Halloween Shatter

Black Shatter is such a harsh looking finish; I really think it only works for Halloween.  I like my pink shatter, the rest I could do without.  I wanted to create a Halloween color scheme for this mani so I used Orly Green Apple and Orly Life's A Peach with OPI Black Shatter.  Topped with a coat of OTD TC, and this was a simple and quick manicure!

I used 3 coats of both Orlys to obtain opacity.

The green and black look inherently Frankenstein-y.  I removed this after about 12 hours of wear; I have a hard time loving the Black Shatter, really. Blarghork.

Avon "Wicked" + "Gunmetal" Swatch and Review

My friend the Avon rep bought two polishes from herself to keep at my house because I am her official unofficial manicurist.  The two colors she picked are not my personal bag, they're dark and vampy and I am cremes and pastels but I decided to swatch them anyways to see what they looked like.  And we're off..

Gunmetal - One coat.

I thought this was a one coater but that's because the crappy lighting in my room tricked me.  You can see bald spots but under standard lighting it looks fine.  This applied smoothly but as mentioned before, most definitely a 2 coat kind of color.  I didn't hate this on me!  It made me feel a tab rebellious actually - LOL.

"Gunmetal" Indoor, flash.

The other polish she picked completely surprised me by being a one coat wonder.  I think I have maybe 10 of these total, and they're mostly holos and the super pigmented WnWs.  Anyway, this is an honest to goodness one coater.

Indoor, flash

Indoor, flash

OPI Silver Shatter - Indoor, flash

This was difficult to photograph but we haven't had much sun lately.  I work with what I've got, and I've got rain and monsoons, lol.  As I said before, this color is not for me.  It's really pretty, especially in the bottle.

If you're interested in these colors you can go through my own personal Avon lady, Coryn, by visiting her website HERE.  She does ship in the US.  Most countries have their own Avon site, as well.

"Broken Hearted" & some updates

There are a handful of things in life that I repeatedly try, thinking I'll like it.  Romaine lettuce, yogurt, sushi.. oh, and crackle nail polish.  I think Einstein is quoted as saying that insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". I finally had the smallest glimmer of a breakthrough with China Glaze Crackle Glaze in "Broken Hearted" :D !

1 coat of "Broken Hearted" over 3 coats over
L.A. Colors "Energy Source".

Wheeeeee! A crackle I like!  I have black and silver shatter from OPI and could take or leave both of them.  "Broken Hearted" is definitely a keeper!  I had a strange moment at work when one of my coworkers had the SAME manicure on as me.  She had this same crackle coat over white.  It strangely excited both of us, lol.

Cute!

A couple of updates:


On my temporary tattoo manicure:  I had seen the idea somewhere before but as stated in my previous post, I thought they were special nail decals.  I do not want to claim 100% credit for the idea as the gears started turning once I accidentally got the tattoo on my nail.  It was kind of an, "Oh! I bet those were regular temporary tattoos" more so than a "LOOK WHAT I INVENTED" kind of deal.


Anyways!  Mine started to smush off/peel at about noon today but I can't be sure that it was their fault.  I use antibacterial hand sanitizer countless times a day, as well as old-fashioned hand washing.  I've literally used hand sanitizer to remove the tattoos before, so I'm certain it contributes to general removal - but I had a top coat on.  That stuff is pretty strong, so who knows what it does.  It's also possible their tacky nature didn't sit well underneath a topcoat.  I will definitely make note of this next time I wear them.


On a positive note, does anyone remember Squidgee (Quidge/Artemis)?

My little Momma.

After months of steroids and a handful of vet visits, our little peanut of a cat is doing much better!  She's much more active, alert and eating way more than before!  Thankfully, her medicine isn't very expensive at all and she just goes for check ups every once in a while. Her treatment is no where near the cost of her original diagnosis visit so we weren't forced to put her to sleep. Phew. (=

essence "Where is the Party?"

Where is the party, you ask? On my nails evidently.  Duochromes remind me of disco balls but not for the obvious reasons, lol.  I think they're both fun to watch.  It's OK, I'm 65% crazy, so either judge or move on xD

3 coats of Essence "Where is the Party?"

I did 3 coats, but 2 was enough.  I started the 3rd coat and realized it didn't need it but finished because, well, just because.  I also smudged my ring finger on my car keys, oops.

It's purple!

And then it's not!

Greeeeeeeeen!

Sunlight shows its rainbow (=

WOW.

Then I ruined it with "silver shatter" and took it off.

With my experiences with Essence, I've never encountered any problems.  Fantastic formula, great cover and application and decent wear. I got this for 99 cents at Ulta and absolutely recommend it for anyone who finds it purty.

green jelly, naked nails and a disapproving kitty

This post is pic heavy, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.  Naked nails, a fail, a kitty and a fabulous green jelly!

B.S.N Lacquer in "Ivy" - 2 coats.

This is a dollar store brand.  My local shopping center opened a huge dollar store with a TON of nail polish!  BSN stands for "Beauty Sense of New York".  I am not sure if these are 3FREE as they have a unique smell to them.

Squishy!

 "Ivy" is a medium green jelly that applied WONDERFULLY! I don't care for most greens but this is really fun.  This is two thin coats.  Could have used a third but too late for that.

So then I was all, "Hey, what should I add to it?!" - I wore it for a full day before ruining it, though.

OPI "Black Shatter" & "Silver Shatter"

And then, I went, "Hey, lets layer shatters!" and that's where it got ugly. I didn't put a topcoat between the layers of shatter, so that is where the ugly is coming from.

Enlarge to witness epic fail man's disapproval.

 Ew. It's chunky and nasty. Don't do what I did. Even if i put the topcoat in between it still would've been fug.

Even Ralphie is judging me.

 And then the fail continues..

DINGY GREEN STAINS.

 That's my first photograph of naked nails too, by the way. But I fixed it really quick, I just used a fine grit buffer block.

All better (=

 And now I get to do it all over again..

DERP. this manicure is a DERP.

I need to figure out how to remove the word "DERP" from my vocabulary.  I catch myself saying it instead of "oops" or in situations where "my bad" would apply.  I need to stop raising eyebrows.  That quirky weird thing I have worked when I was 17, but at 23 I'm really just getting people to question whether or not I need to be admitted to a clinic.

Well, for the time being, here is a derp of a manicure.  I said I need to figure out how to remove it, I haven't removed it yet, rofl.

Sinful Colors "Unicorn" (yellow)
Sinful Colors "Timbleberry" (red)
Confetti "First Kiss" (pink)
BEACH BALLIN'

I should've left it alone even though it makes so sense as it is.  But I ended up destroying it with that fucking black shatter. I don't like it. It just ruins things. Looked like a fun beach ball kind of.

Now it looks like it has been camping at Death Valley for 3 weeks without a tent. DEAD. AND SHRIVELED. This mani looks thirsty!!  HOW DOES A MANICURE ACQUIRE HUMAN TRAITS?  God, black shatter is rewriting the science books here. Ugh I scrapped that shit off my nails right after I took the pics.  I know you all enjoy watching my nail blunders happen. You're a sick bunch. But it's ok - I love it too!

It looks like it has cancer. Tarred and slimy. ITS FUCKING. UGLY. LOL. I love how I can just freely go off like a lunatic here and I won't raise your eyebrows at me... d'awwwwwwwwww grouphug! no? ok.

Further evidence of the FUG.

Hey guys, I have a present for you :D :D :D

DERP.

 

Thanks ladies for reading and putting up with my blunders, bitching, ranting and eyebrow raising behavior. Love, Cathryn

UNICORN & how to kill a mani in 5 seconds!

This color is the second one that I found in the bucket of random Sinful Colors at Walgreens.  First of all, the name is so irrelevant I had to buy it.  Secondly, it looked really pretty in the bottle.

FIVE RIDICULOUS COATS OF "UNICORN"

Yea, 5 coats. Enough to make me never use it again.  Also, the lobsterhands are out of this world in this pic.  I think there might have been *some* slight skin staining from the previous color I had on, which was a bright corally red.  But this is mostly just a contrast thing here.

Observe ladies, as I successfully KILL a perfectly fine manicure.

One coat of SH Hidden Treasure. Not dead, yet.

I should have left it here.  I should've stopped.  It actually looked really pretty like this.  But it was like, oh I don't know.. 3 AM and no sunlight, obvs, so its full beauty has not been captured in this pic. Ok, onto the murder scene.

Ew. Sorry.

I publicly apologize for doing that.  I don't think I like the shatter.  I said originally I didn't hate it, but, this is FUG. FUG FUG FUG FUGLY. For those of you who don't know fugly means "fucking ugly" - and that is the perfect description of what I have created.

Also this has got to be the most layers of polish I've ever worn. Lets count! Counting is fun.
2 coats of Orly Nail Armor
5 coats of Sinful Colors Unicorn (lol)
1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
1 coat of my HG TC
1 coat of Shatter
1 more coat of my HG TC

THAT'S 11. My standing record!

i caved.. OPI Black Shatter

I caved!!! I totally did.  I've seen TONS of shatter/crackle manicures lately, and to be honest only a few have actually looked like something I would wear.  There's a difference between liking something and liking something enough to wear it.  Most of them are really pretty and unique, but ultimately not for me.

I didn't want to write off shatter/crackle without at least trying it, and I figured somewhere down the line I would pick one up and give it an honest effort.  Well I went to Harmon's on my lunch break and saw one bottle of it left and something inside me went off.  I held it for a while, and walked around with it - debating SO hard.  And obviously, I caved. Here is what I came up with!

Two coats of Orly "Nail Armor" - Two coats of OPI DS "Divine"
One coat of OPI "Black Shatter" - One coat of Sally Hansen
"Hidden Treasure" with a topcoat of SH Insta-Dri

Hidden Treasure doesn't look as nice here as it does in real life.  It realistically adds an extra sparkle and shine that just wouldn't photograph for me.  Since I don't know when the next time I'll be able to have free time during daylight, I had to use indoor flash.

OPI DS "Divine" GORGEOUS.  Almost didn't want to cover it!

A delightful bright magenta holo!

Before HT and the TC - a surprising leathery finish!

The verdict? Well normally I know myself pretty well and know when I won't or will like something, but actually.. I DON'T HATE IT!  It's actually alright!  Black Shatter is a unique finish and I obviously don't have anything like it - so it's a nice addition to my collection.

I've seen the China Glaze crackles and the only one I would consider is the pink one.  The rest are OK, except the white.  I haven't seen anyone pull it off in anything that is even slightly aesthetically pleasing, IMO of course. People with hi-res photos, you can see how its not 100% opaque so the base color tends to poke through.  I don't like wearing white polish except for accents anyways, so no real surprise that I don't care for it.

What is your final opinion on the crackle/shatter craze?