Sweet Baby Octopolish!

 For several years running, I've gone all-out for the Oscars, and this remains my fave event of the year.  This year, though, the show was sandwiched in between a lovely long vacation and a bunch of work shenanigans, and I just wasn't feeling up to putting in the hours of effort that look needs.   window-filtered daylight Voila!  A fun and colorful look that let me get my art on but went together more cohesively than the usual Oscars look. I wanted to celebrate the diversity in this year's slate, since the acting choices and the international films were my absolute faves this year.  I've started with a flat white crème base, then layered a few random swipes of 2 jelly colors on each nail to create a watercolor rainbow effect.  I've topped it all with a filmstrip image from my trusty XXL-4 plate. In 2015, both Essie and OPI released a collection of sheer jellies for layering, and an assortment of these easily make up a rainbow with the addition of an or...

Well, my alternating vampy and ethereal nail looks theme was going to get derailed at some point, and what finally did it was an amazing trip this week to the Jersey Shore to see Harlequin Ducks. indoor, bright CF lighting Harlequin Ducks are utterly striking creatures that look like they were done as a graphic designer's masters project.  There's patches of midnight navy, stormcloud blue, and cinnabar, flashed with snips of black and white, all in bold patterns across the whole bird's body.   I've picked out a few of these dramatically graphic designs to make this look - the dot on the side of the head, the layered V of the back of the head, the black & white bar across the shoulder, and the big cinnabar patch on the side.  I picked all crème colors since the design is flashy enough without added sparkle. outdoor, bright daylight For the stormcloud blue on my index & middle finger, I used the perfectly apt Cirque Storm King.  The warm orange-leaning red...

Swinging over to a rich, dark, dramatic color after my neutral palate cleanser... indoor, bright CF lighting Every month so many makers release utterly gorgeous creations on Polish Pickup that it's real easy to go broke buying all the amazing one-time things.  But I, my dears, am valiantly attempting to stick to a no-buy as much as possible, so it's time to shop my stash, and here's what I found. window-filtered daylight My first go-round with Lolipop Posse Lacquer, The Final Sacrifice was released with PPU back in February 2020.  It's an inky-dark navy blue filled with finely milled aurora shimmer and lightly dusted with ultra-small holo dust, inspired by the cover of Florence + the Machine's debut album, Lungs,  I love that album and I loved the swatch pics, so this was a must-buy that of course sat on Mount Untried ever since. outdoor, bright daylight To allow that shimmer to shine forth, the formula was a little thinner than expected, and TFS needed 2.5 coats to...