Fall Chevrons

I couldn't really come up with a better name for this nail art, so fall chevrons it is. After all, I think the color combination looks like something one would wear in fall, and it's also been raining all day today. I used the tape method for this; all you need is some blue painter's tape (masking tape works as well, but I find it's more likely to peel off your polish) and whatever nail polish you'd like to use. I think it's pretty easy to figure out, but if you'd like a tutorial, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do - I'm pretty sure I'll be doing another variation of this sometime soon.

natural light, cloudy

As is always the case, this looks neater in real life than in my picture. As those of you who have nail blogs know, macro always likes to highlight the flaws in manicures - in this case, it's the bumpiness where I had to reapply bits because the top coat caused the dark blue to streak, as well as the little bit of tipwear I already had. The polishes I used were Maybelline Natural Beauty (isn't it a gorgeous latte? I need to do a review of it by itself), Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away (stupid name, but also a lovely color), and Essence Just Rock It (a stupid name only because of the exclamation point that I am pointedly not including). I originally intended to use Barielle Coco Bar instead of Just Rock It, but then I decided to use for colors, then changed my mind and ended up with this. I like the way it turned out anyway, which I suppose is all that matters. I hope you're all having a wonderful week, and are much less damp than I!

Pink Wednesday: Pink Fail

Before I get to the polish, I want to let you all know that I'm going to be out of town this afternoon through Sunday (I'm going to a young adult brain tumor survivor's retreat). Therefore, I scheduled posts for Friday and Sunday - I would schedule posts for all the days I'm going to be gone, but I'll be out of town next Thursday and Friday as well, so I thought I should save some. :) However, since I don't have time to do all the research and whatnot before I leave, there will be no Learned and Lacquered post this Sunday, just a regular nail polish post. Sorry!

Unfortunately, my first post now that my blog is back up and running is a bit of a fail. I got Maybelline Pink Glimpse, a pale pink shimmer, at Walgreens a little while back, and while I didn't have high expectations, it didn't wow me. I was impressed at first because the polish actually does dry quite fast. It requires four coats for opacity, but that didn't bother me because it dried so quickly. But then, there were bubbles.

indoors, artificial light

Yuck. Yuckyuckyuck. I hate bubbles, and Pink Glimpse bubbles like nobody's business. I didn't have my fan turned on, I let each coat dry before putting on the next - I did everything one can to prevent bubbles. But there they are, in full force. I think I'll empty this bottle and use it for a franken...

Also, check out the awesome widget at the bottom of this post! I love it, and it has more social bookmarking/sharing sites than I even knew existed.

P.S. I'm using my trip as an opportunity to do a wear test on some Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips that I picked up on clearance a while back, so you can look forward to a post on that in the near future! In case you're curious, the ones I got are the denim-patterned ones (Skinny Jeans).

Pink Layering

Today I have some layering for you...I put on three coats of Maybelline Colorama in Rush Blush on last night (thank you, Ange!) and decided it needed something else, so I added one coat of Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter and one coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment. (Pinky Glitter is basically the pink-based version of Hottie and Nail Junkie.) I took one picture (mostly) in focus and one out of focus, so that you could see the iridescent/holo glitter.

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

Rush Blush really is a blush sort of color...in fact, I think I may have an old thing of blush that's close to this. It's not quite opaque in three coats, though it appears to be in all but the most finicky of lighting situations. I didn't wear this long because I had some other things (*ahem* Fashionista Nails in Fortune) planned and because I wasn't really in the mood for a pink, but I'll probably pull this combination out again at some point.

Also, my apologies, but I probably won't have any outdoor pictures for a while because the weather here is going to be entirely rainy and cloudy and generally nasty for the next week or so. While Monday is supposed to be "mostly sunny" according to NOAA, I'd bet ten bucks that the sunny part is going to be while I'm at school. I do love this kind of weather, but it's inconvenient for nail blogging.

P.S. 40% chance of a wintry mix tonight? In March? In southern Missouri? Crazy.

P.P.S. 249 followers...wanna be my 250th?