the tale of two purples

Purple Pamploma is my first ever OPI so I was very excited to add it to my collection.  I had dinner plans with the boy (well.. he’s not a boy.. actually 5 years older than me, but you get the idea) and had to hurry up the process because I still had to wash my hair.

 The culprits!

Learned a few lessons this week.. such as showering 25 minutes after doing your nails equates to the optical illusion (so-to-speak) of 10 days of tipwear, instantly!  Talk about being royally pissed.  I had top-coated and painstakingly removed ALL excess polish during the clean up and did the impression test and they seemed OK.  Yea, not really at all.  Luck for all of us, I took pictures before I destroyed them (=

A purple creme (= perfect! Totally into purples lately!  Purple Pamploma, according to Wikipedia, looks much like "Byzantium" in the bottle, photographs more like "Fandango".  The flash definitely lightens the color as a whole but it isn't far from the true color.  The sunlight has a similar effect.  Very pretty regardless!
 

Sooooooooooooo after my disastrous shower and dinner date, I came home and redid my mani.  Chose another purple, surprise, and I am a little bit surprised how similar they appear in pictures!

Don't get my wrong, L.A Colors "Nuclear Energy" (I believe, according to their site.  The bottles have no labels and I have long since discarded the packaging!) and PP are completely different.  Nuclear energy is a jelly and PP is a creme.  They also have different a different hue and saturation.  They appear remarkably different in the bottle, but not so remarkably different on the nail.

Caution: slight gore ahead!

 This is another shot of Nuclear energy on my right hand.  I am soooo tired of looking at my nubblette index nail on my left!  Anyways after uploading the pictures I realized what a hackjob my hand looks like O.O

Note the numerical labels;
1. ouch.

2. OUCH.  (You better believe acetone was fun!  AAUUUUEEEEGHH!! Stung like a B*$@! - only inflamed the wound)

3.  That dent is not visible to the naked eye.. really, I can't even see it.  Yet "macro" makes it so apparent.  Thanks, technology!

I've NEVER been a nail biter. But I've always been a nail picker.  I'll pick pick pick and not even realize it until I draw blood.  I think I did this on the way home from my boyfriend's house.  I'm not sure.  I don't even realize that I do it. Luckily, I don't pick my nails when I have polish on them, its some kind of subconscious deterent and that's fine, great actually.  They're usually bloody stumps when I am not up-to-date on my blog, which is why I will continue to blog as long as I have it in me.  However, not so lucky for my cuticles and the skin surrounding my cuticles.  I unintentionally tear it to shreds and the anti-bite nail polish serves no purpose here.  I don't have to be nervous, anxious, upset or angry.. I just habitually pick at my nails.

Mentioned as my two nail related new year's resolutions were better cuticle care and perfecting "the gap".  I think I've done a decent job on the gap part.. still more work to do..

Any advice on how to shed this habit?

sally hansen nail prisms "golden cinnabar"

First off, I’ve never claimed to know everything about nail polish.  In fact, I know very little, lol!  I tried taking indoor pictures of a duochrome.. trichrome.. multichrome (am I making up words here? Probably.) And holy hell did it not work LOL!  There are so many different dimensions to this color and the flash magically removed them and turned it into a solid copper!  I believe it is a duochrome.  I see two defined colors most of the time, and once in a while another sneaks in.  Basically, I don’t know how to define the color but I have some snazzy pics of it and hopefully one of you can help me with the correct terminology!

You know those rain dances?  I think we should all join together in a "index finger nail growth dance"  I broke it last week and it refuses to grow )=  My skin looks a mess, too.  But that has a cure.. just moisturize haha.  I had to get these pics before the sun when down so there little time for that.

I see gold and purple.  That makes it a duochrome, right?

Pretty :D

 

This is indoor with flash.  Basically a "WTF, that isn't right at all!"  Lesson learned (=

Sooooo.. can anyone help me correctly describe this polish so I can figure it out on my own from here on out?  Much appreciated!

motherload of a haul!

I feel like I hit the jackpot!  I decided to go to Dollar Tree on a whim before class and I am so glad that I did.  They had tons of polish that I haven't seen there before and I took full advantage of it.  I had to pick up a couple things like sponges, air freshener, etc.  I got a total of 19 polishes and the other items for 25$!  Most of the polishes came in Two-Packs so I made out even better!  Here is what I got;

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms which I think are beautiful polishes in general and got so excited when I saw these!  I got "Golden Cinnabar" and "Diamond".  I tried to swatch and photograph the purplish one and I am going to have to wait for sunlight because I have now realized it is impossible to capture the beautiful duochrome that it truly is!

L.A. Colors in "Energy source", "Red blooded" and "Radiation".  Didn't intentionally buy red, white and blue but the oranges they had just didn't do it for me :p

E.L.F in "Champagne" and "Coral".  There is something wrong with "Coral" though.  It has lumps and there are these white streaks painted on inside of the bottle?  I am going to add some thinner and maybe a ball or too to see if I can get it going though.

From left to right; "Bronze jubilee", "Very berry", "Arctic violet" & "In a flurry"!  I somehow missed that I accidentally had two of the right hand package in my basket, so while I did get 19 polishes, there were 2 doubles )=  That's ok though, I kind of want to mix them together!

From left to right; "Sun kissed", "Arctic violet", "Sand castle" & "Sun kissed".  I had to buy another "Sun kissed" in order to get "Sand castle".  Also,  I somehow messed up when taking pictures and missed a polish that is called "Sheer orchid" which is a very purple jelly looking number (=

"Triple platinum" & "Gold front"

Cannot wait to swatch & show :D :D :D !!

a comparison (that i was totally wrong about!)

I own both China Glaze "For Audrey" and Funky Fingers "South Hamptom Seafoam".  I thought that they were similar colors because I played around with both of them separately.  Turns out, they're only in the same color family!  Completely different hues all together though.  Still love both (=

If you could be impartial and didn't know which was which, which color is your honest favorite of the two?

question for my dear readers..

Lately, I've been wondering why I've nearly recieved zero comments or feedback.  A few of my previous posts for a few weeks ago had lots of suggestions, comments and general feedback and I love to read everyone's opinions, as most people do!

I actually thought my comments were broke somehow and tried to fix it, and tested them to see that they weren't broken at all.  I've been watching my stats and I get around 40 views a day, about 10 of which are from me checking for errors and spacing problems.  So that means about 30 people view my blog a day, or fewer view it multiple times.  I have 39 followers so the numbers seem fair. 

My question is not "why aren't you commenting" but are you ladies reading/viewing my posts actually?  I have no way to tell if anyone is actually reading/viewing my pictures or not.  I wouldn't stop posting and discontinue my hobby if that was the case, but its generally just something I've been wondering.  I have no ill feelings about it, it really simply is just a curiosity.

I know I don't prompt questions at the end of my posts like most people do, and I typically post in a "here is what I did" kind of way versus a "do you like what I did" fashion.  So I know that plays into it, and as mentioned before I'm not bitter or anything!  Just wondering if I'm talking to myself here, lol.

Thanks for any thoughts on this (=
Sincerely,
Cathryn

back to school notd; stupidest name ever

Today was my first day at my new school and this is the manicure I wore.  Well, actually, I fauxnaded it, pics further down post.

This has got to be one of the stupidest named polishes I've ever seen.  "Caring Caramel". LOL.  I'm not kidding.  It's Sally Hansen Maximum Growth polish that I think was my mother's because it mysteriously appeared in my nail polish drawers one day.  I really do love it though, it works nicely with my skin tone!

"Caring Caramel" is a fallow color, according to wikipedia.  I google image searched the that word and it showed pictures of deer.  Alright.  It's like a, light tan.. muted brownish..  cappuccino sticks out in my head.  It is a creme finish with wonderful application.  Judging from the bottle condition and how aged it looks, I have a feeling it's discontinued.  Pretty nonetheless.

Then I went and stamped it with konad special black polish.  Which I hate, btw.  I am ready to throw the bottle out the window.  It gets EVERYWHERE.  And stains and spreads and doesn't come off.  Drives me nutso.