Konad m84 ~ New Plate!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I got an email from Jessica at WowSoCool last week telling me that there were two new Konad plates in, m84 and m85, as well as a new "multi stamper," and she sent them to me to review.  I'm always excited when there are new Konad plates, and I was especially happy for these because I just haven't done any nail stamping in a while.  I have a lot going on these days, and the times I've been inspired to Konad, I've simply run out of steam trying to pick which design to use in what color, so being limited to two was doing me a big favor!

I picked plate m84 first because it has lip prints.  Here's the stock image of the plate:

Konad Plate m84

I figured a pattern in addition to the lip prints would be good, so I went with the stars in the middle.  To get back to BCA pinks, I started out with a manicure of Eyeko Punk Polish, the two-coat hot pink, and black and white Konad Special Polish for the stamping.  I used the new multi-stamper for this manicure, and I really liked it.  This is the stock image of it.

Konad Multi Stamper in Stand

The picture shows two pieces, the stamper in its stand.  The top is the regular stamper, the side an angled metal scraper, and fit into the stand is the small Konad stamper, like on the double-sided one.  The first two stamps I did with it were a little awkward because I'm right-handed and have always scraped the plate right to left (toward me) to look at what I'm doing while I'm doing it, but the whole scraper is a little big to look around and moving it that way wasn't easy.  Then I tried scraping left to right, and it was the easiest thing ever - all it took to scrape the pattern perfectly was a little twist of the wrist, that's it.

What I liked best was that after scraping, I used the same tool to stamp.  One reason that appealed to me is that after applying thousands of Konad stamps because I love them, I still associate the process with picking things up and putting them down eighty bazillion times at breakneck speed.  This cut out the part where I quickly look for a place to put down the polish-covered scraper, find where I left the stamper and grab it, and pick up the pattern from the plate while racing the drying Konad polish.  Simplifying the process also cuts out a few seconds between painting the plate and picking up the stamp, which is helpful.  Whenever someone emails me saying she can't get Konad to work and asks for tips, the first thing I always mention is that you have to work at the speed of light, literally as fast as you possible can, and nine times out of ten I get a reply telling me that was it.

I know none of that is life and death stuff, and that's probably why it's useful.  Since Konad (and nail polish, for that matter) are entirely optional, keeping them as easy as they can be makes it likely that more people can use them well, and Konad is such a high payoff for very little effort that making the window where problems come up even shorter is a big help, so I'm a fan.  The speed came in handy with the stars, which I did in Konad White, since tiny shallow patterns dry ridiculously fast and are sometimes hard for me to stamp before they dry, but it worked here.  I added the lip print in black for an accent nail.  My pinky's stars are imperfect because I was too lazy to look for the Konad polish, used Misa Heaven White, was reminded of why I prefer Konad polish, got up to find the white one, and stamped over it.

Konad m84 over Eyeko Punk Polish

I like it because it's fun and a little silly.  That's why I love lip prints so much, they're so cartoonishly funny to me.  They always make me think of a friend of mine who died of brain cancer in 2004, and older guy of about 70 from a small town around here who worked a blue collar job in agriculture his whole life (one of those friendships where nothing matched but personalities).  He was the funniest person ever - he'd go between saying the most concise, deepest observations imaginable (always preceded by "Kid" when talking to me, since that's what he called me), saying and doing things for the sole purpose of annoying others, and flirting with all the younger women.  He didn't flirt in a gross lecherous way, he had a wonderful wife he'd been married to forever and absolutely adored, he just liked to flirt.  One evening after a gathering he came up to me and the two other women I was with and started his flirting, and he kept teasing me about my bright red lipstick.  I finally just I put my arm around his shoulders, stood on my toes, and planted a big red lip print on his cheek.  We had a good laugh and I took out a Kleenex and mirror so he could take it off, but he was having fun showing off that he got a kiss, and wore it home to show to his wife (who, knowing him best, also thought it was funny).  Ever since then, lip prints remind me of Larry and make me smile.

That covers a lot!  Now you know about Konad plate m84, the multi-stamper, and you've heard my lip print story!  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Excuse Moi

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a new polish that's also pink to show you, OPI Excuse Moi from the OPI Muppets Collection for Holiday 2011.  I only got a few of the OPI Muppets, and I'm especially happy with this one.

Excuse Moi is a pink base that's opaque enough to completely cover in two coats, but not so opaque that it obscures any of the myriad glitters it's completely loaded up with.  For today's manicure, I used base coat, two coats of Excuse Moi, giving each coat of color several minutes to dry a bit, then two coats of clear polish over Excuse Moi to smooth it out before applying one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite.  When applying the clear, I covered the edge of my nails all the way around with each coat and also gave each coat of clear a few minutes to dry, then applied the top coat, covering the edges a third time.  I did that because sometimes when top coat wears a little from typing or just proceeding with the day, if there's a piece of glitter exposed, it'll catch on everything it possibly can and annoy the heck out of me, but I've found the extra padding of some clear polish tends to bypass that.

Once it dried, I went out into the sun and took some pictures, so here is OPI Excuse Moi.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Two Coats

Check out all the glitter it has - this is a close up of part of one nail.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

That seems like a fair representation of The Muppets to me!  I loved really The Muppets growing up.  My mom only let us watch PBS when we were little, and Sesame Street was my favorite.  My dad was cooler and would let us watch Sonny & Cher sometimes, and he'd also get us Tater Tots and Lucky Charms when my mom went on trips (maybe that was so we wouldn't whine about when she was coming home...), but I was a Sesame Street gal at heart.  We'd watch The Muppet Show as a family when it started later on and going to see the movies was a great big deal, so I was glad that some of these polishes appeal to me for the nostalgia factor.  Some of them really, really don't - I currently have a pretty strong preference for smaller glitter.  The glitter in Excuse Moi is small but very visible, about the same size as that in OPI Teenage Dream.

Two coats of color and two coats of clear for a very smooth and totally opaque glitter manicure is about as good as I could possibly expect, so Excuse Moi makes me really happy.  I have a whole bunch of work to do this afternoon that's going to keep me inside, and this is a polish that make me really want to look at it in the sun, so I'll be fighting that impulse all afternoon.

That's my OPI Excuse Moi manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!


All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Think Merry! Pink Merry!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

For my first manicure of October, I thought I'd go with a pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, although the pink I chose, OPI's Think Merry! Pink Merry! isn't specifically a BCA color.  It was an Ulta Holiday Exclusive a few years ago, I think 2008, but it's a great pink so I'm wearing it.  I don't have any 2011 BCA colors - with the state of the economy as a whole and my household in particular, I'm becoming a bigger fan of direct donations or drumming up direct donations through pledges for walking.  Any money for research is great, so I have no argument with products supporting charities, it's more that my own cash is limited enough that I'd rather see a charity get  my $10 than $1 from a $10 purchase I've made.

I'm very aware of breast cancer this year - my closest cousin fought it a few years back and did well, being cancer-free for years.  She's in the medical field and working on a doctorate, and has been the ideal follow-up patient.  Between twice-yearly oncologist visits to verify everything's still clear with this being the last year of such visits, she was having a lot of joint and leg pain, really bad pain that required attention (for reference, she's given birth six times naturally without a painkiller), and the upshot was that the cancer had returned and gotten into her lymph nodes and bones, all within a matter of a few months.  That's some scary stuff, and it's mean in the sense that it hurts so badly and unfair in the sense that she actively participated in her own treatment and did everything modern medicine said to do yet still had a worst-case result.  It's a gruesome disease, and I tell her story for the awareness side of the month's theme.

So now that I've thoroughly bummed you out but decided to leave the story there because it's just one such case of many, I'll tell you about the manicure.  It's one coat of base coat, three very thin coats of Think Merry! Pink Merry! because the color is on the frosty side and thinner coats are kinder in terms of brush marks, then one coat of Poshe.  I let it dry and then took a picture ion the sun, so here's OPI Think Merry! Pink Merry!.

OPI Think Merry! Pink Merry! Nail Polish, Three Coats

I love the finish on this one because it has little sparkle bits and I like non-streaky frosts, and an opaque pale pink will always win my heart.

I'll be trying to go heavy on pinks this month, mixing in the other polishes I have to show you, so Think Merry! Pink Merry! is the beginning of my 2011 BCA pinks.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Hot Like Lava

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I did a quick color change to another of the Color Club Foils last night, so I'm wearing Hot Like Lava today.  It's got the same finish as the last (all six do), is partway between pink and red, and is fantastic.  One coat of Hot Like Lava would have been plenty but for the ridges in my nails, so I added a second and that concealed them nicely.  The polish was exceptionally easy to control, is very pigmented, and dried quickly.  I topped it off with a coat of Poshe and called it a manicure.

Since the likelihood that I'll think of taking a picture of the manicure later is very slim, I have an artificial light picture for you that I just took, and the polish is thoroughly dry.  To be honest, Hot Like Lava is really fabulously glowy in a way that never translates to a picture, so this picture sells it short.  What it reminds me of in indoor lighting is what metal looks like with a colored finish, the kind that's usually done on aluminum things - if an e-cig battery came in this color, I'd be all over it (that's the only colored aluminum item I'm using these days...).  There might be a name for colored metal like that, I don't know, but maybe Indi will help us out with that one.  Anyhow, since it the middle of the night I used artificial light, and my picture just gives you a tiny hint of how awesome this polish is.  I'll put my camera in my purse on the off chance I think of taking another one and if I get one that's worthwhile I'll tack it on later.  In the meantime, here's Hot Like Lava.

Color Club Hot Like Lava Nail Polish, Two Coats

The bright light for the picture washed the color out somewhat, and it's really a bit darker than it appears here, but this was the least washed out picture of the bunch.  The coolest thing about it is the glowiness, where in normal lighting a line down the center of my nails is lit up and the sides are darker, and I think any adequately lit picture loses that, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

So far, the Color Club Foils are two for two, and I'm looking forward to seeing if the winning streak continues.  For now, that's Hot Like Lava, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Girl Flower

Good morning, Dear Reader!

As planned, I'm kicking off my forties today wearing Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in the Girl Flower pattern.  There have been a few questions in recent weeks regarding whether a given age is too old for a particular look, and I think the nail strips give a pretty clear picture of my position on that.

In using various Salon Effects strips, I'm finding that there's variance in the durability of the strips, and the Girl Flower strips seemed a little more delicate than others I've used.  Once I realized that making a little tear in one of the first, I was just more careful in peeling them and didn't have any noteworthy problems.  I applied these to bare nails, no base coat at all, and bare nails seem to be preferable.  I didn't have the application nightmare I did last time, there weren't problems today, so it's fair to say the one tough application was a result of error on my part coming from being tired out. There's one thing I finally thought of doing when it mattered that might be worth passing on: I always start with my left hand, and I remembered to skip my left thumb so I could use that nail to peel the strips for my right hand, which is easier than peeling with a freshly decorated nail.  After applying the strips I added top coat to them to seal them and shine them up.  Here's my Girl Flower manicure.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Girl Flower

I love this.  My index nail always has a kind of messed up spot at the end of my nail bed because of the curve of my nail, but that doesn't show at all without magnification.

That's my forty-year-old's Girl Flower manicure, and I'm off to have one really good day.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nal polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Pink Wednesday: Franken Sugary Acid

Hallo ladies,

Today I have for you one of my new Frankens that I made specially for Pink Wednesday I'm not really sure I like it but you be the judge and tell me :)

If this is not a Mean Girls color I don't know what is LOL

The polish is one big pink jelly glitter BOMB!!!! My nails look so squishy





Here is a blurry pic so your able to see it sparkle.



So what do you think?

Thanks for looking,
Kesha

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fall 2011

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure collection to show you.  You might have read about it last Spring when promo images first came out, it's the collection created for Prabal Gurung's Victorian-inspired Fall collection.  Here's the backstory from Sally Hansen's PR:

Red carpet favorite Prabal Gurung teamed up with Sally Hansen and to create a new collection of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes to complement the designer’s Victorian-inspired fall collection. Celebrity manicurist, Jin Soon designed and hand painted each set of nails with new fall hue, Crinoline, a warm white base and added flecks of black polish for an Asian inspired design. Prabal Gurung and Sally Hansen will release their full five-color Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure collection in the fall. The patented polishes feature the most advanced lacquer formula, concentrated high-intensity color and encapsulated treatment spheres of Vita-Care technology.

Here's a promo images of the color all lined up.  It's a tiny one, but I have giant swatches so you'll see detail of each.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure with Prabal Gurung for Fall 2011

Furthest to the left is Dorien Grey, a nice medium light grey that's between a jelly and a creme.  At two coats it looked like a well-pigmented jelly, at three it's a super shiny creme.  This is three coats without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dorien Grey Nail Polish, Three Coats

The next one over is Crinoline, which is a barely beige-pink creme.  I needed three coats because I made the coats thin, and the third was required to even it out.  I think two moderate coats would do the same thing, but three is pretty standard for something this pale.  This is without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Crinoline Nail Polish, Three Coats

Ballet Rouges is in the middle, and it strikes me as a modern version of Crayola Carnation Pink in a creme nail polish.  It has a little of that faded-out quality that's common in very recent years, but it still looks Carnation Pink for the most part.  It's a great balance of pigment and shine, and two coats was perfect.  Here's Ballet Rouges without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ballet Rouges Nail Polish, Two Coats

The second from the right is Courtesan, a bright fuchsia creme that's also very pigmented and very shiny.  Two coats was plenty here, and the picture of Courtesan is without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Courtesan Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last one is Madame X, a slightly pinkish red creme.  One coat gave even, opaque coverage and I added a second for shine.  This is what I'm now wearing as a manicure, so Madame X does have top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Madame X Nail Polish, Two Coats

The quality of each of these is quite nice and I have no complaints about them, so I think it come down to color preference.  I always like well-done or updated simple shades, and these qualify.  Madame X is nice enough that I'd choose this formula over just about any other for the shade.

The press release tells me they'll be out this Fall, and that's as specific as it gets.  If I get additional info, I'll tack it on here, but I really have no reason to believe the release of these will be different than other, so different retail locations will likely get them at different times over the next couple of months.

That's what I know about the Prabal Gurung Sally Hansen limited edition colors, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



*The products featured were sent for independent review by a PR firm.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Starry Pink

I was all prepared to ignore the new Revlon glitters because the last ones were so disappointing to me. You might remember them - they were mixed-size, multicolored glitters in a clear base, sold with matching solid colors:

They look beautiful in the bottle but on the nail they didn't really do it for me. I ended up selling these to someone who probably put them to much better use!

So when I started seeing pictures of the new glitters I didn't think much about it. Particularly because one is a pretty close dupe for Deborah Lippman's Bad Romance, which I have and love. But then I saw pictures of Starry Pink and I kept wanting it...and wanting it...and not finding it. I'm not sure if these are Target exclusives or not, but that's where I found them and I haven't yet heard of anyone in the US finding them elsewhere.

Blue Mosaic, Starry Pink. I didn't get Facets of Fuchsia because it is a little too close to Bad Romance to justify having both. (For me anyway. You can do whatever you want!)

Blue Mosaic is in a clear base which, as I mentioned, usually turns me off. But the glitter is dense enough that you could get it opaque or nearly so in three coats.

This is two coats. Crummy pic but you get the idea.

Starry Pink...Starry Pink is just beautiful. It's large silver hex glitter and small round silver glitter in a milky, semi-sheer pink base.

I used two coats over one coat of Essie Marshmallow.

For whatever reason, these mixed-size glitters really grab me. I like the randomness of the pattern that the different sizes make, I guess. And I do love that this one is in a tinted base. This is a manicure that's subtle without being boring.

Did you buy any of these? Will you?

P2 Trouble / P2 Pink it up!

Hallo ladies,



I has the sad :( my France trip is dimming by the min...... BOOOOOOOO :( I hope it will still work out!!



Ok I have 2 beautiful color's that I think go great together!! P2 Trouble is a lime green and P2 Pink it up! is a bright pink. I wanted to do something bright and summery since theres been very little sun here :( I used 2 coats of Trouble then I wanted to try one of my faux plates (I'm loving this design) for the design I used Pink it up! Check out that combo, they sure pop!!















I tried a new top coat and as you can see a bit of the design smeared :( either I did not wait long enough for Pink it up to dry or this top coat SUCKS!!!! I'll have to use it again to be sure.



So what do you think about this mani?



Thanks for looking,

Kesha

Illamasqua Brigitte

Not long ago my nail pal The Asian Girl helped me get my hands on some Illamasqua polishes I've been wanting. Some of these have been on my wish list for a while now...I don't think I've bought an Illamasqua polish in more than a year. Longer even! Which is just crazy because they are truly lovely.

This is Illamasqua Brigitte. We are going to get married.

Brigitte is a jelly. Such a jellyish jelly that I was terrified when I opened the box because wow does it look sheer. It put me in my mind of my Ruby Kisses American Clear Pink, which made my nails look like a nuclear accident. I've also purchased other iterations of that color with equally disappointing results. Oh how I craved the perfect pink jelly!

This is four coats.

I used my Palladio ridge filler, which I haven't in a while, because it has a slight creamy tint to it. Just enough to take the edge off any stains on my nails.

With the first coat of Brigitte you definitely think "I have chosen...poorly." But with the second coat you can tell it's definitely going to build properly. I might have even stopped at three, but most of the swatches I found online that I liked showed four coats, so that's what I did.

Brigitte is a UK-exclusive Illamasqua shade, although when I tried to find it on Illamasqua's site this morning, I couldn't. So it's possible it's been discontinued. I couldn't find it on eBay, either! There are other UK-exclusive shades, though, and they retail for about $22US, depending on the conversion rate.

Orly Prisma Gloss Silver

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd show you Orly Prisma Gloss Silver this morning because it's an exceptionally nice fine holographic glitter top coat, my favorite of the ones available in brick and mortar stores in this area, but I rarely hear anything about it.

I started out with base coat, two coats of Orly Pixie Stix, one coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, then one of China Glaze Fast Forward.  This is the first time I've used Fast Forward, and it's pretty nice.  It dried all the polish thoroughly and quickly, but it's not very shiny.  Still, sometimes I'd rather just get a manicure totally dry in the evening so I can go to sleep without getting sheet marks, then just shine it up with a non quick dry top coat in the morning, so it's nice to know this works well for the drying part.

With Prisma Gloss, using one coat was good because I usually need more than one coat to get as much glitter as I like.  Since I only use glitters like this for layering, being able to shave a coat off the total count matters - the difference between two coats of color and three isn't huge, but beyond that I always have a sense of lots of question marks around whether a manicure will dry well, and I've messed up more than I could count waiting for a lot of coats to dry.  With a total of three coats of color on this one, it's dried really well.  Here it is in sunlight.

Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, One Coat, over Orly Pixie Stix Nail Polish

I have the gold version of this as well, but I don't recall ever trying it out.  I'll break it out this week so we can see if it's as cool as Prisma Gloss Silver.


That's what I know, so until next time, Dear reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Very Cherry

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm digging the sparkly Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears so much that I have another of them to show you this morning, Very Cherry.  It's a pink red (or red pink) with a finish like that of Deep Blue Sea and Midnight Sky.  Like those two, it's perfect in two coats and really easy to apply neatly.

For today's manicure I use one coat of a Nutra Nail base coat (as I continue to use things up), two coats of Very Cherry, and one of Diamont to dry it.  Here's my Very Cherry manicure in morning sunlight.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Very Cherry Nail Polish, Two Coats

I have quite a few other things to show you that have been sent for review, but it was hard to pass up Very Cherry on a sunny day.  It's too pretty.

That's Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Very Cherry, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!


All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Just Tinted Victorian

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After a few days of wearing strong colors, a Revlon Just Tinted jelly polish seemed in order today, so I went with Victorian, a medium pink.

Victorian applied reasonably well, but I needed four coats.  It was still quite sheer after three, so I knew a fourth wouldn't make a tremendous difference in opacity, but when I took a look to see if I could stop at three, the color was pretty blotchy.  The fourth evened it out, then I used a coat of Poshe to dry it and one of that Sally Hansen Salon 10 Day Speed Dry top coat I mentioned the other day to shine it up.  This is Revlon Just Tinted Victorian in sunlight after it was pretty dry.

Revlon Just Tinted Victorian Nail Polish, Four Coats

I think it's pretty, but that's a lot of coats.  If you recall, I often have troubles with Revlon polishes completely curing well, so I'm a little concerned that this will be a Braille manicure by this evening even though I allowed each coat to really set for a few minutes before applying the next.  Time will tell.  It's a nice break from bolder shades without going for all-out sheer, so I'm willing to wait and see if it dries properly.

That's the manicure for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



Later that day... A few hours after posting, I was connecting cables and hardware for a network, and my polish dented pretty badly.  No bubbles or smudges, it just stayed a little bit denty.  Boo.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen.

Elizabeth Arden Vincenza Raspberry

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Elizabeth Arden Vincenza Raspberry is another fabulous discontinued polish uncovered in my time capsule from the other day.  It's a gorgeous, slightly jelly base that's the color of raspberry sorbet and full of tiny gold flaky glittery bits.  I used three coats to make it as opaque as I wanted it, and it turned out really well.  Here's Vincenza Raspberry in sunlight after it dried.

Elizabeth Arden Vincenza Raspberry Nail Polish, Three Coats

Ain't she a beauty?  It's a good one for today, my mom's birthday, because it's a really chipper color.  This year, my dad and I are celebrating my mom's birthday by going out to lunch and then to some new shopping outlet.  We both generally detest shopping while it was my mom's favorite sport, so she'd be thrilled that we went out to check this place out  for her.  Truthfully, I think my dad has ulterior motives - my sister took him there last week and he was enthralled with looking at air rifles (he's 85, what the heck does he need with an air rifle?), and I believe he's managed to rationalize some need for one in the days since he saw them and that we'll be leaving with one today.  Since it's his cash, it's his business (well, sometimes my entertainment too), so I'll just stand by with a fabulous manicure during the rifle purchase.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen.

A Perfect Birthday manicure

For my birthday I wanted a special manicure so...What better polish to celebrate 38 with than Fu@% off and Dye?!  Hot pink shimmery matte perfection
I kept my ring finger shiny because my sparkly heart looked odd matteThis is 2 coats of FoaD (ManGlaze's usual fabulous formula)and if you must add shiny to coat this beautiful teal shimmer emerges (drool)Gorgeous any way you wear it!If you want to

Revlon Just Tinted in Desire

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I decided to try out a Revlon Just Tinted nail polish, Desire, for today because although Zoya Smoke is lovely, with a heat index of 105° it's difficult to get enthusiastic about a Fall color so I took a Return to Summer break.

Revlon's Just Tinted line is rather lightly pigmented jellies, and I'd eyed a couple a few times before finally getting them during a sale for the day when my nails would be short enough to wear them.  Lo and behold, that day has arrived.  The shade I chose for today, Desire, is a very bright pink, perfect for summer.  I needed three coats of Desire to make the color even, and it seems to be drying well with quick dry top coat.  This manicure screams of Summer.

Revlon Just Tinted Nail Polish in Desire, Three Coats

I like it because it's so summery, and it's a really nice one for the current length of my nails.  It makes me want to feast on seedless watermelon.

That's all there is to my Revlon Just Tinted Desire manicure, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Orly Flirty

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I have Orly Flirty to show you from Orly's Happy Go Lucky Collection for Summer 2011.  It's the pink shimmer in the release, and it's perfect.  It's an almost neon pink that's extremely well pigmented with two coats going on easily and providing opaque coverage, it dries very quickly (when I started the second coat, the first was dry with no waiting around time in between), and the color and finish are fabulous together.  I only had cloudy weather for a picture, but Flirty was up to the task.  Please excuse the felt lint on my thumb which the proof read has revealed to me...

Orly Flirty Nail Polish, Two Coats

One sort of strange thing is that once the polish is totally cured, the surface of my nails feels kind of like they're coated in ceramic.  Flirty is not the first polish that dried to feel this way and it's not a problem in any way, it just feels funny in a not-bad way (not especially good either, more like interesting).

I think I'm so smitten with Flirty because it has a strong shimmer and this shade of pink makes me happy, so not everyone should expect to be as enamored with it as I am.  I'm aware that some find pink nail polish to be a bit boring and safe, but it's really high on my list of favorites just the same.  I guess some things are traditional because they work well...

That's Orly Flirty and the news of the day, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!