Okay, I Can Die Happy Now. (Except Not Really.)

Someone *coughcough* got her bottle of (♪♫ daa-da-da-da-da-da-daaaaaa! ♫♪) CLARINS 230 today!!!

Mmmmmsorainbowy. ^___________^

Unfortunately, no pics in this post. I know, I know, super boring. It's been really shitty and overcast lately, and indoor lighting just doesn't do my precious justice, so on the next sunny day, I'll snap some pics.

 But I'm so excited, you have no idea.

A special thanks goes out to my friend, Lindsey, who actually placed the order for me, and with whom I'll be going in on a 48 piece Kleancolor haul tomorrow. Yeah, that's right. Twenty four brand new colors each. Ohmygodicantwait.

And that's in addition to the three polishes I ordered on Amazon the other day.

So I guess I really am gonna have to stop slacking, 'cause I've got a butt-ton of swatching to do soon. And I should probably stop spending money on nail polish for a while, too, before I go completely broke.

Anywho, I'm just all stoked about my new shinyshiny and wanted to share my deep and everlasting joy with the rest of you.

That is all.

Some Ladies Purple Their Fingernails.

...So much for not slacking. *dies*

Well, I've painted my nails a few times since my last post, and I only snapped pictures of a few of the polishes (shame on me!). And then I totally lazed out and didn't bother editing the pictures, and then I was all "Ughhhh, whyyy?" about having to put any effort into writing a post, so, uh, I didn't.

But I am now. So at least there's that, right?

Anyway, today I bring you pictures of Kleancolor Holo Chrome. I bought the whole six piece Holo set on Amazon (it's labeled as the Starry Spring collection). Five of the six Holos are jelly based (Holo Yellow has a more metallic finish than the others) and all of them fairly packed with holographic microglitter (read: RAINBOW SPARKLIES!!!!!).

Now, there's a bit of a pattern to this collection. Holo Pink is a pastel pink jelly with holo microglitter. Holo Blue is a pastel blue with holo microglitter. Holo Orange and Holo Green follow suit. And even though Holo Yellow has a slightly different base, the actual color of the polish is... you guessed it: yellow.

So it stands to reason that Holo Chrome would be a some type of chrome polish with holo microglitter, right? WRONG! It's purple. But it's called Holo Chrome. Because just calling it Holo Purple would've been stupid.

Anywho, Holo Chrome is one of the two polishes in the collection that have a second, more subtle glitter added to the mix (the other polish is Holo Orange).  Holo Chrome not only has the standard holo microglitter, but there's also some tiny iridescent blue/violet glitter in there. You can't really tell unless you really look for it, but when combined with the purple jelly base of this polish, that subtle iridescent glitter really helps this polish to pop.

Artificial light. You can kinda make out the iridescent blue glitters in this picture. Like I said, super subtle, especially paired with all the holo glitter. But it's definitely in there.

Artificial light. A little blurry to help show the glitter.

Artificial light. And angles! Because it's always good to have some perspective.

 Application was fine. Because of the jelly base, these polishes take a few coats to build up to opaque. I think I used four coats* for this one. The polish dries pretty quickly, though, so that kind of makes up for the need for so many coats. The finish is a bit gritty, and it took two coats of topcoat to even out the surface (and, as you can see in the pictures, it still wasn't quite glass-smooth).

Flash. Holo Chrome is the least pastel of the collection. All the other polishes are quite a bit less bold.

Flash. Oh, holo glitter, I love you so. I seriously just sit and stare at my hands all the time when I use the polishes from this collection.

Some people have complained that Kleancolor polishes have a horrible smell to them. I haven't noticed this with any of mine. They may smell a bit different than some of my other polishes, but it's been my experience that different brands and different formulations have slightly different chemically smells on a fairly regular basis. The smell of Kleancolors doesn't strike me as particularly strong or offensive.

Natural light, shade.

Natural light, shade. Again. And now I'm getting distracted and just want to finish this post, so I'm not going to think of a good caption for this one.

I really like this color. I'm like a four year old. Anything that sparkles--especially rainbow sparkles--is going to score huge points in my book. And ever since I read the book 'Hailstones And Halibut Bones' by Mary O'Neill when I was, like, seven years old, purple polish has had a special place in my heart. So yeah, this polish is chock full of win.

RCN Ratings:

• Price: 5/5 (I paid $12.95 for the six piece set)
• Packaging: 5/5
• Performance: 5/5

 And, just 'cause it still makes the little kid in me happy:

What Is Purple?

by Mary O'Neill

Time is purple just before night

when most people turn on the light--
but if you don't it's a beautiful sight.

Asters are purple, there's purple ink.

Purple's more popular than you think...

it's sort of a great Grandmother to pink.

There are purple shadows and purple veils,

some ladies purple their fingernails.

There's purple jam and purple jell

and a purple bruise next day will tell

where you landed when you fell.

The purple feeling is rather put-out

the purple look is a definite pout.

But the purple sound is the loveliest thing

It's a violet opening in the spring.

*I always use NailTek Foundation II Ridge Filling Base Coat to provide an even surface and prevent staining, and Sally Hansen Dries Instantly 30 Second Top Coat for quick and easy shine.

Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na, BATMAN-ICURE!

Nail Nerd posted a very cute homage to Wonder Woman recently, so I suggested she do a Batman manicure too, since I lovelovelovelovelove Batman (I even have the Batman logo tattooed on my lower back!).

And, because she is awesome, the Nerd complied with my request. Does that manicure not blow your mind with joy!? 

I absolutely love reading Nerd's blog because she's constantly coming up with such creative ideas (I mean, c'mon, marijuana pistils? Who else would DO that!?), and because she executes them so well. Plus she posts new manicures all. the. time., which is great for someone like me, who can't get enough of oogling beautiful polishes.

And THAT is why she's my nail girlfriend. *nods* ^___^

Like A Starlight Mint. Only Not.

Alrighty, I've got two reviews for you today. (That's right. I'm getting over-ambitious after my bout of slackeriness.)

First up is a red. And before I get into the review, let me tell you this: While I adore a cherry red toenail, I am not a fan of red nail polish on fingers. I mean, I guess some people can pull it off (Penn Jillette, I'm looking at you!), but to me it always seemed kind of *cough-whorey-cough*. Aaaaaand proceed with the hate comments.

But no, really. I just never liked the look of red on hands. Least of all my hands. So even though I have a few reds in my collection, I usually just stick to a certain trusty Revlon (which I'm sure I will review eventually) or a couple of my wine/berry-red OPIs when I feel the need to do my tootsies red, but never, never my hands.

Then I started this blog. And that's when I decided I was going to have to get over my thing about certain colors being "hand colors" and certain colors being "feet colors" (to be clear, there are plenty of colors that are both "hand" and "feet" colors. But there are also some that I feel are better used exclusively for one or the other). So I decided to go ahead and go red.

OPI Got The Blues For Red is one of the colors my dad's lovely ladyfriend, Tracey, gave me a while back. I think I'd only ever used it on my toes once, and then for some reason, I kind of relegated it to the back of my nail polish box. But I dug it out and got down to business just so I could post this review for youuuuu. (Feel loved, damnit!)

Got The Blues For Red is a rich blue-based red creme. The consistency is actually a bit sheer--imagine if a creme and a jelly had a baby--but it totally works. The pictures below are two coats*. I probably should've gone with three, since I can still make out my nail line, especially in the natural light shot.

Artificial light.

Natural light.

 Got The Blues For Red surprised me. I actually loved it. It applied like a dream, and it didn't look *cough-whorey-cough* at all, although I did think it looked pretty sexy. But there's a difference.

I don't know if I loved it enough to convert me to a red fingernails kind of girl (maybe in the summer, with a cute retro bikini?), but this polish definitely earned a more coveted spot in my box-o-polishes--which is actually three boxes now, since my collection has outgrown the first two boxes.

RCN Ratings:

• Price: 4/5 (Technically, I got this for free, so that's definitely 5/5, but OPI's typically retail for about $8-9, which is on the higher end of what I usually spend. I'm a drug store kinda girl.)
  
• Packaging: 5/5
  
• Performance: 5/5

Next up is a polish I'd been wanting for a while (and by 'a while', I mean, about a week; patience is not one of my virtues).

After my Vanilla Glitter Milkshake mani, I started wondering if I could find a sheer white polish to use over glitters that wouldn't cast the same yellow/nude-y tint that Sally Hansen Sheer Me Now did, but would still work to create the milky effect. I was pretty sure I had seen a sheer-looking white in the Sally Hansen polish display at my local drug store, so over I went, and triumphantly returned home with a bottle of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Polar White.

I tried swatching it over a few of my glitter polishes on my nail wheel, and was a bit disappointed. Even though the consistency in the bottle looked the same as Sheer Me Now's, the Polar Bare just didn't have the same sort of coverage. So I decided to try it on its own* (I don't remember if I used two or three coats for these pics, sorry!):

Artificial (incandescent) light.

Artificial (CFL) light.

This polish was a pain in the butt to apply well. The nails on my left hand looked decent, but the nails on my right hand were a streaky mess (like, to the point where I had to take the polish off immediately after snapping these pics, 'cause it looked so awful). And, to be honest, the color didn't really blow me away, either. Not great over glitter, not great application, and a not great color. Paint me disappointed. : (

RCN Ratings:

• Price: 4/5
• Packaging: 5/5
• Performance: 3/5

So, which do you prefer? Are there any polish color families that you just can't stand?


*I always use NailTek Foundation II Ridge Filling Base Coat to provide an even surface and prevent staining, and Sally Hansen Dries Instantly 30 Second Top Coat for quick and easy shine.

Slackers... In... SPAAAAAAACE!

Wow, I'm off to a slow start with this whole nail blogging thing. And I know giving excuses is super lame, but I'm not going to deny the fact that I've been feeling like a bag of smashed ass lately, and it's kind of been sapping my motivation to do... well... anything. I'll try to be better about posting, but, uh, I'm not making any promises right now. : P

ANNNYway, since I already had these pictures edited and sitting in my "Ready For Blog" folder, here's a layered manicure I did about a week ago that was a little bit girly and (to me, anyway) a little bit spacy. I don't have a name for it, although I usually try to come up with cute names for my designs. Maybe this one can be "PK Barbie". (Twenty five nerd points and a bonus twenty five cool points to anyone that gets that reference without looking it up.). Like I said, I'm feeling pretty "weh", so I'm not gonna get all frilly with my description.

Here:

First*, I laid down two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Flight (my favorite black polish EVAR), and let that dry. Which didn't take long. You know. Insta-Dri. ; )

Then I slapped on a coat of Sally Hansen HD Byte, which is pretty sheer, but added a pretty magenta/blue duochrome glass fleck effect. I wish my camera could capture the colors better.

Next up was a coat of Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor, which added subtle blue-green iridescent glitter.

Then I decided to add a coat of Essie Matte About You to bring out the glittery shimmery effect. In this shot, I have Matte About You on my middle and pinkie fingers so you can see the difference it makes in the overall look.

The final effect. Again, I wish my camera was better at capturing duochromes and glitters. Ah, well.

I had actually come up with the idea for this manicure about a month ago, when I was playing around with my nail wheels, and I really thought I was going to love it, but... I kinda didn't. I dunno. It just didn't do it for me once it was on my hands. I ended up taking it off after two or three days.

Eh, ya win some, ya lose some. 

What do you think? Any good advice or experiences anyone wants to share regarding layering?

*I always use NailTek Foundation II Ridge Filling Base Coat to provide an even surface and prevent staining.