Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Recent NOTD: Putting the Ugh in Fugly

I don't like all the manicures I do equally well, but it's rare that I hate one. Today is one of those exceptions, an old Maybelline Express Finish I got at Dollar Tree because the name sounded good: Silver Lilac. Two of my favorite colors, what could be bad about that? Answer: brushstrokes galore, plus gloppiness and bubbling. It was so awful that I almost stopped after the first coat of color but decided to push on in case it would settle out as it dried. As you can see from the photos below, it did not settle. (Nor did it look especially lilac-y, even when I turned my tips this way and that searching for a hidden duochrome side of it.)







The only thing I could think of to try and salvage this was covering it up with something else, so I tried a half moon mani. I couldn't find the round hole reinforcing stickers in my office at home so cut gentle curves out of pieces of cellophane tape to use instead. I chose Sally Hansen Complete Salon in Perfect Match for the non-moon color, since red and silver is a classic combination.







Perfect Match was a little bit of a pain to clean up, though that's mostly my fault as I slopped it all over my skin to make sure I was covering up all the silver I could. My moon curves were a little too gentle, and a few were crooked on the nail, but overall it was loads better than the silver on its own.

Adding thinner would likely help the gloppiness and bubbling of Silver Lilac, but I don't think there's any solution to the brushstrokes. I'm not even sure I want to try frankening with this one, and I definitely don't want to foist it off onto an unsuspecting swap partner, so I think this one might just have to get disposed of. I don't mind the bottle, so I'll probably pour it into the jar where I collect such misfits and wait for the next hazardous waste collection day.

*****


On a happier note, congratulations to Erin, whose number came up on random.org when I drew the winner of the Apothica gift card giveaway!

20 comments:

  1. Congrats, Erin!
    That's a bummer. I hate polishes like that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is awful stuff! I haven't had good luck with Maybelline polishes. lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. The half moon mani was a great save to the Ugh...maybe you can use the fugly for frankening?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I guess that's the good thing about fail poilshes-- at least we get to experiment with different designs in order to salvage them! Is the Silver Lilac sheer enough to go over black?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, that is not pretty. Thank God for half moon manis.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the color!
    Too bad for the brush )=
    Great combo!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a let down! I wonder where the Lilac comes into play? Why not just call it something else? I agree with Ice Queen, my luck with Maybelline polishes is non-existant.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's kind of annoying. I hate misleading names. But I like your half moon mani!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You know, I have that Maybelline. Wonder why I grabbed it!

    I've got to admit it's a frost-tastic polish!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ugh is right! It's so frosty. And just yuck. Ugh. LOL At least the red isn't too bad.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think I bought this same exact color from Dollar Tree back in the day! It was crap and got tossed immediately. I always have to wonder if they just send bad batches off to the dollar stores.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I agree with you on this color :-/
    But the half moon match with the red was really cool!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yeah... that is terrible... lol. I have a few like that. I'm gonna harvest their ballz and make them pay for being so nasty!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well at least ya didn't spend too much money on it :) ... I think it'd be pretty, minus the brush strokes. It might also work pretty well for a franken. That's what I'm doing with most of my dollar store finds.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love how you make a bad mani good!! I aspire to innovation like that, I would've just quit and taken all the bad polish off. You are amazing Karen!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hm. Not your colour. Probably not anyone's colour. Hey ho. Can't win 'em all.

    ReplyDelete
  17. lol, you're description is so funny. i don't think it's all that bad but the moon manicure makes it a lot more interesting :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. heheeheh I also don't really like the colour of the polish, but the half moon mani is pretty

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.