Grey-Blue Gradient

Happy Memorial Day! If you're American, be sure to take today as an opportunity both to honor the courage of those who serve in our military...and to eat some great food. :) If you're not American, then happy Monday! Today I have my next-to-last National Brain Tumor Awareness Month grey mani, and my next-to-last fact: "As many as 69% of children with brain tumors will survive, but they are often left with long-term side effects." - Miles For Hope My mani for today is, as I'm sure you deduced from the title, another gradient. This time, I used OPI Skull & Glossbones for the grey, American Apparel Peacock for the blue, and different mixes of the two for the colors in between. I finished it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for the top coat.

indoors, artificial light

I took pictures of my right hand this time because I thought it looked better than my left, and I am incapable of holding a nail polish bottle in an appropriate picture-taking pose with my right hand, so you just get those three fingers today. Later in my mani's lifespan, as I often do, I added some crackle - in this case, I used Sally Hansen Fracture Foil.

indoors, artificial light

It looked much cooler in real life, I assure you, but my camera was so distracted by the shininess of the silver that it didn't do such a great job at picking up on everything else. I imagine gold, white or black crackle would also look very cool over this. Until tomorrow!

American Apparel Dynasty

American Apparel Dynasty is a lovely mauve-y, dusty purple creme. The only similar polish I have is Nina Ultra Pro Sweet Nothings, but they're not dupes by any means. This was two coats without top coat or any cleanup - as you can see, it applied very nicely and is quite shiny on its own.

indoors, artificial light

I have a feeling I will definitely be wearing this more this spring...I think this would be a great base for some floral nail art or Konading. I do have some Viva La Nails decals that I haven't used yet, so maybe that will happen someday. I have way too many manis on my to-do list!

American Apparel Butter

The first American Apparel polish I tried, Peacock, applied like butter. Butter, funnily enough, does not apply like butter. This wasn't really surprising to me, as yellows are notorious for having iffy formulas, but it's still a bit disappointing. It's not completely terrible, but the polish was fairly thick and streaky, and while I only used two thick (because I couldn't get it to be anything but thick) coats, a couple fingers on my right hand could have used a third. On the other hand, it's a very pretty pale yellow creme, and I'm not at all sorry to have it in my collection. I slapped this on right before going to bed, so there are a couple blanket prints, but they're not that noticeable, and I think the fact that they are so minor is a tribute to Orly In a Snap, which is the top coat I used this time.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight 

(It was sunny all day today! I could hardly believe it.)

The last picture is most color-accurate - the second is a darker than Butter usually appears, even when in the shade, and the first has a slightly greenish cast that I've never seen in person. I really don't have much else to say about this one. It's a pretty color, but there are a lot of similar colors, so if you have a pale yellow with a reasonably good formula, you probably don't need Butter.

American Apparel Peacock

I'm afraid I won't have sunny pictures on weekdays any more for a while...now that it's getting dark earlier, I just don't get home in time. My pictures will also probably be a bit messier because I'm so busy that I rarely have time to clean up my fingers after polishing. And finally, my cuticles are very, very dry. I feel bad for them. Now if you aren't completely turned off by all that...then here are two coats of American Apparel Peacock:

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

As you can see, I added a little something on the thumbnail. I got a little container of these flakies at Sally Beauty Supply yesterday, and I couldn't wait to try them out. I applied them with tweezers on wet polish (I added a coat of base coat after Peacock was all dry) and then finished with some top coat. I really like the effect - it reminds me of broken tile or glass. 

But more importantly, let me extol the many virtues of Peacock: 1) It doesn't smell. Really. I mean, it does have a slight scent, but it does not smell like nail polish. Even my mother, who groans every time I open my bottle of non-acetone remover, didn't notice when I was painting my nails with this. 2) It dries superhumanly (superpolishly?) fast. Seriously. I painted my nails and when I got into bed ten minutes later, my nails were dry. I didn't put on top coat last night (though I did this morning)...and I didn't have any sheet prints. I'm very impressed. 3) It's very easy to apply, and is completely opaque in two coats. 4) The color is gorgeous. It's a medium-deep, slightly dusty, blue-leaning teal. And I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. Did I mention that I love it?

....And guess what? Tomorrow's Friday! Woohoo!