Painted Nails and UCC Flakes

I have actually painted my nails twice in about 2 weeks, probably breaking my previous record and though I don't claim to do it well, I took pictures to document it. Here and now, I present to you the first one from around the 8th, two polishes together. The base polish, if you will, is a "Duck Dynasty" brand polish called, "Color Changing Mallard", your basic red-orange-yellow color shifter. That one I snagged from Walmart on clearance. The top coat is made from a UCC flake I bought from Glitter Unique, Copper/Gold/Green.

These first three are the same day I did it, just one coat of the UCC flakes. You can see the "Color Changing Mallard" a little better.

These are day two and another coat of the UCC flakes. I love them.

Look for the color, not the quality. I certainly don't do it often enough to "practice" manicures. -MK 

Orly Ingenue

My sister and I are going out tonight to see a fabulous concert- Sarah McLachlan which will be the second time we've seen her together so I'm looking forward to both a good show and a good night. I've been trying to get in the habit of painting my nails, taking my time with thinner, even coats and this seemed like another good occasion to do so with Orly Ingenue, previously unused. I touched up my hair color again too but I probably won't include a lot of pics of that.

For my nails, the photos were taken under a variety of lighting and from differing angles.

I bought this polish on impulse because of its golden glow and it certainly did not disappoint. I was also happy with the trouble-free application and shorter drying time.

For hair color, you get one picture because I hate my photographs. I am pleased to say that switching to a sulfate free shampoo and adding some weightless Argan Oil spray has allowed my hair to be less fuzzy and I'm sure cutting a couple inches helped as well. This was a refresher of Jerome Russell Punky Colour Poppy Red with a touch of Vermilion.

Have a good afternoon and evening, everyone! I'm out of here. -MK

Pure Ice Lucky Charming

Saturday was another sister day so once again I decided to paint my nails, far from the professional job my sister has done of course but it makes me happy just the same. Saturday's pick was Pure Ice Lucky Charming, a newer sparkly green that has been gathering dust in my collection for a few months even though it really grabbed me in store. Although I provided my own bottle shot, Lucky Charming next to my own franken #469 Chrysocolla, the pic doesn't do the color justice. I would call it a yellow-leaning green with a very beautiful gold shimmer. The finish is super sparkly and nearly metallic, that's my opinion but judge for yourself.

I used Chrysocolla as a topper, 2 coats and it turned out to be the perfect compliment, allowing Lucky Charming to shine through but also adding extra sparkle and a bit of a duochrome effect.

This one scores high on my list (my very short list) of polishes I have the patience for because it dried pretty fast and I was able to get away with only two coats. I could have used a third of course but two provided sufficient coverage. I was also rather proud of my paint job- the gap between the polish and the cuticle is uneven but I didn't flood my cuticle and the sides of my nails because I was practicing applying thinner coats... That sentence got wordy fast. Whatever, the point is I did a better job than I usually do and I was happy enough I took a boatload of photos.

Indoors photos first. 

macro

 

  

And some outside shots, this time in the shade.

 

And in the sun.

 

 

I did something else fun this weekend too- I dyed my hair with a red semi permanent dye, Poppy Red (Jerome Russell, Punky Color) over my permanent current red, Vidal Sassoon Runway Red, London Luxe line. The Runway Red was hubby's pick, unnaturally vivid red but evidently that was a good thing because Poppy Red ended up this bright without my having to bleach my hair. It smelled a heck of a lot better than any permanent hair dye I've used too. The best part is it will eventually wash out so no harm in playing around with some color.

 It's going to rain here soon so enjoy the sun when you have it. -MK

China Glaze Prism

By now its obvious that, despite my frankening hobby, I don't pay much attention to my nails- I like the look of nicely polished nails but not the time involved in doing it  (I do paint them slightly more often than it looks like here but usually my photos leave a lot to be desired so I forego posting). Today though I decided to make an exception on both counts because in a matter of hours my sister and I will be going out for some much needed girl time and I like to dress up a bit when we do. She also has her nails done (professionally) on these occasions so my bare nails just didn't seem like much fun!

I chose China Glaze Prism from the Prismatic Chroma Glitters collection figuring that sheer polish would be more forgiving to my messier paint jobs- read that as less obvious, and I was right. I was also happy to discover that it dried fast which means I have far less time to screw it up, at least until I smack a nail on something and take a chunk off. The only issue I had was some difficulty covering the sides of my nails, a problem I always have but my bottle being a little thick didn't help; I could've remedied that with thinner but like my polish remover, its downstairs and inaccessible momentarily.

On to the pictures, try not to shudder. I could have digitally cleaned the photos up since I haven't been able to do it in real life just yet but that would be false representation of my skill. I will say that I didn't do this polish justice so if you haven't ever seen it in real life or worn it, please do a Google search for swatches. Lucky for me, it does look better in real life. Note to self: keep the tripod handy, one-handed shots don't work.

2 or 3 coats, no top coat yet.

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit me and read this. -MK

Three Months Worth of Polish

I've got some bottle spam for you today because, in the past three months, I've done what I refer to as "store hopping" and acquired a lot of polish, most of which I'll probably never wear but will happily franken with. I've managed to hit Dollar Tree, Sally Beauty, Meijers, two CVS, two Walgreens, Walmart and Kmart, broke my $2.00 per bottle limit and come to the conclusion that no one restocks often enough and Walgreens is boring. As often as I've been there, I continue to expect to find something special and am irritated when I don't.

Walgreens is useful for Sinful Colors, Wet 'n' Wild and more recently, Essie which is where I've picked up several bottles of Shine of the Times from their Luxe Effects collection for $8.00- that remains the most I've paid for a single bottle. I guess everyone is over the orange-to-green flakes because they're always in stock. Inset shows the color shift over black in sunlight.

The only new Sinful to come home with me is Kissy although I knew on sight that it wasn't all that different from Wet 'n' Wild's Teal of Fortune or their Deeper Dive from the Spoiled line. While the inset shows it over white and in sunlight, Kissy is vibrant green-blue layered over black. Sinful Colors sell for $1.99.

I also picked up Sally Hansen (Insta-Dri) Uptempo Plum and Punk Rock from the Hard as Nails line but neither are as remarkable as they appeared in-store.

Punk Rock ended up being a different duochrome than I thought, somewhere between Sinful Colors Love Nails & Gorgeous, one of those slight aqua to blue duos, sheer like the rest of the line. The price was right, $1.99 and it could be good to franken with so I’m not too disappointed.

I am disappointed with Uptempo Plum though. It was in the discount basket and marked down to $2.95 so I picked it up more than once before deciding to buy it, won over by it’s appearance. In the bottle, it sparkled and seemed to have a slight purple to orange-ish duochrome but none of that translated to the nail when I applied it. Instead it was a vampy plum color with little sparkle and no discernable color shift. Now I know why it was in the basket.

Insets show both colors over white in sunlight.

The point of going to CVS was to check the Confetti brand for anything new and to find the Spoiled brand. Confetti had the same old colors I've already picked over but I found the Spoileds and noticed that most of them look like re-bottled Wet 'n' Wilds or Sinful Colors. I bought most of the glitters and a few of the shimmers with duplicates for $1.99 each, brought them home, swatched them and hated every single brush instantly- but I was warned, having read on others blogs that they were abysmal. All swatches were taken in full sunlight over white.

From left to right: Pet My Peacock, Shuffle the Deck, Jewelry Heist, Trust Fund Baby, Cougar Attack and Use Protection

From left to right: Deeper Dive, The Parking Meteor has Expired, Vitamin C, Ants in My Pants, Are Mermaids Real and Shrimp on the Barbie

Comparisons?

Deeper Dive = Teal of Fortune, Sinful Colors Kissy

The Parking Meteor has Expired = Sinful Colors What's Your Name and See You Soon

Vitamin C = 9.0.2.1.0range

Shrimp on the Barbie = Waves of Enchantment (LE, Mermaids Cove collection)

When I went out in February with my sister, we went to Sally Beauty where I purchased my first Orly polishes (again breaking my $2 limit) and a few other brands that were marked down. Along with Orly's Meet Me Under the Mistletoe and Fantasea, I got Finger Paints Comets Collar, Savvy Champagne for $1.99 a piece and three little bottles of a purple to green Sally Girl duochrome, $0.99 each.

Insets show polishes in sunlight. For Comets Collar, the polish is over black and white. Both Champagne and the Sally Girl are over white.

I can't remember where now but I saw Orly's Fantasea on a blog and had to have it because that orange with purple is an unusual combination. I chose Meet Me Under the Mistletoe because of the sparkly duochrome. The bottles are huge, I had no idea! They’re only 3ml more than the standard size but they even feel huge holding them in my hand and the size offsets the $4.00+ price. I like the colors so much I feel the urge to go buy more so it’s probably good I go there just once a year.

Fantasea's inset on top shows the polish layered over black and white, the next two captured the color shift from gentle orange to reddish-pink. Mistletoe's duochrome, shown here over white, was a little harder to bring out but there's a shift from a green to a more blue color.

Meijers yielded several finds- the limited edition Color Icon polishes from Wet 'n' Wild, the Studio M and Pure Ice brands and three glitters from Milani.

Milani's Teal, Hot Pink and Gems. I might've been able to come close to duping these but large size non bleeding glitters are always good to have lying around.

The Wet 'n' Wild Color Icons I found on a shelf at the end of the aisle. There wasn't a display anymore, just 6 bottles crammed in between other miscellaneous cosmetics and I grabbed them all. Unfortunately I didn't get Bow In My Presence but I did get an extra each of two others. $2.79 each.

The Crown Is Mine, Speak When Spoken To, Born Into Privilege and Jewels for Your Highness

The Studio M I bought were copies except for Lust which could qualify for a polish version of TKB Trading’s Libra Blues pigment, blue based with purple interference. Electronica is a deep but not quite vampy purple with small particles of blue and pink mixed in. Total Mystery is not quite as blue as it looks but I'm not sure how to describe it other than saying that there is a slight purple tone to it and it sparkles without being a metallic finish. Total Mystery and Electronica are layered over black here while Lust is shown over both black and white. They were $2.49.

Electronica, Total Mystery and Lust

In my local grocery store, Remke's, I found some polishes that surprised me because normally the store has little in way of cosmetics.

These are from Diamond Cosmetics and I bought them for $3.00 something purely for the glow-in-the-dark novelty. They are colored in the bottle but extremely sheer so even several coats wouldn't change the color of the polish it's layered over.

Glo Worm Green, Tangeglo, Pink Flaminglo, Blue Moonglo

These are two "Artist Expressions" sets from Nailene, simply called Warm, left and Cool on the right. I didn't think to photograph the packaging but you can see them on Nailene's website.

Each comes with a glitter striper, a small vial with coordinating holographic glitter and a sparkly duochrome topcoat which is why I decided to buy them. The insets display the color shift of the topcoat when layered over black, photographed in sunlight. $8.00+

During a trip to Kmart, I found most of the newer Jordana Glitters. Initially I grabbed a bottle of each color but reconsidered and wiped out the rest. When I went back the next weekend, they still hadn't restocked so I almost feel bad for whoever came in after me wanting the same thing… I said almost, I'm a believer in buying in bulk the first time. $2.99 each.

In the top row: Funky Gold Town, Celestial, Magenta Magic, Cosmic and L.A. City Nights. In the bottom row: Sequins, Celebration, Blue Bash and Copper Blaze.

And my last purchase from Kmart for $1.99 was a solitary NYC polish, Broadway Burgundy Frost which is neither burgundy colored or frosty. Seriously? A good comparison would be Sally Hansen Red Carpet, same concept but with less glitter. Inset shows polish over black and white, in full sunlight.

My Dollar Tree finds were Fingers Nail Art pens to be used for everything but nail art (I draw on paper, not fingernails) and the Sally Hansen Chrome pens. I bought every one they had and they haven’t had any since, sorry to say.

Green Chrome, Fuchsia Chrome, Red Chrome, Pink Chrome and Silver Chrome

Caution, Dare, Boy Crazy and Hottie

Dollar General is alright but the Dollar Tree seems to have a better selection and more variation, the point being that you never know what you may find so it’s always worth stopping in. You spend $20, you walk out with 20 things, that's my kind of store. -MK