Shades of Grey

Let's just address the elephant in the room, shall we?  Yes, I read the books.  Yes, they were trashy and unrealistic depictions of consensual S&M relationships.  Yes, I know they were originally written as Twilight FanFic...  bad FanFic. 

Yes, I kinda enjoyed them anyway. 

I also love grey polish, and have lots of different versions of grey to wear.  I'd like to show you some today.

Different Dimension Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty.  This is the palest grey, almost white base, with white, grey, black, and holo glitters.  Maybe it was the kitty who scratched my index polish, because I have no idea how that got there.

Hare Dead Man's Bones.  Slightly darker, but still a light grey base, with tiny black and white or light blue glitters.  I love this one, and like other Hare's I've tried, great formula.  

Sindie Pop A Black and White Christmas.  This is actually a metallic silver base, with black and holo glitters.  This one would really benefit from a thick topcoat to keep the shine.  The metallic base does tend to hide the holo glitter, but it's still very pretty and easy to work with.

BG Cosmetics Black Ice.  Another silver base, this one has really cool iridescent hex glitters that look like shards of ice floating in the mix.  Not something everyone would notice, but a nice touch for the polish aficionado.  Nice formula, too.

Sonoma Nail Art Very Small Rocks.  From the 'Don't Eat The Polish' collaboration with Silly Bee's Chickadees, this polish is a medium grey with lots of white, black, and grey glitters.  Probably my fave formula, it was easy to apply with lots of glitter and no dabbing needed.

Liquid Glam Girl Next Door.  A medium-dark grey jelly base with lots of holographic sparkle.  Right up my alley.

Fanservice Nails I'll Wait for you.  A microglitter melange - dark grey and holo and blue.  I love the depth the glitter gives it, and it all came together nicely.

Sonoma Nail Art Chalkboard Nails.  An homage to a blogger, this is reminiscent of a chalkboard.  Not that you kids know what a chalkboard is anymore.  (Someone fetch me mah cane!)  Dark, dark grey - almost black, with white glitters.

Because there are so many Indies in this post, I've included either a link to their Facebook page or shop in the name of each polish, rather than at the end of the post like I usually do.  Also, if you're interested in the cute silver hammered ring I'm showing off in many of the pix, it's what actually inspired this post.  I got it from a fellow lacquer aficionado's Etsy shop of vintage things. 

If you like grey glittery polishes, there's a lot out there to choose from.  Do you like the light or dark grey? silver or jelly base?  Do you have a fave from this group?

It's all there in Black and White

With all of the colors I'll wear on my nails, the most eye-catching ones may just be a white or a black nail.  I use these in nail art a lot, but not so often on their own.  Maybe one of these will convince me otherwise.

Picture Polish White Wedding.  This polish was done in conjunction with Llarowe, and it's a very pretty white with a subtle pink/green flaky shimmer.  It's impossible to capture in photos, but it's there in Real Life.  If I was going to wear plain white, the shimmer makes it look like I did it on purpose, and didn't just paint my nails with White-Out, like I did in grade school.

Contrary Polish Frozen.  Part of their 2012 Winter collex, this is a glossy white with blue shimmer.  I really liked this.  I will say that if I plan on wearing white, I need to do a more careful polish application, because it shows every patch or uneven application!  Whites are fairly unforgiving.

Cult Nails Tempest.  This is a true white creme gloss.  This one is a little more forgiving because of the high shine, but leans a little more towards that White-Out look.  This is a great base for nail art, though.  One of my faves.

On to the blacks.

First up is A-England Lancelot.  Does this look black to you?

Would you believe that the first coat goes on red?  I think the second coat is supposed to reflect that red, but I just can't see it.  Not in any pix, not in Real Life.  It just looks black to me, and it makes me feel a little cheated because I want there to be red in there.

A-England Camelot.  The only way to tell these apart is to do one coat.  Camelot is pretty much a one-coat black, where Lancelot is much more red and streaky on the first coat.  Camelot is so thick and glossy that it freaks out my camera, and I couldn't hardly get it to focus on the polish.

Cult Nails Nevermore.  Another darling of the nail polish community, Nevermore is a one-coat black.  It is great for a quick, classy, vampy mani.

Do you like wearing black and/or white?  Would you rather wear it as a base for another color or nail art?  Any favorites?

Sunday Stamping - Earth Day

This week's stamping challenge is:  Earth Day.

I had a vision of a field of wildflowers for this stamped mani.. but like a lot of my visions, they are executed quite differently in the Real World than they are in my head.  I'm going to show you two attempts at making my vision a reality.  The first is a hot mess.  The second comes closer.

One thing I really liked about my first attempt is the base color.  This is Enchanted Polish Britney Spearmint.  I never thought I'd be able to get this polish, and I wasn't sure if I'd even like it.  It isn't the most holo, but it has a nice iridescent sheen.  If you like Illamasqua Hemlock, you might like this one, too.

I had just gotten some new plates from Pueen, so of course I wanted to try them out.  I used that flower stamp there.. what?  You can't tell?  Surely, you must be blind...

Yeah, okay.  I tried a technique where you mix several colors on the plate (in this case, Kleancolor Metallic Mango (metallic orange), China Glaze Adore (metallic ocean blue), and Sinful Colors Gone Platinum (metallic purple) and I double stamped with some white mixed in, to see if I could get the colors to show up better.

Hubby tried to make me feel better by saying that it kinda looked like granite.. and that's in the Earth, so it fits the theme, right?

Take 2.  This is an abstract brushstroke mani a la Gorgeois that I did with the Different Dimensions 80's Baby neon holo collex.  I started with a basecoat of white, and then dabbed on 2 layers of all the different colors.  Like, gag me with a spoon!

I used three different stamps from Pueen plate 25 to give different flower patterns.  Hubby said one looked like snowflakes, but I was going for flowers.  FLOWERS.

I think this one was much more successful, though I would have liked the flower stamp to be more of an outline to let the color show through more.  Still, it's a cheerful, colorful mani that made me happy.

Happy Earth Day!  Reduce, reuse, recycle, and take care of our planet.

If you'd like more information on Enchanted Polish, you can find her on Facebook and her shop.  If you'd like more information about Different Dimension, you can also find her on Facebook, and her Etsy shop.

4/20, Dude! Mentality 420 holos

4/20, 4:20, Four-twenty!

The name of this holo collex comes from a counter-culture holiday that celebrates the use of marijuana.  The story goes that 4:20 is the optimal time to spark a doobie, and that evolved into a day to celebrate the Lady Jane.

Regulate & Medicate.  I have to put these together... because I really can't tell them apart.  Neither can my husband, but he thinks a lot of my polishes look the same. 

They are both blackened green holos. Shown here with two coats, they could be careful one-coaters.  Love the formula on these dark holos.

If I look really close, I can tell that Regulate leans a little more teal, and Medicate leans a little more green.  It was hard getting a comparison shot where the light reflecting on the polishes was the same.

Educate.  A brownish silver holo.  I love this color and the depth of the holo. The green shimmer keeps with the theme and looks great.

Legislate.  I don't wear a lot of gold, but this one is so pretty I would wear it.  It has enough brown to not be tooo gold.  The subtle green shimmer keeps it with the theme and gives it a nice depth.  The denting on my index finger is from a bad patch job, not the polish.  I was surprised how forgiving these holos were with my screwed up nail.

I am going to celebrate 420... with nail polish!  It's my addiction and drug of choice!  How will you be celebrating?  With any of these colors?

If you'd like more information on Mentality, you can find them on Facebook, or their shop on Big Cartel.

Guest post from Brijit of Brijit's Digits!

Today we have a special guest, so everybody say hi to Brijit!

"hi, Brijit!"

I knew you could do it.  Hopefully after this post you'll still want to look at my stubby nubs, because her hands are gorgeous.  And, she's French, so you might want to read this post with an *outrageous French accent* ala Monty Python.
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Hello everybody!

Nidia was kind enough to provide a guest post for my blog, Brijit's Digits, and I was thrilled that she offered to host a guest post from me in return! Isn't it lovely, how nail bloggers stick together?

Now, I think Nidia rather spoils you all with her freehand nail art. I'm afraid I'm not as good as she is at that, so I have a bamboo mani for you !

I started with Stranger Tides by O.P.I., a pale khaki, and did a quick sponge gradient with Thanks a Windmillion. Truth be told; I bought and swatched these polishes a long time ago back in the day when I found the time to add to my swatches the polish reference number, and am ashamed to say I haven't worn them since. But they are good quality, as you expect from a brand that's so well known, and great for gradients. For sponging, you don't want a polish that's 100% opaque (it will look grainy), but if it's too thin you have to do sooo many layers, so I always aim to use two-coaters.

If you're pale skinned like I am (after the longest winter ever!), I recommend taking doing your gradients with the lighter colour towards the base of your nail, it is very flattering and will make your fingers look longer! I would imagine that if you have darker skin, the other way round is best. But you don't want to gradient a colour too close to your skin colour, that looks especially odd (I have tested it, trust me!).

Then a quick Konad stamp in white, and hey presto !

What do you think? Nidia tells me you like stamping nail art, does this do it for you or is it too boring simple? :)

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Let's give Brijit a hand!  I'm totally in love with this look.  And, please, don't forget to check out her blog,  Brijit's Digits for more gorgeous manis.

Not all glitterbombs are the same, a comparison of three blues

As many polishes as I now own, and as many Indies as I've seen, I'm still often surprised by how different a polish can look on the nail as opposed to in the bottle.  I decided to take three blue Indies that were similar in color and compare them.

From L to R:  Harlow & Co Sparkling Waters, Wingdust Ocean Tears, and Feenix... well, the label fell off, and they are out of business anyway.  But the lesson still works, I think.

Harlow & Co. Sparkling Waters.  This is two or three coats, no undies.  This one has no shimmer, only glitter in a clear base, but it still comes together as a cohesive polish.  It can be hard to tell which polishes are only toppers and which ones can be build to opacity from looking at a bottle.

WingDust Ocean Tears.  This one is much more teal, has a colored jelly base, and also builds up to opacity, but with a much different look.  The glitter is swimming in layers of the colored base, and isn't nearly as shiny as Sparkling Waters.

Feenix ??.  I didn't realize how metallic this polish would appear on the nail.  These types of bases tend to hide the glitter a little more, and have more of a gritty, bumpy look that requires a thick topcoat.  I love the iridescent, almost foil look to this polish, though.  The glitters are more of a scattered holo, just to catch the light.

This is one of the reasons I like being a beauty blogger and why I like looking at nail polish swatches.  Some of these things are hard to see in the bottle - the finish of the polish, the distribution of glitter, the finickiness of the formula.  I hope that's part of why you like reading my blog, too!

If you want more information on these brands, Harlow & Co still has one of their polishes listed on their site, but I don't know if they are discontinuing their own line and focusing on selling other Indie brands.  Feenix has closed up shop, but WingDust is still around, and you can find her on FaceBook and her shop.

Guest Post on Brijit's Digits!

This is just the beginning of this look... if you'd like to see the rest (and I know you do!)  please check out my guest post today on Brijit's Digits.  And, while you're there, you should look at her blog, because her hands are pretty amazing.