More September NOTD's

After the glitz overload I just experienced it was time for a nice creme for fall. This is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Plum Luck.

Perhaps deep down I'm a glitter addict. I had thought that I didn't want any more sparkles for a while and then that new China Glaze "It's Alive" was calling my name.  I like it so much that I'm sharing two of the pictures I took of it, with slightly different lighting.

Cool light

I was thinking about repeating this one for Halloween night because I thought I was going to be a Witch to go with my daughter's Cat ensemble, but then she told me that I should be her Mama Cat instead.

Warm light

That's all I have to show you for now. My claws are currently naked. This week I'm going to be doing the job application submitting process so if they do get painted it will be with something 'work safe'. Thankfully I have a decent amount of pale neutrals and sheers. I won't like it but I will use them anyway, most likely! I always feel more complete when my claws are covered too.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Early September NOTDs

On the 2nd day of the month I chose Rimmel "Passion" with the black China Glaze Crackle polish, then essie "Matte About You" on top. It was quite a disappointment because this started chipping badly after less than a full day of wear, and I wasn't even being mean to my hands!

Took this in my car with the cell phone!

On the 9th I did Wet n WIld "Black Creme" with Ulta "Pinata Yada Yada" on top. It somewhat reflected my mood because I was glad that final exams were over, but I was also upset because I didn't get the grades I was aiming for.

Direct morning sun light

The Orly "Birds of a Feather" collection hype got to me and on the 11th I put on the twin for "Fowl Play", which is reported to be OPI "Merry Midnight".

Evening sun light

After my "Coffee and Colors" meet up I couldn't wait to try out my new pretties! The first one, on the 15th, was Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Purple Pizzaz". What a lovely jelly finish this is! Sadly, I'm never quite happy with the application of Sally Hansen polishes.

Afternoon sun light

After a couple days there were getting to be chips and tip wear but I wasn't ready to let go of the pizzazz yet! So, on the 18th, I removed the polish from the yucky looking nails and conveniently it turned out to be every other one! The newly naked nails got two coats of Finger Paints "Easel Come Easel Go" and the remaining purples got a refresher top coat with inm "Northern Lights Silver Hologram" top coat.

Morning sun light

It was time to switch things up, but the silver was still looking good so I decided to leave it on. The alternating fingers got painted with another of my new pretties, Icing "Epic Winning". It is a very sparkly shade with tons of royal blue and silver hologram glitter of a medium size. That Monday the 19th just couldn't take all the brightness though and this pretty mani came off before the sun was even high in the sky.

Morning sun light

Coming up soon I have the last two of my newest colors which are a deep plum and one from a Halloween Collection...

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Meet Up and Mini Haul

Hello from drizzle ville! So glad I don't have any urgent swatches to shoot because the weather out there is saying "NO WAY"! Yesterday I met up with my lovely friend M for "Coffee and Colors". We got to Caribu and neither one of us ended up with coffee in our cups! She got a heavenly fragrant Cinnamon tea and I got the "Apple Blast", a delicious concoction of apple cider, caramel, and whipped cream. The day was chilly and it felt so wonderfully autumnal! She gifted me with a bottle of Sally Hansen "Purple Pizzazz" and Icing "Epic Winning". You can click on all my pictures to make them bigger.

I know what I'm wearing on my tips for going to our next Rockies game! ;)

After we finished our drinks we went over to Ulta for our colors fix. I got myself this year's edition of Wet n Wild "Black Magic", China Glaze "It's Alive!" and Sally Hansen "Plum Luck", which I got as a back up for a discontinued Estee Lauder polish called "Naughty". I plan to use "Naughty" with another color to franken a new version of a color I wasn't so pleased with long ago. 

Flash and indirect sun

I can't wait to try "It's Alive" but am less than impressed by this year's "Black Magic" and plan to exchange it for something else. In the bottle there's some orange shimmer or micro glitter but unless you look closely in bright light, you can't see it on the nail. Here are pictures of it with and without flash so you can have a look.

Wet n Wild "Black Magic" with flash

Wet n Wild "Black Magic" no flash, indirect light

Currently on my tips is OPI "Merry Midnight" with an accent layer of Sally Hansen "Hidden Treasure" on the thumbs and ring fingers. I think it is so pretty but it will have to come off soon. It got applied on the 11th and is definitely showing signs of growth and general wear. The left pinky actually does have "Black Magic" on it because I removed the polish on that one due to a monstrous chip and the desire to test swatch.

In the shade. Merry Midnight and Hidden Treasure accent layer.

Perhaps tonight it will all come off and there will be a late night mini haul swatch spree shot under the funky basement lights? Stay tuned...

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Catching Up!

Oh my, so many manis to share with you! School is over for me for a few months though and I am happy to be on a long break. I plan to get a part time job over the holidays possibly through until Valentine's Day.

After I had Green Up Your Act! on for a couple days, I did a purple layering combo. I love purple and we went to another Rockies game. =) The base color was China Glaze Flying Dragon which I did one coat of, and the top was two coats of Ruby Kisses All Purpled Up. I wish I would have done two coats of Flying Dragon for better color saturation but over all I really liked this mani! Here is the picture I took of it in direct sunlight.

 

Next was another purple, this time it was Deep Purple by Sally Hansen, in the Xtreme Wear line. I wish I could have sat with my hands under a magnifying glass while wearing this one! I loved the shimmery orchid base with the blue and pink micro shimmer sprinkled through it. This picture was taken in direct sunlight.

I was inspecting my slammed nail, which you can see here, and decided that pretty soon I'd be ready to paint it again. It still needed a bit more length to make evening out the surface easier. Adding Biotin back into my vitamin regime seems to be helping, and I'm being better about remembering to moisturize my cuticles. That slammed one gets a couple extra treatments per day usually, and I hope that helps.

Time for a palette cleanser! I still haven't tried some of the colors my dear Mama bought me when she visited with my Dad in July. It was time for a Coffee Break from Orly. My coffee isn't usually this light though. I still liked the color very much. It's name will be filed away for a day when I need an interview friendly, conservative type color to wear. Here is a shot of it with direct sun.

Whew! Almost done for the August manis! Last one I did that month was an old but beautiful OPI called Glacier Bay Blues. They made this one way back before blues and greens were all the rage and I am pretty happy I got my hands on a bottle of it, I recieved it in a swap with a member of the Make Up Alley Nail Board. I wasn't so happy with the application of this. Maybe it's thinned out with age, or maybe that is just how OPI made their polish back then but the thin consistancy really came out when looking at the color in bright light. This is two coats of color with my on camera flash.

There are so many pretty cool toned colored that show up with Glacier Bay Blues! At some angles it is navy, some angles it's almost purple, and others it is a foresty teal green. Here are a couple more pictures. This is in plain sun:

Here it is, also in sun, showing it's green side:

This really needs to be worn again so better shots can be taken. I could have sworn that I already had better pictures of this in my archives but I looked through all my old shots, by hand, and couldn't find anything!

OK, that is all for now. When I next post, you will get to see the September manis that I've done so far. There will be three or four to share. Thanks for reading this monster post!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<