One of the Most Annoying Orange Polishes

This month's work has been slow. That will all change with the last quarter of the year coming up. However, I have made the best of it with sharing blog posts, swatching lots of polishes and makeup, reading all my favorite blogs and socializing on Twitter. It doesn't matter what the nay-sayers think about social media, I have met people and made friends that have truly enhanced my life.

So there!

I tried out 'Creepy Pumpkin' polish from Wet 'n Wild's 2011 Halloween collection. When I mentioned it originally here, I stated that this orange polish was not annoying. (Get it?) However, it isn't an annoying shade, but it is an annoying orange polish to apply. 

Let's start here with a photo....

It's got teeny, tiny orange glitter in an orange base jelly.

Here it is swatched and a total of 4 coats...

One thing I have to mention, this is my fourth attempt at doing this manicure. What a finicky jelly this one is. Where I found the patience, I just don't know. But, I had all sorts of problems with this 'Creepy Pumpkin.'

Even with 4 coats, I see VNL. It had wicked drag, both at the cuticle line AND the tips. It dried slow and after an hour I would ding it, ruining the manicure's look for a swatch. It was gritty, but I really don't mind that at all. The fact that it didn't apply fluidly is the main issue, for me.

However, if I only pull this polish out for the Halloween season, I guess it will be OK...maybe. Oh, but I did find a really great prop to use...

I got an entire bag of pretzel M&M's just for this prop; it was so perfect.

What? You don't believe me? Boy, that's just plain annoying.

Vampiest Polish Shades Found at Forever 21

Just a short little haul today.

I stopped by Forever 21 at the mall I did some work at just today. I wasn't going to stop in, but I'm obsessed I'll miss something new.

What I found wasn't so much as new as it was just new to me. Also, I needed a gift.

Take a look at the goods...

Named 'Midnight', this Forever 21, love & beauty polish looks just like a starry sky. It reminds me of the Hubble space photos of far universes.

The base is a blackened blue, and then it is chalk-full of micro glitter that seems mostly silver. However, and I can't tell for sure, there are either different colored micro glitters in there, or that silver is refracting a rainbow of shades. Even swatched on a white sheet of paper I'm not quite sure.

This one is new to me. I don't think I've seen it before. This is called 'Black.' But, what we have here is black glitter. The base is clear but it is loaded with a lot of black glitter and micro-glitter. I got this to tide me over til I get Wet 'n Wild's 'Tangled in My Web', which you can look at here and see Vampy Varnish's swatch of it.  It seems that 'Black' is more densely packed with glitter though. I'll do a comparison or, just a swatch of 'Black' if I can't find 'Tangled...' soon enough.

This is another one that seems just right for the Halloween season...

You're checking out 'Burgundy.' But, as you scan through these photos, it's not always 'Burgundy,' now is it? Duochrome, Honey Child!


Oh. You noticed there were two 'Burgundy' bottles? Shhh....one is a gift for someone very special.

Is there one you like better than the other? I'm truly interested...are my hauls and swatches of Forever 21's love & beauty polishes of interest to you? Does it create lemmings?

Purple Hex Glitter Troubles

When I was a kid, I used to get into trouble (sort of) because I didn't like to follow directions. More realistically, I wanted to play outside the box. So it's no surprise when I show these types of swatches.

First, I try on Forever 21's Love & Beauty 'Purple' all by itself. Let me show you how awesome this glitter is...

Hex-y-topia glitter in there!!

Jam-packed full of glitter, make that 'hex' glitter. There is that gotta 'gemme' large-shaped hexagon and then billions of micro-hexagon glitter in there. The base is clear and maybe a bit purple tinged but then, that could be my eyes tricking me too. And it seems as if the large hex glitter is a different shade but I feel that it just refracts the light differently.

Here's what it looks like as a polish all by itself...

This is a couple of coats and I could see that a solid base color would bring out the Hellmen's best. But being that it was glitter, I really didn't want to start all over again. Hey, look! There's the right hand waving 'Me! Me!'

So, going against "somebody's" rules, I painted my right hand a few different base colors. I picked up three polishes that I wanted to experiment on...

Oooowwwwww...stray hair, Y U not show up before photos?  On my index and middle finger I have on Confetti's 'Moonstruck.' On the ring and pinky finger, I have Revlon's 'Perflex.'

On the thumb, this is OPI's 'Totally Fort-Worth It.' 

My blogger pick is....

Love & Beauty's 'Purple' over Revlon's 'Perplex.' That's the pinky and ring finger.

I wish my left hand nails would be as long and uniform as my right hand....except for that stupid hair. (And, I read that Ragdoll cats are low-shedding. Whoever said that needs to have a week's worth of vacuum canister 'waste' dumped on their head to show them what 'low-shed' looks like. *scowl*)

Gotta passion for purple? What if you could get a purple glitter that has tiny hex glitter and a few larger hex shapes thrown in? I thought so. Do you have fun breaking the nail polish rules occasionally?

Ogre Snot or: How I Came to Love Naming Colors

A couple of years after I moved to Virginia Beach, VA from Nashville, TN, I started dating a guy who managed a comic book/miniature collectibles/gaming store. I enjoyed hanging out there and looking at the vast array of items. One area that I enjoyed was the rows and rows of paint used to paint miniatures. Not only did I enjoy just looking at all the different colors, I was obsessed with the names of them; whimsical, silly and so comic-book style. But the one I remember is a green called 'Ogre Snot.' Besides being so hilarious, it popped into my mind, I could come up with names like that too.  Hence, my love affair with giving colors names.

The swatch I have for you today reminds of that time. I'm going to compare this year's green from the China Glaze Halloween collection to last year's green.

'It's Alive' is the green for 2011. Last year we had fun with 'Zombie Zest.'

Another side by side comparison.

A close up of 'It's Alive.' The glitter is larger and more of a moss green. The base color is a blackened green with light green glitter.

Check out the side by side on nails...

That's Ogre Snot 'Zombie Zest' on the middle finger. I can see that 'Zombie Zest' is an olive jelly base with micro micro-light green glitter. There was a lot of drag on that 'Zombie Zest.' It was like trying to use a wet, ol' booger as polish. (Now that's GROSS!) 

I used 3 coats for each. I think 2 could have done it but since I wasn't satisfied with 'Zombie Zest' and went for a third coat, I went ahead and did that third coat with 'It's Alive' as well.

Swampy greens with glitter have been trendy for the past year. And I'm quite OK with that. I love the color! So I dug in the vanity drawers to pull out a couple more to compare...

From the left: China Glaze's 'It's Alive', China Glaze's 'Zombie Zest, Sinful Color's 'Call You Later', Orly's 'It's Not Rocket Science'.

With the a passion for oogly-boogly color names like 'Ogre's Snot', I found I had a fairly good creative talent for coming up with names. Any makeup company out there that would like my service, I'm very affordable!!

What swampy green do you like?

A to Z of Me: Once Bitten

Sunday's series of A to Z of Me has become popular around the pink vanity. It is fun to share great nail/beauty bloggers, as I know many of us look to find great blogs to follow.

Today's A to Z of Me is on Kari from Once Bitten Blog. If you don't already follow Kari's blog, you'll want to add it to your list of great ones. Kari's skills of sharing swatches goes well beyond just that. Her photos are exquisite and spot on to represent the actual color of the polish. As a puppeteer to life-size dinosaurs, she has had the pleasure of traveling and her stories about that are engaging. So you see, her talents as a nail blogger go much deeper.

Here she shares her A to Z of Me:

The A-Z of me.

A. Age:

37

B. Bed size:

King

C. Chore you hate:

All of them!

D. Day:

Sunday - it's the day my bf always has off work. We sleep in and/or go to brunch - I look forward to this day all week 

E. Essential start to your day:

 Watching the Today Show - my day just doesn't feel right if I can't watch even a small segment.

F. Favorite color: 
I love wearing purple, in clothing, nail polish and my hair but in my house I love lots of green :)

G. Gold or Silver:

Silver

H. Height:

5'9"

I. Instruments: 

5 guitars - I have never played any instruments but my bf is incredibly talented, hence all the guitars

J. Job title:

I am currently 'between gigs' - that's entertainment speak for 'unemployed' - but when I do have a gig, it's as a Puppeteer
K. Kids: 
No thank you - I love kids, I just don't want kids

L. Live:

or Memorex?? (I think I just dated myself with that one)

M. Mom’s name:

Angela

N. Nicknames: 
I've never really had any nicknames but people seem to call me by my first and last names together as if they were one word - kariklein

O. Overnight hospital stays: 

I've had a few

P. Pet peeve: 
All of my peeves can boil down to one thing - lack of courtesy for/to others.  Whether it's not using your turn signal, or not giving a polite wave as I let you in or stop to let you cross, not saying 'thank you' as I hold the door for you etc....

Q. Quote from a movie: 

There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met - Muppet Movie

 

R. Right or left handed: 

Left handed

S. Siblings: 

One sister

T. Time you wake up: 

Being 'between gigs' I can wake up whenever I feel like it - but it's usually between 7 & 9am 

U. Underwear: 
yup and usually in some bright print

V. Vegetables you dislike: 
I like most veggies, but am particular about how they're prepared - I don't like cooked spinach but love spinach dip and in salads - I don't like raw broccoli but will eat it raw ONLY in one particular salad from Sweet Tomatoes - stuff like that

W. What makes you run late: 
Traffic - it's so unpredictable in a tourist and conventioneer heavy city. 

X. X-Rays you've had: 

Pretty much all of them

Y. Yummy food you make: . 

I make a killer homemade Chicken potpie, my spinach dip is ALWAYS requested at potlucks, and just thinking about my French dip sandwiches makes my mouth water

Z. Zoo:

....starts with 'Z' and I love them!

Kari and I live in the same city and we get to have lunch and shop together often. Now that's my kind of friendship! Pop on over to Once Bitten and enjoy her reviews and photos. She pays particular care to attention to detail and she won't let you miss a thing.