SWATCH: Durm und Strang

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Hello lovelies!

Sometimes you just need to swatch something.

Today's swatch is Durm und Strang, which I like as much for its name as for its look.

I just have two wishes for this polish: that there were more lime green hexes, and that the base was more jelly to allow depth. I like that it's a two-coat polish (one thin, one thicker to get at those elusive bits of green), but I wouldn't mind a third coat if it meant more jelly awesome.

The accent nail is a watermarble of Green with Envy and Pelican Gray over a coat of Silver Sweep. It's subtle but I like it.

Polishes used:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Manufactory - Sturm und Drang

Sally Hansen - Silver Sweep, Green with Envy

China Glaze - Pelican Gray

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter A-Peel (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat; I've learned it's best to really wait until your base polish is starting to dry before putting Glossy Glam on it, or else you will be dealing with a lot of shrinkage)

watermarbling paraphernalia: cup of room-temperature filtered water, toothpick, masking tape, cotton buds...

I'll be working on nail art this week, but probably in anticipation of Digit-al Dozen week next month. I'll try to get something in for you lovelies to look at!

xo,

J.

SIMPLE SUNDAY: Blood Splats

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Hello lovelies!

So, remember yesterday when I was worried about my being hung over today? GUESS WHAT.

I'm posting from the past again! The point of my inebriation levels of last night are totally moot! How smart is this? I should post from the past more often.

It's not a Hallowe'en season without some blood splats. Now, I need to have a word with you all, here. It's of critical importance, and should be known in a post-Dexter world. It's not really blood splatter, it's blood spatter. I know, I know. It's a bit like how the Classicist in me flinches whenever somebody calls them pottery shards instead of pottery sherds. Drives me nuts! Thank you for listening to this mini-rant.

This look started with a staggering four thick coats of Naked. It doesn't even give me mannequin hands! All that work for nothing! Needless to say, especially given its price tag (I got it on clearance, thankfully), Naked does not come recommended.

The accent finger is two coats of Chyna. This polish reminds me of Dorothy's shoes and does come recommended. So classic-looking in spite of the texture!

The blood splats (it's not really spatter, it's much more haphazard splotches, I think) were done first in Fire It Up, and then in JS42 for depth. The whole thing took about a half-hour for both hands, making this Simple Sunday appropriate.

Polishes used:

Deborah Lippmann - Naked

Zoya - Chyna

Layla - Softouch 08 (Fire It Up)

Nfu Oh - JS42

medium liner brush

Have you done any Hallowe'en manis yet? This feels so out of my comfort zone, haha!

xo,

J.

Puffball Floral

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Hello lovelies!

I present to you today a look I've been wearing for the past few days, and which I only just took off rather begrudgingly...

I took a lot of pictures of it.

It was inspired by @celinedoesnails on Instagram, though her flowers look a lot more like flowers and a lot less like some sort of Dr. Seussian fluffball, as here.

The base for this manicure was three easy, beautiful coats of Kryptonite. I tried a photo in direct light to try to catch the holo particles, but it didn't work so well. Just know that all the little flecks of white are in fact rainbow in real life:

The rest of the design is acrylic paint.

Weird puffballs they may be, but I kind of like 'em!

Polishes used:

piCture pOlish - Kryptonite

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paints

tiny detail brush

Hopefully I'll have something more seasonal for you tomorrow (I am posting this from the past-- ooOOOooo -- and I therefore have no idea yet how hungover I'll be tomorrow). ;)

xo,

J.

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Hallowe'en Skittle

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Hello lovelies! It's the last day of my very first Digit-al Dozen week! I SURVIVED.

Today I have for you a Hallowe'en-ish skittle. I saved it for last because, A) I think it's the most accomplished in terms of what a skittle manicure is really all about, and B) it means it's closer to Hallowe'en proper.

Where do I even begin with these? Okay, okay. Thumb is two coats of Lopez Canyon with Xixabangma detail. Index is one coat of Streetside NYC with Camelot detail.

Middle finger is one coat of Xixabangma with Lopez Canyon / Streetside NYC / Camelot detail. Ring finger is two coats of Camelot with studs. Pinky is two coats of Lopez Canyon with two coats of 205 layered over top.

Don't even ask what the middle finger is; I have no answer to that question.

Polishes used:

American Apparel - Lopez Canyon

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC, Xixabangma

A England - Camelot

Inglot - 205 (flakie)

1.5mm studs from Born Pretty Store

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

detail brush

dotting tool to pick up studs

Do you have any Hallowe'en plans? I went out and bought a pair of plaid satin pyjamas and a grey satin half-robe today, because I am going as Hugh Hefner. That's right. And my older boyfriend will be outfitted with bunny ears. :) We have three (THREE) Hallowe'en parties to go to, all of subsequent weekends! Phew!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Fall Leaf Skittle

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Hello lovelies! Today's my favourite of all the skittles I did for this week. I really, really adore it. That's why I took, like, a meeeellion photos of it.

Sorry about the staining. I did what I could to mitigate it. :)

This look started with a coat of Rejuvacote and a coat of Nail Glow. Everything on top is done with acrylics and my tiny detail brush.

From thumb to pinky, the leaf types are: maple, oak, elm, poplar, and birch.

Gah, I've run out of things to say! Time for filler. Today was very busy. My partner had a new house built and we went for the inspection today (possession date is next Wednesday). It took two and a half hours! But it's good they were thorough, right? It's the kind of thing you want someone to be thorough for.

And then I got my hair did (woot woot), and I went to pastels class, where bales of hay whooped my keester. Like, really. I got my derrière handed to me by some hay bales on a bed of grass. I'd post photographic proof but I'm too ashamed. I'm going to keep working on it, I think, to see if I can salvage it.

Polishes used:

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Dior - Nail Glow

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paint

tiny detail brush

I can't believe tomorrow is the end of Digit-al Dozen week! My inaugural one! I will save my tears of joy for my next post. ;)

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Pond Skittle

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Hello lovelies! Another skittle for you today, and this one's kind of Skittle-coloured!

For this mani, I whipped out my... trusty jellies. YEAH. JELLIES.

This technique is called a 'pond mani' because you sandwich layers of designs between layers of jelly polish, making it look like there is a lot of depth to the manicure. It was invented by someone very clever, and that person was assuredly not me.

The order of polishes, thumb to pinky, is: Guy Meets Gal-veston, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?, JS34, JS29, and JS28. 

My favourite is JS34. That shade of green makes me go weak in the knees. One might even say that it is particularly... pulchritudinous. *wiggles eyebrows*

There is a fluff in the above picture. You have my apologies for the oversight. But the bows are cute, aren't they??

Polishes used:

OPI - Guy Meets Gal-veston, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?

Nfu Oh - JS34, JS29, JS28 (all of the JS are discontinued now-- insert sad face here-- you'll have to find jellies elsewhere. I know that Twee & Honey make some!)

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

My favourite skittle is tomorrow! Favourite one! I am excited! Watch me deploy my exclamation marks!!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Bathed in Light Skittle

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Hello lovelies! We're onto Day 2, woohoo! (Hey that rhymed...)

For today's skittle, I opted to do the opposite of yesterday's skittle: I chose three colours and used them on each nail, but in different permutations.

I'm not sure how successful I was. I do really like the index and middle fingers, though!

The base colour is Bathed in Light. The main accent colour is Stardust, and the detailing colour is Smolder. Everything was done with my medium striper brush, and freehanded (no tape).

I simply adore using Stardust in manis-- look at the colour difference between above and below! What a gorgeous pink-to-gold duochrome. :)

Polishes used:

Dandy Nails - Bathed in Light

Nubar - Stardust

Maya Cosmetics - Smolder

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

medium striper brush

I go back to my initial tactic tomorrow, in a really colourful way-- stop by tomorrow and see!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Skittle Tips

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Hello lovelies!

OH BOY OH BOY HERE WE GO

Day 1 of Skittles week! To be honest, throughout this endeavour, I've learned that I'm crap at skittles. I just don't think disjointedly like that. The gestalt of nail art requires some ability to think of the greater whole in a whack of differences (i.e. every nail must be different), but there is some leeway to be found in doing something similar on each nail and tweaking it slightly. Hence, today's mani.

Say goodbye to that thumb, you're never seeing it again.

So, here's a funny story. I did all of these manis in advance, and patted myself on the back, and then completely did not write down what I used for any of them. I'm going to do my best to guess at the polishes I used, ok? But don't hold me to them.

This was a super-easy but super-effective look. Paint nails in No Way Tawdry, paint tips in various colours, and top with top coat and studs. Na naaah! But I really liked how this looked. I will revisit this in future.

I failed to get the rectangle stud in the middle of my middle finger and, no gonna lie, it's driving me nuts. But see, SEE the flakie goodness in No Way Tawdry?! It's a beautiful beautiful polish:

Polishes used:

Arcane Lacquer - No Way Tawdry

Lime Crime - Pastelchio, Parfait Day

Cult Nails - Tempest

la couleur couture - 1977, 2013 (top coat)

studs from The Nail Room

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

See you tomorrow for yet more Digit-al Dozen Week fun! I'm kind of giddy!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES ARE UP TO: 

Breast Cancer Awareness

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Hello lovelies!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This weekend is also J for Jellies in our ABC Challenge. I decided to mix the two together. I present it here because I feel like it's an opportunity for me to address something that bugs me every time this month rolls around: pinkwashing.

"Jolène," you are saying, "what the heck is pinkwashing?" Well, it's the pernicious way in which many companies and organizations pretend to care about breast cancer and breast cancer awareness without, you know, actually doing anything useful about it. Here's a website for you, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. And here are two excerpts from the Advertisements section of the Breast Cancer Awareness article on Wikipedia:

Business marketing campaigns, particularly sales promotions for products that increase pollution or have been linked to the development of breast cancer, such as alcohol, high-fat foods, some pesticides, or the parabens and phthalates used by most cosmetic companies, have been condemned as pinkwashing (a portmanteau of pink ribbon and whitewash).^[25]Such promotions generally result in a token donation to a breast cancer-related charity by taking advantage of the consumers' fear of cancer and grief for people who have died to drive sales.^[9] 

and

Two significant campaigns against pink consumption are the National Breast Cancer Coalition's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign, and Breast Cancer Action's "Think Before You Pink" campaign. NBCC's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign sought to focus awareness efforts onto substantive issues such as genetic discrimination, access to cancer treatment, patient rights, and environmental breast cancer research.^[26] "Think Before You Pink" encouraged consumers to ask questions about pink products (e.g., to find out how much of a donation was being made).^[27]

A good example is antiperspirants. Companies continue to manufacture antiperspirants, whose active ingredient has been proven to increase the risk of breast cancer, all while pink-ribboning their overall product line to seem like they care. Here is an article a friend sent me on cause marketing (which covers breast cancer awareness as well as other causes). Stuff like that drives me insane. But I'll stop ranting now. I just firmly believe in conscious consumerism.

This skittlette was done using Flamingo Kisses on the thumb and index (three coat), as well as pinky (two coats). Two coats of She Walks in Beauty were then applied to the pinky. The middle and ring fingers are a pond manicure done using Vitral *** and Tempest, and took a good 5 coats to achieve the opacity you see here -- definitely not meant for that.

She Walks in Beauty is a pink and gold glitter, two colours that are totally unlike me, but I love the polish to bits. Vitral *** is too hot pink for me, but Flamingo Kisses (a polish created by Dandy Nails in memory of Sandy Hook) is beautiful, a cold pink with pink and purple flake shimmer. Really nice, and an easily smooth three coats.

Polishes used:

Dandy Nails - Flamingo Kisses (I do not believe this ever went to market; I won it in a contest)

A England - She Walks in Beauty

Colorama - Vitral ***

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

medium detail brush

Sorry to ramble away on ya! But guess what tomorrow is: DIGIT-AL DOZEN DAYYYY!! Well, the first of five. I've got four of my five manis done, and photos taken and edited, but man oh man am I stumped for the last one. That's my project for today. ;)

xo,

J.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: A good friend brought this to my attention. I can certify that all polishes used in this mani are, at the very least, 3-free. EXCEPT FOR VITRAL. Brazilian polishes are all switching over to 3-free formulae as far as I know, but I do not know the status of Colorama polishes. Please be aware that non-3-free polish has ingredients that are linked to cancer (I don't know about breast cancer, but cancer in general). While I promise I am not profiting off the back of breast cancer awareness, lest I appear hypocritical, I wanted you to know!

Tweed for Fall

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Hello lovelies!

This looked better in my head. But it isn't a total failure, so up it goes!

It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to get a good photo of the base colour for this mani. I suspect this might be an ongoing battle between my camera and darker colours. They always end up way too dark. I have no idea how to rectify this because I know basically nothing about cameras or how they work. (True story.)

The base for this was Creeping Moss. The tweed accent nail didn't come across quite as well as I would have liked, but it was pretty easy and fun to do; just do the spun sugar technique both horizontally and vertically. I used Aciiied, Desert Fruit, and Xixabangma on a base of Tempest. Next time, I will do it on a dark base and use white as one of the spun sugar colours.

This photo is the only one that is vaguely colour-accurate. It's crappy, but the colour is as light as it appears on the right-hand side.

Polishes used:

Contrary Polish - Creeping Moss, Desert Fruit

Models Own - Aciiied

Elevation Polish - Xixabangma

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

Studs and rhinestones from Born Pretty

dotting tool (for spun sugar technique)

Many posts upcoming! One tomorrow, then one each day all next week becaaaauuuseee... Digit-al Dozen week is starting! Holy moly! I'm kind of nervous.

And to any lovelies who are Canadian, happy Thanksgiving!

xo,

J.