Rare Nail Art: Zombie French Tips

One of my top bucket lists items is to be a zombie extra in a tv show or movie so the only way I tide myself over until that happens is to occasionally zombify myself for Halloween.   This year, Halloween proper was a bust because I had to work at my internship however, a conference I was attending a couple of days before had a Halloween party.  I bought a Zombie prom queen getup and changed the sash to be "Miz Livin Ded 2013" in bloody finger painting complete with a blood, gore, a fancy ball gown, and a black metal tiara.

Well you can't do zombie without zombie nails so check out my zombie french tips!

I was thinking of a beauty queen clawing her way to the top so the nails are broken way down into the quick but you can still see that she once had a pageant ready mani.  These hurt me just looking at them but they were fun to do.  I just cut down false nails with small scissors and nail clippers and then glued them onto my clean, unpainted nails.  Then i added all the colors.  I think nails like these are ok to be messy so the effect is more grotesque! 

Anyway, grad school still marches on but I am graduating in December!  Oh, all the free time I'll have!  Can't wait to get back to frankening and polishing!

Oh My Word!! ILNP Ultrachromes Waterfall Manicure

Hello again, world...

No, I am not back in the swing of blogging with a full time job, my last semester of grad school, and a temporary internship.  However, I have been busy making polishes (see my Polish Lab tab) and buying polish.  My stash has grown exponentially!

When I saw swatches of the I Love Nail Polish Ultrachromes, I knew they had to be mine so when the pre-order went down in epic fashion last month, I bought all four.

 First you have Birefringence (the one I am holding in the pic),which shifts from blues, purples, reds, oranges, yellows, and a hint of green.

Next you have My Little Glacier, which shifts from blue to silver, purple, red, and orangy-yellow.

Then, there is Cyngus Loop which shifts from purple to orange, red, yellow and a bit of green.

Last, top right corner of the pic, there is Mutagen, which shifts from green to red to blue, and purple and even some orange


Now seeing them in all their chrom-y glory, I also knew that I had to figure out a mani to showcase all the amazing colors and shifting.

I have been wanting to do a waterfall manicure and it incorporates a lot of contrasting colors so I thought it would work. Did. It. Ever!

Behold...

 Yes, I know...I will be staring at these nails for days.  I think if I had to pick one manicure to take with me on a desert island, this would be the one.  After all, it goes with EVERYTHING because it shifts to EVERY COLOR!  Its the Aurora Borealis for your nails.   I stand by that!

Sorry if you don't get my nerding out over this polish but if you do, please find someway to get these!

You may be able to order them now or at some point soon via the ILNP website.   Do sign up for the newsletter which will help you find out when the restocks are.

Hope you try this with your ILNP Ultrachromes.  Share them with me, ya'll!

XOXO,
Char

Nabi Ocean Blue Holo

A while back a polish friend posted a link to an eBay store that was selling sets of Nabi holos and they were selling for cheap CHEAP with little or no shipping!  I bought 12 of them and I think I got a great deal.

Today I am showing you Ocean Blue.

Something that stood out to me about the Nabi holos were their attempt to appear identical to Layla's collection of hologram effect polishes.  Laylas they aren't buuuut...I am suitably smitten with them anyway!

Ocean Blue is a teal-ly Caribbean blue that pops and shimmers.   The effect to me is more scattered but not unattractive.   Also, in my experience, Nabi polishes tend to stink but the smell from these is doable:)  On to the swatches....

First, I have to say that this is one of the best looking swatches I have done in a while and the polish is pretty awesome too.  I am a sucker for teal polish so throw some holo in there and I gotta have it.   There were many other holos to choose from and I chose the one that stuck out the most to show you first! Save some monies and get some of these holos.  Search ebay for the seller and I hope you like them!

--Char

Review: Wacky Whimsy Nail Polish Rack and a Polish Rack Giveaway!

As I said in my last post, I have been a busy blogger even if I haven't excelled at the blogging part.   A dear friend of mine, the glorious brains behind Wacky Whimsy Crafts, made me her largest polish rack--the Imperial Palace to review.  She even let me pick out my own color!  You guys know that my stash has only increased exponentially in the past year so I was WAY behind on polish storage so this rack was a godsend.   The Imperial Palace holds up to 378 full size polishes.

I was so excited to get this rack home that I filled it up with polishes completely that night.  Then, I realized that you all, dear readers, deserved to see what this rack looks like sans polish, you know, so you can imagine your stash on it.  

Check out the pics!

Imperial Palace Polish Rack-sans polish

Imperial Palace Polish Rack-sans polish side view

Imperial Palace Polish Rack-sans polish double shelves

Imperial Palace Polish Rack--sans polish, scale

 Below is a picture of me half hugging my new polish rack.   Sorry but the day I unloaded the rack, I had done some yard work and had zero cosmetics or polish on BUT I wanted to show you how tall the rack was.  I am 5'7 and the rack comes up to my shoulders.

Me and my Imperial Palace Polish Rack--sans polish and makeup, sorry!

Next up is the polish rack filled with most of my indies, frankens, HTFs, favorites, premium polishes, and essence collections. 

 

So here is my review:

This polish rack is rock solid sturdy with its base.  Depending on how well you mount it on your wall, you could have a rock solid polish rack on your wall but I didn't want to have to mount anything.   The rack survived a long trip in my car as well as me awkwardly trying to get it into my house with out dinging it or the walls.   No scratches, no wobblies.  Plus after filling it completely, I did the very official let's-try-to-tip-this-rack-over test and the rack didn't budge.   You can't be too careful with a kitty who does this as a kitten:

The double tier shelves are very roomy.  Your full-size polishes will not hang off the ledge.

This rack holds a significant number of polish for any polish hoarder. I counted 380 polishes including half size, essences, and minis and I still have a lot of room to work with.   Totally side by side with no spaces I think I could get the rest of my un-inventoried indies, favorites, and frankens on there easily.

I love that you can pick the color your want your rack to be when you order.  I chose a custom color called Silverberry.  Its hard to see from the pics but the purple has a shimmery silver undertone.

Also, if you get the stand, you get a bonus area to put more polish or nail stuff--if you don't have a meddlesome cat like me.

Last, this rack, folks, is going to last.  It is not going to fall apart, drop your polishes, or crack during a move (like my acrylic shelf did).  It is going to stay where you put it (as long as you install it correctly) and display your collection with the magnificence it deserves.  You will not regret making this purchase.

If this rack had any cons,  it might be that it could be too big for some people.   It does take up a large corner of my polish room and would probably take up a significant part of a wall. If you are pressed for space, you might consider downsizing or learning the physics behind mounting so that you don't ripe holes into your walls or have mass polish-cide if it falls.  Other than that, I cannot find any fault with this rack.

Summary:  Sturdy, easy to set up, customizable color, roomy, long lasting, holds a TON of polish securely.

So now you think you need one of these polish racks, right?   Lucky you, Dawn from Wacky Whimsy has agreed to give you an exciting chance to win one of her polish racks along with a franken from me.  The two prizes are below and the Rafflecopter is below that.

Prize #1:  One aqua Wacky Whimsy "Boardwalk" Polish Rack and one full-size Nails Actually franken.

Prize #2:  One purple Wacky Whimsy "Dottie Whimsit" Polish Rack (for minis) and one mini Nails Actually franken.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Please share this review and the giveaway, enter, and buy all the polish racks!  I would also LOVE to see your polish storage, custom or purchased racks, etc.  Post your links to pics or blog posts in the  comments or on the Nails Actually Facebook page.

Disclaimer:  The Imperial Palace polish rack from Wacky Whimsy was purchase by me with personal funds at a discounted rate in exchange for an honest review our their product.   My opinions are my own, true and objective.

Update: Crisis Conquered

When I last blogged, I had about one month until I had to move all of my family's belongings back from Denver.  In addition, a temporary job was about to end.   Let's just say when we moved back into our home, it was not left in a livable condition by our renters and being unemployed was not the best situation to accompany all of the expense.   I won't go into details but the repairs alone to return our home to its original tiptop condition was a very long, stressful, EXPENSIVE process.   Additionally, more life happened as we lost my husband's grandmother and had an emergency with my grandfather.  I hope you can understand that sometimes nail polish, as much as I love it, can take the back seat to a bus crammed full of other priorities.  

Flash forward three months ahead and I am on the flip side.   Our house is looking good and I was offered a full-time position last Friday.

On top of that EPIC news, I have been frankening lots and buying more polish.   I have 100s of polishes to add to my stash and I am working on a couple of giveaways and a much needed blog sale. 

Up in a couple of days is a polish rack review you don't want to miss.   Customizable.  Adaptable.  And Huge.   Polish storage room for days.   Salivating?  You should be.

Latest Frankens:

Fire Sari-matted

Planet Remnants-my first handmade duo chrome

The Menagerie

Holo Harbinger

Watermelon Salsa

Water Sari

Poppy Fields

Poppy Fields-swatch

Sunburst

Sunburst-swatch

Industrial Kaleidoscope

My first handmade holo!

Dew Lily

Pirkl's Polish

Allegiance to the Holo

Treasures Untold

Flower Trip

Cootie Cure

Leeza Franken's Galaxy

Luck Dragon

Sunrise for Breakfast