Wheel T14: Glitters from Deborah Lippmann

I used to buy a lot of Deborah Lippmann polishes back in the day. I liked (still do) the square bottles; I liked the variety of finishes the brand did, especially the glitters, like on this wheel. I could also impulse purchase them at the Ulta locations that stocked them for a while. Today's Nail Wheel Wednesday is twenty of those glitters. I have more; see wheels A1, J3, and V7 (looking at those old posts, I see Blogger is doing something odd with some of those photos, so I guess I'll have to track that down ... so much for backward compatibility on the updates they've made to the software over the years).

 

(all have clear topcoat in addition to glitter coats noted below) 1. Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Eyes (2 coats)
2. Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream (2)
3. Deborah Lippmann Million Dollar Mermaid (2)
4. Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Kiss (2)
5. Deborah Lippmann Do the Mermaid (2)
6. Deborah Lippmann I'm Not Edible (2)
7. Deborah Lippmann Champagne Supernova (2)
8. Deborah Lippmann Glitter and Be Gay (3)
9. Deborah Lippmann Shake Your Money Maker (3)
10. Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York (2)
11. Deborah Lippmann Funky Chunky (3) [maybe two coats would have been better; the label being printed in white instead of black would definitely have been better]
12. Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers (3)
13. Deborah Lippmann Peppermint Winter (2) [nearly a one coater]
14. Deborah Lippmann 99 Luftballoons (3)
15. Deborah Lippmann Cosmic Love (3)
16. Deborah Lippmann Let's Go Crazy (2)
17. Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light (2) [okay, so this is really a flakie and not a glitter; oops]
18. Deborah Lippmann Stronger (3)
19. Deborah Lippmann Va Va Voom (3)
20. Deborah Lippmann Magic Carpet Ride (2)

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheel G10: Shimmery Toppers

You may have noticed Nail Wheel Wednesday, and indeed the whole blog, took last week off. That wasn't my intention, but my intention was seriously unrealistic given that Mr. K and I drove to Salt Lake City and then on to Steamboat Springs (yes, we left skiing to go skiing—that's how much we like our friends we met up with) and while I had my laptop with me, I never got it out; first we were in a hotel with the worst wifi, then we were staying in a small condo with other people where there wasn't really any good work space. If we do this again next year, I'll just announce I'm taking a break.

I'm back now, with a wheel of shimmery toppers I painted before I left. Most of these are from the CND effects line, which I was way into for a while.



(all two coats over half black base)

1. CND Plum Truffle Sparkle [okay, this is really a microglitter topper, but I wanted all the CND on one wheel]
2. CND Amethyst Sparkle [this had dried out significantly, so I thinned but it's still likely thicker than it should be]
3. CND Raspberry Sparkle
4. CND Crimson Sparkle [I will have to remember this one come autumn; it reminds me of fall color]
5. CND Sapphire Sparkle
6. CND Teal Sparkle
7. CND Sheer 24K Sparkle [hmm, maybe should have saved this for a flakie topper wheel]
8. CND Scarlet Shimmer
9. CND Lavender Pearl
10. CND Perfectly Bare Shimmer [unusual how this one turned the black base brown]
11. CND Emerald Shimmer
12. Creative Nail Design Turquoise Tint
13. Pure Ice Shimmer-wing Iris
14. Pure Ice Oh Baby
15. Pure Ice Shimmer-wing Jasmine
16. Essie Luxeffects Pure Pearlfection
17. Confetti Tiara
18. China Glaze Travel in Color
19. Deborah Lippmann Bring on the Bling
20. Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:


11 through 15:



16 through 20:

Wheel V9: Solid Textures

Nail Wheel Wednesday for today features solid textured polishes. Makes me miss the days when all the mainstreams would jump on the same bandwagon.



(all two coats)

1. Maybelline Color Show Corrupted Black
2. Kiko Sugar Mat 638
3. Nails Inc Concrete London Wall
4. Nails Inc Leather Effect Dalston
5. Deborah Lippmann I Wanna Be Sedated
6. SinfulColors Red Tired
7. SinfulColors Rubber Ball
8. China Glaze Texture Unrefined [this had gotten goopy with age; I tried to power through but should have thinned it first]
9. China Glaze Texture Bump & Grind
10. China Glaze Texture Itty Bitty & Gritty
11. China Glaze Texture Toe-tally Textured
12. China Glaze Texture In the Rough
13. China Glaze Texture Of Coarse
14. China Glaze Texture Bump in the Night
15. Milani Texture Gracious Green
16. Milani Texture Lovely Lavender
17. Milani Texture Mystery Mauve
18. Milani Texture Charming Carmine
19. Milani Texture Velvety Violet
20. Milani Texture Beautiful Bordeaux


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 14:



15 through 20:

Wheel V7: Glitters from Deborah Lippmann and Others

I was chatting online with some fellow polish lovers about the two most recent Deborah Lippmann collections and how sedate they are, all neutral and near neutral cremes and quiet shimmers. That's not the side of Ms. Lippmann I have on this wheel; this wheel is all about glitter, from her and a couple other brands.



(coats as noted below, plus clear topcoat; some could have used another layer of clear)

1. Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven (3 coats) [the square glitter here makes this more interesting]
2. Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream (2)
3. Deborah Lippmann Candy Shop (2)
4. Deborah Lippmann Do Ya Think I'm Sexy (3) [this is not so interesting]
5. Deborah Lippmann Good Girl Gone Bad (2)
6. Deborah Lippmann Flash Dance (2)
7. Deborah Lippmann Just Dance (2)
8. Deborah Lippmann Dancing in the Dark (3)
9. Deborah Lippmann I Love the Nightlife (3) [all one size gunmetal glitter is more intriguing to me than all red as in #4]
10. Deborah Lippmann Forget You (2)
11. Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday (2) [newer version, without the small square glitter of the original]
12. Butter London Henley Regatta (4) [
13. Butter London Tart with a Heart (3) [this looks so pretty, why have I not worn this?]
14. Butter London West End Wonderland (2)
15. Butter London Rosie Lee (3)
16. Butter London Chancer (2)
17. Butter London The Black Knight (2)
18. Anna Sui 680 (3) [I buy this brand mostly for the bottles, but this is a nice color not often seen in glitter]
19. Anna Sui 004 (3)
20. Anna Sui 107 (3) [another very pretty one I've got to wear sometime]

Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 11:



12 through 17:



18 through 20:

















Destash notes: First, I'm keeping all the Anna Suis, just to look at the bottles if nothing else. I could probably let a few of the Lippmanns go: 4, 11, maybe 5 through 8 if I find similar glitters in other brands that swap/sell less well. As for the Butter Londons, 14 is not my color, and 15 and 16 I think I have some close enough in other brands (thought I do like the shape of the Butter bottles, so that's a factor).

Actual NOTD and a Meetup

I meant to write and post this entry on Monday; in retrospect, that was a nonsensical expectation, as this week at work we have visitors from Belarus and Ukraine, two of whom are my responsibility to meet with for some hours every day and make sure they are adequately fed and entertained as well. It's all good stuff, but just has taken up so much time and energy that I have little left for blogging, especially since I'm doing Holidailies on my online journal this month. But today someone else took charge of the whole group for lunch and despite having a long list of work stuff I should be doing before they get back, I'm giving myself permission to take some time out from that. In addition to all the work stress (the big project our visitors are working on with us is at a critical stage and deadlines are being missed and more tasks are being piled on and so on and so on), there was some family stress when we got the news a few days ago that Mr. Karen's dad had passsed away after his long decline. It wasn't a huge shock, and the memorial service won't happen for a while, and other relatives were able to be with his mom immediately after, so I felt okay being at work, but at times my mind and heart were not all here.

But I am here now, with my actual nails of the day, which I put on for an event this past Saturday and haven't had any time to change. The event was a Michigan Nail Girls meetup, organized on Instagram (which I barely know how to find my way around, so much so that I would have missed the meetup if my friend Tracey hadn't sent me a Facebook message about it). There were eight of us there; here's the group hand shot:



My hand is there in the bottom middle; going around clockwise, it's (by their IG names) honeybee_nails, nailsbyerock, traceyloveslacquer,steeple329, liquid_afterglow_lacquer, er_in_m, and nailsbymercedes. (I'm thekarend.) It was a fun afternoon, with lots of chat and of course many bottles of nail polish made their way out onto the table before we were done. I think I came home with a slightly smaller number of bottles than I'd come with, so I call that a destash success.

You might have noticed some similarities between my nails up there and Tracey's; that's not a coincidence. She'd posted her mani the night before the meeting, and I shamelessly copied some elements, like the light index and middle fingers and the red pinky. I was inspired to do a mani with more elements than I've been incorporating lately. Originally, since I've been doing strips, strips, and more strips for my weekly polish changes, I'd planned to just wear these Incoco Nail Polish Appliques in the Santa's Forest design, which I picked up with they were discontinued to make way for new designs.



Those strips went on my index and middle fingers, and this time I tried the silver sticker in the package to seal up the unused ones; we'll have to see if that keeps them usable.



In addition to nail strips, I used five polishes (and a topcoat I hadn't tried before).



My thumb got two (or maybe three) coats of Catrice Luxury Lacquers in My Big Green Wedding, which has various sizes of spring green metallic glitter in a golden green flecked shimmer base. I used one layer of topcoat but it really could have used another, as it's still slightly bumpy. (This polish was part of a big swap I did recently with my friend from Portugal; look for much more about that after I get a big more caught up with my life outside work.)



My first two fingers didn't just get the strips, they also got a coat of Wet Paint Stardust on top for some added sparkles. My ring finger was adorned in a jelly sandwich with Wet Paint Nails Go Fly a Malachite layered under and over Wet 'n' Wild MegaRocks Rebel Wihtout a Claus. My pinky has Deborah Lippmann Looks Like We Made It from the music box set. All nails got topped with Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Topcoat, which I picked up on clearance when the Diamond Strength bottle style changed some time back but I'd never used it. It was quite nice; thin but not runny, and it did dry fast.



I like all of these colors and combinations, but I think my favorite is the jelly sandwich just look at the squish:



I took so many photos trying to get all my fingers and my thumb in the same shot; this is the best I managed:



As of right now, almost five full days after I put this on, it's still in pretty good shape. I have slight tipwear and a couple chips at the corners, mostly on my thumbs because no matter how I try, I can't keep myself from using my thumbnails as tools. But overall, it looks good enough that I haven't wanted to attack it with remover yet. I haven't gotten a lot of comments on it, maybe because I've mostly been spending time with guys at work and Belarusians, both of which groups probably either don't notice or don't know what to say if they do. A couple of nearly six year old girls I rode in an elevator with over the weekend really liked it, though, so I've got that going for me.

The Wet Paint polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The others were purchased by me or swapped for.