Sweet Baby Octopolish!

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 ...

Today I have a quick swatch that I wore for just a day before heading straight into some nail art.  I needed a deep midnight blue base for my next look, and here this was untried in my stash: indoor, bright CF lighting The Terminal Engagement was part of CrowsToes anti-valentines collection from 2015.  It's a smoky navy blue, definitely a touch dusty, filled with chunky coppery & pink shimmer. indoor, bright direct window-filtered light The base is a bit sheer in very direct lighting (above), but the shimmer makes it visually opaque in most lighting IRL. indoor, bright CF lighting This went on in two smooth & easy coats without any issues at all. indoor, bright direct window-filtered light indoor, bright CF lighting Rating:  a solid 3 out of 5 stars.  While not necessarily unique in my collection, this is a lovely color that served exactly the need I had for my next look.  The formula was lovely as always true with CT, and this wore decently well. Where ...

On this week's round of "wow how have I let this go untried for so very long," I'm featuring CrowsToes Betelgeuse. indoor, bright CF lighting Once upon a good several years ago, CrowsToes released Huginn & Muninn, one of my all time ever fave polishes ... then a couple years later released what appears to be a flakie version of the same magic. indoor, window-filtered daylight Like its glassy metallic sister, Betelgeuse seems to be primarily either purple head-on or green at angled lighting, with an added glimmer of magenta or gold in between.  Also like its sister, there's a little something extra in the way of shimmer, this time a subtle holo dust blended into the dense flakies. outdoor, direct sunlight Also like H&M, Betelgeuse needs 3 coats to come up to full opacity.  The major difference here is that the jelly base is much less deeply saturated, removing that sapphire blue undertone.   outdoor, indirect bright daylight Where Betelgeuse truly amazes in...

Once upon a time, I particularly liked a C4N exclusive from CrowsToes , and went back to pick up the others in the trio.  While the blue was sold out, this green was right there waiting, and I've been feeling green a lot lately. indoor, CF lighting Emergence is a rich emerald green with many personalities, like her sister Quietus.  First off, all the shimmer in there reflects back as a metallic foil finish with some scattered holo sparkles in bright light: outdoor, bright afternoon sunlight In lower light, golden shimmery microflakes make an appearance: window-filtered overcast daylight outdoor, shady daylight The no-longer-quite emerald green above is not just a difference of the light, but instead is the start of a pretty aqua-blue duochromatic shift, where the sun also catches the glass fleck flash of the shimmer: outdoor, afternoon sunlight Emergence is the kind of polish that looks a bit different with every change of the light, though it's mor...

Continuing all Halloween all month on my nails, my first stamped design was about as witchy as I could go, witches on witches! indoor, bright CF lighting CrowsToes Season of the Witch is an old fave of mine;  sometimes in the push to get through this mountain of untried polish, it's really nice to pick up something I loved a few years ago and see if it's still as amazing as I remember.  Spoiler alert - hell yes it is. indoor, bright CF lighting Season of the Witch is a smoky off-black jelly filled with duochromatic micro-flakies that shift from a deep emerald-jade when viewed directly to a plummy fuchsia at angles.  It's a touch streaky and patchy at the first coat, evens out very nicely on the second, and comes to the level of opacity you see here at 3 coats. outdoor, bright sunlight I've stamped here using Born Pretty silver stamping polish and BundleMonster's BM-S242 witch-themed plate from last year's Halloween collection.  I LOVE that high...

When Lauri released Total Eclipse of the Crow, I also snagged one I'd wanted from her "Triple M" collection earlier this year.  No polish should travel alone, right? indoor, CF lighting Always is a beautifully ethereal pearl pink base that exists only as a vehicle for the glowing electric blue shimmer.  It's duochromatic, shifting to magenta pink at angles, but most of the time the shimmer fired blue for me.  Always had an excellent formula of ideal thickness - I expect sheers to be runny or pool in the cuticles, but nope, this was perfection. window-filtered norming daylight Most of the pics I have here make the glow of the blue look soft or subtle, and that was only the case in dim lighting.  In bright light outdoors or in, that blue shimmer truly was electric, and glowed like a ghost you can't get out of your heart.  The flash in the bottle below is very accurate, even where my nails look slightly more muted. indoor, bright CF lighting Alway...

One good eclipse deserves another, right?  When the maker of CrowsToes mentioned she was having family in to watch the eclipse go right overhead, I shouted out for an eclipse polish...and with enough clamoring from the rest of the fan group, we got it! indoor, bright CF lighting CrowsToes Total Eclipse of the Crow is an inky sapphire packed with glassfleck shimmer in at least 2 colors to my eye - I see gold and green in there, maybe silver too?  I also caught a very occasional flash of sparkle that was suggestive of a pinch of holo dust thrown in the mix, but I'm not at all classifying this as holographic. window-filtered overcast daylight Eclipse was nearly opaque in one coat, but I've done 2 here for perfect depth and coverage.  This was  a touch too thick with all the shimmer particles in there, but a couple drops of thinner had it flowing nicely even. indoor, bright CF lighting In full sun, this was sparkly like stars in a night sky (stars in an...

In the CrowsToes facebook fan group this week, someone asked for recommendations for all the dark green CTs there were...a clear reminder that I had yet to bring out Green Eyed Lady. indoor, CF lighting Green Eyed Lady is a deep, slightly-teal leaning forest green shimmer and not quiiiiite opaque gold metallic microflake in a dusky smoke-colored base; the overall effect is a forest green that has the glimmer of old bronze. window-filtered overcast daylight The flakies and shimmer obscure most glimpses of the smoky base - this isn't a flakie-in-jelly looking polish, even super close up. indoor, bright CF lighting That blackened base does mean that in some lighting this looks more black than green, but the little flashes of hammered bronze are always there, preventing this from ever being only black. window-filtered sunlight In bright sun, the tealy-green shimmer takes the forefront, but the flakes never get hidden completely. outdoor, bright sunlight for ...

Last year, Color 4 Nails started carrying CrowsToes, and celebrated the launch with a trio of store exclusives.  My top pick of the three is Quietus. indoor, bright CF lighting At first glance, Quietus is a smoky, silvery purple, with a bit of added sparkle, and indeed it does hit a lovely rich amethyst in bright, direct sunlight. sunlight, as promised But this polish is far more complex than I'd thought when it first arrived.  On one hand, it's definitely a purple-to-green duochrome shifter: indirect daylight But it also shifts over to a warm pink-tinged bronze before going on toward gold: direct, bright sunlight for both Layered on top of the multi-chromatic base is a chunky shimmer that's fine silver sparks in low lighting: indirect daylight But that stands out as contrasting emerald glass flecks in brighter lighting: indirect daylight All in all, it's rich and stunning.  Totally opaque in 2 coats with a slightly thick (but in a...