don't really lilac it...

One day, I randomly found OPI's Do You Lilac It? color in the usual bin of nail polishes.  Intrigued by the appearance of a new option, I quickly applied it, but unforunately it really didn't work with my skin tone.  It made my skin look dead and likewise the nails kind of dirty looking.

To salvage the situation, not to mention my laziness to remove them completely, I used Essie's Sexy Divide to give it some life.  I think it added a pretty decent contrast between matte and gloss, light and dark, boring and exciting...

tiger

Here's another easy touch-up technique that can double as a kind of simple pseudo nail art.  This time, I'll upgrade the plain Damsel in a Dress nails, which I've enjoyed for several days now.  Inspired by some random ad I saw at Sephora, I decided to add a tiger seal pattern to my left hand (right hand is, let's admit it, difficult to do, besides the fact that doing weird stuff on both hands is over-kill).  Using gold regular paint pen -- yes the kind you use to draw on post-cards and stuff -- I drew random tiger-like patterns on my ring finger nail.  I felt like having one nail with a seemingly continuous pattern was a bit awkward, so I let it "spill over" to my adjacent nails.  Finished it off with top coat (I recommend Seche Vite's dry fast top coat by far, but any top coat works.  I'll mention it on a later post) so that the paint pen doesn't come off.  Turned out decent, I think, and certainly gave them a new fresh look.

excuse any typos while my nails dry...

This color is awesome!  Well, Rock Star Skinny is too, but Essie's Damsel in a Dress is in a different way.  It looks exactly like the grape juice I'm drinking, actually, with a hint of brown because of tiny gold sparkles that give it its shine.  But it's not glittery and gaudy, retaining much of the translucent and succulent feel, just like the juice!  Or if you prefer, think of rich, aged wine in a super clean glass.  Really dark cherries would do too! Ok, maybe I got a little too excited about this.

I was actually going to attempt some nail art suggestions that I saw at Sephora, but that's going to have to wait a bit.  Don't want to ruin them just yet.

what chipping?

Just around the time that the nail polish starts getting a little dull or chipping at the edges, I will have a little fun reviving them before removing.   I don't usually play around with them at the beginning for fear of ruining them, but why not after a week or so.  This time I added black tips with gold lining using a ghetto technique.  The gold is actually ::gasp:: paint pen, while the black is pa nail color A112 that I've mentioned before.  Put on a layer of top coat and you get the original shine back, and the marker line will stay on; it's an easy way to get fancy with your nails.  Note again how rich the Rock Star Skinny color is -- it looks so different in different lighting.

more mattes

Don't worry I haven't already forgotten about the blog... Here's Rock Star Skinny by Essie. This is actually from a while ago, and it looks like I did a terrible job here, but I must say that this color is quite awesome.  It's deep and elegant, but matte, so definitely a repeater for all kinds of occasions.  In fact, I might just have to use them right now, now that I've finally removed the French nail look that was falling apart.

quick fix

My current nail polish (Essie, Mint Candy Apple) got chipped from the usual careless treatment.  I'm too lazy to clean it all off and redo them, so I just transformed it into a gradient piece.  Really easy with translucent, sparkly nail polish.  I used a Shiseido pN green lamé over the original creamy pastel green.  Simply do one coat over half the nail, and a second coat at the tip to get a gradient effect.  Only annoying part is that the fast dry top coat (will get to this later) doesn't completely do its job over the thick jel-like coats.


p.s. just got to Japan! The inflight duty free shopping had a Japan-only 4-color OPI set for only 4400 yen (that's great compared to the usual 2100yen per bottle), but did not get it, so I'm not sure why I even mentioned that.

pop

Random mood resulted in throwing in a bright pink OPI color Charged Up Cherry with a base color You Don't Know Jacques.  The grey is one of my favorite -- it looks darker indoors but has a brownish tint in the light.  My pinky nail is black with pa nail color A112, which is a generic Japanese nail polish, nothing special.  It's like doing multiple swatches... efficient... Actually, I found an Express dress designed just like my nails, so I don't feel too bad about the randomness.  If you are curious, my right hand was black, black, grey, grey, grey, from thumb to pinky.  Don't do accent colors on both hands! I accidentally did it once when I wasn't paying attention.  It just looks stupid.  I usually pick my left ring finger nail to do something different.