Cheap Thrills, part 2 -- Nail mail? NOPE. Nail fail.

Oi.  I hate when what seems like a great mani idea in your head turns out to be a total wreck.  That's what happened here, unfortunately.  At the time I bought it, I obviously did not know that one of my three Fing'rs Heart 2 Art polishes had the consistency of quik-set cement.  Nor did I have my Seche Restore at that time. SO this is what came of it:

What you see here is Fing'rs Set in Rhine-Stone, Sinful Colors 24/7, and Hit Polish Companion Cube on the accent nail, plus a sticker/decal thingie from the Heart 2 Art Travel pack.  

Set in Rhine-Stone was just so messy & unmanageable...it was nearly impossible to do a thin coat, because giant gobs of polish kept sliding down the long brush stem (remember the bottles are almost identical to Julep's), and when I did get a thin coat, it was insanely patchy.  

Also, it felt like it dried super fast, but yet, it took FOREVER once the nail was covered.  Maybe it's more accurate to say it got tacky really fast, which made multiple brush strokes & self-leveling out of the question.  Hence the strange ridges & layer-y looking areas. I didn't even bother to put on a top coat on all my nails because I knew this would be coming off later that evening.  I'm sure a TC would have made things look a lot better, but I was so disgusted I couldn't even make myself give it a try.

24/7 was nice & easy to work with, and holy moly is it ever an amazing neon pink!  I love it!  It's more of a light, chalky yet very TRUE neon pink.  I really should show it next to Kleancolor's Neon Pink.  24/7 it what I really wanted all along; I just didn't know it.  Of course though, true to form for neons, it is not photographing well.
-_-  Grr.

I thought the sticker thingies were actually going to be more like those water decals I've read about on misc. blogs, but alas, they're more of just a standard sticker which have never worked for me in the past.  However in the past, I did not know what a top coat was, let alone that such a thing as Seche Vite existed.  So I slapped on a heavy coat of SV, and what did I get?  A sinking sticker.  And a bubbling glob of SV that wasn't so "vite" any more, apparently, since I mooshed it on something which only added to the failing mess.

Oooh!  Here you can get a better idea of the awesomeness that is Sinful Colors 24/7!  And the fact that my nails are all long, shapely, and the cutes are neat & moisturized.  Ahhh I miss those days!  My nails seriously ARE NOT GROWING now & despite a million cuticle oil and balm applications a day, they're still dry & hangnail-y. :-(
P.S. I really debated about this photo because it's an awkward pose, but meh, whatevs!  If it disturbs you: look away!!! ;-)

Hit Polish's Companion Cube was a fun grey jelly with pink hearts, medium silver holo hexes, & medium matte black hexes.  This was one coat, with a bit of the dab & spread method.  Hit Polish seriously has a TON of amazing polishes with more creations being added all the time.  I have a few others (like Lullaby) that are just gorgeously fun, and Concrete Jungle is on my wishlist.  Check out www.hitpolish.com for all your bank account draining needs! ;-)

So, there you have it, ladies.  I gave it an honest-to-goodness try!  And now I have to go to bed because reliving the ishyness has worn me out.  And I do have to get up for work in about 5 hours.

Goodnight!!  And SMILE! v  :-D

Let’s walk the indie polish hall of fame, shall we? Nailventurous FLOAM

Yes, you heard (or read) correctly; I, me, myself, was able to obtain a bottle of the much sought-after and VERY original Floam!!! THANK YOU, blog sales: the rummage sales of the polish world!!

. . . complete with the original consistency of sheetrock mud/joint compound – I should know – I stepped off a ladder into a 5 gallon pail of it when I was 4. Ah well, once I got the hang of it, I was able to lay down a not too shabby coat for my double accent nails!

Ahhh that 90's Floam! ...and its cousin, Gak. :-)

When those Floam-esque Salon Perfect polishes came out, I had to get one, and Shocked was the one that jumped off the shelf at me…I kinda have a thing for hot pink. J I also got Bang because it looked – being the operative word – like an awesome neon orange, but upon the realization that it’s just a sorta lame mix of pink & yellow, that one went back to Wally World. You’d think my OSGD (obsessive swatch Googling disorder) would’ve prevented that misconception!

My sincere apologies for the large gap between polish & cutes here.  I think I took this after I'd been wearing this mani for a few days - and I probably (stupidly) pushed back my cutes to boot.

Really fun, no?! I just wish I didn’t feel so weird wearing these types of “kiddie combos” to work… even though I spend the majority of my day in a cube and no one really notices my nails, I don’t like when my nails totally don’t go with my attire. Since I’m obviously not wearing neon dress pants to work. Whatever! It’s a good thing I have a copious stash, so polishes don’t tend to hang out on my nails very long. ;-)

I already commented on the consistency of Floam, but I’ll expound: at first, I had no idea how I was going to get that obtuse mélange of microglitters to lay nicely without forming giant mountain peaks and valleys below…but after doing one hand, I somehow managed to find a technique that worked. At the moment, I really can’t recall what that technique was, but I think it was mostly being very, very careful and sloooow. ;-) I mean, it’s already “dry” and sticky, so keeping the brush out of the bottle for awhile wasn’t going to make it much worse. The nice thing was that you only had to deal with it once per nail – one coat was more than sufficient!

See those peaks & valleys?! Oi. :-/

Explosion was much thinner and took 2 or 3 coats for full coverage/opacity. Next time I might try putting it over a neon pink (like Sinful Colors 24/7 or the very creatively named Kleancolor Neon Pink). Now that I look at these again, I believe I did put a coat of China Glaze You Drive Me Coconuts over the thumbnail on my right hand because a) I had just gotten it & b) I wanted to get an idea of what a jelly sandwich might look like, using Shocked & YDMC. Pretty boring, actually. Too much of the same color, methinks!

I'm not even sure if Nailventurous is still making & selling her Floam, but if you're hankering for something with the same colors as the original Floam, I would definitely recommend Salon Perfect Kaboom from the same collection as Explosion. Although it will take more coats, they'll definitely be easier to apply than this hallowed goop! Bring ON the thinner!!! :-D

Relax & de-stress with China Glaze Sea Spray

Oh.my.word.  I seriously can't believe it's been about 3 weeks since I posted. :-/  Bad me!!  As at least a few of you know, I was involved in an off-Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof.  But let me tell ya, when I told my friend I'd help her out, I had NO IDEA just how much work I'd signed up for, and how much it was gonna take over my life for about a month.  There were four weeks of rehearsals, (each night going about 4 hrs + my 2 hrs of driving there & back) plus what I learned is referred to in theater as "hell week" - the week of the performances - we sold out the 4 planned performances & voted to add another matinee, just because we're nice. ;-)  YIKES.  It really was a fabulous experience and I have so many great memories that will likely stay with me forever (especially the songs that are permanently engraved in my brain...TRADITION!), but I will surely think long & hard about being a backstage manager/director's assistant if the opportunity presents itself again! :-P

The rabbi, the rabbi!  "May God bless & keep the tsar -- faaaar away from us."  Everyone: "ahahaha!" ;-)

The mani I have for you today is not current, as the production ravaged my nails like you wouldn't believe... I seriously have no idea how long it's going to take for them to get to a "presentable" point.  I was breaking them left & right (what with moving all sorts of set items in almost total darkness as fast as possible), so they're all nubbins (misshapen ones at that), I have hangnails that are running like your grandma's pantyhose, and lots of dried out, cracked cuticles. :-(  I've been using cuticle oil & balm like there's no tomorrow - even the occasional pure vitamin E capsule - but it is slow going!  Oh, and since many of the breaks involved the nails being bent quite acutely, the nail surface is flaky & choppy on quite a few nails. Aggggh! The HORROR! (think of that scene from the old, old movie The Pagemaster ;-)

So, that said, this is something I did during the first couple weeks of rehearsals as a simple, soothing mani. :-)

Two coats China Glaze Sea Spray, plus matte top coat (can you see the little "v" design I did on the middle finger? ;-)  I didn't intend to do an accent nail, but I hadn't tried OPI Solitaire yet, and it just seemed perfect!  I really like that with only one coat, you can kinda see Sea Spray peeking through.

This was my inspiration for the pattern with matte topcoat...
I think I'm gonna try it again sometime, except get more fancy with it. ;-)

Sea Spray has the faintest hint of  ultrafine silver shimmer. Just perfect.  I've really been loving the dusty grey blue shades lately!  The application was easy for both Sea Spray and Solitaire.  Just what I needed in the midst of the musical madness & difficulties. :-)

Just in case you were wondering - it really IS Sea Spray! (albeit upside down...oops :-P )

I'm not really sure why I hardly have anything to say about this mani.  If you've read my blog at all, you know I'm very long-winded and always have something to talk about. ;-)  Maybe I'm still recuperating from the "trauma of the drama!"  Seriously, if you ever think it's a good idea to only get 2-3 hrs of sleep a night for weeks on end - it's NOT.  Don't try this at home, kids!

Well, I hope I can keep up a better, more regular posting "schedule" now... I really did miss you guys and felt guilty every day of my absence. :-(

In closing, I share with you one more photo from a favorite scene of mine: The Rumor 

Seriously, this scene cracks me up, especially if you've gone over the dialogue as many times as I did to know the crazy (and true to life) distortion of "the town gossip." :-)  If you haven't seen Fiddler in any shape or form before, I would recommend renting the movie, or watching a clip or two on YouTube - although they are actually illegal (violating the UBER STRICT copyright - no performance can be videotaped or recorded at ALL).  But most of all, if you ever have a chance, get thee to a live theater performance of it!!

Ok, I'd best get to bed.  G'night lovely ladies!!