piCture pOlish Color Storm-ed Amethyst

Am totally in a piCture pOlish extravaganza lately. I splurged and bought some newbies and a couple of basics that have been on my list for awhile. No, I could not wait until they were here in NZ, had to have "now"!

The base is two coats of Amethyst. This is a very interesting purple. pp calls it a denim purple – yeah, makes no sense to me, either! The purple has tiny holographic flecks in it that shimmer blue. So, kind of a denim-y sheen. I can see why it is so popular. Very unique. That said.... it could use three coats. I found the colour almost too sheer for my liking. Had tip wear after a shortish while and the unevenness of some of my nails crept through. Weird that.

I topped this in a cuticle gradient with the extremely exciting and totally groovy Color Storm. This is the most fab glitter!!!! In fact, the Mr thought I had done a dotticure. The pieces are round and multi-coloured. I fished a bit for some yellow but all in all, very good glitter distribution with just stroking on. There is a fine white glitter in the clear base and the round flecks are in the primary colours.

So, this mani was a winner! Really like the purple tone (even if it could be more opaque) and the combo with the glitter.

For those who have been following, life is now on the horizon! The end of the café era was yesterday. Done, dusted and over. After cleaning, scrubbing (on all fours on the floor!), mopping and what-not, the exit inspection went fairly well with only one gripe. The landperson is overly defensive, morally unfair, an ungrateful being. Just no one you want to associate with. The Mr was very nervous going in, I tried to stay calm but in the end did unfortunately let the b*tchy out. !! The Mr brought it back on track. There is just no pleasing the person, so who knew what could be found not up to "standard" (ha! The place was a dump when we took over). But, done. Keys gone. We celebrated with bubbles, relaxing in our lounge, fire roaring, in our home, in our life.

Lynnderella Elf Assured

Dilemma nails. Believe it or not – come on, you won't believe it – I spent time on these nails. Inspired by Procrastinating Polish, I decided to do some water-spotting and then add glitter. Originally, I was going to keep with the aqua blue water spot idea but there was this glitter that I hadn't used yet. So, why not combine??? In my mind, yes. On my nails, hmmmm.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Neon and On and On. I love this pink neon as it dries matte and covers fairly well in two coats. Not perfect, but good enough for what is to come. And the pink pops. I top coated and let that dry before doing the water spotting. Like water marbling – or anything water-y – there is heaps of clean-up and organization and preparation and just plain "work" involved. But I was game and had website pages uploading in the background, so also time. I used Orly Liquid Vinyl for the black.

Then I added a coat of Lynnderella Elf Assured (a destash glitter). The glitter is pretty cool, though am still unsure of how to wear it: black, white, metallic teal and pink bits in a clear base. Well, one coat did basically nothing for the nails. There were little bits of teal and white and pink but not at all like I thought it would cover (fishy, fish, fish). So I added another. And fished around some more. I don't know, it just seemed to be the wrong background. Way too tone-in-tone. So in the end I added just a wee bit of teal glitter (LA Colors). Now, that was too much! I tell you - not enough here, too much there. Arghghghgh!

So I went to bed (after top coating of course). It is raining like crazy here so not a lot of pics. In the "light" the nails don't look have bad, but really nothing special. All my time invested in the water spotting was to no avail as you can't really see it.
So my dilemma is: raining here today. Will it rain tomorrow? Does the craft faire take place in the rain? Do I go in the rain? Do I pull out my rain gear and "just do it"? What if I drive there and it is not happening? Do I redo my nails so they look like something worth having for the faire? Do I leave them for now? Am I taking this too seriously? 
And..... on a completely different note: where the hell is the electrician, who stood me up yesterday and still isn't here today????

My Ripponburn ladies 8:14

lilian

Well, after all these months I found out today that Ida is in fact Ina. How embarrassing. Her husband just passed last week. I found that out when my contact called me to reschedule from every other Friday to every other Tuesday. That is fine by me. I am pretty flexible with all the little jobs I have (except Saturdays which are now craft faire days). And Ina did not show up today. She was in her room being private.

dorothy

helly

jenny

I did have a big room full, though, and the sun was streaming in! A couple of men folk were also there but they ran away - for fear of getting glammed up! Dorothy only wanted a touch up (which I did, but still added glitter!). I brought some more autumnal colours this time and Helly (and Jenny) both went for Skyfall – a beautiful brick red. Really luscious. I did only do one coat on Jenny. She is quite impatient – and was knitting the whole time! Hard to keep her hands still and, most likely, the polish had smeared in no time. Oh well. The red covers well, though, so it still looked good!

joan

joyce

Next time I will have to have an earnest word with Joan! This pink obsession must stop!!!! Ha! It probably is the best colour for her, but still. Joyce stayed around long enough for her nails. She only wanted something very slight and I think that simple layer of glitter works well. She has such pretty nails and hands - she could wear so much more.

gladys

lena

Lilian (way top) was more adventurous and she does love blue. I doubled up on that great slate blue from CND with an almost tone-in-tone glitter. Looks fab! Gladys let me do anything and I had brought pale yellow and some matching glitter. She is still biting her nails (though won't admit it) - but only on one hand!! Funny. Poor Lena is almost blind but wanted a bright red. Proves you want to feel pretty at any age or shape.

joan the 2nd

margaret

Joan the 2nd was a bit more confused. Don't know if that will be an ongoing concern, or just her mood for the day. I really like her mani, though. Another tone-in-tone glitter one. And Margaret wanted something pale, yet elegant. Nellie was last. So patient. Her mani looks absolutely fab! The purple and the glitter. Wow. May have to wear this myself! So, that was 11 manis in two hours. Flew by - and am back in two weeks!

nellie

Mani breakdowns:
Lilian: one coat CND Blue Rapture, one coat LA Colors Aqua Crystals, top coated
Dorothy: one coat CG You Move Me, one coat Orly Sashay my Way, top coated
Helly: two coats OPI Skyfall
Jenny: one coat OPI Skyfall
Joan: one coat Revlon Innocent
Joyce: one coat OPI Which is Witch?
Gladys: two coats piCture pOlish Mellow Yellow, one coat CG You're a Hoot, one coat Orly Sashay my Way, top coated
Lena: one coat CG Red Pearl
Joan the 2nd: two coats Nicole by OPI Alex by the Books, one coat LA Colors Treasure Island, top coated
Margaret: one coat Nicole by OPI Selena, one coat OPI Which is Witch?
Nellie: one coat Layla Fuchsia Sky, one coat OPI Which is Witch?

piCture pOlish Aurora

This, without much a do, is the beautiful piCture pOlish Aurora. Really not much to say, as it speaks for itself! I will say that besides being hard to photographically capture, it eats top coat so in the meantime from taking these snaps I have added another coat, and will probably do another tonight.

I started with one coat of OPI Lincoln Park after Dark – as that was the darkest colour on my studio table and I was too lazy to go get another black! It works well. Lincoln has the slightest purple tinge and I think that works well with the whole purplesque of the polish. Then I applied two coats of Aurora.

This time I did cuticle clean up as I went along. So, once after Lincoln, then, if needed, after Aurora. Seemed to be a good idea though I was a bit too zealous on my one index finger. Oh well. The polish is an obvious duo (multi) chrome and has flecks of glitter in it. Hence the need for top coat to bring out the shine. The predominate colour is a purple to blue to green to turquoise shift. At some angles (more in artificial lighting) you will see a copper towards bronze hue. The opalescent glitter flecks pick up the blue-toned colours and give the impression of a starry night. Hence, Aurora.

trying to show the glitter aspect

It really is very, very pretty - but not omg amazing (for my taste). It is very purple toned (and I love purple), but not a deep purple. More the a-england Avalon purple, which I personally find hard to wear on its own. What I am trying to say is that the polish is cold-hued. So depending on your skin tone this can be good or bad.

artificial lighting

I am definitely very glad I have it, especially since it is a limited edition and pp has stopped with their gorgeous Ozotic duochromes. Hoping they will be making more of this type of polish going forward. It is like having a rainbow on your fingers, a definite show-stopper.