China Glaze Skyscraper

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I felt like a fun polish today, so I used China Glaze Skyscraper from their Metro Collection.  I think this might be the only one I have from that collection, maybe one other.  Skyscraper is a really striking deep blue with very, very fine silver glitter.

I used base coat, three coats of Skyscraper, and a coat of Poshe.  After two coats, the blue base of Skyscraper had some uneven spots, so I added a third to make it even.  It dried just fine after a third coat of color, so it wasn't a problem at all.  I also noticed that despite being loaded up with glitter, the surface of the polish is quite smooth after drying.  This is Skyscraper in the sun.

China Glaze Skyscraper Nail Polish, Three Coats

This is a fun cool weather polish, so I like it, and a smooth glitter is always a plus.

That is China Glaze Skyscraper and just about all there is to tell you about this morning, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

The Neon Creeper Heel Manicure

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After a few days of no polish change, I was up for a more involved mani this morning, so I did a nail art interpretation of a T.U.K. high-heeled neon creeper.  Why yes, that is incredibly random and out of the blue, but when you see the shoe, you'll see why it inspired a manicure.

The backstory, to mitigate some of the randomness, is that I need a new pair of all-purpose, running out the door shoes.  I've mentioned my taste in clothing is pretty plain, but my taste in shoes is far from it, with the current worn-out pair being red/purple/pink mosaic flats.  I've always loved heels, and being kind of short I wore them just about all the time for years (I'm still a normal height for a woman wearing them, and if there's no good reason not to...).  That era ended when I completely tore an ankle ligament (I was pledging a sorority and fell on the first step of the house's spiral staircase, smashing my ankle on every step on the way down,  while everybody was waiting for me at the bottom - my grandest entrance ever), until I just recently discovered shoes with a platform.  They look impossible to walk in, but they're totally comfortable and nothing at all to walk in, so heels are back on the table for me, and they've been included in the hunt.

That brings us to the inspiration picture,which I mentioned was a pair of T.U.K. neon creeper heels.

My Manicure Inspiration

To make the manicure, I started with three coats of China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada, stamping plate H9 for the leopard print, which is a larger pattern and let me cover each nail with only one stamp.  I used that XL stamper I tried once before and hated because I've read reviews from a few bloggers with whom I normally have a similar experience who loved it.  That made me think I needed practice, and that proved to be the case.  There is a trick to using it, which is absolutely no pressure picking up or placing the stamp, and then it does a really beautiful job.  Having stamped, I filled in the dots on the leopard print with Misa Dreamy Purple, painted the tip one nail with Dreamy Purple to make it like the top of the shoe, then sealed with top coat.  Here's how it turned out.

My Neon Creeper Heel Manicure

There's not fabulous light today, so Dreamy Purple looks darker in the picture than in real life, although I think I should have hunted down Nubar Pasadena Purple for this one - it would have been more clearly purple.  I'm still really happy with the manicure because it's ridiculously fun.

That's my new weekend manicure and just about all I have to yap about this morning Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

China Glaze No Way Jose

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm pleased to be wearing China Glaze No Way Jose today, which is another rediscovered treasure. It's a light, somewhat pink purple glass flecked polish from China Glaze's Tequila Toes collection a few years back. It applied very well and I added a third coat for opacity, which did the trick, before finishing it with Poshe. This is No Way Jose.

China Glaze No Way Jose Nail Polish, Three Coats

I love this polish. There's something about the shade of No Way Jose that thrills me, and I really don't know why. When put in combination with a glass flecked finish, I swoon, tilt my head sideways with both hands on one side of my face, and burst into song:

No Way Jose

How I love him

He's got something I can't resist

But he doesn't even know that I exist

No Way Jose

How I want him

How I tingle when he passes by

Every time he says hello

my heart begins to fly

I'm in heaven

I get carried away

I dream of him and me

and how it's gonna be

Other fellas call me up for a date

But I just sit and wait

I'd rather concentrate

On No Way Jose

'Cause I love him

And I pray that someday he'll love me

And together we will see how lovely heaven will be

If you don't recognize it for the tune, that's Johnny Angel, a Shelley Fabares song from the early sixties. It's the most melodramatic song I could come up with to complete my declaration of love for No Way Jose - when it comes to the stanza about sitting and waiting, I picture her singing it from the bushes outside Johnny Angel's window with binoculars in her hand, which makes it very funny to me.

That is No Way Jose and a little song for it that will likely get stuck in your head today, so I think my work here is done. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen.

China Glaze Cracked Medallion Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have another China Glaze Metal Crackle on tap for today, this time Cracked Medallion, the bronze.  I was looking at what I'd like to pair it with, and I thought it might look cool with the glitter in OPI Merry Midnight.

Merry Midnight is a three coater, so I put that on and figured I'd take a new picture of it while it was drying.

OPI Merry Midnight Nail Polish, Three Coats

The addition of one coat of Cracked Medallion changed it a lot.

China Glaze Crackled Medallion Crackle Glaze over OPI Merry Midnight

On a sunny day, this is a good manicure to be wearing.  That's it for today, so until next time love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking at what to add to yesterday's Essie Trophy Wife to change it up a bit for another day, and decided to go with China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle Glaze, the gold from the Crackle Metals.  I'd narrowed it down to Tarnished Gold and Cracked Medallion, the bronze, but decided that Cracked Medallion might be a bit much and went with the gold.

I just used one quick coat of Tarnished Gold over Trophy Wife and added a coat of top coat to seal it, and I'd revived it for a new day.

China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle Glaze

I like these two together and do think that Cracked Medallion would have been too much, so I'm pleased with the outcome.  That's all there is to tell you about today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Join The Dots

I've spent my evening getting ready for tomorrow's day trip. Some friends and I are going to a theme park called Drayton Manor which is about two and a half hours drive north and I am so so so excited! I always like to be prepared for these kinds of trips so I already have my rucksack filled with a packed lunch, spare clothes, camera and all the other standard day trip paraphernalia!

Plate: Bundle Monster BM211

Base Colour: Rimmel Blue My Mind

Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 Moonlight Shine

China Glaze Adore for the dots

Top Coat of NYC

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a picture I haven't shown you yet of China Glaze Oxidized Aqua from the Metal Crackles, so that'll have to do for today.  I wanted to try it out over a contrasting base color, so I picked OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries, and this is what I came up with.

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle over OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries

Not my worst, not my best... I do think Oxidized Aqua is pretty cool though.

I'll have to scamper off and come up with something better for tomorrow, so until then, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Fault Line & Absolutely Alice

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still playing with Crackles this morning, and today's is China Glaze Fault Line, the purple shimmer, over OPI Absolutely Alice, the blue glitter.  It's base coat, two coats of Absolutely Alice, then top coat and a few minutes to dry before adding one coat of Fault Line and another top coat.

China Glaze Fault Line over OPI Absolutely Alice

I like this one a lot.  That's just about all I have to tell you about, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

About a week or so ago I showed you Nfu Oh 40 over Misa Quirky Smile, but what I didn't show you was that I got an extra day out of it by topping it off with China Glaze Crushed Candy, the Crackle Glaze that's about the same shade as For Audrey.  I really just wasn't particularly excited about removing the flakies, and it didn't occur to me until after I'd added Crushed Candy that I'd succeeded in making the situation a little worse.  Since we know by now that I was able to remove all of it, all's well that ends well, and it was fun while I wore it.

China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle over Nfu Oh 40 and Misa Quirky Smile

On this one, I really like how glowy the flakes are as they peek out of the kind of muted creme shade of Crushed Candy.  I think as long as a base polish and a crackle are pretty dramatically different from one another, I'll like them together.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear VIP Pink

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today there's more layered glitter polish in store with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear VIP Pink over China Glaze Sugar High.  I don't know much about VIP Pink other than that I had it in a box of polishes and it's a pretty pink with glitter, but it looked a little sheer for me to wear alone.

I don't know if I ever showed you a picture of what I think is the easiest way to get an idea of the opacity of a polish without having to open it, so I took one to show you today.  I just hold the bottle a little bit tilted and above eye level, then roll the mixing ball around a little.  How well I can see the mixing ball is an indication of how sheer it is.

Mixing Ball in Sally Hansen VIP Pink Bottle

That's pretty sheer since I can see it so well, so I grabbed a creme that was a good match for the shade, China Glaze Sugar High, to put under it.  Here's two coats of Sugar High, a two coater, alone.

China Glaze Sugar High Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of VIP Pink and top coat.

Sally Hansen VIP Pink Nail Polish over China Glaze Sugar High

That's much better.  Now that I'm all pink and sparkly, it pretty much has to be a good day today.  That's just about all I have for you, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Girls Just Want to Play & Fairy Dust

Good morning, Dear Reader!  On this Memorial Day, I want to say thanks to servicemen and their families for paying a very high price for all of us in the US.

I figured I'd go with a patriotic manicure today, and I picked OPI's Girls Just Want to Play, which is a red creme.  It's particularly well pigmented for an OPI red, so I like it better than most of theirs.  It only took two thin coats to be totally opaque, and since the fake tip I'm sporting is crystal clear, I need opaque.  I tried to just leave it alone, but my current and likely short anti-creme phase wouldn't allow me to, so I topped it off with two coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust before adding top coat.  Here it is in the sun, and there are a few spots where you can get a sense of just how much it sparkles.

OPI Girls Just Want to Play and China Glaze Fairy Dust, Two Coats Each

I already ran some errands and went for a walk with my dad today, and on the walk it was challenging to keep myself from staring at my nails.  This is really super bright and sparkly, so it makes me happy.  I know it's not terribly different from the OPI Text Me Text You manicure I recently wore, but it's different enough for me, and I really just plain love fine holo glitter over red.

That's the manicure for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Pool Party & Plate XL A

Good morning, Dear Reader!

For today I took another stab at a neon eye-crosser of a manicure, this time using China Glaze Pool Party and plate XL A, and it worked out pretty well.

Pool Party, a darker pink neon creme, took three coats but dried quickly, and I stamped it with a wavy lines pattern from plate XL A.  I wanted the lines to go across, so I used the pattern sideways with Konad Black Special Polish.  To avoid smudging, I topped off the stamps with Konad Top Coat, but the pictures showed me that I had teeny tiny bubbles in it.  Since they don't show without a close up picture even when I know they're there, I've kept this one on for two days.

China Glaze Pool Party Nail Polish with Plate XL A Stamp

I really like it.  It's incredibly loud, but  so over the top loud that I think it's clear that I was going for that.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Got Daisies?

This is my favourite so far of all the ones I've done with the new Bundle Monster plates. I wasn't sure how it would turn out when I decided to add a bit of extra detail by filling in the flowers. Sometimes, especially if I pick a bad colour, details like that can make things look overdone but this isn't one of those times. 

I wouldn't expect that green/blue to compliment the purple shades as well as it does but it's just one of those lucky combinations that works without even trying.

 

Plate: Bundle Monster BM224

Base Colour: Models Own Purple Grey

Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
China Glaze Adore applied with a brush for the centres of the flowers

Top Coat of NYC

Plate XL B

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I had a great big fail stamping a pattern from XL B for today, which completely proved wrong my recent statement that I find the quality of engraving is equivalent between Chez Delaney and Konad plates.  Konad never fails me!

I took pictures, but promptly did a do-over on the manicure because it was really bad.  For the second I also went with a pattern from XL B, but the second one I chose was composed of thicker lines, from which I generally have a much easier time getting a clean stamp.  The messy one had thin lines, and the few stamps with didn't have extra polish all over have bald spots, and since the stamping was in black over China Glaze Shocking  Pink, it looked pretty shabby.

Plate XL B over China Glaze Shocking Pink Nail Polish

My ring and pinky nails have bald spots in the middle of the filled in sections, and the others, which I didn't scrape as hard to avoid that, have the extra Konad polish.  It looked gross enough to annoy me, so off it came.

The next attempt was Color Club Wicked Sweet with white Konad polish, and I love how it turned out.  A cashier at a place I often go asked about it this morning and admired the manicure, but there was a huge line behind me and she's usually really slow without a distraction (perfectly nice lady, she just doesn't mind having twenty people glaring at her while she makes small talk), and she asked about it using an "or" where neither option was correct (is that A or B?).  That meant my answer would require an explanation, and since I didn't want to lie I just muttered unintelligibly to get out of explaining Konad with the line of people hating me.  That often works surprisingly well, by the way, and it did this morning.  Here's the manicure that's nice enough to make a line of people wait for small talk.

Plate XL B over Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish

Much better!  I love the polish, the stamp, and it's all the better since it smells really nice.

That's what I know today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Tickle My Triangle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Wearing a holographic polish in the sun was so fun that I picked another China Glaze  Kaleidoscope for today, this time the pink one, Tickle My Triangle.  I think it's gorgeous since I love bright pinks and I love holos, but I'd want it even if it was awful just for the name.  Earlier this year, I was asked for my pick for the sexiest nail polish name, and I picked this one.  If you take the link to read the short article, be sure to read the "Sexiest Color" quote on page 3, which despite being a perfectly valid opinion, is funny when you're reading it linked from here. I hadn't mentioned the article at the time it was published because it wasn't directly relevant to a post, and I felt ill at ease subjecting you to a "Not getting enough of me here?  Go look at this page for even more!  Me!  Me!  Me!" so I didn't...

Anyhow, this is the version of Tickle My Triangle with a black label and white print (the three free version), and it only took two coats and was easy to apply.  Here it is in the early morning sun, which I drove over to a parking lot to get (houses and trees are blocking it at home!).  Now even more local residents have had the joy and the honor of watching me take a picture of something I'm hiding in my hand.

China Glaze Tickle My Triangle Nail Polish, Two Coats

Again today, what's not to love about this polish?  I'll tell you what's not to love about these nails - they're still uneven.  I had every intention of evening out yesterday, but completely forgot about it until I checked to see if Tickle My Triangle was dry enough to go out and take a picture this morning, and I said, "Hey!  They're still uneven!"  It's rare that something just drops out of my brain for a full day, but this did.  I'll take care of it soon, although today's chock full of activity so I'll just get to it eventually... It's a good opportunity to test my theory that no children will go to bed hungry because my nails don't look their best.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Black Mesh & Sexagon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning there's no real sun out to accentuate the glory that is China Glaze Sexagon, but I still didn't have the heart to remove it, so I added a coat of China Glaze Black Mesh.  I went with Black Mesh rather than OPI Black Shatter because I find Black Mesh easier to apply more thinly so the cracks are greater in both number and size - I really wanted Sexagon to show through well.

It worked.  Black Mesh-ing went well, then I added one coat of a clear to it, just one I had around, to smooth it out a bit before sealing it with Diamont.  It's not as smooth as when I've used Gelous rather than the random clear, but I think one additional coat of the clear would close that gap, although it's smooth enough to not bug me at all with just the one coat I've used here, which is what I'm really after.

China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle Glaze over China Glaze Sexagon

I think it looks cool.  I believe the conclusion I've reached is that I most like the crackle polishes over holos and neons, as long as it's smoothed out well at the end.  I was reflecting on my initial reaction to trying out OPI Black Shatter - I recall proof reading the post and getting frustrated because I didn't want to keep using the word "hideous" to describe it, but that was the only word displayed on a flashing neon sign in my brain, which made it really hard to drum up others.  I'm glad I found a way to use it that appeals to me, because now I think they're a fun second-day addition to a manicure that I really like and want to draw out for another day, like Sexagon.

I don't really have any good stories to tell you today.  This has been an amazingly long week, scurrying about taking care of loose ends on old stuff and making slow but sure progress on establishing new and better things, so for the most part there have been a whole lot of unrelated events in close succession, which doesn't make for a very good tale.  I do have a good short funny for you though, a quote from one of my dear college friends.  I was blessed with a bunch of the brightest, funniest quirkiest friends anyone could ask for in college, and more often than not we were making each other laugh like fools.  Here's an example of how...

I'd stated that I found the very existence of this seemingly normal jar candle priced at $375 disturbing (I see that it's sold out despite the cap on quantity one may purchase in 30 days, which is even more disturbing).  My friend's explanation after reading the item's description was this:

"It creates 'a mystery that unravels with time.' It would probably be cheaper if the mystery unraveled all at once. Time-release mystery is ALWAYS more expensive."

On that note, I'll wrap it up.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Sexagon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After we arrived at a group consensus yesterday that Revlon Blue Lagoon was a complete failure, I felt a need for redemption and reached for something reliable for today.  I selected China Glaze Sexagon from their Kaleidoscope Collection of holographic polishes, and this is the version with a white label and black print.

Sexagon is the silver, and a particularly spectacular silver at that.  I like it because it has both the super fine holo pigment like the China Glaze OMG Collection or the Nfu Oh holos, and it also has little holo bits like the Milani holographics.  It's a good one, and I had fantastic sunlight to take a picture of it.

China Glaze Sexagon Nail Polish, Three Coats

What's not to love about this polish, right?  The manicure is a base coat (just some bottle I had lying around, I'm not sure what), three thin coats of Sexagon, and one coat of Diamont top coat.  The polish is somewhat thin, but that makes it easier to apply than some holos, and it dries very quickly and to an unusually smooth finish.

I haven't racked up any experiences worth telling you about yet today, so all I have for you now is nail polish.  I figure since that's most likely why you stopped by in the first place, that works out just fine.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!