Sweet Baby Octopolish!

 We've had a lot of overcast dreary weather here, and while that's blah and not at all helping with my wishes for springtime, it is ideal to show off the shift of a good multichrome. indoor, CF lighting Great Lakes Lacquer released The Scorpion, the Serpent, the Phoenix with last January's "written in the stars" PPU as a tribute to the maker's own sign of Scorpio.  Now, I'm convinced I have a version of every multichrome under the sun, but when I saw the swatch pics it looked very unique, and I still don't know exactly what's going on here. indoor, bright CF lighting This polish is quite shifty and changes a lot with a tilt of your hand or while walking through different rooms in the house (you know, where the window goes from this angle to that one, and the lights are lamps instead of overhead).  In some lighting, this polish is intensely emerald green (above) while in other's it's a soft, cool, silvery grey (pinky nail in the top pic) - t...

 For Valentine's Day, I go either one of two ways - jaded and "screw this greeting card holiday stuff" or else as cute as possible.  This year has been tough on everyone, and the man and I have gone above and beyond in taking care of each other, so there's just no way I can be jaded about love right now.  outdoor, overcast daylight for both These little tablets of sugar were universal for our childhood, and I'm still known to munch a few if they come my way this time of year.  I've done candy hearts before , and I swear it's the cutest, most instantly identifiable as Valentine's look possible for the holiday.  This time, I picked up a fantastic new plate called Let's Converse from Lantern & Wren that contains a huge variety of sayings (plus an alphabet if you want to make your own!), and little hearts that are ideally sized for most anyone's nails.  I started with 2 coats of Cameo Colours Victims Aren't We All (ok, I can't be all sw...

After wearing such a complex polish as CrowsToes Betelgeuse, a neutral was in order to change things up. indoor, CF lighting Yet another polish left to languish untried for far too long, Pretty Serious released The Night Before... with their Holiday 2015 collection.  It's a deep, dark, not-quite-black filled to the brim with silver metallic microflake shimmer, resulting in an overall foil look. indoor, bright CF lighting This went on perfectly smooth and perfectly opaque in 2 coats.  It's definitely not the most flashy or complex polish in my stash, but wow is it an incredible base for nail art.  Speaking of which... outdoor, overcast daylight Because we were getting our first heavy snowstorm of winter around here, the man said it obviously called for a snowflake look.  Who am I to refuse an inspiration that direct?  This is of course the lovely assortment of individual snowflakes from HeHe Fairy Tale 03 - I've used this plate for similar looks before and probab...

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...

 As a scientist, I'm unapologetically liberal in my political leanings, and WOW did I breathe a sigh of relief this week!  A celebration of a peaceful transition of political era was most definitely in order. outdoor, cloudy daylight I've started with a trio of polishes with quite different holo finishes.  My index nail is Dance Legend Triumph, a navy with larger silver holo flake.  My middle finger is Shleee Ghostly Snapshot, a lovely iridescent white with a light scattering of very fine holo dust.  The red nails are Emily de Molly Understatement, a jelly packed full of holo glitters. indoor, bright CF lighting Over my variously sparkly red, white, and blue base, I've layered Justice Ginsberg's dissent collars in silver holo, and the feminist power symbol in blue holo, all in celebration of our first black woman elected to the Vice Presidency.  Images are from a custom Lantern & Wren plate memorializing "The Notorious RBG," which stamped great. indoor,...

 There's a super helpful comparisons group on fb that has on more than one occasion reminded me that something previously purchased is going to waste while sitting on Mount Untried... indoor, CF lighting Lucky 13's punnily named Kind of a Big Teal'c was from the space-themed PPU of exactly one year ago, and is quite obviously designed for me.  Flakie, somewhere between emerald and oceanic aqua, all yes. outdoor, late afternoon sunlight After days of wearing this polish, I still can't 100% settle on what the base color is.  "Teal" is probably the best descriptor, but the iridescent ocean-type flakies in there that shift from bright blue to aqua to purple make the overall look lean anywhere from turquoise to emerald in different lighting.  outdoor, shady/overcast daylight Some lighter aqua shades, especially those with warmer-toned pink or reddish shimmer, are particularly bad at the dreaded lobster hands.  Teal'c is saturated and dark enough, though, that t...

 Let's start the new year fresh, alright? indoor, CF lighting Ethereal Lacquer keeps knocking me out with her ethereally shimmery polishes, but this one caught  my eye as not quite her usual MO.  When all is said & done, it works as a pearlescent version of mannequin hands for me. outdoor, bright afternoon sunshine Vanilla Chai Latte was part of a duo with a cuticle oil product, and while I'm way stocked up on moisturizers, the idea of a softly shimmery neutral color is always one that catches my eye. indoor, bright CF lighting Vanilla is exactly what it sounds like: a warm-leaning vanilla-tinted crelly base, absolutely filled with aurora shimmer that goes from red to bronze to green.  I adore that emerald spark over a more subtle shade just as much as I do when it's Clarins 230 pigment over a dramatically dark one - this is a totally different look, but just as right up my alley. outdoor, bright direct sunlight This color is absolutely appropriate for office wea...