Water Droplets

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

Today's manicure took its inspiration from the base polish.

Not terribly colour-accurate; below photos are better. :)

I was moved to use my custom Tryst Lacquer, Aqueous, again. It does take four coats to opacity, but I love it so much. :) Just look at it!! And then I decided to do some one-stroke water droplets. These are deceptively difficult.

In fact, I did them over about three times. Yikes. And they're still not perfect! If you want to see perfect one-stroke water droplets, visit Lucy -- she's got it down pat. And she filmed a tutorial! :)

In the end, the method that was fastest was the one I was most comfortable with. It really was, for me, a question of getting the white down pat. I think I achieved it best on my middle finger.

BONUS: CAT ATOP LIGHT BOX
seriously what are you even doing up there

Polishes used:

Tryst Lacquers - Aqueous (custom)

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

black and white acrylic paint

one-stroke brush

detailing brush

Can you believe it's October tomorrow (read: for me, 40 minutes from now)? Yikes. It's already freezing where I am, I wake up to 0˚C mornings, winter is going to own me.

xo regardless,

J.

Simple Aquatic + a Guest Post!

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

So, I survived part of the Skyline Trail. 36km worth of trudging around with beautiful views. I pinched something in my right hip and my feet have a collective 6 huge blisters, so the last major ascent/scree was not going to happen. I need to work out more before tackling 12 hours' worth of hiking!

But I do have nails for you today!

I'm doing an ABC challenge with my buddy @thedevilwearspolish on Instagram. We're calling it the Follow the Devil ABC Challenge and doing one prompt a week. This week: aquatic! I decided to keep it simple.

I started with two coats of Lavender Cloud, followed by Skylar for the water. I then went over Skylar in some places with Arctic Sunrise, Aqueous, and Love Letter to Kurt Vonnegut. Little shine details in Tempest, topcoat, and done!

Zoom in on this one for all the shimmery awesomeness of the polishes I used:

And I have a surprise for you! I did a guest post over at Gnarly Gnails, run by the inimitable Missy! I love Missy to death, she's the sweetest and has always been so encouraging in my blogging endeavours. One thing I've always appreciated about her swatches is that they show you exactly what you need to know about a polish. They're professional and sharp-looking, but they do not sugar-coat how a polish actually behaves. It's really refreshing! And did I mention she's sweet? Click this teaser image to go see my post, and give her blog some love!

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen - Lavender Cloud

Zoya - Skylar

Girly Bits - Arctic Sunrise

Tryst Lacquers - Aqueous (custom)

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Kurt Vonnegut (limited edition)

Cult Nails - Tempest

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

I'm working on another surprise! I will have that for you on Wednesday sometime. I may even be able to get something up either tomorrow or Tuesday, fingers crossed!

xo,

J.

Water Lilies

Nothing to Disclose

Good evening! Tonight I have some water lilies for you.

This look has a base of Love Letter to Kurt Vonnegut. I have not captured it whatsoever. It has rocketed its way to my top 5 favourite polishes of all time-- that's how beautiful this one is. Here is a link to Sarah's review of it over on Samarium's Swatches; she does a much better job of showing its beauty. Unfortunately, it was a limited edition and is no longer in production. And I will be jealously hoarding mine like Smaug and his beloved cup. Except this polish is no mere cup. You get the idea.

What does this taste like? What's under here? What's behind this thing? How much cat hair can I get in the light box?

The rest of the design is done in acrylics; the tutorial is at the bottom of this post. :)

The green bled into the white in a conspiracy to drive me seven ways insane.

Polishes used:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Manufactory - Love Letter to Kurt Vonnegut

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

Seche Vite (top coat)

acrylics paints (white, greens, pink)

size 0 flat brush

I used this same polish as a base for a simpler look for this upcoming Sunday, so you haven't seen the last of it yet! I think I will next be using a base of one of the gorgeous Arcane polishes I've received from my lovely Aussie nail mail buddy (*waves*), and hopefully it'll turn out like it is in my head!

xo,

J.

World Water Day 2013

Today is World Water Day! Which, in light of all the attempts to privatise water, rampant pollution, major oil spills, and the general business of catering to humanity (hello, agriculture!), is super relevant. Super important.

EWWWW FLASH (I'm so sorry!)

The theme for this year is water cooperation. For this mani, I tried to put two hands underwater, reaching for each other. Interestingly, this works just fine in person, but the darker of the two skin tones refuses to show in my lightbox, which explains the use of flash photos (yuck). I've included a couple of crappy photos to try to give you an idea of what this looks like, but I remain mostly dissatisfied with the outcome. I'll have to do better next year! ;)

This was the only way to get the other hand to show up!!

I did all of the painting with nail polishes, on a base of Across the Universe, one of my favourite polishes ever, for obvious reasons:

 I hope we all put our heads together to make sure that we keep water as safe, as available, and as protected as possible. It's so critical!

Polishes used:
Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe
NYColor - Fashion Safari
Revlon Brilliant Strength - Dominate
Nfu Oh - JS29, JS34
OPI - Funny Bunny
Revlon Top Speed - Spirit
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food
INM - Out the Door (top coat)
Poshé (top coat)

J.