Because around here, April is usually gray. Hmph. So here’s another matteified jelly sandwich for you, this time using another of the OPI NYC Ballet shades — My Pointe Exactly — and a pretty glitter topcoat called Cherry Blossom from an indie company, Amy’s Nail Boutique.
My Pointe Exactly is a very sheer gray polish. I like it enormously, although it doesn’t actually look that fantastic on me, as it’s a warmer gray and I tend to do better with cooler tones. I don’t generally care that much, but this one does end up making my nails look a little dirty if I leave it shiny. The inspiration for Cherry Blossom is pretty obvious, and you can see the components pretty clearly. I’m quite sure the square on my index finger snuck in accidentally, as there are no others visible in the bottle. Bonus?
Cherry Blossom has a slightly tinted base with some shimmer, which would, I think, make this lovely to wear over a brighter color. Blue would be the obvious choice in this case. The gray I picked is more representative of what it’s like in my part of the country during spring, though. We get the odd nice day, but often it’s overcast.
My Pointe had a fairly runny formula, and flooded my cuticles completely. Cleanup was not a bear, as it’s not heavily pigmented, but it was extensive. By contrast, Cherry Blossom was initially so thick that my first attempts resulted in horribly lumpy nails, so I added some thinner and that made it easier to work with. I liked the results well enough, but sometimes I just can’t be happy with shiny nails. :)
You’ll note that I have no photos of my other hand. This is because I borked one nail completely and didn’t have time to redo it before running out the door. :)
I bought this OPI at a Nordstrom’s Rack, but they are available at a wide variety of places. Amy’s Nail Boutique currently sells on Etsy.
So I was feeling uninspired the other day, so I asked my peep-of-all-peeps, Ceci, what I should do. She told me I should do something surprising.
So this:
A rad peep of mine gave me a set of dotting tools for my birthday, but I haven’t busted them out until today. This being my first attempt, please forgive the smudginess.
I’m not particularly big on either patriotism or polka dots, so in a show of seasonal effort, I did dots in a red, white, and blue color scheme. Surprise! The base color is Ulta Into Astrono-Me?, which is a slightly dusty teal-trending navy blue with a blue shimmer. The red accent nail is L’Oreal Owl’s Lust, a brickish red creme that I love, despite not being a huge bright red fan. The white is Wet’n’Wild Mad Styles, an ordinary white creme.
Naturally I couldn’t resist a matte top coat. Right? Right. I should have waited a bit longer than ten minutes, though, as it smeared some in a few places. Otherwise, while it turned out pretty much okay, I’m not likely to repeat it. I might try using the dotters to do flowers or leopard spots or perhaps a more planned dotted pattern.
The WnW and L’Oreal polishes were gifts from a friend (you will see more loot from her tomorrow, and probably for months hence) — thank you, U.! :D The Ulta was bought at Ulta, as they were having a sale, so it was only two dollars. Woot. Essie, still from Ulta. I’m going to need a new one of those sometime soon. :3
Everything was either gifted to me or bought by me for purposes of wearing. Yes.
Next up, my first attempt at a jelly sandwich. This is notably funny because I don’t generally like either jellies or glitter, and therefore managed to eradicate almost all jelliness from the experience. Naturally, it involves Matte About You.
Check it out:
This started simply enough, with a layer of OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu, a fairly sheer (but buildable) white jelly. I could write forever about how much I hate OPI’s naming conventions, but I cannot deny that they make some pretty polishes. This one may not be unique, but it was the first one of its milky ilk that I found and purchased. The second layer was Revlon Stunning, which is really, really pretty. I mean, if you like glitter, which I do not always, but for this one I made an exception. It’s a clear base with three types of glitter: small holographic hex, small silver glitter, and small translucent holo glitter. It is ridiculously twinkly. Third layer, again with the white jelly.
I didn’t take any pictures at that point, but I just don’t like the way most jellies look on their own, and even layering them with glitter doesn’t make me love them. In an interesting note, the holo effect on the glitter was still very visible, even through the second layer of polish. Since I think flakies look amazing with a coat of Essie Matte About You (hereafter referred to as “E-MAY”), and since some of the small glitter in Stunning is the same kind of translucent shifty effect as flakies, I said to hell with it and slapped on E-MAY on everything.
Much better! Or, at least, much more to my taste!
And even though a matte topcoat generally wipes out holo pigments, holo glitter can still find a way to shine. Next time I try this, I might sneak a duochrome topcoat in there, too, just to liven things up a little.
Normally I am a little perturbed by visible nail line, but for this style, I’m okay with it. I have OPI My Pointe Exactly, a gray jelly from the same collection, and I might try something like this with that, too. Maybe someday I will find a jelly to truly love. Or, more likely, I will glower and slap E-MAY on it.
OPI polishes are available at various places, on and offline; I got mine at a Nordstrom Rack. The Revlon polish came from a Walgreen’s, if I recall correctly, and the Essie was from an Ulta.
All polishes bought by me because I wanted them. :3
Vanitas Rex 