Hallucinating Raindrops

The Polish:
BC: Nail-Aid - Extreme Steel Hardener
Color: Hallucinating Raindrops, a franken, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

This just never looks as good on the nail as it does in the bottle. That pretty grey base completely disappears, even with three coats. I should probably try layering it over a grey creme, but at this point, I'm rather just tired of it.

It can stay in my stash for a little while longer, but I have the feeling that this one may end up in the purge box eventually. It's just not pretty enough. The shade displays what it looks like most of the time.

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with minimal wear

Snowfall (franken)

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Snowfall, a franken, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Hmm.. This wasn't quite what I was hoping for. It's just rather... boring.

Snowfall is roughly 2/3 an unnamed The Color Workshop glass fleck in a pink duo-chrome-y base with 1/3 Orly Au Champagne. The glass flecks are nearly invisible on the nail. It's got a nice shimmer, but that's about it, and it doesn't quite make up for the slight streaky-ness the Orly adds to it. It also dries slightly satin-y because of the Orly, but I chose to top coat it, anyway.

I don't love it, so it doesn't need to stay in my stash. Thankfully a friend really enjoyed it, so it can have a new home at her house. :)

Wear: Removed on day two for something new.

Princess Kitten

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Princess Kitten, a franken, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

I made this franken because apparently I forgot that I had Essence's Grey-T to Be Here, which I don't have any good pictures of but is a close dupe. *shrug* Oh well, still cute.

This franken is roughly equal parts KleanColor - Vanilla Villa and China Glaze - Travel in Color. I had it with more Travel in Color first, but it's too streaky to be that sheer. As is, I still had to wear three coats, which is more than I generally like.

Here's a picture with some random flowers that were in my yard. My husband and I don't do any yard work. We pay people to mow for us, and whatever comes up must be perennials.

Wear: Removed on day three with minimal wear.

Pastel Saran Wrap

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Undies: Essie - Hi Maintenance, two coats
Saran Wrap color 1: Sally Girl - Simple
Saran Wrap color 2: Balloons in the Sky, a franken
TC: Seche Vite

This is the first time I've done a saran wrap mani. The first time I've done anything remotely resembling nail art, actually! I can't decide if it's cute or stupid, but all things considered, I think it looks alright for a first attempt, though admittedly better from farther away than up close.

I kind of hated using the saran wrap, though. By my second hand, I was just kind of dabbling the polish on with the brush, and it turned out pretty similar. Maybe I'll try it again some time, but I think before that, I'll probably try sponging first.

Wear: Removed on day four with minimal chips

Snowman Jizz

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Snowman Jizz, a franken, two coats
TC: Seche Vite followed by China Glaze - Matte Magic

Still playing around with this one. It's still not quite how I want it. A tad on the thick side, just a tad too sheer..

Plus, I've learned, I need to apply it over another white. On its own, it picks up a little pink from my hands and turns more strawberry than snow.

Wear: Six days! Even despite the matte, this wore like iron for some reason.

Cinderella's Dress

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Cinderella's Dress, a franken, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

I always forget I have this one. It started out as a franken dupe attempt of Raindrops, but over the past year or two, I've added extra stuff to it, like some NOPI - Nothing Kim-pares to Blue and various silver glitters. I always forget how much I actually like it.

Wear: Peels on day two, removed on three. Not sure why such a short wear time... Maybe it didn't like the Revlon? I don't think it was because I needed cuticle remover, but perhaps it was.

Rainy Day Magic

The Polish:

BC: CND - Stickey

Color: Rainy Day Magic, a franken, one coat

TC: Seche Vite

Don't let the name confuse you. This magic is super underwhelming. I knew from last time wearing it that I didn't want to layer it, so I tried my best to get one, solid coat. Still turned out like poo. I'm feeling less patient than normal and just want to toss the whole mess. I know I could probably fix it somehow, but I don't care enough. I'm not gonna be the one to do it. Into the swap box it goes.

Wear: Removed immediately

A Robin's Egg Amongst the Sparkling Sheen

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey
Undies: Sally Hansen - Drama Sheen (Triple Shine line), one coat
Topper: Orly - Sparkling Garbage, two coats
Accent: Robin's Egg, a franken, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

I knew I wanted to wear Robin's Egg today because I hadn't worn it in a long time, but not as a whole mani because it's, like, the epitome of a creme, and I don't like wearing cremes. So I knew it had to be as an accent. The only question was, for what?

I was considering Drama Sheen because it was an untried, but I had a craving for Sparkling Garbage. No, Holly, stick to your little stash, I told myself. You made it for a reason. Don't start digging into your main stash again yet. Stick with Drama Sheen.

One coat in, though, and I wasn't sold. Drama Sheen is definitely a topper, not something I can wear on its own. And I don't like toppers. I don't even like purple. Sparkling Garbage it is!

I was feeling lazy, though, and didn't want to go through the trouble of removing, oiling back up, and reapplying base coat, so I decided to just put the Sparkling Garbage over top. The result is somehow oddly satisfying! I can see the purple sheen under the green scattered holo, and it's actually totally fine! The accent doesn't go with it anymore, but whatever!

Wear: Removed on day four with minor chips. I decided I loved SG over the sheer purple, so I'm debating what else I could do with the scattered-holo-over-sheer-color combo. In fact, I have a scattered holo as a mini! Should I put it over Cinderella? My jellied Dandy Lyin' Around? It's exciting! :D But as for Drama Sheen? I don't love it, was just inspired by it, so out it goes.

Balloons in the Sky

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Balloons in the Sky, a franken, two coats using the matte technique
TC: Seche Vite
Matte: China Glaze - Matte Magic

Hmm... this one... I'm still not quite sure what to do with it. Its formula is poor, but I DID manage to get it on nicely using the matte technique (one coat, then a coat of matte before the next layer). Still a little bumpy and patchy, as you can see. I just don't know, guys. I could also just wear Special Snowflake or something.

Wear: Three days to peels

Hallucinating Raindrops

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey
Color: Hallucinating Raindrops, a franken, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Hallucinating Raindrops is sooo beautiful in the bottle. It always calls to me. I think I very nearly have it where I want it now, after having played with it a lot. I think it probably even started out as my first franken. I have it super jelly-y pale grey now with lots of glitter. Still not as pretty on the nail as it is in the bottle, but that's okay. Plus I've decanted it into a Megalast bottle, which is always awesome.

Wear: Four days to slight peels.

Fairy Sands

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Shimmering Sands, a franken, two coats
Topper: China Glaze - Fairy Dust, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Sheer, lovely Shimmering Sands. I wanted something else with it, and I don't use Fairy Dust much, so I decided to go with it.

I think it's actually because I don't really like Fairy Dust all that much. I know, I know--heresy. It's fine, really, but the tiny holo glitters only show up in a particular light, and they NEVER show up on pictures. Meh. Whatever.

Wear: Four days to peels

Hallucinating a Solitary Raindrop

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey (under accent only)
Main: OPI - Solitaire, two coats
Accent: Hallucinating Raindrops, a franken, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

First mani of the new year! What will it be?

Solitaire is another mini, so I may be wearing a lot of it coming soon, as I try to use up my minis. I also wanted to play with my frankens, though, so I consented to Hallucinating Raindrops as an accent. I recently decanted it into a new bottle and thinned it into a jelly using the excess liquid from a sunken glitter. I may use it more often, too, since it's now in a Megalast bottle.

Wear: Four days until the franken peeled. I was just going to remove it and add a different accent, but then the tip of one of the other nails chipped.

Snowman Jizz

The Polish:
BC: NYC - Matte Me Crazy
Color: Snowman Jizz, a franken, three coats
TC: Seche Vite
Applied on Day 2: American Classics - Gelous, Seche Vite

Uh.. excuse the name. That's kind of what it looked like when I first made it, and the name kinda stuck, even though I've been messing around with the formula. Still, even with my tweaking, it looks better in the bottle than it does on my nail.

Snowman is supposed to be a white crelly with two sizes of iridescent glitters. It's, uh... it's getting there.

Also, someone was mentioning on MUA's Nail Board that layering a streaky polish over a layer of matte could make it apply more evenly, and someone even mentioned that they layered matte, polish, matte, polish, top coat. I had attempted to try that out, but then got distracted. Oh well. Now I can try a wear test for Matte Me Crazy as a base coat. I'm expecting two or three days.

Wear: Peels at day two. Even though I didn't remove until the morning of the third day, I can't count it because of how significant the peels were on the second night.

Whistling Blue Sands

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Shimmering Sands franken, two coats
Accent: Sally Hansen - Something Blue (Diamond Strength line), two coats
Accent Glitter: OPI - Pirouette My Whistle, one generous coat
TC: Seche Vite

I've been in a bit of a polish rut lately and not sure of what to wear, so I just grabbed these ones kind of at random. Something Blue was more similar to my franken than I'd like for an accent, so I topped it with glitter. Not that the pictures show it or anything. Maybe PMW wasn't the best glitter over a sheer silver. Meh.

So I wound up with yet another merely acceptable mani. I mean, it's pretty enough, just not awesome. Oh well. I'll get back into the groove of things soon enough.

Wear: Four days until chips and peels that I couldn't help but pick at.

My Triple T Pointe

The Polish:
BC: DIY Glue base coat
Color: jelly sandwich (two coats, glitter, one coat) of OPI - My Pointe Exactly (NYC Ballet collection) with Jeffy'sMom - Triple T, two coats on middle finger
TC: Seche Vite

Jeffy'sMom, a regular on MUA's nail board, recently sent me a mini bottle of a franken she made based on her kitty, Tycho. (A "Teeny tiny tortie," hehe.) Here's a breakdown of the glitters:

"The black hexes and fine glitter represent her beautiful black fur. The black bars represent her black whiskers and the very few white bars represent her single white whisker and the white stripes on her tail tip. The white hexes and hearts represent her white fur. The orange hexes of varying sizes represent her orange fur, with the largest ones being her front paws.
The orange bars are the stripe down her nose that gave her her name and the orange stripes on her tail tip. The light pink hearts are for her little pink tongue and the sandpaper kisses she loves to give anybody who comes within range. And the silver hexes and fine glitter represent the water that she loves to play with in Jeffy's jacuzzi sink."

It's very much a Halloween polish, but I just couldn't wait until then to try it. I can't imagine wearing it much outside of October, but I just love that it was made after a kitty-kitty. <3 In the full sun, it looks less sandwiched and you can see the glitters better.

Also decided that this would be the perfect time to try out the glue base coat method that's been going around for a while now. It's made with school glue mixed with just a little water, and it's mostly used for easy-removal of glitter. I've been avoiding it because I've been concerned that it would be ultra drying on my nails, but since we know about the oiling method (rub naked nails with any oil 10 minutes prior to polish), I thought it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Some people have said that they get a full 3 or 4 days out of a glue base coat, but you know me. I like to peel. So when the polish started to come up on one nail less than 24 hours later, the whole mani lasted another thirty minutes before I had everything pulled up. Everything came off clean and satisfyingly, and my nails weren't even too bad, though I definitely wouldn't want to do it too often.

Shimmering Sand

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Color: Shimmering Sand, a franken, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

In preparation for a meeting with a prospective new employer, here's a subtle nude interview polish, Shimmering Sand. It's a franken made from Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect - Dune, a dreadfully dull nude pearl, and Sinful Colors - Out of this World, a boring silver shimmer. The two of them mixed together created something completely new and elegant, and I love it.

The color has somewhat of a grey tint to it from the silver, according to a male friend, but it's still definitely nude. It's quite sheer, too, but three coats was perfection. The first picture was the only one that came out color accurate, but my camera cut it off! Grr, why can't you just do color accuracy, camera phone? So here are a couple others that aren't quite as good but still do a nice job at showing off the polish.

Wear: Removed after four days with minimal chips.

Rainy Day Magic

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Rainy Day Magic, a franken, three coats
TC: New York Color - Grand Central Station

Inspired by Dreamy Lacquers - A Touch of Grey, Rainy Day Magic was supposed to be a grey crelly with scattered holo. I'm not sure what happened, but I know the three layers probably covered up the the holo with my multiple layers. One layer is rather thin, but I'll try it next time I use it. It's such a nice concept, I definitely don't want to give up on it.

I didn't have a grey of appropriate color, so I used what I had, a darker grey, Maybelline - Gray-T Glamour, and mixed it with a white, Sinful Shine - Wisp. Then I added some sparkle, both Sephora by OPI - Meet Me at the Disco and CoverGirl - Goddess, which are near-dupes. I wanted to make sure that it had enough clear to have that nice jelly-look, so I let both glitters sit, then poured, getting much of the base, rather than adding clear.

I debated adding this last picture since it's not color accurate, but at least it shows some of the sparkle, so you know I'm not making it up! More luck next time wearing it.

Wear: Removed at three days.

Hallucinating Raindrops

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Hallucinating Raindrops, a franken, two coats
TC: China Glaze - Matte Magic

I've thoroughly enjoyed this franken on my toes, so I thought I'd give it a chance on my nails. Turns out I don't like it here as much, but that's okay. It's still great for toes.

Besides, isn't the bottle just lovely?

I just couldn't achieve color accuracy on my photos, however. I've been taking the pictures inside, in the brightest room of my house, since it's overcast-y winter now, but they never turn out exactly right. The color is a slightly lighter, prettier grey than what shows here. Plus the glitters had a great depth that didn't show up, either. Maybe it's time for a new phone with a better camera...

This last one was with the top coat, by the way. Matte Magic isn't really all that matte (or magic) after all. Maybe next time, I'll try two coats of this? Would that work?

Wear: Four days. Pretty good for a matte, right?