Hi guys! I have moved my blog over to KimbersLacquerKorner.blogspot.com . You can follow me there. I will not be updating here anymore, and will delete this blog in about a month or so.
-Kimber
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Yay, a color that I didn’t dread! I don’t wear green often, but I have some really gorgeous greens in my stash. Actually, I procured a new green yesterday, and the challenge gave me a great excuse to wear it!
I had picked up a Seche mini UV light at Sally’s awhile back, and finally pulled it out to use it yesterday. Because I have the worst luck in the universe (no, really. I have the WORST luck of anyone I know!), when I pulled it out of the box and turned it on, it didn’t work! Upon close inspection, the bulb was blackened at one end, there were grubby little fingerprints all over it, and it looked like someone had just manhandled it. I called Sally’s and they told me to bring it back and they would exchange it for me. So I ran down there, made the exchange, and happily took my UV light home. I immediately pulled it out, tossed in some batteries, switched it on, and voila! It lit up! Then it made a popping noise and died. Seriously. Not 30 seconds after turning it on, it was dead. The bulb was blackened, and it smelled like burning plastic. WTF! I called Sally’s again, and she told me to bring it back again. So I made the drive one more time, and had them exchange it for the Gelish Mini UV Light instead. While making the exchange, the Sally’s manager told me that she had heard nothing but complaints about the Seche light, and it was getting horrible reviews online. Well, thanks for telling me the first time I exchanged it! Anyway, i took my Gelish light home, popped in batteries, and it worked!! It’s actually an awesome little light. But I’ll talk about that another time. On my last trip to Sally’s, I came across an Orly Birds of A Feather gift set. 3 polishes and a purple bag with peacock feathers clipped to the zipper. Cute! In the set was Sweet Peacock, Lucky Duck, and Fowl Play. I have been lemming Fowl Play pretty hard, so I was thrilled to find it! Sweet Peacock is absolutely gorg as well, and Lucky Duck just happens to be green and it was green day for the challenge! Obviously I had to have it!
Lucky Duck is a lovely green creme, but the finish reminds me more of a jelly without the VNL issues. It is a dusty green, and in some lighting leans toward a dusty mint. Formula on this one was wonderful, which was a nice surprise since my other Orly cremes are a bit on the thick side. This was completely Opaque in 2 coats, although with careful application you might be able to get away with one thick coat. I added an accent nail with Sinful Colors Call You Later, a fab glitter with Green round glitter and a ton of different sized gold glitter. I think every polish addict has a “comfort zone”, and mine just happens to be the accent nail. Seriously, I rarely wear plain color, normally choosing to add an accent nail to liven things up when I don’t have time to stamp or freehand, or if the color is too amazing to cover. But back to Lucky Duck! It has some pretty awesome shine on its own, but I sealed it with a coat of Gelish Top It Off UV Gel top coat. Amazing stuff! It really makes this color shine!
Here it is in the light box:
And in natural light:
Isn’t that an awesome green? Definitely one of my faves! I have seen Lucky Duck compared to OPI’s Jade Is The New Black, and they do look similar, however Jade Is The New Black looks a little darker and a little more grayed out than Lucky Duck. But if you can’t get ahold of Jade, this is a good alternative.
Tomorrow is Blue Nails, and I am having a very hard time choosing a blue! I have a decent variety of colors in my stash, but blue is by far the dominant color in my collection. I’m trying to keep it simple this week, since next week the challenge shifts to some nail art manis. I think I’ll pull out the blue polishes that I love and have my son pick. Whichever he points to will be the winner!
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
Boy, did I dread this mani! Yellow and I do not get along. However, once I got this polish on, I didn’t hate it as much as I had expected!
For this mani I chose Wet N Wild Fast Dry “The Wonder Yellows”, a bright, shimmery yellow that makes me think of fields full of dandelions on a sunny day. How cheesy! 🙂 The formula on this polish was absolutely dreamy! Not too thin, not too thick, and went on so smoothly. Sometimes Wet N Wild really impresses me, and for 99 cents? Awesome! However, as with most yellows, opacity was an issue. It took me 4 coats to reach any semblance of opacity, and 5 to get rid of the VNL. Normally I don’t really mind VNL, but with this color it just didn’t look good. Hence the 5th coat!
Here is The Wonder Yellows in all it’s light box glory!
Not too shabby for yellow! Although it does make my hands a tad lobstery. 🙂
Tomorrows post: Green! Until then I am going to go play with my UV light and polishes! I recently acquired a couple of gelish polishes, as well as the prep, base and top coats and Seche Ultra-V UV top coat. So far the Ultra-V is awesome for every day wear, but the gelish top coat is incredible for shine and durability. Hubby and I both worked really hard to try to dent it, and could barely leave a small dent! I can’t wait to actually try out my gelish polishes. I don’t foresee myself using a lot of gel polish, but since I have the light I may as well use them on occasion. I do recommend that you try out the top coat if you have a UV light. They say you can’t use it with regular polish and that you must have their special product to remove the tacky layer after curing, as well as removing it in general but alcohol removes the tacky layer, and all you have to do to remove gel top coats and polishes is file the top coat to break the seal, and either use the foil trick or use one of those acetone scrubby jars.
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
Hey guys! I finally found some time to work on the blog! I am still adding to my blogroll, so if you know of any blogs that I should be checking out, please leave me a comment or send me a message and I’ll add them.
What do you think of the new look?
Back when I was around 22-23, I was really into having long nails. I babied my nails like crazy, and kept them polished at all times. I would re-do my mani every other night, although I always used the same color. At some point, I ended up breaking most of my nails and I just stopped growing them out. Every time I had decided to paint my nails since then, I had gone searching for this color. No luck! I had picked it up at Sally’s, but have never been able to find it again. It wold probably help if I knew the name of the color, or even the brand, but it’s been a long time, and I have no clue what it was.
Last week at Sally’s I was perusing their clearance bin. And there was a perfect match to my previous color! Could this be the gorgeous shimmery, almost duochrome blurple that I had been hunting for? I snatched it up and rushed home to try it out. And wow! If it wasnt the same exact polish, it sure as heck is a perfect dupe for it!
Without further ado, here is that color, China Glaze Tempest:
Artificial Light:
and with flash to show shimmery goodness:
Oh how I love this color! The formula was like butter, and although I have read posts where people said it took a good 3-4 coats to be opaque, I only used 2 coats. It does have some brush stroke streaks, but its worth it to have this color again. And look at those cuticles! This was taken before my gardening fiasco, but after I stabbed myself with my cuticle pusher 😦
I also wanted to share the product of my mother/daughter time this past Tuesday. My daughter is not into polish at all, but decided that she really liked how my stamps come out. She came to me and asked if I would do her nails for her! We sat down and she went through my stash, choosing Essie’s Aruba Blue as her base, and Pure Ice Pussycat for the stamping. She wanted to be different and have a different stamp on each nail, and she picked a few that I thought may not come out on her tiny nails, but they turned out pretty awesome! Here is the final product:
Forgive my messy polish table! She insisted on holding the bottles like mom does. So adorable! I had a blast doing her nails for her, and she is already clamoring for another mani!
Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
Just a quick note: my nails are 100% natural. They’re not acrylics or glue ons- they’re all mine. I’ve had several people mention that they thought my nails were fake over the past couple of days. Sorry to disappoint, they’re real!
So, on to Day 2 of the challenge!
I know, it looks like I did 2 manis in one day. My red mani was supposed to be posted yesterday, but due to internet problems, I had to post it today. Since I don’t want to flub the challenge, I am sticking with yesterday as Day 1, and today as day 2. So here is Day 2 of the challenge: Orange Nails!
I have to admit that I was dreading wearing Orange. It doesnt look good on me, and I never really think about using Orange on my nails, save for the occasional water marble or gradient idea. However, one I got it on my nails, it wasn’t as horrible as I had expected. I can’t say that I will be sporting orange nails like this anytime soon, but this color is kind of fun.
For this mani I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed, one of 2 Orange polishes that I own. I have to admit, I love Sally Hansen and a good portion of my stash is comprised of SH polish. The formula on this one was a little on the gloppy side, and it needed 3 coats to be opaque, but it has a lovely jelly-like finish and despite streaking on the first coat, managed to even out on coats 2 and 3. I had planned on adding some stamping for Halloween, but since I’ll be removing this mani tomorrow morning, I ended up just slapping some Sally Hansen crackle in Ink Splatter over it for a quick, yet Halloween-esque mani.
All pics were taken in my (pretty crappy – hahaha!) light box, except the crackle pic:
And after I threw on some crackle (it was also time for a Peppermint Mocha!):
Wow! Look at those poor mangle cuticles! Sometimes I feel like they will NEVER be normal. Although I suppose if I stopped pulling weeds without gloves, washing dishes without gloves, and using my hands to dig through piles of old papers, boxes, or as tools they might heal faster, eh? It does amuse me a bit that in all my pics my cuticles look all wrinkly – I’ve been slathering them in cuticle oils and creams, and they’re either covered in oil or have bits of cuticle cream stuck in them in my recent pics. Thankfully this blog is about the polish and not cuticles!
Tomorrow is Yellow Nails, and I have to say that is another mani I am NOT looking forward to! Yellow looks so horrible on me, and I am dreading wearing it. I suppose that’s one of the upsides to doing a new mani every day during this challenge. If I dont like it, I only have to wear it for a bit!
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
Wow! So sorry I’m late with this! I had internet issues over the past couple of days and could not manage to stay connected long enough to post! Looks like I have it fixed now, so let’s commence with the challenge!
Today’s mani is Red. When I was much younger, I used to LOOOOVE Red nail polish. It was rare that I wore anything but red on my nails! I have always adored Marilyn Monroe, so I always chose a “Marilyn Inspired” red, and wore it until the bottle was gone. Now I very rarely wear red, and only own a handful. I tend to prefer Blues and Grays, and I always find it hard to find a red that goes well with my skin tone as well as stands out enough to catch my eye.
For this challenge I chose Essie’s “Size Matters”. FABULOUS name, right? 😉 Looks like Essie was feeling a bit cheeky that day! Size Matters is an absolutely gorg blue based red creme, with tons of shine and serious sex appeal. I was already in love with the other colors in the collection, and wasn’t all that excited about another red creme, but when I pulled out this red I was pleasantly surprised. I tend to prefer blue based reds, and this baby has a very blue base, and is loaded with pigment. Finally, a red that I will actually wear (as opposed to just using for nail art or stamping)!
Size Matters is pretty much opaque in 1 coat, but I always use 2 to ensure even color. I’m pretty sure with careful application you could certainly get away with just one medium/thick coat. Formula is easy to work with as well, as are most of my Essie polishes. I did have a few sparse patches while using thin coats, but as I mentioned before, go a bit heavier and that shouldn’t be an issue. I wore this over 2 coats of Nail Tek II Intense Therapy and sealed with a coat of Seche Vite, but even without top coat, this polish packs some lovely shine. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with Size Matters and will be wearing this one again!
These pics are horrible, but I don’t have time to re-do my mani so that my nails arent worn and scratched up, plus I am so frustrated with my damned internet connection that I feel like I need to just post something or I may not be able to post at all!
Light Box:
Flash:
And Daylight:
Please forgive how worn my mani looks in the light box and daylight pics! I took those after filing back the length of my nails last night and constructing the light box, so they were beaten to hell. Also, you can see where I was stabbed in the cuticles by those damned thorny weeds I pulled up without using gloves the other day. If ya think that’s bad, you should see my OTHER hand. Looks like I stuck it into a pile of needles. Ugh!
I’ll be posting challenge pics mostly in the mornings from now on. I’m a nocturnal polisher so my pics are usually taken around midnight, but in order to show the true color of the polish I would rather take some pics in the morning using natural light as well. The light box is decent, but it’s still nowhere near as awesome as daylight.
The next 2 days I could honestly pass on. Orange and Yellow, meh. Both colors that I don’t wear well and am not really into. I own precisely 2 of each, and those were bought just for a gradient mani that I will someday get around to.
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
So as I posted yesterday, I am starting the 31 day nail challenge tonight. I am already incredibly excited about it, and the ideas are really flowing! Most of my ideas are pretty unique and I can’t wait to share them with you guys! Here is the list of manis for the challenge:
I won’t give away my mani ideas, but several of these manis will allow me to try out some of my awesome unused polishes, including the Essie Cocktail Bling collection for Winter 2011, My 2 Essie’s from her Fall Collection and at least one of my 2 new OPI’s. I’m working on getting through at least some of my unused stash before New Years, but considering that most of my stash (which is a mere almost 300 polishes, paling in comparison to most of my nail blogging idols) is unused, that’s going to be a feat! I really want to use my Fall and Winter colors before the seasons are over!
I have also been trying out some new base coats lately. I have my HG, Salon Sciences Instant Artificials, but I figure that it never hurts to try other products, especially since my HG base coat takes a good while to dry completely. I tend to polish over it while it is still tacky, which helps my polish really adhere to it, but I am impatient and I have a 17 month old so drying time is always an issue for me. So far I have tried out OPI Natural Nails Base Coat, OPI Start to finish, and now I am using Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy, since my nails are prone to peeling and have been getting a bit soft lately. My own fault for bathing them in acetone daily, I’m sure, but I refuse to have weak, damaged nails, hence my trying out the Nail Tek line. I’ll be posting in-depth reviews of all these base coats over the next few days.
Also, I’m going to apologize in advance for my poor abused cuticles. Not only are they still dry and flaking after the Burt’s Bees fiasco, but I made the mistake of pulling large, pointy weeds without gloves on, and ended up with some stab wounds and cuts on my cuticles. Smooth move, Kimber! I am truly a genius. SMH. Lesson learned though. Hubby can pull those bastards from now on!
Hope you are all having an awesome Friday night, and I will return in the morning with my post for Day 1!
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
So I suck and missed Pink Wednesday this week. Had a mini crisis with my daughter on Tuesday, so the past few days have been filled with appointments, dealing with the schools, and mega stress. It did work out okay though, since I am starting the 31 day nail challenge tomorrow! I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do it, but it will challenge my creativity (tribal nails anyone?), and I really want to see if I can make it.
So back to pics tomorrow! I’ll be posting some random manis I’ve had in my Mani folder for a good week in between. Anyone out there wanna do the challenge with me?
In the meantime, here is a bad pic of a Mani that failed. I haven’t done many manis that I just hated, since I test out my ideas on a color wheel first, but this one? It sucked. Full of fail. I removed it right away. Thought I would share my horrible Mani with you since it’s just inhuman to pretend I love all my manis. 🙂
Quick mobile post…
Last night curiosity got the best of me. I’ve been using Essie’s Good to Go top coat for awhile now, and although I love it, I really missed the uber speedy dry time of Seche Vite, as well as the glassy shine. GTG dries pretty quickly, but as we all know nothing dries as fast as SV, and although GTG is up there as far as shine, it’s not as glassy and hard. I still have 2 bottles of SV that I use for Pedis, and I decided to give it one more go on my nails since I have an appointment today and needed to wear a plain Mani. I know you’re not supposed to use thinner with SV, but I am a curious girl and wondered what would happen if I did! I took my very thick bottle of SV, added a bit of thinner, shook the hell out of that baby and waited a good 10 minutes. Then I tested it on my hubby. Guess what? My SV was back to original consistency and drying time and shine were not affected! I compared it to my newer bottle of SV and no difference. So I tested it on my Mani, making sure to wrap my tips and apply it before clean up. And no shrinkage! None! When I applied it previously my nails were shorter and I didn’t wrap my tips, and I did my clean up before SV. I ended up with shrinkage at the tips and cuticle line. Then I started wrapping my tips, but still had cuticle line shrinkage. Looks like as long as I apply SV right after polishing, wrap my tips and use a few drops of thinner, I can happily use my SV again! Woohoo! Maybe it’s just me, but keeping it thinned out a bit seemed to make a huge difference. I’m a happy girl! Having to use different top coats for different finishes and brands was just irritating. If I can make my SV work, then I’ll certainly be using it. Back into my HG drawer it goes!
Kimber's Lacquer Korner 