SUMMER BUBBLES: Del Sol color-changing* polish

I have owned Del Sol First Kiss for quite a while and decided it was time to try it.

  

The "before" silvery pink color is very close to how I remember my first nail polish ever: Love My Nails Innocent Pink, given to me at age six by a student teacher who knew not what she wrought. I kept it for years and years, until it finally got sort of yellowy and unfortunate. Then I barely missed my last opportunity to buy another before the brand went defunct; you could buy it at Walmart forever, but when it finally occurred to me, all I could find were some godawful magenta ones in a clearance bin.

  

My older, more sophisticated palate decried the color as TOTES BORING (also the VNL was unacceptable), so I stamped it with the bubbles from Mash-43 in China Glaze Galactic Gray (very subtle effect). Then I got all glitter-happy and added a layer of OPI Pirouette My Whistle to simulate MORE BUBBLES.

* There were too many layers of top coat to allow enough UV light in to change the Del Sol. Sometimes I fail to think these things through.

  

It does change color nicely in the bottle, so presumably, if you don't slop on endless UV-filtering top coat, it will also change on your nails. I ordered it from Sally's, but they have a wider variety on the Del Sol website in delightfully redesigned bottles. SWEET.

OPI LIQUID SAND: at least it's purple

OPI's Facebook page claims this will be available "as early as" January 2, 2013. I purchased this on December 29, 2012 and saw it in a salon the day before. Do they purposely give us a fake availability date and then release them sooner to make us all excited that we found something early? Or it is a failing on the retail side? what-ever.

I was not interested in "matte glitter" and object to Mariah Carey so had no plans to pick up any of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. Then I was at Ulta, and then there was a purple one, and why does this always happen....

  

OPI Can't Let Go. I like it more than expected. Dry time is pretty good, and it's holding up well for lack of top coat. I've had this on about forty-eight hours, and there's just some minor tip wear...but I have an overwhelming urge to pick at it.

  

I am afraid this may require lasers to be removed.

  

The texture is interesting, but two thick layers of Seche Vite transform it into shiny love-love as shown below. Although SOMEONE just told me that looks "kind of like vomit," so I guess it's personal preference.

  

FIFTH DAY: water abstract

So I can't really call this a water marble, but it's...ALSO FESTIVE.

Note: I have only heard two people use the word "festive" in a non-sarcastic or -ironic way: my friend Rob and Lance the UPS person who visits the office. They share several characteristics, which has led me to believe they may be long-lost cousins. Lance calls me "Cookie Lady," which is vaguely annoying.

  

OPI An Affair in Red Square, Happy Anniversary!, and the Ulta-exclusive holiday 2012 Skip the Gift Wrap (that rates 89 of 100 on my Dumb Name Scale), finished with two coats of Orly Twilight. For that pearly luster.

  

The middle finger came out pretty well, which is fortunate, considering we have board meetings this week.

  

The right hand wasn't too horrible. My main issue has been the polish drying too quickly on the water, in part due to the reluctance of the polish still on the brush to drop nicely into the cup. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT RIGHT or possibly INSANE but QUITTERS NEVER WIN POWERBALL, or something like that.

FIRST DAY: snowflakes glitter love

It is DECEMBER. That means it is time for HOLIDAY NAILS. I am EXCITED.

  

I stamped the snowflakes from BM14 on China Glaze Blue Year's Eve with Konad white polish and OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, then topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust. Lucerne did not offer enough contrast to show up as more than a shimmery shadow; I would like to do this one again with white and ice blue snowflakes and maybe a different plate. Two people thought these were stars, which is understandable as smudge happened.

  

I usually prefer teal rather than blue, but this one is a delicious cold glass-fleck type. GOOD JOB CHINA GLAZE.

  

The thumbs came out pretty well.

  

It may be December, but the high is sixty degrees today, so this will be the only snow in my life for the foreseeable future. It is good for the utility bills but bad for holiday morale. I will squeeze my eyes shut and PRETEND.

GLITTER SHATTER: OPI plus 212-Sephora

I know that everyone is well over the crackle polish by now, but I only recently figured out that it hates Seche Vite with a burning, passionate loathing. So for your passive entertainment I present OPI Gold Shatter with Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora.

  

Sometimes I am brilliant, smart, and adorable. Other times, you have to smack me in the face with a brick. I didn't realize that 212-SEPHORA was their actual phone number until I had owned this polish upwards of a year. I GOT A 32 COMPOSITE SCORE ON THE ACT, GUYS. PEOPLE LIKE ME VOTE.

Re: phone numbers, I spent an entire board meeting calling various toll free UNICORN numbers (864-2676). None of them were in service except 1-877-UNICORN, which rang and rang and rang. I so desperately wanted its voice mail.

  

I thought the gold shatter would go well with 212-Sephora since the latter's base is a kind of golden black (see also: K-sama as L-sama), but I think the contrast with a black black blackity-black would look better. It would be appropriate next time I go home around a Mizzou game, but that would involve finding out when the games are, and the bay is dry.

  

It was quite kind to my short lil thumbnail, anyway.

  

WHY DON'T I JUST SPRAY MYSELF WITH ADHESIVE AND TAKE A DUST BATH IN GLITTER yes please.

WAIT WHAT: OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Here we have OPI's Just Spotted the Lizard from the recent Spiderman collection of summer 2012. Another dupe for Chanel Peridot, it has proven rather popular. I had almost given up getting my acquisitive little fingers on it when it turned up at my salon. Consolation for a massive wax bruise in my elbow INDEED.

  

I wore it plain on the first day but kept picturing it stamped with the concentric ringy-dings from BM19. I have a hard time with full-nail designs, but that one is a little more forgiving than some. I had to apply extra little bits around the edges, and the uneducated eyes could not tell.

  

The color shift was not all that pronounced; it's a pretty color, but it's prettier in the bottle. As I have sworn a blood oath to collect all golden nail polishes, that does not necessarily disappoint.

  

You can still catch a glimpse of green in the right light, though. I think the right light is mostly found on Neptune in the spring.

  

I have no idea what lizards have to do with Spiderman and am betting >75% of people purchasing this polish don't either. DEAR OPI: WE NEED A SAILORMOON TIE-IN FOR SUMMER 2013 GET ON THAT SUZI PLSKTHX.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY (or, as I like to call it, Wednesday)

My fingernails are my one acknowledgement of Boom Day, as I can wear neither red nor blue in any flattering sense and have to work. Whoever complains about lazy government employees obviously never worked for small government.

  

Here we have a Sally Hansen Hard As Nail Xtreme Wear White Out under OPI Red Shatter with an accent nail of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve and Konad white stars from plate m3. It would have looked better with more stars, but for once I quit while I was ahead.



Originally I tried to paint them solid red and stamp white stripes, but the full-nail plates are not wide enough for my particular full nails. Or long enough, but I can fudge that with colored French tips. I tried to extend the stripes by hand, but it looked like a drunken five-year-old's masterpiece, so I redid them. At 11:30pm on a Sunday. PRIORITIES.

  

Lots of positive feedback on this one. It's holding up pretty well, too; day three and only very minor tip wear. I'm hoping a couple more layers of Seche Vite will take it through Saturday.

THE MOST BORING NAILS IN THE WORLD: OPI Soft Shades

Disclaimer: I care for neither sheer polish nor jellies, so my opinion is definitely slanted. 

 I needed to look relatively normal today in order not to terrify a visitor from the state department of revenue, so I dragged out OPI In the Spot-Light Pink from last spring's Femme de Cirque collection. I have no idea when or why I picked these up, honestly.

 


In the interests of not throwing up on my hands through the course of the day and so defeating the "relatively normal" purpose, I added two coats of I Juggle...Men from the same collection so it would glitter even if only I could see it.  ( Does anyone understand the ellipses in that name? Am I too obtuse for the pun?)

Sun:




Today Penny-at-work who loves me said again that I could be a hand model.  I remember when people just used to say I could be a model @#*$&raaahhhrrrr oh well Penny I love you.

Inside:




I tried to clean those edges for a better picture and did something unfortunate to my ring finger.  s i g h

Inside with flash:




Normally I despise flash, but that is more true to color.

I used these one other time but tried to build it up to no VNL, which took enough coats that it self-destructed. This is three coats over Butter London's Nail Foundation.

Really, though, these aren't bad if you're into wedding magazines or ghost hands or your boss is an asshole (which mine is not, pretty sure I could show up in cat ears and he'd just laugh about it)(while backing away slowly).  I did contemplate buying the lavender one from this spring's NYC Ballet collection just because purple, but by the time I dragged myself to Ulta with half-hearted intent, they were already gone.  So I bought two Layla holographics instead.  WIN.

THIS WILL BE OUR YEAR: took a long time to come

I eschewed work during the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s and was rewarded for my trouble by finding a cache of my lemmings at a nail salon. I only allowed myself to purchase ONE so chose OPI’s It’s My Year hoping it would be a good luck charm for 2012.




Pictured here with the very similar Rally Pretty Pink from one of the Serena Williams sets (if anyone figures out why they paired that with a red crackle, enlighten me, because vomit).




Rally Pretty Pink for comparison on my ring finger (second from bottom) (three coats of each, could have used a fourth). In most lights these looked almost exactly alike.




You can see the difference more here. Rally Pretty Pink is second from the top.




It’s My Year on top (I think). Purple and gold are my best non-mermaid colors, so a warm purple with gold shimmer was more or less made for me.

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.




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.




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.




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




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!




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!

DRAMA QUEEN

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.





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.

UNICOOOORN

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.





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.