Nails Inc Paradise Walk & Plate XL A

Good morning. Dear Reader!

Yesterday was just one of those days for me, you know the kind where every attempt to accomplish anything at all is thwarted and generates more projects?  I was really frustrated by early evening, which is when I've been doing my nails lately, so I figured I'd do best to think up something really fun lest I get into a bad mood.  It worked - by nighttime I was laughing maniacally with my beloved, so all was well.

Neons are always very fun for me, so I broke out the Nails Inc Kings of Neon Collection from last summer (I think that's when it was released - I got it at a decent discount, so it may have been earlier).  It's a set of eight minis, six neon colors, their silk base coat, and Kensington Caviar Top Coat.  Here's one of their promo pictures of the set.

Nails Inc Kings of Neon Collection

The thing is, these are micro minis at 4.5 ml rather than the usual 5ml.  Not much of a net difference, but 10% less is 10% less.  For the base that was fine, but got more difficult later.  The colors I used were the pink, called Paradise Walk (3rd from left), and  the blue just to its right, Phoenix Street, as an accent.  The blue needed three coats, typical for a neon but unusual for a Nails Inc, and that was tolerable, but required dipping the brush twice per nail per coat.  Paradise Walk was a lot testier with 5 coats, which used up half of the mini, and for coats 4-5 I had to dip the brush three times per nail since the polish was lower.  The top coat might just be my all-time favorite (ignoring cost, that is - I would never pay retail for it!), but it was harder to use from a mini.  It's like a watery thin Lippmann Addicted to Speed - it's fast to freeze up like the Lippmann and works super fast and well, but since the Nails Inc is thin, it's not a race to spread it out before it starts to freeze up.  With the mini requiring a double dip, I was slower, and the second drop per nail was a race.

After that, I stamped a pattern from plate XL A (one which somehow reminds me of the set of Laugh In) on my tips using Konad White.  Konad White Pearl is less likely to smudge, but I like the stark contrast of white creme on neon creme, so I just used White and finished with Konad top coat and another quick dry, and it worked out.  One note: in the bottle, Paradise Walk is distinctly pink (the picture above is color accurate for the bottle on my monitor), but it dries pink-red.  A couple of the color Club pink neons are this way too, and even if I like the pink-red it's a disappointment because I wanted the pink of the bottle color.

Nails Inc Paradise Walk Nail Polish with Plate XL A and Phoenix Street Accent

It's not quite what I had in mind since I wanted pink pink, but all I was aiming for was fun enough to make me chipper, so mission accomplished.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you! 

P.S. I meant to mention one bit of sad news I received yesterday.  You might recall that I had a favorite UK ebay seller who later started her own site, Jacqui from Beautyspot Cosmetics.  I got a message from her email address that had her husband's name on it making the announcement that Jacqui had passed away (explaining the resulting short delays on orders, if you can believe the poor man was tending to that).  I was very sad because she was really a lovely woman, and the note was signed by her husband and three kids who  will continue the family business.  I wanted to mention it in case any of you were as fond of her as I was.  Rest in peace, Jacqui.