LA Colors Color Last Metallic Finish

Now that my Kmart has closed, I've been stopping in Walmart more than I used to, and that's where I picked up a couple of the shades from the LA Colors Color Last Metallic Finish line, Amethyst and Emerald.



First up is Emerald, which is more of a teal color to my eyes. The formula on this was good; I used two coats and didn't have any patchiness that sometimes happens with metallics.





Amethyst was equally easy to apply; it was a two-coater as well. The color is





Before I took off Amethyst, I added some dots of Emerald for nails I imagine a mermaid might wear.



Given the opacity of these, I wanted to try stamping with one of them. For a base, I put on Kiko strips in Apple Red (which they call Ready-to-Go Patch Nail Lacquer). I'm sorry to say I don't remember which of my swap partners I got those from back in the day. I stamped with Amethyst using Double Moon plate dm-2, then added topcoat. I didn't use latex or any masking product so cleanup was a bit of an issue, what with the little silver flecks from the metallic getting all over everywhere, and also my smearing some of the red base attempting to clean up with acetone. As for the stamping, it worked well but has a speckled look due to the purple particles in the stamping polish not contrasting as much with the red base as the silver particles did.





I liked these. For $1.98 each, I may get more of the colors. In addition to these two, there's a white, a champagne, a pink, a red, a silver, and a black.

Double Moon Stamping Kit

I was excited this past summer when the Double Moon display showed up at Fred Meyer with stamping kits and polishes, so I bought (over the course of a couple visits, because I was being frugal or something) both of the the stamping kits and a polish. It took me a while to try them, but I finally did.

The two kits are called Wisdom and Beauty. They have the same contents, just different designs on the plate. Wisdom leans more geometric while Beauty is more flowery.





I chose Beauty for my test manicure. The box had an instruction booklet, small clear stamper, flexible scraper, and the plate (here still with its protective film in place).



To get right to the stamping and not have to wait for polish to dry, I put on Sally Hansen Insta Gel Strips in Plums the Word (yes, plums, not plum's) as my base color; I just didn't do the gel topcoat.



For the stamping, I used Double Moon Eucalyptus, a very pale sage green creme. Here's a look pre-cleanup, pre-topcoat. It stamped, yes, but it wasn't as opaque as I hoped. I know using a light color for stamping can be challenging, but this polish was in a display for stamping, so I expected a lot. I did like the stamper and the scraper quite a bit; they were easy to work with.



After clean up and topcoat, my mani looked like this. The pattern of roses was subtle but still visible.





Just for comparison and to add an accent, I stamped one finger with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Wild Strawberry. I felt those lines were a bit cleaner than the Double Moon polish. The color definitely stood out more, but it would as it's red.



The subtlety of the stamping is clear in this outdoor shot a couple days after I did this look:



One of the Fred Meyer stores I go to still has the Double Moon display but I'm not going to rush to get more of the polishes. Seems they're not specially made for stamping, so I'll just use what I have, like the Insta Dris. The kits are a nice beginner set, though; those would make good gifts for someone just starting out.

Many Nails of Many Days

So yes, I did disappear again. For some reason, I thought I could post at least occasionally while packing up my Michigan house prior to closing on the sale of it, caravaning cross country with Mr. Karen and I switching off driving our pickup and a 26-foot rental truck, then unloading and unpacking in Idaho. Turns out I couldn't. But now we have unpacked enough boxes that I can sit down and write for a bit without feeling horribly guilty, so here I am, aiming to catch up on about six weeks of nails of the day looks.

When I flew east as mentioned in my last post, I was wearing Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Snow Way, appropriate for the wintery weather. I think this was the second half of the box I opened when I wore this same design back in 2013.





When I got to Michigan, I wanted a change but didn't have time to do a full mani, so I just covered up the strips with Wet 'n' Wild Garnet My Heel Broke from the Holiday 2015 collection. The textured finish made for easy touch ups, which were needed since I was dinging my nails regularly while packing up stuff in Michigan.



Before I left for my conference (also mentioned in my last post), I changed to another polish from that Holiday 2015 Wet 'n' Wild collection, Where My Ho Ho Hos At. Again, I went for a texture for ease of touch up, and a neutral color to go with any outfit (not that I generally worry about that, but I was going to be socializing with people who might).



Here's a slightly blurry shot of this polish with a backdrop of some curtains that were in our house when we bought it 26 years ago and we never got around to replacing.



In the nail art session I taught at the conference, I demonstrated stamping by adding a scroll design in black on top of Where My Ho Ho Hos At. (I should have also demonstrated how to use a clean up brush, but time was limited.)





Post-conference, I returned to Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips, this time the Fur-ocious Vocals animal print from the 2012 Avril Lavigne collection.



I took time out from packing up our house to go to a party; I went quick and simple for that, with one coat of Zoya Godiva, since the textured approach was working well for me lately.



I added a second coat of Godiva a few days later.



As those of you who follow my Instagram (thekarend) know, I also took time out from packing to go to a Michigan Nail Girls meetup. My Godiva was the most boring mani there, but I'm just glad I was able to get away and have fun chatting with the ladies and swapping polish and seeing Native War Paints HQ.



Just before Mr. Karen and I started driving back to Idaho, I did something I don't remember doing for a long time: I took off a polish only to put it right back on. All the packing, including my thousands of bottles of polish, had not been kind to my nails, so I had to trim them back some, but Godiva had been good to me, so I reapplied it, topping it with Native War Paints Silver Nickels, which has many sizes of silver holo glitter in a clear base.





We were very fortunate and had good weather for our long drive across the country, which meant much sun for me to enjoy the rainbows sparking off Silver Nickels.



Since we pulled up with the big rental truck, I've been so busy unloading and unpacking that it was only yesterday that I took off the Godiva/Silver Nickels combination to put on a badly needed treatment sandwich.



Right now, most of my stash is in boxes in the garage, the Helmers partially disassembled for easier transport, but I do have more recent purchases more readily accessible, along with the four boxes of very special pretties that I packed separately and kept in the pickup rather than letting them fend for themselves in the big rental truck, so I will be able to do manis and swatches in the meantime before I get my stash setup in its new home.

NOTD Catch Up

I can't clean up all my pending photos before the end of the year, but I can catch up with my nails of the day that haven't made it into the blog yet. Because getting our house ready for sale then relocating to Idaho took up so much of my time, I've been wearing a lot of strips, since they're fast to put on and don't need dry time.

The black and silver argyle of Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Prep's Cool graced my nails in early November.



I followed that with Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Plum's the Word, which I planned to stamp over but never managed to get around to doing.



I did stamp on the next Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips I put on. I topped Ruby Do strips with Revlon Untamed, using a plate I didn't write down, and sealed with Diamond Dry topcoat. This combination was on the subtle side; the stamping showed up very prettily in some lights, and all but disappeared in others as it shifted from brown to gold to purple. It was kind of fun.



You've already seen the strip-based Mickey Mouse stamped nails I wore to California. After that, I returned to Ruby Do and stamping for Thanksgiving. I stamped with Borghese Rapido in Siena, an unnamed Urban Outfitters, and Sally Hansen Salon in Bronze Ambition.



Again, I didn't jot down the plate I used; bad blogger. I was going for an autumn look, so overlapped leaves in the three metallics. The Borghese was similar to the Revlon from the earlier look; depending on the angle, it was sometimes invisible.



After Thanksgiving, I decided to give Essie Sleek Sticks another try. Bad idea. I didn't have any better luck coaxing them on my nails than the last time I used them. I used the Shoot the Moon design, which has a dotted silver design on a solid turquoise blue background, which wrinkled terribly and couldn't be smoothed out well. I refuse to believe it's me, since I use other strips successfully.



They didn't wear well, either; here they are after not quite two days. Granted, I was packing boxes and suitcases over those days, but still, yuck.



One advantage the Essie strips have is they do peel off easily; no remover needed.



After the Essie, I put on Revlon by Marchesa 3D Jewel Appliques in Jeweled Noir. These have two designs with white, gold, and red on black, with some of the "jewels" being dimensional. I hadn't used Revlon strips in ages, and it didn't go that well back then, but I've got the strips so figured I'd use them. I got a few wrinkles when putting them on, as they aren't nail polish but rather thicker stickers, but nothing like the Essie, and the design was busy enough to distract from the wrinkles.



These wore a lot better than the Essie. Here they are eight days later. I was able to touch up the tips with plain black creme polish, which helped.



And finally, what I've had on my nails this week, Incoco Nail Polish Appliques in Midnight Countdown. I had to get these on, as this is my last chance to wear something with "2015" on it and be timely. This strip set has four designs in black and gold with very fine holo shimmer.





I've been enjoying seeing how the sparkles pop in different lights. We haven't had much sun around here, but the little bedside lamps in the condo work just fine for bringing out the holo.



And now I'm caught up with my manicures ... until I change my nails, probably tomorrow, if I'm feeling up to it. I've unfortunately come down with a sore throat/sinus thing and am taking it easy today hoping to bounce back sooner. I hope the turning of the year finds all of you happy and healthy!

Current NOTD: Mickey Mouse Stamping

Okay, yes, I've been gone again, but I have two really good reasons this time: with one last big push, we finished up all the projects needed to get our house on the market, then the very next day after we listed it for sale, we left for a vacation in southern California, most of which we spent at the Disney theme parks there. I got back late last night, and my nails even now are sporting the Mickey Mouse manicure I did for the trip.

I did my nails just before we left for the airport, so the only photos I got were at the restaurant we ate lunch at before we caught our flight out. I put on Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator first, then Sally Hansen Insta Gel Strips in Pink Pong. Solid strips? Yep, becuase that meant no dry time needed before I could stamp, which I did with Salon Express Nail Art Paint in Bold Black (which I found in a two pack with a white somewhere, maybe Walgreens) and images from MJ plates JR-5 and JR-27. Most of my nails got allover Mickey faces, while one thumb got a flirty Minnie and the other got a slouchy Mickey. After the stamping, I topped each nail in turn with the Sally Hansen Gel Top Coat and cured with the mini lamp. (Lamp from the starter kit, which I reviewed way back in 2012.) A quick swipe with a cleansing wipe (I had one from the box of strips, but I've also just used rubbing alcohol on a cotton round before), and I was off to the airport.





Today, nine days later, my mani is still in pretty good shape. The topcoat is still shiny without me having to do anything to it. I did get a chip on my index finger near the end of the trip; I touched it up with Joe Fresh Nude (a close match to Pink Pong).



As for the trip, it was mostly fun, though the theme parks were more crowded than we'd expected, plus I got sick halfway through, so we weren't able to do all the things we'd planned. Still, we enjoyed most of our time there and sure got to experience things we can't at home. The parks were decorated for Christmas already and looked especially good at night.



My favorite part of the new nightime parade was this color-changing truck float. I wanted to just follow it down the street and watch it make all the different patterns and hues.



It got cold at night but we didn't let that stop us from having fun. One night just before the park closed, we rode Dumbo; only four people on the ride at the time.



My being sick meant I spent only enough time on the beach to see the sunset one day, which was totally worth getting out of bed for.



I am really truly hoping to be posting more regularly now that I'm back, but we'll just have to see if I can manage that. I still haven't really established a routine in retirement. Seems about time I should do that.