Ring In The Red and Divine Swine

No nail art...  Just polish on my sister, again.  But some new colors to see!  Two coats of Ring In The Red all over, except the accent nail, which has just one, and the second coat of Divine Swine.

China Glaze Ring In The Red, OPI Divine Swine, Orly Base and Top Coat.

Twinkling Glitter and Icicle - French

Hands again!  This is the better French I mentioned in the last post - I just adore these colors together!  I almost did this again for my date, but I buy so much polish I felt like I had to use some new ones.

China Glaze Icicle, Venique Twinkling Glitter, Orly Topcoat.  I don't base coat my French manicures, even at work...  is that bad?

I took up French boys and wine and I studied psychology.

A glitzy French manicure for a date.  ;)  I like the colors together, but alas, I ruined it at work today - even wore gloves for every service!  Don't mind the dry skin around my nails, it's all that acetone.  And I even moisturized just before the photo was taken...

Next I'll show you a similar French mani with different (better!) colors.  I absolutely adored it!

China Glaze Tinsel Town and Snow Globe.  Orly 3-in-1 Topcoat.

A sea setting us upon the ice has brought us close to danger.

Initially, I planned on this being an icy blue set...  but I think it looks more like a nice beach.  Too bad we got our first real snow this week!

I used OPI Not Like The Movies, Teal The Cows Come Home, China Glaze Blue Year's Eve, and a sparkly blue that doesn't have a name from Urban Outfitters.  CND Base and Top.  A cheap craft store jewel glued on with polish.  I don't like it.

At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.

My sister informed me tonight that I need to get someone else to take the pictures....  As if I didn't know! The ones my five year old daughter took are better than mine.  :-/  Next to my baby toe we have holly or mistletoe, then a gift/bow, a white tree, a snowman, and candy canes.  The rest were mixing and testing new colors.


I used Lippman Collection Hydrating Base Coat and On A Clear Day Topcoat, Fingerpaints Scenery Greenery, Sally Hansen Cherry Red, OPI Black Onyx, China Glaze Velvet Bow and Ring in The Red, Orly French Tip, Venique Twinkling Glitter.

If someone offers you a breath mint, accept it.

I finally broke down and painted my hands again.  I'm still working at the spa, and I think I've decided to go to school this winter instead of trying to get a professional job.

I used Lippmann Collection Hydrating Base Coat and On A Clear Day Top Coat, Orly French Tip, China Glaze Ring In The Red.

OPI Shatter vs China Glaze Crackle - Showdown

Without looking at the filenames, can you tell the difference?  (Apart from having a third hand to take the black shots and myself to take the blue?)

I did them both the same way - base coat, two coats of the base color (and dried completely), shatter/crackle, top coat.  I polished in the same direction on each nail (for both colors - middle fingers horizontal, ring and thumbs vertical, baby and index in opposite diagonals) and you can tell with both polishes by the way they crack how I did it.

The black is OPI, and the blue is China Glaze.

I found the OPI to be a bit more user friendly - you can see that it generally shattered fairly consistently, and it goes on like regular polish.  China Glaze was a bit thicker, sort of tarry, and to thin it out (check my left middle finger) it just gets worse.  By the end of my right hand I think it looked comparable, and pretty cool, but it's not quite as fool proof.  Also, on my left thumb and index finger - where's the effect? And on my ring finger, how come there are slits on the end and crackling toward the cuticle?  Then my right thumb completely separated and it looks like I missed a spot, but on the right index it didn't crackle very well.  The last three fingers on my right hand look pretty good, so I'm not sure what gives.  Maybe I'll do a "take two" to see if practice will improve.  ;)

Overall - both worth it.  China Glaze is much easier to find (Sally's has it, OPI is only available in salons) and I think retails for slightly less...  They offer very different color selections too, so buy what you like and work it!

MK Base, OPI Simply Smash-ing, Black Shatter, Love & Beauty Fuchsia, China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.