You Don't Know Jacques! About Getting Ready For Spring

The new spring 2012 nail collections are rolling out and most of them are bright and cheery shades. I'm not there yet.

So I took a drab shade, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Then I went on to twinkle it up.

Here's the beginning...

I got OPI's 'You Don't Know Jacques!' in a blogger trade. This is a polish that I saw on many of the nail blogs and actually, I do like it. It's just that I didn't purchase it for myself.

The 'greige' colors got me 2 years ago, right after I started blogging. I don't think I would have given these shades a second thought if it had not been for seeing them on blogs. But, I did a 'hmmmmm?' and tried them and yes, I can say I love greige!

 

I applied 3 coats here with Seche Vite as a top coat. If you know OPI and have sampled many of their polishes, you'll know exactly how this one did: beautifully.

Then, the next day, while I sat at my desk contemplating what shade to swatch next, I found I was actually staring at my Finger Paints FX collection. Sure! Why not?...

I chose 'Flecked' as I thought it would have the best contrast. Using one of the red flakies just seemed to obvious and I wanted something unusual. And, I achieved it...

 

Look, that's a weird angle on my thumb nail. Looks like it is lop-sided. But the photo above this one shows that it's square. My camera eye is getting more critical as I work on vamping up my skill level. I start my photography classes next week with the first class on just on learning my specific camera. I'm looking forward to it and, hope that my blog photos will bear the fruits of this endeavor.

Are you ready for the spring nail collections? Or, are you dragging your feet, like me?

Flaky Flecked over Holly-Day Display

Go ahead...say that title 3 times really fast. Hee hee.

Yes, the Glitter Giveaway is still going. You have to enter here before Sunday, 1/8 at 8 PM EST.

Did you get a ton and a half of Holiday polishes like I did? I still have some to swatch but don't want to seem like I'm not moving on, you know?

I am, however, still in love, and will be forever probably, with my Finger Paint's Special Effects (aka FLAKIES!) collection. So I am looking for ways to take the Winter collections and marry them with the Finger Paint polishes.

Gotta love me some dark green creme polish...

'Holly-Day' is from the 2011 China Glaze Holiday collection. This is a green that I would pick if I could only wear one green polish. It's a Goldilocks polish; not too dark, not too light, juuuuust right.

Next, I paired it up with the green flakie from Finger Paint's named 'Flecked'.

 

'Flecked' makes 'Holly-Day' look like it has lights blazing in it. And it was fascinating to flash my nails back and forth for the dazzle effect.

 

 

 I didn't apply 'Flecked' on my thumb so as to show 'Holly-Day' standing alone. So, I have 2 coats of China Glaze's 'Holly-Day' and one lavishing coat of 'Flecked', then the Color Club's Vivid Color Intensifying top coat.

Yeah, I'm happy to have found a way to use 'Flecked' again. 

Are you scouting out ways to use your Finger Paint's Special Effects?

A Grand Blue Christmas

Here's something I got for Christmas...

Fresh, new-fallen snow. Living in Orlando, this was a wonderful Christmas gift. I went to Denver to see my family over Christmas and it snowed the evening I got in.

Before I left, I happened to pick up a new Sally's Girl polish. Alas, it has no name, but I think it is pretty...

Just a cute silvery, dusty blue that has a shimmer. But, I didn't stop there.
Here's what Sally's Girl polish looks like all by itself...

The second photo isn't as good as the first, but I wanted to show that the first one has a glare on it; not a ding.

However, I wanted to play with my new Finger Paint flakies some more and I thought this dusty blue was just the right pairing.

First, on my left hand, I used 'Flashy'...

 

Even though I did 3 coats of Sally's Girl, I only did one of 'Flashy.' I think another coat would have made the flakes show more.

On my right hand, I used 'Twisted'...

Remember, it is my ring finger, here, that has no flakies on it. Again, just one coat of 'Twisted.' I do wish I would have remembered to apply two coats.

Sally's Girl dusty blue is pretty. But if you have ever purchased one of these, you know the bottle is puny, the brush is sub par, and the top sometimes doesn't stay attached to the brush. If you know these things going in, then you'll know you get what you pay for, most of the time. I was, most definitely, wanting it for the color.

Tomorrow, I'll show you Sally's Girl with a different top coat and see how that strikes your fancy.

I had a grand time with my family this Christmas. My brother and his family live in Denver. My sister and her husband, my dad and step-mom, and my sister's daughter and family all came in. We had a house full. A lot of things happened during that week and one of the best things to come out of it...I realized that my sister-in-law is one of my best friends.

Did you have a grand Holiday too?

I Have Some Flakies On My Fingers And It Isn't Snow

One of the best Christmas manicures I can remember...

Everything is early about this manicure. First, Finger Prints Special Effects Top Coat collection wasn't supposed to be released until next month. Today I spoke with a Sally's employee and she said that they got the go ahead from their office to put them out for sale. Lucky us!!!

Next thing that is early is that I'm leaving for vacation and this is the manicure I will sport for Christmas. And the last thing that is early is my sincere wish to you all a very Happy Holiday season.

OK, this is what I did; I started with China Glaze's 'Near Dark' because I wanted something dark and a creme. I thought that would best showcase the Special Effects. I didn't want to use just a simple black because I think you'll see a lot of that look with other bloggers. And, I wanted to, somehow, keep it close to a Christmas/Yule look.

'Near Dark' isn't quite near perfect, however. It was patchy. And even though I thought I got them all, sure enough, out in the sunlight and doing a macro shot, nothing escapes scrutiny!

Next, I slapped on those Special Effects. These polishes leave me feeling soooo giddy! I guess I have never purchased so many flakies at once and I'm in overload. Usually, we'll get one per collection. But an ENTIRE collection!!! I better sit down and fan myself!

So I could keep these all straight, I applied them in alphabetically order. (Don't laugh.) From the thumb over; Asylum, Flashy, Flecked, Molten and Twisted.
Look closely...

 Asylum

 Flashy

 Flecked

 Molten

Twisted

I posted about the first 4 here, and then today, I picked up 'Twisted' to round out the complete set.

And, to give you another look, I did the right hand the opposite direction...

Taking it from the thumb down: Twisted, Molten, Flecked, Flashy, and Asylum.

It's no secret that my middle finger on my right hand got a serious break. And I'm too stubborn to even them all out. It's just going to have to catch up.

If I had time, these would be fun to matte as well. Even still, these are mesmerizing.

My eyes bugged out of my head today at Sally's, though. The display for these was put on the bottom shelf!!! In merchandising, we call that the 'kill zone.' You do NOT put your best sellers or your newest items down at the bottom. That will 'kill' your sales, i.e., profits. Good thing I know what I'm looking for! And you will too. :D

It is too bad I'm not taking these lovelies with me. But I am not taking the chance with these at airport security. I got them on as a mani, I'm good to go!

Eck! No thumb!!!

Are you getting these? Will you get them all or is there just one or two you want?

Finger Paint's Special Effects Top Coats-FOUND!

When my friend, Alli, tweeted, yesterday, that she found these...

at a Sally's close by her, I couldn't sleep! I was up early the next day (dear gawd, and it was a Saturday!), got my run in, showered, dressed and out the door I went!

Here's the poop...these babies are to be released in January...like, next year, 2012. For some reason, which I didn't ask because I wanted to get mine first, this particular Sally's store had made the excellent, and favorable, decision to put them out for sale. Even when I paid for these Finger Paints, the sales woman stated that they were out early and she had to put in another code so the register would 'take' it. All I could choke out was 'Oh!' I think I was actually having a panic attack getting them because I was afraid some mean Sally's worker was going to come out of the back room and scream 'You can't have those yet! Give 'em back!' I didn't feel safe until I got in my car and locked the doors. Then, I took them out of the bag and drooled all over them.

To anyone else, they may look the same. But to us, nail polish enthusiasts, do we NOT know better???!!!!

This is 'Flecked'. I'm not even going to pretend I know what this flakie color is. Well, I know it's WORRRRD!!

And, this one is 'Motley'. I know what a 'Motley Crew' is but why were they using it to name a polish? Googled it:

adjective

1. exhibiting great diversity of elements; heterogeneous (composed of parts of different kinds; having widely dissimilar elements or constituents): a motley crowd.

2. being of different colors combined; parti-colored: a motley flower border.

3. wearing a parti-colored garment: a motley fool.

 

noun

4. a combination of different colors.

5. a parti-colored effect.

6. the parti-colored garment of a jester.

7. a heterogeneous assemblage.

8. a medley.

 

Now I get it!

 

I have a couple more for ya...

This is 'Flashy'. I want to say a great, big 'DUH' to that one!

 

The last one I have to show is 'Asylum'. Wow, I'm sufficiently blown away.

 

They didn't have 'Twisted' so I will be looking forward to nabbing that one for the complete collection.  And, at the moment, I am working on applying a dark green from China Glaze to show these off. I can hardly wait!!! But I want these to look out of this world!!! 

 

In the meantime, if you'd like to see them swatched, click over here to my friend, Nail Polish MD's blog and she'll show you the awesomely over-the-top flaky top coat wonderland.

 

No one else wants these, right????