Birthday Haul!

For my birthday this year, I wanted something simple. I wanted something useful. And I wanted it to come through the mail because it is HOT outside.

So, I ordered nail polish from Walgreens. As far as I know, they're the only place online to order Sinful Colors, and while a lot of the more expensive brands have released some cool colors, I was feeling extraordinarily cheap. But I do like Sinful, I think they might be the very best drugstore brand, and they certainly have the most colors.

From L-R, on my scarred up old desk, Sinful Colors "Love Nails", "24/7", "Midnight Blue", "Purple Diamond", Wet N' Wild "FuchsiaRama", Sinful Colors "Boogie Nights"

I'm a bit disappointed with "Love Nails" because it looks so similar to the other shimmery blue polishes I have from them. Shimmery blue is to Sinful Colors as orangey reds are to Essie. But I'll give it a try.

I plan on swatching these throughout the week (I'm on vacation, y'all!), and tomorrow REIT will be showing how awesome her nails look today.

Feels good to blog about nail polish again!

How I'm Faking "Glitter In The Air"

I've been crazy busy with work, but I had to share this. Everyone has been going crazy over Deborah Lippman's "Glitter In The Air" from her summer collection. I'm sorry, but I cannot stand the thought of spending twenty-dollars on yet another chunky glitter polish, especially when so many of the reviews seemed to be, "Yes, it's very sheer and a bit disappointing, but DEBORAH LIPPMAN!"Another common component also seems to be "It doesn't look the way it looks in the bottle." So, here's how I'm faking "Glitter In The Air":



It doesn't look like the swatches I've seen, but it does look the way it looks in the bottle, or darn close!

Here's what I used:



I achieved this look by putting down one coat of "Poseidon" from Nox's Twilight collection (R). I got that one for $1.74 on clearance. Nice. Then, I used a coat of NYC "Starry Silver Glitter" (L), a clear base with fine silver holo glitter and chunky blue and pink glitter. I then repeated those steps, and finished it off with a very thin coat of Mary Kay "Natural Pink" (C), a very sheer neutral creme. It doesn't look pink at all, as you can see in the photo.

Well, it's back to the grind for me. I'm going to spend the rest of my work day admiring my very cheap alternative to that expensive polish!

Glitter Crazed Accident

Today, I took a journey into the heart of what it means to take a manicure a step too far. Or several steps too far.

I started off wearing Rescue Beauty Lounge "Catherine". I love, love, love the Real Housewives of The Tudor Dynasty collection, but I don't wear the colors often because, well, I just don't like the formula. They dry slowly and never really harden up enough to avoid marks. So, I woke up this morning with lots of little cuts in the surface and tip wear. I wanted to get at least a full day of wear out of it. So I decided I should put a layer of something over it.

I decided that E.L.F. "Golden Goddess" would work well over it. I'm sure I broke some kind of nail polish etiquette, layering a .99 grocery store polish over RBL, but I didn't intend to blog about it at the time. I let it dry, then decided that I needed tips. And I hadn't worn Orly "Galaxy Girl" for a long time. I taped off my nails and added tips. Then, I really loved the way the tips looked. So I did the whole nail:

For those keeping score at home, this is three thin coats of RBL "Catherine", and a coat each of "Golden Goddess" and "Galaxy Girl", plus a base coat, and a coat of Out The Door for each polish color. Since things were already thick, I thought, "Surely there must be some way to add more to this abomination." I just could decide what:

Studio M "Fast Play" on the thumb, Sinful Colors "Hottie" on the index, then Sinful Colors "UFO" and Sinful Colors "Pinky Glitter". The pinky is Sinful Colors "Nail Junkie". I think I could have planned the naming scheme better. They actually did all look different in person. I'll definitely be trying "Nail Junkie" over black sometime soon.

After all this, I decided to use Finger Paints "Sparkle Top Coat" over it, and then I decided I was probably forgetting to take my anti-depressant and took it all off.

And that, my friends, is a story that had no point, a manicure that went nowhere.

Tigers in 2011! Whooo hooo!

I live in Michigan, and in Michigan, you have two choices. Either be a fan of the Detroit Tigers, or a fan of the Yankees, because Derek Jeter lived here. I would rather let a hamster bite out my own eyes than be a Yankees fan. No offense, New Yorkers. But I'm a Detroit fan.

Last night, I asked my twitter peeps what I should do with my nails, and my friend Jill, a raging Tigers supporter, suggested I do a Tigers manicure. So, without further ado:

For the base, I used Studio M "Orange Hot". For the french tips, Orly "Royal Navy". Which is much more sparkly if you store the bottle upside down. I don't remember who blogged that tip, but it has made m appreciate that polish so much more. For the tiger stripes, I used a Kiss art striper polish.

Of course, R.E.I.T. had to get in on the orange act:

...but she couldn't hold her fingers still long enough to get a good picture.

You might have noticed that my raggedy cuticles look a lot better these days. I've ditched the cuticle oil in favor of a different product to treat the dryness, and it works like a charm. I'm almost embarrassed to say what it is, because it seems like such a "duh, of course that would work" solution. I've been rubbing super emollient foot cream with alpha hydroxy into my cuticles once a day. This also works as a cuticle remover. So, things are looking much better around my nails these days. I just hope I remember this next winter.

Luck of the Bloggish!

I'm sure you're just dying to know what we've been wearing during my unplanned (read: I was lazy) hiatus from the nail blog. We celebrated St. Patrick's day last Friday, since we're in our thirties and have kids that get up early for school and general mayhem.

So, what did I wear to THE green event of the season?


Even though China Glaze "Mistletoe Kisses" is technically a Christmas color, you can't deny that the outrageous green sparkles make it perfect for pulling double duty on St. Paddy's day.
Here it is with some tip wear, because this photo was taken post-party, through what has to be the worst hangover anyone in the known universe has ever suffered.

I will also be wearing this color to Ann Arbor's Hash Bash on April 2nd, unless I decide to get crafty and put some Marijuana-themed nail art on there.

The Happiest Manicure Ever

R.E.I.T. and I live in Michigan, and as you probably know, Michigan is the single darkest, coldest, most depressing place on earth during the winter. It's wet and dank and gray all the time, from about November to about May. But then this week, a miracle happened! The sun came out, in February! And the temps were in the upper forties! I went outside without a coat on!

To commemorate this amazing occasion, I crafted the funniest, sunniest, most happiest manicure you've ever seen:
Two coats of Pure Ice "Superstar" (white) as a base for two coats of Studio M "Neon Caution", topped off with a coat of Milani "Gems". Super sunny and bright, perfect for these precious few sunny days.

The Valentine's Day Manicure Conundrum

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. One, you get candy, usually. Two, it's the one day of the year that pink and red are totally acceptable when paired together. As such, I planned my Valentine manicure so as to achieve maximum foofiness. Last month, I gave this one a test run:

That was too saccharine, even for me. So, I decided to go with something more like this:
Which was a little more understated. But ultimately, I didn't wear any red or any pink on V-Day. I wore OPI "Simmer and Shimmer". I guess I just wasn't feeling the V-day spirit.

R.E.I.T., however, had her own plans for Valentine's Day. She wanted to wear OPI "Black Shatter" over red. Which would have been an awesome combination, if we actually owned Black Shatter. Mommy had to get resourceful. R.E.I.T. ended up wearing China Glaze "Salsa" with a very, very thin coat of Sinful Colors "Black on Black" over the top. The brush strokes were just enough to convince her that she was wearing "Black Shatter".