Nails: Bewitching Polka Dots

I was restless painting my nails last night. I tried several different colors and designs before settling on this black and silvery-purple polka dot pattern....and I've decided I'm definitely a fan on polka dot nails.


Polka dots are a particular favorite of mine to begin with, and they're very easy to do free hand on your nails. I started with a base coat, followed by one coat of Zoya's Raven -- a dark black with very subtle shimmer to it. (This is the first Zoya polish I've ever tried, actually. I ordered three bottles during a promotion the company had a few weeks back, and I'm sure I'll get to reviewing them all at some point.)

The dots were made with Orly's Spellbound, which is more silvery than the picture of the bottle bellow illustrates. It's also very shimmery.

I started my dots by the base of the nail (just by dotting the regular polish brush, not using a special one) and worked my way up to the tip. The dots aren't all uniform in size, but I kind of like it that way, I think it looks visually interesting.

After hearing so many great reviews, I also decided to splurge on a bottle of Seche Vite dry fast top coat. While I'm happy with how it's kept my nails from getting dents or accidentally being imprinted by fabric textures, so far I'm not super impressed with the shine or keeping my nails from chipping. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in my application?

I've been having problems lately with my nail polish chipping or peeling at the tips very shortly after application. I think it might be a basecoat problem....that I need to find a good one, other than the sever year old bottle of Jordana base coat I've been using. Anyone have suggestions?

Nails: Make Mine Mango

I finally got tired of Shrimply Divine after retouching it a couple of times over a week or two. So on a whim I picked up three bottles of Revlon polish on sale for $3 each at a Target. I picked these colors because they were bright, summery and I think they're appropriate enough to wear to work. :)


I also got some polish removing pads, figuring they'd be more convenient than getting a bottle of remover and cotton balls while traveling. I was wrong! These felt pads precoated in acetone remover were AWFUL -- first, because I prefer using non-acetone remover since it's more gentle on my natural nails, and second, and most importantly, they didn't work.


Each pad said it would do ten nails. I barely got through two or three. I held them on each nail for a minute or so and they still didn't work well. The pads dried out very quickly. I ended up going through five of the six packets in the box to do both hands. :( Maybe other people have had better luck with pads like this?

Anyway back to the goods:

Make Mine Mango, Red Hot Tamale and Cherry Berry. I packed these with me and brought them to Maine, where I am currently on the second leg of my trip.

Though orange is my favorite color, it doesn't look particularly good on my skin. But Make Mine Mango has a lot of peach and persimmon undertones that I think make it versatile for a number of complexions, including pale, rosy ones like mine.

I also like that it's tropical yet understated -- not a loud, brash orange, but a soft, gentle, breezy and relaxed color, in my opinion. Something that says "I'm having an effortlessly fun vacation and enjoying sunshine"....which, well, I am!

Shrimply Divine Nails

This is two coats of Sally Hansen's "Shrimply Divine" -- a true bubblegum, Barbie pink that, well, lacks the coral/orange undertones of real shrimp. It's still a lovely color, very bold, bright and fun.

I'm not thrilled with the formula, though. In fact, I've found the quality of all the polishes I've tried from Sally Hansen's Salon Nail Lacquer line to be hit or miss. Some, like this, are too thin. Others are too thick. Some, like "Wine Not," are just right. It's too bad, since the line has lots of attractive and work-appropriate colors. (Though I wear whatever polish I feel like to the office! But if you're in a more conservative environment, this line has many options for you.)

In terms of polish quality, I'm more a fan of the company's Hard As Nails Xtream Wear line. I've found it to be more consistent. It also offers a wider assortment of colors, which is good if you like funky ones like I do, but might not be good if you prefer sticking to pinks and nudes.

I'm Back x2...And This Time I'm Bringing Sexy With Me

Heard that song on the radio today, lol...So, it's been a while. I just haven't been in the mood to write lately, particularly about beauty. My life hasn't felt very beautiful lately. It's sadly just trudging along, waiting for the right time for lots of good things to happen. Namely, once this month ends and I can go home to New York and do some traveling and prepare for the next phase of my life's journey.

I have gotten back into art lately -- making greeting cards. Oh my gosh, I've turned my bathroom into a spray paint studio! I will definitely post some of my work up here in the future.

I've also started watching Asian dramas and am totally hooked! I'm currently watching the Taiwanese version of "Meteor Garden," a show about a poor girl who becomes the rival-turned-love-interest of the richest boy in their very affluent college. It's got drama, romance, humor and more. I'd definitely recommend it! This show and more are available for free -- for those of you who don't know -- on MySoju.com.

Anyway, on to the sexiness...I was in a good mood after conducting an interview for my job today. (The interview had nothing to do with sexy-anything, to make that clear!) I met with a man to discuss his volunteer work as a court advocate for children for a story I'm writing. During the discussion, he explained that he'd decided while he was still working full-time that once he hit retirement, he would devote half his time to volunteer work and half to personal time.

Now that he's retired, he said he does just that. He volunteers with a slew of other organization, he and his wife travel, he reads books, he exercises, etc. What he kept saying is that when it comes to what someone gets involved in, it's all a matter of priorities; What's important to you to get done? It might not be the same goals as your neighbor or your friend, and that's fine. It's about determining what matters most to you and making it happen.

We all only have 24 hours in a day. We can't change the past, whether it was good or bad. What do you make priorities in your life from this point on?

This made me realize that I was putting too much of my energy into wasteful and silly things when I have to keep my head focused on the game, on the bigger picture. It made me think how sometimes I let important matters fall to the wayside. I'm not directionless by any means, but admittedly, since leaving college I've had lots of aspirations and barely know where to start. It's definitely comforting and empowering for me to consider the fact that I really can do a lot to influence my destiny. And I think an important step is defining some of my priorities and continuing to let those aspirations guide me in a positive way, instead of succumbing to anxiety about what I messed up in the past or what I'm afraid I can't do.

I left the interview feeling pumped -- the guy was really, really nice too, so it was enjoyable to lunch with him -- spent a hot hour on the Metro, and got back to the shopping mall where I was parked. I try not to shop on a whim but I fell in love with two rings in Charlotte Rousse today.

Forgive the lackluster photos, but let me share some sexy with you:

And by sexy I mean glamorous, empowered, bold, happy. I never wear rings on my pointer finger but that's where it fit best, and there's something I like about it there. I rarely wear big rings like this either, but hey, sometimes it just works!

The ring looks like the petals are lacquered. I think it's kind of retro-feeling. It cost $4.

The polish, which did not photograph well, is "Feverish Rose" by Sally Hansen. It's a dark-Barbie-esque pink. I topped it with a sparkly clear polish by Wet 'n Wild, which is subtle but noticeable. So these nails are quite girly!

Combine the ring, the nails, and a dose of self-confidence and...for a moment, I feel like I could take on anything in this world. :)

Crystal Chrome Nails

The Milani black cherry polish I recently sported didn't stain my nails and lasted more than a week without chipping. Even though the weather is getting warmer, the dark color really grew on me, too. But I felt like a change so applied Sally Hansen's crystal chrome polish in "Baby Blue Crystal" a few days ago. It looked fantastic right after application, however the love-affair didn't last.

The polish is a great platinum color. The first and second coats go on somewhat sheer, but after a third coat it looked pretty great.


Unfortunately, it already started chipping the day after application. (By the way, I used the same base coat and top coat for this manicure as I did for the black cherry nails.) Because the formula is so thin, I had to apply several additional coats to cover the chips, and it still didn't look very smooth.

Today, a day after touching up my nails, the polish started to peel off. And my nails are stained red! Yuck.

I believe this is a discontinued product, and maybe the fact that it's quite old is why it left a bad residue. Has any one else had a similar experience?

Black Cherry Nails

Not easy to photograph, but very lovely in person. This is Milani's black cherry nail polish, which looks just like the fruit for which it's named. On my ring finger is a white flower decal with a crystal in the middle.


Two coats gives a nice, rich color. My only complaint is that the polish consistency can be a bit runny and gloppy during application, making the first coat a bit uneven. I've found this with other Milani polishes and though it's somewhat of a pain, it's not bad enough to prevent me from purchasing them in the future.

With a good topcoat, black cherry shines like dark glass on my fingertips; it's chic and packs a subtle punch of spice. I'm not planning to wear dark colors all summer long, though, and I'm already imagining how smashing this would look on a winter pedicure!

Milani's black cherry is available for between $3 to $5 at national drug store chains.

One of These Nails is Not Like the Other

And yet, it belongs. Well, maybe.

A few weeks ago I saw a picture on some celebrity site featuring a female starlette (no one I remember) sporting silver nails with one white one. I tried the look a few days ago with pink/silver, and tonight, with grayish silver and gold. It looks better in person because the gray has little sparkles in it, but here's a photo to give you the idea:


I like that it's funky in a subtle way. Something a bit quirky that is easily wearable to the office.

The main color is Wild and Crazy's w235/Anchorage. This is a very inexpensive brand, but I really like the coverage. It's thick and matte with little sparkles in it. The bottle says sinfulcolors.com on the back, so I'm assuming it has an affiliation with that company...whose nail polishes I also like for being inexpensive yet very pigmented. I'd agree with many reviews on Makeup Alley though, that Wild and Crazy's polishes can be hit-or-miss.

The gold is OPI's Needles in a Haystack. Very pretty, I can see myself wearing this on its own sometime.

Do you think this idea a lost cause? Might it look better with different colors? I like how it looks better in person than in the picture. Anyway, thank goodness nail polish is so easy to change :) Though for now, I'm happy with this.

Pink Leopard Print Nails

My first attempt in quite a while to do some nail art. I'm pretty happy with the results.


The tools:

Instructions:
--Apply base coat, followed by one or two coats of light-colored polish.
For these pink leopard nails, I used Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat (I'd definitely recommend) and Sally Hansen Maximum Growth plus Nourishing Nail Color in 15 Fair Fawn.

--Apply darker dots on nails. Allow to dry.
I found that the bottom part of my polish brush made nice-sized dots, the key is to be very careful when pressing it down! I used Maybelline Forever Strong + iron in 60 Wonder Melon.

--Using a thin brush, draw black lines around the pink dots. Add a few small, random black spots/lines around the larger dots, if you'd like.
I suggest doing two or three lines around each big pink dot, not making them close all the way. The other little dots I just found added a bit more character, mimicking the real animal.

--Once everything is dry, add top coat, and voila!

Check out this link and this YouTube video for more inspiration.

Inaugural Nails

I searched "red, white and blue nails" and found this picture, which inspired me to create my own patriotic nails...

I'll be working Tuesday but hopefully watching the ceremony online or on television. At least it will be warm indoors...I went to G.W. Bush's second inauguration four years ago and it was really, really cold. (Hours of standing outside, frozen toes, and that celebration was no where near as hyped as this one.)

It's amazing to think about all that has happened during the brief history of the United States, and I just find it exciting to be witness to another groundbreaking chapter. Happy Inauguration!

Gender Fashion Fusion, Russian Navy Nails

This photo is of an interesting feature in the Nov. 2008 Cosmopolitan en Espanol. The pictorial is called "Genre Fusion," though 'gender fusion' makes more sense to me since it shows how you can take a handful of pieces and make them work for menswear-inspired looks as well as feminine looks.

I've seen plenty of features on how to repurpose a few items to make several outfits - I really like those, btw - but nothing quite like this, at least not in a while. It really struck me because I love menswear-inspired pieces like suit jackets, vests and shoes, but I also love to dress up and be super girly sometimes. So it makes sense that I'm drawn to a feature showing how to meld the two with some of the same pieces, because I have some from both categories in my closet.

I don't think I'd wear all these specific outfits - for one thing, a frilly-chested tank with a thin belt wouldn't be flattering on my short frame - but the idea is definitely something I can work with. (Outfit titles like "masculine charm," "feminine mistique" and "girl in control" give me something to aspire to, you know?)

Oh, and at the very bottom of the picture you can see my Russian Navy-wearing nails! Great color. It's a dark purplish blue with super tiny red sparkles in it, I mean so tiny you can harly see them unless you look very closely. It's vampy pretty, in the way muted, brick/brownish red lipstick on fair skin looks pretty. It's dark enough to almost look black on first glance but it's way more interesting than black. And I used a Sally Hansen basecoat and the color didn't stain my nails at all. I am glad I purchased it - thanks Maayari for suggesting Trade Secret, I'd never been to one before - and I will definitely wear it again.

Self-Manicure Tips

Yay Friday! It's been one heck of a long week...I'll explain later. For now, here are some tips to keep in mind while giving yourself a manicure. This isn't a complete set of instructions, just advice to take along the way.

I really enjoy painting my nails. As someone who has trouble relaxing, it's a great way to make me relax because it takes attention, care and focus to do a good job. Which is why I make sure, as often as possible, that if I'm going to paint my nails I'm going to try to do it right.

Start with clean hands and nails. This sets the canvas for your new lacquer. Definitely take off old polish. Cotton balls work well, but I prefer using a nail polish removing jar -- the kind with a sponge inside that you just dip your fingers into one by one. These are available in drugstores and will only set you back a few dollars, which is worth it to me because of the ease of use and how they cut down on mess. The bottle to the right costs $2.49 at drugstore.com.

*Acetone vs. non-acetone remover: Acetone is a strong solvent and the fastest way to dissolve your old polish. It's especially good if you're trying to get off very stubborn lacquer or remove acrylic nails (which is a whole 'nother long process that I know little about, but there are plenty of online resources to fill you in. It seems to call for using pure acetone!) Personally, I prefer for non-acetone remover, even if it takes longer to get things off, because it's more gentle on the skin. If you have dry, brittle or acrylic nails, it's probably the better choice for you too.

Shape your nails. Of course, start with a nail clipper if you need to adjust for length. Once you have that, whip out the emery board! I'm partial to those big, $1-2 cardboard ones that are at drugstores and beauty supplies. They are more sturdy than the package of eight flimsy ones you can get for a buck, easier for me to grip and use to shape, and more sanitary/gentle than metal files. Plus, I don't lose them as much as the super cheap ones! For natural nails a finer grit should do the job. I've never used a glass file so I can't speak to that.

How to file? Gently. Try going from the outside of your nail toward the middle, using strokes that only go in one direction. Imagine the file in your left hand. Place the board against the right side of your thumb on your right hand. Glide the file upward, toward the middle of your thumb nail. Then place the board on the inside section of your thumb and file from the right side of your thumb to the center.

The crude Microsoft Paint drawing shows you what I mean. I find when filing is done this way, it's easy to be gentle and not have to tug a lot on your nail. This is an effective way to shape a rounded tip, which is what I like to wear.

Once this step is done, soaking your nails in some warm, soapy water will soften the cuticles and help get out any remaining dirt around the fingers.

Base coat. Important for several reasons: It fills in ridges in the nail to provide a smooth surface onto which the colored lacquer can adhere, helping your manicure last longer; and it protects nails from staining due to chemical reactions with ingredients like formaldehyde or after the application of dark colored polish. I also find that using base coat makes nail polish easier to remove once the time comes, since instead of sticking directly to my nail it is attached to the clear base coat.

The moment of truth -- your color! The best part and the one on which I feel least qualified to opine. Take your time, don't worry about putting too much color on in the first coat, use long, vertical strokes...most of you can probably run circles around me when it comes to this art! Polish applying has become so second nature to me, it's hard to think about verbalizing all the moves.

Top coat. You went through all that trouble and won't seal the deal? Shame on you. Slap on some top coat and call your beautiful manicure a day!

*P.S. Give yourself time to dry. This always gets me. Once I'm done with my manicure and snapped out of the zone I feel the need to go back to doing my normal five billion things, thus putting my nice nails in danger. No no no! Take your time after the manicure. Thirty minutes or an hour is minimum to keep your nails out of harm's way...and 30 is even pushing it, because though the polish might be too dry to transfer onto other surfaces, it is probably still soft enough to be dented by accidental bumps. When I'm careless and my polish is still tacky, I tend to end up with a lot of texture impressions (especially from fabrics). That ruins all the hard work I put in to keep my nail polish smooth, so really, devoting the extra time to being careful is worth it.

Сиби́рскиe ночи

Siberian nights....as in the O.P.I. nail color. I really dig the company's clever names and am particularly enamored by the Russian and Australian themed collections. I realize they are old news from 2007, but that's what was in stock at a CVS I stopped by today.

*Just so you know, I'm that person in the store who likes to open bottles, test them on my thumb nail, and then wipe the swatch off on my opposite palm or any appropriate/won't-be-noticed paper surface possible. (Today some polishes were in a wicker basket with tissue paper....um, yeah, that became my impromptu napkin.)*

I was having a love/hate relationship with Siberian Nights in the store. It's a dark, matte purple that's both rich yet dull. All Lacquered Up has great swatches of the entire Russia collection which I suggest you check out to get a feel for the whole line. Her pictures make me drool over Russian Navy but that wasn't in store today. Maybe I can get it online?

I didn't end up getting Siberian Nights...I thought about it a lot though. I might go back and pick it up. Hmmm...

Koala Bear-y, a pretty pinkish berry, and Brisbane Bronze, a rich sparkly bronze, are two of my favorite Australia-inspired shades and were available in-store. For nail polish I tend to be drawn to pinks and purples or wild colors like blues, greens, etc. I also have plenty of reds. I wear a lot of berry colors but not much brown or tan when it comes to my nails. (When I am not lazy and actually paint my nails!) Maybe I should try expanding out though.

Alas, I didn't pick up either of these polishes either....I was feeling too indecisive! Plus, I was going to stop by the bank to cash a check after my CVS pit stop, and since I've been paying for all the little purchases I can with cash, reality quickly sets in when I spend money on non-necessary items.

Instead of nail polish I picked up a Physician's Formula Organic Wear kit with a blue/gray eyeshadow duo and black eyeliner. Until tomorrow you can get 40 percent off all Physician's Formula cosmetics at CVS -- my purchase was on a display with a $2 off coupon too, so I ultimately got the set for under $5. I'm not a huge PF fan so I'm not necessarily encouraging you to run out and try the brand, but if you like it or if, like me, you just want to try a new product, now would be a good time to do your shopping. I'll try to write about that soon, and post if I end up going back for some of the O.P.I. lacquers.

Awesome Pink Polish for the Price of a Latte

Maybe even less, depending on what size latte you get!

I'm back to muse about my latest favorite nail color: #1 Hottest Pink by Milani. It's a popping pinkish-fuchsia with iridescent purple undertones. It's a fun color...like sitting at the beach with good friends, a light reading book and an icy margarita. Or sitting at your office desk dreaming about these things. :) It matches my rosy/fair skin very well and I think anyone who likes wearing berry shades will enjoy it.

I hadn't tried Milani polish before but I definitely will again. Two coats of this color gave me a perfect, non-streaky manicure. It's even super-smooth the way polish is when you get it done at a salon, which I sometimes find hard to recreate at home. Two days in and the chipping is very minimal. I didn't use a good top coat either.

It appears almost identical to Sally Hansen's Pick-a-Fuchsia, which is part of the (limited edition?) "Pick a Color" Salon line on special display at CVS now. In the store those polishes - eye catching pinks, salmons, etc. - are $5.99; online $4.87 (before taxes, shipping or whatever else, though.) When you're talking about two drugstore brands the price difference is minimal and perhaps not worth duping. However, my Milani gem was only $3.79; $2.84 at CVS online. But price wasn't the deciding factor, even though cheaper is nice!

While examining the two brands in the store I opened both bottles and swatched them next to each other - the Milani was thick but not gloopy, the Sally Hansen was too sheer for my liking. The colors looked very similar except the Milani was more pigmented since it didn't go on as sheer. But after some layering, perhaps the SH would be as rich too. I have a beautiful, deep red polish from the SH Salon line as was disappointed with how much it chipped, so that also made me wary.

Oh, and another incentive -- until August 23 if you buy $10 worth of Milani products at CVS you get $5 in extra care bucks. And I always like using those...

The Unique Appeal of Nail Polish

The three products I'm most likely to use if hurried are mascara, lip balm/gloss and moisturizer (with SPF, gotta watch those sun rays). I'm not in the market for new moisturizer because I like the Aveeno stuff I've used the past several months and its four ounce pump lasts a surprisingly long time. Though I like trying new mascaras - just picked up my first clear one -I'm largely satisfied with my main tube, Maybelline's Full 'N Soft. Plus I usually stick to either black/brown or just plain black mascara so there's not much need for drastic experimentation.

Lip gloss...now we're talking. In the back of my mind I'm always on the lookout for new lippies that are smoother, more moisturizing and better colored than what I have. If it's a better price, well, that's even more tempting! But I'll usually buy three or four products within a few weeks and then stay satisfied with my rotation for a while.

Tonight though, I realized my biggest 'vulnerability' is nail polish. I actually purchase it quite infrequently. Most of my polishes were collected over the last five to eight years, many of them my mother's castoffs or clearance items from a now-defunct drugstore. Yet whenever I see a rainbow of inexpensive, attractive polishes I just want to go look, to open the bottle tops and sample. I love that with nail polish I can quickly and subtly go from prim and proper to rebellious and free spirited.

Most of my other makeup is within the similar color families to which I'm naturally drawn. Since I'm just trying to break the habit of applying eyeshadow with my fingers it's really for the best I that move in baby steps. (So what if navy blue is my most daring eyeliner shade??) Nail polish, on the other hand (no pun intended, heh), is something I really enjoy playing with. It is also straightfoward and easy to apply. Yes, it takes effort to make it look really good but it's still more simple to do at home than contouring your face. And as I mentioned before, it's fairly subtle. I think this is what I like best. People will quickly notice a wild haircut, facial piercings or sparkly neon pigments on your lids. They have to look a bit more closely for the nail color.

Plus, the nail polish I'm wearing that day will probably mean something you won't know about -- you can just wonder why I picked a certain red or deep, dark green or pretty pink. Usually I pick my polish for a certain mood. (Is that weird?!) Rarely to match an outift, but sometimes an event, like a muted neutral pink for a job interview or a rich magenta for a weekend out.

Which brings me to my purchase tonight --Sinful Colors "Forget Now." It's a medium pink with pink sparkles in it...very sassy. A reviewer on Makeup Alley said it is difficult to get opaque so I might layer it over another pink, we'll see. I will post pics once I do the manicure. So far it looks good. :)