Completely Different!

I am wearing a traditional pink and white French Manicure. This is so scary to me that it seems appropriate to turn back time to Halloween so the fright can be better justified. Just kidding! I was pretty much double dog dared into it when I had my Coffee and Colors get together and I've got these nice little nail art pens now so why the heck not? I've tried to do freehand french manis before, with disastrous results. I think this one, and the experiment with the black, turned out pretty nicely. Well, aside from the Revlon Vixen pedi bleeding onto the Poshe brush and streaking up these colors. I still need to work on making sure I don't glop on the lines too thick, but these long and skinny little brushes are worlds easier to use for a clean looking tip than the regular brushes, which is what was used for past attempts.

OPI "Pink-ing of You" indirect sunlight

For this French I used the Kiss Nail Art Paint pen in "White" and OPI "Pink-ing of You". The "White" seems streakier than the "Black" but the brush quality and function are still the same. The OPI color "Pink-ing of You" is featured in their core Soft Shades collection, and is a sheer petal pink. It did apply a little streaky. If visable nail line bothers you, it does look nice over pure white so you could layer it over that. If your skin tone is warmer it might look good over something like "Samoan Sand" or "At First Sight" as well. Both of those are by OPI, but I don't have them. I do have "Dulce de Leche" but I fear it's discontinued now because I didn't see it on their site and I don't want to suggest something if it can't be found any more.

Lit with flash

What do you think about these soft and natural looking claws? Shall I continue playing around with the French tips? I do have one more of the Kiss pens, in Silver Glitter. I also found an extra, skinny, eyeliner brush which is being donated to my nail tools supply. I did a quick tip with the sacrificial brush and it seems small enough to work well for free handing with the other colors in my stash.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Blue Mosaic and a Realization

I don't know what it is lately, but a mani on isn't on for much more than one full day. Call it short attention span, blame it on getting chips, it probably boils down to a bunch of things! My last color was Revlon "Blue Mosaic". It is small round sky blue glitter with large sky blue, silver and green hexagonal glitter in a clear base. It is packed pretty well, achieving almost full opacity with two coats. I knew there were going to be some clear spots on the nail from looking at the base so I did black tips underneath with one of my new Kiss Nail Art Paint pens. It was shockingly easy to use! At first the long brush scared me but then I found that it flicks into a nice line as long as there's not too much paint on the brush. It didn't show up as much as I had thought it would through "Blue Mosaic", which surprised me a bit. Fate had it that I got a chip on my ring finger, so I covered it up by putting some more black tip on top and it looked nicer with the black on top.

Revlon "Blue Mosaic" in sunshine with my apologies for dried out skin!

I had the opportunity to meet up with my wonderful Coffee and Colors friend again. This is our third time getting together and every time has been so much fun! The tradition is that we chat over coffee or tea at Caribou until we can't hold back the inevitable any longer then head over to Ulta, and usually finish off at Ross. We try not to spend too much while out, but we are both quite good at playing the innocent "Who, me? Enable?" role! I remembered to shoot our manis, and M is kind enough to let me share them both with you! Hers is Orly "Liquid Vinyl" (her go-to black) and one coat of Wet n Wild "Diamond in the Rough" which is part of the Ice Baby collection.

Camaraderie and Colors!

The 'realization' mentioned in the title wasn't hinting at the problem I seem to have with keeping my mani's on. I have realized that I don't like glitters all that much. Particularly large or sparsely distributed ones. Which is kind of depressing at the moment because it seems like /everyone/ has glitters for most or all of their new collections. It seems like there isn't much variety out right now and I'm not feeling excited about lots of this new stuff being released by nail polish companies. But my wallet points out that on the bright side, I'm not having a lemming baby boom either! So, most of the glitters in my stash are tucked away into an open box designated as 'overflow' and this is going to be a time for me to encourage myself to try new things!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Always Amber

Here are my current claws! An old Revlon ColorStay called "Always Amber"

Sunshine with over-eager flash

What on Earth am I holding, you ask? Why, it is a decorative gourd I bought last month and it's been holding up rather well but the shellac that was applied to it is wearing off and now the gourds are getting mushy. =( Hopefully my grocery store is still stocking them because they are perfect for my Autumn decorating!

Back to the polish, now. I tried to stick to the bottle instructions so there is no base coat here, two coats of color and I couldn't bring myself to cheat on my Poshe top coat so I'm using that instead of the ColorStay Sealant. I love how this color applied. The formula was just the right thickness so it was easy to place on the nail. Perfectly opaque in two coats. It's been a whole day and not even a hint of a chip or tip wear!

Revlon "Always Amber" in natural sun

This color is making me very happy! It glows in the sun and satisfied my craving for a good Autumn color. I'm hoping it lasts for at least a couple days because it is so beautiful, but I'm also excited to try out one of my untried polishes.

I'm off to Walgreens now, because a little bird told me that there's a 15% off sale, today only. I don't plan on buying anything but one never knows what will happen when there's cash in my wallet! ;)

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Black and Sacred Heart

This was another one of my short-lived manis. It didn't end up turning out how I expected it would, but was still nice while it lasted. I put on one coat of Wet n Wild "Black Creme" and two (I think) coats of China Glaze "Sacred Heart" and while it was fresh, it was a perfect blackened red shade but then several hours later it looked more brown than red and it promptly died after being assaulted by the dirty dishes! So here is my one little picture of it.

Wet n Wild "Black Creme" with China Glaze "Sacred Heart" in the sun.

I cropped out the rest of it because I'm not happy with how the clean up turned out. I was in a bit of a rush and tried doing my brush and acetone routine before the mani was all dry and ended up getting a rotten stained mess. Live and learn, especially with Vampies!

And now, on to the current claws!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Halloween Claws!

For Halloween this year I was a Black Cat again, which is a repeating theme around here =) I was going to do blood red claws but at the last moment decided I wanted to do something 'fun' so I did a tribute to Jack O Lanterns to the best of my ability.

I used China Glaze "It's Alive" as the accent nail (the stem). On the others I did a combo of OPI "Don't Be Koi With Me" and the China Glaze Crackle Glaze in "Black Mesh". I really liked it and wish it hadn't chipped so fast, it was on less than 24 hours!

Halloween Mani indoor lights with flash (and cat tail)

And that was the last of my October claws! Hope you enjoyed them!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Quick Flight of Owl's Night

Here is my last purchase from the L'Oreal "Colors Take Flight" collection. Owl's Night is an almost black, brown base with near metallic mossy golden shimmer. I honestly don't have anything like it in my collection. Here is what it looked like on me.

L'Oreal Owl's Night, Sunlight

I wore this for two days (19th-21st of October) and, sadly, got a pretty bad dose of tip wear. But other than that, it was a fantastic polish. The application was smooth and it was opaque in two coats. If I was better about my brush handling skills I might have gotten away with one coat, even.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Cockatoo's Mystery

I have catching up to do, again. Life just seems to get in the way sometimes, doesn't it? There are five colors to show you, so hopefully I will be able to have them all caught up very soon.

First I will share with you one of the other L'Oreal lacquers in the "Colors Take Flight" collection from a while ago. This one is Cockatoo's Mystery, which I wore from the 17th- 19th of October. I can see eye to eye with L'Oreal on this one! Those beautiful birds are a mystery to me, and describing the color is a bit of a challenge for me, too. Here it is in the afternoon sun. I will call it a medium toned shade of putty.

L'Oreal Cockatoo's Mystery, sunshine

Just for fun I tried to 'pose' with my Baby, but she is a bit camera shy and is particularly afraid of the flash. It makes her scream most of the time, so I opted to turn it off. She isn't the bird in the video I linked to, but it is a good example of how loud these birds can be! The lighting is somewhat dark here but you can see what this color looks like indoors.

Baby the Umbrella Cockatoo and L'Oreal Cockatoo's Mystery

When we welcomed Baby into our family I didn't fully understand what I was getting us into. If you think birds are cute, they can be, but they also need quite a bit of attention and before getting a bird do your research! (Link will open in new window. PLEASE read it if you are considering any sort of Cockatoo or other large bird) I have to admit, if I had read about Umbrella 'Toos more before hand, I probably would not have agreed to having Baby come live with us. I don't think we (but mostly me) are the greatest of match for her. But, what's been done is done and now I need to be the best Bird Mom I can be.

Next I will be showing you the other "Colors Take Flight" lacquer I got, Owl's Night.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Facets of Fuschia was pretty while it lasted

Yesterday I gave my girl a mani. Her Ruby Kisses "All Purpled Up" was all tuckered out! I admit, I was a bit jealous. I wish I could paint my own nails as nicely as I was able to do hers.

My daughter and her OPI "All That Razz-Berry"

While we were waiting for her nails to dry, I did my own with Revlon "Facets of Fuschia". I forgot my base coat, did three quick + thick coats, and topped it with Poshe.

Revlon "Facets of Fuchsia"

Sadly, I wasn't 100% happy with the formula on this. It seemed thin and streaky and wasn't as opaque as I thought it would be. A couple hours after applying I dinged one of my fingers while putting on the lid of the crock pot and began to pick. The polish had never completely dried. It was still soft and squishy and sludged off when I picked at it rather than coming off in chips.

In total this color was on my tips for maybe five hours. I do like the color over all so I will likely give it another shot sometime.

"Facets of Fuchsia" in natural sun

Today is cold and grey and my nails will likely be painted in attempt to match the skies.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

pink and black and some wisdom

Hello! Recently I started my day listening to Joy Division. I took my girl to school and upon returning home I started listening to the Pandora 80's Alternative station while doing my mani. This is the colorful creation which flowed as a result...

It is OPI Ridge Filling base coat, an old Revlon called "Strawberry Electric" followed by the black China Glaze crackle polish with one more coat of Strawberry Electric on top and Poshe to seal and dry it all. I wasn't expecting this to end up on my nails based on the mood I was in when I woke up but it ended up making me happy.

I really wish I could get together with the creative director of the L'oreal and Project Runway "Colors Take Flight" collection. I don't have a problem with basing a color collection around birds, but I am completely baffled as to how they can view a Cockatoo as charming, sophisticated, and enchanting. I haven't met a single Cockatoo yet who I would describe with those words! I would be more inclined to describe my cockatoo as audacious, which they have used for an Amazon. Regardless of that I still bought both nail colors of the Cockatoo palette just because I have a Cockatoo. Some may color me silly for that but I don't care!

L'Oreal Cockatoo's Wisdom, direct sunlight

With Cockatoo's Wisdom, I used two coats of the color and I absolutely loved the application on it! Very smooth, even coverage and nearly opaque in one coat. I also have Cockatoo's Mystery to try out.

Cockatoo's Wisdom and a cockatoo feather!

I loved the formula on this color so much that I'm wanting to go back and get the "Owl's Night" nail color. The online bottle pictures I've seen didn't impress me but I seem to have become infatuated with it since spying it in person. It is a near black base with metallic golden bronze shimmer which has a slight hint of green.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Hello, October! - Suzi Says Da!

The weather here had a cool spell, enough to make the trees start changing their leaves. It has warmed up again, but I'm sufficiently in the Fall Spirit! I decided to wear OPI Suzi Says Da!. I have mentioned it before and felt it was time to bring it out again. It is a deep chocolate brown creme. Released with the Russia Collection of 2007, it has the updates on 3-Free formula and the brush is the "Pro Wide" style.

OPI "Suzi Says Da!" bright sunlight

I had no problems with the formula. I did my usual routine of OPI Ridge Filler Base coat and two average coats of the color on top of that with Poshe top coat. It stayed on for two days before it got a miniscule chip then I started picking at it so it was removed.

Indirect light

This was a very nice color to wear. Although black is my first love, brown has a special place in my heart too. Something about it seems comforting. This shade reminds me of coffee, chocolate, and the deep brown eyes of a Labrador Retriever. It was fun to pose with the dead leaves too!

OPI "Suzi Says Da!" in the shade

As I'm writing, my nails are naked. Tonight I hope to try out one of my new L'Oreal colors. The "Colors Take Flight" collection caught my eye, and I've got a bit to say about it!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<