Kiki!

Gah, I've been a bad, bad blogger! Work's been nuts, my husband's been out of town, and I have lots of pictures on my phone but I haven't done jack with them.

Anyway, because it's been less than a week since my last polish purchase (I can't remember the names but that awesome royal blue from Orly and a silver from Sinful Colors because I need to learn how to paint racing stripes on my nails to match my car) I had to pick up something from Blooming Beauty yesterday. I got the Zoya remover, a great way to prep the nails for polish, OPI Princesses Rule! and Zoya Kiki, a gorgeous blue-toned glimmery pink polish. Kiki's kind of obnoxious, like me!

Kiki under the Ott light at my mani-station

One thing I wish was in this polish was more glitter like Rica (I have a post on Rica coming up). Zoya does wonderful glitterbomb polishes and I thought Kiki would be more glittery. She's definitely pretty though!

Extreme Close-Up!



Morning sunlight, my car's rear in the background

Kiki took three coats, using Essie's ridge filler and Poshe' top coat. As much as I like CND Ridge-Out I'm really feeling the Essie as a base coat. By the time I'm done polishing my left thumb my right pinky's base coat is drying to a matte finish, letting me know it's ready for polish (note to self, do a post on ridge fillers). Application was a breeze. Heck, I might even keep Kiki on for Friday...maybe I slap a crackle on top like that OPI turquoise shatter. That would completely and utterly obnoxious!

Given Zoya's ease of application and clean-up, I really need to seek out Pippa. I'm dying for a pretty yellow polish and China Glaze's Lemon Fizz is pissing me off. 

Caturday!

Hurray, it's Caturday! I got to sleep in a bit until Fredward decided to wake me...at 5:37 AM! He was walking on my make-up table, knocking over polish bottles...ugh! I finally hauled myself out of bed, fed the beasts, and drank some coffee while watching "Jawbreaker" on FX. Then I remembered I had some polish pictures to post, whoohoo! However, my bestie in Las Vegas called (Hi, Stacey!) and we chatted for over two hours. We're PICs* planning a high school reunion in Vegas next month and we're hammering out last minute details, eep! Plus I had Samantha making biscuits next to me.

Sometimes the blanket gets cat spit on it. Cat spit doesn't dry.

So yeah, I got distracted!

Thursday's polish is from the new OPI Nice Stems collection. I know you all have seen swatches and have possibly picked up a bottle or two. I chose Come to Poppy and Oh. My. GOSH! It was awesome!

After a full day of wear. I didn't realize I had that freckle on my finger.

Come to Poppy is a rich, delicious pink with a kiss of silvery shimmer. Poppy isn't over-the-top but for me she's pure pink perfection. As much as I love glitter and microfleck, Poppy is a nice alternative to glitterbombs.

Afternoon sun, full day of wear. The morning sun was terrible!

I have a feeling Come to Poppy is a new go-to for a quicky mani. Application was a breeze! This is two coats. The minor tip wear I experienced I believe is from my nails being a tad too long for my liking. I do a lot of typing at work and at home along with paperwork, dishes, and other daily things. When my nails are a bit shorter the wear time seems to be longer. Not like I'm aiming for 5 days! I get too antsy and I need slap on another color.

No Fail Files today. I got rid of the awful Pure Ice yellow crackle so I can't replicate the Monster Booger manicure...thank goodness!

Easy, Breezi, Beautiful!

I've been all over the map with my nail colors recently. Pinks started off my week but Wednesday I felt the need to shake it up. Enter Breezi from Zoya's Summertime collection!

Natural morning light against my car Hermione

What blue is Breezi? Heck if I know! She's not teal, sky, or navy blue. I layered it over Tuesday's How About a Tumble because I'm lazy like that. Now if I could get better at cuticle clean-up this manicure would've rocked out loud!

Another right hand picture? WOW!

So this was what, a base coat, two layers of HAAT, Seche Vite top coat, two more layers of Breezi, and a final coat of Poshe'. I had major tip wear by lunchtime. The Bossman and I were reviewing a boatload of employee evaluations so I was handling a lot of paper and folders. Breezi was trashed by the end of the day. I don't know if that's indicative of a creme polish but hey, she didn't chip!

This weekend I'm going to give myself a proper manicure. It's a pedi-day for me also, whoohoo! I'm taking off a half-day for a dentist appointment. Before that there's sushi and my pedi. Luckily all three places are within two miles of my house. I cannot wait to get Zoya's Charla on my toes!!!

By the way, if you haven't seen the latest Zoya promotion, haul your buns over there pronto! A complete Summertime or Sunshine collection when you buy their ColorLock system? If I hadn't already picked up 2/3's of both collections I'd be all over it like a hobo on a ham sandwich!

Inka-Dink Pinks!

As I was saying...ha! Work's been nuts and there were more than a few people who needs severe bitchslappings and repeated draggings over those tire puncture thingies. So here I am to play catch-up!

Sunday was the first official time I used my new manicure station. Ohmigosh it's AWESOME! I'm no longer hunched over the Helmer, straddling it while trying to clean up my polish. I started out with that Forever 21 Love & Beauty Pink, which in the bottle is an Ashley to my Mary-Kate OPI Shoot-Out at the OK Coral. On the nail? Not so much.


Too sheer for my taste.

 

Love & Beauty Pink with Nubar 2010. A bit better


Pink is very sheer compared to the OPI. Shoot-Out is very pigmented. Someone with a steady hand could get a decent polish with one coat. Pink would be a good layering polish for that extra micro-sparkle.

I'm still wearing this with no chips almost 3 weeks later! This was the day I got my pedi.

Tuesday's manicure was China Glaze's How About a Tumble? Holy guacamole, I loves me some linear holo!!! I paid far too much on Amazon but it's worth every single penny!


GAH! *falls over dead*

Natural sunshine on my gems!

Please, China Glaze, dazzle us with more holos!!! The Tronica line was yawnworthy at best. I got the blue one and it struggles to show me rainbows in direct sunlight. Tumble is a first-class show-off! Honestly, all the Kaleidoscope polishes are bottled awesomesauce and I'd love to get my filthy mitts on the rest of the collection!

I'm sorry I don't have bottle pictures, specially of the Nubar 2010. The sun's been a real stingy booger this week. It's been overcast in the mornings and we're getting a lot of smoke from the wildfires in NE North Carolina. The light's thin at best.

But I can see where my Mad Polish Skillz imporved by having a proper surface to polish on! Seriously, if you can get a couple of Helmers and a shelf you've got yourself a mani-station.

Temporary Hiatus

Work's been butt-kicking busy and that's where I usually post from in the morning. I have a plethora of pictures (some not too good; it's been very smoky in the mornings) from the last three mornings and I'll have more tomorrow. Hopefully I can get a post up in the morning. I appreciate your patience!

My New Manicure Station! (Picture Heavy)

Slowly but surely I've moved my polish stuff from the couch to the breakfast bar to my make-up to my Helmer. Other than the breakfast bar, I haven't found a place to really settle in and do a proper manicure. I was told I couldn't set up shop at the bar again due to my big-ass Ott light. I was tired of straddling the Helmer, hunching over it to try and do a decent mani. But now I have a proper mani-station!

Here's a good overview. My make-up table (a computer station) is in the corner. My two Helmers make up the ends of the mani-station. We found a length of shelf at Lowe's, 48 inches long by 16 inches deep, that fits perfectly on top of the Helmers. The shelf is set on top with two rows of hard-core velcro.

The Fail Files: Rainstorm

Welcome back to another installment of The Fail Files! I'm going to try and make The Fail Files my Saturday feature. Hope you enjoy my pain and sorrow!

Back in April we loaded our carcasses into the Family Truckster and drove up to Woodbridge, VA. They have that big outlet mall, Potomac Mills, and there's an IKEA on the premises. We went to buy some items for the kitchen that weren't available online and of course I needed a Helmer or two!

While at the mall I stumbled upon a Blooming Beauty Supply. If you don't have one at your mall, think of a way-cooler Trade Secret. BBS doesn't have a web site and I believe they're franchised. What you find at one you might not find at another. This BBS had some China Glazes I'd been looking for like Good Witch? and C-c-courage. I was also on the hunt for an OPI full size of Not Like the Movies and I scored. I also picked up a gorgeous medium blue polish with blue glitter, Rainstorm.

Against my steering wheel. Can you believe that's FIVE coats?

Oh, I want to love Rainstorm but this polish is terrible! I took my time on a lazy Friday evening...this polish is a runny, watery mess. I couldn't get an even application. I had bald spots on all nails. It took five coats and it was still a bald, streaky mess with VNL.

Now, you know I love my China Glaze so this is my first major disappointment with this brand. I will say that after gardening...wearing work gloves, digging in the dirt, raking, and shoveling, this polish did not chip at all.

Sunday came and I went to get my pedicure. I really didn't want them offering me a manicure. Manicures at a salon bore me to tears. I can't read and they try to nip my cuticles. Back off, ack! So I salvaged Rainstorm with OPI's Silver Shatter.

Sun was scarse that day. I had to snag it when I could.

Outside Wags, inside my car.

Oh, Rainstorm. What will I do with you? Did I get a bum bottle? I've seen swatches online and it's gorgeous when others use it. With me it was an utter failure. I don't even know if it makes a decent layering polish. Perhaps with the shatters I can still have some fun with Rainstorm.