Post-interviews nails time!

I've been rocking the Interview Nails for like... three weeks or summat.  And it is terribly dull to be honest, I mean mannequin hands are kind of fun but for heavens' sake.  So you know what that means (or will by the next sentence):  nail color blowout!

This is not a PWI, but for fun, I'll tell you it's...

OPI Euro Euro and/or SC Enchanted,* Pure Ice French Kiss, SC Rise'n'Shine, Orly Lucky Duck, Wet'n'Wild SaGreena the Teenage Witch,**  Pure Ice Wild Thing,^† Rimmel London Sunny Days, SC Pull Over, Sinful Colors Citrine, and Orly [mystery red].^†† 

This is not interviewy at aaaaalllll

Wheeeee! ...I don't know if I'll wear this to work tomorrow. (I don't even know if I'm going to work tomorrow.) But honestly I love the fact that I can have this little brainstorm, poke around in my stash, and accomplish it.^‡

Ooo wait, sunlight (actual sunlight, Seattle is getting to that time!):

Indirect sunlight!  It's, ahm, not very different.  But it was awesome of Mr. Fix-It to take pictures.

Okay, next is cooking many foods, answering many emails, deciding many things.  But loooook I can make rainbows!

---

* Yes a number of things were liberated from the PWI bin to make this happen!  The daylight shot is SC Enchanted, because by morning I had dinged my pinky. ...somehow?
** A shimmer because I still don't have a real green creme rrrrr. Also, I did not make this name up.  
^† THIS is the one-pass nail-staining monstrosity! Rrrrrrrrrrr... but it does work here :-P
^†† There's a sticky spot where the label came off... dude I'ma be honest. This is another probably-10-20 year old polish, I am sure it doesn't exist any more in this formulation, and I only used it because my even older OPI Red was stuck closed. It's red, ok?  
^‡ Except for green, dammit! And, uh. That one teal I ran out for.  Shhh.

PWI: Urban Outfitters Smush

The other day I found that my grocery store has green olives stuffed with feta cheese, AND green olives stuffed with raw garlic, which I am now happily alternating.  I thought about entitling this post "How to never be kissed again."

I recently mentioned my random bottle-grab Smush as a dumb name for a color.  But then it was on the surface, so here's Urban Outfitters Smush:

Indoors, obv.  This didn't stay on long enough for a daytime
shot!  Read on to find out why I have one weird green nail...

I was applying this, and I was thinking, "Seafoam, hm hm, seafoam... ... didn't I just do an Urban Outfitters seafoam color?  Is this a PWI fail?"

So of course I looked in the box, and discovered that UO Girrl Like You is a green seafoam, not a blue seafoam.  Silly me!  Hence the accent nail, for comparison purposes.

I've a bit of a dilemma.  Smush is a cool color, something I would like to have, but the formula is god-awful.  It's streaky, chalky, draggy and miserable.  This is three coats, and the pinky still has a drag line; I chose the accent nail because the middle finger had the worst coverage.  I did not enjoy playing with this polish, which is super unusual!  Keep or ditch, keep or ditch?  Either way it's hall of shame.

Man.  Now I'm out of olives.

PWI twofer: Sinful Colors Aqua and Shattered Rocket Fuel

Occasionally  I look at the little bin of things that are post-Project Wear-It, then at the burgeoning bin of things that are still waiting, and I make a little sad noise.  Then I remember that it's just nail polish for crying out loud, if it makes me sad it's a stupid hobby.

Then I make a little sad noise.

I made lunch (and dinner) from scratch today!  Chicken stew.  But I was playing around, as I do when I have no-one else present to poison, and it's... well.  I should have made more instacurry.  I would describe it as barely edible.  So I am sad about that (and a little hungry)... which means I should show you nail polish!  Yes.  Yes it does.

Sinful Colors Aqua:

Pretty color!  It's not quite this... electric in person.  However, since
it was a horrid gray rainy day even by Seattle standards, I'll take my
bright colors where I find them.  Even in misleading photographs.

This is so similar in the bottle to SC Gorgeous, when I find it I'll show you.  This is a very pretty blue-leaning aqua, and Gorgeous is a sliiiigghhtly green-leaning aqua.

But I had an ulterior motive, which was to provide a base for a polish that must be 15 years old minimum, about which the Internet knows nothing.  (damn kids)

Behold!  Shattered Rocket Fuel:

Green and blue bar glitter everywhere!  I, I swear.  Honest?  This isn't even
lighting, it's just teal, honestly the camera adds drama here, I  don't
understand photography apparently, why does the camera add drama.

Yes, it... also looks pretty teal, doesn't it.  Hrm.

See this is actually a mix of beautiful blue and green bar glitter.*  In the bottle it looks like some kind of jewel.  But in person it looks.. well, aqua.  Especially from more than 6 inches away.  It's pretty, especially in indoor light, but compared to the bottle it is disappointing.

What the bottle looks like; what the polish looks like with a little distance. Here
the bottle looks less exciting than in person, and my nails look more exciting
and glowy.  It's the same damn polish, camera.  What do you want from me.

Ah, well.  Pretty is still a good thing.  I vaguely recall doing roommate E's nails with this over purple and liking the results, maybe after PWI I'll try that.

(PS: Also: It may seem as though our living room floor is covered in random objects.  In fact, they are cat toys.  I don't know what to tell you.)

* Bar glitter means "long thin glitter".  It tends to hang off the sides of your nails or stick straight up or otherwise be a pain.

PWI: Maybelline Emerald Elegance

I am amazingly wiped out.  Walking to school yesterday, and back two hours later, necessitated a nap.  Putting on nail polish seems like a chore.  (Buying it, not so much, it seems.)  I think I was all wired up on anticipation and adrenaline for my Job Interview, and now that it's over, my strings have been cut, and I am tired.

I wasn't that impressed with the Maybelline Color Show Brocades collection.  (Too many words!)  But I eventually picked one up, which led me to looking at swatches, which led to the inevitable purchase of...

Maybelline Emerald Elegance.

Big green glitter, smaller green glitter and teeny-tiny gold
and green glitter, and it was easier to find that out on the
internet than by looking at the actual polish, by the way

Rather truer color at half-dark, 5 minutes after previous picture.
Thanks Seattle! When I need "darkness" you are there for me

Two coats. Thick and gloopy as all hell, but not actually hard to work with. The addition of teeny gold glitter makes it lean towards a yellowish green.

I feel like "brocades" is surprisingly apt (especially given the history of cosmetic companies on this). These are glitter polishes, but not sparkly; they end up giving the sense of complexity and something-happening without being glittery or obvious about the mix of colors.

From six inches, anyway. Beyond that, they look "green". This is the tragedy of fancy nail polish. Le Sigh.

PWI: Urban Outfitters Girrl Like You

Another day, another green.  I have a small mountain of teal polishes, which are woefully under-represented so far... actually, when Project Wear-It winds to a close, I'm excited about using this blog to do some graphs and analysis about this collection. (Still a dork.) I do have some limits on what I will comfortably wear to work, at least given meetings or talks, so that may be something of a selection function.

Babbling. Here. Polish.

Urban Outfitter Girrl Like You:

Outside. There was sun but I was avoiding it.

It's a pretty color. Strange on me, but not, I think, terrible. Nice, easy to work with formula. But...

Hrm

 ...that's gonna be a hard image to let go of.

(update: my beloved husband: "Should you buy some? To compare? ...although it would probably cost more. And scrape off way sooner." Still, good thought!)

Project Wear-It: Essie Going Incognito

Even since before discovering the blue perfection that is Eurso Euro, I've been mildly obsessed with finding a similarly wonderful green. Every option I see is slightly, but noticeably, kelly green – which is to say, has a definite blue/teal component. I love kelly green! But I want is a beautiful, saturated, true emerald green.

So when I saw The Polishaholic's swatches of Essie Going Incognito, I already knew it was kelly green. Her swatches are pretty much always spot-on and informative. But it was so close, and I wanted it to be green so badly, and Amazon (as always) was right there...

Essie Going Incognito:

See? A little too blue to be "true" green.

But good gravy it's pretty.

Formula lovely, color as shown or darker in some lights, yada yada.

I've collected nail polish on and off for years. My husband can vouch for buying me holographic polish, what, 15 years ago. Heck, my parents can vouch for buying me polish. But what really kicked off the last 2-3 years of obsession is the $2 Sinful Colors polish, and all its more recent competitors. ("What? People don't always like spending $10 for a cosmetic that might or might not work? What?!" Why is this idea novel you guys.)

My only point is that spending $8 for a not-quite-right green is a vote of confidence from me! I still haven't decided to spend $20 + $10-15 shipping for Rescue Beauty Lounge's Recycle (whimper but pretty whimper) even if it might be closer, so I'm still me.