ARG! Happy New Year!

I think we already know I'm pretty much the world's worst blogger. I rarely post these days and I've gone back on my word on no cruelty just because of the reality of the industry I've chosen to get into and its prejudices. I have invested in OPI Gelcolor because that is what clients want to see. I've shown them pretty CND Shellac colors and they gravitate towards the OPI box regardless. Mind you, I don't really care for the CND Shellac...it is goopier and I find harder to work with, but that's simply a preference thing. I also recognize, and I hope you do as well, that when it comes to building a clientele you have to have what they want. Once I've done that I will be able to put any weird thing I find on my table and most of my clients will be willing to try it because they trust me, but I have to build the trust first. And I'm sorry, but the OPI LED light frankly rocks. They are hella expensive, but they do work amazingly well. Plus the easy to see and read timer is just so wonderful, more so than you can imagine. I've used the CND light and it has a timer on it as well, but you have to hit the button every time. OPIs is motion activated. I can't tell you what a help that is.

So I have a scary picture for you, finally, a swatch! Of sorts...don't get excited. I kind of wanted to show you what a nail tech in training deals with when it comes to her own nails. They're a mess most of the time, I assure you. Gels have been my saviour, though I still am not a huge fan, I can't fault the wear, now that I understand how to apply and remove them, and as my nails are my advertisements...well, I can only hope you all understand.

This is a gorgeous Vinylux color that I do actually recommend you pick up called Wildfire. It's an amazing pure red. I don't have the latest Chanel amazing red, I just can't afford it right now, so I can't compare them for you, but this is really gorgeous. It comes in all three CND formats, as far as I know, so if Shellac is your thang, you can rock this. However, this was one day after a day at school. Stay out of the acetone, that's all I can say:

Oh my, right? However, you can see the color on that pinky! It's really a beautiful red. This is the only picture I had of it, but I'm positive I will wear it again.

My nails are currently sporting the OPI Gelcolors Big Apple Red and Which is Witch from the Oz collection which mostly did not exactly take my breath away. However, Which is Witch is GORGE, and I recommend it in one form or another.

I took this Friday night after I had painted them Thursday morning before class. The background is from a magazine ad, I apologize, I can't even tell you which one at this point so if someone finds this and gets all in a tizzy about it, sorry about that.

The holo bar glitters in this just really make it. It's now Wednesday and this hasn't been abused overly much, I have to say, not a lot of dishes or typing, but it has done a couple standard manicures at school, 4, I believe, and as long as you stick to non-acetone removers or even acetone based removers, which are less damaging to your nails (or your client's), then it stays on and shiny like a dream. Big Apple Red is a classic OPI from years and years ago, it's a straight up cream, but I can tell you from experience, you can put tons of stuff on top of this and it's going to look great. I've even seen this with a micro glitter additive and it's gorgeous. It's a classic Joan Crawford-y, scratch your eyes out kind of red. If your skin tone is good for blue reds, you can't really go wrong with either of these reds.

Yeah, I know, I don't wear a lot of reds, and I have a ton of gelcolor spoons to get made...anyone know how to do that?

Also, I've been reading a lot of message boards, getting ideas on popular colors, what will people want to try, etc, and finding where many of you out there are trying this yourselves and not having a lot of luck. Well...stop it. There is a knack to this stuff. I'm not saying you can't figure it out, but honestly? If you want good results, let a pro do it. And I'm not just saying that because I almost am one. I'm saying that so you don't go invest hundreds of yen on a light and gelcolors only to find you have shrinkage or lifting or bad application. Let us do it. We actually enjoy it, and you'll get beautiful shaping and cuticles to go with. It's worth it. And as gel polishes, not enhancements, that is a whole other beast, wear for about 10-14 days, sometimes longer on some people, it's worth letting us take care of you in order to get the best result.

That's just my two cents, you can think I'm an idiot if you want to.

As for gel enhancements...don't try that at home. It has taken me numerous tries to even get it right, let alone looking good. Plus, it's painful. I'm thinking of putting it on my menu of services as The Dominatrix Deluxe or The Masochist's Delight. That shit burns like a mutha. It makes grown women cry, I'm not even exaggerating. It looks gorgeous. It feels terrible! I may offer them, haven't decided...it will partly depend on where I get a table. I still have a shot at working with BMWWU and I sincerely hope that happens because I can learn so much from her. We'll see.

So that's what's up with me. I find it amazing that I can spend 6 hours at school doing nails and looking at nails and learning about nails and come home and...play some Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (almost done!) while playing with nail polish. This might have been a good move for me happiness wise.

I hope all of you out there find your happiness as well! Here's to a better 2014 than 2013:

Here's to more sweet Vietnamese guys who send me beautiful pictures and poems and serenades of my favorite songs. I hope the moon is gorgeous tonight to ring in the new year. I know we'll both be watching it.

Here's to fewer psychotic Syrians who call me wretched names and flip out. I still hope you don't get blown up even though you obviously have PTSD. When you were sweet you were very sweet. Nutjob.

And to the magical disappearing Moroccan? What happened to you? We were having a good time! Left your job and everything without a word. What up wit dat? 

Here's to no more bosses who say things like "Oh no no no. *I* get that day off." and not being accused of making meth at my desk. (True story! Then she called me "hot pants". I'm not even sure I know what that means!)

To my German, find what makes you happy and don't let her go. Stop throwing yourself away on whackadoodles. It breaks my heart each time you break yours. You're one of my besties and I love you.

To Ruby Pumps - you go girl! Busting out of your comfort zone like a mutha! Keep it up girlfriend! I'll be there every step of the way.

And BoBo - Stay with it girlfriend, you're almost there. Don't give up now. It's worth it.

Sheilie...you've got a good one, hold on to him. I'm so happy for you. You deserve it! I know 2013 was up and down. I so hope 2014 is only up and into the stars!

Here's to a year filled with color and life and lacquer!

Here's to more champagne and less pain in general.

Decide this year will be amazing and amazing things will happen.

Happy Talons to all and to all a Great 2014!!

Updates from Nail School

Howdy y'all!

Two posts in one day, must be some sort of recent record for me. I barely get to post at all. Plus, I get my nails done all the time at school so others can work on completing their "Book", which is the state board proof of 4000 manicures, pedicures, enhancements, drills, repairs, etc, that is required at the time of our state exams. It's usually OPI, not usually mine (stuff goes missing, I don't take my good polish to school, I just use what's available) and I basically have nubbins now. I had to take them off. Two broke, were repaired by a friend at school and then broke all over again so I did the big snip. Blah.

I'm starting to learn acrylics. I hate them. I won't be offering them. I will learn to do them and do them as well as I am able, but I don't really want anything to do with them. They're pissy and difficult and not good for your nails. Plus they take FOREVER. I will offer gel polishes, I'm working on getting the light I want right now through a fellow student with an esthetician's license, so she gets the good deals. I don't personally care for them, but they are everywhere and it's going to be necessary to offer them. I also plan to offer VinyLux as a UV free option. I like those a good deal better, removal is hella easier and the price point is much more manageable.

Speaking of which, the mark up on nail products is obscene. I am now able to shop at the supply houses and DAY-UM. Unreal. I may have mentioned that before.

I haven't started on gel nails yet. The jury is out. I have a ridiculously expensive AXXIUM light that was part of my school kit that will just sit if I don't. We'll see how I feel about them once I start actually trying to use them. They're so versatile...I don't know. Just not sure yet.


So these are my latest ramblings on nail school. I need to go find some sustenance as I need to get ready to motor in about an hour or so. This night schedule is a killer!

A really wonderful Vegan Polish Resource

https://veganclaws.com/vegan-nail-polish-resource/
I just found this, immediately sent a comment thanking the writer and subscribed to her blog. Please take a look at it, it's probably the best resource I have found out there, I can't believe I haven't found it before. What I love about it is she links you to the correspondence she's had with the various companies so you can see for yourself what is said, plus she is really clear on what is or isn't completely vegan and why in the products. I found this fantastic. While I'm very worried about testing on bunnies or monkeys or any other critter, I'm not so worried about the plight of the silk worm, though maybe that is bad.

...

Well, now I feel like I need to go on a Save the Silk Worm crusade.

This introduced me to some new brands I want to check out!! Take a look for yourselves and see what else is out there. The only thing that would make this perfect would be a linky to places to shop for these. Maybe it's in there and I missed it, I only have a little time before I need to scram to get ready for school. Which is going well, sorry I'm not sharing that here, I get really tired. Night school sucks.

I hope all is going well for all of you! Happy Talons!

How Being Cruelty Free isn't possible in nail school, and other various rants

Arg. So I have completed my first week in school towards becoming a nail technician. I've done one manicure, observed part of a spa pedicure and been studying my brains out. It's weird how my school does it. Everyone starts at different times. I'm the only one who started this month, so I had to do the manicuring chapter and then 3 other chapters to be on the same page as the rest of the class. Everyone I know there will be gone by January some time. Two already have spots in salons, one, ironically, where I get my hair done.

I was informed Friday that I'm far behind on manicures and pedicures. I haven't learned pedicures yet. And everyone else is so far ahead of me that I have no one to practice on. They're all wearing gels and acrylics. And of course the obligatory mean girl I have to win over. Why is there always a mean girl? And how did I get so far behind? How far behind am I? I understand we accomplished nothing with me last week. I don't understand! I had no direction! I don't know what I'm doing!

They're big into nail art, most of them. I'm wearing nail art right now. I'd show it to you but I only know one color name, it's OPI and I didn't do it. I don't want anyone thinking I did this art when I really just sat there trying to watch the process.

Nail art is so not me.

I'm going to have to learn to do it, I will have to submit some as a part of my classwork, but...so not me. I'm thinking of ideas and I ordered some cheapy stuff (beads, rhinestones and whatnot) to help me out and a good set of brushes. I hope they're good anyways. Not like I'm going to know the difference. They were very highly rated on Amazon and had a good amount of different brushes for me to play with and I got everything for less than $20. I did my first attempt which was black and purple horizontal stripes for a school fashion show Friday. They weren't very good. The brushes were very tiny and the purple was being uncooperative and I suck. Basically. It will never be my forte. I can probably offer to stick on some rhinestones and maybe learn to paint some stuff. Spa manis and pedis and standard wet manis and pedis are probably going to be my main thing. UV gel nails scare the crap out of me as does the drill thing. Who looked at a dremel tool and said "HEY! Let's use that on nails!"? But I will learn to do that, too. Just probably won't really, you know, offer it as a part of my services.

So here's the deal. EVERYTHING is OPI. Everything. Polish, tools, lotions, scrubs...all of it. OPI is supposedly cruelty free but their parent company definitely is not and I try not to support any kind of profit from animal testing which rules out a lot of companies with testing parent companies. Any Lauder company, though that's the one I slip on the most, Nars, Shisheido, just about anything at the drug store. Incidentally, if you didn't know, Sinful Colors was bought by Revlon. Good-by cruelty free status. My KIT will be OPI. It's a gigantor train station case thing on wheels with one of those telescoping handles like on a suitcase. It's really quite nice, I confess that openly. However, it has a  big old plate on it embossed with a big old OPI. The girls decorate these up with stickers and whatnot because there really is no way to tell them apart without that. Lots of hearts and butterflies. I have a ManGlaze sticker because...I'm me. If I can score something like pin-up girls or skulls I'm all over that shit. Because...I'm me. Something cutesy and sweet would feel like posing. As will carting around a big ass case from a company I don't support. Will I have to cave on OPI? Just to have a recognizable brand on my table? I sincerely hope not.

So...I can either drag my really expensive cool stuff in there to support my cruelty free choices and risk losing them when I can't afford to replace them let alone buy lunch, and still have to use school stuff to fill in what I don't have, or I can suck it up, get through the next 5 months and then pick up where I left off with companies I am willing to support, which...that's probably the answer. Finding a part time job has proven challenging. The schedule just doesn't work.

So apart from that...school is OK. I don't know what I'm doing, which I hate, I am learning the routine, but today is another day of fumbling through as I don't know how theory classes work or even where they are. I think I know. Not sure. I've been kind of left to my own devices which means I observe some and study a lot. Our teacher is one of only a couple, possibly only two, left on the floor at night so she's gone a lot looking at hair styles and sometimes getting styled. I find this lack of structure very frustrating. I'd rather three or four of us would start at once and go through together, but I suppose that cuts into school profit as then there are weeks when no nail services can be offered to the public. Still. I don't like being the only newb though the other students are helpful and open for the most part.

Right now I feel weary. I have tests today as a part of theory and I don't know how that's going to go, though I can retake them if I flunk. I didn't sleep well at all. I'm trying to review now, but you can see how that's going. Not well!

I hope your talons are happy and you're hanging in there! Posts will likely be few and far between with school. It eats up an amazing amount of time, though I hope that will get better as I'm doing more practical work and less book learnin'.

Take care, everyone! 'Til next time!

Illamasqua Venous, some Halloween glitter and a GRRRRR

I haven't blogged in awhile, not seriously. If you read me, you already know this and maybe you are cursing my name, or thanking me, depending on how you feel about my posts and their general silliness. Today, in the midst of my unemployment (I had a brief moment of wishing I hadn't done it and then I thought about the job. That was all that took. POOF. It was begone.) I thought...I need to post something. Anything. So editing photos was not something I had done in awhile, either. Yeahhhh. Picasa editing has been done away with, you now must edit in google+. Not a fan. And I can't add TEXT. So...I can't help protect my photo work from unscrupulous evilbayers who steal your photos to sell their shit. Not. Amused. I've been looking for another way. If any of my fellow bloggers are out here and reading, please comment and let me know what you do. I don't want to hog up valuable hard drive space with ridiculous amounts of photos for the blog...what do you all do? Help! A different hard drive? I can maybe do that. A different website? That would be great. Any and all help is appreciated.

So here are my very theft available photos of Venous on it's own that I took months ago as well as my current Venous fun mani with Glow in the Dark pumpkin polish! (very likely not cruelty free, which I hate.)

Pretty green cream, this is a lot lighter than in real life, but it does have that dusty quality to the color. Wow, never mind the nubbin!

2 coats of lovely goodness, but still lighter than in real life. I think some of my photos from today turned out truer. I have a different phone, because I'm that serious of a blogger I use my phone for swatching, and it is much nicer.

And the box label. How much do I love these? A lot. Like...mondo a lot. Like I want to kiss the genius at Illamasqua who decided to put a color reference on the name dots. Not only is Illamasqua one of my favorite brands for about anything, but they are so stinking smart. Love love love.

I like Venous, it's a pretty, very rich and deep green. Not forest green or pine, but just deep velvety green. Much more so than my swatches show. I'm so frustrated I didn't even go back and try to adjust them. GRRRRR.

I mean, come on Google. Don't you know that photo theft is rampant??

**seethe**

So I finally actually decided to wear this for real the other day and it's wearing well. This was partly brought about by the release of all things Halloween, including the nail polishes! I'm on a pretty strict no-buy, having no money does that to you, but when I see the Halloween polishes I splurge a little. These are only $3 and I can never resist. I'm pretty sure they are not cruelty free but I'm trying to find out. I'm a bad cruelty free person. I try. I think I've mentioned that's all I can do, right?

OK. Look what a little digging produces: Pumpkin Polishes,
and a little more digging found one list that lists them as cruelty free. Do with that what you will.

It's the spooky eyes side! These two make a pretty good match. The pumpkin polish is really very sheer. Like...clear level of sheer, I could detect no color. So I immediately took it off, redid the base coats and found Venous as a good match for the base, though really anything would have worked.

The happy eyes picture! The bottles are two faced little Jacks. It's so fun. Halloween polishes are the best. If you want definite for sure cruelty free status, the coffin polishes are made by Wet-n-Wild. I have a couple fun Halloween ideas for those, so hopefully I fix this photo issue and can show you!

OK, here we go. This is a very color true photo of Venous, even with the top coat sparkling things up. This really did turn out pretty. The glitter from the pumpkin is really tiny, though not micro, and it's amazingly smooth. The polish was a tad goopy to apply, but I have to say, I was impressed with the finish. The sparkly spread evenly and with very little trouble and the thing with a goopier polish is it freakin stays where you put it. I kinda like that. A little thinner wouldn't have hurt things, though.

And those pencils are awesome. They're mechanical pencils that look like pencils and they're small for us teeny handed people. Look for them today at your local Evil Empire outlet. That's where I got mine and I'm hooked.

But little black and white puppies steal and chew them. Be forewarned.

Last shot coming up!

Whoa, little blurry. Sorry. If I could have edited these I would have known that! GOOGLE! Haven't you ever heard if it's not broke don't fix it?? Learn it! However, it's very color true so I'm leaving it.

Watch...my blog will be deleted for something like "Excessive rage" or something.

And yes, the glow in the dark really works! I just don't have a photo of that.

This was a fun combination for any time, I recommend you try these little pumpkins if you see them. This one will work equally well over anything, it's so sheer. On a lighter polish you might see more of the blue in it but I can't see it being any kind of problem.

What do you think? Love it? I do!

Happy Talons!

I'd have to be crazy.

So, when I quit this asylum that has been my job there were countless counter offers. I didn't even ask what the pay increase would be, it wouldn't be enough. I didn't care. I still don't. When people call inquiring about the position I am completely detached. I've been really unhappy there.

Today, the boss came to me and asked me to stay a little longer. I told her I'd think about it because I'm just too freaking nice. I don't want to. I was so excited this morning for it to be my last Monday.

I just re-read yesterday's post. I'd have to be out of my mind. I don't make that much, I'm not giving up a ton of swag by not doing it. It doesn't extend my benefits any longer and honestly, I kind of like the idea of sticking my immediate supervisor with my month end because while I am not generally vindictive, it would just amuse me to take a nap and know her ass was scrambling.

I think my story is that my BFF has to go back to Europe for work and she and Dads have put their heads together to send me along as a surprise vacation. Because that not only says no way am I staying but it also says "and I don't need you people", too.

I'm a rubbish liar though, so...But honestly. I'd have to be nuts.

Oh, and the fish yelling lady has teeth in her bra, too. That happened today. Yep. I'd have to be crazy.

Life is weird.

My job is hell. That's how I refer to it. When I'm leaving for work I say I'm going to hell. It's noisy, it's often smelly, I'm not compensated for everything I handle and I am interrupted constantly.
It's a psychological fact that has been recently proven that we lose 10 IQ points in the course of a task each time we are interrupted. I should drool there. I used to joke at my last job that I was considered to be little better than a trained monkey but at this one, given everything, I'm not as gifted.

Hell.

Couple this with the fact that it's nearly impossible to get any time off because my boss is constantly gone and I have to cover her job, though she doesn't cover mine when I have to be out, (She runs morning reports. Big woo.) and I have to squeeze my days off (NEVER around a holiday. EVER. Oh no. She gets those, as she told me verbatim about one.) in around her PTO schedule...Effing hate it there. I hate it.

So...I sat down with Daddy Warbucks, who informed me he was sick of this shit, sick of my being strung out, overworked, mistreated, tense, nervous, and generally miserable, and that he would help me financially if I was able to come up with a plan. I ran to the only thing I could think of: get my nail license. So I am. Tomorrow I go in for my last Monday in that vile place of banjo tent revival creepy music, coughing, crying, begging and fish scolding (not even making that up) and into school for 600 hours of training to start doing nails for serious. Getting a conventional job wasn't working and my resume is freaking intimidating. It's in.tim.i.da.ting. I haven't had an interview in over a year. If luck holds I should be able to get the other table with BMWWU and therefore will have a friend and mentor in place already and I can start working. Bless my friends, they are being both supportive and anxious for me to start taking them on as clients and so I feel I'm already building a clientele. I understand if they don't follow through, though I hope they do, and as part of what I'll be learning is salesmanship I'm hoping I'll take clients on fast and start doing something I will hopefully love rather than something I'm only good at.

And too, I'm really ready to start putting beauty into the world rather than comforting the suffering. Not that it isn't worthwhile, it completely is, way more so than the admittedly kind of frivolous thing I'm planning to do, if you only look at the surface. But I believe doing this well is an art and art is important. It elevates the human spirit, I honestly believe that. I know for myself that a good mani-pedi can make me feel better for days because I've done something comforting and relaxing for myself and because I feel a little more confident. I bet you feel the same if you are reading this. Giving someone that is important, too.

My one girlfriend pointed out that I have a niche to exploit and I'm making mental notes of things I want to cultivate to separate myself from others in the area. I have some ideas.

So I'm excited about this. I had some wrinkles finding a school, but I have gone past that. I start at the end of the month once I turn in my paperwork and write the check. I plan to take a little time off to recharge. My job has killed little pieces of my soul just from all the just...petty bullshit. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. Having to tamper my natural temperament and inability to keep my mouth shut has killed a piece of my soul. That sounds so mellodramatic but it's how I feel. That I have a part of me I need to resurrect. The part that has joy in simple things, that relishes quiet rather than craves it, that isn't afraid to let my personality shine through. I feel I've been squished into a robot mold from months of overwork, pressure, deadlines and criticisms.
However. My head is bloody but unbowed. (Thanks DP, though you'll never read this.)

Once I get some detox time in I plan to look for a part timer because it's not fair for Daddy Dubya to foot all my bills and the cost of school as well, plus essentials like gas, food, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. It simply isn't. And hopefully I can make some bank and love what I do when I'm done. As you know, a good manicurist can do OK for herself and work anywhere and is recession proof. And I intend to become good. Great if I can swing it.

Thank you all for listening and for reading and especially commenting and sticking with me. I hope to get back to this, but I don't know when. I enjoy doing it and sharing what I find.

For today, I secretly squirrelled a color idea from a friend so I need to get some nails did and let him know what he inspired! (Thanks, L! Though you don't know what help you were yet!)

Maybe I'll get it posted. We'll see.

Love you guys!

Happy Talons!

CND VinyLux - Wow

BMWWU put this on me last time, two weeks ago. It's a new system from CND.

I've never been a big CND user, I just never got into them. I know they make a great product, I understand them to be cruelty free, but I never jumped on that band wagon. It's not something I can go anywhere locally and look at or buy because I don't have a license of any kind. I'm just a simple addict. They were one of the spearheaders of the gel revolution but I hope this well overtakes that trend because I do not like so many things about gels, it's well documented in this blog. The removal, in particular, plus all that extra UV light exposure. I don't like it. It peeled, it yellowed, it damaged my nails...blah. Hate.

Well, I let her do this because it didn't require all that mess. And it's uh-may-zing. I only have the one swatch because I don't have this color, it's BMWWU's and while I had intended to photo the wear after EIGHT DAYS (yeah, you read that right) I kind of spaced. Plus, while I don't mind reviewing colors she's applied, for wear discussion I like to apply for myself. The reason being I'm not trained, I'm no expert. I'm a regular gal, I've learned from the school of hard knocks and maybe I won't always do things exactly as they should be done from plain old lack of experience and know-how. You know, probably a lot like you.

So the deal is, with this VinyLux there is no base coat. You DO have to have their top coat, but I bought mine for the same price as the polish, so bonus. There is a wide array of colors, something to suit everyone, and the price point where I bought mine is so completely affordable. The color I'm going to show you is "Coming Soon" there, but I have faith in this e-tailer. I've bought from them many times and always had great service and fast shipping. The only thing I find them not very competitive on is Ruby Wing and the Color Club Halo Hues collection, which is an amazing holo collection but they are not marked down. They're too popular, I think. I can do best on Ruby Wing at Meijer, if you have those where you are. $5/bottle as opposed to $8 everywhere else. I do love those, too. They're so fun.

...

Hope no one from Meijer is reading this! Don't mark them up, please!

I was afraid of staining, this is a pretty vibrant color but there was none and it removed like normal polish. It took a little bit of soaking the cotton ball on there just to make life easier, but that was my own choice. It certainly does NOT require soaking your nails like gels, not by a long shot. I've tortured you long enough.

Here's the color:

Limeade. And OOOO. I checked the spelling on that to be sure and discovered one of the ones I'm lemming is no longer "Coming Soon" but full on arrived! DANG! I have no fundage. CRAP. Being a grown up sucks.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled programming. This is listed as a "Semi-Sheer" but we didn't like that look so this is 3 coats. The polish will not dry on it's own, you MUST have the top coat. Their top coat, the special kind. It has all kinds of hocus pocus stuff on it about how it's supposed to work which experience has taught me...take with a grain of salt. I don't know how it works and I don't really care to be honest. It will harden in ambient light, though if you have a UV or LED light it sure won't hurt it to sit in there for a little while. (Wear sun screen!) The idea is that as this is exposed to ambient light it will continue to harden and I did find that to be true.

This wore for a solid 8 days before I got so restless and sick of the color I had to remove it. It probably could have skated longer. The right hand was showing signs of tip wear and some minor chipping. I don't know if you can repair this or not, as I've mentioned this one isn't mine.

Because of the nature of this polish the top coat comes in a black bottle which I would keep in a drawer in the box. As soon as it sees ambient light, it's going to start to cure. BMWWU said she's seen signs of it thickening just from applying it on people. The polishes are in regular clear bottles, which is nice because you can see where your usage is. I don't like that about gels either. Is there anything I like about gels? Nothing is coming to mind....

Ok, so where to look into buying. 8ty8beauty.com - creative

I like this e-tailer a lot. Tons of product, great prices, I mean, look at the China Glaze and Orly prices if you don't believe me, or Seche, or Poshe...those aren't AS discounted but still a little better. If you can tag them on another order you blend them in on shipping and it works out. They no longer carry OPI, not that I care, but you may. They were culled in the great OPI hate the little e-tailer raid of a few years ago. However $3 for Color Club? Hells yeah. They ship fast, they carry a ton of stuff and I've never had a problem. I don't know what these VinyLux are going for at salons but I bet it's not $5.25. I also love that they have listed the colors and told you sheer, opaque, etc. That's stuff you just can't tell from a website unless they help you out. Nice size pics on these as well.

If you're interested, there is a mini set available for a little bit of nothing. It has 4 mini colors and a mini top coat. Great way to try a nice variety of their colors and finishes and this new system without investing a ton. The entire set is less than a luxury brand and I almost guarantee it will wear a lot better.

So that's what I know on that!

Gonna give it a shot? I think you'll really like it.

Happy Talons!

The new love of my life

I had to share this with you because let's face it, getting that special photo of the love of your life can be challenging. Especially when we're talking about an energetic lively soul who just can't sit still.

Please meet Mina, my puppy. I have had her since May and I adore her. She's a lap puppy, which I love. I've never had one but always wanted one. Pekingese tend to need to grow into their faces, which she's doing now. I was concerned because her eyes were so prominent, so easy for a cat to scratch or to get hurt while playing, but her forehead is starting to come around and I think she's going to turn into a lovely flat faced girl. I miss my Molly so much, but having Mina does help. She's a completely different personality than Molly and I'm grateful she's all black and white rather than the lovely fawn brown that Molly was. It just makes it a little easier and feels less like I've replaced her.

We also got Mina's half sister, same Daddy different Mommies, but she seems to defy naming. Three months and nothing has really stuck. By default she seems to be Angel or Cookie Wookie (my doing). I would have chosen something by now but she's not mine so Angel Cookie Wookie is usually what I call her. I don't think Angel suits her at all, not because she isn't one, she just doesn't seem to care for the name at all. Mina, on the other hand, took immediately to it. I had wanted to call her Domino, but she didn't give a rat's ass about that. When I called her Mina she looked up, licked my chin and turned her head to it every time after that. We think we choose, but we don't. They do. Don't kid yourself. I think maybe Sadie would be a good name for Cookie Wookie...or just Cookie. Or Wookie. But...no convincing Moms, whose puppy she is.
She has a perfect head already, she's still growing into her muzzle, and her eyebrows are a new development, but she is already so pretty. And so MELLOW. Mina is go go go, Cookie Wookie is more meeehhhhh...whatevsies. 

I'm so glad we got two. They play and keep each other company. Of course, that's twice the mess, twice the training, twice the food and upkeep...also twice as many puppies to fight in your lap!

This is a pretty common thing. Fierce, aren't they?! LOL I think because Mina and I have chosen each other, whenever there is playing going on and I'm at puppy level, Mina will conduct battle from my lap or right next to me. Adorbs!

I hope you enjoyed meeting them!

In editing these I realized I have so many swatches out there for you. Oh my. I'm so far behind. And so much great stuff has come out, too. I haven't been able to jump on every band wagon, my life flat needs a change and money is essential to making that happen, which means I need to spend less of it. Period. But I've got on some. I will have a post up tomorrow to show you a new product that I think is pretty great. I did invest in some of this, but it wasn't a large investment at all and I'll tell you all about that as well.

Happy Talons! And FANGS! Look at those choppers! LOL

Good Lord. A new Cruelty Free brand - Haven't tried it yet

Yes, guys, I do know I've just been babbling at you lately and not posting pictures or reviews and I have some stuff I DO really want to show you.

Maybe I will just do that. I have a new phone, great, GREAT camera, and honestly, I haven't totally figured out how to use it all yet. I can do what I gotta. That's about as far as I've got with it.

However, I simply HAD to share with you all my discovery through Vampy Varnish (hope she doesn't mind me linking back to her!) of a new polish which comes in...bootay shaped bottles. She's actually reviewed it for you there, so please check that out if you're interested.

Yeah. It's kinda crazy, but there are some interesting duo-chromes in here so I'm intrigued. I am trying to be on an essentials only shopping lock down and I'm not doing too badly. I did pick up one Wet-n-Wild Fergie color I'd never seen before, which is beautiful, but a $3.50 lack of discipline I can manage.

So here's the linky: BootieBabe.com

Tell me what you think!

Thank you, Ji

OK, so I think I mentioned I had faith that Ji Baek at Rescue Beauty Lounge would do right by us fans. She is trying to get more Scrangie 2.0 to be available for a fall release with the next collection.

I feel better that she's heard us.

Thank you, Ji!

Disappointment and my disappearance

I'd love to tell you I'm back, I'm blogging, I'm loving life. I'm not. I've been going through a great deal of random crap. I'm broke, I mean, dead broke. Don't have lunch money kinda broke. June was a rough fiscal month. So my go to feel better strategy, which I DO NOT recommend, lads. Do NOT! Shopping for polish and make up and jewelry, is not even viable. Not to say I haven't been doing some of it. I'm sorry, the ModelsOwn sale is ON. Go hit it. Box sets of gorge for 20BPS? I was so there! But my financial sitch guaranteed I could only get one set and update my HedKandi collection. (Excited for Bora Bora!) I must be on a no buy. I must. A no buy from EVERYTHING, mind you. Excepting essentials. You know, like dinner. Because lunch is not in the budget.

Given this horrible situation should fall right when the Rescue Beauty Lounge Blogger collection 2.0 was coming out...*sigh* All I can really say is *sigh*. However. And you know I love RBL, I was in the first round of ReBeLs to sign up for the Lounge online, I have been a ReBeL since freaking Black Russian was new. Yes. That long. (and it's fab go pick it up) So I try, I try to find a way to pre-order because pre-order is the shit. You know you'll get your polish and it's all good. Only...by the time I could get to the computer and try to find a way to make this happen financially...Scrangie's new one was already sold out. In pre-order. I don't know how the business works, I don't know how the polishes are created and supplied and I'm not really interested in becoming a blogger with a polish business. I think lots of others do this better. Ji Baek, who owns RBL is one of those. But it sold out? It kind of poisoned the collection for me, I have to admit. I was so disappointed. I tried to order the others and wound up not doing it. It sold out in less than 24 hours. I haven't been back to find out what is going to happen now. I was just...deflated. I've been deflated a lot lately. Literally. I've been losing weight, through no magical process of my own, I promise you. Or maybe it is because I don't know how I'm doing it...but still. Regardless. I digress. Bet you guys have missed that, haven't you? LOL

Now mind you...I had seen Scrangie's post on her polish and it's pretty but I wasn't that jacked about it. Olives don't look that great on me, they're OK, and they don't go with anything I wear, not makeup or clothes...but I was interested. It's to have an oil slick appearance and that's intriguing. However, in the swatches she posted, it looked primarily olive to me. I apologize Scrangie, if it's actually not! That's what I saw. It was sort of the principle of the thing. Wha-huh? Gone already? HOW? I assume they get a certain number of bottles, they throw the pre-sale out there and then when those are filled they release it to the not so big of fans who don't get the emails? Maybe? I guess?

I'm not swearing off RBL, far from it. I am going to try to pick up what I can when they release to the public if I have any fundage, which is debatable. But I feel kinda spurned...kind of kicked. How dare I have a job that is so freaking up tight that I have to watch every internet usage and not be able to hit the pre-sale right when it's announced? Who do I think I am to not make that my number one priority? That I didn't have the money is irrelevant because that's my problem. The thing is, I couldn't get the entire collection even if I did have it. How dare I have to spend my evening comforting a bestie going through hell rather than rearranging my limited resources to buy polish?

I know this is not what RBL is saying, I know Ji is probably scrambling her brains to try to fix this for us, I have faith. Maybe everything else I'm going through right now is coloring my perception. I'm sure she was shocked and amazed to have that kind of turn-out in pre-sale, probably was blind sided by that. And that's great. It means her business is booming, it's growing. I'm happy for that. No ill feelings at all. If she ever reads this post, Ji, I'm telling you! I love you! I love your polish! I love you read and talk about what you're reading on your blog! (I'm reading smut. We don't talk about that. And no, not 50 Shades of badly written smut, either.)

But still...I feel a little rejected.

Find me on Bloglovin!

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Thanks Kell!

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Kiss

OK, I'm a bad blogger. I've just had the most odd couple of weeks. I do have new puppies on the way, T Minus 2 days and counting! I haven't had puppies in the house in 15 years and I missed most of those because I was in Chicago then. I am very excited. This no dog thing is torture. I've never been through this before. We've always had more than one dog! So we have two coming, not litter mates, but half sisters. I am planning to do a lot of spoiling.

I'm still working through all the swatches I did for you guys, I have a ton. I'm just not motivated to sit and do pictures. If someone would edit the pictures as I like I'd be able to sit and write....but the control freak OCD neurotic in me just wouldn't really do that. I have to do it!

On with the show.

Mermaid's Kiss...This is another of the Mermaid polishes, duh. I just knocked something heavy off my desk. Whatevs.

This is the pink one. My first impressions are that it's really pretty sheer. If you're into that, this can be worn that way, I have some swatches.

Pretty, right? These are mirror glitters, they're very flashy, and the polish itself has a lot of shimmer to it.

This is a much better shot, really. I've been trying to introduce more interest to my swatches, are you feeling it?

You can see the pink, the pink glitters and if you cross your eyes a little you might see some green flash. This definitely has a kind of watery feel.

Interestingly enough, this is only two coats. Odd, huh? I never expected that kind of coverage given the sheer look of just one coat, but here it is. You can also see that it's pretty chunky, but some Gelous will fix that if you don't like it.

Sorry, a little blurry, but very color accurate.

Last and best swatch. Here is what annoyed me about this. Look at the glitter distribution. Really good on pointer and birdie. Not bad on ring. Dismal on pinkie and no matter what I seemed to, short of globbing a bunch of polish on there, I couldn't get more. I don't know why that is. I guess be careful as you apply and don't let this happen to you!

What do you think? Pretty, right? I love the flash, which you can kind of see here, and I love the color, it's good on my skin tone. Miserable to get off, though. Miserable. Most glitters are, I'm afraid. I've taken to soaking in acetone. I know, I hate that but it seems actually less damaging than scrubbing at it. I only put it in a cuticle dish deep enough to submerge the nails and I don't leave them there. I dip and wipe and dip and wipe. It seems to work. Just hit the cuticle oil and hand cream heavily afterward.

Happy Talons!

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaids - Million Dollar Mermaid

The Mermaid collection is really beautiful. The colors are fun and springy, they're clearly capitalizing on the success of the original mermaid polish and who doesn't love mermaids?

Well, I've been accused of being a siren whose sexy voice lures men to their icy watery deaths so maybe not those guys....and I think I sound something like a small woodland creature might if they spoke English with no accent...but I digress. As usual.

These first couple of pictures are with flash and aren't really great, but they do do a great job of showing you the sparkle in these polishes, which I think you want to see, right?

You can see this really washes out the color quite a bit but it emphasizes the glitter and how that lays. These were some cute toe separators I got with...I don't know, something I ordered. Thanks, whoever you were!

This is a pretty sherbet orange color, the base has a lot of shimmer, which is a characteristic of these polishes, and it gives an almost foil appearance. It's not really very opaque, though. This is three coats and you can see there is still some VNL.

Another flash photo, but it lets you see the glitters and where they fall and their pretty complementing color to the base. You can also really see the pretty shimmer.

OK, no flash and quite a bit closer to real life.

You can see this really dries pretty smooth. Relatively speaking, you understand. It's a glitter so it's not like glass smooth, but it's pretty good. A thick top coat and you're golden with this one. No pun actually intended for once.

I was trying to show you the color comparison to a coral here. Did it work?

I love this little votive thing. When you put a candle in here the little fishes look like they're moving. :)

Last one. You can see there is some bumpy, but you can handle that. The glitter disburses nicely and the color is nice. I love the shimmer in the base, too. Really pretty and really very wearable. This isn't going to draw negative attention at work unless your office is super conservative. It went on really nicely,  and looks good on my whiteness. Kind of a bear to remove, though.

More of these coming up. I really enjoy these kinds of glitters.

Happy Talons!

Finally!

After some doing, I got the pictures loaded to my computer, I have a ton of swatches for you, now I just need to get writing!

First up I have an oldie. But a goody. A moody polish that is perfect for those days you want something edgy, or for when you are just plain upset and can't stand a bright color. And that's the state I was in when I chose this. A bright color just wasn't going to work for me.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy is one of those been around forever colors that Ji keeps in her repertoire and I'm glad she does. At some times in life, this is just the color you want, need, suits...I don't have a lot of pictures of it, though. I don't think if you're in the mood for Stormy that you're in the mood for swatching.

This is with flash and it's not at all color accurate, but it does show the underpinnings of the color and that's why I kept it. You can see the blue here. The next two pictures are more color accurate, but I wanted to show the kind of workings of the color. I'm not sure how to describe what I'm trying to say!

This is much more color accurate. You can see how in this lighting the color subdues, quiets. This is a really nice rich color. It's appropriate for anything, but there is something different in it. It's a color that will change a tone without your quite understanding why. I dare say I think there is something kind of unhappy in it. Maybe it's my projecting the feelings I had while wearing it into the color, but I think it's still a little true. I really like this, but you're not probably going to choose it for a Summer day.

Me with my nippers trying to show the kind of steeliness to the color. It's not a metallic, it's a straight cream, but it has that feel to it. Like a dark stormy sky. Hence the name, I'm sure. **facepalm**

This wore really quite well and it applied beautifully, of course. It's an RBL! I expect nothing less from this company. Rescue Beauty's are always quality.

I hope you like it! Sorry I didn't take more swatches. I don't know, I just was unmotivated for awhile.

Happier Talons!

Technical Difficulties. Again.

Do other bloggers have these stupid issues?

So I finally get the internet thing resolved with the encouragement of MDAMO.

OK...

...


Not encouragement exactly. He took this Taurus by the horns, did the initial contact with a new ISP and got info where I wouldn't have. And he was right. This is much better. Equal speed, NO CAP! I can download and upload all day long, and after they hooked it up, I did. For about 4 days. I had a lot of stuff waiting on itunes, what can I tell ya? I'm a sucker for those free digital movie copies.

So I no longer have to worry about using my internet all up. So what's the problem now, you might ask?

Can't get my swatches to upload.


Yep.

I spent all day, and I mean ALL. DAY. Friday swatching. I mean...I swatched like no one has swatched before. Or at least, not as I have. I swatched until I couldn't stomach trying one more polish. I haven't painted my nails in days I got so sick of it. I know, right? I'm bewildered myself.

Get to the point, you say? Shut up and show  us some polish? I get that. I do.

The point is, I can't get them to upload. I'm fairly tech savvy, right? But I keep getting error messages. I could bawl.

I will get it. I will. Just bear with me because I have some great stuff and I tried some new and hopefully less boring stuff with the swatches...now if I could just show them to you. ARG!

I have some good news to share, though!

Though I am mourning my puppy and I miss her terribly and I wander around aimlessly because time I would normally spend with her is now empty, I had to start the puppy search again. If you have dogs, love dogs...you understand this. We dog people are simply lost without them. I work in a dog friendly environment, we had three in there today. It makes it worse.

So as you probably recognized, she was on the exotic side. Pekingese are far from eponymous. They're downright tough to find. I knew I had to dust myself off and start looking. After fruitlessly contacting several breeders (and being ignored by one Chow Chow breeder as well...I did want another Chow.) one who was advertising puppies contacted me back immediately. She turned out to be a sweet and clearly smart person who let me sell myself as a home rather than trying to sell me a dog. She offered pictures of the parents and her other baby, and has generally been wonderful. So at the end of May I will have a new little angel in my life. I'm struggling with the name thing right now. We are buying two of the puppies, half sisters from the same father, born a week apart. They are being hand raised, handled by kids, and loved. Unfortunately, they are three hours away.

I will always love and miss my Molly. Nothing will ever change that. My love for Molly didn't lessen my love for Lydia, my love for my Bubba was different all together, too. Little black and white puppy (name will be announced when I know what fits her) will be different in my life again. I'm still struggling with "replacement guilt", if you can't tell. But I haven't stopped smiling since the deal was made. I suppose it's a part of healing. As my good friend Cindy told me the day my Molly left us, you have to get another to honor the one you lost. I am hoping this will time well, that I will be doing a little better by the time little BnW comes home. Experience has taught me, especially with more exotic breeds, you can't hesitate when you find them. You have to snatch them up. Many times I have lamented that we're not Labrador people. Those are everywhere. Oh no. Not us. We have to have English Bulldogs or Chow Chows or Pekingese. No Cockers for us. Nothing on the top ten list of popular dogs. (At least not in most years.) This has it's pros and cons as you know or can imagine.

She's so darn cute. I put their face pictures on my work computer and now get little done. But I smile a lot! Even the crappy gospel/country/pop fusion "music" at work didn't darken my mood for long and that shit makes me homicidal. It's just bad. I mean...it's bad. I suspect it violates the Geneva convention. I need to find out.

So I will return. I have a day off this weekend, maybe I can work on it. I'm gone tomorrow night...yeah, it will be a day or two.

I hope you are doing some good colors while I kick the computer a few times and moon over BnW. I'd show you pics but I didn't take them and that wouldn't be cool. When she's mine I'm sure she'll be everywhere!

Happy Talons!

Cirque - Epoch Duochromey goodness in a little square bottle

I had been perusing the blogs and seeing Cirque everywhere. It's a cult favorite or something. I had resisted because honestly...I collect too many brands already. Though as ModelsOwn hasn't been able to permanently resolve their international shipping issues yet, this is a good fix for something unique. And unique these are. I got I think 4 when I ordered, I am a hog for free shipping. I went straight to the helpful "Duochrome" linky on the website because I'm a duochrome whore. I admit it freely.
I wanted duochromes and duochromes I got.

MDAMO actually chose this one, it's been quite awhile, actually. I slacked for awhile there. I hope to be over that. Blogging is a good distraction, though I still miss my dog terribly. It's amazing what a place they carve out of your heart. They carve it right out and nestle in there for a long nap. It's a painful loss when that leave that niche.

Epoch is a blue-green-purple flashing bit of niceness. There are all pre-mani, showing the wear. Which was good. This wore a good week. I think I repaired it once but I broke my nail.

Yes, the color on my nails and the color in the bottle are the same. Amazing, huh? I'll show you a good pic of this later.

These always appear to me to have a black base but I'm not sure that's really true. It sometimes looks as if it's just tiny particles suspended in there and they're lending their color to the base, but I'm not honestly sure. I don't see how a black base could do this justice, but I could be wrong. But I sense an optical illusion. Regardless, this is a stunner.

Tilt the bottle, get a different view. Same with your nails. This is one of those that will cause you to wreck your car because you're staring at it and not the road.

Ooo. Look at that. There is some seriously gorgeous duochrome happening here. Look at that pinky!

Look at that! SQUEEEE!!!! This is a but blurry because it's a blow up of the previous picture.Who cares, you can see what you need to see here. That's completely amazing.

Here you can see that blackened quality and the teal. It's like a whole coordinated box of crayons in there. Silver, as well...it's incredible.

I love how it looks different on every nail just because of where they are in relation to the light and the angle of the camera. It's pretty sweet.

These aren't cheap, they're on the pricier side, but honestly, look at that. It's worth it!

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - Speckle - My Favorite!

Speckle is my favorite. Because purple is one of my most favorite colors? Possibly. I'm not sure it's that. Maybe it's this particular shade of purple that just makes me squeee. Not entirely sure I can articulate it.

One coat as a sheer. You can do it.

This is two coats. Two blurry coats. Note to self, when the swatching isn't working, just paint the nails and move on. You'll live to swatch another day.

Not a great bottle shot but a nice one of the nails. This is two coats again, which is really all you need, though you can do more if you want to build up more glitters. That will work because it seems to take a lot to completely obscure the lower layers of glitter underneath.
I just love this color. It's sort of vibrant but not..still kind of a dusty color. I love it a lot.

This is the only one that had a little glitter sticking off, I think! That's easily fixed with an orange stick. I love how this looks, it's so unique and interesting and the color is so gorgeous. I'm in love with this color.

Finally a good one. You can really see what this looks like that it has texture and could probably use another coat, actually. It would even it out a little more, but this isn't bad. It has some roughness, I would put a thick top coat on it because that's what I like, but you do what you're happiest with.
The pigments are really saturated in this, it's just amazingly pretty. I'd wear this purple without the interesting glitter look. I really would.

That's the last of these, finally. I'm so sorry it took me so long. I hope you are planning to pick some of these up.

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - Scarce

Scarce is pink. I'm not a huge fan of pinks, but it's good. It's a pretty kind of pink. I don't usually turn pinks down, but they don't draw my eye at first.

This is another that will do OK as a sheer, if that's the look you're after. You know I hate that so moving right along...

Blurry....see, swatching the collection was a nightmare! Not because of the lacquers it was other things, lighting...focus...it was really difficult for some reason. I don't know. All the same, you can see here that this has that same magical Illamasqua formula that is controlling and distributing the glitters but not eating them alive. You can see that the lower layers do get covered some, how could you prevent it? But there is dept in that look.

Once again, I didn't shift these around at all. Those glitters fall where they fall, so nicely, and sometimes in a cute curl like on the ring finger there! It's sort of like random nail art. This is a fun one. This one also really shows off those little micro glitters in there.

And because of the crappy swatching issues I had, these are all the shots of this I wound up with. Nice, huh? Some days are just like that.

I like this one but it's probably my least favorite of the group. It performs just like the others and while I do like this more saturated shade of pink I think I'd have to be in the mood to wear this. I'm not going to choose it at random.

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - for real this time. Freckle

Freckle is one of the colors I was really fascinated by in this collection. I'm not sure why. It's a dark beige/tan with the collection's signature black hex and mini black glitters. And as you will see, it kind of gave me lobster paws. Still, it's interesting. 

I had the worst time swatching these. please forgive the kind of crappy swatches. I just couldn't get stuff to work out.

This is Freckle...just as I described it. But it's sort of interesting, don't you think?

K, see what I mean? Really just not great! But the color is good.No, still not my favorite of these, but it's pretty and if you want to confuse people, this is a good one for it. I think we expect blues and greens to be a little out there, or a lot of people do. I don't think the black glitter is as much of a surprise in those. In a neutral/nude? It's unexpected. I'm glad they added this to the colors.

Finally a good swatch. You guys don't know how many I pitched. A few, to say the least. You can see that this is going to have an unavoidably lumpy texture, but really, it's not bad. I like it glass smooth so I recommend a thicker top coat but if that doesn't bother you then you can just seal it up with any top coat and go.

Also, I didn't do anything to this to arrange those glitters. The formula is so perfect. It goes on nicely, the glitters disperse themselves and don't clump up and there isn't a lot of clean up. If you check those cuticles, they're really clean, that's the application, not my cleaning up afterward. So nicely done.

Last one on this. These are really pretty color true, so I'm pleased with that. You can see it makes me a little red. It's OK. I can live with it.

I like these a lot. There are a few more to go, too!
Plus, interestingly enough, Deborah Lippmann put out something very similar. 3 shades of similar colors. They're not dupes, they're not even suspected of being, but they are bright colors with black glitters. Who is spying on whom, don't you wonder??  I have them, I haven't tried them yet.

Hmmmm.

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - I promise. I will finish these. But not on this post because I'm too busy rattling on about random stuff.

I know. I've been gone again. I did get a post up last week! My puppy has finally gone to the green field. I miss her so much. As a family it has been decided that we will be keeping an eye out for both another Peke and a Chow, which I used to have. I miss her too. Ideally we can find them about the same time and they can grow up to be buddies. I contacted a breeder today to see where she is, I hope she writes me back. I am still mourning.

But I haven't forgot you, or the blog, though I've had some slip-ups. I kinda...broke my own rule and bought some OPIs. I just did. If it's any consolation I got them off Evilbay so in a sense, OPI gets none of that money, but I know that's feeble and lame. See? I'm kind of a Bond fanatic. I love James Bond, have loved them forever, and I know among my friends I'm not alone in this. And it's not just the delectable Daniel Craig and his blue blue eyes or his shoulders that go on for miles. It's the cars. I admit it. I LOVE those cars. And I love he doesn't wear a Rolex, or at least not any more. He wears an Omega, which I personally wear, and that's very cool. And the cars. And I confess, I wanted to be a Bond girl. I didn't grow up to be sexy or beautiful enough. Smart, maybe, but I'm not really Bond girl material. Maybe like...the Gemma Arterton character in Skyfall, which, considering I can't remember her name from the movie pretty much tells you what you need to know. While I was in my mourning phase nail polish splurgeapalooza, I also picked up a really cute magnet from some outfit in Britain that says "Keep Calm and Dream of a DB5" which is the ultimate Bond-mobile AND my personal dream car. (Rocket launchers optional) So I kinda ordered the Bond Girl collection. And the 007 Skyfall set, and the magnetics. (Sorry I didn't share that with you MDAMO, I was embarrassed!) I do not know what I think of this liquid sand idea, but I'm going to give it a shot.

It also occurs to me that OF COURSE Chanel is marketing in China. Derrrr....though, you know, I have read so much conflicting information on what is actually tested on animals there and what isn't I've kind of lifted my "Marketing in China" embargo. It's too confusing. So I'm back on Lauder and Chanel for that reason. Maybe "too confusing" isn't really good enough of a reason, but it's all I have. I've been struggling with my guidelines for a little while now. Not because I just want the pretty new things, but because I can't keep it straight. I do my best. Most of my makeup these days is Illamasqua, which THANKS Royal Mail! Is now pretty expensive to ship from Britain, but I'll pay it because Sephora makes me a little crazy, they sell out of the new stuff too fast and they don't carry everything.

Which leads me to my next thing! Illamasqua has another Sephora exclusive nail lacquer out there. I saw a comparison on http://www.polish-hound.com/ to Illamasqua's Obsess so you might check that out. She did a nice job showing them over there. It kind of makes me bonkers when they do this because Sephora sells out and then it's a game to get a hold of it. However Superstition (kinda forgot to tell you that, the name of it is Superstition) is still in stock. Then I found, also from the Polish Hound, that I had missed two Illamasqua releases (Harem and Venous) so I have those on the way. With an eye shadow pallette and a free highlighter. Because, you know, I shop when I'm unhappy! Don't Judge!

By the way, really recommend Illamasqua's new flat blush brush and bronzer blush duos. I'm sold on Illamasqua brushes now. Cruelty free and as soft as kitten hair. But more manageable.

While I was bawling and ordering colors, I discovered a bunch of stuff. I wanted to let you know that the new Rescue Beauty Lounge collection is now out of pre-order and will be available to the public shortly. Don't know exactly when. I've advised you and advised you to get your freaking butts on there and get signed up for notifications. She doesn't spam you and you'll be glad you did it. Then Deborah Lippmann has released her Summer collection, all Mermaid inspired. If you liked Mermaid's Tail then this is right up your alley. Did I blog that? Hm. No matter, the collection is pretty and fascinating. Also, butterLondon has released THEIR Summer colors, also gorgeous and beach inspired.
If you're into the Earth Day thing, Sheswai and Zoya both have specials going on.

Whew.

Well, I was going to do the next I'mPerfection lacquer but now this is too long. I won't wait two days to post it like usual.

Then I have a Cirque coming up for you, totally sold on Cirque now like every other blogger out there, and then I'm caught up on swatches. For the past few manicures I haven't swatched because I've been too sad and depressed. My nails is nekkid now so I am trying to decide what to wear. I've been through the Illamasqua's....nothing's grabbing me. I don't know. Maybe a butter. My last couple of manicures have been greys because that was my mood. It's still pretty grey, actually.

And does anyone know what I did with my bottle of Throb? Has to be here somewhere...

If you made it this far through my stream of consciousness, Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection Collection - Fragile

Let me start out by showing you the whole collection in it's boxes so you can kind of get a preview. I know Mottle was the uber popular one out there in the blogosphere, but it's not my favorite.

The first non Mottle I want to show you is Fragile. Of course this makes me want to say "fra geeee lay" but...I try not to.

Fragile is the blue member of the group and is a really lovely watery shade of bright pastel blue with those little rocker black glitters.

This is a little faded out thanks to the flash but it shows the nails really well. The watery blue is so pretty and I wanted to show you that you could use this as a sheer if that's what turns your crank. This is one coat on nekkid nails. The blue of the lacquer gives the black glitters a little but of a softer look, but they're still prevalent, and as you can see, they scatter themselves out nicely. Trust me, I lack the patience to sit and move those all around.

The label on the box. I love that it's speckled, too!

Here is two coats, you can see it's opaque. I love that these have little particles as well as those larger hex ones. It adds a lot.

Here is two coats. You can see it needs a third to really level out, the ring finger particularly is showing through. I don't personally think this is a big deal at all. Probably if I had put on thicker layers it would have been fine.
The interesting thing is that this is an opaque polish that isn't eating it's glitter. You can still see them very clearly. I also love that it spreads them out. The formula is absolutely perfect. Goes on so beautifully and yet it covers well, spreads out the glitter and still lets you see it. YOu can also see here, the texture of the glitter. If you are into those textured polishes then go for it. I personally am not loving that look. At. All. But if you like it, then great. If not, I recommend a couple coats of nice thick top coat, Gelous being my favorite right now.

Last shot of this one, and it's washed out. I apologize. But you get the idea from the other shots, this is just a better shot at the glitters.

What do you make of these? I love the look, I love the micro particles in there adding depth. These are so interesting. I love them. This still isn't my favorite, though. ;)

Happy Talons!