Dior Ebony with Confetti Tazmanian Devil

Today I am a very sad panda. I've had to cancel my flight back home to New York because I am sick as a dog. It's going to be a lonely Thanksgiving for me... :(

Confetti Tazmanian Devil over Dior Ebony

Trying out my brand new iPhone 4S camera. Not bad in non-well-lit scenarios (and while lying in bed, too dizzy to move)! Super cheerful manicure (three coats of Tasmanian Devil over two coats of Dior Ebony). What is it about glitter that makes life just a tiny bit better?

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KleanColor Jewelry Red

I continue to shop my stash (and love the money I've been saving!!). I always thought that I had a very low untried count but if I'm honest with myself, I have tons of polish that I have swatched but never actually worn.

Enter KleanColor Jewelry Red: I cannot begin to tell you how these photos do not do this color justice. The depth of the golden shimmer is unmatched. Plus, you usually see darker reds with gorgeous deep, "lit from within" shimmer. Not bright fiery ones! So pleased with the color.




(2 coats)

However, I can't say enough bad things about the formula. It's quite terrible. It applied very well but the smell is unspeakable. Really. And it stained the hell out of my nails. I've never had staining this bad, this yellow. I wore this color for about 24 hours and that's all the time it needed to do damage.

The part I find most annoying is how this would not dry!! I wont bore you with the saga of getting this mani to be semi-presentable and dry enough that I could go about my day, but I will say that it was... involved. And it still was easily dentable hours and hours later. I have several KleanColors in my stash and I realize now that they just do not work for my lifestyle. Back when I was a student and I would laze about, swatching and having the freedom to do a couple manis a day, I never really noticed how bad KleanColors were (this is not the first KC I have tried that has refused to dry and smelled like death). But when I have to be off to work and look reasonably professional, I do not want to be worrying about being careful with my nails and, worse still, having a dented up, trashy looking mani.

Working girls, KleanColors are not for you.

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New York Summer Amaranth

Oh, hello, cool greenish teal that I stalked on TransDesign until they finally had it in stock! Nice to meet you.



Amaranth is a lovely jelly polish that is more than affordable at $1.59 a bottle. It's a teal green, like I said before, and as a jelly takes quite a bit of polish to build up to cover the VNL if you are so inclined to do, which I am. I can see my nail beds in the photo, which, I'm not going to lie, sketches me out a little. I can't get used to VNL! It makes me feel naked!

How about you guys? How do you feel about VNL and this lovely polish?

Happy day, all!

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Absolute Fuchsia

If there was ever a polish that makes me want to throw a scrunchie in my hair and dance to Debbie Gibson, this is it.



First of all, you must know that Absolute Fuchsia is NOT two things - 1) fuchsia or 2) as tame as the photo above. Absolute Fuchsia is a color-your-fingertips-with-pink-highlighters-during-study-hall pink, and it screams 1984 like nobody's business.

Not only does it shine like the sun itself, but it was a dollar store find in Pennsylvania last year and for a dollar, SIGN ME UP. I'd never heard of this brand before, have any of you tried any other colors in this brand?

Happy day, all!

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Soo Nails Foils

I was reorganizing my helmer for the millionth time when I realized I had a surprising number of these metallic-y foils (they're sort of an in between, they're textured like a foil, but not as glittery - they remind me of those yummy chocolate eggs).

Soo Nails is a random brand I've found in a few beauty shops around NYC. I've seen them pump out a couple near dupes (I don't own either to be 100% sure but I swear they have RBL Mismas and ONS near-dupes), I've also found an exact dupe of Zoya Miley. The labels this brand uses are faded and cheap, the names are unreadable on most of my bottles. So I'll just describe them by bottle color.

These are all photos of NOTDs (not swatches).

Turquoise


(2 coats)

Gold


I used the gold Soo in water marble posted a few weeks ago.


Pink

(2 coats)

I think this one might be my favorite.

Blue







(2 coats with a holo top coat)

2 problems, (1) there was no good lighting when I took these pictures, so I made up for it by taking a million photos (sorry!) and (2) there's a holo topcoat on it. So it's not accurate really. Oh well...

Magenta



(1 coat)

This one has the best coverage but I like it the least on me.

(You may have noticed that I'm posting more infrequently. That's because this job is killing me. Literally. In order to keep their lawyers from staging a revolt the firm stuffs us full of free food. They're trying to keep us fat and happy. We're like lethargic cattle. Further, I don't get out as much as I used to. I can feel myself liquefying. Oh well. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up and I'm generally happy more often than I am upset, so that's a win. I like what I do, except for something very evil called "Diligence." Also, I'm in love with this senior associate in my office and I suppose that makes daily life interesting. All in all I suppose I musn't complain. Plus the nail polish expenditures don't hurt nearly as much as they used to.)

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Some cheap creme thrills: Jordana Rich Green, ELF Smoky Brown, and KleanColor Brown

This morning will be dedicated to proof-reading a manuscript that my advisor has co-authored with another (former) graduate student. I'm always so flattered when she wants me to do things writing-related for her because she thinks I write well. Thank goodness I'm good for something. :)

I was less than "thrilled" with these but they were still pretty good for being $3 and under.

Jordana Rich Green

Grass green creme. Three coats. Awesome color but I didn't like the formula much.

ELF Smoky Brown

Dark taupe. Or somewhere between greyed-out purple and greyed-out brown. Brush wasn't a broom, surprisingly. These polishes separate like crazy and you gotta shake them up real good before using. Three coats.

KleanColor Brown

Two coats. In which universe is this considered "brown"? The photo does make it a touch brighter orange than it appears in real life BUT it's just a duller orange in person. Pretty nice polish though: two coats. But this was just a swatch and according to Piff, these polishes never dry...

I'm doing a new incentive program to get my ass in shape again. My weight has been a bitch for most of my life -- on again, off again, on again, off again -- and being in an on-again stage is a serious drag on my life right now. It wasn't a drag the last time but it is this time. So this is my plan: for every day that I exercise in one month, I get to haul one polish in the next month. But the value of the polish dependent on the amount of time I spend exercising:

• 90 minutes or over = a polish that costs over $14
• 60-89 minutes = a polish that costs up to $14
• 45-59 minutes = a polish that costs up to $8
• 30-44 minutes = a polish that costs up to $4
• Under 30 minutes = a polish that costs up to $2

And no roll-over polishes: if I don't buy one month, I can't save it up for a big haul next month.

So far this month: Aug 1st (60m bike ride), 2nd (45m cardio+strength), 3rd (60m cardio+strength), 4th (45m yoga), 5th (15m run). In September, I'm going to reward myself with two fall Essies, two holiday Orlys and maybe a Confetti polish. ;)

The funny thing is that when I'm in "work out mode" I work out nearly every single day -- a regimen I kept up for almost 3 years at one point. (Which is why I put price limits on the polishes I'd buy! Otherwise, I will definitely be broke.) About one workout a week goes over an hour. Two workouts hit at about an hour. The other four days usually oscillate between 15-45 minutes, depending on how tired/busy I am. Some weeks, all four days are 20-25 minute cardio sessions; some weeks, half of those days are 45m cardio+strength. I rarely have a week where I push my body further: it's not productive to not have some recovery. Many people suggest that you take a day off a week to recover: I personally think it's just as restorative to be on a recumbent bike playing Scrabble or Carcassonne on my iPad for 20 minutes once or twice a week.

I used to reward myself with massages: "if I work out for 21 days straight, I get a massage" type of deal. But my yoga place has a deal where for $65 a month, you get as many professional hour-long massages as you can schedule in (which comes out to 2-3 massages a month). So nail polishes it is.

Yes, I'm crazy. Why do you ask?

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Wet n Wild Craze Cancun and Cozumel

I feel like the summer's practically over... how is it the end of July?

Wet n Wild Craze Cancun

Warm yellow jelly. Pretty easy to apply but took four coats to get close to opaque. I suspect a fifth one would've really done the trick... but I knew I was going to layer this one with its shimmery counterpart that was found in the same display. That and there's really only so long I can handle that stumpy little brush.

Wet n Wild Craze Cozumel

I really love this combination of yellow jelly and shimmering gold. The cool gold shimmer is not even close to ever getting opaque so I'm guessing it was meant to be paired with the opaque jelly in this collection. A couple of extra steps to get the full effect but I think it's an effect worth getting for $4 total. ...though maybe not worth five coats of nail polish.

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Scherer Chameleon Blue Sky (and then layered with glitter!)

This is a brand I always pick up in the drugstore and almost always pass up. Should have passed up this one...

Scherer Chameleon Blue Sky

Hot. Sticky. Gloopy. Uneven. Splotchy. Streaky. MESS. This polish was NOT worth it. It does have a nice blue-green-purple duochrome effect with a shiny metallic finish, I will give it that much. But man, does it apply badly. I felt like I was painting my fingernails with pretty Elmer's Glue. Four coats to even it out and then you still saw a bit of brushstrokiness and it clung to every damn ridge on every damn nail. Topcoat helped a tiny bit. Maybe it didn't like Gelous basecoat?

I felt better after I added some glitter from one of those bear-shaped polishes. No idea what company makes those...

I think it's cute that you can see the bear's nose in this picture, sort of it. It probably looks like a wrinkled bit of glass to you all since the bear shape isn't as obvious in this photo. This bear contained blue, purple and silver glitter.

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Some old swatches: LA Girl Disco Fever (and with Wet n Wild Gumdrop)

Some old swatches I found from what I generously call "my archives" (i.e. the bottom of one of my photo folders which has unlabeled photos).

LA Girl Disco Brites Disco Fever

Anyone who enjoys a jelly should own at least one polish from the LA Girls Disco Brites series. It's all brightly colored jellies. This one happens to be a cheery cherry red. Three coats, glossy and squishy. :) Please excuse the uneven nails...

LA Girls Disco Fever with Wet n Wild Flirt Gumdrop

I haven't yet been wowed by the WnW Flirt line which offers slightly smaller polishes (0.29fl oz vs the normal 0.5fl oz) at $2 each. This one was just a normal sparse bronzy glitter. Eh.

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After dinner mint green

Mint greens or a variation of it have been such a trend recently. I don't have a ton of them, but have tried the one from Maybelline which was a nightmare for me. It was stringy, streaky, and such a horrible brush. I didn't even bother to try the one Revlon released because of my bad experience with one of their scented polishes, Gum Drop. Other than the one from Maybelline, I haven't bothered to try any other ones, EXCEPT for this Brucci since it was only like $2 and some change. This is absolutely AMAZING. It was perfect in two coats, no streaks or bald spots. So easy to control and is MUCH cheaper than drug store polishes.

I'm glad i didn't buy any of the more expensive mint greens and just waited it out and got this one because it was definitely worth it! I have a feeling Sheri's Pistachio Creme and I are going to have a long affair :) Sheri's got great taste! It does make me want after dinner mints though instead of pistachios hehe... I found this at a local beauty supply, but I *think* Bed Bath Beyond and Harmons carries Brucci. I know for sure Duane Reade carries Brucci too. There were also a few other pastels that the beauty supply had, but I had no interest in those -- sorry! I haven't come across a Brucci I didn't like though :)

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Missha swatches

A couple of Missha swatches: for anywhere from $0.99 to $2.99, it's not a bad brand but it's completely hit and miss for me.

Missha VL01

One of my favorite manicures of the past quarter. Look at all that beautiful silver (and possibly purple) glitter in the reddish purple jelly. It sparkles and shines gorgeously. Three coats.

Missha GR03

Basic grey creme. Three coats. Nice but not outstanding.

Missha GR01

A dark aqua blue shimmer. Four coats, still VNL. Not pleased.

Missha BL001

This powder blue creme looks lovely in the photo but it took four coats to even out. I know that pastels are a pain in the ass but there are tons of beautiful pastel blues out there that are perfect in three coats and a couple that are great in two. Color Club does pastel blues very well and they cost about the same as Missha polishes.

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Some layered NOTDs using Wet n Wild, FingerPaints, Kanebo and China Glaze

These were two of my favorite manis back in May.

Wet n Wild Blueberry Fizz layered with FingerPaints Sapphire Shimmer

This NOTD just mesmerized me for as long as I wore it, which was about three or four days. I got barely any tipwear with it (using Nail Life Gripper and Diamont). My nails looked and felt extremely strong, almost fake (in a good way). And it sparkled. My goodness did it sparkle! I loved it so much that I didn't take it off until I had done the same combination on my toes; it's been my pedi for the last month. Wet n Wild Blueberry Fizz is well worth the dollar: it's a little thick but it's nicely pigmented. As for FingerPaints Sapphire Shimmer, a mixed holo glitter in dark blue jelly... I had wanted to be opaque but even sheer, it's a fun polish. Thanks so much to Adrienne for picking one up for me!

Video of the sparkly!

Kanebo The Red layered with China Glaze Dynasty

Yes, the Kanebo is actually called "The Red". It's basic dark red creme and is perfect in three coats (you can probably get away with two). After having that as my mani for a couple of days, I decided I needed to jazz it up with a little glitter. I broke out China Dynasty and wondered what took me so long to use it! It's a mixed holo glitter in a brick red jelly and I think you can probably build it to opacity with enough patience. Though on top of Kanebo The Red it is a dark, rich red, Dynasty is actually an almost-orangey faded red. A lot of people don't seem to like it precisely because it isn't a saturated red but I like it because it is a slightly unusual jelly color. I'll probably try it out alone someday this summer. I LOVE holo glitters in the summer.

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My favorite almost-blacks

As promised (or perhaps "threatened" depending on how you feel about almost-blacks) here is a post featuring my favorites. Some swatches are new others have been posted before:

Groove Thang

(2 coats)

710


(2 coats)

Midnight Ride

(1 coat)

Cherry Tobacco

(1 coat)

Mystery

(2-3 coats - I don't remember)

Love the flakey glitter in this one. Ugh.

852

(3 coats)

Maneater

(3 coats)

Um espresso JELLY? Um Ya. Yes.



You know what, you guys? It's fine that you don't like almost-blacks. More for me.

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Cheap thrills: Sinful Innocent and Happy Ending (...and a short-term goodbye til Sunday)

Today is going to be a ridiculously busy day: my formal second-year talk is at noon and I'm leaving to go to Boston tonight for APS (another red-eye) to present my poster.

I recently spent some time swatching most of my Sinful untrieds and as usual, I find that the good ones are GREAT and the not-so-good ones make me want to return them because they still seem a waste of $1.99. (I have about 1000 polishes: I literally don't have room for cheap nail polishes that aren't of good quality.)

Here are two Sinful successes!

Sinful Happy Ending

The phrase "Sinful Happy Ending" makes me want to titter like a schoolgirl but I'll resist the urge to do so. Wonderful grass green with bright gold shimmer. I think this was two thick coats. A little brush strokey but I love the color.

Sinful Innocent

Extra thanks to Adrienne for getting me Innocent for my birthday (and for purchasing some LE FingerPaints for me)! :D Lime greens are my newest obsessions. (An offshoot of the mint green obsession, probably. Or maybe it's an offshoot of my yellow obsession. A convergence of the two obsessions perhaps... I'll shut up now.) This was an amazing creme: two coats, went on perfectly. Worth much more than $1.99 and a complete steal at that price. I haven't had time to compare the two but OPI Who the Shrek Are You is slightly darker and a smidge bluer than Innocent. It also looks very dupey to FingerPaints Lucky in Love Lime. When I get back from Boston-New York-Boston, I'll post a comparison of these three polishes.

Off to start my long, long day...! I probably won't be posting much between now and Sunday (my poster is on Saturday). So I hope everyone has a great rest-of-the-week!

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