Wednesday, October 5, 2011

WORK INAPPROPRIATE AWARD: OPI Candy Mani

OPI recently posted an inquiry on Facebook regarding a "candy mani." I was all whut until Google informed me this is a a synonym for "jelly sandwich," a term I had seen before. I have had boring nails lately so decided to try this.

katydid


IT IS SHINY AND I WANT TO EAT IT. I think the jelly candy EAT ME effect is best with large shaped glitter - hearts or stars or skulls or tigers rather than sprinkle glitter - and it's a pain in the whatsis to fish enough glitters out of the jar for each nail. So this is not an every-week adventure.

katydid


You can't tell from these pictures, but I had one purple nail on my left hand (ring) and two on my right (ring and pinky). This is my favorite color split.

katydid


Purple nails: two coats China Glaze Urban-Night, careful coat of Timothy, one coat OPI Houston, We Have a Purple jelly.

katydid


Pink nails: two coats OPI You're Such A Kabuki Queen, carefully-applied Nicole by OPI Step 2 the Beat of my ♥, one coat OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y jelly. ( FYI, I despise two of these three polish names.)

(EDIT: Pink also has touches of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear Rockstar Pink; purple has touches of the same in Strobe Light.)

This all reminds me of my second-favorite art form: JELLO MOLD SUSPENSION!

katydid


I promised Orly Mineral FX but was too depressed to post it last weekend. So I will do it later.

COMING UP NEXT: Nina Ultra Pro - sadly underrated!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

UPTOWN GIRL

These are from the China Glaze Fall 2011 collection, Metro. I suppose this collection is meant to be gritty? edgy? on trend? something like that. It offers a fairly wide range of colors. I'm trying to break away from my pink-red-purple-gold-teal rut and considered getting Westside Warrior, one of the newly popular puke greens (some people call this "olive"), and Trendsetter, which is sort of mustard (see Scrangie's lovely post here) but played it safe for this round.

I ordered these from Trans Design because a) the people who work at the Sally's Beauty Supply by my house are scary, and b) my Ulta gets its stock about eight months late. Also, Trans Design sells China Glaze for $2.99, and Sally's is $5.99 with the card if they aren't having a sale. So it tends to be cheaper even factoring in shipping. I visited a Sally's far away from my house today and viewed the puke green and the mustard in person. Trendsetter would look like my cat threw up on my hand, but I kind of did want Westside Warrior. I need to live more vivaciously.

Street Chic (Uptown)

katydid


katydid


This is a perfect dupe for Essie's Hot Coco. I wore the two alternating every other finger to work one day, and no one could tell. It's a deep taupe creme with a hint of purple; I think it dries a little darker than it looks in the bottle. Essie's formula is a smidge more runny than China Glaze, if it makes any difference to you.

Loft-y Ambitions (Downtown)

katydid



katydid


This is a nice burgundy creme. There are probably 347 dupes out there for this one too, but I don't own any personally. Like I said. It's nice.

Urban-Night (Uptown)

katydid



katydid


Lovely deep purple creme. Again, not that original. but I like it. I could probably wear it to work even if my office wasn't a freak show.

P.S. I'm such a murch that I didn't get the pun in the name until I'd worn it two days.


CG In The City
(Uptown)

katydid


katydid


katydid


As you should know, I am ALL ABOUT THE GLITTER. This works well as a layer over any of the other polishes, as demonstrated above. I think it would take too many coats to be worth trying on its own. If you do, let me know.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK: Orly Mineral FX. In a word, SHINY.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

CATASTROPHIC NAIL FAILURE

I suffered a hideous break tonight, no doubt karmic punishment for admiring my glittery nails so under a direct light on Friday, and have whacked them all down to match in keeping with personal policy. In addition, all the pictures I took this week SUCKED, in large part due to vile weather conditions. So you will have to content yourselves with a picture of these lovely Halloween glitter polishes I picked up at Hy-Vee for < $2 apiece.

katydid


Their names are CHUNKY NAIL and PUMPKIN NAIL ENAMEL (or EUSTACE and TIMOTHY as I prefer to call them), and they reek of formaldehyde death. I put the purple one over what was on my toes, and it appears that this may build up to be wearable alone. Time will tell.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK: selections from the China Glaze fall 2011 collection, Metro. Displayed for you with love on my tiny, tiny stubs. Sigh.

Friday, September 9, 2011

BUTTER LONDON autumn/winter 2011

I love Butter London. I love the little squared bottles and the logo with Queen Raven. I love the stupid fake British accent they affect. BABY I'M READY TO GO (on the rooftop shouting out)

No More Waity, Katie


katydid

katydid


They're advertising this as part of their autumn/winter collection, but I picked it up quite a while back in a little kit with some polish remover. I tested it out over whatever I was wearing at the time (in the car, yes), thought it was going to be too sheer for anything but a layering polish, and forgot about it until now. SURPRISE SURPRISE, three coats looks reasonably opaque.

I enjoy this one quite a bit but take exception to Butter London's use of the word "greige" in its description. "Greige" is not a word. It is not. While I'm whining, neither is "jegging." I can barely type that one, it provokes such a visceral response (THAT MEANS IT MAKES ME VOMIT). Let's slam all the words together OKAY NO

I had a worse time removing it than I usually do with glitter polish, but it succumbed in due course.


Bluey



you are not my September


blue sky diamond


Here's my mermaid color. It's not as mermaid as Zoya Charla, but what is? It hints at a VNL problem with three coats, but not bad enough that you'd notice if you aren't staring for it. It gets a B-. I will keep it because I'm a tealhead, but it's not superfantabulous with my skins, and I don't want to eat it.

Wallis


so close, honey



nothing but class, right here


I was anticipating this one with much glee, and it did not disappoint. I am not thrilled about the descent of olive mud green puke colors this fall, but Wallis has enough gold in it to whisper my name in its thin little voice and to keep it from clashing horribly with all my clothes. I predict heavy rotation.

Note the highly attractive ring I got with a bottle of Hard Candy polish.


Toff


now I want a Heath bar.  HEATH.  NOT SKOR.


flowers courtesy of Trader Joe's Omaha


Going by the bottle, I thought this would be pinker than the mauve-type it turned out to be...I think there is more purple in it than I can coax out with my camera. BUT I LIKE IT A LOT. It's classy enough for the odd day I need to look semi-professional (those days generally turn out pretty odd) but not too dull for my somewhat eclectic tastes.

The fifth color, that I did not acquire, Knees Up, is a perfectly nice bright red. I perfectly cannot wear bright red. Also, the name borders on vulgar. Talonista-chan is many things, frequently all at once, but Talonista-chan is NEVER vulgar.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK:
some fall stuff, I don't even know, I bought like all of it. Thank god none of the holiday previews interest me in the slightest. Really, Zoya? Essie? Really?

Saturday, September 3, 2011

ZOYA Smoke and Mirrors

As it is now September, I deem the season to be autumn for all practical purposes and can rotate the polish accordingly.

I bought just three of the twelve Zoya Smoke and Mirrors collection. Some of the others appealed to me, but the swatches I'd seen didn't look that great. If I find any on clearance later, I may pick up a couple more, in particular Yara and Cynthia.

Zoya Jana (smoke):

MERMAAAAAID


MERMAAAAAID


I am somewhat fond of this one. Personally I would call it a purple-based taupe. It went on quite smoothly and didn't make me want to punch babies. The wear wasn't very good, but this is a recurring problem I have with Zoya. Their color selection is above par, however, so I continue to purchase.

Zoya Nimue (mirror):

MERMAAAAAID


MERMAAAAAID

This was super shiny. The "sun" picture was taken in my car as I was fairly certain the light would be past prime before I left work (as indeed it was). The other one, I don' t know, at least two of the three light bulbs in my bathroom are supposed to be "daytime natural" or whatever, but it doesn't look like it.

Zoya Neeka (mirror):

MERMAAAAAID


MERMAAAAAID

Actually, I was disappointed in this one (should have gotten Cynthia instead). The bottle looks like the polish is way more glittery than it is once on the nail. The only photo I got that came close to capturing that was like. D-T level blurry. So you'll have to take my word for it.

I trimmed my nails way down after this round, because they looked borderline creepy. I cut them shorter than intended, as will be demonstrated next week (BUTTER LONDON SO EXCITED), but they will regenerate. I hope.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

ULTA Brand - The Hydrox of Nail Polish

I am such a high-maintenance person that my 2Q11 Ulta Rewards certificate was Level Twelve. I used half the points on nail polish since most of the rewards did not meet my exacting standards. I waited too long, so the selection was reduced largely to puke colors. These were the six I deemed adequate for my purpose.

MERMAAAAAID


Alter Ego. Light teal, maybe just a teeny bit silvered. I like this one.

meh

Lavish. This is sort of a grayed lavender with the tiniest possible gold glitter in it. Tiniest gold glitter really did not want to show up for the camera. It's neutral without being boring.

OH MY EYES

Celebutante. This was a fast swatch, so the cuticle situation is even more dire than usual. Bright purple creme. Somewhat reminiscent of OPI's Purple With a Purpose, only less purposeful.

OH MY SPLEEN

This is a horrible picture with flash, but the color is more true to life; it doesn't look as blue as the first shot by any means.

meh^2

Gold-Tipped Rose. This leans more towards a muted coral than "rose." It's a nice color if you're into that kind of thing.

meh

Sunset Bronze. Again, if these are your colors, this is a good specimen.

meh

Dance Teal Dawn.

The formula on all of these was acceptable. I like the two teals and the lavender quite a bit but probably won't hold onto the others for long. If I need to look like my orthodontist's receptionist in the early 1990s, there are better ways to do it than those particular pinks. These were my first ULTA house polishes, and I will definitely try them in better colors when my 3Q rewards arrive.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

DRAMA QUEEN

I got your PINK

PINK IS THE NEW BLACK

OPI Sparrow me the Drama, from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. Sorry, Suzi, the formula on this one streaks up like utter shite. It dried tolerably cleanly after three coats, but we are not impressed.

However, it was nothing two coats of Teenage Dream couldn't cure.

glitter in the air

like cockroaches and Ke$ha

I have three from this collection, and Sparrow me the Drama is probably my least favorite. It's a decent pink creme but lacks anything special to recommend it. I should have stamped black skulls on this one; it would have added interest and been appropriate to the pirate theme BUT I ALWAYS VOTE FOR THE NINJAS.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Dance un-teal the world ends

Three coats of Zoya Charla under one coat of Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe. Minor tip wear, but it's the third day. I'm busy this week.


I AM A MERMAID
I SWIM THE SEAS AT NIGHT
I SWIM THE SEAS AT NIGHT


THE MERMAID COLORS. I LIKE THEM.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

UNICOOOORN

I WANT TO BE MERMAID. ALSO A UNICORN


I drew a unicorn mermaid on my agenda at a recent board meeting and was then inspired to incorporate unicorn mermaids into every aspect of my day-to-day life. Unfortunately there is no specific Konad plate for this, so I opted for a unicorn stamp on a mermaid color. I think this was Essie Trophy Wife.


RED LIGHT YELLOW LIGHT GREEN LIGHT SKULL


Konad plate m28 seems to be work-appropriate for me. This delightful manicure was in celebration of budget meetings. OPI You're Such a Kabuki Queen. Seche Vite everywhere.

And so it begins.

(10:08:50 PM) kitsplut: here I did a bad thing http://talonista.blogspot.com/
(10:09:45 PM) bunnykun: um.
(10:09:46 PM) bunnykun: is this yours.
(10:10:34 PM) bunnykun: is nothing here that disproves your ownership
(10:10:35 PM) bunnykun: rather
(10:10:40 PM) bunnykun: everything points towards it
(10:10:45 PM) bunnykun: kinda like a flashing neon sign
(10:10:58 PM) bunnykun: saying "MANIA, THIS WAY ---->"
(10:12:30 PM) kitsplut: everyone else has one so I will have one toooooooo
(10:13:06 PM) bunnykun: everyone needs a hobby K*ko
(10:13:18 PM) kitsplut: it's better than my old hobby
(10:13:28 PM) kitsplut: there is still a shortage of type A- in this state
(10:15:14 PM) bunnykun: wait
(10:15:14 PM) bunnykun: what
(10:15:21 PM) kitsplut: :D