoor lighting. Check it out!

Look at that sexy holo glitter. Much nicer in the sunlight. The distance show doesn't show the glitter as nicely, but it's a bit sharper:

In light of this discovery (no pun intended) I'll be going out tomorrow to look for an artificial sun lamp.

I didn't think I would like these nails as much as I do. I'm hesitant to change them, despite having just bought Ki from Zoya. I'm hoping it's a more vibrant version of OPI's Not Like the Movies, it seems darker on the sample nails, but at the beauty shop I was at OPI was on a white nail board, and Zoya was on clear. We'll see!

Frrrrrench Manicure

Let me begin today's blog by saying that I am not a french manicure type person. I cringe whenever I see the standard issue acrylics with stark white tips, and automatically think "Soccer Mom".

I can, however, appreciate how nice a french manicure can look when it's not on 2" plastic nail beds. I'm in a play this weekend, in which I am required to appear somewhat "innocent" for the better part of the show. I toyed with the idea of frosty pinks and lavenders, but nothing says "school girl" better than a french manicure with OMGGLITTER!

While I wanted to give the scotch tape method a try, I simply don't have the time to let the base color dry completely. So I free-handed the tip to varying degrees of success.

I began with a base of Nailtiens (because Thursday's application of Sinful's "Hottie" kicked my ass!), folowed by two coats of Sinful's sheer pink shimmer "Social Ladder", and the tip was two coats of Sinful's "Snow Me White".

I had some problems with "Social ladder streaking over the Nailtien, which I think can be blamed on the Nailtein and not the color, as it's usually very smooth when used without a base coat. This is also the first time I've tried any amount of detailed work with one of Sinful's brushes, and I was less than enthused. It seemed to have a way of grabbing clumps and strings that clung to the brush, no matter how often I scraped it against the lip of the bottle.

After about 10 minutes of dry-time, I applied 2 coats of Wet n' Wild's "Kaledoscope", which is a holo silver glitter in a clear base.

I had some serious problems with glitter clumpage.

It was nearly impossible to get an even coating of the glitter, and I couldn't play with it too much for fear of the white streaking. Some of my nails came out quite streaky:

Overall I give this manicure a 7 out of 10. While I was really pleased with the french tips themselves, and pleasantly surprised at my ability to free-hand, the holo glitter pissed me off enough to be bitter about the time spent on this look. Next time I'll choose a better brand, or skip the glitter entirely.

Lush's Ultrabalm

As I'm sure you realize, changing your polish as frequently as I do, and using as many chemicals on your hands as I do, can lead to some pretty serious skin issues. Lately I've been struggling with tough cuticles, no matter how much I filed or clipped them.

I'm not a huge fan of petroleum-based hand creams, other than the obvious greasy feeling, I'm not thrilled with the idea of slapping an oil refinery by-product on my skin. I was using cocoa butter to varying degrees of success for sometime, but that lead to an awkward problem when I realized that my dog would freak out and obsessively lick my hands whenever he smelled it on me. Believe it or not, dog slobber is not an effective moisturizer either.

I had tried lemony-flutter, the cuticle cream made by LUSH a fantastic bath and body company that supports ethical product sourcing and vegan ingredients. While lemony-flutter smelled great and felt wonderful, it just couldn't keep up with my nail routine. It absorbed very fast, and didn't seem to do much for my hardened cuticles.

Today when I stopped by my local Lush counter, a rep suggested I try Ultrabalm. It's advertised as an all-purpose body balm, which can be used on everything from your lips to cuts and scrapes, so I'm not sure why I never thought of using it on my hands. While it is advertised as being "light" and "readily absorbed", I found my results to be rather the opposite. It's plant based waxes really helped soften the skin around my nails, and the thicker texture meant that application was easy. After using it just 3 times tonight, my rough spots are noticeably softer, and the redness and irritation from last-nights glitter fight seems to have calmed. It does leave a slightly greasy feeling immediately after application, but that goes away quickly.

I would recommend this product to anyone who changes their polish as frequently as I do, or even to casual at-home manicurists. I'm sure you'll see more Lush products in reviews to come!

Frosty Claws!

 I think I accidentially jumped straight over fall shades and into winter. I was hoping Hottie by Sinful Colors would have the same bold, almost neon-blue color as it is in the bottle. Alas, it came out less Californial Gurls and more Cinderella. Though the bright flash in the photos shows a bright-blue, it's more of a light, powder blue in real life.

If Jack Frost had an illagitamate love child with the Little Mirmaid, this is what the baby's nails would look like.

There are other problems with this polish. First, it took 5 coats to get full coverage. FIVE! Second, while I understand that removing octogon-shaped glitter is always going to be a challange, these glittery bastards refused to let go of my cuticals, despite using straight acetone and an orange stick. Seriously, my skin is red from all the chemicals and scraping. (I'm hoping that some of the glitter on my skin will come off with wear). There is also a serious shrinkage issue, even before I layed a top-coat of MegaShine. So much so that I had to file the nail after application to reduce the amount of white peeking over the tip. The worst part was that the shrinkage was not exactly uniform due to the octogon glitter from hell, so I bassically wound up tearing the tip of the manicure every time my file caught on a piece of titanium glitter. Oh yeah, Did I mention the clumpy formula?

I guess the finished product looks nice if you dig the sparkely-pastel thing. Otherwise, I would only reccomend this product used as an over-coat, and then very sparingly.

Ratings:


Application: 3 out of 10, very clumpy and streaky
Color: 4 out of 10. Nice color on it's own merit, but noting like the bottle.
Clean-up: 3 out of 10 Evil, evil glitter.
Appearance: 6 out of 10 It has a nice depth, and the glitter, though a total pain in the ass, does shine like the dickens. It also has a much smoother finish than most glitters, and took the top coat very well. The overall appearance rating took a big hit because of the unusual amount of shrinkage from the tip.

Next time I'll be taking a stab at a scotch-tape french tip in pinks and whites.