Sunday, April 10, 2011

China Glaze crackles - crushed candy and lightning bolt

Hello! My first post here. Thank you for having me on board, I look forward to posting reams of manicure pictures and exciting all the lovely readers rather than boring all my lovely colleagues.

My early efforts with crackle polishes were, frankly, pretty grim. I tried painting it thinly, which just made it look patchy, speckly and weird. I kept trying colour combinations that seemed great in my head (navy and white, how can that go wrong?) but which looked like I'd done myself some kind of grievous injury in practice. I nearly gave up. But then I tried painting thick coats and picking complementary base colours, and now I'm quite pleased with the effect. The finish makes me think of duck eggs for some reason.

China Glaze crushed candy over Essie playa del platinum

China Glaze lightning bolt over OPI hot & spicy

The only thing I am not loving about the crackles is my total inability to apply them neatly. My only objective is getting it on thick and quick before it starts to crack. As a result it usually ends up all over my fingers. My 'swatch hand' isn't too bad, but the reason I didn't take any pictures of my dominant right hand is that it's flecked with bits of white crackle everywhere (in some frankly improbable places) and I expect my colleagues will be asking me tomorrow whether I’ve been repainting my bathroom.

Looking forward to the OPI and Models Own releases later on in the summer to try some different colours – orange, navy and turquoise are high on my list of current wants!
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Friday, April 8, 2011

Two announcements: winner and runners-up of the Inque Nails Design Contest... and...

...we have a new blogger!! I'll tell you about her in a minute. ;)

But first...

Congratulations to Keri, the winner of our Inque Nails design contest! Her entry is called Galaxies Gone Wild: check them out!

The very, very close runner-up was Melissa, from Silly Bee's Chickadees. It was so close that I'll make sure to stuff a little extra in her goody bag. :) Her designs can be viewed here.

The third and fourth runners-up are Nadia and Holly H.! (Click on their names to see their entries.)

Thanks to everyone who participated! It makes me happy to know we have such talented, invested and artistic readers. :) I will be contacting the winner and runners-up via email over the weekend. (If I don't, please email me to bother me about it. :D)


...now... new blogger news:

Welcome to Polish or Perish, ilexica!

We have our first UK blogger! She's a PhD candidate in political economy and theoretical macroeconomics... and she (obviously) has better access to UK nail polish brands than we in North America do. But I'll let her make her own introduction more fully, so be sure to watch for it!


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China Glaze Starboard layered with Lippmann Boom Boom Pow!

Lippmann Boom Boom Pow layered over China Glaze Starboard



I wish I could have properly captured this manicure. It really doesn't look like just haphazard pieces of glitter in shimmery gold (but very sheer) base. It gave it a really lovely and somewhat unusual look; from arm's length, it looked as if I had put on very fine gold leaf over Starboard.
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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Contradictory Colour - Essie Island Hopping

*****Don't forget to enter my Spring Things GIVEAWAY with Essie and Pradman Jewelry! Check out the post here or just enter in the sidebar!*****

Since the weather can't decide whether it wants to be icy winter or full-blown summer, I thought I'd wear a colour that can't decide either - Essie Island Hopping.
The name suggests a tropical hue, but the murky purple-taupe-brown of it all just says fall/winter to me.


I didn't even realize that it coordinated with my Juicy Couture Ikat scarf so well!


A confusing colour for confusing weather! The formula was absolutely fantastic - a dreamy creme! I'm really liking this one a lot, and I can see myself wearing it often - in all kinds of weather.

Do you have a polish(es) that you wear rain or shine?

kittytokaren
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Couldn't bear to take OPI Jasper Jade off... so I put Clarins 230 on top of it

It's like the dance of the rare polishes... Between what I paid for Jasper Jade (~$6) and Clarins 230 (~$50)... this manicure ALMOST made up of two expensively (but not crazily) priced nail polishes.

Clarins 230 over OPI Jasper Jade






'scuse the many pictures! Whenever I take a photo of a polish that's as multichromatic as 230, I always feel the need to include ones that show "just a little more green" or "look, the brownish red instead of the orangeish red!" The green of Jasper Jade really shows through the edges of the nails.

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