Rainbow Glitter Zig-zags, Take 2

One of my more popular posts were the rainbow glitter zig-zag nails I did a few months ago.  It's good, but every time I look at it, all I can see is how uneven some of the glitter is.  It was annoying me so I decided to recreate it, BUT THIS TIME BETTER.

Although it doesn't make much of a different, I started this manicure with two coats of Sally Hansen Navy Baby instead of my usual black.  Gotta mix it up sometimes, you know? Then, starting with my thumb, I added the glitter using my usual process.  Unlike my original version, I did four pieces of glitter before changing directions, made it a lot neater.  After my thumb and ring finger I was starting to go a little cross-eyed so I spaced the glitter out a bit for my remaining fingers.  I like it though, makes the two accent nails stand out more.  It's fun to see the different patterns contrast against each other.  Anyway, if you're wanting to do this, make sure you have the glitter rotated so there's a pointy bit at the top, not a flat bit.  Makes for good zig-zags.  Man, so sleepy today, forgive me if this isn't a 100% sense-making. 

The Verdict:  Ahh, nice, even rainbow zig-zags at last.  I also got to feature one of my many giant rings.  I had a thing a while back for giant rings - I even created the subreddit /r/largerings - and it's good to hold something other than a polish bottle from time to time.  Yay sparklies!

Re-review: Nerd Lacquer All of Time and Space, Warrior Ethos and Event Horizon

It's no secret I think indie polishes are awesome.  I love them for all their sparkliness, uniqueness and that they're just made by people.  In their houses.  Sometimes though I just have to go back to the indies that started it all for me, the irreplaceable Nerd Lacquers.  I'm lucky enough to own about a dozen and I thought I might let some of my favourites see the light of day.  Let's take a look at Warrior Ethos, Event Horizon and All of Time and Space.

Back in early 2011 when you could actually buy Nerd Lacquers, there was nothing else like it around.  There were a handful of Etsy sellers but not much beyond that.  It was the sparkliness and all-around differentness that drew me in.  Warrior Ethos was one that especially caught my eye.  It's a beautiful, blood-red jelly polish with black, iridescent and red glitters of all sizes.    With these kinds of polishes, you need three coats to let the glitter build up in layers, getting a real sense of depth.  

I don't even have words to describe how much I love Event Horizon.  Look at the macro shot on my thumb, look at how much glitter is packed in there!  There's too many different kinds to name, suspended in a deep blue-green jelly.  Just like Warrior Ethos, the more coats you add, the deeper the polish looks.  This one has a whole bunch of holographic silver glitter in there so not only is gorgeous, it's sparkly too.

Finally, at least for today, we have the much softer All of Time and Space, an awesome mix of pink and silver glitter in a mint green base.  This one has more of a frosty finish than the first two but it's that pink shimmer that's mixed in there with the glitter that gives it a different kind of dimension.  I feel like this looks almost like Monet's Waterlilies, although that could just be me stretching to find another way to describe how much I love this polish.

The Verdict: It's been well over a year and just no one has been able to come close to making the same complex polishes as Nerd Lacquer.  I don't mean to disparage other brands - they do their own thing - but Nerd Lacquers were just such an amazing mix of glitter and perfect base jellies, flakies, everything.

I'm also posting this because I'm sad the Ninja Polish site crashed when these were going on sale again recently.  Doesn't hurt to take a look at the originals!  Speaking of, I have reviewed all these before but let's just say I'm a bit better at doing this now.

The Electric Mermaid Strikes Back!

Hi, not dead, just busy with Halloween party that was totally awesome, and then my computer making burning smells.  Still not sure what's doing that.... Anyway, I have something unprecedented to show you today - a third version of the same mani!  This one is particularly special to me as it was my first post to really take off and is still my second highest viewed post of all time.  I'm talking about my Electric Mermaid Nails, and Electric Mermaid Nails 2: The Mermaidening.  Let's take a look at the Electric Mermaid Strikes Back, shall we? 

Nothing here has really changed - I'm doing the same three coats of Sally Hansen Co-bolt Blue for the base and the same cobalt blue holo glitter for the mosaic.  It's just a matter of starting in the middle at the cuticle and building a straight column which sets the spacing for the rest of the nail.  The best thing about having a base colour so close to the glitter colour is that you don't need to cut pieces to fit around the edges.  A couple coats of Seche Vite and you're done.  Keep in mind that with the glitter placed so close together, your top coat might go a bit...funny.  Hard to describe how but yeah.  If you space them out just a little, you'll get a smoother finish but not as much glitter so it's a bit of a trade-off. 

The Verdict:  I tried something different with my lighting, what do you think?  Turns out that turning off my lightbox and just using the ring flash gets this really stark kind of lighting.  It makes my skin look a little weird but makes the glitter stand out nicely.  I love this glitter so much, it's nice to use it again.  Sparkly!