Tag Archives: On the Road

Manicure Monday On the Road: Bah Humbug Nublets

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I never do holiday-themed nails. Sometimes I want to. I saw them pop up this year right around November, and I love the candy cane nails, the snowfall nails, etc. They’re so friggin’ cute. I love them on other people but I feel weird doing it myself because a) it doesn’t snow in Florida, b) I don’t really celebrate Christmas, and c) I’d already picked out these polishes like months in advance because I’m obsessive and crazy over this stuff.

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This week I used Black Mesh from China Glaze, which is the black crackle you see here. I had to use really thin coats of this stuff for it to crackle; I put thicker coats on some nails and it didn’t crackle at all. I had to redo them. I’m wearing Black Mesh over Julep’s Bunny, which was also somewhat of a disappointment. In the bottle, it has this gold shimmer that totally didn’t translate to my nails. I saw it on the pointed cotton swab I’d used to clean up my cuticles, so I know it’s there. It just doesn’t show up on the nail at all. I could have gotten the same look from a white creme polish.

It’s the day before Christmas Eve, and I’m spending it with my mother. Whenever we meet up for the holidays, we always just end up painting our nails together. Here’s an obligatory photo of her chickens.

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Manicure Monday On the Road: Birthday Cupcakes

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It’s my birthday week, so I’m visiting my boyfriend in Atlanta for the week. Unfortunately, this means I have one photo of my manicure, taken with an iPad. Unfortunately, it means I had to type this blog entry on an iPad as well.

They look kinda melted.

They look kinda melted.

I used a lot of colors in this manicure, as you can see. Here’s a list:

Green: Sally Hansen’s Mint Sprint
Blue: OPI’s Eurso Euro
Pink: P2’s French Kiss
White: Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get
Accent nails: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES!

Several days before I left, I packed everything I would need for this manicure. I put all five polishes into a bag with my dotting tool, pointed cotton swabs and acetone, striping tape, tweezers, and whatever else I would need to successfully complete this mani. When I started, I ended up peeling off my old mani, which took off a bit of my natural nail, but it also meant I didn’t disturb my boyfriend’s six housemates with bad acetone smell. Also, since it was a mani with rhinestones, it also meant I didn’t have to go through the kitchen hunting for foil or anything like that. So I’d already started on a bad foot. Then when it was time to start the dotting, the dotting tool wasn’t in my bag. I went through it twice, I looked in other bags several times, and it was nowhere to be found. I ended up making all my dots with the end of an unwound paper clip. It definitely shows. While this isn’t some of my best handpainting, it’s not my worst, either. Actually, it may be my best. I’m awful at handpainting.

So, the polishes. Eurso Euro had a really weird smell, somewhat different from the usual OPI smell. Now that I think about it, I have a dark blue P2 crackle with the same weird smell. Do these dark blue pigments just smell differently, or what? It had really nice coverage, and was easy to work with, but that smell. I can’t get past it. The mint green Sally Hansen is an Insta-Dri, so of course it was opaque in one coat and ready to go right away. I didn’t use the P2 for much, other than the cherry on the top of the cupcake, but it’s probably just as nice to work with.

I think the glitter crelly, Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES!, kind of stole the show here. Yes, that’s butterfly glitter you see there, as well as stars in a couple different colors, squares, and hexes. It’s a limited edition polish from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer, and you only get it by ordering the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer-inspired collection. Holos aren’t really my style, so they felt bad for me and gave it to me anyway. It’s an excellent polish, and I kind of dislike how exclusive it is, because it’s the best one in the collection, in my opinion. If you want in on this or any of their other polishes (you do), here’s the link to the BEGL store.

I really hate typing on an iPad, so I guess I’ll end it here. See you guys when I get back from vacation!