i bought this one a few days ago.  it took all of my willpower not to bring each and every colour of Crackle Overcoat home with me.

now that i've tried it, i'm glad i didn't buy more than one bottle.

i got Vintage Violet.  and i do love the colour.  but i can live without just about everything else about this polish.  i applied it over OPI's Not Like the Movies.  it is wearing very well from my last manicure.  most of the flower nail decals are long gone, but the polish hasn't really worn at all.  it's like iron!

first thing i noticed is that it is Stinky.  with a capital S.  okay.  no prob.  i have a few stinky polishes in my collection, i can deal with the smell.  second thing i was disappointed in was the size of the brush.  do i have monster nails or is it tiny?  i had to redip into the bottle three times to cover my ring finger nail.  and thirdly... it applied like crap for me.  it clumped up so quickly.  there was no time for going over any of the strokes, it clumped on the nail before i could redip the brush.  it's kind of hard to explain.  if i went over a stroke before it was dry it just got thick and lumpy rather than mixing in with the new stroke.  does that make sense?

it applied very thickly for me.  i tried on four nails and i just could not do a thin coat due to the small brush and quick clumping action.

it took a little longer than OPI's Shatter to crack, but i do like the crack effect.  yay... a positive!  lol.

i took all these pictures before adding my Seche Vite topcoat.  it adds a nice shine to the Sally Hansen Crackle, it dried semi-matte.  even with my trusty Seche Vite, it is still a bumpy manicure because the Crackle applied so thickly.

this pretty came in the mail yesterday.  it took a while to arrive, thank you Canada Post strike.  the folks at FabulouStreet were really wonderful about working around the strike.  i highly recommend them if you're looking to buy yourself some Nfu-Ohs :)

i unwrapped my new Nfu-Oh while eating dinner out at a restaurant and could.barely.stop.myself from applying a coat right then and there.

as soon as i got home it went on over my skittles mani.  it has a wonderfully different effect on the different colours.  my favourite, although i could not capture it with the camera, is the funky way it creates a shimmery lilac/blue over the yellow polish. 

i'm excited to try it over black :)

pardon the second rate pictures and dry cuticles.  i was way too excited about taking the pictures and moisturizing my cuticles was a thought that got pushed to the back of my mind in a fairly quick manner because i just.had.to.take.pictures.naow.  i take my photos near my living room window to take advantage of the natural light, but by the time we got home from errands and dinner the sunlight had waned and wasn't great for capturing the wonderful magic of Nfu-Oh 40.  so expect better pictures in the future :)

the polishes under the Nfu-Oh are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Grape Going!, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Fashionista Orange, Hot Yellow and Be Seen Blue.  last but not least is China Glaze Reggae to Riches (fuchsia).

before i show you my skittles mani, i have to share what i did to the french manicure before removing it.  i found a bottle of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Ice Queen the other day while at Rexall (a pharmacy here in Canada).  the pink and blue hex glitter called out to me and for $2ish i couldn't resist taking her home.

so i did a "swatch" (of sorts) over the french manicure.

and now onto my skittley fingers :)

the polishes i used are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Grape Going!, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Fashionista Orange, Hot Yellow and Be Seen Blue.  last but not least is China Glaze Reggae to Riches.

left hand:

 right hand (now that i'm seeing the pictures i have realized i flooded the cuticle on my middle finger.  doh!!):

mmmiiiiiinnnneeee: 

oh, yeah, and silver.  and new falsies.

i used China Glaze Reggae to Riches, Joe Fresh white, Sally Hansen Black Out and Kiss Nail Art in silver glitter.

and you can totally see that i am still pretty new to nail art by my wonky dots.  lol.  i am surprised that the silver lines turned out really rather straight and neat on my right hand, usually the designs on the right are just... blah... being right handed and all.

i'm not sure how long i'll keep this one.

i am really nervous about using polish remover on the acrylics though.  will it ruin them if i use it often?  i'll have to google that. 

 one with the flash:

 i decided to make the best of a bout of insomnia last night.  i just could not sleep.  i napped yesterday afternoon, thanks to a migraine :(, and then i just couldn't get back to sleep when sleep time came.  so i stayed up almost all night watching a documentary about the history of magic and painting my nails.  problem with insomnia though... i was exhausted, but could not sleep...  being exhausted while painting polka dots on small surfaces means not so great dots.  but it's a fun look despite the weird spots, so i'm sharing it with you all anyway :)


i created the dots with what i had around at the time.  i don't have any special nail art tools.  yet ;)  to make the dots i put a drop or two of polish on a scrap piece of paper.  the big dots were made by dipping the back end of a pen into the drips on the paper.  the medium dots were made with the back end of a Loew Cornell round paintbursh that i use to apply gel/cream eyeliner.  and the small dots were made with my trusty Boye US1 double pointed knitting needle.  :)

- black: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out. 
- light blue: China Glaze Bahamian Escape. 
- green: Revlon Top Speed Enamel in Super Nature. 
- dark blue: Joe Fresh Prussian Blue.

nubbin nails :(  that's it... no more repairing them.  i gave in and have cut them all short.  some of them right down to the quick. 

i've been thinking about getting acrylics put on at the salon.  some of my natural nails are strong and grow forever (my ring and pinkie fingers).  others are strong but don't grow as long because of wear and tear (my index fingers).  others are just stupid.  my middle finger nails always split right at the part where the nail grows off the finger.  it's starts out as a small crack that inevitably grows and then i have to cut it off.  something similar happens with my thumbnails.  any thoughts on how to fix this?  or thoughts on acrylics?

here's a manicure from a few days ago:


OPI’s The One That Got Away, Nicole by OPI’s Honey-Dew You Love Me (hearts), Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Strobe Light (glitter… which i wish i hadn’t applied… it’s just too much with the hearts).

(original post date: May 29, 2011)

i am in love with this polish.  it is very sheer, i layered it over one coat of Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl and i still had to do three coats to get opacity.

never the less.  this is a really perty blurple!

on my ring finger the glitter is Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Strobe Light.  and the hearts on the ring and pinky were fished out of Nicole by OPI's Love Your Life.

i have been thinking a lot about starting a whole new blog for the makeup and nails and just keeping this one for the yarn and maybe some personal stuff now and then.  i'm pretty sure i'm going to do it.  the decision is made, what's holding me back is coming up with a name for the polish/makeup blog.  i have even thought about doing a give-away of some Joe Fresh Twilight to the person who can help me name the new blog.  it is a very real possibility... pending a trip to the store tomorrow to grab a bottle or two of Twilight.  *crossing fingers* they have some :)

(from old blog.  original date May 16, 2011)

Rexall (a Canadian drug store) has nailpolish on sale this week… 40% off. so i bought a few.

in order of appearance:
-Nicole by OPI Justin Bieber line (ugh, i know) Step 2 the Beat of my Heart.
-Nicole by OPI in Love Your Life
-Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in a mystery purple (i can’t find a name tag on it anywhere)
-Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Snappy Sprinkles (it’s like a birthday party in a bottle!)
-Sinful Colors (which i’ve never seen in my town, and Rexall only had 3 bottles of it) in Daddy’s Girl
-Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Midnight Blue. in the bottle it is such an amazingly deep blue shade.

the heart glitter with flash cuz it really shows off the colours of the Justin Bieber formula:

i showed my fiance the Justin Bieber bottle.  he got a good laugh out of it and then asked me to go back and get more.  huh??  his best friend's daughter is 12.  apparently she is the world's biggest Bieber fan (aren't they all?).  so i went back and picked out two bottle for her.  i do remember her mentioning she liked purple, so i decided two purple glittery polishes should do  i hope she likes them.  even if she already has them (being the world's biggest Bieber fan already).  and i stopped in at the beauty supply store next door and grabbed some OPI.

from left to right: Justin Bieber's Step 2 the Beat of my Heart and One Less Lonely Glitter.  OPI: Meet Me on the Star Ferry, Senorita Rose-alita and from Katy Perry's collection The One That Got Away:

i am most seriously tempted to remove the polish i applied yesterday to put on some Senorita Rose-alita... it has this awesome golden sheen that i just can't capture with the camer in the lighting i have available at this time of day.

here's what i'm wearing right now:

Joe Fresh in Orchid and Persian Blue.  Seche Clear base coat and Seche Vite top coat.

after looking at the photos i see that the Orchid could have used a third coat.  it really doesn't show up in real life, but through the lens of the camera its pretty obvious. but on the bright side, i am getting better at application... it's not as messy as it used to be!  :)

(from old blog... original date May 9 2011)

so… i found a store in a city near mine that sells discounted nailpolish and makeup. they seem to carry a lot of discontinued colours. and they had a 20% off sale yesterday. and we were going right past the mall they’re located in to visit my family for mother’s day… so how could i resist??? also… i seemed to be on a bit of sparkly kick.
here’s the low-down:

• China Glaze in Ruby Pumps and Snow Globe
• Funky Fingers in Fancy Brigade (gold), Sakura Glow (light pink with small glitter), Out of Orbit (darker pink with big glitter). i’ve never used this brand of polish. i hope it’s okay. i couldn’t resist the glitter!
• KleanColor minis in Techno High kit. Metallic Pink, Metallic Yellow, Metallic Purple, Metallic Jungle, Metallic Navy, Metallic Brown (boy they were creative with the names huh). another new brand to me. couldn’t resist the price and colours. i have no self control!
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Celeb City.
• Gosh Purple Heart. i’m a little disappointed. it’s an awesome purple green duochrome in the bottle, but not so much on the fingers.
• Claire’s Mood colour changing polishes in pink and purple. these should be fun to try out :)

and with the flash.  it sort of makes the glitter sparkle more :)

(moved from old blog... original date April 27, 2011)

told ya i was on a binge...

this is Joe Fresh in Peacock.  the dots are Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Plum Power.   Seche base and top coats.

i really need some pointers on doing neater manicures.  why do i always end up with gloopies at my cuticles?  how do you all avoid that?  what's the trick i'm missing?  anyone?  :)