31DC2012 DAY 9: rainbow nails

this was the easiest way i could think of to achieve rainbow nails. easy in the sense that it's just one polish, but also incredibly tedious. i'll tell you why in just a sec. BUT FIRST, pictures~!

3 coats* layla mercury twilight

direct sunlight (and my cute polkadot skirt!)

with flash

dim lighting

*3 coats with a caveat, because i had to use a sandwich technique to prolong the wear time. here's what i did-

1 coat orly bonder

1 coat layla mercury twilight

1 coat orly bonder

1 coat layla mercury twilight

1 coat orly bonder

1 coat layla mercury twilight 

1 coat sally hansen insta-dri clearly quick 

phew, that was a lot of work. but worth it. at the time i'm writing this, i've been wearing it for 48 hours with no tip wear! pretty good, huh? all 3 coats were absolutely necessary, though, because mercury twilight is very sheer. makes me wonder if it would be a good holo top coat. . . . hmmmm.

 

not much to look at in the bottle, but it's amazing on the nail :). 

steampunk

and now, for something completely different.

i'm still away in memphis at a conference type thing, so i haven't changed my nail polish since saturday (still wearing nic's sticks rainbow's end). BUT i do want to show you something else i'm wearing on my fingers- an insane steampunk ring i got for my birthday:

photo: inspired by elizabeth

this is a picture of my exact ring that i ordered from etsy seller inspired by elizabeth. isn't it amazing?? i picked the style of the ring i wanted on her site, then chose the 2 stones i wanted to customize it with. i love how it incorporates both silver and gold. and mostly i love how it looks unique and antique (looove antique jewelry), but still sparkly and girly. basically, i'm infatuated with it.

my seldom-photographed right hand

isn't it sick?? i've been wearing it on my right hand, because of course, my wedding rings belong on my left hand.

also worth mentioning: this is the current state of my manicure that i applied days ago (i just took this photo like 10 minutes before i wrote this post). i applied it on saturday, so this is what it looks like after 4 days of wear. are you impressed? you can't see it in the picture, but i barely have any tip wear going on. i'm crediting all the success to sally hansen insta-dri clearly quick. i love that i can use this top coat to wear a holo for several days, and the glorious holo-ness remains intact. after all, you spend more money on holos, so you should be able to enjoy them for longer on your fingers, right?

rainbow's end

hello new followers!

well, i'm on the road again this week. and as usual, i'm wearing something holographic :).

3 coats nic's sticks by opi rainbow's end

so this is nic's sticks by opi rainbow's end- one of those polishes whose online swatches i drooled over for a long time before i actually purchased it. other swatches i've seen (and my first three pictures) make it look like a champagne holographic, which is pretty much why i bought it. and in direct sunlight and flash photography, it is. but more often, it looks like the last pic- a beige/gray polish with some subtle rainbow effect. don't get me wrong, it's beautiful in the right lighting conditions. but i guess i don't love it as much as i thought i would.

not to mention the ridiculous contraption it's housed in. this pen applicator is supposed to be "polish-on-the-go" easy, but i felt like i had to wrestle with the stupid thing to get it on my nails in a decent fashion. it was hard to get enough polish to the end of the scratchy brush, which meant that i had tons of drag in my application. i had to do three very frustrating coats, and i still had visible spots where the brush had dragged. you can't really see it in the pics because, well, sometimes cameras lie. but trust me, it's there.

one interesting thing to note is that i tried a new top coat over rainbow's end. the holo queen (and other bloggers) recommend sally hansen insta-dri in clearly quick for holos, and it didn't dull the rainbow at all! it does look very strange when you first apply it, though, because the polish changes color and looks really dull and flat. but as the top coat dries, your normal polish returns. weird, huh?

all in all, i think rainbow's end is really pretty- but not worth the crazy effort, the draggy application, or the hunt to find the now discontinued shade online. i'm continuing my search for the perfect nude holo.

polish purchases: june edition

i thought it might be a smart idea to start keeping track of how many polishes i buy every month, and how much i spend total. i just want to keep this polish obsession in check and not go totally overboard. especially considering that i have a whole drawer of polishes i haven't even tried yet. oy.

this is what i bought last month (june):

wet 'n wild megalast 2% milk, beauty secrets ridge filler, sally hansen insta-dri clearly quick, sinful snow me white, chameleon galactic

wet 'n wild fastdry how i met your magenta, lilacquer bakeneko, jordana cosmic, nic's sticks rainbow's end, wet 'n wild color icon diamond in the rough, pure ice silver mercedes

not nearly as bad as last month. i've been keeping up with how much i paid for each polish, so now i'm gonna add up the total. . . . eep :S

wet 'n wild megalast 2% milk (free-fifty)- i picked this up with my $10 rewards from my epic rite aid haul. this is actually my base coat of choice. it's pretty awesome. a post about that some other time?

sally hansen insta-dri clearly quick (free-fifty)- also purchased with my $10 rewards. even though i looove my nyc top coat (grand central station), i bought this one solely for using over holos. i kept seeing pictures on holo queen's blog of insanely holo holos topped with this polish, so i figured i'd test it out on my layla holos.

chameleon galactic (free-fifty)- yup, another ride aid reward. although i think chameleons are normally $2.99 at rite aid. this is a beautiful gold duochrome that's actually opaque in 2 coats!

wet 'n wild color icon diamond in the rough ($1.50)- i stepped into a cvs to get a snack the other day (oh and to soak up some free AC, i'm not gonna lie) and saw this poor little polish on a bottom shelf with a clearance sticker! i just had to take it home, right? i have 2 others from this collection, and was happy to add a 3rd. i just love the holographic glitter.

jordana cosmic ($1.99)- i found a wall of jordana polishes and makeup at kmart the other day and was so excited! this is the one i wanted most, and i can't wait to layer it over navy blue!

sinful snow me white ($1.99)- i bought this for stamping, which works like a charm (as you can see here). wet 'n wild wild shine french white creme just didn't cut it for me as far as stamping goes.

wet 'n wild fastdry how i met your magenta ($1.99)- yes, i usually despise hot pink, but there were 2 reasons i wanted this one- i love how i met your mother and it has beautiful gold shimmer. i figured if i truly hated it, at least i could franken with it.

pure ice silver mercedes ($2.00)- apparently every nail blogger and her pet cat recommends this silver for stamping. can't wait to try it myself.

beauty secrets ridge filler ($3.65)- i picked this up at sally's last week for my nasty toenails. they have massive ridges and make any polish finish other than creme look ridiculous. i'm not sure it actually helped much though :S. i'll spare you a picture lol.

lilacquer bakeneko ($4.00 + $1.75 s/h)- this is my first indie polish!! and coincidentally my first etsy purchase as well. . . . i'm so excited about this one! it's very similar to max factor fantasy fire, which i've been wanting desperately but unable to get. i'll be showing you bakeneko this week! :)

nic's sticks rainbow's end ($6.99)- zomg!! i found this on ebay with free shipping! after seeing this swatch, i knew i needed it in my collection. it's basically the perfect gold holo, the gold holo i've been looking for for the last 2 years. except for 2 things- it's now discontinued, and the pen thingie sucks. but other than that, amazing!!

GRAND TOTAL FOR JUNE: $25.86

not terrible, right? plus some of that total was a ridge filler. . . . that doesn't count, does it??

nail extravaganza (rite aid haul)

last month rite aid ran a nail polish promotion where if you spent $30 on any nail-related items, you got $10 to spend on anything at rite aid. at first i was like- how could i spend $30 on nail polish at one drugstore in one month?? but then ummmm. . . . i found a bunch of polishes i wanted. so yup.

here's what i bought for $30, in case you're into that sorta thing:

wet 'n wild color icon the crown is mine (limited edition!)
petites universe (which is kind of a strange name for a gold flaky. . . .)
revlon whimsical
petites epic! (another weird name. . . . what's with the exclamation mark?)
petites color fever banish

nyc water street blue

petites color fever peach blush (why is this cap different than the other petites color fever bottle above??)

sinful colors fig (one of my top 10!)

magnetique magnetic nail polish (unnamed)

nyc grand central station (i needed a few more cents to meet my $30 requirement, so i bought an extra of my favorite top coat!)

so 10 polishes for $30. . . . now i'm no mathmatician, but i figure that's $3 per polish. not bad, right? but really i got 3 more with my $10 back, so less than $3 per polish! part of me is pleased with my purchases, and part of me is ashamed of how many polishes i bought this month at just one store.

btway, rite aid is running the same promotion this month, if you want to be as lame as me. and no, you don't have to buy them all at one whack, your polish purchases accrue during the month!