Merry and Bright

Well, consider that check and checked, thanks to this dazzlingly festive polish, Ceramic Glaze’s Hong Kong Diva, and a couple of cheerful gingerbread men nail charms from Daily Charme.

This is the part where I usually ask where all the time has gone, and issue a plea for just a few more hours to be added to each day, just until Christmas.  Except I feel like I have things pretty well in hand this year.  Tomorrow we host my husband’s family for our annual holiday meal; afterwards my parents will stop by to help us clean up the leftovers and indulge in a yearly viewing of Home Alone.  Next week I’ve got lunch and donut dates with my parents, and weather pending, a cool evening light show.  And I have just a handful of little gifts to pick up, so I’m feeling pretty good about things!  Check back with me in a couple of days, though – as things spiral towards Christmas, undoubtedly we’ll all be feeling the pinch.

Also, a macro shot, because this polish is gorgeous!  Such a wonderful pick for this time of year – festive, fun and sexy.

Intergalactic Board Shorts

I’m going to ask you to work with me on this one.  I promise the disconnect between this post’s title and its content is not as great as it may seem!

This manicure started off life as one inspired by this Intergalactic bath bomb from Lush Cosmetics.  Cute, right?  And very visually striking, with its streaks of neon yellow and hot pink (which, when combined in your tub, make for THE most gorgeous, rainbow-hued bath art.  I have yet to use one myself, so I can’t speak to the effect beyond a lot of photos I’ve seen, but the smell is 100% grandpa, or bracing, musky man.)

Anyhow, Eau de Grandpa notwithstanding, I decided to recreate those simple neon slashes on my nails, atop a base of rich, super saturated turquoise (Ceramic Glaze’s Mermaid’s Tale.)  Except, for reasons that continue to elude me, I declined to actually brush on the pink and yellow polishes, opting instead to dot them on in an almost floral pattern, horizontally across the centre of my nails.  That, combined with the areas where the pink and yellow overlap, creating a tropically-hued gradient, and all of it atop that crystal clear turquoise base?  Total board shorts.  Turquoise, floral print board shorts on a faceless silver mannequin in the window of PacSun in the Salmon Run Mall. Next stop?  Corn Dog on a Stick (for mozzarella cheese sticks, thankyouverymuch.)

Told you it (sort of) made sense!  All the same, despite the fact that the colours are all wrong, and so is the effect, and this manicure looks absolutely nothing like an Intergalactic bath bomb, whatever these nails are, I like them.  Lemons/lemonade.

Too Much?

Well, this is just a whole load of manicure!  But I do love the ultra vibrant combination of Candy Lacquer’s Ring Pops glitter topper over Ceramic Glaze’s shimmery turquoise Mermaid’s Tale.  I’m also so over THE RETURN OF WINTER (at half measure, true, but with the end thisclose and just in sight, today’s snow and freezing rain feels like a big setback) and this is my way of rebelling.  TAKE THAT, idiot winter!  Feel my well-manicured wrath and TREMBLE!!!  Or just continue pissing icy, sleet-y, dangerous-to-drive-in stuff all over my city this Easter weekend.  I guess that works, too.

Lizzie’s Been a Bad, Bad Girl

Fans of The Walking Dead will get this splatter effect manicure that draws heavy inspiration from the base polish I used here, Dollish Polish’s icky-gorgeous zombie green glitter, Look at the Flowers, Lizzie. I’m not the biggest fan of the show (my husband is The Walking Deadhead around here, although I casually watch just so I can stay up to date on my pop culture education) but even I know those five devastating words, uttered by a character pushed to the absolute brink of her humanity, truly sum up the moral core of this show – no matter who you were or the person you will never get the chance to become, if you’re not part of the solution, you are the problem. And problems need to be dealt with. Just devastating.

Know what else is devastating…ly gorgeous? This nail polish! Also, friends, that is the second such horrendous non sequitur I’ve dumped on you in as many weeks. It’s the written equivalent of a star wipe, and nearly as subtle! You deserve better! You ought to revolt and tell me to go get fu —————–

*** STAR WIPE!!! ***

For these zombiefied splatter nails, I brushed on three coats of Look at the Flowers, Lizzie, an unexpectedly delicate mix of black, white, pink, yellow and green glitter in a pale, mossy green jelly base. I had initially thought this polish to be quite murky-looking, but on the nail it’s a lovely, clear yellow-green shot through with brainy bits of multi-coloured glitter in hexes, circles and squares of every size. An incredibly beautiful and unique polish that has so much more to offer besides the shock factor of its name, although that certainly doesn’t hurt, because look at what this simple swatching exercise turned into!

To do the incredibly easy – but messy and stainy – splatter effect, I dipped a straw directly into the glittery red I always use when I need a bit of blood splatter in my manis, Ceramic Glaze’s Hong Kong Diva. The straw needn’t, and shouldn’t, be dripping with polish, but there should be enough clinging to the end so that when you next blow the polish onto your nails – and for the love of all that’s holy, please remember to BLOW as opposed to SUCK (God, Elton, can’t you suck?!”) – there will actually be enough to, you know, blow. Go one nail at a time, dipping the straw back into the bottle to grab more polish as you go. I typically clean up the inevitable over-spray on my splatter manicures, but I liked the more is more approach I went with here, although I can’t condone sporting this look around, say, your boss or your nana or anyone else you don’t wish to offend with your “bloody” mitts. It also shouldn’t need saying, but please do remember to cover up anything you don’t want to see splattered in red nail polish with a large plastic bag before you get to Dexter-ing.