Barbie dolls and bubble gum

After my last manicure of black polish and multicolored flakie topcoat, I was in the mood for something brighter and more cheerful-looking, so I reached for my go-to color, pink.  And by the way, I ended up not liking that dark look as much as I thought I would.  With some colors, the longer I wear them the more I like them, but the opposite happened with the black.  Even with the bright flakes, I think the dark polish really made my hands look older.  Plus the flakes were devilish hard to remove.

The pink I picked is a creme shade from the new Spoiled line from Wet n Wild (CVS exclusive, $1.99) called “Cotton Mouth.”  Now why someone would name a happy nail polish color after a swimming poisonous snake is beyond me.  When I was growing up, the surest way to keep us kids out of a pond was to spread the story that there were cottonmouths in it.  Maybe the name is supposed to suggest how you look after you eat cotton candy.

Like the other Spoiled polishes I’ve tried, the brush is wide and thick.  I like wide spatula-type brushes because they cover my nail in just one or two strokes, but this brush is so thick it holds too much polish.  I had to keep scraping it off against the bottle opening, and still had too much.  It left a few tiny bubbles which are visible in the photos.

It does cover well and dries very glossy.  Here are two coats with no top coat, in diffused outdoor light:

The color reminds me of the pink plastic furniture that Barbie dolls tend to acquire.  Or bubble gum.  I love pink but I don’t think this is the most flattering shade for me and that it makes my skin look a little yellowish.  Here it is in direct sunlight:

And with the flash:

I thought about what I could use to change the shade, and got out the Sally Hansen “In a Flash” sheer beige shimmer that I swatched earlier.  As a reminder, here’s what In a Flash looks like by itself:

One coat over Cotton Mouth gives a whole new look.  In diffuse light:

I LIKE it!  Here with flash:

And at a different angle with the flash:

This is a great example of how a sheer tinted top coat can give another polish a whole new look — depending on what you pick, it can brighten, tone down, give a different hue.  Cotton Mouth by itself is bright and pretty but it’s not what I’m in the mood for right now.  I may feel differently in a few weeks or months, though, so it’s a keeper.

“… the younger ladies wore Rose…”

I don’t have any new color swatches to show you today since I was so busy all weekend, but I’ve been thinking about colors, fashions & fads, and nail “etiquette,” for lack of a better word.

The title of this post comes from the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which was set in 1930s small-town Alabama:  “The ladies were cool in fragile pastel prints: most of them were heavily powdered but unrouged; the only lipstick in the room was Tangee Natural.  Cutex Natural sparkled on their fingernails, but some of the younger ladies wore Rose.”

This was the era when “nice” women only wore clear nail polish, at least the mature ones.  It was acceptable for younger ladies to wear rose, pink, or peach.  Red was considered, well, not very nice, and it was often seen on those scandalous movie stars!  Ditto rouge and bright/dark lipstick.  Of course, things were different in small towns and rural areas compared to big cities.

In the ’40s and ’50s bright and dark colors became much more common and acceptable.  Who can think of pin-up girls without their cherry red lipstick?

Nail polish colors and nail shapes and lengths go in and out of fashion like anything else.  Reading about beauty products’ historical trends can be fascinating.  I think modern nail polish really started to come into its own in the 1920s and ’30s.  Get a load of this vintage manicure set and its message that “Today your lips must match your fingertips!”  I also love the tips on the included booklet about which colors go best with my ‘frocks’ and ‘gowns.’

We might laugh today at the thought that we must match our nail color to our lip color.  In the ’60s, ’70s, and early ’80s that didn’t seem to apply, and we saw lots of new nail colors, but I have a bestselling style book from the late 1980s that says, you guessed it, your nails should match your lipstick.  Fortunately that certainly isn’t how it’s done these days again, else I’d be walking around with blue or yellow lips occasionally.

It’ll be fun to see what trends the future brings for our nails.  One thing I’m sure of — clean, healthy, unpainted nails will always be in fashion!

And now for something completely different

A few months ago I would have said I’d never, ever wear black nail polish.  I don’t think it’s flattering on older hands, plus it screams, “I’m trying to look like a teenager!”

Well, guess what, I’m wearing black.  And while I’m not trying to look younger, I’ll admit I’m trying to look weird.

Here’s the deal — this weekend I’m going to a card tournament, Magic the Gathering, that’s attended by mostly young people and is frankly a festival of geeks and nerds.  This time the set is centered around the classic dark horror themes of zombies, spirits, vampires, and werewolves, and I thought a very dark manicure would fit the theme.  But I didn’t want just any black.

I started with the base color “Black Crème” from Wet n Wild’s Wild Shine line.  Easy application, good coverage, I only needed one coat, and you can’t beat the SRP of $o.99.

(By the way, I recommend always starting with a clear base coat to protect your nails from colored polish.  Dark colors can stain your fingernails badly although the worst discoloration I ever got was from a cheap bottle of light yellow Bon Bons polish.  I use a Sally Hansen clear base coat.)

Then I used “Twisted” from the new limited edition Finger Paints Special Effects Collection, a Sally Beauty Supply store exclusive flake glitter (“flakie”).  It’s a multicolored thin, flat, irregular glitter, not like the square or hexagonal glitter often seen.  Flakies are becoming this year’s crackles, as far as novelty and popularity.

There are five polishes in the set and they all look almost the same in the bottle, sort of yellowish and murky, yet with flashes of sparkling flakes.  It’s really hard to tell the colors apart in the bottle and I can only tell by looking at the label on the bottom.  I bought Twisted (~$5.99) but now could kick myself for not picking up Motley too.  These are largely sold out in stores and are being scalped for crazy prices on eBay.

Here’s Twisted in the bottle.  Not much to look at.

But on the nail, oh boy.

The brush handle is comfortably big and application was a breeze.  I used one coat with a few extra dabs to position the flakes, and finished with a clear top coat.  The flakes shine gold, orange, green, and purple-blue.

The first picture is in diffused outdoor light, and here are two more, one in direct sunlight and the other with a flash:

Here’s a closeup so you can really see those crazy colors.

I’m sure there will be duplicates from other companies as soon as they can make them, and actually I read about the “Edge of Glory” set from Deborah Lippmann first, which contains black polish and a multicolored flakie top coat for an SRP of $40.  Let’s hope Finger Paints makes this Special Effects Collection a permanent addition.

You might think I have no rhyme or reason, since yesterday I said I didn’t like the pink glitter “Excuse Moi” and now I’m wearing black with multicolored flakes.  What can I say; this time I’m going for a certain look.  I seriously doubt I’d ever wear this combo as an everyday manicure or to work, and I didn’t like the plain black which looked too harsh.  You might like the pink glitter and hate the black, which is perfectly fine.  Wear what YOU like.

I look forward to trying Twisted over colors that are more my usual speed — pink, lavender, blue, maybe red.

To paraphrase the text on a card called “Manic Vandal” from Magic the Gathering:  It’s fun.  You don’t need another reason.

Excuse Moi, I think I’ll pass

Continuing with my OPI Muppets Collection mini-set, which I showed here and here, next I thought I’d try the one that looked like the most fun, “Excuse Moi!”

Unfortunately, I think it looks ridiculous on me.

Let’s see, when might I wear this one?  If I was running away to join the circus.  If I was the featured clown at a small child’s birthday party.  If I was forty years younger.  If…. I can’t think of any other situations.

Excuse Moi! is a candy-pink translucent jelly base with pink and silver microglitter and small hexagonal multicolored glitter.  The formula seemed thick and hard to apply, and there was a LOT of glitter.  I think a bit of it can look festive but this just looks silly on me.

I’m not knocking anyone who likes it — I’ve seen swatches on girls and young adults that look cute, and if I had a little granddaughter who wanted to paint my nails with it, I’d say sure.  But I can’t see me, at 53, wearing it anywhere unless it was for a joke.  Wait, I take that back.  It might be OK for toes in the summer.

This is two coats plus a few extra dabs because the glitter tends to bunch up.  It had a rough, bumpy texture after it dried, typical for glitters.  A clear top coat would remedy that but I removed it as soon as I took these pictures because I know glitter polish is a pain to get off once it dries really hard.

In sunlight:

In reflected sunlight:

In indoor light:

This is going in my “to give away” box.  Some little girl, somewhere, is going to love it.

Silver with a kick

In a previous post, I told you about getting the mini-set from OPI’s Muppet Collection called “Muppettes” and I swatched the bright red “Wocka Wocka!”  I’m finally getting around to the other colors.  Took me long enough.

Today I put on “Designer-de Better!” and I have three words:  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  It’s a silver foil with unique copper/bronze sparkles, which make it look different and warmer than any other silvers I’ve tried.  I have never seen a polish color exactly like it.  Application was a little tricky only because the mini-bottle (1/8 oz.) and its brush are so tiny.

The formula was perfect — no streaking whatsoever, a great foil finish, and it dried quickly and evenly.  I really think I’m going to have to get a full-sized bottle of this color.  Curse you, OPI!

This is three coats with no top coat in sunlight:

And here in reflected outdoor light:

I didn’t need to use a flash; if I had I probably would have blinded myself.  It’s that shiny.  I’d probably use a top coat to keep it from chipping but it doesn’t need extra gloss.  To really see the copper/bronze bits, here’s a closeup:

Isn’t it gorgeous?  Color this one my new favorite.

Crackle finish for us older women — yea or nay?

Last year saw an explosion of crackle finish polishes in a multitude of colors.  It wasn’t a new fad; Cover Girl had some crackle polishes 10-11 years ago.  For the longest time I thought I’d never want to wear one because I thought it would look ridiculous on anyone over the age of 18 or so.  But then I changed my mind.

True, I still don’t want to wear two high-contrast colors together, such as white crackle over dark red polish or black crackle over a light pink (white crackle always looks like correction fluid to me, and black crackle would probably look too “wrinkly”), but I found some softer combos that I like.

I only own two bottles of crackle, Antiqued Gold and the silver Fractured Foil, from Sally Hansen’s Crackle Overcoat line, and doubt I’ll buy any more.  Last year I tried the gold over pink polish and the silver over lavender, and liked how they both looked.  Interesting but not too juvenile.  You can also do fun things with school colors for activities like sporting events and rallies.

Here’s the Antiqued Gold over Zoya’s Happi that I swatched yesterday.  Happi has a great gold flash on its own but the crackle is fun.

Since the contrast between the two colors isn’t high, you really only see the crackling up close.  At a distance it just looks rosy gold.

The formula is thin but that’s what you need, since you only need to apply a thin coat.  The crackling is random so you might get an OK pattern and you might not; for example, I don’t care for how it turned out on my index finger in these pictures.  But you can just clean off one finger and start over or apply a little more base color and then a little more crackle.  It dries very fast so be careful not to get any clumping or let the brush dry out.

The best thing about crackle to me will sound horribly lazy — it really hides chips and nicks well!

The price is usually right

News about the economy is always, well, news, so today I thought I’d briefly discuss the prices of nail polishes, and why I buy and swatch the polishes I do.

First of all, I’m a middle-class woman who buys all my own polishes at retail, either in stores or online.  Some of the more established and popular bloggers get polish sent to them free for the publicity.  Lucky them!  I rely on people like Scrangie to see swatches of new colors and collections before they’re released to the general public.

Let’s start at the top and work our way back down to earth.  Chanel and Dior have beautiful polishes — at least, so I’ve read, since I’ve never actually seen any in person.  One bottle will run you about $22-$26. (U.S. prices)

I’ll call the next tier roughly the $10-$20 range.  Butter London, NARS, a-england, and Deborah Lippmann are examples.

Next we’re getting into a range which with I have some familiarity, the $7-$10 polishes.  OPI is one of the best known.  There’s also China Glaze, Misa, Essie, Orly,  and Zoya, to name a few.  You can often find these brands for sale for less at online sites, but be sure to factor in shipping costs.

Now “the drugstore brands,” ones you can find at most any drugstore or big box store.  These run about $3-$6.  Sally Hansen is probably the queen of drugstore brands, and has several lines such as Diamond Strength and Insta-Dri.  Some others are Milani, Maybelline, L’Oreal, Revlon, and Rimmel.  A lot of times CVS or Walgreen’s will have what I call a BOGOHO sale (buy one get one half off) and that’s a great time to stock up.

Finally, there are ultra-budget polishes for 99¢-$1.99.  Wet n Wild has several collections, including the new Spoiled line.  Sinful Colors is another company (their web site is under construction but check Walgreen‘s).  And there are more, such as the tiny little Bon Bons you may have seen in Wal-Mart.

There’s no right price or wrong price.  You know your budget and your preferences.  Since I only recently got interested in different polishes, most of mine are Sally Hansens from the drugstore.  But I’m branching out into Essie, China Glaze, OPI, Misa, and I just got my first Zoyas.  Personally, I think that for the über-expensive polishes, you’re paying for the name, and that’s not how I choose to spend my money.

Speaking of Zoya, let me show you one of them, “Happi,” a peachy-pink metallic duochrome with a beautiful flash of gold.  It’s warmer than most of the pinks I own and I just love this color.  It screams spring and summer to me but I think I could be happy (no pun intended) wearing it any time.  The formula, brush, and application were good; I needed three coats for full coverage.

No flash:

Brighter indoor lighting, still no flash:

The gold is crazy pretty!  With flash:

By the way, I’d love to know what you’d like to see  me cover in this blog — new releases and colors?  Glitters and crackles and flakies?  Comparing similar colors like I did in my post on grays?  Let me know!

A tale of two pinks

Don’t you hate it when you see something in the store, like it, buy it, take it home, and then discover that yeah, you liked it SO much that you already bought it?  When you have a collection of anything — cross stitch patterns, used paperback books, quilting fabric, nail polish — that’s bound to happen.

There’s a new line of nail polish from Wet n Wild called “Spoiled” that’s a CVS exclusive, available in-store or on their web site.  The bottles are very similar in shape to Sinful Colors, which I’ve only seen in Walgreen’s.  The Spoiled line has creams, shimmers, and glitters, and has a SRP of $1.99 which is extremely reasonable.  Surprisingly, there’s no info on it at all at Wet n Wild’s web site as of this writing.

I picked up a pretty pink shimmer called Magic Carpet Ride from the Spoiled display.  When I got home, I saw that I already had a pink shimmer that looked comparable, On the Rocks from Sally Hansen’s Hard As Nails line (SRP $1.99 as well).

As you can see, they look similar but not identical.  Magic Carpet Ride looks pinker and On the Rocks looks more silvery and like it has more shimmer.  Sure enough, when I swatched them, that’s how they looked on my nails.

The brush in Magic Carpet Ride was HUGE, very wide and very thick.  I’ve read online that other people have the same opinion of the Spoiled brushes.  If you have small fingers or nails this might be a problem, and I really had to be careful not to get too much polish on the brush.  The brush in On the Rocks seemed small by comparison but it’s actually fairly average.

Both polishes were very sheer.  Magic Carpet Ride has very fine shimmer in a pink jelly-like base.  On the Rocks is almost a fine flake in an ultra-pale pink, almost clear, base.  In all of the following photos, I have Magic Carpet Ride on my little and ring fingers, and On the Rocks on my middle and index fingers.  Here’s one coat:

Not much difference noticeable there, but with two coats, the differences become more pronounced:

Finally, here are three coats.  The second photo is in less light.

They’re pretty but in a different way.  I think I’d wear Magic Carpet Ride by itself but don’t think I could build up enough opaqueness with On the Rocks and so that one would be better layered over another color.  The pink of Magic Carpet Ride looks spring-like to me and the silvery On the Rocks seems more season-neutral, yet both are flattering and not in-your-face glittery.

What have your hands done for you lately?

An article in our Sunday paper this morning, Scars Don’t Define Who We Are, really struck me.   (Warning, may be upsetting.)  How many times do we, do I, concentrate on looks instead of function?  This blog of mine is a perfect example of this; it’s about hand care, skin care, and nail polish for older women.  Well, la di da.

Let’s not lose sight of what’s important about our hands — what they do for us.  My hands aren’t the most photogenic in the world, but they work.  I mean that in two ways.  They work in that they function, and they also work in that they do jobs.

I can’t even count all the things my hands have done for me in the last week.  They have fed the dogs, fed myself, washed dishes, turned a steering wheel, cross stitched, typed an essay and a ton of emails, taken tickets, hugged my husband, held a book, put on makeup, played cards, brushed my teeth, done laundry, cuddled a kitten.

In years past they have held babies, changed diapers, made a quilt, delivered puppies, knitted a sweater, fought fires, touched a dance partner, caressed a cheek, drawn blood samples, planted trees and flowers, wiped away tears.

Alyssa Smith, in the article mentioned, has beautiful hands.  Not because she wears nail polish or not, but because her hands work.  They shoot 3-pointers, grab rebounds, and hold others’ hands.  The next time I feel like complaining because I break a nail or some other trivial thing, I hope I think of Alyssa and remember that it’s not how we look, it’s what we do that matters.

Meet Me on the Star Ferry

No, I’m not asking for a rendezvous.  That’s the name of a polish color from OPI, Meet Me on the Star Ferry.  It’s not new, by any means — it’s from OPI’s 2010 Hong Kong Collection — but it’s new to me.  Just picked it up yesterday for $8.50, which is more than I’m usually willing to spend for one bottle of polish.  But what the heck, sometimes it feels good to splurge.

Meet Me on the Star Ferry is a medium plum with a beautiful gold shimmer.  Pretty in the bottle and on my nails, although I thought it might look a tad darker.  This is three coats.  I thought I might be able to get away with just two coats, but the formula was a bit thin and three looked much better.  In natural light:

A little better shot of the shimmer in lower light:

I think it’s a great color for winter, probably fall too.  Depending on your skin tone, it could look good any time of year.  I like that it’s plum but not too dark, and I think the gold shimmer keeps it from crossing that dangerous boundary into Grandma Color Land.