Also known as a picspam post of nails that I enjoyed, but which either didn’t get enough satisfactory photos to justify their own post, or I found too boring to talk about at length. It will give you insight into exactly how out-of-order some of my posts are. :)
I started with this, on June 29th:
That’s two coats of OPI My Private Jet (the brownish version) on the dark nails and one coat (!) of MAC Earthly Harmony as an accent. It was a pretty decent manicure; lasted about a day, wore well with my clothes, etc. I was incredibly impressed by the MAC polish — smooth, even, easily controlled. It made a great contrast to my other experiences with the brand.
When I checked the mail that evening, I discovered that I’d received some new toys and could not possibly wait to play with them.
Same mani, but with two layers of Glitter Gal Shade Shifters Soft Hidden Violet on the main fingers and GG SS Soft Daybreak on the accent. This photographed horribly. It was really lovely in person, and the duochrome is beautiful on both colors. Sadly, the light was unkind, or perhaps my photography is really that sad.
That mani lasted about six hours. Late that night, tired of looking at tipwear/shrinkage, I redid my nails entirely as the pale gold/pink look I posted a couple of days ago. After that came the polka dots I posted on the fourth (actually completed on the third), and then I could not deal with the spots after wearing them four about five hours and did this:
This was initially just BB Couture Award Medal and Layla Magnetic Purple Galaxy. My first magnetic experience was underwhelming, though the polish itself was actually pretty nice. I wore this overnight and hated looking at it in the morning, so I thought I’d see if I could add things until I liked it again. The BB got a topcoat of Lilacquer Lycanthrope (green-gold duochrome sparkly topcoat w/a clear base, very lovely) and the Layla first got three coats of Pretty and Polished Wine Night Out, then an additional topcoat of Lilacquer Bakeneko.
One more to show off Lycanthrope’s lovely green and gold shimmer:
But even with beautiful topcoats I still hated the gold and purple combo, so I wiped it out and redid my nails entirely.
This is how my manicures work at the moment; with a suddenly expanded collection and propensity for getting bored with my nails within hours of doing them, I change things up faster than I post. Be proud of me, though — there’s no matte in this post. ;D Also, I acquired a bottle of acetone and a cheap brush and am learning how to do proper cleanup! Go me! Next step: wrapping the tips. Hm.
All of these except the two indies and Glitter Gals were gifted to me by the mesmerizing U. The GG’s were purchased at Llarowe, where they are currently on sale, and Beautometry, where they are not. Lilacquer sells on Etsy, as does Pretty & Polished, though P&P will also be turning up on Llarowe soon.
In two days, I’ll be talking about a pair of superlative duo/multichromes — Hits Mari Moon Cool & Dreamer.
Today we will be ignoring some terrible polishing errors as well as my usual rumplefingers. I swear they’ve been like that my entire life (though biting my nails for years certainly didn’t help), and it doesn’t matter how much I moisturize my hands. I will be scary as hell when I get older.
Eventually I had to actually bring some bolder colors back into my life, right? (Aqua isn’t bold? Hm.) Today I wanted some sparkle to counteract the relentless rain and cloudiness that this “spring” has been drenched in. The rest of the country is having heatstroke, and I’m still wearing out my winter coat. Thus, I pulled out MAC Bad Fairy for a quick hit of glitz. It’s not the only dense glitter in my collection, but it is one of the brightest I’ve currently got.
However, wearing it as a full mani seemed like a little too much for me, especially since it involved the pain of glitter removal in the not-too-distant future. So I paired it with Cult Nails Cruisin’ Nude. Might seem a little strange, but Cruisin’ Nude has an absolutely amazing pink shimmer running all through it that I felt balanced it out pretty well. Brilliant glittery red/pink/orange duochrome versus creamy tan with pink shimmer? I’m down with this.
It’s a pretty fun manicure, though I will admit that I showered too soon after finishing it and managed to ding it up pretty fiercely. Plus, all photos are in relatively dim household lighting because it was aspiring to emulate the Great Flood out today. The rundown on this is: two coats of Cruisin’ Nude on each finger except the accents, which are one coat Cruisin’ Nude as a base, then three coats of Bad Fairy.
Sparrrkle. This is the first time I’ve really worn Cruisin’ Nude and I am seriously loving it. The contrasting shimmer sets it apart from the other neutral polishes I have. The formula was also stellar, and I could probably have used one coat, unlike Bad Fairy, which, along with being slightly bitchy to work with, is a pill to get fully opaque. Not to be harshing on MAC, really, since I’ve experienced the same thing with similar types of polishes from other brands.
I should also mention that I am testing out base/topcoats again. I’ve tried a few, but I just got Butter London’s matte base and I am loving it. I’ll have to see how it responds to my Zoyas, as they’re the ones I’ve found to be the most picky so far.
I bought Cruisin’ Nude directly from Cult Nails during a sale, and I regret nothing. It is beautiful, and hopefully it will stick around, so if I ever run low, I can buy a second one. Bad Fairy was an LE from a couple of years ago, and I got it on the secondary market. You might be able to locate it on eBay or the like.
All polishes were obtained through my own efforts to hand money to deserving people in exchange for beautiful things to plaster on my nails. Rather badly, in this case. Hromph.
Vanitas Rex 