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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Pre-Blog Mannequin Hands

Today I'm going into the archives to share some photos from early in 2010, when I was posting a lot on the MUA nail board but hadn't yet decided to start this nail blog. At the time, a lot of us were looking for our "mannequin hands" shade, which All Lacquered Up had written about. The Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line was pretty new back then so I thought if I found my color there it would have a better chance of not getting discontinued in the near future. I bought four shades I thought might work:


Left to right: Naked Ambition, Café Au Lait, Nude Now, Choco-Latte.


I swatched them and shared this photo with the nail board; bless those ladies, no one suggested I might want practice my clean-up skills before posting more pictures.


Top to bottom: Choco-Latte, Nude Now, Café Au Lait, Naked Ambition.


I decided Café Au Lait was the closest match of those four, then tried some other options from my stash to compare:


Top to bottom: China Glaze Heaven, OPI Samoan Sand, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Café Au Lait, a Sally Hansen Beyond Perfect which was missing its shade label.


All Lacquered Up was taking submissions of readers' mannequin hands, so I sent mine in, doing the best mani I could at the time. Here's three coats of Café au Lait:



Here it is with China Glaze Matte Magic on top:



I was a bit giddy when my nails showed up on ALU. Who knows, without that little taste of blog attention, maybe I wouldn't have ended up starting my own blog.

*****


Reminder: My Apothica giftcard giveaway closes at midnight Eastern U.S. time tomorrow, July 15th. There's still time to enter if you haven't already and get a chance to win some nail polish spending money.
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19 comments:

  1. s.July 14, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    I love mannequin hands! and those sally hansen colours are great. I've been meaning to try the complete salon manicure line but haven't brought myself to buy one yet.

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  2. UnknownJuly 14, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    Yay for mannequin hands...Cafe Au Lait is your color :)

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  3. shaJuly 14, 2011 at 11:20 AM

    I really like the look of mannequin hands! I love Naked Ambition on you. I am in that stage of still working on learning how to change my polish daily w/o having desert cuticles :-/

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  4. ToyomiJuly 14, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    I like Choco-Latte the best :D

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  5. nailspottingJuly 14, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    I have great difficulties with mannequin hands on myself but yours look(ed) really good!

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  6. TheSwatchingSpriteJuly 14, 2011 at 11:32 AM

    Ooo, going matte is an interesting idea. I'll be honest, I'd never thought to do a matte nude manicure..but the idea rather appeals to me.

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  7. Nail Dazzler Nails July 14, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    On me mannequin hands don't look that great but I like how it looks on you:)

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  8. JenJuly 14, 2011 at 12:10 PM

    That second picture (mattified) was the one that made it onto ALU, right? I think I remember seeing that picture ^_^

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  9. Sara ♥July 14, 2011 at 1:49 PM

    I agree with beauty shades... I don't like nude colours on me but it does look fab on you =]
    I love the mattified version too!

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  10. GemxJuly 14, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    I love mannequin hands! Although I haven't quite found my match yet, I like nude nails for a change after brighter colours. Cafe Au Lait looks great on you and I love the matte nude!
    I'm glad you started your own blog! :D xx

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  11. LarieJuly 14, 2011 at 3:00 PM

    Oh, I never thought to mattify nudes, either! And I don't have the perseverance to find the perfect nude shade...I just bought the first one that looked close and called it a day :D Maybe I should go back and try again.

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  12. LesleyJuly 14, 2011 at 4:19 PM

    great post. I really like hearing stories of how people began blogging and what not. x

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  13. UnknownJuly 14, 2011 at 8:45 PM

    I've never even tried mannequin hands. I have almost zero nudes! lol

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  14. Nail NerdJuly 15, 2011 at 7:30 AM

    Hahaha ouch, they scolded you for the cleanup work?! Nudes are so hit or miss but these turned out really well.

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  15. Polish AMORJuly 15, 2011 at 7:36 AM

    I do not own many nude & I feel it doesnt look good one me..... You did a good job at matching w yours!

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  16. Audrey- The Nail AffairJuly 15, 2011 at 9:22 AM

    Wow a lot of nudes you have! Never even heard of mannequin hands til now lol:) The colour is really good on you, complete match:)

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  17. schmutJuly 15, 2011 at 4:37 PM

    While I like (ok, I actually love) the idea of mannequin manicures, in reality it freaks me out. Looks like dead man's hands..

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  18. BVJuly 16, 2011 at 6:08 AM

    I have not done mannequin hands in forever but I think it looks so polished and perfect. I particularly love the matte look!! I must try this also...

    PS Your Sally Hansen collection is seriously amazing.

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  19. UnknownJuly 24, 2011 at 1:35 PM

    Cafe Au Lait looks so great on you!! I'm actually wearing China Glaze Heaven right now, but 4 coats of it. At 4 coats, it looks like it could be similar to Zoya Shay.

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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.