Sweet Baby Octopolish!

This weekend, I have back-to-back book clubs wheee!!!!  For round 1, we read a heavy-metal rockstar's autobiography.  It was a pretty crap book, and even the folks that were super into this guy were disappointed, so I won't bother to mention the title.  But hey, metal rockstar nails basically paint themselves: Black nails are de rigueur for rockstars, of course.  The spiky-headed skull & crossbones is from trusty XXL-03 (a ginormous plate full of skulls & Halloween stuff), and the flames are from KN-4. Rock on! ~Michelle 

 Mr Man immediately leapt with "sharks!!" when I told him I was pondering my next nail look.  Well ok, then, that's specific and do-able. indoor, bright CF lighting I've started here with the fairly flawless midnight blue scattered holo that is a England Tristam.  While I've worn this polish several times now, I've never used it on its own, always as a base or contributor to nail art.  But geez this color!!  The large manta ray on my ring finger is from Creative Shop 173, while the sharks are from Lantern & Wren Wild About You 4. ~Michelle 

Many different brands keep releasing staggeringly gorgeous aurora shimmers that take a slice out of the rainbow to dance across your nails.  I'm trying like anything to not buy multiple versions of what I already have, so pulling this lovely example out this week: indoor, bright CF lighting Lust At Sea was KBShimmer's offering for the August 2021 Elements themed PPU.  It's a deep violet-purple base overflowing with this rainbow-y aurora shimmer that flashes gold to green to peachy to electric blue. window-filtered indirect daylight This color was always visually opaque with two perfect coats IRL, but it's clear in some photos that the base is somewhat sheer, with the dense shimmer that's providing coverage.  It shifts every color of the ocean, with mostly cool-toned gold and aqua sparks. outdoor, bright direct daylight In bright and direct lighting, the purple base takes center stage, with just a flash of icy champagne gold highlights, looking far more medium-purple

This past weekend, I headed off to the beach to hang out with an old college buddy & her family, so needed a beachy-themed look for the festivities. indoor, bright CF lighting For my thumb through middle finger, I'm wearing 2 coats Ethereal Blood Orange, and a white crème for the accent nails.  The seashell on my pinky is from Creative Shop 51 and the lobster from Maniology M103, both stamped in black & filled in with Blood Orange on the stamper head before application.  Hope your summer lets you get away too! ~Michelle 

Well it seems I'm all mixed up on my alternating light then dark looks... so I'm pushing "reset" with a paler shade. indoor, bright CF lighting The man said "blue" when I asked for color inspo, and I decided that would be a soft sky blue instead of a big stormy saturated one.   window-filtered indirect daylight Cadillacquer released Trolljegeren for the October 2021 Monsters & Mythicals PPU.  It's a very sheer, barely-there sky blue that's been jam-packed full of aurora shimmer and opaque matte blue hex glitters in at least 2 sizes. window-filtered indirect daylight The formula on this was absolutely superb, with no fishing or placement needed to get the glitters to spread out roughly evenly, and with extremely simple cleanup. indoor, bright CF lighting It's a bit of a chameleon, looking more sparkly and leaning much warmer in bright light when the aurora shimmer is most prominent.  In lower lighting, the aurora takes a back seat to the subtl

Several of the various fb groups had discussions leading up to July 4th about how many people felt excluded from democracy and ground down by the political situation in the country - a well-cited poll says that 85% of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.  With that in mind, a lot of folks were choosing to simply not do any holiday-themed nails this time around.  I decided to celebrate something else about America rather than skipping altogether. Since I missed out on a Pride mani for June, no time like the present!  In lieu of the traditional fireworks, I've started here with a base of a shimmery white polish, and used a rainbow of bright fun linear holos and a shooting star image from a freebie gift with purchase plate of a brand I've never seen or heard from since.  Hope your holiday was a good one, and keep hope burning! ~Michelle 

Our latest pick for book club was Ruman Alam's Leave the World Behind.  While I didn't much care for the book (angst in the suburbs is my least favorite genre), there was a dream-like vision that one character had of a herd of hundreds of deer running past their vacation home in the middle of the night which struck me as particularly beautiful. all photos indoor, in bright CF lighting I've started with CrowsToes The Terminal Engagement as my base - it's a smoky, middle-of-the-night-sky blue with subtly sparkling shimmer.  I've added some tree images from HK-06 in green, then reached for KADS Chinese 021 for the deer. I have a little over a dozen KADS plates, and all of them simply work .  The designs are simple enough to not be finicky to work with, but complex enough to be visually interesting.  Most of the things I have from them are unique in my stash.  And they are cheap , at typically around $2 per plate.   Plenty of the other inexpensive Chinese stamping plate