Richness in Humble Places

I notice now that the indie world, which I seem to be turning my head toward a lot these days, emulates things that I've made in the past by layering.

I will be trying to do more of that these days since I am maxing out on polish.

Here is a pair of old and probably so obscure I couldn't begin to tell you where to find them!

Super Professional 128 topped with a Borghese No Name mini glitter

I love the holiday feel, and I am feeling it hard this year. Major progressive changes have given me hope, and I know that there is very much more that will happen.

In the mean time, the Super Professional is probably rotting in land fills across the globe and nothing emerged after several searches. I gave away one bottle, a secret regret!

The Borghese is from the mini set I got about 6 years ago (wow!), check it out here.

I have all of these little gems, except one, and I love these a lot.
While there is a lot of Borghese on Ebay and the like, there isn't a glitter like this. Ironically two of the other minis have a not-so-mini, so why wasn't there a big ol' bottle of this jewel tone blue, fuchsia, and gold delight? Who knows.

I don't have anything similar, which is a real bummer, this is gorgeous!!


Ok, enough gushing. Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Mid Mod Metallic

Zoya Cindy over Super 138

Like a set of glass vases with opalescent accents. Like gold jewelry with opals. Reminds me of the late 50's and early  60's aesthetic.

Super 138 from Super Professional Brand is our base here. It's a gorgeous 14kt gold shade that seems to have vanished off of eBay. Much stinkage when you apply it, but it's a gold for the ages.

Zoya Cindy. Tricky would be an understatement. To say the least. I've worn it about 4-5 times and it was a bear to get to dry.
I finally had to use thin coats of everything, let it dry between each coat and then use a quick dry top coat to finish. Truly it had to do its own thing to dry. Worst was that even over Zoya it seemed to re-wet already dry layers of polish below. Things then melted off like a chocolate shell on a cherry liqueur.

While I love the pastel opalescent glitter, it's hard to truly love this polish. Too high maintenance.

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

A Late 70's Disco Reference, First Stripe Mani

I finally tried some nail art. Now, truth be told, there are those (Another Bottle of Polish?!, Canadian Nail Fanatic come to mind) who make it look like it's in their DNA, and there are those (me) who make "effortless" look like I'm trying to cross the North Col on Mt. Everest - during winter.

Here is my homage to the disco inferno I sprouted my tween self on:

OK, breath. There it is.

The base is a deep chocolate brown creme called Cobblestone Creme by Sally Hansen. It's a Dollar Tree purchase, tall narrow bottle, matching cap (!!). Three coats, very neutral deep brown that almost looks black.

I used the thin nail tape that you can find on eBay for super cheap. I believe that it's supposed to be used in conjunction with acrylics and remain on the nail as a portion of the nail art. I found 30 rolls for about 4 or so dollars. Many gorgeous colors, but my intent wasn't to keep them on. When I master the tape I might do that.

On the top is an old fave: Super Stinky Super Profesional 128.

A few things went wrong: sometimes I didn't put a topcoat on the SH Cobblestone Creme and the tape tried to pull some up. I sometimes couldn't master the art of de-sticking the tape enough to prevent that from happening. I didn't get enough adhesion in some spots so the top coat came up underneath. I didn't slant opposite on each hand so all stripes went in the same direction...except my thumb.

Things that went right were abundant! The color combo looked great! Unless you peered closely at my hands, it was hard to really see the issues. A client who has a nail salon examined my hands closely and pronounced them "amazing" (generous, I hope, or her clients should be mildly alarmed).

I  dowsed it with about 3-4 coats of a top coat, but still had a slight feeling of an uneven texture along the stripes on a couple of nails.

Yet the wear? This photo is after 3 days of wear. And my nails get a workout.

Currently I'm using Sally Hansen Speed Shine 10 Day top coat. It's in a translucent lilac bottle, it's the same Salon bottle (square with rubberized handle) that is now defunct. This stuff RULES MY WORLD! It's fast, it never shrinks, it SHINES, and it is a tough mofo. I feel as though it totally carries its weight in every manicure. I haven't been to a drug store lately, so I don't know if it's still around, but judging by my quick google search to some retailers, it looks like it's a goner. Drat!

I want to do more of these, they are a blast. By the second and 4th or so try on a few nails I realized that factory method worked better than taping/painting/untaping each nail in sequence. Also a tweezers would have been a great tool to have in the mix. The tape remained sticky even after removal, and some nails had to be redone because tape landed on still-wet top coat. Erp!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Yellow Window Pane

Solar Creme is a bright yellow creme with a secret shimmer.

I blogged it here in a skittle set.

I feel it deserves a little bit more attention:

It has a hidden shimmer that is a delight.

Three coats and a little slow to dry. Of course the shimmer is kind of buried in the creme, but that's the joy of secret shimmer!

Best of all: Matching Cap Action!

Decided to add the old Super Professional Nuclear Half Life of 138 Years gold foil.

Solar Creme is a bit translucent in the first coat so it works to let the foil peek through.

Not 100% sure this is a success, but I like it.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!


p.s. I just swatched a bunch of polishes, but my cuticles, broken nails, and poor lighting/camera settings made the photos less than useless. Ugh.
Back to the drawing board.