Surf Skittles!

Hi all! I have sad news - I broke most of my nails at work yesterday. They're in a pretty sad state...all short and some are peeling. I'll be taking time to give them lots of extra TLC this week.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Surf collection that Zoya released this summer is one of my favorite whole collections ever. Bright colors with a shimmery metallic finish? Sign me up! There isn't a single one I dislike, and not a single one has a bad formula - the lighter colors (Zuza, Rory, and Meg) need two thin coats, while Carly, Kimber, and Myrta really only need one. And with my super-short nails, I don't feel quite as "crazy nail polish lady" when I do a skittle mani!

Thumb to pinkie, I used Orly Ridge Filler, then two coats each of Carly, Zuza, Meg, Myrta, and Kimber, with a coat of Poshe on top. Dry time was pretty quick, thankfully, as I did this right before work.

You can see my poor abused cuticles and peeling pointer finger...and that my polish was already starting to chip when I got around to pictures, thanks to work. :( But it's still super pretty and got me compliments...

Thanks for reading!

A lot of summer with a little fall.

Hi all! Today I have a lovely pink from Zoya's Surf collection, Kimber. It's a glowy, metallic hot pink that screams summertime - and it's almost a one coater. There was some visible nail line after one thin coat, so I went over it a second time for full coverage. Application was a dream.

Yesterday when I left to run errands, I noticed some yellow leaves here and there - plus classes start next week - fall has crept up on me without me noticing. To celebrate, I layered HITS Lambada on top - a flakie that flashes copper and green mostly, with a little yellow and turquoise here and there - it reminds me of trees that haven't completely turned yet. The flakies are a little shy on top of the super-bright Kimber, but when they come out to play in the sun, it's the perfect between-seasons look for me! The pictures don't show quite as many flakies as you can see in real life...Lambada is pretty dense, like Essie Shine of the Times, but with smaller flakes.

I am still working on my cleanup-with-brushes skills, so apologies for the mess - I wanted to take pictures beforehand in case I screwed up and had to take it off.

What are your favorite colors between the seasons?

Thanks for reading!

China Glaze Kinetic Candy, and a water marble

Hi all! Today was a lazy day, and my last day off for the foreseeable future, so I figured I'd take the time to do my nails. Per request, I chose a light blue - China Glaze Kinetic Candy, from the Electropop collection (pretty widely available via etailers still, doubt you'll see it in stores anymore). It's pretty bright for a pastel, but soft, and it covered fairly well in two coats (it was a little streaky, but topcoat pretty much evened it out). A bubble here and there, but I am going to blame the air in here. Here it is with a coat of Out the Door, indoor light:

I decided that I'd give a water marble accent nail a shot tonight - it's only my third time doing it, and I'm not quite comfortable with a whole marble mani yet. I did that the first time I tried it, and not only did it take almost two hours - I drove my fiance nuts - but it didn't turn out all that great.

For this one, I decided to go with greens, blues, and purple. Left to right: China Glaze Kinetic Candy, OPI Mermaid's Tears, CG Aquadelic, Zoya Robyn, CG First Mate, and CG Tempest. Not exactly color-true - thanks, phone camera! I need to get a new camera, mine's been abused to death.

Also visible: hammer. Not involved in today's mani :)

When I marble, I coat the finger in petroleum jelly or lip balm to make cleanup slightly easier, though I've heard it will just peel off your finger anyway - I'd rather avoid having crazy polish stains on my fingers! Here's my left and right middle fingers, pre-cleanup - I'm not ready for topcoat quite yet, so I'm chilling here at the comp with crazy blue swirls on my fingers...

I'm ok with them - marbling always looks better with more nail to work with, I think, and Tempest and Mermaid's Tears aren't as vibrant as I'd like...oh, and the designs aren't as good as they could've been. But it could've been worse! Maybe I'll add some holo topcoat tomorrow...

Have you ever done a water marble? Got any ideas or tips? I'd love to hear them!

An introduction.

Hi everyone! I'm Sam, or Waddle Dee, and this is my shot at making a nail polish blog.

A little bit about me: I'm 24 and just recently graduated with a meteorology/geography degree. I am an avid storm chaser (don't be surprised if I post about any storms), love swimming and rock climbing, and am just getting into makeup and clothes. My nail polish obsession started on a message board called Something Awful, where reading the nail care thread and seeing gorgeous pictures made me stop biting my nails and has brought my collection from nonexistant to almost 200 bottles!

I will begin posting regularly soon. My nails are naked now, but for the moment, I'll leave this picture of what I had on at commencement: Zoya Rory as a base, with a lightning bolt of Orly Halley's Comet and a silver line from a striping polish I bought at Sally's. It's my first attempt at art using tape, it's a bit messier than I'd like up close, but far away it looked good..this is also so I can track my own skill progression with nail art.

Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment if you stop by, I'd like to get to know my readers - if you have a blog, let me know - also, you may follow my personal twitter (@weatherbamf), and poke me to remind me to get better at using it :)