Snow Much Fun?

Eh, I’m not sure how much fun a snowstorm is at this time of year.  Even us loony (Loonie?) Canadians are tired of the wet, tired of the ice, tired of the slush (and where I live, it frequently snows straight through to about the middle of April.)  Ugh, why do I live here again?  Oh right, because Canada is awesome. 🙂

And so is this nail polish, KB Shimmer’s optimistically titled Snow Much Fun!  I typically drag this lacquer out around this time of year, if only to remind myself that snow really is beautiful, and ONE DAY it will eventually stop.  Right?!  Oh my word, PLEASE let it stop!

Snow, Snow Everywhere

And not a plow to be found.  Actually, that’s not true.  I think my city handled its recent record-breaking dump of 50 centimeters of snow quite well.  Who’s not handling the snow so well is me, simply because, as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m caring for a friend’s home while they’re on vacation, and that includes their double-wide monstrosity of a driveway.  I’ve been by three times over the past 24 hours for hour-long shoveling binges – any longer and I lose all feeling in my forearms.  There’s still at least half the driveway to be shoveled out before this weekend, when it will warm up just enough to begin freezing rain.  This winter sucks.

But if you’re stuck shoveling your way out of thigh-deep snow (seriously, at one point as I was swimming my way up to my friend’s front door, I thought about how uncomfortably close the snow was coming to MY northern climes, if you catch my drift) you should absolutely have a fly, seasonally appropriate manicure like this one, featuring KB Shimmer’s Snow Much Fun.  I love these kind of polishes because they get the thematic job done without the need to break out a bunch of intensive nail art supplies.  Not that I could have done that in the first place – everything below my elbows ACHES, and I don’t think I could hold a detail brush steady enough to eek out any kind of design.  I reiterate: This winter sucks!

Snow Leopard

The idea for this manicure, a remarkably not-too-much combination of two super unique KB Shimmer polishes, was a total light bulb moment. One second I’m listening to Mr. Finger Candy tell me about his day and the next I’m sitting bolt upright on the sofa shouting, “SNOW LEOPARD!!!” at the top of my lungs, much to the consternation of my cats, my neighbours and my husband’s belief that his wife is not a total nut job. But I had happened to glance over at a little collection of nail polish bottles littering the top of my coffee table and there were both Snow Much Fun, a snowflake glitter-packed, ice blue polish, and Spot Sign, a holo-flecked topper loaded with leopard spot glitter, sitting side by side, just crying out for some silly wordplay-inspired nails.

So I obliged, and here’s the resulting animal, two careful coats of Snow Much Fun topped with a single coat of Spot Sign, a bright and beautiful combination that’s quite unexpectedly smooth given that these nails are spackled in large, oddly shaped glitter (side tip: the key to applying chunky glitter polishes without things turning into a lumpy nightmare is to go slowly, keep your coats thin, daub in areas where that’s all that’s required and be mindful of glitter placement.) Super fun, and you can’t go wrong with a bit of nail art-related wordplay. And I’m sorry for interrupting your story, Mr. Finger Candy, but when nailspiration strikes and all that, you know? 🙂

The A-Team

Without getting too nihilistic on you, friends who come here to see nail art but instead get lured into 1,200-word diatribes on my cats and/or The Lost Boys, 2014 was a bad, bad year. To be sure, there were some lovely, wonderful moments – new babies! an unexpectedly fun road trip! the discovery of Misfits! – but for my family at least, and a distressingly large number of my friends and acquaintances, 2014 was a year defined by loss, grief and hardships great and small. I won’t be sorry to see it go.

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.

What’s Old is New Again

As part of their winter 2014 collection, indie polish maker KB Shimmer re-released a handful of crowd pleasers from last year’s holiday collection. The ghosts of nail polishes past, if you will. I held out last year, not yet fully comprehending the meaning of the term “limited edition” as it applies to the world of nail polish (also known as “Get it now, now, NOW because in two days it’ll be gone forever and you’ll regret it, and oh lord, this is so stupid, it’s nail polish, but you should get it now, now, NOW because…” Repeat ad nauseam.) But liking last year’s polishes more than this year’s, I decided to concentrate my purchasing power on the re-releases, which nicely complement one of KB’s wintery polishes from last year that I already own.

First up we have All Decked Out, a mix of rainbow hex glitter and gold star glitter in a moss green jelly base that I refer to as “Christmas tree in a blender.” That description is actually pretty apt.

Next is Snow Much Fun, a fun, frosty-looking polish from last year that never actually seemed to leave the regular rotation. This is another one I have a cute little name for, this one being “Frozen in a bottle” (all fun trademark infringement aside, with its icy blue base, tiny holographic sparkles and sweet little snowflake glitter, this polish could be the official nail lacquer of Arendelle.)

Third in line is another re-release, this one being the ultra girly Merry Pinkmas. I love its super colourful palette of glitter against the neon baby pink base. The whole thing resembles my dream Christmas tree (a pink tree covered in ornaments the colour of this glitter mix, simply enough. Although not so simply, as pink Christmas trees are a thing that just don’t seem to exist. Merry Pinkmas will have to do for now.)

Finally, we have Snow Way!, a baby blue polish sprinkled with different sizes of white hex glitter and holographic micro glitter. This one reminds me of those furious little snowstorms that spin themselves out of nothingness on otherwise crystal clear, blue-skied days.

KB Shimmer’s polishes are available through their own website, but if you’re a Canuk like me, I’ll direct you to Harlow & Co.‘s site for all your KB needs, which, based on these fun polishes, could be considerable!

Today’s Weather is Snow Fun At All

Here’s a fairly accurate representation of today’s weather around my neck of the woods, as depicted through a handful of snow-themed nail polishes. Over on my thumb we have Serum No. 5’s glow-in-the-dark Blue Blazes, which was the clear, cloudless colour of the sky when I woke up this morning. On my index and middle fingers you’ll find the tiny flurries that began to swirl around the car as I drove to the coffee shop in the form of KB Shimmer’s baby blue and white glitter polish, Snow Way! And finally we have the snowstorm that started pounding down just a few moments after I returned home on my ring and little fingers in the form of KB Shimmer’s next level snow polish, Snow Much Fun. The whole thing lasted maybe 20 minutes, and since then it has been holding steady with banks of ominous-looking clouds and near-zero temperatures. Ah, Canadian winters, you are SUCH a special delight, but you do provide some pretty great inspiration for nail art!

Ah, and as nearly always, lending that extra little touch of verisimilitude is the tiny cat fur stuck to the side of my ring finger in every. single. photo., which is of course something I didn’t notice until after I had destroyed this manicure and long past the point of no return. Just one of them days, I guess.

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

I debated adding these nails, inspired by Olaf the snowman from Frozen, to my ongoing Disney Girl Challenge because holy crap, does he ever scream like a little girl! I get that Olaf is one of those Jar Jar Binks-esque characters you either love or hate (hmm, unfair comparison; NO ONE, not even the kids he was designed to amuse, like Jar Jar Binks), although I really don’t have an opinion on him one way or another.

Which is sort of my attitude towards Frozen in general. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a great, fantastic looking animated musical in the very best Disney tradition, AND I’ve watched the ever-living stuffing out of it (I’m one of those people that puts movies on when they’re doing other stuff like cooking or cleaning as opposed to, say, music), but I am a tad perplexed as to why it’s made allllllllll the movie money. I mean, between the soundtrack leaping to the top of the charts – and staying there – and the movie remaining in theatres for five times longer than any other release in the last decade and the popularity of the characters and the inability to find any branded merchandise and, and, and…well, it’s easy to see how Frozen has really taken on a life of its own, becoming so much more than your average movie musical.

But I’m still so perplexed as to the hows and whys of Frozen’s domination. Is it the soundtrack? Did it earn its popularity on the back of that Let It Go song (which is so insanely popular, if it were to run for President of the United States today, I’m pretty sure it would win by a landslide.) Because that song is sort of shrieky and NOT easy to sing. Plus, with very few modifications, all of the lyrics could be referring to toilet humour (which amuses the boys, or at least it amuses my husband, who should know better.) 😉

Or is it because it’s a predominantly female-driven story of sisters finding their way back to each other through a literal (snow)storm of forces beyond their control? I like to think so. It warms MY heart to think that the sweet story of Elsa and Anna speaks to the kinder part of our generally cranky natures. But still, it’s a story that’s really no better or worse than any of Disney’s other animated offerings, from new classics like Tangled to old standbys like The Little Mermaid.

Maybe it’s the love (is an open door) story between Anna and Kristoff (we shall not speak of Hans; he’s a dick and his sideburns are stupid.) Or did something in Arendelle’s unexpected deep freeze speak to our own never-ending winter? Or do we all just wish we could live somewhere we could drop the word “fjord” into casual conversation with our reindeer friends? Jeepers, what is it?! Like I said, perplexed.

But not perplexed enough to turn up an opportunity to do some Frozen-inspired nail art. So when I received this polish the other day, KB Shimmer’s Snow Much Fun (which, IP, trademark and other issues aside, KB should really market as “Frozen in a bottle”), I just knew I’d have to put it to use as the perfect base for a tiny lacquered Olaf, who will always scream like a girl and likes warm hugs.

Snow Freaking Way

As in no freaking way, I thought we were done with this snow business for the year.  Actually, given the never-endingness of last winter, perhaps two years, or maybe even three.  And then I show up not only with a polish from last winter’s collection, KB Shimmer’s Snow Much Fun (which is, like, 67 years in nail polish time), but one that evokes all the bad feelings of the Winter That Wouldn’t End?  Timely!  Very timely.

Lots of bloggers have swatched this polish already, last year when there was still snow on the ground, but I thought I’d buck that trend and paint on a few coats in the first few weeks of summer.  And besides, I only bought it last week.  Like KB’s other glitter-in-jelly polishes, Snow Much Fun applies beautifully, and three coats, loaded with holographic microshimmer and glitter, gives your nails a lush, deep look, like the snowflakes (lots of them, too) were flash frozen in a pool of shimmering water.  But a note about those adorable snowflakes that give this polish such a gorgeous, unique look: They are glitter of the larger sized variety, both in terms of measurement and thickness.  I had no problem getting the flakes out of the bottle and onto my brush, but getting them onto my nail without dragging off the rest of the polish with them was a bit of a challenge.  I found if I went slow and steady, laid down my flakes in the first couple of coats and then topped them off with a layer that was predominantly polish, I had no problems.  And when a nail polish is this beautiful, sometimes you don’t mind going the extra distance. 😉