Mani Refresh

Here is my two-day-old reverse french manicure that has a little tipwear, as you can see. 

Rather than do another manicure, I take my nail art pen (or a sharpie) and cover the tipwear.  

You can leave it at that and just put a new layer of topcoat on. Or, you could do something to change up your manicure. I put on a coat of Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in Tweedy (the Fuzzy polishes from Sally Hansen are dead-on dupes of Nails, Inc., Feather, except half the price). I'm iffy about the result. I think the black and white is cool, but the bar glitter might be a little to chaotic for my taste. I do like the feather/fuzzy look when it's not being used as a topcoat, but as an opaque topcoat. Takes a while to build, though. 

Watermarble Accent Manicure

I've been off of water marbles for a while now, mostly because they are very time-consuming. I recently bought China Glaze Passion For Petals, a cool color that exists between extremes. It's almost a bright, but it's a little pastelly. It's almost a mom-shade, but it's a little too bright. It's almost a pastel, but it's a little too faded. It's almost but not quite red-ish. It's kinda pinkish. Maybe a little tiny bit orangy. It's hard to pin down. It's interesting-- way more interesting than a creme has any right to be. Anyway, I put it on, and it wasn't feeling right for my mood or something, so I decided to add a water marble accent on my thumb and ring fingers. I did a semi-monochrome using Revlon Color Stay in Cashmere Pink and China Glaze Fois Gras. I used Seche Vite for the top coat and it's super-glossy. 

Gelish: Sinful Colors In the Limelight

Here is an 80s manicure I did using a base color of Sinful Shine (a new gelish polish from Sinful Colors, more on that in a minute) In the Limelight, Konad White Polish with Cheeky stamp #3 for the hearts. In the Limelight is the green that I've been looking for for years: a dusty, faded, kelly green. So pretty. 

I have been very sparing with new polish purchases, because more polish is totally unnecessary given my stash, but I was curious about this line, especially since it's from Sinful Colors, a brand I really like.  

So, Sinful Shine With Gel Tech claims to be shinier and more long-lasting than its regular polishes. I was curious, but since I use Seche Vite for a topcoat, all of my polishes are pretty shiny in the end. I have been curious about Gel polishes, but I change my polish too often for a long-lasting Gel manicure to make any kind of sense, so I haven't tried it yet. This polish is what I call gelish, meaning, it's not technically a gel polish, but it claims to look and last like a gel. I have to say,  I like it. I did the base manicure three days ago, and added the stamp just before I took the photos. Not bad for a three-day old manicure. By now there would usually be obvious chips, especially on my first and middle fingers. 

Here is SC In the Limelight by itself. 

Nomination for Best Blog Award

I was nominated for Best Blog Award by the sweet and talented Haylee at Dry, Damnit! Thanks, Haylee! 

My 11 questions are:

1. How did you get into nail blogging? I got into nail blogging a few years ago. I started doing my nails as a way to kick the last before-bedtime cigarette. 'cause you know what's tough to do when you've got two hands with wet lacquer on them? That's right...smoke. It turns out that manicures as a way to stop smoking is pretty effective!
2. What is your favourite retail brand and why? Oh, this is tough. Hmmm, favorite retail brand. China Glaze is my top brand. The quality is consistently good, they have a lot of collections and variety, they don't test on animals, and the price is fair. On the inexpensive end, is Sinful Colors. The quality is very good, there's plenty of variety, they pay attention to trends, and they are inexpensive enough to be a small impulse buy they also don't test on animals) I'm also a fan of Revlon, which has been doing a lot of chunky glitters (ahem "inspired by" Deborah Lippmann polishes) (aaaand, big surprise, Revlon doesn't test on animals, either). 
3. What is your favourite indie brand and why? I don't own any indie brands, but I will say that Lynderella makes some pretty cool polishes. 
4. What is the best manicure you’ve ever done? I was on a water marble kick about a year ago, and I did a cream and brown one that I was really happy with. I wish I could say that I mastered the technique, but it was a total accident. 
5. Do you have any other interests apart from nails? Of course! I love to sit in coffee shops and read. I like to go to ballet class. I like to sit in comfy pants and watch entire seasons of television with my cat, Lola. Yes, I know...very exciting. 
6. What is your no.1 source of inspiration? My inspiration for nails probably comes from other bloggers. I learned how to do water marbles from Colette. That girl has skills. Seriously. I learned how to stamp from a tutorial. I also see inspiration in textures and color combinations I see in everyday life. I'm sure other nail polish lovers like me know exactly what I'm talking about. I'll be walking down the street and I'll see a pattern on a piece of clothing someone is wearing, or cover art on a book or whatever, and I'll think of how it could translate to nail art. 
7. How many polishes do you own? Hmmm...not sure that's a question I want to find out the answer to. Maybe 300? 
8. What is your favourite colour? Judging by the number of polishes, probably reds and pinks. Judging by my closet, probably black or beige. 
9. What was the first polish you owned? Well, there was the smelly, sticky magenta polish from old formula Wet n' Wild that I bought in 8th grade. Then there was several decades where I had no polish. After that, sheer pink, then black, then red. Then my polish habit was bitten by a radioactive spider and rampaged over the entire countryside wreaking havoc and leaving behind it the faint smell of acetone.  
10. What’s your best-kept nail secret? Photoshop. 
11. What nail art trend do you wish you could rock? Maybe neon nails? I'm too pale for neon to look anything but ridiculous. 

China Glaze Cherry Blossom Applique

These Cherry Blossom appliques by China Glaze are the first store-bought ones I've tried (I've made some, which work just as well). They were trickier to put on than I thought they would be, but I thought it was worth it because the design was so pretty. What about you guys-- do you like appliques, or are you more about doing the art yourself?

Blurple and Green Nails

Here is a simple design using China Glaze My Bawdy (blurple) and Unpredictable (peacock-green) from the Bohemian Collection (Fall, 2012). I used craft scissors to cut the tape for design on the accent fingers. I've been embracing short fingernails for the last few months. I go through phases with my nails, and right now I'm appreciating short nails in bright colors. 

Tuxedo Nails: Black + White Reverse French

I keep thinking of this manicure as Tuxedo Nails. It's funny, but I got a lot of compliments on this one, and to me, it looks very simple. But, hey, who am I to turn down a compliment? A note: sorry it's been so long since my last post. Life has gotten busy lately. I started teaching at another school, so that's two colleges, plus tutoring, plus trying to finishing writing a book, plus working on this website, and this one, plus trying to see my boyfriend from time-to-time, aaand that's the story of the month-and-a-half time-lapse since my last post on TRN. See you in another month, hopefully sooner! :)