Neons and Neutrals

Week two of back to blogging, and I'm determined to keep it up!  Today's post is all about dichotomy - brights and neutrals coming together into one perfect manicure.  For today's mani, I used Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight topped with a Lynnderella twinset - 7 Minutes in Heaven and Girl-Boy Party.

Purchased by Me

Afternoon Delight is a lovely nude linear holographic with a substantial blue shimmer.  Application was flawless without any need for cleanup.  I used two medium coats for full opacity.

I then topped AD with a layer of Girl-Boy Party.  GBP is a clear based polish packed with red, purple, pink, and blue glitters in hexes, squares, diamonds, blossoms, and bars.  It varies slightly from its sister Boy-Girl Party in that it has more shapes as well as more pink.  Like most Lynnderellas, this one was definitely heavy on glitter and light on base.  The glitter comes out of the bottle easily enough, but you will need to use the dab method in order to spread the glitters evenly across the nail.  It's also a very topcoat hungry polish, so even without the additional coat of glitter, I would have needed an extra coat of topcoat to calm all of those glitters down.

Lastly, I topped the whole thing with 7 Minutes in Heaven.  7MIH is a clear based polish packed with blue shimmer and neon matte glitters in hexes, squares, and bars.  Unlike GBP, 7MIH isn't quite as dense, which means that you do have to do a little more digging to get the glitter out.  The shimmered base also gives it a bit of a frosty look, but it wasn't too bad with the shimmer already in the base of AD.  I used one coat with a normal paint motion in order to get a little bit of a more sparse look so it wouldn't overwhelm the mani.  Because it's a little runnier, there was need to do a bit of cleanup from where the polish slid onto my skin from the nail.

I really loved how this came out.  The neutral base really makes the colored glitters pop, and the look is just perfection.  Unfortunately, all three of these are unavailable, but you can often find them up on blog sales.  Otherwise, you can purchase Lynnderellas here and here, and you can purchase EPs here.

I'm Back!!!

Sorta.  Hopefully.  We'll see.  The evil project of death, doom, and destruction is still going on, but I think I'll now have a little bit of time to blog again!  Hoooooooray!!!!!  Tonight, we're going to look at the much sought after Hare Burry the Hatchetfish.

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

Color: Neutral/tan with blue, green, and pink iridescent glitters.

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

Bottle / Brush: Round bottle brush (i.e. Seche Vite) – standard width and length.  Easy to control and manipulate.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four thick coats.

Glitter Application: Medium – requires the dab method, but spreads evenly.

Consistency: Super thick – no amount of polish thinner will help this polish.  It is extremely thick and clumpy.  Has a snot like consistency.  Sometimes, these types of polishes require you to use a bunch of polish on your brush in order to get the polish on your nail at all.  Then, it’s just a thick clump on your nail that will bubble.

Overall Ease of Application: Impossible – Is so thick that it’s almost impossible to spread.  Clumps from the thickness.  Develops bubbles because it is so thick.  Looks almost like you have on six layers when you only have on three.  Also, because of the thickness, it will almost always shrink once you add a quick dry topcoat.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes.Overall Thoughts: I really wanted to love this polish.  So many people were all about it, so I thought I'd grab one to give it a shot.  Yeah.  Bad idea.  While it looks nice, it was a massive pain to apply.  It was already thick when I opened it, so I added some thinner and let it sit.  It was still pretty difficult to apply after thinner.  After the first coat, it was clumping up around the lip of the bottle.  That transferred onto the nail in clumps that were difficult to spread.  As you can see, the polish is built up on my nail in a pretty unattractive way.  I hate that this polish was such a pain.  I'm planning to give it another shot at some point, but I'm not sure if I'll ultimately keep it.  Sorry I'm coming back with a negative review!  Tomorrow will be good, I promise!

You can purchase Hare at her store and on Llarowe.  Follow Hare on Facebook.

Do you have a polish that is so thick that you just can't wear it?

OPI My Very First Knockwurst

I'm not really a neutral kind of gal.  Tans and browns just aren't my thing.  However, I knew I needed something neutral in my collection for those days that required something more demure and conservative.  Since I don't like to wear tans or browns, I decided that a neutral with a hint of pink would fit the bill.  I think that part of the reason I don't really like or wear tans or browns is because my fair skin has hints of pink and red versus any hints of olive.  Tonight, I'm going to show you my favorite neutral - OPI's My Very First Knockwurst.  Have you had a knockwurst, by the way?  If not, and you eat meat, you must try one.  Also, there's an amazing butcher in the Atlanta area called the Spotted Trotter who everyone in the area really needs to try.  Just sayin.

Color: Neutral with hints of pink.

Finish: Crème – a flat polish that finishes smooth with full opacity.

Bottle / Brush: OPI bottle with the new wide brush – if you have small nail beds, this brush may be too large for you.  The wide brush tends to cause the polish to flood your cuticles, so you have to be very careful when applying.  Don't get too much polish on the brush when you're ready to apply it to the nail - just a drop will do ya.  The brush length and cap are both the standard that OPI uses, and has a pretty average application other than the possibility of flooding your cuticles due to the wide brush.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush.

Overall Ease of Application: Difficult – applies with pooling and streaking.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: While this is my favorite neutral, I do have to admit that the application is a bit of a pain.  The "pro-wide" brush causes pooling and flooding of the cuticles unless you're very careful with application.  As I mentioned above, the consistency is fluid, which means it goes onto the brush easily and flows onto the nail without any gloopiness.  However, this doesn't mean that the consistency and application was flawless.  As you can see on my pinkie finger, there's a pretty large bald spot.  This is three coats.  The first two coats were a streaky mess, so I had to add another coat, which you can see on my pinkie still wasn't necessarily enough.  Either that, or I wasn't very careful with application, which wouldn't surprise me since this was on my non-swatch hand.  [Sometimes I swatch on my non-swatch hand when I'm in a rush during a swatch fest.  Usually, though, I try to wear everything for at least a day before I post it on the blog, so I don't really do swatch fests often.  This time, though, I was using it as undies for my prize in the Valentine's Giveaway, Kelara My One and Only.]  Once you build it up, though, it looks gorgeous.  It is creamy neutral goodness that's perfectly work appropriate and great for any occasion where you need to be a bit more reserved and conservative.  If you're like me and need a pink-toned neutral, I highly recommend this polish.  Even though the application was the best, it was still pretty good for a neutral, which never go on me well at all.  

My First Knockwurst was part of OPI's Germany collection that was released last fall.  You can still find them in stores where OPI is sold.

What's your favorite neutral?