Acetone Files: Beaded Purse NailFail, InDecisive Lacquer Black Speckled, Sonia Kashuk Sitting Pretty
Acetone Files
Indy Spot (literally): InDecisive Lacquer Black Speckled
+ Beaded Purse Nail Fail / Sonia Kashuk Sitting Pretty
It's been a crazy week for me! I'm officially a graduate student in library science at the University of Iowa. Woo hoo! I somehow still found time to do my nails several times! ;)
The first nail art I tried to do was unfortunately a disaster.I found this old beaded coin purse and started carrying it in my new school bag, and wanted to try to get the colors, stripes, and glitter into a manicure. Unfortunately everything ended up looking messy, too thick, and the contrast didn't work the way the beading on the purse does. Even the thumbs didn't come out good because my line of rhinestones somehow got squiggly after it dried. That's the part of the manicure I do like though - I'm definitely going to try the line of gems again, hopefully with better results!
If you're curious, here's all the polishes I used (make a better one, I dare you!): The black iridescent part is Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Black Tie; the light pink is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Heart of Stone; the coral is Covergirl Coy Coral; the glittery pink on my ring finger is LA Colors pink glitter over Love & Beauty Maple; the index finger, meant to mimic the bright pink iridescent square sequins on the purse, is Sinful Colors Boom Boom with Wet N Wild Grey's Anatomy on top. I spread Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds over all of it to give it more glittery texture (but it didn't really help!).
I used InDecisive Lacquer Black Speckled on one nail in an experiment earlier in the week, and decided I liked it so much I wanted to wear it by itself. So here is Black Speckled over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, a nifty not-quite-blinding white taken down just a notch into grey. (I like it because it's not as overwhelmingly white on one's skin tone.)
Black Speckled is a topcoat of two sizes of eensy weensy round confetti - it kind of creates the look of paintbrush flicking, but with more discrete drops than the lines and streaks you'd get by straw splattering. I have to say this polish is absolutely brilliant! The concept is so simple, but so versatile! I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it - it seems so obvious, and the perfect superior alternative to all the "speckled" polishes that were all the rage last spring - with this, you get an unmuddied and complete cover of speckles, without layers of polish to obscure them, and you can put it over any base color you choose!
InDecisive also makes a white version, which I keep meaning to buy. I noticed in my classroom this week that both the black and white speckled topcoats together over grey would look EXACTLY like formica!
After the nail fail, I was craving a stark black-and-white manicure, and this is the perfect, textural way to do it. I love the black on white effect, and I'd love to try white on black with the other version - or a mixture of both! It couldn't be easier either - paint your base color, paint on the topcoat, you're done. No spattering necessary!
You can get full size ($9.50) and mini ($5.75) bottles of InDecisive Lacquer from their Etsy store.
Review: I'm in love with this elegantly simple yet amazingly useful topcoat. The black one for sure should be in everyone's polish arsenal; white too if you are loving this as much as I am. I would buy this in every color of the rainbow of InDecisive made it! It was a breeze to apply, even being packed to the gills with confetti, and easily got the density you see here in two coats, plus a topcoat for extra shine. Go and buy this immediately! A+
Pedi Time!
My blue nails chipped into nothing, so I decided to try out a bottle that happened to be handy, Sonia Kashuk Sitting Pretty (although I like the French name better, Coquette et Coquine, which translates to Flirty and Naughty). I got it on sale for $2 off, which is good because this is normally a $6 polish at Target. I wanted to see how close it was to Pure Ice Purple Reign, which is one of my all-time favorites.
As you can see, they're not even close. Purple Reign is much duller and warmer, and the shimmer is distinct and all over the place. You can barely see the gold shimmer in Sitting Pretty, even though it looks obvious in the bottle, and it's a kind of abrasive bright purple that's not quite grape or indigo. Purple Reign is definitely a better bet, even if you have to pay more for it online (it's no longer made by Pure Ice). I'm kind of bothered by the color now, but I'm too lazy to redo my toes. ;) Review: C.
Indy Spot (literally): InDecisive Lacquer Black Speckled
+ Beaded Purse Nail Fail / Sonia Kashuk Sitting Pretty
It's been a crazy week for me! I'm officially a graduate student in library science at the University of Iowa. Woo hoo! I somehow still found time to do my nails several times! ;)
The first nail art I tried to do was unfortunately a disaster.I found this old beaded coin purse and started carrying it in my new school bag, and wanted to try to get the colors, stripes, and glitter into a manicure. Unfortunately everything ended up looking messy, too thick, and the contrast didn't work the way the beading on the purse does. Even the thumbs didn't come out good because my line of rhinestones somehow got squiggly after it dried. That's the part of the manicure I do like though - I'm definitely going to try the line of gems again, hopefully with better results!
If you're curious, here's all the polishes I used (make a better one, I dare you!): The black iridescent part is Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Black Tie; the light pink is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Heart of Stone; the coral is Covergirl Coy Coral; the glittery pink on my ring finger is LA Colors pink glitter over Love & Beauty Maple; the index finger, meant to mimic the bright pink iridescent square sequins on the purse, is Sinful Colors Boom Boom with Wet N Wild Grey's Anatomy on top. I spread Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds over all of it to give it more glittery texture (but it didn't really help!).
I used InDecisive Lacquer Black Speckled on one nail in an experiment earlier in the week, and decided I liked it so much I wanted to wear it by itself. So here is Black Speckled over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, a nifty not-quite-blinding white taken down just a notch into grey. (I like it because it's not as overwhelmingly white on one's skin tone.)
Black Speckled is a topcoat of two sizes of eensy weensy round confetti - it kind of creates the look of paintbrush flicking, but with more discrete drops than the lines and streaks you'd get by straw splattering. I have to say this polish is absolutely brilliant! The concept is so simple, but so versatile! I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it - it seems so obvious, and the perfect superior alternative to all the "speckled" polishes that were all the rage last spring - with this, you get an unmuddied and complete cover of speckles, without layers of polish to obscure them, and you can put it over any base color you choose!
InDecisive also makes a white version, which I keep meaning to buy. I noticed in my classroom this week that both the black and white speckled topcoats together over grey would look EXACTLY like formica!
After the nail fail, I was craving a stark black-and-white manicure, and this is the perfect, textural way to do it. I love the black on white effect, and I'd love to try white on black with the other version - or a mixture of both! It couldn't be easier either - paint your base color, paint on the topcoat, you're done. No spattering necessary!
You can get full size ($9.50) and mini ($5.75) bottles of InDecisive Lacquer from their Etsy store.
Review: I'm in love with this elegantly simple yet amazingly useful topcoat. The black one for sure should be in everyone's polish arsenal; white too if you are loving this as much as I am. I would buy this in every color of the rainbow of InDecisive made it! It was a breeze to apply, even being packed to the gills with confetti, and easily got the density you see here in two coats, plus a topcoat for extra shine. Go and buy this immediately! A+
Pedi Time!
My blue nails chipped into nothing, so I decided to try out a bottle that happened to be handy, Sonia Kashuk Sitting Pretty (although I like the French name better, Coquette et Coquine, which translates to Flirty and Naughty). I got it on sale for $2 off, which is good because this is normally a $6 polish at Target. I wanted to see how close it was to Pure Ice Purple Reign, which is one of my all-time favorites.
As you can see, they're not even close. Purple Reign is much duller and warmer, and the shimmer is distinct and all over the place. You can barely see the gold shimmer in Sitting Pretty, even though it looks obvious in the bottle, and it's a kind of abrasive bright purple that's not quite grape or indigo. Purple Reign is definitely a better bet, even if you have to pay more for it online (it's no longer made by Pure Ice). I'm kind of bothered by the color now, but I'm too lazy to redo my toes. ;) Review: C.