Well, that didn't go as planned.

So you might have noticed I missed a couple of posts there. It wasn't intentional. I even had a couple of manicures in the vault so that I could post them even when it wasn't practical for me to be doing nail art. I failed to save the photos onto my computer, however, and in the move my camera ended up in the wrong box. Then the battery died, and the charger was in another, unknown box. And, well, that seems to be the story of this move. We didn't get a fridge until a week and a half after we started sleeping in the house. I say sleeping, because we are still missing at least three large pieces of furniture that have been in storage. Weather and schedules have conspired against us, so we're still mostly living out of boxes. I did, however, find my yarn, my camera, and my nailpolish--those are the most important things, right?

Speaking of things that didn't go as planned, here's the first manicure I did in the new house. This was a case where my topcoat worked against me, turning my careful designs into blurry lumps. (note to self: don't use SV on patterns with small details)

The lighting is dramatic, yes? Well, that's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it. This house actually has much better light than the last place, but I did this late at night (read: missing furniture=limited lamps) and I knew they would get messed up the next day (which they did) so I wanted to get photos taken before they flaked like a ditzy cheerleader at exam time.

 

This was inspired by the song "My Favorite Things" which for some reason has become a Christmas song. It doesn't say Christmas to me, but there you are. At any rate, I do love the song and used S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" to create brown paper packages, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and Pure Ice "Siren" to tie them up with string. On my pinky, I had a smudge, which I covered up with a decorative bow--realizing after the fact that it would be upside down to everyone but me. 

This is why I am not Polish Insomniac. I shouldn't be allowed to do creative things after 10pm. I tend to get a little....too creative.

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I have been as active in the nail blogging community lately. It's not that I'm blogfadding or anything, but life has been happening and after a summer filled with nail art, everyone now seems to be focusing on swatches. And swatching primarily the same things. 

Boring. 

So while I may not post as often as some, I do promise that this blog will be swatch free (unless I find something that I'm SUPER excited about, and simply MUST share) and hopefully a little more interesting because of it. 

See you on Monday.

Plague Dots

Initially, I wasn't even going to show you guys this one, but I figured I should, just in the interest of full disclosure.

I love the look of Brash "Green Machine" and S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" together. This isn't the first time I've used this color combination, but I think in this application, it kind of looks like my nails are diseased.

Better luck next time, I guess.

Dots

Someone posted swatches of Orly "Mysterious Curse" earlier this week, and it made me want to break out my own bottle and play around with it some more. In trying to find something to pair it with, I found an unconventional candidate in S•X•Y's "Dreamy Cocoa". Here we have one coat of "Mysterious Curse" over that light, warm brown. I felt it needed a little something more, however, so I added white dots (Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party").

"Mysterious Curse" did so well layered over the brown that it gave me an idea for another layered manicure, which I'll show to you on Friday. I don't think I'm done playing with it yet!

Summer Fun: Sea Creatures

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do for this one, since I'm not much for sea life (partially because I live in Ohio). But, as a cancer, I have an affinity for the crab.

Colors used:
Blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By"
White: Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party"
Orange: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Sun Kissed"
Brown: S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa"
Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime"
Black: Claire's Nail Art Pen
Red: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "Diamonds and Rubies"
Topcoat: Seche Vite

For the background, I sponged on a 3/1 mix of the white and blue. The rest is all bottle colors. I used a toothpick to add the bubbles. Everything else is freehand. Start to finish, this took about an hour and a half, mainly because my base color was a quickdry, and that saved a lot of time.

Unfortunately, the weather is pretty crummy today, which is throwing off my lighting. I had to tweak some of these shots a little just to get the details to show up. The crabs are much easier to see in real life.

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Are you looking for something to do after the Summer Fun Challenge is over? Why not join me in the first ever Girl on a Shoestring Challenge?


Week 1: Comics and Animation
My Little Pony? Naruto? Batman? What tickles your geeky bone?

Week 2: Television and Movies
From the Lord of the Rings to Big Bang Theory, celebrate the nerdy side of Hollywood.

Week 3: Games and Gaming
It doesn't matter if you prefer Alice or D&D, or if Trivial Pursuit is more your speed. It's all about having fun!

Week 4: Ultimate Geek
We all have things we love--books, movies, games--but what is it that makes you a geek? Are you a math nerd? A science geek? Or are you just a fan of other geeks? (P.S. Nail polish is chemistry. Chemistry is science. It totally counts for geekdom!)

Since each week has a theme, you can post one manicure on Monday (or Friday, or whenever is convenient) or, if you're like me and having trouble choosing just one thing, you can post seven manicures (one every day!) if that floats your boat.

If you'd like to take part, please leave a comment below with a way I can contact you with the InLinks link.

I'm excited, how about you?

Summer Fun: Tropical Drinks

I'm a little late on this one. I didn't know what to do for a summer drink at first, mainly because I don't drink and I don't get the whole drinking for relaxation and socialization thing. I'll occasionally do a virgin strawberry daiquiri, but that's about it.

I do love my fancy drinks, though. It's just that I tend to go more for the kid-friendly side of the spectrum: smoothies, flavored teas and lemonades, and my favorites: Milkshakes.

Now I don't do plain old vanilla or chocolate, oh no. I like things like mint chocolate chip, or my favorite, banana-chocolate. I already did mint chocolate for this challenge though, and brown and yellow are really not my colors. So I went with my second favorite flavor: strawberry chocolate

For my base color, I used Essie "Exotic Liras," and while it was a great pink, it was a little too bright to invoke the color of a strawberry milkshake. So I put a coat of my least favorite polish over top: Cover Girl Continuous color 3 in 1 "Rose Quartz."

I've had this polish for years, and I've used it maybe once. It's a super pale pink in the bottle, with almost no color whatsoever on the nail. It's heavy on the shimmer, not so much in the opacity. This was a color that I bought back when I wasn't allowed to wear bright colors on my nails, and I hated it from the get go. Not because there's anything wrong with the formula itself, but because I couldn't stand the color on me. Even four coats isn't enough to make it opaque.

But it was just right to make "Exotic Liras" go from come-at-you bright to frosty and ice-creamy.

I don't think I've ever layered this color before, and I'm glad I did. It's given me a new appreciation for it. Even the polishes I least like in my collection have a place, if used correctly. Like "Plum Paradise" and my glitters, I think that this is a color best suited to layering, rather than trying to use it all by it's lonesome. It's a codependent sort of polish, and that needs to be addressed in order to use it to best effect.

I freehanded the swirl pattern using S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" and a toothpick (really wishing I had a set of stamping plates right now!). And of course, I topped it all off with Seche Vite.

Summer Fun: Ice Cream

I almost skipped today, because I am tired. Originally, I was going to work on this yesterday, but wound up playing amateur mechanic instead, trying to get my roommate's car running. Then today I worked 9 hours before I had to go grocery shopping. And I haven't been sleeping well. I thought about skipping this one all together, since I wasn't all that thrilled with the only idea I was able to come up with, but I already had the base color on and figured I might as well.

I was going to do this as a splatter. But again, too tired. So not in the mood for clean up.

Do you know how hard it is to get good lighting on your feet? Especially at 8 pm. Pardon the poor photo. I did take several more, but they came out even worse. Read: tired.

In the end, I decide that when it comes to mint chocolate chip, dots work just as well.

I used Brash "Green Machine" and S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa." My first time using the second one, and as of yet, no real opinion other than I like the color. I like the bottle shape (there's a picture of it on the stash page). I like prism bottles (i.e. bottles that are the same shape from top to bottom, rather than a pot with a handle brush). I think they are visually appealing in a mod sort of way, and are convenient to store. My problem is that since this one is a rectangular prism, rather than the usual cylinder, I can't get the cap to go back on straight. It's always offset by half a turn, no matter what I do. Most annoying.

P.S. I found Seche Vite at Target today for $4.99. It's the first time I've ever seen it there, and it was $1.50-$2 cheaper than I've seen it anywhere else, so I picked it up. Haven't used it yet, but I'm hoping it lives up to the hype!