my first franken

I had two bottles of Lincoln Park At Midnight, which is a shimmery version of Lincoln Park After Dark, which is the greatest OPI ever. I also had just a little It's Sheer Luck left. So, I mixed those with a mostly empty Seche Vite dry-fast top coat. And threw in a little Wireless for some suspended glitter. Then I threw in some Color Club French Tip to lighten it up. And then, I had a random mini Sally Girl shimmery that seemed pretty close to LPAM. I give you Kitchen Sink (since I basically just threw whatever in there). I probably should've shaken further and let it set overnight. But I just mixed it up and slapped it on, because I liked it. It is pretty close to Catherine the Grape from the 2007 Russia collection, but with silver undertones and glitters. I need to give it to a girlfriend, and get a real world review of it. My polishes tend to stay on my fingernails for just a day, so unless it's an egregious offender (I'm looking at you, Chanel), it doesn't get a chance to chip.

So, here's my ingredients:


And what it looks like in the bottle:


and what it looks like on the toes:

China Glaze Pink Voltage and Turned Up Turquoise

I watched Earth Girls Are Easy, which is an over-the-top 80s movie with terrible dialogue and awesomely awful costumes and the manicures are a minor plot point. I wanted something very 80s, this is what I came up with. It's like a nightclub on Westheimer in Houston in 1987. Thumbs up.

China Glaze Liquid Vinyl and Color Club French Tip

I also wore black & white stripey tights to my yoga class to match this look. Basic, but not boring.

Chanel L.A. Sunrise and China Glaze Entourage

Bright and cheerful. I wish I didn't hate the formula of Chanel, because this is such a pretty yellow, and it's hard for me to wear yellows. I am pale, but I have olive undertones, due to my Mediterranean heritage. Yellows tend to make me look like a corpse, so I only own two yellow pieces of clothing (a sports bra and some tights). I like yellow (it's so cheerful), but it just doesn't work on me.

But, this shade somehow does. This shade just sort of glows. It's too bad that even with the base coat and top coat, it chips right away.

BonBon scented polishes Strawberry Kiss and OPI by Nicole Blue Lace

A post-Memorial Day, pre-Independence Day patriotic mani. Meant to be shimmery red and blue, I was told by a chef at work that it was more pink and teal than red and blue. What do boys know from pretty colors? I think my white Konad special polish is running out. It was extremely thick and quite difficult to use. It ended up smeared on a couple of tips.

ORLY It's Not Me, It's You and ManGlaze Death Tar with a shiny topcoat

I really like the ManGlaze. It's a good formula, and I really love the richness, so even though it's a matte polish, it's not lacking for depth. It reminds me a lot of Noir Ceramic from late 2006 Chanel when you put the topcoat over it. I really think this pink looks weird, but looking back, I tend to use it a lot. With painting my nails so often, I find myself gravitating to certain colors over and over. This pink is one of them.

puppy pedicure!

I found a polish for Lucy, my mutt! She's a very patient girl, and she means a lot to me, unnecessary anthropomorphizing notwithstanding. I found out that a few years ago, OPI did a collection of fast-drying polishes. Well, Lu should have a mani, too. I sought one out. A silver called Yuppy Puppy. Well, actually, OPI calls it Paw-lish. I love it. By the time we got to the last toenail, the first one was dry. Lucy was very patient, and seemed to enjoy the attention. That might also have to do with giving her treats, so she wouldn't be freaked out. Also, if she had balked, I would have stopped. But she was a very good girl, and look how cute it came out:



I did mine silver and pink to match:

China Glaze Lubu Heels and OPI Curry Up, Don't Be Late with China Glaze Enchanted

Glitter! Glitter! Glitter! The Lubu is black with red glitter. I'd like to franken together the Enchanted and the Curry and see what happens. I'd like it to look more mixed than layered.

Color Club Where's My Soiree and Essie Perky Purple

Yes, another black and purple combo. Because I like them a lot as individual colors and in concert with one another. I wanted to see what the neon Essie would look like with a top coat. The formula for a neon polish is similar to a matte-finish formula. So, chipping was once again an issue.

Nicole by OPI The Right Thing and Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal with China Glaze Wireless holo

Orange and teal and ahimmery and sparkly. I wanted to go have an orange push-pop. It was so hot outside, that I needed a fiery nail to match. I like oranges with blues in the summer, and these two worked. I used two coats of the holo, for a real glow.

OPI Jewel of India and Bon Bon scented polish Blueberry Pie

Pretty, shimmery, fairy combo. I am trying to integrate all the scented polishes, since they were a gift. I wouldn't mind decorating a small room in these colors. They're good together.

ManGlaze Death Tar and Bon Bon scented polish Groovy Grape

I'm a sucker for a trend. Especially a trend involving dark polishes. Mattes are all the rage right now. ManGlaze is way old school (as in, they were country when country wasn't cool). I wasn't really pleased with how quickly it chipped, but that's to be expected with any of these mattes. In order to get that beautiful finish, their formulas must be different from the glossies. I wonder what ManGlaze would look like with the Poshe top coat.

Nicole by OPI Berry Sweet and OPi You're a Doll

I get a lot of mileage out of the Doll. Last time I wore it, I noticed in the sunlight that it's got red microglitter dots. I don't know why I never noticed them before. I always just through it was an icy lavender. So, I figured I'd pair it with a new red. All in all, I really think the combo is lovely together. I wore my black and white rose ring with this, and it was super-presh.

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise and OPI Curry Up, Don't Be Late

I suddenly love how the Curry looks with everything. I don't love the visible brushstrokes in the metallic polishes. I heretofore had avoided gold in all shades. Then, I got some cute gold leaf earrings, and they're almost the exact color of the curry. Gold and turquoise make me happy together. I have my eye on some gold gladiator sandals with turquoise detailing. <3

Nicole by OPI Virtuous Violet and OPI Brand New Skates

I'm glad the Nicoles were only $2. I have to use three coats of them to get them to be as opaque as I like for my polish to be. That being said, I heart this purple. It is both dark and bright. No real complaints about it, other than it being slightly runny. I could see loving this color intensely, culminating in a quiet countryside commitment ceremony, where I'd wear a crown of violets and a diaphanous lavender gown.

a quiz!

ganked from Vampy Varnish:

1. How is your day going so far?
meh. I found out that I tore some cartilage in my knee when I fell a few days ago. So, that sucks. But the painkillers and the anti-inflammatory will make things better.

2. What polish do you have on your tips today?
at this very moment, it's Nicole by OPI Blue Lace and OPI Curry Up, Don't Be Late.


3. When did you first start really getting into nail polish?

When I was about 10. I had acrylics from 8th grade through college. I have long loved dark polishes, and used to change my polish once a week. About three years ago, I started collecting polishes. And earlier this year, I started changing my polish every day. I do two colors, because on Valentine's Day, I couldn't decide if I wanted red or pink, so I chose both.

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or get them done?
I do them myself. I have gone and would go again to get them done, but I do it when I come home from work. It's how I wind down.


5. Who is your biggest celebrity crush?
I adore Adrien Brody.

6. Would you rather do what you love for a living but struggle to make ends meet, or do something you just tolerate but make lots of $$?
I would rather do something I love. All the money in the world can't buy happiness. Although I would have cuter things to wear while I was depressed.

7. What is your dream destination for a vacation?
I want to go to Thailand and stay in one of those huts on the water, and do yoga at sunrise.


8. What are your favorite beauty related websites?
polish related: Polish Pixie, Scrangie, All Lacquered Up, Vampy and the Nail Phile. Non-polish: Beauty Addict (back when she still updated) and definitely the Beauty Brains.


9. What are your favorite non-beauty websites?
Facebook, Twitter, my bulletin board (which is general discussion, but we've been posting together for 10 years), Fan ChitChat and the Weather Channel (gotta know what it's like outside, away from my beloved laptop)


10. What is your favorite vampy color of nail polish?
man, this is gonna be hard: OPI Lincoln Park After Dark is probably #1, but I also love their Yoga-ta Get This Blue and OPI Ink. Oh, and Rescue Beauty Lounge's Recycle and Moulin Rouge.

thanks, Vampy. That was fun. :)

OPI Hey, Get In Lime! and Nicole by OPI Blush of Adrenaline

I stopped at a CVS by my house to grab some shampoo and pens for work and what have you. I was perusing the beauty aisles, because I love that section, and in any drugstore, grocery store, farmer's market, little gift shop, I go up and down and check them out. I want to see, smell and touch the potions and lotions, I love it all.

This particular CVS was having some sort of beauty clearance. Nicole by OPI poishes were $2.19 each. I quickly sorted through and chose three. Three polishes for under $7 seems like a great bargain to me.

Also, at someplace called The Beauty Store, next to my local Tom Thumb, they had discontinued OPIs for $3.50. I got the lime, because it's actually more minty than limey. It's a little runny, so I used three coats. I used three coats of the blush, so that they would be similarly creamy. I like the way my bargain basement pedi/mani came out.

Essie Perky Purple and Color Club Where's the Soiree

So, everyone's getting with matte-finish polishes this fall right? OPI, Misa, Zoya, not to mention the awesomeness of ManGlaze or Knock Out's stunning and expanding line of colors. I want them. I want them all.

I was using my Perky Purple for the first time. I noticed that the first coat was streaky and thick. And when it dried, it dried in a flat, matte finish. I wondered if I could make it work, and contrast it with a super-shiny, super-dark polish. I ended up using four coats of the purple, trying to even out the brush strokes. I also planned to use the shiny top coat on it when I got home, but since it chipped right as I was reaching into the box to get the top coat to apply. Good grief, that is a long and ugly sentence. So, here's a glimpse at what I achieved:

OPI A Oui Bit of Red and China Glaze Black Diamond with Konad m7

Another request. I tried to use the Konad special polish in red over the CG Black Diamond, but it wouldn't show up. The red is too dark to go over another dark color, even one as lusciously shimmery as the Black Diamond.

OPI Just Groovy and Yoga-ta Get This Blue

I take requests. One of my managers is a UNC graduate. He asked for UNC's colors. This is what I came up with:

I got lazy

I didn't feel like changing my polish on Monday night, so I Konaded it, and wore it to work.





I thought my collection might be getting out of control. However, I just reorganized and cleaned up my nail polish collection. I have 75 bottles of nail polish. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be.

China Glaze Liquid Vinyl and Rescue Beauty Lounge Concrete Jungle

Black & grey. There's nothing much to say here, other than to reiterate my adoration of RBL polishes. Just wonderful. Good opaqueness, long lasting. I just love them. I broke my left hand index fingernail, so it's real short, and its appearance of shortness is magnified by dark polish.