Early Winters

This season puts me in mind to fireplaces, cocoa, and cozy blankets. Especially when it's rainy, I've got to say this trove of old photos perfectly coincides with this feeling!


I am still getting my head around sponge application, and I know that next time I will definitely use some latex body paint. No kidding around!


OPI Wondrous Star

Pros: interesting contrasting dark shimmer that I think is black. That aged silver look is very nice. I will say that if sponging was done right, I might have a wall of silvery light across my nail. It just didn't work out for me.

Cons: not super dense, even with sponging. I think it needed more on the sides, but without latex body paint, it was a pain.

This is from Mariah Carey's 2013 Holiday collection. I found a lot of these at TJMaxx, a price point that is nice for testing things out!

I know that it seems to be  metallic glass fleck and not a glitter, so its left a ton of residue, even after extensive clean up!

I think, though, it's more of a topper.


Here it is over LDL 207

To me the star is the red, it's an oldie. An early purchase back when Ross was the super score for oddball greatness. I blogged it briefly here.

I won't lie, Wondrous Star doesn't feel like a full on win. More like Salt n Pepa.

Meanwhile, let me roast my toesies in front of a fire and imagine me inside and the rain and snow outside!


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Mendeleev Had Something To Do With This

I love the periodic table, it's loaded with history. First a mere list, then as it grew to 60 elements, Dmitri Mendeleev saw patterns and periodicity, and the best part is how the predictability of empty spots over time filled with actual elements.
People thought water and fire were elements, and things like phlogiston were considered elements instead of evidence of a reaction.

Understanding the elements, how they are formed, how they react and how they behave takes alchemy out of the mix and replaces it with something even more interesting: things like quantum mechanics and fusion reactions. Besides, who wants to waste time making lead into gold (I believe last time I read about doing that, the cost made it prohibitive) when you can learn about atomic decay, which is kind of like alchemy, when you think about it.

Back to the chemistry I love best: nail polish.

Here's Vivid Lacquer's science plate. It is a magnificent thing. Mostly because it has a big old periodic chart on it!

Here's my stamping:

Base: LDL/Elle Elle burgundy red shimmer
Stamping polish: Cover Girl white, which has lost a bit of it's solvents so it's a bit thicker and stamps surprisingly well.
Nothing fancy.

I tried horizontally and vertically, while I love both, I think I like vertically best. There are some corners of the table that are harder to get, so I really couldn't get the Noble Gases or Lithium in there, though the Metals are fully represented and a couple of transition elements, too.

Here's a photo of the plate:

There are some really cool images on this plate besides the Periodic chart: DNA strands, some equations, planetoidy stuff (Red Dwarf reference), and some Erlenmeyer flasks to boot!

It kind of made my day when I found the plate, Vivid Lacquer is on Etsy, and made my week when I got to stamp with it. Much fun had all around!

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Houndstooth Variations

Prints and retro influences are quite on point these days, and houndstooth has been quite a favorite of mine.

Fortunately BundleMonster plate BM19 has a good size for my small fingers!

OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square stamped with Orly Opposites Attract:

I blogged Orly Opposites Attract a bit of a while ago, here, and thought it might work for a stamping polish, and OH BOY! Love at first site!
It pulls much more blue here, too.

Borghese Stellare Notte stamped with OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square

This was was a pretty ad hoc attempt to see if the OPI would stamp, and low and behold, it did! You can see where I repaired the stamp, meaning it didn't quite reach in my application.

This reminds me of a dress I saw online:

Source: http://www.fashionisers.com/trends/fall-winter-2015-2016-print-trends/

Cover Girl white stamped with LDL/ElleElle 209

I did this one earlier and it inspired me to do the other two. I have to admit I was thoroughly surprised how beautifully this deep vamp stamped. I thought it would be dark, but it came out bright berry. Hard to not love this one.

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City Lights

I have a love hate relationship with LDL 431.

It is a sheer shimmer from the LDL/Elle Elle sets back in 2009/10.

The color is glorious! It's a camellia red, but with undertones of pinks. It's very bright and robust, and I don't have anything like it.

It does seem to be too sheer at times to build, but in fact it's pretty nice.
I did blog it here before, but it seems like it was hidden away.

The other polish in the show is Maybelline Pot of Gold. I have blogged it before here and found that it's been kind of a nice neutral gold.

Layered below it warms up LDL 431 and reminds me of Pisarro's The Boulevard Montmartre at Night and the glistening warm windows with people at dinner, drinking, and dancing.

Excuse the sloppiness, I was just wearing this and wanted to grab a photo, came out a bit better than I thought it would!

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Nudes for Nubs

Had to cut my nails down and wanted to experiment with some nude shades that might be fun to wear until I get a little length on them.

Four nudes and I will say that I haven't had my nails this short in a while, be forewarned!

Nude is a relative term. In my case it's a little more yellow and, this time of year, somewhat more tanned.

It varies with individuals so "nudes" is qualified.




Bonita no name

A Bonita that was in a 6 pack from Ross. Looks very similar to OPI Samoan Sand, but I didn't do a comparison. Not sure if these are still at Ross, I found these in late winter and rarely see any polish that's halfway decent any more. It's a shame.

Three coats, no top coat and probably could do two coats, it's a lovely formula. Love it!




Milani Creme Brûlée

This is a super sheer four coater and no top coat. I think to make it work a ridge filler would be in order.

These are often at Dollar Tree but so sheer.

I am moving it into a color corrector base coat since staining is almost a permanent status and while I am often using whitening toothpaste, sometimes it's just handy to have something to correct it with a quick base coat.




LDL Elle Elle 227

This is from those 9-packs at Ross back in 2009 or 2010.

This is three coats with a top coat. I think it's a bit of a butthead of a formula, despite this photo, it didn't self-level and it was fairly uneven. Rather a difficult polish.




Sally Hansen Crystal Chrome Champagne Crystal

This is an old Dollar Tree find. Unfortunately it's a "crystal" chrome and so it has a frosty, brushstroke-y chrome that seems to be less of a chrome and more of a metallic pearl.

When your nails are about 8 by 6 mm, this kind of polish can be super challenging to apply.


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Hot Summer Pinks Part 1

Whipping out more stuff that has sat untried or unblogged for far too long. Summer is the right time for hot colors, neons, whites and glorious brights. Let's toss a few out there!

First two up I've wanted to share for a while.

Enjoy!

LDL/Elle Elle 435.
This is from a 9 pack found at Ross. I have to admit, I snapped up a number of these as I tried out the formula. It dries well, wears like iron, is easy to work with, and, bonus, it's got a cute cubist bottle that taps into my inner PoMo aesthetic.
This is a bright pink shimmer.
Three coats, no top coat.
Shows the ridges a bit, also not self-leveling. I had bubbling, but it may have needed thinning. It's been on the shelf a while. Eep.
So, while it has its flaws, it covers well, which seems like a win to me.

China Glaze Hang Ten Toes.

A gorgeous hot pink thiscloseto neon with pale blue shimmer.
Lovely, frothy shimmer, not a real heavy shimmer, just delicate.

Three coats, not top coat, no white base. You can see a little bit of VNL in the top photo, but it's not bad enough to cause mayhem.

It's from the 2012 Summer Neon's collection.

I've spent so much time with the Color Club neons, I feel I've missed out on this whole collection!


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A Plentitude of Pale Pinks Pt 3

Welcome back to part 3 of my ensemble of pale pinks.

I chose a theme of old, new, perfect, impossible, obscure, well known to classify these babies.

Let's hit it!



The "Obscure"

LDL Elle Elle 228

I love this polish in the bottle. It's a soft, delicate pink that has a gorgeous hidden pink shimmer. It's so hidden that you pretty much have to either use flash or just enjoy it in the sun. It's so hidden, it's a shimmer for personal use only! ;D

Three coats, no top coat.

This was purchased by me at Ross, it was in a 9 pack back in 2010.

Lovely. The pale polish and the pale shimmer wouldn't emerge in my lighting.

Dense and a very nice formula, I had no issue with coverage or handling or drying. When dry this stuff wears exceptionally well. I have a nude that has a similar shimmer and I love it, too.

If you find one floating around, grab it. It's rare to find such an excellent formula in a pastel like this.

Here's a photo of the secret shimmer in the bottle:

Gawgeous.
All I can find out about LDL is that it is owned by Aztec Finance - a company registered in the Mauritius Islands. Beyond that, it's an EU product and that's all my delving could find.

I am guessing that the factory that made this is not stand alone and probably does other European brands.



The "Well Known"

American Apparel Coney Island

Three coats, no top coat. Two coats would have done fine.

More warm and showing its coral DNA in this photo.

The formula of the American Apparel polishes is fairly legendary. For their $6.00 price point they are quite good.

I found a job-lotted set of 18 polishes on eBay and discovered the joys of this brand.

It's dense, dries beautifully, handles well and the colors - for the most part - are intriguingly modern.

My urge with this brand is to own every single one of them. Quite impressive!

I secretly wonder who really makes these? I know a brand like AA is NOT running a nail polish factory, so who? Who? Well done, whomever you are!




Hope you enjoyed my passel of pinks!

Thanks for reading my nail polish journal!

Late Summer Early Autumn

At 2500 feet above sea level autumn sneaks in a little early.

Trees are starting to turn, nights are chilled like a mountain stream, and, I feel the shortening of the days with their lovely Claude Lorraine sunsets.

Here is a tasty tidbit by the Still Rather Obscure Brand Elle Elle.

It's 205.

A distinct brick base with gold and bright red shimmer popping out all over.

Here is a sun/shade comparison:

You can see the gold glass fleck running through the polish in the shade, but the red shimmer pops only in the sunshine.

No worries, there!

Three coats, with a bit of a non-3-free smell about it.

It reminds me of Smok'n in Havana but that is more of a coral and this is definitely in the red/brown family.

This is the bottle shot, which shows the gorgeous gold running in its veins.

I can't imagine where this might be found. I've googled a bit, but not really found more than a dead end or two. This was in the famed 9-pack that I found at Ross in 2009 when I was first starting out.
These wear very well, even with hard use that kills my nails.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

More Layering Fun and Excitement!

I love to see how stuff turns out when I layer it. I will say in advance I am trying to practice clean-up here and there, but as you will see, I might not be adding to the aesthetic of my nail, but well, making it wonky!

Here we go. Picture heavy but lots of stuff.

As a base I used Jordana's Hypnotizing:

A very dark purple that is knocking on the door of a warmer shade. Odd but interesting color.

Much lighter in the bottle:

Even though this is a little blown from the lighting, it's still pretty rich in the bottle and a tad less red, but still you don't think "vamp" when you see it.

I occasionally see these at Kmart, but I go there only once every three months or so, and they have a little display, but I never seem to pick them up. I might rethink this, because the formula was freaking amazing. No other way to put it! Yes three coats were comfortable, but two would do. Also, it dried pretty easily and seems to have an salon type of finish. Rich color and gorgeous gloss, sums up a win all around.

To the layering.
As I always say I have a lot of sheers and top coaty kind of things, so it is often a somewhat random way to get the party started.

Princessa

Unnamed, in a 5 pack with another water with no shimmer, a gorgeous deep purple shimmer and a pale pink with a red shimmer, I've yet to see these again after that first time, but I am glad I got it. Though the pink drove me to distraction - still does I just tried it again the other day, not getting much love, self wetting at every coat and really splotchy - the rest seem to be shaping up into nice stuff.

I call this a blue shimmer in a pink water. It's not even close to being a jelly at all. But, the shimmer is quite beautiful.

Charmingly dense shimmer that loves the flash, and even shows up well under the regular lamps at the top in the bottle shot.
One coat, no complaints, easy to use. Though, I would say, impossible to find, unless you own this set and aren't sure what to do with it. Here's one thing!
:D


Sally Hansen

On that same theme, I have from a small pack of Sally Hansen's a little sheer that has a blue shimmer but is in a plummy purple base, perhaps I'll go out on a limb and call it magenta.

I swatched it onto my thumb to show how strong the base comes through, but though sheer, I feel about three or four coats - pant pant - could make it a stand alone. I like it layered though, and I think in the future this would look hot over some magenta or hot pinks, etc.

A little clean up around the edges might enhance this one, I will say it.

Similar to the Princessa but slightly tilting more into the purple range, I think this is old Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, but I don't know the shade. Wouldn't it be funny if it were Grape Going? *Ponders her own obtuseness for a moment* I don't think so, but then again, I don't know. I think since this one is and Xtreme Wear versus Grape Going being a Quick Dri, I can toss that idea aside. OK. Besides Grape Going's base is more of a blue based purple not so magenta.

Onward!

Elle Elle
Let's drop the shimmers for a moment and try some glitter:

That glassy particle glitter, rather than the larger glitter we all know and are familiar with in Elle Elle, aka LDL, #433.

I am including a bottle shot because if you do see these, you should grab them:

Three things that are plusses:
Rectangular bottle with that post modern edge
Delicious gauzy gold floating in a clearish base
Removable cap

Nice!

This is one coat, perhaps two, but a simple glaze and some delicate gold seems to work. Not a heavy glitter.


L.A. Girl

L.A. Girl, A brand that keeps on giving!
Let me start by saying that I was on their website the other day and it appears that they have discontinued a lot of their cylindrical bottle polishes. Including the Orly Fantasea dupe, Enchanting. They do have it listed under their "Nudes" line, but I can't tell from the swatch if it is it or not.
Many of these can be found at Discountcosmetics.com, which is essentially an online Dollar Tree with not so "dollar-y" prices. They have a lot of the discontinued polishes. Some of their pricing on old Sally Hansen Chromes is worthy of the best eBay scalper. Why do I go on about this? Before it becomes a book report, lets see the pictures:

When cleanup goes tragically wrong! Yes the brush hooked upward and made this darling dent! Gah!

A gorgeous deep green shimmer. Pure green, leaning into the pine family, but never suggesting blue.

It is a shimmer particle, not a tiny glassy flake, and quite a gorgeous one!  

Two coats and the photos - hundreds of them - can't seem to capture it very well, except in flash. Gorgeous!
Personally I can't get enough of it.

What the heck is it??? It's L.A. Girl Metallic Green 262. No longer available and a totally perfect sheer that has a thin base of green that is so watery it would make a perfect franken ingredient or a great complement to the CND Color Effects collection you may have, don't have CND Color Effects? Get this baby. Same concept. Not sure if that was the original intent of this polish, but it's quite a nice discovery!

These old polishes are only $1.99 at Discount Cosmetics Outlet, so they are very close to the same price that they were on the old site. No, I am not affiliated, but I have made an order in the past and was happy with affordable shipping the polishes I got.

I kind of want to run around and try it out on about a dozen nail polishes! Greens, navy jelly, franken it with a few other things...well you get the drift. Nothing like finding a polish that is really fun to wear and goof around with!

Here is a bottle shot:

Nom, nom, nom!

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Ugly Pretty? Nubbins and My Obsession with Bacterium

I have such a hard time once my nails get into the 4-6mm length past the nail bed. I love them, but they are prone to cracking at the base. This time, they were very strong, but I snapped off the corners of three in almost as many days and had to chop them down.

Realization One: My nail beds really aren't that much longer than when I started all this, I'm fine with that, but I think I was deluding myself that they were.

Realization Two: This damp spring has made my cuticles just go crazy. I had some "Beauty Secrets" nail oil that I had to dump out because it was just making things worse. Ugh. I'm sticking to cremes and only using oil for between manicures. I've also not only put glycerine in my acetone, but cut it with water, too. Too strong and it leaves a white residue on my skin and it's too drying. Still works very well. I use foil and cloth removal by habit, so a dilute acetone still works.

Realization Three: I need to figure out how to get the scraggles off. I can deal with cuticles at the edge of the nail bed, but it's around the outside that is a battle royal.

So, now it's short nail time. I have a hard time thinking my shortie nails are super pretty, but I'm learning to love them.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to Ugly Pretty.

I've also been reading about Illamasqua's Toxic Nature collection and am distracted by Bacterium, a "pearlescent ash ochre" at first I thought how disingenuous it was to serve up such ugliness. But it's kind of not ugly, it's kind of "ugly pretty" (To quote Tyra Banks)

Since I have many more polishes much higher on the wishlist, Bacterium will never be anything that I aspire to owning. Or maybe, I already own it. In another version...let's look at some combos...




Combo 1

Sally Hansen Barely There layered with Wet'n'Wild Ice Blue Pearl.

First a closer examination of Barely there. This is three coats. It's an orange-y bronze brushtrokey shimmer. What can possibly improve a color that just isn't my "thing"?

Can Wet'n'Wild Ice Blue Pearl do the job?
Hmmm....

Well, who knows?

Can't say that this is a thrill-a-minute combination.




Combo 2

Unnamed Markwin brown shimmer layered with Sally Hansen Python Purple.

Python Purple is an old "New Lengths" slope shouldered bottle, it is kind of blah alone, so in keeping with this whole "ugly pretty theme" I wondered if ugly pretty could work for it.

Not wholly unsuccessful, though the formula of Sally Hansen oldies is always a bit touchy.

Here is the polishes in the bottle:

I think Python Purple is a little less blue in real life, but surprisingly, it came out of the gate as a decent layering polish.

Ugly? Not sure? Combining blue and brown has been a full on style win for most of the decade. A bulk of the time I see brown with light blue or aqua. Perhaps we shall try yet another...




Combo 3

Elle Elle (LDL) #202 layered with Wet'n'Wild Ice Blue Pearl

A shimmering changeling that is probably as close as I can get to the original Bacterium. Why? I pretty much don't have an affinity for these types of colors. I've got Maybelline Galaxy and another frosty pastel taupe, so I figured, why buy those ugly toffee colors are kind of a sneaky joke on polish fans.

So, I would need something darker...but...I kind of like the blue pop:

The more I look at Bacterium, the less I like it and the more I like my "Ugly Pretty" layering attempts. No, there is no duochrome, but there is that oddness. Murk below, pearl/shimmer on top.

I think I could look back at some of the old Sally Hansen bottles I found at the Dollar Tree and see yellow or green blooms of weirdness at the bottom, or oxidization in the Lemon Water that looks like a rust spot, etc and think of decay. Oh, and anyone who has picked up an old piece of lunch meat and seen that rainbow shimmer knows the inspo for Bacterium. ;D

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Three Grays

Gray. We love it. Why? Heck if I know! Gray is a unique neutral, meaning, to me, that it isn't your typical beige, pink or red.



Sally Hansen's Gray by Gray

What is not to love? Blue tinged creme that took three coats and shines like a super star!
Sally Hansen's Complete Win!




Orly Bon Bon

Quiet, workmanlike, and a delightful lavender tinged gray. This if four coats, but Orly's formula is forgiving to work with and dried very nicely! This is a great "office ok" polish, too.
Additionally it built up enough so that I didn't need to worry about my stained nail beds coming through, or wearing a "lingerie" underneath.
When this bottle first arrived, I really was totally let down, I thought it was a lavender. It's been sitting in the lavender drawer as a redheaded step-child for a long while. Now that it's in the grays, it's "with its people" and pops out as a fun polish with neutral aspirations!



Two wins and a not-so win? Well, part of this process is to go through everything I've got and see how it works for me. Might work for someone else, but not me.

This is LDL or Elle Elle, from one of those nine-packs. It is #413. It's very sheer and the base trends a teeny bit green. I'm such a stickler for greens, normally I'd file it with those, but this one is an odd duck.

It is a frost, and I thought how pretty it was in the bottle...

as compared to how icky it was on my hands...

It even has these small charcoal colored particles that are quite strange.

Truly odd. It also is frosty, and I've got a Color Club from their Catwalk Queen collection that has that same red/pink (Ready To Wear) which keeps me happy in that regard.

This is three coats, and that gray with a pink tint is appealing, but I really found this one to not work for me. Perhaps it's a formula "thing" and the finish isn't really up my ally. Of course some day frosts will be all the rage and I'll have regretted being so mean to them!


You can't win them all!

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!