Caught Up!

I'm almost always behind on logging my polish supply purchases, and I only log the glitter/pigments that I buy.  I need to inventory the bottles, caps, beads, and brushes as well, but I will start on that after, and only after, I get completely caught up with the glitter.  As the title states I'm caught up, but only almost.  I'm expecting one more shipment of glitter before the end of the year, and once it arrives and gets logged, I'll start on getting the rest of my supplies and products in order.

My most recent glitter purchase was supposed to arrive Saturday, and of course it didn't.  It didn't come in today's mail, either, which is a complete letdown, but if the USPS is unreliable on regular days, around the holidays you can count on it to be about seven times MORE unreliable, so it's a disappointment but in no way a surprise.  I was supposed to get at least another package in the mail today, as well, and it's not here either.  Rounding out the rest of the orders I have coming in for 2014 is three four shipments of nail polish from assorted vendors, and then I honestly think that's it, for polish, for me, for a VERY long time.

It doesn't help that I'm still getting settled into the house (I've unpacked/unboxed about 1/3 of what I need to unpack), but I can't expect to be all situated overnight.  Even the moving company gives us sixty days to file a claim because they know how long unpacking takes.  But I digress.  I no longer have the HUGE loft I was working with at my last house, and this time, I only have a small spare bedroom to serve as my studio and office, so getting it into order will be a challenge, but I'm up for it.  Once I can get my workspace figured out (which I plan to do before the year is out) then things will start to fall into place on their own.

I meant what I said about not buying as much nail polish anymore.  I have SO many--I mean, SO many untried polishes and I need to wear them, as many of them as possible, before investing in more.

Some nail polish bloggers log all of their nail polish.  I haven't done this and don't plan to do it for several reasons, the main one of which is because I honestly believe it would take forever.  I have so. Much. Polish.  But I'm going to slow down.  This time next year I plan to have the same amount!


A ban?  Maybe.  Probably.  More like a moratorium, I guess.  We'll see.

Red and Sparkly

One of my favorite types of glitter topcoats to make is holo glitter, especially if it's multi-colored.  In my opinion, it looks good with ANY color underneath.

This is my go-to red, Revlon Red.  The glitter mixture is assorted sizes of tiny hex glitter in metallic and holo colors!

I also had Revlon Red and this multi-holo glitter applied to my toes yesterday during my pedicure.  The technician said it looks just like Christmas!

 

Speaking of which, the next time I post, I hope to have some true Christmas creations to show!

Reunited...and it Feels So Good!

The movers are here right now--they're delivering our possessions to our new home.

This means that I get to have, look at, and play with all of my nail polish again!

Of course, everything is still boxed away as I type, and some of the boxes I can't even get to, there are so many of them, but I'll be spending the next few days unpacking polish (as I locate the boxes, we had over 16,000 lbs of household goods and I'm sure my polish alone weighed HUNDREDS of pounds, so you can imagine how many boxes that is) and deciding which ones to wear next.

I've bought polish over the past few weeks--probably more bottles than I needed to.  But I take that back--you can never have too much polish!

I also have two shipments of glitter coming in from two different sellers, as well as more suspension base (which I also ordered during a Black Friday sale on Etsy)!

I think I'm good on bottles, for now, but pretty soon I'll need to order more empties, as I will have over a gallon of suspension base which will call for way more bottles than I have now.

Neutral + Sparkle!

Sometimes I like to wear a very understated color on my nails, but I still want them to sparkle.  This is where neutrals come in!  I don't wear neutrals often, but when I do I find they make an excellent background color for many glitters.  In this case, it's a holographic metallic chunky glitter topcoat I made several months ago.

The neutral--which is, of course, too light for my skin tone to be a true nude--is Brain Power by Formula X for Sephora.  I really like this color, and the Formula X line is a new and increasing favorite of mine as well.  I've mentioned that glitter typically peels off my nails in whole pieces, but this never happens when I use "The Formula."  Sephora has developed a set that works with their Formula X polishes, and the set consists of a nail prep/cleaner, a base coat, a color of your choice (complimentary), and a top coat.  I use my glitter topcoat after the nail color and before the Formula X topcoat, and it wears...and wears...and wears.  I don't have to worry about chipping or the polish peeling off!  I usually have one set in use and a backup; this is the backup (less the bonus polish, in this set it was a color called Extreme)

This is certainly one solution if you find that glitter manicures peel from your nails all too easily!

New Summery Multi-Dot Topcoats

I've been making topcoats where all the glitter is the same size and shape for a while now (such as my homage to Minnie Style).  However, I've been seeing more and more of these polishes available commercial nail polish companies lately.  I have even purchased a few from Ciaté, Hard Candy, and Finger Paints.  However, it's always more fun and fulfilling for me to make my own!

This weekend I wanted to explore bright, summery colors.  As shown below, the polish with smaller glitter has red, hot pink, yellow, light orange, light blue, and light green hexes.  The polish with the larger glitter contains bright red, light blue, light green, pale green, yellow, and light yellow hexes.  Both are so pretty, and I've already worn them both!

In fact, right now, I'm wearing the one on the left.

This one was relatively easy to apply, and since I changed suspension base brands a couple months ago, I was able to get a good amount of glitter on the brush at once.  As a result, what is pictured is one coat over a reddish-orange L.A. Girl Disco Brites polish.

Happy Easter

Since I was in the creative mood recently, I made four polishes for Easter.  Actually, I've designed six total, but I've only labeled and photographed four of them. 

I call them Psychadeleaster, Bouquet of the Day, Pastel Prayer, and Easter's Peach.

 

When I was a kid, my mom would always see to it that I be assigned and memorize an Easter speech, which was usually just a resurrection-themed poem.  I added peach, pink, iridescent, and holo glitters and made a pun!  It looks like I added dark/black glitter to this one, but that's actually tiny sky-blue holographic squares that, of course, didn't photograph too well.

Bouquet of the Day is made with assorted shapes and shades of tiny pink and white matte, satin, and holo glitter, as well as large neon and soft pink flower shapes.

Pastel Prayer consists of tiny blue hex, larger yellow yellow hex, green circles, and pink shreds--all in pastel shades of matte glitter.

 

I think Psychadeleaster is my favorite, but that's because I'm a fan of bold, bright colors.  It has black, white, and neon pink matte bar glitter, white diamond glitter, and various tiny neon and pastel matte glitters!

 

I made these last week, and I've worn both Pastel Prayer and Psychadeleaster already.  I hope to be able to try Easter's Peach and Bouquet of the Day soon!

Calling Myself Out!

I'd been keeping track of all the glitter I buy, but I'd slacked off on keeping an inventory.  So this weekend I sat down and, over a course of three different sittings, logged my last FOUR glitter hauls.

When I finished, I realized I have over 300 unique types of glitter.

At this point I need to slow down.  I had asked for a custom listing from an Etsy glitter seller last week, and as of yet, I haven't heard anything from this store owner, and I'm taking that as a sign that I don't need to buy anything else, since this seller usually follows up relatively quickly.

I'm at the point where I have way more glitter than I do bottles to put it in and base to mix it with.  Because I tend to buy in spurts--this month I might buy glitter, the next month I might buy bottles, and then I might not buy anything else again for MONTHS--I'll more than likely hold off on getting any more glitter for a few months.  What I want to do is try to at least use up all my inventory of bottles and base, but I have to be honest with myself: that will be a challenge.  I'm iffy about sitting down and forcing myself to blend, and then swatch, and then photograph, but I still like to do those things.  I just haven't been doing them as much lately.

I'm also iffy with manicures as of late.  Whole days will go by where I might not change my polish lately, and that used to almost NEVER happen.  Yet, I've got some ideas for manicures inspired by other fingertips I've seen around the Internet, so I've been making notes.  I did two mini polishes yesterday inspired my my ideas, and I plan to do a couple more to complete the "set."

Also, I've been getting interested in stamping again.  I was doing it pretty heavily about five or six years ago.  I had, over a period of years, bought a lot of Konad plates and polishes.  But I slowly lost interest.  I kept all the stuff, so that's good.  I'll have to play around with stamping more.  I recently ordered new plates and I can't wait to use them.

I've also found myself interested in decals.  But in typical "me" fashion, I don't want to buy decals that others are selling, so I decided to order some inkjet water slide decal paper and make my own decals.  That should arrive in the next week or so, along with my plates. 

I can't believe it's already March.  It doesn't seem like four months ago that I posted last, but I guess it has been.  Time really flies, but I do hope to update more frequently going forward.

My next step as far as all this nail-stuff is concerned is getting organized.  I'm to the point where I have way too much glitter to keep it in two cardboard boxes.  I need to devise some kind of system for them.

Time Flies!

I know it's been months since I've updated.  So much has been going on!  Back in July I traveled to Montreal, and spent a short while recovering from that trip before moving onto my next venture in August, which consisted of running back and forth between cities in an attempt to land a spot on a television show.  We eventually got to tape the show, but more on that later!  Maybe.

Last week I designed a few more topcoats; pictures and swatches coming soon.  Also, I have bought almost three dozen new types of glitter, the most recent of which arrived in the mail yesterday, and I'm looking forward to incorporating them into new creations.

Stay tuned!

Living My Life Like It's Golden

This is a gorgeous selfie, a topcoat with assorted yellow and gold glitters.  I also made a smaller version with a shimmer base; the large size has a clear base.

This is over a yellow creme by Ruby Kisses.  I like this.  A LOT!

Again, I just LOVE bright colors on my skin.  This is a winner, a definite keeper.

I wish I could always be inspired to make something so pretty!

Pink and Blue Mani

I like this look...it's a pink and blue mani with an accent nail.  The topper is a selfie of course, one of my favorites, whose pictures do NOT do it justice.  It's a fun, confetti look.  One of these days when I'm not using an iPhone as a camera, I'll take a GOOD picture of this topcoat so I can show it off.  I use it so much that I guess it deserves better representation!

This is with and without flash.  The blue is one of my Disco Brites (one of my favorite collections of all time) and the pink, I'm pretty sure, is Ruby Kisses Pink Flamingo.

Valentine's Day Manicure

I decided to go with a foil look in various shades of red and pink foil and nail polish.  This is over an unknown Color Club:

One thing I have to say is that foil wears away very easily.  While it's a cinch to remove with regular nail polish remover, if you do a lot with your hands, you'll find you won't need nail polish for it to come off.  I'm always typing, or washing dishes, or washing my hands, so a lot of times manicures are very short-lived on me, but I don't mind.  With all the nail stuff I have in my stash, I NEED an excuse to change my manicure every single day!

Another Foil Look

Another foil manicure with a matte topcoat.

I have quite a few different matte topcoats.  I don't know why I use them more.  They look great over glittery polish as well.

Very Pink-ish

I don't have a name for this one, but it's made of several types of glitter.

Swatched with Revlon Sugar Glaze:

I like!

So I liked the blue and white so much that I just had to add more Milani Gems to a couple more bottles of clear shimmer/glitter nail polish.

Here they are, in all of their beauty:

I just like glittery opaques so much.  In a way, these remind me of the glitter-based pink polishes like Lippmann Candy Shop (which I own one of) and Claire's, well, Candy Shop (and I have two bottles of this).  Here is a side by side of my glitter-based green with Claire's Candy Shop:

Mine on the right, of course.

My green (like the blue, yellow, and white) doesn't have as much glitter as Candy Shop.  I mentioned before that since I'm using Milani Gems to franken with, I can only get so much glitter density.

I hear, however, that there are places where I can buy glitter that works in nail polish.  It's special and solvent resistant.  I tried sometime last year making my own glitter nail polish with glitter that I bought at Michael's, and while it looked nice for about an hour, it soon turned into a mess.  So I'll buy nail-polish safe glitter and see what I can do with it!

For the past week or so, I've been going polish crazy! I'm going through some personal things, and my nerves are kind of bad, so I guess buying nail polish is a way that I've been trying to soothe them. My Sally's haul consists of China Glaze's Purple Panic, 3 bottles of China Glaze Matte Magic, China Glaze's Celtic Sun (neon), Seche Vite fast dry, and Orly matte topcoat for males. I took the Orly back, as I read on some other blogs that it is not as matte as Matte Magic, and I got three more Matte Magics in its place, since these were on sale for just $1.99. Later this week I went back and bought an additional three more Matte Magics for the same price at Sally's, and I have eight in all now. I'm sure I will have matte polish long after the trend has ended!

On Wednesday, I went to Walgreens and took advantage of a sale that had on Sally Hansen polish. I bought six; they were buy one (at roughly $2.80) and get the second half off! I couldn't resist, and bought: Rockstar Pink, a ton of what seems to be pink, blue, and silver glitter in a clear polish
Lime Lights, a pearlescent pale green
Celeb City, a smooth, shimmery metallic silver
Sun Kissed, a bright orange creme
Red Carpet, red glitter in red polish
Shooting Star, blue, silver, and purple glitter in a transparent blue polish

I wore Rockstar Pink over China Glaze Shower Together a few days ago. It was, IMO, gorgeous:



I picked up these polishes two days ago. I'm really feeling the chunky glitter movement.



This picture turned out tinier than I expected. All of these polishes with the exception of four were only one dollar each. They are, left to right:
Love My Nails Pretty in Pink, tiny pink and large pink hex glitter in a clear polish
Love My Nails Angel Baby, tiny and small iridescent colored glitter in a clear polish
Love My Nails Crazy For You, large red heart glitter in a clear polish
Love My Nails Glory, red and blue thin bar glitter and large silver star glitter in clear polish
Hard Candy Break Up, silver hex glitter in a frosted clear polish
Love My Nails Pink Surprise, fine iridescent glitter, larger silver hex and diamond glitter in a yellow tinted clear polish
Love My Nails Cosmos, fine iridescent glitter and large silver star glitter in a clear polish
Love My Nails All That, tiny glitter and larger square glitter in a purple tinted, clear polish
N.Y.C. Starry Silver Glitter, fine, dense, silver glitter and larger round blue and purple glitter in a clear polish
Sally Hansen Emerald City, deep green shimmer
Sally Hansen Wet Cement, gray-beige creme
Sally Hansen VIP Pink, fine pink glitter in a pink "jelly" polish

Quite a haul this past week!

Yesterday, I wanted to have some fun with my newest chunky glitter topcoats. So I painted my nails with Solar Power by China Glaze, and I topped them with two coats of Pink Surprise, which has tiny glitter and larger, round glitter pieces. The finished look was:



The picture ended up a bit blurrier than I would have liked. But I think the large glitter pieces look great with the smaller glitter infusion on that bold, bright yellow. I'm really into colors that just pop against my skin color, so I really like this! It was fun to wear.

That's all for now. I'm working on getting my polish collection in order, still. I have long way to go, but I'll be back soon, doing more looks.