China Glaze Ghoulish Glow

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I'm back with an addition to my Numbskull Salon Effects manicure I wanted to show you because it turned out surprisingly well.  I'd mentioned that adding glow in the dark top coat to it was a possibility, and I added China Glaze Ghoulish Glow with nice results.

This is a bottle I bought in a prior year.  I'm not sure when, I just knew I already had a GID top coat.  I was hunting for my Wet N Wild one because I'd read it worked better after being stored for some time, and although I couldn't find it, I did find Ghoulish Glow.  It was on its side in a plastic drawer thingy, and although the GID pigment had visibly settled, it mixed in easily when I shook it up, so I held the bottle up to a light and checked it in the dark and sure enough, it was glowy.  I added two thin coats of it to Numbskull and then top coat to dry it, and it gave the manicure kind of a zombie cataract look.

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow Top Coat over Numbskull Salon Effects

I stopped in the bathroom (the only windowless room here) and shut the door to get a picture of the glow.

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow Top Coat over Numbskull Salon Effects in the Dark

So it worked, and I get to wear this out!  I noticed the glow doesn't last as long as the OPI GID's, but what the heck... I think Sephora by OPI Full Moon, the white GID from last year, is the best there is for that of glow in the dark polishes I've used, but this was nice to just tack on to an already-finished manicure.  I guess I'll just be running up to available lights to charge my nails as often as I can get away with!

That's it for today, Dear Reader, I just wanted to share some spooky Halloween glow in the dark fun with you.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Zom-body to Love

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have the fun task of showing you OPI's limited edition Halloween 2011 glow in the dark polish, which is called Zom-body to Love, a light green.  For those newer to collecting polish, each year OPI releases a set of Halloween minis that includes a glow-in-the-dark, and there are "Promotional - Not for Sale" full sized bottles of the GID shade floating around all the time, usually easy to get for retail, which is just what I did on Ebay.

My experience of OPI's GID polishes, which I've bought since 2006 (I don't know when OPI started them, that's when I started...) is that they're always very sheer, impossible to make opaque alone, and pretty much the opposite of self-leveling.  They glow like nobody's business,which makes them completely worth jumping through some hoops to make workable for me.

The first thing I did with my bottle was take it into the bathroom (which has no windows) and hold it up to a light bulb for a few seconds before shutting the door, turning off the light, and taking a picture.  Since there was no light at all, the shutter time was roughly an eternity and it's a little blurred, and I apologize for that, but I really caught the glow.  They all seem to glow greenish, it's just coincidence that the color in the light is green as well.

OPI Zom-body to Love Bottle Glowing in the Dark

Next, I did a manicure.  I started with base coat, and to take care of the opacity issue, I used two coats of Misa Heaven White to start.  One moderately thick coat would have been sufficient, but I have a hard time applying thicker coats and also when my nails are on the shorter end of my length range, so two thin was better for me here.  I assumed I'd need at least two coats of Zom-body to Love, so I allowed a few minutes of drying time between coats.  I ended up using three coats of Zom-body to Love, and I made them very thin so they would stay uniformly smooth and the lack of self leveling wouldn't be a problem, and continued to wait a few minutes between coats.  With so much polish, any shrinkage would look pretty bad, so I used Diamont over it.  After it dried, I went out into the sun and took a picture of it.

OPI Zom-body to Love Nail Polish, Three Coats over White

I like the shade because it's a happier green than a lot of the recent drab ones.  It also looks pretty standard, so the glow is a fun surprise.  On the way to the computer, I was thinking that holding this in sunlight probably super-charged the glow, so I stopped off to get a disembodied nails picture (also blurry, and again I apologize) to show you.  I thought the disembodied watermark made it a more amusing picture, so I put it in.

OPI Zom-body to Love Nail Polish Glowing in the Dark

I didn't Photoshop any of these pictures other than cropping and adding text, the OPI GID's just glow like crazy, which is why I'm always happy when one is released.  I think you also know I wouldn't normally give you blurry pictures, but for fun ones of something glowing in a totally dark room, I'm going to show you whatever I'm lucky enough to get!

For a one-polish purchase, Ebay's a good bet for this one.  I just searched for the name, looked at Buy It Now only, sorted by price + shipping, and bought the least expensive one that was coming from a seller whose feedback I was at ease with.  Although the full-sized bottles are collector material, I think it's just fun to  wear GID's, especially as a pedicure since I wear those longer.  I never wear shoes in the house and tend to completely forget I'm wearing a GID polish, then walking down the hall or something I'll see it glowing and it entertains me.  My mother used to tell me I was like a magpie with this kind of thing...

So that's Zom-body to Love, the 2011 OPI Halloween Glow in the Dark release.  I don't have a heck of a lot else to tell you about, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Candy Cane Nails

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I did a manicure I thought of for the request for warm weather Christmas manicures.  I looked up some images to see if that would help me pick something, and it did, but it was still strange to see.  What I found was red and white were more prevalent than anything with green, but the thing that was odd to see is that there were a heck of a lot of beach scenes, like people in red bathing suits wearing a traditional Santa hat.  Now, please don't think that as a result of seeing those pictures, I now believe the entire southern hemisphere gallivants about the beach during the holidays - I know those are as authentic as the pictures of American families laughing around a fireplace in matching holiday sweaters.  What I did get out of it is that I should go with red and white, and that using the same imagery would work as long as it wasn't specific to winter, so I chose candy canes for the theme.

From there, I considered how a fun gathering would go on Christmas with June weather.  My best holidays have always involved a bunch of family and some friends just hanging out talking for hours after the main events are over, and we'd always sit outside if weather permitted.  For that, I thought a glow in the dark polish would be good for the white, and since I really like Sephora by OPI Full Moon, that was my white.  For a fiery hot red, I chose China Glaze Red Stallion.  To decorate, I used Chez-Delaney's plate H1, which has a tip pattern that includes three diagonal lines, and I just painted and picked up the three line part of the pattern.  Since it looked like a lot of stamping, I only did one nail in the candy cane pattern, and to match the others I used Red Stallion to stamp.  The lines aren't as clean as with Konad polish and don't hold up under the close scrutiny of a giant picture, but they're just fine walking around.

Candy Cane Nails: Sephora by OPI Full Moon, China Glaze Red Stallion, Chez-Delaney H1

So that's my take on Christmas in summer, and that's just about all I have to tell you about at this hour.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Halloween goodies from Astraea

I got the sweetest box (huge) of Halloween goodiesthe other day from the lovely Robin (Astraea1976) because well she is wicked awesomenessss!My camera battery died before I got pictures of all of the goodies so I will post the rest tomorrow.(click to make all pictures huge)How absolutely perfect are these!Glowy yellow gloss with green shimmer in a ghosty, Red Rum skull polish, Alien Glow Skull

Sephora by OPI Halloween 2010

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have swatches of the three new limited edition Sephora by OPI nail polishes for Halloween 2010, which are on Sephora's site.  They're varied and not all hits...

Full Moon is a really good one.  It's a white glow in the dark polish, not a totally stark white, but with a hint of ivory.  It differs from OPI Ghostess with the Mostess in that Full Moon is much more opaque and glows more.  For the OPI, I've always had to use two coats over two coats of a white creme, but Full Moon was opaque and even on its own in three coats.  My experience is that glow in the dark nail polish is pretty much the opposite of self leveling, so I just ignore that and a coat of top coat fixes it.

Sephora by OPI Full Moon Nail Polish, Three Coats

Kitty Loves Black I got because the swatch looked interesting.  Sephora describes the color as "opaque metallic black," but it's neither black nor metallic.  It's more of a dark charcoal with a bit of silver and blue shimmer, and it took three coats.  It's not bad, but nothing to write home about either.

Sephora by OPI Kitty Loves Black Nail Polish, Three Coats

If You've Got It, Haunt It was the one I was most excited about.  It's a blackish base with loads of silver and blue glitter, and it looks really cool in the bottle.  The good news is that it only took two coats, the bad news is that applying it was just like spreading out brownie batter.  The glitter is so dense that the polish is unbelievably thick.  Because there's so much glitter, it took three coats of Seche Vite to smooth it out.  About five minutes after taking the picture of If You've Got It, Flaunt It, I panicked about removal of all that fine glitter and took it off while I still could.  I don't know if I'll ever work up the nerve to try it again.

Sephora by OPI If You've Got It, Haunt It Nail Polish, Two Coats

Those are Sephora by OPI's Halloween 2010 offerings.  Knowing what I know now, I think Full Moon would be the only one I would get - it's by far the nicest GID polish I have (it doesn't look like a novelty polish in normal light), and I have an occasion to wear it later this month, so that one is a keeper.  The other two, not so much.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Konadicures for Fun

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I did a fun Konadicure while playing with one of my new drugstore nail polishes, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Purple Pulse. It's a great shade of purple, and took three coats. When applying it, I reminded myself to warn you about the brush - it looks just awful and unmanageable, but actually works quite well. It's not my favorite, but there are many worse to use (thought few less appealing to look at). This is Purple Pulse alone.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Purple Pulse Nail Polish, Three Coats

The deep purple reminded me of the color of the amethysts in my favorite earrings. The earrings also have tsavorite garnets, so I thuoght I'd green this up a bit with the houndstooth pattern from Konad plate M63, using Green Konad Special Polish for the stamping. Bright green and deep purple are not an especially traditional pairing, but one I like.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Purple Pulse Nail Polish, Three Coats, and Konad M63

That's what I thought would be my Nails of the Day today. Then I was surprised with a 3:00 a.m. call. Usually a call at that hour can only mean bad things, but this was something good - because of my name, the caller thought I was in the UK, which would have made it a reasonable hour to call. So I have good news in the works, and as soon as it's carved-in-stone final, I tell you about it.

So that means at 3:15 a.m. I was all revved up, so I did a mani for a reader which will be my NOTD. The all-time favorite of a reader who's been with me from the start was the cow mani. I was thinking my nails are a good length to reproduce it, but I made it the New & Improved Cow Mani - it glows in the dark.

I used one from the train case, OPI's Ghostess with the Mostess, for the glow in the dark white, but it's pretty sheer. Being revved up, I was going for speed with lots of layers, so I used the fastest drying everything: Nubar Foundation, two coats of OPI Alpine Snow Matte, waited about one minute, then two coats of OPI Ghostess with the Mostess, and a coat of Diamont to dry it. Since both the OPI matte and Ghostess dry really fast, I was able to stamp in about 10 minutes. I stamped the cow pattern from Konad plate M61 using Black Pearl Konad Special Polish (the shimmer is marginal and it doesn't smudge). Although my nails are still short enough for the full nail patterns, I think the black French tips really complete the cow mani, so I stamped them using plate M19. Here's the New & Improved Cow Mani in good light.

OPI Ghostess with the Mostess, Two Coats, with Konad M61 & M19

Just for fun, I took a picture of it in the dark. You really have to click on the picture for the full sized version to see it.

OPI Ghostess with the Mostess, Two Coats, with Konad M61 & M19 in the Dark

It's not the best picture of it in the dark - it took a zillion tries to get a reasonably clear one (try not moving either hand with your shutter speed at 100!), and the polish lost its "charge" a bit in that process. Still, you get the idea.

I think both Konadicures are a blast, but I especially love the cow one. I find it ridiculously entertaining.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

I'm just Glowing

OPI Glow Ink the darkA very sweet gift from Robin along with glow powders in for colors to make more glow in the dark polish and some awesome nail decals. It's so funny that she won the giveaway and almost imideatly I recieved an awesome surprise package from her. Thank You so much Lovie!Also Chris got me the coolest ring that I have to show off!I'm still sick, running a fever so this will be

OPI Glow-Ink in the Dark and More

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday, I decided, "To heck with it..." and just cut my nails all the way off again. Bummer, but at least they're even. The good news is that OPI's Halloween glow in the dark nail polish, Glow-Ink in the Dark, showed up, and I got to play with it.

It's supposed to be purple and glow green. It's purple, the glow isn't markedly green. It took a base of matte Alpine Snow and three coats of Glow-Ink in the Dark to be even and opaque. Here it is with a base and a top in the sun.

And here it is glowing.

Not so much green, huh? I still like it - it's purple and glow, so I have no complaints!

On to the more... Today's Nails of the Day! One of the few benefits of cutting my nails is that I get to use the zebra pattern from Konad plate M57. I love that pattern. I decided to make it the mid-80's on my nails, and used Essie Punchy Pink as the base color with Black Konad Special Nail Polish for the stamping. Punchy Pink is a great one - I've used half a bottle this summer. Pictures don't show how really neon it is ("whorish and unwearable," according to one of my male friends!). Last year's are getting hard to find, so if you want one really neon pink, get this one while you can!

That's it for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Boo-Berry & Konad

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I've been trying to think of a good theme for the week, and decided this week will have to be Random Stuff Week. With the Konad haul, new Nubars on the way, and other things, there's just too much varied stuff to show you this week to pick a theme. I also have a surprise for you, I hope for Friday...

So for today, I went with an oldie-but-goody, OPI Boo-Berry. It's the glow-in-the-sark Halloween color from 2007. Again, I used matte Alpine Snow for a base to make it opaque, then I stamped it with two of my new Konad plates using Konad Special Nail Polish in Blue and White.

It's happy, it's chipper, it glows in the dark. What more could I ask for???

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Ghostess with the Mostess & Konad M73

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just showed you my post-swatching mani a few hours ago, but I'm fired up about my Nails of the Day and have a little break from work, so I thought I'd show it to you. I have an evening thing to go to tonight, supposing a meeting that got rescheduled doesn't run too late, and I planned it for that.

The idea was glow-in-the-dark nails, which I think my anticipation of this year's OPI Halloween shad got me going on. Adolescent, yes, but I love them nonetheless. They entertain me to no end. I took out OPI's Ghostess with the Mostess, last year's Halloween GID nail polish, which is white and crazy glow-in-the-dark. On its own, it's not totally opaque, so I found a good use for my Matte Alpine Snow (which looks like chalk), and used that as a base. It was a good choice, since it dries fast. Then I applied two coats of Ghostess with the Mostess, which also dries fast, slapped on some Diamont, and stamped it with Black Konad Special Nail Polish using plate M73, then more Diamont (I didn't take my own advice and use the Konad t/c for insurance this time, but you should take my advice, since I'm not using it...).

Here it is under artificial light...

Then I marginally succeeded at what was a failure with this one last year: getting an in-the-dark picture of it. Check it out!

Isn't that funny? Disembodied glowing nails! Why I find this so entertaining, I will never know, but I really, really, do.

Since I'm certainly not changing this for anything at all, that's really it for today, Dear Reader! Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!