Sweet Baby Octopolish!

Well the man picked "red" for my inspo, and that beautiful new Creative Shop 40 plate was still lying around right there on my desk, so... indoor, bright CF lighting Literary Lacquers And So I Step Up is a muted smoky red jelly base that leans close to wine, liberally sparked with glass flecks that catch beautifully in the light. window-filtered bright sunlight Creative Shop 50 has a wide variety of nature-themed designs, including this wavy abstract converging lines look.  While a lot of CS's designs are too big for small to medium nails, their abstract designs like this one are perfect - very easy to reposition and change up a little to look like a unified but un-identical theme. indoor, CF lighting After stamping with El Corazon Kaleidoscope in Coral, I added individual holo glitter sequins from POP Polish.  As with other times I've stuck these on with only my regular topcoat, they last for a day or two, then start being pulled off one by one.  ...

Sometimes a plan just comes together so perfectly, you can't resist. indoor, CF lighting KBShimmer created Let it Beetle for last month's flora & fauna themed Polish Pick-up, and though I tried to talk myself out of it (my multichrome loving heart surely has something similar, right?), Suzy mentally slapped me upside the head.  "Michelle, it's a green multichrome, obviously  made just for you."  She was right, of course. window-filtered overcast daylight Creative Shop had an amazing flash sale last month, and my stack of gorgeous new plates and the PPU shipment arrived together.  CS 50 had a fantastic june bug image, and BM-S245 had a smaller pinky-sized beetle, so this look had to happen. outdoor, direct sunlight Let it Beetle is a gorgeous green-based multichrome, with a peek of jade green at the edges in most all lighting.  The shimmer shifts from a warm copper in direct light, to gold, to a cooler peridot, then emerald, and finally ele...

When my recently snagged Tonic oops treasures arrived at my house, I just happened to be in need of a new mani, and these were all super pretty.  Oops 30 jumped right to the front of the line. indoor, CF lighting Oops 30 is a sheer sky blue jelly base, loaded with a gold-to-green shifting aurora shimmer, translucent iridescent glitters in 2 sizes, and silver holo flake. outdoor, direct sunlight There's a whole lot going on in this polish, but everything works beautifully together.  Somehow, the shimmer, glitter, and holo all sparkle in harmony (not the same notes but always complimentary), with each taking center stage separately in different lighting but giving way to the other elements with only a slight tilt of the nails.  outdoor, cloudy daylight The sheer base built nicely by the 2nd coat and came to visual opacity by the 3rd.  In most lighting, the shimmer was dense enough that it looks opape IRL, but the camera occasionally "sees through" the...

This world is head-over-heels crazy lately, and it frankly has me losing track of time since nails aren't what's keeping me up at night.  With St Patrick's Day coming up, it suddenly occurred to me that March had so far had nary a irish-winking green design, so time to get on that. indoor, CF lighting Lacquer Lust used to occasionally release limited edition unicorns, often around a holiday theme.  Each of these had a signature somewhat sheer silvery/neutral holo microglitter base, with various other glitters added for the theme.  I had to have this one as soon as I saw someone's sparkly swatch photos... and yet kept saving it for some other St Paddy's, unloved for 4+ years? outdoor, shaded daylight One Lucky Unicorn was, of course, a St Patrick's Day offering.  This version of the sparkly holo glitter base has translucent lemony yellow and bright kelly green glitters in at least 2 sizes each. outdoor, bright sunlight Pictures do not  do this U...

Tonic just had a oops batch sale - this time, small batches of color studies, prototypes, or just pretty mistakes rather than individual bottles - and to celebrate scoring all 3 of my must-haves, I grabbed another Tonic prototype. indoor, CF lighting  This particular prototype is unmarked with either a batch number or handwritten label, so I'm not at all sure if this is a one-of-a-kind or if there were several of this color made.  window-filtered daylight It's a deep slate blue, slightly green-leaning, but really more grey-leaning, filled to the brim with red-to-green aurora shimmer.  In a lot of lighting, the shimmer is heavy enough to give the polish an overall metallic look, like a beetle's carapace. indoor, bright CF lighting  This was fully opaque after two coats, which I find super unusual for how shimmery it is - typically, polishes with this much sparkle need to be more sheer to prevent the base opacity from drowning the shimmer.  w...

This week at work, we had a super important inspection with a team of site visitors from outside our institution.  While science-land is plenty relaxed about office-appropriate attire, and even the bigwigs in my group don't care what color my nails are, this was most certainly one of the times where a loudly non-traditional color didn't need to do my talking for me. indoor, bright CF lighting Out of everything I could have grabbed, I debated only a few options, and went with the most flattering nude/neutral in my stash, Butter London's All Hail the Queen.  outdoor, bright sunlight I've worn this before , and know that it looks great with my skintone, tastefully neutral in all lighting, and is utterly put-together and professional.  I couldn't quite handle being utterly plain all week, though, so jazzed it up a bit (very subtly) this time. outdoor, bright sunlight First off, to amp up the extremely subtle scattered holo shimmer (of which there's...

For the past several years now, various makers have been hosting in-person Polish Con events in a few different places around the country.  So far, none have been near me, or I might be sorely tempted to load up on even more bottles of magic. indoor, CF lighting As if the possibility of shopping like crazy at one of these events wasn't enough, there's also plenty of Con exclusives that can be hard to find afterward, including the jewels released only in the VIP bag.  The minute I saw someone's swatches of Bee's Knees We'll Miss You, from last year's Polish Con NOLA, I had to have it , and somehow lucked into someone destashing (thank the sweet baby octopus that there are people that love pink where instead I love green). outdoor, direct bright sunlight We'll Miss You is a color that's hard to pin down, especially for those of us that file based on color.  The base is a rich aqua-teal jelly, but it's packed with contrasting fiery shimmer a...