And we’re back…

Finally got the time to get back to the bloggery, despite holidays, mini-vacation, parties et cetera. Of course after that was all over and done with I got a nasty cold (still ongoing) and y’all know how annoying random coughing and runny noses are when you try to apply polish. ;-)

So as I’m trying to get back into a polishing rhythm – I’ve been wearing my polish plain and for three or four days rather than the usual two – I have a simple abstract nail for you today.

Here’s what I used for this mani:

• OPI Nail Envy Soft & Thin
• Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener
• Sinful Colors 947 Mint Apple
• China Glaze Millennium
• China Glaze Jitterbug
• Milani Neon 504 Fresh Teal
• Seche Vite

I started by applying one coat of each treatment, three of Mint Apple and sealed it with Seche Vite.

Mint Apple is a relatively dark and intense shimmery mint green, which is different from the gazillion of minty greens we have these days in the way the shimmer shifts from silvery to golden. This results in a weird, but very pretty, warm/cool look and makes it quite universally wearable. Mint Apple is not quite as opaque as I would have hoped, but three coats do provide full coverage.
This polish applied fairly well, though if you decide to wear less than three coats you’ll have to be very careful to avoid streakiness. I found the viscosity nigh perfect, though: neither so runny it floods the cuticles, nor so thick it fails to level properly. The brush is a basic round one and on the large side (strangely, as I have SC polishes with much thinner brushes), other than a random stray bristle I had no issues with it.

Here’s Mint Apple in two coats without top coat:

And this is Mint Apple in three coats with Seche Vite:

After the base was fully dry I started by applying a fairly thick curved line in Jitterbug and outlined it very thinly with Millennium.

Then I painted on staggered lines, again using Millennium, and added two rows of dots with Fresh Teal, one parallel to the curved line and one with slightly smaller dots along the centre of it.

Next I used Millennium to add small off-centre dots to the larger teal ones and added some not too precise lines of Jitterbug over the staggered silver lines to soften them a bit. After I added some top coat the mani was done.

I feel like I should have added some gold to the design, but it didn’t occur to me until it was to late to go and dig through my China Glaze drawer… So, folks, how have your holidays been (if you even had ‘em)?