October Claws (So Far)

I haven't been painting my nails as often as I thought I would be. The full time job thing takes up more time than I thought it would, plus I need to make time for the family as well. I do have a couple NOTDs to share with you though!

After my very last shift at Starbucks I went to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and they have an OPI display there so I checked it out just for fun. And ended up getting a celebratory polish! I picked up Jinx, from the Bond Girls collection in the Liquid Sand formula. I thought it was a pretty pumpkin shade and it reminded me of a fire which would be perfect if we had a decent fireplace in our home. The weather is getting cooler here and I am loving it!

OPI Jinx. First day, no top coat.

I decided to accent with a top coat on my ring finger and thumbs the day after I painted. Sally Hansen InstaDri in the red bottle is now my current favorite TC. I like the effect it had, but it didn't turn out well in the photographs I took. Top coating it made it shiny and smooth. The shade deepened by a couple notches and the glitter was brought out and looked more dimensional.

OPI Jinx day 2 and 2.5. Top coat on ring finger.

After two and a half days it started getting brittle and chippy so it got taken off.

Next was Zoya Austine. I was kind of sad because when I brought out my Anchor base coat to use with it there was an odd ring of the base coat dried on the plastic part of the brush. I will need to see which thinner is compatible with Zoya so I can put a little in there and get it mixed up and happy again. Despite using no base coat, this one stuck strongly on my nails. It looked nice for three days before it started to chip from front office abuse I gave it.

Zoya Austine with *gasp* non-Zoya TC! ;)

I currently am giving the Revlon Gel Envy a go. I decided to get Cardshark, a creme bubble gum pink shade because I feel like when I wear lighter shades I'm less inclined to pick at them. I did a quick but surprisingly clean swatch of it in my car before I ran the rest of my errands but I did not top coat it. So tomorrow I'm going to put on another coat of color to even things out and I'm also going to use the Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat.

My first impression of this stuff is pretty high! After I did my two swatch coats I drove in the car for about 10 minutes with the top open. When I had to dig through my purse and wallet and got out my card to pay for gas I didn't see a single ding or smudge! Amazeballz! Since there are gel components to this line of polish and top coat, I think the sunshine helped cure them extra well. Hopefully my finalization of this mani tomorrow will yield good results. If it does, I may have found my new Holy Grail of Polish. I've been debating on getting Shellac or something at the salon but if this looks nice for the work week then I'm going to get a couple more colors from this line!

Stay tuned for more from the Claw-Set at a later date, and my final thoughts on the Revlon Gel Envy...

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From The Claw-Set- All of 2014

Going through my hard drive it looks like 2014 must have been very busy for me at the coffee shop. I have no NOTDs on file until October! I broke out the China Glaze Ick-A-Body. I think I've worn this at least once every year since it joined my collection! It is just perfect for fall I guess =)

Admiring my sparklies in the sunshine!

Looks like you could use some thinner, Ick-A-Body.

It looks like in November I did OPI Merry Midnight with Zoya Chloe on top.

Look at all the pretty shimmery glittery flakey goodness!

In December I kept it simple with a bright, festive, quick drying red. Rimmel Passion. A wonderful one coat wonder and the line has sadly been discontinued *crocodile tears*

And we are done catching up with the Claw-Set! I have gotten to do my nails a few times in 2015 so I will gradually be featuring those too. Thanks for stopping by and i hope to see you soon!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From the Claw-Set: Part 2 of 2 for 2013!

Here's the rest of what I got to paint for 2013.

In June, I first played around with my Kiss Nail Art pen and did a traditional French Manicure which turned out pretty well, I think. I like the brush on those Kiss pens. It is long and thin and sweeps across the nail nicely.

Then I felt like doing a bright pink and OPI You're a Pisa Work fit the bill well.

OPI You're A Pisa Work in bright outdoor sunshine

OPI You're A Pisa Work, outdoor indirect sunshine

After that I did the purple China Glaze crackle polish with just my base coat underneath.

And that's all she wrote. That's it for what I got to do for my NOTDs in 2013! Thanks for looking, and if you would like to know any of the unidentified polishes let me know and I will gladly go to my stash and look them up!

 Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From the Claw-Set: Part 1 of 2 for 2013!

I hope you're enjoying seeing my oldies but goodies. Here are most of my nails that I took pictures of for 2013.

In January I got to use OPI Hollywood Blonde. It is a sheer, glittery champagne shade.

In February I got the chance to play around for Valentines Day so I did Rimmel Passion with Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Heart. That was from the Justin Bieber collection. I'm not a Bieber fan but I did like how part of the benefits from these polishes went to an educational charity.

In March I tried out Revlon Starry Eyed. This was supposedly a magnetic polish but I couldn't get it to work correctly. Maybe I'll give it another try soon.

April was Sally Hansen Deep Purple. I think I put this on for going to a Rockies game =)

In May I gave Zoya Lotus some love. I can't get over how pretty this is!

All righty, that's it for this post. I was able to do multiple manis in the upcoming months so I'll split this up because I think I've spammed you enough for now, LOL.

 Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From The Claw-Set: December 2012

Thanks for stopping by! Here are the NOTDs that I did way back in December of 2012.

First I did "Big Bang" from the Afterglow line by moodmania. I bought some moodmania polishes at a nail supply store while I was living in Hawaii. The store owners told me that it was an independent company. I haven't seen this brand anywhere but that little shop I used to frequent. Big Bang is multi chromatic. It shifts from forest green with gold shimmer to a dark teal. I knew it wasn't going to be able to stay on my nails for very long so some of the pics I took were before it got cleaned up. Here are all my shots of it!

Then I was able to do my nails again later in the month and went for a fun, Advent Wreath inspired design. Off the top of my head I believe the colors I used were Orly Sterling Silver Rose, China Glaze Cleopatra, Orly Charged Up, and Sally Hansen Polar Bare.

Thanks for looking! I'd love to hear your comments too! Stay tuned for more archives...

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

I'm Back!

After almost two years of working at Starbucks I found a new job after I had been looking for several months. Now I have been hired as a receptionist at a Veterinary Office and not only do I get to see people's doggies and sometimes kitties, but I am allowed to have my nails done while working! So I am re-launching this blog!

I am composing this post on my tablet and don't have any of my usual pictures on it so hopefully tomorrow I can remember to get on my computer and give you some Claw-Set spam. :) I have been pretty excited to do regular painting again and just wanted to let you know!

Stay tuned and Happy Scratches
>^. .^< carakitty >^. .^<