Learning from mistakes and pleasant surprises.

Well hello darlings! I'm up to eight followers, I feel like celebrating!!! I'm posting this today versus last night because I got caught-up in watching "The Golden Compass" on SciFy channel. BTW loved those books.

I decided to do some Konading last night and was really excited to try this swirly design. I wanted to try some different color combos for fun. Warning . . . a little sloppy.

These were mini $OPI bottles that don't have the names on them. The aqua color is from the Havana collection.
I don't care for this color - kindof pukey looking. I stamped the design with another teal $OPI mini.

This is wet n' wild Ebony hates Chris as a base coat, stamped with another $OPI mini,
from the Rocker Chic collection. Meh. Would be a nice shade by itself, though.

This is again wet n' wild Ebony hates Chris, stamped with Orly Luxe, using
Konad plate m63. Wow, those macro shots really make it look sloppy. :(

I'm loving these Orly metallics. I have another that is a rose gold, forget the name.

So, what did I learn?

1. $OPI (OPI for Sephora) doesn't work for stamping.

2. Orly metallic foils are awesome for stamping.

3. Wet n' Wild Ebony hates Chris is a great, opaque, quick-drying black that doesn't bubble at all. And I paid 99 cents for it! The brush is crappy, though.

4. My clean-up technique needs some work - more on that later!



Thanks for reading!

I loathe bubbles!

After many CRAPTASTIC manis with bubbles galore, I've become determined to find the cause. At first, I thought it was because I was shaking the bottle too much and introducing air bubbles. So, I gently rolled the bottle, like the nail techs do. Still bubbles. I waited five minutes between coats to let it dry completely. Still bubbles. I could not believe how bad this red jelly looked. Behold, the horror:

This is Ultra Professional nail lacquer in "What a Maroon". I'm sparing you a close-up

because I'm embarrassed by its hideousness.

So, then I decided to search the Makeup Alley nail board for information on how to prevent bubbles, and found this "scientific" explanation:

http://www.blogger.com/links/out.asp?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elacquerized%2Ecom%2F2010%2F10%2Fhow%2Dto%2Dprevent%2Dbubbling%2Ehtml%23IDComment103705950

"The nail polish is not absorbing air bubbles. The bubbles are not actually air, at all. They are formed when the volatile chemicals in the polish evaporate. That's how nail polish dries. If you apply very thick coats, the surface of the layer of polish will dry while it's still wet underneath. The volatile chemicals in the still-wet layer try to evaporate, but are now trapped under the already-dry top layer, and they form tiny bubbles. If your coats are thin, each coat will dry uniformly and none of the volatile gasses will be trapped between coats, so your mani will be bubble-free. "
legal disclaimer: Not Affiliated

Sooooo, I tried three very thin coats and this is my result:

This is Ulta Goddess. It is a shear peachy pink nude with a gold shimmer.

It was overcast today. And my camera didn't capture the gold very well.

I had a few bubbles on each nail, but they are difficult to see. In reality, I should have done the red again, but it just doesn't feel right for spring. I'm in a nudes and pastels state of mind.

I feel the need to make this blog more interesting. I'm going to focus on more nail art, especially free hand stuff. I've got a lot of ideas rolling around in my head: easter mani, spring colors. I guess I should find-out when Easter is!

Zoya, baby! Mini haul

I'm very excited to see that Ulta now carries Zoya nail polish. Maybe they have for a while, but I try to avoid Ulta, for fear of polish binging. At $7 a bottle, that seems very reasonable. OPI is $8.50 - and I think their colors are boring. I also picked-up an awesome red jelly, on clearance for $3.25! Love Jellies!!!

Ulta Professional, What a Maroon, Zoya Marley, Caitlin, and Gemma

I had to have this one - Army green with a purple flash!

I'm thinking Marley would look awesome with Deborah Lippman, Glitter in the Air on top - really lusting for that color. Price tag scares me though, at $18 a bottle. I'll want all of them.



The world's ugliest nail polish color?

I really wanted to like this color - it's so unusual. Greige with slight silver shimmer. With my skin tone, it is truly hideous. But I slapped a gold glitter top coat on and it makes it passable. Gold glitter saves the day again!

OPI for Sephora aka $OPI, Under My Trenchcoat with

$OPI gold glitter topcoat.

My troll hand. Doesn't look too trollish from this angle.

Our garden is loving the warm spring weather.

Mattie is NOT loving his Elizabethan collar!

In honor of Charlie Sheen's "Radness"

I'm finding myself so entertained by Charlie that I did a manicure in his honor. I will also start incorporating "radical" in my conversations.

You should be thinking mid-1980's. Neon colors, jelly bracelets and side-ponytails.

L.A. Colors, no-name bright pink with Konad, plate m57, black zebra stripes

This is my funky troll hand.

So Eighties!