• Holidays,  Nail Polish Love

    Mani Monday (Tuesday? Whoops): Christmas Edition

    I’m a day late for Mani Monday because I was hanging out at my parents’ place with Hilde and the Plooper (and my parents too!), but I do want to share my Christmas manicure with you guys before the year ends (like, holy crap, where did the rest of December go exactly?). Like last christmas, I went rather simple this year – mainly due to time constraints. Christmas Eve is always a hectic day for me, because in addition to prepping all my presents for others and packing a bag for my parent’s house for the next few days, I also have to prep myself for work (I sing at…

  • Movies and TV,  Nail Polish Love

    Star Wars Mani Monday

    So, we went to see Star Wars Saturday. I won’t be posting a review or anything here, because a) I can’t really talk specifically because of possible spoilers, and b) I’m not really cut out for the movie critic thing – I either like movies and want to watch them again and again and again, or I don’t. I don’t really have much more complicated thoughts than that. But if you’re interested in that kind of review/recap (and have either seen the flick already or don’t mind spoilers), Reenie over at The Fangirl’s Dilemma did a great one here. What I will say is that I was so happy about…

  • Nail Polish Love

    Mani Monday: Funky Fingers Elsa

    This Mani Monday we have Funky Fingers Elsa. I picked this up in 5 Below on a whim, mainly because (as Jim and the apartmentmate will tell you) I have a little bit of a Frozen obsession, and any age appropriate way to display that, I’m all over it. Elsa is a white and powder blue muti-size glitter that includes both little circles, hexagons, and snowflake shapes. Here, I used it over Sinful Colors Cinderella*, and I ended up LOVING the effect. The powder blue glitter matched my base color almost perfectly, giving it a cool dimensional effect. My only complaints are that the snowflake glitter had to be fished…

  • Nail Polish Love

    Mani Monday: Butter London Bluecoat and Leccy

    Today we have two polishes that I got for Christmas, which I abolutely fell in love with, but which were downright IMPOSSIBLE to photograph: Butter London Bluecoat and Leccy. Bluecoat is a deep, rich blue with a great sheen to it, while Leccy is an opalescent shard topcoat. The combination of the two polishes is just gorgeous (even if my photos don’t show it). As with all Butter London polishes (at least in my experience anyway), the dry time on both these is rather quick, and the formulas are good. The formula on Bluecoat is just beautiful – opaque in two coats without being thick. The finish has almost a…

  • Nail Polish Love

    Mani Monday: Zoya India

    Just popping in with a super quick Mani Monday, featuring my super short and stubby nails (cello gig season again!) and Zoya’s India. I picked this polish up in Ulta yesterday – it’s part of their new fall Ignite collection, and it’s seriously like one of the most perfect fall colors ever. It’s a deep red – really almost burgundy – with an absolutely gorgeous shimmer. And bonus? It’s seriously almost a one-coater. Downside is that I’m not sure about it’s staying power – I’ve already got some chips on my right hand. BUT, that said, I didn’t use my normal base coat, and the health of my nails on…

  • Nail Polish Love

    Mani Monday – 4th(ish) of July Edition

    Just a quick look at the mani I did for the holiday weekend. It’s pretty much the accent nails from my Winter Olympics Mani, only on allllll the nails. Overall it was not a great idea – I’m clearly not as adept at keeping lines straight and making sure the tape is properly sealed when I have to do every single nail instead of just the accent nails. The colors I used also required much thicker coats to be opaque as well. Overall doing this mani was a MAJOR pain in the ass, honestly. And with the humidity and heat the way it’s been, took for-freaking-ever to dry. But in…

  • Nail Polish Love

    Mani Monday After An Accidental Vacay…

    So I accidentally took a vacation from this blog. Whoops. The past week my allergies have been truly horrendous… it’s been migraine city. Add that to some crazy work stuff this past week, and I have basically been avoiding screens and computers like the plague.  I never thought it’d last a whole week, and so never announced anything here. So that’s my bad. But for my triumphant post migraine week return, I have the first Mani Monday in a while, and it marks a kind of special milestone for me. Not only are my nails long enough and healthy enough to paint again (finally! No more cello gigs for a…