Wheel Q13: Glitters from CrowsToes

Today for Nail Wheel Wednesday I've got a whole bunch of glitters from CrowsToes Nail Color, all from back in what I think of as the golden age of indies when there was lots of glitter around. These particular polishes are from the early 2010s if I recall correctly; I sort of lost touch with the brand around 2013 or so (they shut down entirely in 2018). I know lots of folks think now is the golden age of indies, but for me it's too much now ... too many brands to keep track of, too many boxes and collabs and such that I always feel like I'm missing something, too hard to know who's a crap person that I don't want to spend money with. I'm still buying indies, of course, mostly from brands where I've met the maker or I have friends who have, but it doesn't feel quite as fun as it did back when the indie world was smaller. Of course, nothing feels quite as fun these days, what with the pandemic and political climate in my country.

 

(all have clear topcoat added to glitter coats noted below) 1. CrowsToes Bone Daddy (2 coats over 1/2 black base)
2. CrowsToes Bunny Slope (1 coat over 1/2 black, 1/2 tan base)
3. CrowsToes Maxxed Out (2)
4. CrowsToes Thing (2)
5. CrowsToes Umm No He Went to the Pawn Shop (2)
6. CrowsToes Milquetoast (2)
7. CrowsToes Her Goose Got Cooked (2)
8. CrowsToes Heart Shaped Box of Horse*!@#! (2)
9. CrowsToes Shoot the Butterfly (3)
10. CrowsToes VooDoo (2) [wish I'd put a dark base under this so the little holo could pop]
11. CrowsToes Hell Hath No Fury (2)
12. CrowsToes Holly and Hellfire (2)
13. CrowsToes Morticia (2)
14. CrowsToes Wonder Woman (2)
15. CrowsToes Making Christmas (2)
16. CrowsToes Last Call at the Crow Bar (2)
17. CrowsToes Triple Black Diamond (2)
18. CrowsToes Tangled Web (2)
19. CrowsToes A Christmas Crow (2)
20. CrowsToes HeratBreaker (2)
[this was a group custom]
Bottles 1 through 5:

 

 

6 through 10:

 

 

11 through 15:

 

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CrowsToes Spring THIS Collection

Today I've got swatches of all nine polishes in the Spring THIS collection from CrowsToes, which I was lucky enough to win in a giveaway. Top row: Toxic Buttercup, Birthday Suit, Milquetoast, Tequila Sunrise. Bottom row: L'il Miss Sunshine, L'il Miss Cyanide, Green Thumb of Doom, Season of the Witch, Shoot the Butterfly.



Toxic Buttercup is a light yellow with shimmer that flashes pink. I used three thin coats, no topcoat for my swatch.





Because Toxic Buttercup was a bit sheer, I wanted to try layering it over some cremes. Left to right below: 2 coats over black (Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme), 2 coats over skintone creme (Revlon Sandy Nude, which you'll see used again), 2 coats over white (Sally Hansen Whirlwind White), 3 coats on its own for comparison purposes.



Birthday Suit is a brownish peach with shimmer that shifts from pink to golden. It looked like it might be similar to Toxic Buttercup in sheerness, so when I swatched it, I first put the skintone creme on my ring finger as an accent, then added three thin coats of Birthday Suit to all my nails.





Milquetoast has mixed sizes of copper glitter plus a scattering of small golden glitter in a creamy white base. I used three thin coats plus topcoat for my swatch.





Tequila Sunrise is a warm pink with golden shifting shimmer. I did the skintone underwear on my ring finger with this one, too, though it didn't really make much difference, as this is not as sheer as Toxic Buttercup or Birthday Suit. I used three thin coats of Tequila Sunrise, no topcoat.





Green Thumb of Doom is a spring green microflakie shimmer. Same situation here with the skintone underwear on my ring finger as with Tequila Sunrise. This is also three thin coats of color, no topcoat.





L'il Miss Sunshine is a medium purple with greenish golden shifting microflakie shimmer. I didn't do underwear on any nails this time; the swatch is three thin coats, no topcoat.





L'il Miss Cyanide has a similar medium purple base and greenish gold shimmer, but its shimmer is the pearly variety.





Season of the Witch has purple/green shifting microflakie shimmer in a black jelly base. I used three coats of this one, no topcoat (no black underwear, either; look how nicely the color shift shows up without that help).







Shoot the Butterfly has orange and white glitter in a black jelly base, with a scattering of tiny holo glitter that provides little pops of color. I swatched this one at three coats plus topcoat.





I just had to see what some of these looked like over a black base, so if you've made it this far, please stick around for a little bit more. Left of right below (all over Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme): Tequila Sunrise, L'il Miss Cyanide, Season of the Witch, Shoot the Butterfly.



Just look at the shift in Tequila Sunrise (top) and L'il Miss Cyanide—I see green and orange and gold and purple:



Left to right below (again over Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme): Toxic Buttercup, Birthday Suit, Green Thumb of Doom, L'il Miss Sunshine. One coat of Toxic Buttercup is much better than the two I used way back at near the beginning of this post—more purple comes out.



At an angle, interesting things happen: Toxic Butterfly (top) leans blue and Green Thumb of Doom and L'il Miss Sunshine display some teal tendencies.



Last I looked, eight of these were still in stock at Llarowe, including my top two: Season of the Witch (dat duochrome!) and Shoot the Butterfly (unique among the many many glitters in my stash). Though after seeing it over black, I must say Tequila Sunrise makes a strong case for itself, too. And Birthday Suit—it's a heck of lot more interesting than most of the skintone shimmers I own. I am so happy I won these—thanks, CrowToes!

Travel, Guest Nails, and CrowsToes Merope

If you also read my old school online journal, Hat on Top, Coat Below, you already know that a few weeks ago my mom moved into the rehab unit of a nursing home, coincidentally on the same weekend I'd already planned to be traveling to a conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As things worked out, the move went well enough that I was able to attend most of the conference events, though I did miss a few things in order to check up on things via phone.

Taking care of my nails had slipped down on my priority list what with all the other stuff going on, so heading in to that weekend, my peelies were atrocious. The night before I left for the weekend, I cut my nails short (sadly, it wasn't possible to cut off all the peelies even though I went to nubbins), put on a layer of the old formula Orly Nail Defense that I save for situations like this, and toppped it off with Instant Artificials to smooth things out as best I could.



One of the activities at this year's conference was creativity sessions, and I agreed to lead one on nail art. Because we only had 50 minutes, I decided to focus on dotting. I think it went pretty well; the ladies seemed to have fun experimenting on nail wheels and a few asked where to buy dotting tools.



Even though it was a busy weekend, I did take time to paint my nails. I stayed up late one night and put on one of the duochromes from CrowToes duochrome Pleiades collection, Merope. I didn't bring my lightbox with me, so I snapped these shots in the best lit part of my hotel room—over the sink. Unlike some duochromes, this didn't need a dark base color to look its best. I used Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth for my treatment (another thing I've been hoarding; I scooped up a bunch of bottles when it was discontinued), followed by Instant Artificials, two coats of Merope, and Diamond Dry top coat.



Merope has a blue to plum shift that's quite visible. (Also visible: the fact that my cleanup skills are not so great after midnight.)



Here's Merope in the winter daylight filtering in through my hotel room window the next morning:



A new event at the con this year was a silent auction, and I donated a "mini manicure" (basically shaping if needed and polish). I brought a wide variety of polish options in an attempt to have something the winner would like regardless of her taste. I had cremes and shimmers in a rainbow of colors and neutrals and a wide variety of glitters, with drugstore and salon and indie brands all represented. The auction ended up being won by the partner of my fellow lacquer lover, koroshiya (not her real name, but the name I first knew her by—we met years ago on an old school general interest discussion board). Rather than have me paint his nails, he gave the prize to koro, so before I left to go back to spend time with my mom, she and I sat down in the hotel meeting room and played with polish. She ended up deciding on Skittles with mostly indie brands. The light wasn't great in that room, so unfortunately my photos didn't come out very well, but you can at least get a flavor of the finished mani.



Right hand (above and below): thumb—Cult Nails Flushed, index—Sinful Colors Star Dust over Cult Nails Flushed (I'm pretty sure), middle—Polish Revolution Glitterbox over CrowsToes Alcyone, ring—Pahlish Marbles on Glass over Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black Creme (I think), pinky—Smitten Polish I Feel Wicked over Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black Creme.





Left hand (above and below): thumb—Cult Nails Disciplined, index—Happy Hands The Worst is Over, middle—Contrary Polish Bauble, ring—Pahlish Combustible Lemon over Contrary Polish Bauble, pinky—Cult Nails Bitten.



There were not a lot of stoplights on my drive between Green Bay and Mom's nursing home, but when I did find myself at one, I enjoyed looking at the color shift in Merope.



This all happened almost three weeks ago now, and I'm happy to report that Mom did so well in rehab that she progressed from being in a wheelchair to using a walker to being released to live with my niece, the nurse, and get all her therapy in a home-based setting. This may not be the long term solution but it seems to be the best option right now. I unfortunately haven't been able to visit since she moved as I've been suffering from a cold/flu/sinus thing and didn't need to be spreading those germs around. I am feeling much better and once I stop coughing I'll be heading back to Illinois. Thanks to all of you who have included my mom in your prayers and have sent good thoughts our way; I think it helped!