When a good combo turns BAD - ChG neons + Liquid Lacquer

I was SUPER excited to do something with the Dirty Watermelons that I received in my Liquid Lacquer package last week (must've cost a fortune to ship those suckers!)... and I was equally excited to rock some of the new China Glaze neons I got prior to that. :-)

So, I selected Pool Party & Highlight of my Summer to top with said Dirty Watermelons (ugggh, my fingers are SOOO heavy! :-P sorry - I'm totally goofy tonight!), which would've been an UHmazing combo if I may say so myself, but in this instance, my darn base and top coat did me in! :-(  I used Essie Fill the Gap base, which dries to a satin finish, and fairly old-ish (& much used) Seche Vite that I tried to thin with Seche Restore, but apparently I need to add a LOT more.  This was the result:

At this point, I'd been wearing this mani for all of...hmm...24 hours?  Maybe?  It was chipping to high heaven because the base didn't adhere to it, oh, and typically unnoticeable bits of base and SV were sticking out under the polish near my cutes or over the polish and onto the cutes...UGH.  Which is super noticeable in GIANT macro photos!  Oh, AND because the SV is old, a more apropos name would be Seche Slow, so even though I thought it was dry, it got smooshed up on either side of the ring and pinkie fingers, causing ripples. -_-

I'm just SO sad that this didn't turn out. :-(  ...or stick around.  As I type this, all but one nail has spontaneously come off or been easily peeled off.  I guess the upside is I don't hafta go through the typical drama of glitter removal (even with the foil method it's still a pain in the tush!).

Pool Party's formula was terrific, but Highlight of my Summer was also a pain in the tush.  I used two coats of each, and had I not been using the glitter topper, I would've definitely needed at least another coat because it was uneven and left bald patches, and had an issue with flowing towards the cutes, so I had a really hard time not getting too close, but not leaving giant gaps around the whole nail bed.  Hence that horribly ripply edge!  I really debated about even showing you guys this mani, but I figure we're here to share failures too, right?  Besides, Dirty Watermelons is SO FUN!!  :-D

I was gonna get Jindie Nails Stop Staring at my Melons, but I saw this and decided I liked it even better.  And I'm sooo happy with my choice!  Liquid Lacquer is AWESOME...remember her special resurrection of Safety Stick - just for me?! YUP.  That's how amazing she is!  And of course, the polishes are super purty. :-D 

Dirty Watermelons contains small grey, medium pink, and darker minty green hexes, medium minty hexes, medium grey and pink circles, small black squares, large black circles, and small pink bars. :-)  Oh, and they're all matte.  Which I think is nice, since watermelons aren't holographic! ;-)  Formula was average, totally jammed with glitters, and I did invert the bottle to get the big black circles to come up.  Dab & spread method was somewhat necessary, because of course they like to congregate at the nail's free edge, otherwise.

I know, pedicures are basically a no-no on blogs, but I kinda like the effect of  my neon, ghostly toes eerily popping out of the dark background! Muahahaha!  See, don't my nails look MUCH better in not exactly macro? ;-)

And now, some extras for you - because I was home again this weekend - and I like getting glimpses into bloggers' lives:

Front yard at my parents' house

Lacey's beak is good for photographing manis ;-)

My crazy fuzzbutt, Kali

Kitty Zoey disliketh having her picture taken!  ...But I had to include this, for Liesl's sake. ;-)

Good Sabbath, everyone! (I'm not Jewish, but being involved in a Fiddler on the Roof production is making me use the lines for EVERYthing!) hahaha