friday night moon

STORY TIME: I was in Baltimore a couple weeks ago needed cash but couldn't find a Chase ATM anywhere so I came up with the best plan ever: go to Rite Aid, buy some nail polish, and get cash back. I'm totally fine with convenience fees in the form of nail polish :) Wet n Wild polishes were on sale for 69¢ each and I picked up a few I didn't already have, including the gorgeous Blue Moon. It's a midnight blue with flashes of teal.

I'm usually not a fan of shimmer polishes, but this one is more duochromey than frosty. (Yes, duochromey is now a word. Don't question it.) The formula on this polish was great--two easy coats that dried quickly.

Look at that teal! Loveeeee. Of course, since I'm incapable of leaving my nails painted a single color, I added one coat of OPI Last Friday Night from the Katy Perry collection.

Pros of this polish: it's beauuuuutiful (blue, green, pink, and iridescent glitter in a sheer blue base)
Cons: you get Katy Perry stuck in your head for the next eight hours after looking at the bottle

...but I'll put up with the cons. This polish is far too sheer to wear on its own, but it makes a lovely layering polish.

The combination of Blue Moon's teal shimmer with Last Friday Night's round microglitter reminded me of bioluminescent bacteria in the ocean. Normally bacteria is the last thing I want my nails to look like, but I promise, bioluminescence is pretty damn beautiful.

So there you have it! Katy Perry and bacteria-inspired nails. Proof that inspiration can be found in the very strangest places.

funky skittle

Here's some nail art lingo for ya: a "skittle" manicure is when every nail is painted something different. I love actual Skittles (especially the Crazy Cores...I could eat those by the pound) and I love skittle manicures just as much. They're great for when you can't decide on just one pattern, or have a few new polishes you want to try out, which was the case in this manicure. I pulled the blue, purple, hot pink, and multi-colored glitter polishes out of my "untrieds" stash for this.

Pinky: base of Essence Lime Up! with polka dots of China Glaze White on White.
Ring: base of an unnamed blue microglitter from Urban Outfitters with the anchor freehanded using white acrylic paint.
Middle: base of China Glaze Shocking Pink topped with Milani Gems FX.
Index: base of China Glaze Lemon Fizz with flowers in Milani Classic, Wet n Wild Dreamy Poppy, and China Glaze Holly-Day.
Thumb: base of unnamed purple microglitter from Urban Outfitters with the basketweave pattern freehanded using white acrylic paint.


Pro tip: when using neon polishes (like Shocking Pink) or yellow polishes (like Lemon Fizz) always start with a base coat of white polish. That way you'll only need two coats of your neon or your yellow for full coverage--without a white base, you'll need at least four or five coats, which is a waste of time and polish!

I speak for the trees!

It's no secret that The Lorax is one of my favorite books. My parents raised me on Dr. Seuss and my love continues til today--I even used to wear a ring with the Lorax on it, and I have a copy of the book on my bookshelf at school, sandwiched between a psychology textbook and Christophrt Hitchens' Letters to a Young Contrarian. Anyway, when I was home for spring break, my mom and I had a movie and dinner date to go see The Lorax movie. I've absolutely hated all other Seuss movies (except the 1960s cartoons, of course), so I was a little nervous, but I LOVED it. I may or may not have cried multiple times...shhhh.

For this manicure I started with a base of Zoya Robyn, the most lovely electric blue with an awesome formula. My thumb is OPI Skull and Glossbones and my ring finger is Sally Hansen Sunkissed. All the nail art was freehanded using a small paintbrush. The yellow is China Glaze Lemon Fizz, the pink is Wet n Wild Dreamy Poppy, and the green is Confetti Green with Envy. Because I forgot to pack a black creme polish, I had to use OPI My Private Jet for the outlines, which wasn't ideal but it got the job done, I suppose.

Anyway, I loved this manicure so much. If you have any recommendations for book (or movie)-themed manicures, let me know in the comments!

mattified midnight

Ever since buying Essie Matte About You top coat last week, I've been searching for the perfect matte mani. I tried mattifying a shimmer--baaaad idea. I tried matte base with gloss leopard spots--too subtle. I did rainbow skittles with tape zig-zags, which actually looked cute, but I didn't realize that matte polish attracts dirt, and the light yellow I used looked horrible after just one day. So then I finally decided to try mattifying some glitter, and I love the result!

For the base, I used Borghese Mezzanotte Blue which after two coats looks pretty much black. I was a little disappointed, but I do think it's subtly softer/more velvety than if I had used just black. The glitter is two coats of Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters. I love the colors in it, but its formula is so difficult to spread evenly. And for the matte top coat, I used two coats of Matte About You. I did get some cracks/shrinkage, so I would suggest using a quick-dry top coat like Seche Vite before applying the matte top coat.

Since I'm new to the nail game, this was the first time I actually remembered to wrap my tips. It's been a whole day since I finished this mani and I have zero tip wear! Wooooohoooo.