Crackle ... and pop: CND Dark Lava

First off I will apologize for the poor state of my cuticles and hands. All I seem to be doing is packing, unpacking, tossing and pulling my hair out! And when I get nervous or feel too overwhelmed, I will revert to hang nail picking. Bad me. The base of this a beautiful new shade (for me) from CND called Dark Lava. It is a deep raisin.

It is a tad difficult to photograph in normal lighting. It is a deep plum red, reminiscent to OPI Germanicure. The base is two full coats topped with CND topper. Very shiny, and a good fall-winter colour. I am liking the CND polishes. They are smooth and velvet thick, cover well, no need for base coat, and last a good week. At the end of the mani I had to do cuticle clean-up as the deep plum needs to be as accurate as possible - don't want it looking messy.

My idea was to add a crackle to give the nail visual texture. So, one coat of OPI black crackle. Then, I decided to dig out my acrylics for a change and mixed up a purple tone (red and blue and white). Drew some random flowers and added some green dots.

The crackle took away all the shine and I top coated with Out the Door before drawing the flowers. Then I top coated again, and again. Really hard to photograph the texture. Very subtle, as the raisin is so dark. But it is there.

right hand

The next days in my world will be very full. I am still engulfed in putting café items together for the garage sale on Easter Sunday-Monday. What a massive undertaking. When we bought the café there was heaps of junk in the attic areas from previous owners. The owner we bought it off of was totally non-interested in cleaning out (just in our money!). At the time (my fault) we were too anxious to get in and go. So, sorting through that. I have a friend who helps and the Mr is doing a good share when he can (but super busy harvesting grapes right now).
Then, due in part to my accident and in the local shop purchasing my goods (!), I am in major design mode to get jewelry together for the craft faire this Saturday. Should all work out well, but sometimes it gets overwhelming. Feel behind on my etsy and fb work as well.
Then 2, I have Ripponburn Thursday avo and our last film night, the members only night, of the society for this year. Last film on the season and in the venue. Lots going on right now. I think the world will look different – and feel better – in a week's time.

CND blue rapture with one stroke flowers

I have not been lax in writing. It is just that my last mani (the purple butterfly one) lasted 6 days!! In fact, it would have still been good but I was over it. I had to top up the tips with black ever so miniscule, and always top coated every other day. But, it was time for a change and I felt like the beautiful grey blue of CND Blue Rapture.

The CND Vinylus polishes apply very smoothly and evenly. I really like them and have just ordered two more (from candygirl). I have never had any problem of nail stains from lack of base coat. So, I started with two coats of Blue Rapture on naked clean nails. Then I top coated with CND Weekly top coat. I use this top coat for my glammy mani clients and the only reason I don't use it more often for myself is that I have a jumbo refill bottle of Out the Door. But for the price (about $19) you cannot beat it for durability with any polish - and it is fast dry as well. And it is shiny!

After about ten minutes I started with acrylics and painted one stroke flowers on my nails. Acrylics dry pretty fast, so when that was done I dabbed some glitter (LA Colors Aqua Treasure) and purple dots (a england Avalon). Then I drew some "leaves" and "stems" through the flowers, and accented some petals. This was topped with Out the Door.

Looking at these photos I am shocked at how dry my hands and nails look. I put on hand creme before taking the pics and to my naked eye, things looked great. But this damn macro on the camera makes my skin and cuticles look terrible! Oh well, at least the nails look good!

right hand

I have two glammy mani clients late afternoon - something to look forward to! I dropped off my flyer to some hairdressers in town and in Alex. Maybe that will bring me some word-of-mouth and a client or two. Hoping, hope, hope!