Dandy Nails: Chilled Down

It's December! Wait, how did that happen? If you're like me, you've been enjoying the opportunity to wear sweaters and scarves and boots and layers, and that's only going to continue into the winter months. Fall is my favorite season, but I love winter, too, and it's time to get chilled down - so today, I'm showing off Chilled Down, a Dandy Nails polish. (See what I did there? Eh? Punny.) I used three coats here.

I actually wore this way back in August, but I can definitely see myself pulling it out again now that colder weather is here. I love how unique this polish is, and the blue and gold color scheme is definitely a plus. In some ways, it's similar to Lac Attack Beauxbatons Academy, which was the very first indie polish I showcased here on Never Unpolished. Beauxbatons Academy is still one of my favorite polishes, and I think Chilled Down may be making its way up the ranks as well.

On a slightly different note, now that it's officially December and thus (in my mind) the appropriate time to start doing Christmasy stuff, I can't wait to get started on some holiday manicures. Any suggestions?

A Good Man Goes to War

Hey! Remember me? Yeah...this semester just about killed me. It's definitely been my busiest so far, and it's not an experience I'm keen to repeat. The semester's coming to a close, though, and I've slept what would normally be an obscene amount over the past few days. I think I'm about caught up, and I'm definitely eager to start blogging again. I haven't even had time to paint my nails much this semester, but I do have a few posts worth of pictures on my computer. My post today is actually showcasing my current mani, Nail Pattern Boldness A Good Man Goes to War. It's a polish from her excellent Doctor Who collection, Time Traveler, so I thought it'd be appropriate to wear Monday night, when I watched the 50th anniversary episode with my friends.

A Good Man Goes to War is a bright red jelly with black square glitter, black microglitter, silver hex glitter, silver microglitter, and gold square glitter. Because of the red jelly base, it's hard for me to tell whether the glitter is silver or gold, but that's my best guess. It's actually out of stock permanently, so if I give you a huge lemming...sorry? It's so pretty that I couldn't resist sharing, though. I used three thin coats here, which I found worked best for glitter distribution. I was very happy that A Good Man Goes to War wasn't patchy like some jellies - it distributed really evenly, and I didn't even have to reposition the glitter. Very impressed! (EDIT: I just took this off...and it stains. Not too badly, but I'd recommend doubling up on base coat with this one if you want to avoid staining.)

All pictures were taken outside on a cloudy day.

Yeah...gorgeous. I am so in love with this polish. I didn't try this for the longest time because I was afraid I wouldn't like it as much as the other Time Traveler polishes I have, but I was wrong - I love it. So much. Also, the name is wonderful. I can't wait for the rest of the season...do you watch Doctor Who? What did you think of the anniversary episode? No spoilers, please!

P.S. Have a great Thanksgiving! And don't worry, you can eat as much turkey as you want, because it doesn't actually make you sleepy.

Lac Attack Crazy Girl

Hello there! Fortunately my fingers are all back to normal, though I still have no idea what was making them peel like that (see last post). They were actually better by the end of June, but I decided to take another month off to figure out how I wanted to structure this blog going forward. I did miss blogging, of course, and I still checked Feedly like a maniac, but I thought it was important to really decide how I wanted to continue. I no longer have the time to post several times a week like I used to, and that has led to me blogging in fits and starts, which makes me stressed when I'm doing it and lazy when I'm not. So, I decided that I will blog once a week from here on out - of course, if I'm ahead and feel like writing an extra post once in awhile, that's great, but I'm attempting to have a balanced life (imagine that!) this semester. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, but I love blogging, so...yeah. I'm not going anywhere. With that said, I'm super excited to show you a polish from one of my favorite indie sellers, Lac Attack. Crazy Girl is a simple but super fun polish that has red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, and light pink hex glitter. You can see a not-quite-color-accurate bottle shot to the left.

Nail Pattern Boldness: Slow Invasion

Hello again! I've finally resurfaced from the haze of finals and moving back home for the summer...I still haven't finished unpacking, but let's not talk about that. Instead, let's talk about the fabulous polish I have for you today! I ordered some of the polishes from Nail Pattern Boldness's Time Traveler collection, which is based on Doctor Who, my favorite currently running TV show. Between that and my Harry Potter polishes from Lac Attack, my Melmer is getting nerdier and nerdier, and I love it!

I decided to try Slow Invasion first. If you watch Doctor Who, you'll know that the Slow Invasion was a gradual invasion of Earth by the Shakri cubes, through which the Shakri intended to kill all humans on Earth. Fortunately, the Doctor saved the day, but I mention this because all the glitter in the nail polish Slow Invasion is - yep, you guessed it - square shaped like the cubes. Pretty clever, huh? Not only that, it's an awesome polish in its own right. I did a gradient over Revlon Royal, but you can get an idea of the dusty, teal color of Slow Invasion's base from the bottle shot above and to the left.

Bad Moon Rising Jelly Sandwich

Hello there! I hope you're all having a lovely Wednesday. I've been having a hectic couple of weeks, with a 6-page paper, two presentations, and a literary review (part of a 20-page paper; the whole thing will be due on my birthday in May) in the past week and a half, so needless to say I haven't had time for much recreational activity, except sleeping. Yes, that is considered a recreational activity now. But I'm taking a brief break today to write a blog post! And by brief break, I mean I just woke up and am not awake to go back to outlining journal articles yet. Either way, I have a jelly sandwich to show today, which is one of my favorite kinds of manicures, even though it's hell to remove. I used Zoya Frida and Lac Attack Bad Moon Rising.

Aren't they gorgeous together! I love Bad Moon Rising, and I think it went perfectly with Frida. This is actually the first time I've used one of the Zoya jellies and not taken it off immediately, because I really don't like them on their own. Now that I've tried (and loved) this combination, though, I might have to try jelly sandwiches with the other two!

P.S. I forgot to mention the fact that the lit review and the 6-page paper are still not done...and due Friday...what am I doing blogging?!

Lac Attack Beauxbatons Academy

GUYS. I am so super excited about this polish. It's the first indie nail polish on Never Unpolished (I know, I'm behind the times), and it couldn't be more deserving of the title. I was so thrilled about this beauty that I went out and stood around in the damp and chill taking pictures of my nails, probably confirming my neighbors' opinion that I am strange - and I guess they wouldn't be wrong. In any case, Beauxbatons Academy is absolutely gorgeous. I used four coats, but it was definitely worth it, and it hasn't shown any signs of wear so far (I've worn it for two days as I type this). As always, you can click the pictures to enlarge them, and I strongly encourage it with this one. So pretty!