Bright! So bright! Just a simple, super vibrant combo here of a couple of unnamed neon jellies topped with Candy Lacquer’s ultra fruity Citrus Smoothie glitter topper. In real life, this manicure is a touch more yellow and a smidge more pink than it’s showing in these photos – with apologies, neons can do some very strange things to a camera’s colour correctness.
When my husband and I were first engaged, his family invited my family to a Thanksgiving church supper in their hometown that they attended every year. His family is moderately religious, mine even less so, yet we all agreed that church suppers always do a feast up right, and so we were going to go hardcore. Which we did. No turkeys were spared.
What was spared at our table, however, were about three half-finished bowls of jellied salad, all of it unnaturally hued and studded with unidentifiable bits of plant life. A gaggle of old ladies at our table were downright morose about the remaining salads, so much so that Mr. Finger Candy took it upon himself to eat the remaining salads. All three of them. Even the one that looked like it might have had a ribbon of mayonnaise suspended in its blue jellied depths. It was an odd ride home.
These nails remind me of those salads. Here I topped four coats of a lemon-hued jelly with two coats of Candy Lacquer’s Citrus Smoothie glitter topper, before adding a little lemon-lime garnish to my ring finger. And while it’s cute and all, AND it adheres to day three’s theme of yellow in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, I think the thing I like about this manicure the best is that it is literally the polish version of a jellied salad – bits of Citrus (Smoothie) suspended in jelly. Meta and delicious…but only if you’re my husband!
You’ll run zero chance of contracting scurvy sporting this citrusy mani. Just in case that was a worry.
The glitter topper is Candy Lacquer’s Citrus Smoothie, a clear base loaded with green, yellow, orange, white and cherry pink matte glitters. Here I’ve paired it with Different Dimension’s hot pink You’ve Gotta Be Squidding Me for a super fresh and juicy, right-on-the-cusp-of-summer manicure.
Okay, so 2014 sucked. But do you know what didn’t? These nail polishes! Which seems like the ultimate in ridiculous non sequiturs, but really, in a year that’s been as unpleasant as the past one, why shouldn’t we take a moment to appreciate the things that gave us a bit of joy, even those as immaterially material as silly old nail polish? No good reason that I can think of! And so I present to you this photo gallery of the polishes that rocked my world this year, a motley assortment of holos and flakies and industrially chunky glitters that prove that good things – and sometimes good, don’t-hate-the-world feelings – truly do come in small packages. 😉
Sitting atop the heap and not included in this gallery is my pick for polish of the year, Candy Lacquer’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink glitter, Candy Cane Fiesta. I’ve expounded on its loveliness – some may say at length! – so I’ll say no more before it develops a swelled head.
The following nine are presented in no particular order or ranking – they’re across-the-board beautiful and so well made, I’ve found uses for them in multiple manis this year, and will continue to well into the new year. Here’s to the little lacquered things!
1. Polish Me Silly’s pink, white and blue glitter topper, Mr. Bubble.
2. Smitten Polish’s red shimmer-infused purple jelly, You Saucy Minx.
3. KB Shimmer’s Hawaiian Punch-in-a-bottle, Belle of the Mall.
4. KB Shimmer’s grass green glitter jelly, Get Clover It.
5. Orly’s silver holo of the year, Mirrorball.
6. Dance Legend’s cobalt blue jelly flakie, Sun Still Sleeps.
7. Candy Lacquer’s super fruity matte glitter, Citrus Smoothie.
8. KB Shimmer’s Frozen-in-a-bottle, Snow Much Fun.
9. Polish Me Silly’s pink-to-gold-to-green chrome flakie, Stop Flaking on Me.
Polish Me Silly’s polishes are available through their Etsy shop. You can find KB Shimmer’s wares through their own site if you’re an American customer, or through Harlow & Co.’s site if you’re an international customer. Smitten Polish’s goods are available through their Big Cartel site, as are Candy Lacquer‘s. Orly polishes are available at brick and mortar Sally Beauty Supply shops, as well as their website. Finally, Dance Legend polishes are best and most reliably acquired through international stocklist Llarowe’s website.
I’m a Fall person through and through (pretty leaves, crisp mornings, great sleeping weather, new TV shows, Halloween, pumpkin spice everything, my wedding anniversary – what’s there not to love?) but I’m not quite ready to bid adieu to the warm weather just yet, particularly when it comes to my nails. And so I decided to do one last ultra summery mani, topping a juicy, coral-hued gradient with a fresh and fruity glitter, Candy Lacquer’s Citrus Smoothie, for one last kick at the summer mani can.
Finger Candy 