Polish Hound: October 2013

October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween from Skele-Ham!

No nails today, but I just wanted to wish everyone an awesome, safe, and super fun Halloween!

...oh yes, and share Hambone in his skeleton costume! The bones glow in the dark!

I know he looks resentful, but he secretly knows he looks super rad! When I put the skeleton pajamas on him, he did zoomies around the house. :)

October 30, 2013

Mail-time: I Love Nail Polish!

Ham the dog found a cute little box!

My first foray into indie brand I Love Nail Polish, made by Barbra of the aptly named blog, blog.ilnp.com:

Inside:

Such a cute presentation!

Polishes:

Let me just say that the packaging is mega-awesome. Just super attractive and professional- very boutique-feeling (which is how this polish is described.)

The heart cut-out bottles:

So lovely!

Out of the boxes:

Nobody told me that the caps/ handles have a wonderful grippy, rubbery feeling! I love that instead of hard plastic. Very expensive-feeling.

I also love how the labels are color- customized on the bottom:

I've been oogling Cygnus Loop for a long time, so I finally caved, and of course had to pick up another multichrome, Birefringence. I also decided to try one of her glitter-laden cremes, Strawberry creme.

left to right: Strawberry Creme, Birefringence, Cygnus Loop

I'm planning on swatching all of these in separate posts. Birefringence (which I'm currently wearing!) will be first, so look for that soon!

October 26, 2013

UV Glow Halloween Sugar Skulls & Gradient! [Nail Art]

Look guys! I did some nail art! I was really excited to try sugar skulls, and I know they're more for Dia de los Muertos, but I think they're still appropriate for Halloween.

I wasn't in the mood for typical Halloween orange and black, so I chose purple and green. The gradient is a base of Illamasqua- Omen with Illamasqua- Seance and Illamasqua- Baptiste sponged on top. The white of the sugar skulls is Zoya- Purity.

The coffin stamp, which I placed so crookedly (lol), is from Bundle Monster plate BM-402.

Other supplies used were a black Stripe Rite striper, dotting tools, rhinestone tweezers, and a small nail art brush.

And, guess what? Some of these polishes glow under blacklight- yay!

I'm really pleased with how these turned out considering I hardly ever play with studs/ rhinestones and super glue. I need to get one of those little suction-y tools that helps you pick them up, I think.

October 25, 2013

Duri- Steal The Spotlight [Swatch]

Duri- Steal The Spotlight is a vibrant orange-toned red jelly base with golden-orange shimmer. It's really on the cusp of orange-red. Is it red? Is it orange? I have no idea! (And, it will probably depend on the lighting.)

Artificial light, three coats:

Window-filtered daylight:

Outside, shade:

Sun:

Hmm, so overall, for me, this is a little underwhelming. It's a nice color, but nothing earth-shattering, and although it's a jelly I do wish it were a little less sheer. Also the shimmer just serves to give it an extra glow- you really don't notice it too much otherwise in person.

Formula: It's got a medium viscosity, and glides on the nail nicely, almost buttery. I had visible nail line after two coats, so I think three is best, and in fact there is still VNL since it is a jelly. Overall, very good though- a totally different experience than I had with my last Duri.

October 24, 2013

Mail-time: A Random Nailsupplies.us Order!

Ham found a big box!

Ham demands reward:

Trying so hard not to look at the carrot...

"OK."

Not trying to not look at the carrot!

Inside:

First of all, this was an absolutely enormous box compared to what I ordered. I love how nailsupplies.us uses any packaging on hand, haha! I didn't actually get any Orly or Ruby Wing.

Aside from polish, I did get:

Triple Lanolin Aloe Vera lotion which was only $2.55 for 6 oz, a great price, I think! Lanolin is supposed to be awesomely repairing for dry/ damaged skin, and I go through hand cream like a mad woman. Also a metal cuticle pusher. I've been using a rubber-tipped one, but I want to see if this works better.

Polishes:

Two Essies, both from the new Shearling Darling collection, the real reason I placed this order:

Essie- Toggle To The Top, Essie- Sable Collar

Three Misas from the Spring 2013 Prima Ballerina collection:

Misa- Pirouette, Misa- Tutu, Misa- En Pointe

I don't know why I was craving these pinks but I have been eyeing them a while!

A couple (my first!) CND Effects!