A Couple of Manis and a Really Pretty Day and Stuff

Hi everyone. I hope that you are all well.

I am feeling a bit better. My migraine has calmed a bit and I am doing better, today. I am planning to get out for my walk in a little bit. I am just waiting for the sun to go down, I'll take off around a quarter to seven.

I am on track. I am doing better calorie wise than yesterday. Thursdays are always a bit high for me. Not drastically so, I don't go off the rails or anything. I just don't keep it as low as I like.

I have noticed that my binge impulses are coming on less and less often. Will I ever be completely free of them? I don't think so. I think, to a certain extent, things like that become hard wired and can't be completely shut off after they do. I know that I have ot, even now be vigilant about my occasional impulse to smoke. I quit smoking sixteen years ago and I am happy that I did and I have no desire to ever return to that pattern of behaviour. But, I do admit, that when things get rough or I need to calm down, I think, briefly and longingly of having a cigarette. Just one, to get me over the hump. Yeah... Not going to happen. Ever. But I do have the thoughts, now and again.

Hard wired.

I haven't given in to a binge impulse in a while, now. I don't like to count days... It makes me feel pressure and then I want to alleviate that pressure by binging. lol How effed up is that? lol But even tho I am not giving in, I know that if I do, it could cause me to spin severely out of control. And I don't want to go there. I am hoping that as time goes by and controlling the urge becomes easier, something I just do, rather than have to fight, I won't have the feeling that I will go off the rails. I am trying very hard to learn to trust myself.

I don't want this to be a fight. I don't want to have to white knuckle it and works so. damned. hard. in the future.

Does that make any sense?

Okay, so... Nails. I haven't posted a couple of mani pics so here they are. :D

This was my mani for the last few days. Orly Snowcone topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust. This mani was a lot prettier in person than it photographed. Snowcone is a beautiful Summer sky blue and Fairy Dust is a magical silver holographic glitter. You can see the holo in the pic of the bottle. :D

I am currently rocking a French. Sally Hansen White On for the tips and OPI Hearts and Tarts for the pink. This is my all time favourite sheer pink. It is very soft and natural looking and has the barest hint of opalescence in the right light. I love, love, love this polish. If I have to do a fast one coater to get out the door in a rush, I reach for this one. I wore it while rehabing my nails after I destroyed them and I love it for a French. My little heart will break if OPI ever discontinues this colour. Methinks I need a backup bottle. :D

I like this manicure but, boy! What a pain in the ass it was to apply and to get dry. Frenches always are. One big reason why I so rarely do my own. I did this mani this morning and it is still a tad dentable. And it won't last long, either. My French always chips madly and fast. *sigh* So much work for such a short life. lol

Forgot to mention what a gorgeous day it is, didn't I? Well it is. In the seventies, a breeze to keep one comfortable and brilliantly sunny. The birdies are chirping like crazy and keeping my cat endlessly entertained. :D

Current Mani

Okay, 'nuff self absorbed whining. Thank you for listening. *hugs*

Now for the fun stuff. Today's nails. My red and gold mani chipped badly so I decided not to try to repair it and changed it. I decided to do a combination again. China Glaze Frostbite (which is fast becoming my favourite blue, right behind For Audrey :D) topped with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Hidden Treasure. Hidden Treasure is a slightly opalescent jelly packed with flakies. No glitter. I applied one coat with a little extra here and there to cover a few bald spots.

Two coats China Glaze Frostbite. This polish always photographs lighter than it really is.

Frostbite topped with Hidden Treasure. The flakies didn't photograph really well. There are plenty of flakies in this polish. They are a kind of duo chrome copper-rose that shifts to green and blue, blurple, even a bit of pink, depending on the light and angle.

Another shot. All pictures were taken indoors in light coming in through my window without flash. It was an overcast day.

My very stained nails. This time when I wore Sinful Colors Go-Go Girl, it really stained my nails. The photograph washes out the stain somewhat. They are pretty bad. I was really dismayed when I took off my polish and my nails were so stained. And I used two coats of base coat, too. *sigh* Hopefully it will fade. I could probably whiten my nails a bit with a little toothpaste or peroxide, if I feel I need to. :)

Oh my gosh! I just showed my nekkid nails on teh interwebz!!! lol

Current Mani: Red and Gold Scintillation

Hi everyone. :D

I have a new mani to show, today. My black and flakie mani was chipping so I decided to change it out. I chose a combination of Sinful Colors Go-Go Girl and China Glaze Golden Enchantment. Woo hoo! Talk about sparkle plenty. The Sinful is a pretty red that I have worn and shown, before. Golden Enchantment is a clear jelly packed with micro glitter that in the shade looks like gold dust sprinkled over my nails. Then the sun hits it and it just goes crazy. Dancing, scintillating light and colour. Firing gold, red, yellow, pink, orange. Golly, I love this polish. :D

Pictures:

Sinful Colors Go-Go Girl. Three coats. If I were wearing this alone, I would have to have applied a fourth coat.

Topped with two coats of China Glaze Golden Enchantment. This is sooo pretty. :D Now I have to get Fairy Dust. Golden Enchantment's silver sister.

More Sparkly goodness. :D

Can you see all of the colours? As usual, this stuff is really hard to photograph in a manner that does it justice.

Obligatory annoying blurry pic to show the sparkle a little better.

I like this and I will definitely do it, again. I really want to try Golden Enchantment on other colours. Like blue. And pink. An green and... And... :D

Mani of the Moment: Black Opals

Today was time to do a fresh manicure. The decals on my nails were a pain, they were wearing off and my nails were looking bedraggled so off with the old and on with the new. I decided to do a two layer mani, using China Glaze Liquid Leather and Sinful Colors Green Ocean.

I bought Green Ocean a few weeks ago at Walgreen's. I saw it swatched in a blog and thought that it would make a nice substitute for Nfu-Oh flakies that are just not in my budget, right now. The Sinful has a mix of glitter and flakes in a slightly green clear base. It is really pretty in the bottle and on the nails, too. I love the colour shifts, from green to blurple to blue, depending on the light and the angle at which it is viewed.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base. I did two coats, as I wasn't sure if the black polish will stain or not. Then I did three coats of Liquid Leather. It is thin, but it builds to a deep, true black. I love how easy this polish was to control. I did a surprisingly neat polish job and clean up was fast and easy. :D

China Glaze Liquid Leather. In light coming in through my window, no flash. Look how shiny! :D I like this polish and will be wearing it on it's own, too.

With three coats of Sinful Colors Green Ocean. I think I went a little overboard with the stuff but I was entranced by it and had to put on more, more, more. :D

My kitteh, Marley helped me model my manicure. Or, should I say, he tolerated me using his pretty orange coat as a backdrop for my nails. lol You can click the kitteh for a larger pic. :) (Please forgive the dried out skin... I was waiting for my polish to dry enough to moisturise my hands.)

I like this look a lot. It is enchanting and a little mesmerizing. I have a hard time keeping my peepers off my nails. I think that they look like black opals. :D

Mani Fail, Moocharrific Pets and Strawberries Forever

Husband went to pick up Son from work yesterday and while there picked up a lovely large container of strawberries. Only three dollars and a ton of lovely, flavourful berries. That are already almost gone! lol We all like strawberries in this house. Yes, I am behaving... Watching my portions and counting the calories. But I am really enjoying them. :D

We got them at Fry's. If you have a Fry's or other Kroger family grocery store nearby, they probably have the same deal going. :D

Om nom nom nom. :D

My pets, both of them are consummate moochers. Marley, being a wild kitty when he first became a member of the family had no concept of what "mooch" meant.

He learned fast.

He took his big Sister's example and learned the techniques for scoring maximum goodies for minimal effort. Both of the animals will come running and park themselves in their positions when they hear any activity in the kitchen. If the can opener runs, no matter where he is in the house, Marley comes running, meowing and weaving around your ankles, convinced that there is tuna in the offing. (Sometimes there is.)

When you sit down to eat, you can look up and see a little orange head with green eyes and a large black and grey head with brown eyes in your direct eye line, looking hungry, desperate and just begging you to "Drop it! Drop it! Drop it!"

Husband came home from work during his lunch break and made himself a sandwich. I had to laugh at the site of the animals, watching him so intently, just hoping against hope to bag a goodie.

Okay... Bugs in the align feature again. Oh well.

To continue, I decided to have a little fun with the old nails, today. My For Audrey mani was getting a little careworn so I decided to do a French of sorts. I figured that since I was ready for a polish change, it was time to have a little fun.

I grabbed my French tip guide tapes and applied them on all of my nails. These tapes are great. Easy to use. But they have insane sticky and unless the polish or base is completely dry and cured, they will pull polish off your nails. As I found out one night when I tried to do a traditional French. lol

With tapes applied. :D You can see the tip wear on my thumb nail. I have to say, I am impressed with this polish. It is one of the longest lasting colours in my collection, so far. :D

After I applied the tapes, I painted on two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Then I removed the tapes and applied a coat of Seche. Ruh-Roh! I made some smudges of black down in the blue fields. Not sure how I managed that trick, but I did.

Left hand. (Before clean up, of course.)

Right hand. Smudgety-smudge. I also smudged black into the blue on my right thumb. Maybe I applied Seche too soon and that cause some of it. The smudge on my ring finger was an effort to clean up a little over-paint spot. Ha! That really worked well. Not! lol

What to do about the smudges???

I know!

Decals!

Everything is better with nail art! :D

After decals and a coat of Out The Door. These decals are crap. I am convinced of it. I applied top coat and the decals on both ring fingers lifted and bubbled up and I had to smoosh them down. So they ended up wrinkled and shrunk down from their original position. Waaahhh! This shot was taken with flash.

And in natural light coming in through my window. No flash. You can really see where it is mucked up on my ring finger nail. Blech! Stupid decals, anyway. I think that they are pretty but I hate the way that they react to top coat.

A little while ago, I was peeling potatoes and kind of sliced the top coat on my left bird finger with my peeler. After I got the potatoes chopped and into a saucepan (Husband and Son are clamoring for mashed potatoes to go with their chicken for dinner, tonight) I decided that a nice coat of Seche would fix up that nail very nicely. Applied a coat and; crappity doo dah!!! The decal on my left bird finger also bubbled up. I pressed and flattened it back down and smoothed out the fingerprints so that most of the nail is glossy but the area over the decal looks a bit dull and the decal looks mooshed. And now, bits of stuff are trying to stick up on my right ring finger from that decal bubble misadventure earlier.

*sigh*

I can't decide whether or not to keep the mani for a bit and see how well it wears or just clean it off and start over. I'll leave it in place overnight. I don't feel like doing my nails under a very dim light at night. My poor old eyes have trouble doing that, any more, so I avoid it, if at all possible. lol

I need an Ott Light. Seriously. It would be lovely for doing my nails, reading and knitting.

Part of this bore-fest with pictures is by way of distraction. There is a can of fat free Pringles in the pantry that is whispering my name and mocking me.

I am resisting. tho I wonder if a good dose of Olestra couldn't hurt me, right now.

You girls probably know where I am going with this.

Yep. I'm a bit stopped up. Phillips Soft Gels are helping. But... Bleargh! I hate getting constipated. It sucks. It is uncomfortable and can be a mess, too. Yeah, you know what I am talking about. :P

Why don't you ever see a constipated man? I swear. Whenever I get plugged up and uncomfortable, I see the men in this house staying on schedule and having no problem, day in, day out. Never a problem. And I resent them and I hate them and I want to hurt them.

Bad.

But instead, I take my stupid stool softeners and glug water until I feel as if my back teeth are floating and I hope for relief.

Stupid men.

I guess I had better go in and turn on the burner under the potatoes.

It's getting hot in here. The oven is on, baking boneless, skinless chicken breasts and it is warm outside and the sun is beginning to set and it is pounding on the wall and window behind me, further warming the air in here. Time to fire up my ceiling fan. :D

Okay. Get off your lazy ass, Erika.

Dude, this entry is like really long. If you got through all of it, I salute you!

It's a Beautiful Day and a Blue Mani of Happiness

It is a lovely, sunny mountain Spring day. (Yes, we have mountains in Arizona... ;) :D) I am rolling with a good day, so far. I had breakfast and haven't really felt an overwhelming need for lunch, yet. I'll go ahead and have it, in a bit but I am not in any rush.

It is So. Frakkin'. Weird. That I am not obsessing and worried about when I am next going to eat. I usually can't think of anything else. It feels so freeing. Yet strange. And a part of me is reveling in it while the other part is shaking in my boots, fearing that it will just evaporate away and leave me, shaking, mourning it's passing.

I really need it to not leave me because I like it.

A lot. :D

New mani day, today. I chose China Glaze For Audrey. So pretty. I love this colour as much as I have known I would. It has been on my lemming list for a while, now and I am so happy to have it, now. And the second I hear rumblings that it will be discontinued, I will have to obtain at least one back up bottle. I am thinking two or three, as I think that this shade would be nice for marbling (which I have yet to try) and maybe mixing, too. But right now, I am just enjoying it on it's own.

My only regret is that I only did two coats. I really think that this is a three coater and I will most likely add a third, later. I need dry nails, right now as I have laundry to finish and wet nails and folding and fluffing don't exactly go well together. :D

This polish is a bit of a chameleon. In natural light it is a true, light slightly greyed Tiffany blue. In fluorescent light and dim light it shows it's green roots and looks a bit more greyed, as well. In fact, in some light, it reminds me of Sleeping Beauty Turquoise. This polish applied very easily, tho it was a bit thin and streaky on the first coat. The second really smoothed it out, tho. A coat of Seche really put it over the top and put a major shine on the whole show. Clean up was easy, too. No staining or other obnoxious BS.

Pictures. :D

In natural light through my living room window, no flash. Look how blue. :D Sorry about the bubble on my ring finger. *blush*

With flash, you can see some of the green and grey in this colour. And these pics don't show that it is a tad thin, in spots. I really should have done three coats. :D And, I went a little overboard on clean up on my middle finger. That gap is a bit... lol

I love, love, love this polish. If you want to try a light blue cream that is a little more sophisticated, a bit more "grown up" in feel, this one may be right up your alley.

Mani of the Day ~~ China Glaze Watermelon Rind

Dreaming of Summer, I am. And what says Summer more than... Watermelon! Lovely, sweet, cold, crisp, juicy watermelon. Mmmmm... I can almost taste it as I type this!

Can't you? :D

I like this polish. I wasn't sure if I would, at first. When I got it applied and the Seche on, I sat and let it dry a bit before I did my clean up and debated as to whether or not I would bother or just take it off. I decided to keep it on and I am so glad that I did. This colour has grown on me. The more I wore it, the more I started to really like it. Then I walked outside and looked at it in direct sun. And... Kapow! This polish just exploded. Shimmering, sparkling, dancing light up and down my nails. It is magical in bright light.

China Glaze Watermelon Rind is a cool, blue based green jelly packed to the rafters with silver shimmer. It applies nicely, as long as you don't have too much polish on the brush. It will flow, if you don't keep an eye on it. And, if you don't have mad polishing skillz, like I don't have mad polishing skillz, be prepared for a little clean up. But do not fear... Clean up is actually pretty easy. I made a bit of a mess and got done with my clean up in just a few minutes. :D

This polish is pretty sheer. I needed four coats to opaque. I still had quite a bit of that oh so annoying VNL after just three. Four took it over the top. I applied over my beloved China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat and topped it with Seche.

Indoors. With flash. In front of a window. This polish tends to photograph a bit dark. It is closer to a true emerald, in person.

Here is a terrific example of how this polish looks and photographs different shades. This is the same polish. On my nail, it is definitely green and in the bottle, it looks teal. lol

Outside in direct sun. I tried and tried to get the scintillation and shimmer that this enamel throws but it just isn't possible with my poor old camera. It really did try. *heart* This stiff is magic, in the sun.

This is a good look at how you can definitely get the true bottle colour on your nails. :D

Indoors, with flash, not in front of a window. Look how dark and sparkly it looks in this picture. I would like to find a polish that really is this colour. Maybe Emerald Sparkle?

Hmmm...

China Glaze Golden Enchantment

What pretty, pretty stuff! I had to do a quick repair job on a chip on my right middle finger polish, last night. So, I decided to go ahead and top my mani with a coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment.

So. Pretty. Clear jelly packed with micro glitter. Micro glitter that fires every colour of the rainbow whenever light hits it. Micro glitter that just dances and flashes and makes me so. Happy.

These pics were taken at night with flash. Sadly, my camera batteries are deader than a doornail and I need to go buy more, so no sunshine pictures. Just imagine the sparkle you see in the flash magnified. A lot. And you will get how this looks in the sun. :D

I think that this is definitely an over another colour type of glitter. I couldn't imagine that it would be possible to apply enough to wear it alone and get it opaque. I rather like it as a one coater, myself. :D

Piccies. Sorry, they are a little out of order and I don't feel like re doing this post to put them in order so... Please enjoy the random. :D

Super up close sparkle. Whoo hoo! I shouldn't be allowed to play with photographs. ;) lol

Orly Enchanted Forest with a coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment. How enchanting. *Boo! Hiss! Dodging tomatoes.*

A nice, blurry shot to show the sparkle and colours. :D

One last blur-fest. Ooooo! The colours... Cool, man. Peace!

Almost Forgot!

Da Nailz!

How could I forget the reason a girl lives? lol

Yesterday, I finally got rid of The Ugly Manicure of Doom. Boy, was removing that mess a project. Seriously. It took me half an hour and a pile of cotton rounds ten feet high and gallon of acetone (regular remover wasn't even touching that rock hard mess) or so it felt, to get six nails cleaned off. I was so frustrated and tired of it that I was ready to throw something.

Then I remembered reading on one of the polish blogs I haunt about a technique for removing a hard mani. I made four small squares of foil and soaked four cotton rounds in acetone, pressed the cotton to my nails ans wrapped them tightly in the foil. I wore my "robo fingers" for a few minutes, then using some downward pressure, I slipped them off my fingers. And, *insert angel choir here* the polish slid right off my nails, no effort needed. I was able to use a cotton round a little remover to finish cleaning up and it was just effortless.

From now on, when I do glitter or another hard to remove mani, that will be my method of removal. :D

Robo Fingers. Please forgive my dried out old hag hands. I was playing in acetone and wasn't too worried about lotioning up, at that moment. lol

Fresh, new polish. This is my usual base (China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat) with two coats of OPI Friar, Friar Pants on Fire. A beautiful, warm mid tone red-orange with plenty of gold micro shimmer. Sooo pretty. Topped with Seche. This photo was taken indoors, in sun coming in through my window, no flash. This is the best shot I got and the closest to this truly lovely polish.

Outdoors, in direct sun. I was trying to capture the way this colour fires in the sun but it just came out looking like an orange creme. For some reason, this polish looks like something almost otherworldly in person when in direct sun, the colour comes to life and the micro shimmer sets it on fire. But when I tried to photograph it, it just fell flat. *sigh*

Indoors, with flash. Same problem. It just doesn't photograph well, at all. Especially in strong light. You would think it would be just the opposite.

This was two coats. I should have really done three. Tho it isn't visible in the pictures, I still have a bit of VNL. This polish is a bit thin and flowy and it flowed all over my cuticles. lol I had a lot of clean up to do and this colour doesn't like to be cleaned up. It took me a while. But, I think that the beauty pay off is worth a little extra effort. I don't mind putting in a little overtime for nails that look like this. :D :D Besides, it is a time to just be still, pamper myself and be indulgent. Every girl needs a little of that, now and then. :D

Manicure of Evil Ugly

Sometimes something is done that is just deeply, terribly wrong at a very basic level. This manicure is one of those things. lolol

Spring has sprung and I wanted to celebrate with something bright and pink and fun. As I spun my little carousel that holds my polishes, my eyes landed on my bottle of China Glaze Pink Voltage. A bright pink neon creme. I bought this polish last year and tried to wear it once. It was an unmitigated disaster and I can clearly remember angrily wiping this polish off with remover soaked cotton rounds and swearing that I would never open that bottle of enamel, again.

Pain diminishes over time. It is like that gorgeous but excruciating pair of shoes that you just had to have and wore for half an hour before kicking them off and swearing that you will never put them on, again. Then, a year later, you think, they couldn't have really been that bad. And they are soooo pretty! So, like an idiot, you put the shoes on and within half an hour, they are flying across the room as you violently kick them off.

That is what this polish is like. So bright and pretty in the bottle. So heinous on the nails. Three coats carefully applied resulted in VNL, uneven, streaking and a bald spot or two. It dried dull. Not matte. Not semi matte. Just... Dull. Blech! Yuk! Ew! As I looked at my freshly painted nails, I knew I had made a mistake. I was about to remove it. Then I realised it was dry to touch. That is the one redeeming factor of this horror show of a polish. It dries quickly. So I thought, well, maybe a little glitter will help.

Bwahahahaha!!!! I can hear the evil being inhabiting that bottle of neon pink polish laughing at me as I grab a bottle of Pure Ice Once Again. A sheer light aqua jelly with glitter. I began applying the glitter. And things just kinda went from bad to worse. Three coats were needed for even somewhat even coverage. The aqua slightly toned down the ugly of the base colour. But didn't do anything to improve or redeem it.

Pure Ice Once Again isn't my favourite glitter polish. It might be nicer over a prettier base colour.

Maybe.

I didn't bother refining clean up or with Seche. This mani isn't long for this world. It is coming off tomorrow. I'd do it tonight but I am over mucking with it, right now. God, grant me the strength not to peel. I haven't peeled polish is a long time. And I don't want to start now. lol

Want to see the Manicure of Evil Ugly? Surprisingly, this photographed prettier than it is in person. Usually it is the other way around. So, if you look at the photos and think, "What is she bitching about? It isn't that bad." Think of just how ugly a polish job can be and jack it up about 300%. And you will know what this one looks like. lolol

First pic is outside in sun going behind clouds. No flash. My skin looks dry and tight because it is. I hadn't applied any lotion or oil before taking pictures.

This is Pink Voltage alone. Taken indoors, with flash. It actually looks not horrible in the photograph. Don't let the photograph fool you. The index finger and thumb are closer to the actual colour than the other fingers.

My new Spring wreath. I was making my bed, this morning and remembered my storage container in my closet with some flowers and stuff in it. I hauled out an old grapevine wreath form I had, some random silk flowers and my dykes for cutting stems and got to work. A few minutes later, I had this. I took it downstairs and hung it on the front door. (I photographed it hanging on a kitchen cabinet.) It is white "silk" lilacs, daisies, a big daffodil and a few ivy leaves.

Hopefully, the stupid birds will not build a nest in it, this year. I don't want this one ruined. lol

Mani of the Moment: China Glaze Lubu Heels

Oh My Gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This colour is Gorgeous!!!!!!!

Seriously.

Gorgeous.

I am in love. The more I wear dark, vampy colours, the more I like them. And today I got as vampy as I ever have. Today, I wore black polish for the first time in my life and I really want to know what the hell took me so long?

I imagine I was looking for this colour. China Glaze Lubu Heels. More than likely the only Lubu heels I will ever own. lol That's okay. I can live with that, as long as I have this beautiful polish for my nails.

This polish is a black jelly, I guess it would be called; packed with deep, deep red fire in the form of fine glitter. To the casual glance, it looks black or deep, deep, deep burgundy. Let light... Any light hit it and the red glitter jumps to the surface and sets this enamel on fire. The effects are mesmerizing. I can't stop looking at my nails.

I have to get a back up bottle of this shade. If China Glaze ever discontinues this shade, I do not want to be without it.

I was a tad dismayed with it, at first. The first coat was thin, grey, uneven and streaky with little glitter and I felt a little nervous. Then coat # two went on and suddenly it started to look black and the glitter began to come to life. By coat # 3 I had the colour that the bottle promised me. And I was happy and all my doubts and fears melted like snow in the Spring sunshine.

I did today's mani with a coat of China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base, three coats of Lubu Heels and a coat of Seche. My Seche is suddenly turning thick and gloopy and so my finish is a bit... lumpy??? kinda looking in spots. Blech! What a time for my Seche to turn. :P

For the heck of it, I decided to post pics before clean up. Yikes! What a mess! But, with tips I have recently learned and practice, the pre clean up mess isn't as bad as it used to be. lol

Indoors, (post clean up, of course.. lol) with flash.

Outdoors, direct afternoon sun, no flash. Look at that dark, deep red fire. :D

Outdoors, in shade. No flash.

Close up, in direct sun. No flash. To show just how magical this colour really is. If you thought that you could/would never wear black polish, I encourage you to try this colour.

Super close up in direct afternoon sun. No flash. The deep red glitter looks like embers from a dying fire, shining softly in a blackened fire pit. (Ignore my awful ridges, please. Those ridges are a result of years of acrylics and harshly ripping them off more times than anyone ever should. Lessons learned. *le sigh*)

So, there you have it. China Glaze Lubu Heels. Off my lemming list and on my nails. :D :D

Celebrate Spring! Paint your nails some fabulous colour that you never thought you would ever wear. :D

I Can't Resist the Sparkle

I think that I have created myself a monster. I had to repair a small chip in my polish on the outer corner of the middle finger nail on my right hand. I don't know how it happened. It was there when I got out of the shower. So, I repaired it and the repair looked acceptable enough. Then I started thinking about how I could make the repair look even better. A thick, glossy top coat? Sure.

Or...

Glitter!!! Yes! Glitter. It would cover any sin, add sparkle and be fun. So, out came the Pure Ice in Don't You Wish. Two coats, letting them dry in between. Then a coat of Seche. I usually hit my nails with Seche immediately but I didn't want to drag a bunch of glitter into the bottle, so I let the glitter coats dry before doing top coat.

I like this. :D It is sparkly and fun and the Don't You Wish looks good over the Frostbite. Almost as if they were meant to be together.

Awww... :P

At present I have... Nine coats on my nails. Nine. It isn't uncomfortable, really. But I do think that it looks as if I am wearing acrylics. lol Should be nice and protective. :D

Anyway, on with the pictures:

Indoors with flash.

Outdoors. Shade, without flash. You can really see the glitter clearly, here.

Outdoors. Shade, no flash. I think that this pic best shows the depth of the base blue (especially on my thumb nail) and the shine of the glitter coat.

Outdoors. Direct late afternoon sun, no flash.

I briefly considered starting a polish blog, but I changed my mind. Honestly, I like having all of my random stuff in one place. :D :D I hope that you all don't mind the chaos. :D