NotD - Failed Again in Townsville, Kind Of

I finally got around to redoing an old mani, using acrylic paint this time. It turned out semi-better but still not the way I wanted to.

These are the products I used:

• essie grow stronger
• essence btgn base sealer
• essie Ballet Slippers
• acrylic paint
• essence btgn top sealer
• Seche Vite

I started by applying grow stronger and btgn base sealer, then two of Ballet Slippers and sealed it with Seche Vite.

Ballet Slippers is a sheer, extremely pale pink crème polish. There’s no point in trying to get it opaque, you’ll need five or six coats and the nails would get very clunky.
Though the viscosity is excellent and Ballet Slippers doesn’t tend to pool it is a bit of a pain. I found this polish very hard to get even. Every ridge and dimple on your nail will show up, even with ridge filler. I do like the brush, essie is rocking the flat brush with a round-cut tip.
Unless you have smooth nails without any discolouration or structural issues I wouldn’t really recommend this. I’ve seen similar colours that are easier to deal with.

Here’s Ballet Slippers in two coats with top coat:

Then I used acrylic paint to add various Powerpuff Girls characters. The only one that really came out well was Buttercup. Overall they look nicer than the previous try, but I really shouldn’t have tried getting a full-body Mojo on my short nails. Also, even with acrylic paint, the PPG’s eyes are protruding like crazy. And let’s not even talk about my right hand, ‘kay?
Then I added top coat, first top sealer, then Seche Vite.

I’m shocked at how long it’s been since I’ve posted. That cold hit me hard and I still haven’t fully recovered.
What’s going on with you guys?

Nail Quickie - Short-Nailed French Once Again

I’m ever so slowly recovering from my very nasty cold, the cough is lingering, but otherwise I’m decent, just exhausted. So yay, more energy for nail art. Of course I had to completely nubbinise my nails a few days ago, since I had a series of incidents of the “reach for something, finger slips, nail catches” kind, lots of breakage.
As so often when my nails are very short, I got the urge to do something with a French tip. I considered a lavender or mint green tip, but sometimes I just want my nails to look like my nails, but better. That does not mean a band-aid/mannequin nail, those are horrible and disgusting to me. I mean a nice, sheer base and an off-white tip. No opaque nude and stark white for me.
It took quite some time for me to find the ideal combo. I’ve used both polishes before, but never together: Estée Lauder Peach Sorbet gives me that sheer peach with a bit of shimmer to disguise flaws and Nivea Calcium Power French White is my perfect natural tip white.

It’s a quick freehand version of the French tip, so it’s not perfectly even and the lines aren’t perfect. *g* Perfection is boring. I considered doing some accents, but didn’t really feel like it in the end, so a basic French for today.

Swatch - essence party princess

I hate being sick. On Thursday I awoke achy (due to major tidying on Wednesday) and was tired all day. On Friday I got out of bed and felt like I was on the verge of nausea and dizziness, enough so that I got over my phone aversion and cancelled my appointment with my therapist, and over the course of the day developed a seriously sore throat. That continued through Saturday with bonus coughing and Sunday just added a runny nose. I even developed a bit of a fever, which is super rare for me. Add a really bad period (sorry, TMI) and you have a seriously miserable CucumPear.
Why do I whinge about that here? You try and paint something pretty on your nails when you cough constantly. So I dug out an older swatch, I typed up the main review back then, but not everything.

essence colour& go 105 party princess

party princess is a sheer medium pink base with multicoloured glitter, lots of red-green shifting particles and a strong blue sheen. If you want an opaque mani you’ll have to layer it over something.
Like many essence glitters, party princess is quite gloopy to keep the glitter suspended. This makes for fairly thick coats, but overall it applied well and the particles were evenly dispersed. The new colour&go brush is a bit chunky, but definitely useable.

This is party princess in two coats (maybe without top coat?):

And here it is over a pink base, but I can’t for the life of me recall which pink it is, I wore a few similar shades around that time:

I like picking up sheer glitters for layering, I’m guessing party princess would look rad over dark blue or black.

Swatch - GOSH Galaxy

Wooo, no daily posts. Since continued cleaning is doing a number on my nails, that really makes me happy. And all that polish remover certainly wasn’t good for my nails and cuticles.
Now let’s get to it. I recently pocked up a new nail polish from GOSH’s current special edition and it’s a beauty.

GOSH 612 Galaxy

Galaxy is a strange, yet pretty thing. It’s closer to a glass-flecked polish than to a foil, which I had initially expected. In any case there’s a super-sheer brown base densely packed with multicoloured microglitter. The first glimpse shows lots of gold and yellowy green particles, but also red and blue. The result is a very complex polish with lots of depth; as I went through my day I kept looking at my nails and saw them look sort of olive-y and even like a shimmery taupe. Weird. I ended up applying four coats, but polished like that can seem totally opaque from one angle and then suddenly you can see the tip shine through again.
This applies a lot like China Glaze’s glass-flecked polishes (think Watermelon Rind). Galaxy is very thin and required a bit of care to prevent flooding the cuticles, just don’t overload the brush. But it levelled beautifully and was quite even after a couple of coats. The brush is round and works very nicely.
If you like the colour, definitely pick it up, you may want to consider layering it over a brown polish.

Here’s Galaxy in two coats without top coat:

And this is Galaxy in four coats with Seche Vite:

I expected to like this, but I didn’t expect how awesome Galaxy would be.

31 Days: Day 31 - Recreation

*snerk* My mind is going places.
For the last day of the 31 Days Challenge we’re supposed to recreate a manicure we love. The challenge list doesn’t specify whether it’s one’s own or someone else’s, if it’s to come from the challenge or not. I chose to do a variant of Mimi’s Tentacle Nails, which can be found on her blog MakeupWithdrawal.

Here’s what I used today:

• essie rock solid
• essence btgn base sealer
• LOOK by BIPA Nail Quickie 37 blue stars
• acrylic paint
• essence btgn top sealer
• Seche Vite

First I applied one coat of each base, two of blue stars and some Seche Vite.

blue stars has a blue base on the verge of purple, almost like a super-deep periwinkle, with fine turquoise-y blue shimmer. It’s one of those colours that change vastly depending on the lighting, from obviously blue to rich purple. It’s quite opaque, two coats provide full coverage.
This polish is a bit thick and doesn’t level perfectly. But overall it didn’t apply badly, blue stars is easy to control and doesn't streak past the first coat. The brush is an old-school round one, it works quite well with the formula.

Here’s blue stars in two coats with Seche Vite:

Then I mixed some salmony shades with acrylic paint, painted on the tentacles and dotted on the suction cups. Then I added a coat of top sealer and one of Seche Vite.

I like octopodes. And no matter what I do, these days my cuticles don’t want to not look dry.