Tremendously practical, this mermaid-approved mani! That just tends to happen with glitter placement – here using Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s blue holo glitter bomb, Mermaid – but all the same, perhaps next time in the interest of not snagging my nails on absolutely everything I pass, I should scale back a bit? Wah-waaaaahhhhhhhh. 🙂
So it struck me today that on the cusp of my *cough*(inaudible)*cough* birthday, I’m about 1,000 times lamer than my 70-year-old parents, who are at this very moment partying at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. That’s WAY advanced party studies right there – they may as well be in Ibiza! I’m chuckling at the imagery, but two of us are nibbling on powder-dusted beignets and roulez-ing le bon temps this evening and one of us is reheating last night’s broccoli mac and cheese and watching the final episode of Crazyhead, so who’s winning at life now? (Possibly me; Crazyhead is wicked awesome.)
At least I’ll always have you, nails, this time a simple, but glittery, mani in some very Mardi Gras shades, Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s There’s No Place Like Home, a green and gold glitter topper, over A England’s purple Crown of Thistles.
Dark chocolate (KB Shimmer’s holographic brown, Oh My Ganache) dripping with ooey gooey caramel (Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Caramellow.) Or possibly peanut butter. Pick your Valentine’s Day poison! Unless of course you’re allergic to peanuts, in which case the peanut butter is actual poison, so perhaps best to stick with the caramel? Well, no matter how you’re celebrating or what you’re eating, Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!
With Valentine’s Day less than a week away, I thought it would be fun to sort through my nail polish collection and pull my favourites in the supposedly clashing combo of pink and red. I don’t go in for all that clashing malarkey – pink and red is one of my favourite colour combinations, hard at work in my wardrobe, my makeup and even my home decorating (“Lotta pink in here, huh?” sneered a plumber last year. I wanted to ask him if his masculinity was quite finished being threatened by a colour, but instead I just smiled and paid him for a job very well done.)
Anyhow, lots of pink and red around here, a palette preference that apparently carries over into my nail polish collection, because I own an absolute ton of pink and red lacquers (as well as every variant in between, from cotton candy, to coral, to wine.) We’d be here until Valentine’s Day itself were I to show you every one of my pink and red polishes, and so instead I’m whittling the list down to 10 favourites from KB Shimmer, Picture Polish, Emily de Molly and Whimsical Ideas by Pam. There’s a little something for everyone here, from lush, berry-hued cremes, to fiery glitter bombs speckled with tiny hearts, so go on ahead and fall in love.
First up we have two of my oldest lacquers, Picture Polish’s raspberry and gold shimmer, Electric Dream, and O’Hara, a candy apple red spiked with tiny holographic shards.
Next we have two polishes from Whimsical Ideas by Pam, primary red creme, Starbucks Holiday Cup, and Tutu Sweet, a vibrant bubblegum pink stuffed with silvery-white and hot pink matte glitter.
Here in the middle we find two picks from Emily de Molly that are representing the Valentine’s season in both name and appearance, glittery melted popsicle, The Unloved (index and ring fingers), and Heart Street, a very retro mix of red, orange, purple and pink heart glitters in a fiery red base (middle and pinkie fingers.)
Finally, we have four polishes from KB Shimmer. This makes sense, as KB’s terrific polishes make up the bulk of my collection. The first pairing is raspberry pink creme, Grin and Gerbera It, and Such a Vlad-Ass, a cool, vampy blood red.
And finally-finally, we have the second KB pairing, candy sweet pastel glitter, Sweet Egg-scape, and maybe the most perfect red creme to grace my fingertips in the past four years, Chilly Pepper.
Combining two great flavours of Whimsies in one with this manicure featuring Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Festivus glitter topper over Starbucks Holiday Cup, a pitch perfect recreation of the colour of last year’s “controversial” Plain Red Cup. I think these two polishes go together beautifully, to say nothing of their mutual minimalism – plain metal pole, plain red cup…it just fits!
Clear blue skies and humid temperatures in the 40s call for three things: 1. Air conditioning, 2. A swimming pool and 3. Watermelon. Actually, these are pretty much the only conditions under which I’ll eat watermelon, as I’m really not that fond of it. It’s a filler fruit, like honeydew. And cantaloupe just flat out makes me want to hit things. I’m clearly melon biased.
Except when it comes to this fun glitter topper, Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Wacky Watermelon, a fun, summery favourite of mine that I layered over a pretty new acquisition, OPI’s pale turquoise creme, Sailing & Nail-ing. In the last week alone I’ve used this polish in three different manis, it’s that great.
I did have a bit of trouble with Wacky Watermelon in that it bubbled fiercely, leaving unsightly pockmarks all over my otherwise pristine manicure. I’m chalking this up to the unholy humidity we’re experiencing – I’ve actually noticed that none of my polishes behave all that well in these kinds of temperatures. Just like me!
Because nine times out of 10 your intended fish scale design will wind up looking more like fishnets. But super cool purple fishnets over a holographic turquoise base, which sounds like just stupendous leg adornment, right?
For these nails that could either be mermaid scales or fishnets, or perhaps even a mermaid IN fishnets, I used two holographic A England polishes, turquoise Whispering Waves and plummy Crown of Thistles, painting the purple scales over the turquoise base on my index and pinkie fingers, before topping my two middle fingers with one coat of Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Mermaid glitter topper.
Lots of literary references in that title. Show of hands if you, too, took two years’ of post-secondary children’s literature (the exact same course two years in a row, actually; it was a pre-taped class offered through my university’s remote education program, “remote” translating to forgetting to watch any of the classes throughout the semester and then having to furiously cram 60 watchable hours of class time into the three days before the final exam. In related news, I think we may have hit on the reason I had to take the class twice, yes?) 😉
For this manicure, I gathered inspiration from two beloved works of children’s literature, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden and Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden. Just not beloved by me; as I recall, I didn’t read either (hitting on reason number two I had to re-take the class, although in my defence, when your course list includes 30 some-odd texts, you actually can pick or choose. It’s also how I avoided Watership Down, because that book is wretched and upsetting.)
For these Garden-centric nails, I combined both the Midnight and the Secret, topping CND Vinylux’s Dazzling Dance, a sheer, purple-tinged topper speckled with fine holographic glitter, with Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Secret Garden, a predominately green glitter studded with tiny fuchsia hexes. And because no Secret or Midnight Garden (no matter who it belongs to, me or that punk, Tom) would be complete without at least a tiny sliver of moon, I added one of those, too, in the form of a tiny gold nail charm from Daily Charme.
And for those of you who may like some closure on whether I did or did not eventually end up passing the class, yes, I did – second time was the ticket. And just to annoy you even further, I’ll also note that I didn’t fail the class the first time I took it. I just didn’t like the grade I received. I won’t tell you what that grade was, because it was decent by most standards and you’ll think me bananas, but I was a pretty high-strung J-school student (weren’t we all?) and anything less than the best…was a felony (*ba-dum ching!*) Okay, okay, I’ll see myself out now. 😉
Small tip: Unless you are giving your mother this lovely nail polish, Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s jammy-looking Peanut Butter and Jelly, and unless you are aged six and under, the phrase “peanut butter and jelly” should not factor into ANY Mother’s Day celebrations. Trust me on this one, friends – BREAK OUT YOUR BIG GUNS. My mom’s a pretty cool lady, but even I know one does not skimp on Mother’s Day. This evening my husband and I are hosting my parents here for a late dinner and a movie, but the other day my mom and I played hooky and took in a so cute (and very funny) showing of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, complete with mini Snickers bites, so at least that part’s sorted!
I hope you, too, are having a nice one with your moms today, if you’re able. I’ve always lived in the same city as my mother (and often within walking distance, at that) AND we have a close relationship – as such, I often forget that other daughters and sons do not enjoy the same. So I hope you are indeed having a happy one, hopefully just enjoying each other’s company. Go to a movie! Stuffing your mother full of chocolate bites works WONDERS. 😉
This is the manicure I wore last night when my husband and I went out to celebrate the 13th anniversary of our first date. It’s just a simple combination of Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Rose Coloured Glasses over KB Shimmer’s dusky blue Stonewashed – probably the kind of thing I could have pulled off even 13 years ago, were it not for the fact that pre-date, I was so worked up (positively thrumming with excited/nervous energy) I never could have held a polish brush! And I wasn’t really into nail polish back then. This whole nail art business is a fairly recent addition to my life.
Ha, except now that I’m thinking about it, I DID paint my nails the night of our first date – black, with blood red middle finger accent nails. I also wore an Emily the Strange hoodie with cat ears (and, ahem, paw mitts.) Yeah, I was that girl! Still am, as these are the cat ears I wore last night to go along with this manicure!
Finger Candy 