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   >^. .^<

Fallen Behind

hello!
I haven't forgotten about painting the claws, but school life is taking priority over blogging for now. After I've got these four upcoming final exams out of the way, I have (at current count) four pretty colors to share with you. A couple purples, a brown, and a cool-toned multi-chrome. Hopefully later this week or over the weekend I'll be able to get caught up. Thank you for understanding!

Happy Scratches,
carakitty >^. .^<

Green!

Today I'm wearing Nicole by OPI in "Green Up Your Act!" I got it at Target. It caught my eye because I didn't think I had any greens like this in my stash and I like it because it has a Fall-like feel but it doesn't scream the season so it will probably appeal to the more traditional people who match their color to the season. Here it is in direct sunlight. Man, was this ever a funky bottle to get a good pose with!

It is dustier looking while indoors and I was noticing it coordinates nicely with one of my most used coffee cups!

 

 I used a different base coat this time, my old friend by CND (Creative Nail Designs) called "Stickey". There is two coats of "Green Up Your Act!" and my current favorite Poshe top coat. I like this color so I hope these products will play nice together.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Pardon the Interruption

I've not been painting as much this past week. I've had midterms to study for and there's been baseball to watch of course, and we got a dog! =)

Chief is a big (90 pounds!) Yellow Lab and a retired service dog. We already love him to bits and couldn't ask for a better dog. He assisted my mother in law for 5 years and he has our whole heartfelt gratitude for that and we only hope our repayment of hugs + kisses and lots of play time will tell him of our undying thanks.

My most recent mani is a franken I made. This is my favorite shot of it. I love gazing at it in the sun, the sparkles really pop and the redness comes out to play!

In the shade and inside it's mostly black. Do you have a color like this in your stash? What is it's name? That's all for now, hope to mew at you soon!

Happy Scratches,
carakitty  >^. .^<

Black with Purple Glitter

Wow, what an amazing title! ;) I did Wet n Wild "Black Creme" with Ruby Kisses "All Purpled Up". I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. Just wasn't in the mood for this sort of thing. I think I will do this again closer to Halloween and may like it more.

I am trying to decide between using this pose, or just using my thumb. I kind of like this one because it shows more angles of the polish which will be useful for things like multi-chromes and holos. What is your opinion?

The full mani was OPI Ridge Filler, one perfect coat of Wet n Wild "Black Creme", one generous coat of Ruby Kisses "All Purpled Up", and finished off with Poshe Fast Dry Top Coat.

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

Death and Rebirth

I've been amazed, my purple crackle mani lasted five whole days! It probably could have gone longer but a pick-fest set in. Here is one of the final pictures I took of the mani. The whole mani includes OPI Ridge Filling base coat, one coat of Finger Paints "Easel Come Easel Go", one coat of China Glaze "Fault Line" and one thick coat of inm Northern Lights Silver Hologram Top Coat.

Partly blurred to accentuate the holo glitter and cleverly posed to cover icky pointer claw.

The nail which got slammed in the door had accumulated enough new growth under the damaged part that the old nail started to really lift up last night so I trimmed off all the old icky stuff and am now in the process of nurturing and regrowing. This time, the nail lifted from the base of the nail and last time it was lifting at the tip. So I don't know how I'm going to handle future manis with this situation. There is a tiny little circle of workable nail at the tip and in the middle, but I think it will look really strange to paint it so I don't think I will. We shall see.

Right now the claws are nekkid but I'm thinking tonight they will get some China Glaze "Flying Dragon". There seems to be a purple kick going on with me right now. We're also going to a Rockies game on Friday evening and I want to show my spirit! I'll be wearing a purple, grey and white tie- dye tank top with black track pants and black sneakers. It's getting chillier in the evenings so I will need to figure out a sweater or something.

Happy Scratches!
(mew) carakitty   >^. .^<

Hopping on the Crackle Train

Maybe I won't be gone from blogging here after all. It turns out my thumbs are surviving the abuses of my life so they can be featured for swatch shots and there's new pretties in my stash. So I've decided to just stick with it despite these little snags that keep happening. I've also decided I probably won't limit myself to doing only dark colors. They are fun and still reign as my favorite colors to wear, but there are so many other pretties out there.

The first Crackle I have for you is the black crackle by Sally Hansen, "Ink" topped with an old China Glaze, "Mer-Maid In The Shade". Normally the crackle is supposed to be the top coat but I did use a base coat and was interested to see if there would be a different effect layering on top of the crackle.

China Glaze "Mer-Maid In The Shade" over Sally Hansen Crackle "Ink"

 It actually turned out pretty consistent with what I imagined it would. I didn't think the crackle would un-crackle or anything and I love layering with Mer-Maid In The Shade.

The next ride on the crackle train was interesting as well. I am learning a little more about these special effect polishes each time I use them and it seems like the best results are achieved with thin coverage and long brush strokes. My thumbs turned out the best and the nails with thick crackle coats turned out with the results not as noticable.

China Glaze "Fault Line" over Finger Paints "Easel Come Easel Go"

This time I did a base of Finger Paints "Easel Come Easel Go" and topped it with China Glaze "Fault Line". These crackles are fun! I have a credit at Target so I'm hoping to go back and get more pretties soon!

Happy Scratches!
(mew) carakitty   >^. .^<