All Lacquered Up

Some of you may remember back in the day I wrote this post about how I was going to dedicate my Sundays to being my "pamper mission" days.  Back then I couldn't paint my nails because I was working for a living history museum, so instead I choose to paint my toes.  Well, you could say that is is one FlyLady habit that actually stuck with me all this time, only it's grown from being a once-a-week  activity to nearly a full-blown obsession.

I noticed that right after I left the museum I started painting my finger nails on a more regular basis, simply because I could.  After awhile, I started to like it, a LOT.  I felt so put-together and girly when my nails were painted, and I felt that it showed other people that I put effort into taking care of myself.  I began to do searches online for nail polish reviews so I could stop wasting my time and money on polishes that didn't apply well/would look horrible on me.  That's when I discovered the world of Beauty-Bloggers.  Holy crap.  There are a TON of them out there, and they have sucked me into their little universe of nail polish swatches, lipstick reviews, dupe alerts, etc.  I believe one of the first beauty blogs I started to read on a regular basis was Nouveau Cheap written by a woman we simply know as "G".  She focuses mainly on drugstore products which is totally fine by me and my debit card.  It was through G that I began to try products by the classic cheap-o brand Wet 'n' Wild, a line of products that I had never used even as a poor teenager because I was under the (mistaken) impression that cheap=crap.  I was soooo wrong!  I currently use their nail polish, mascara and eye shadows, and all fall into what I call my "Holy Grail" beauty products.

Now, I know this isn't a beauty blog.  I have tinkered with the idea of starting one but have decided it would just be another project that I would put a lot of time and energy into only to fizzle out and abandon.  Plus, at this point the internet is so saturated with beauty bloggers I highly doubt I would ever make a name for myself among them.  I'm not looking to be the go-to nail polish swatch and review gal.  If someone happens to come across one of my beauty-related posts during a Google search and it helps them out, well that's all I could hope for.  So-from now on my FlyLady related posts will also have a dose of girly-makeup stuff sprinkled in.  If you don't like it, I'm sure there is an unsubscribe button around here somewhere... (I'm just kidding, please don't leave me!)

I figure I will start things off by showing you whatever nail polish I am wearing when the mood strikes me.  Today is Wet 'n' Wild MegaLast "I Need a Refresh-Mint":

Despite "mint" being in the name, this color leans very blue.  Tiffany-blue to be exact.  It is one of several polishes that came out in the last few years that tried to mimic the signature Tiffany & Co. robin's egg/teal shade of blue that they are known for.  I have to say, WnW did I really great job with this one, and it only costs $1.99! You may also notice that it almost matches my blog's background color.  When I designed this blog, I tried to pick a color that was Tiffany-blueish.

I do feel the need to mention that the formula of this polish was a bit hard to work with for me- it didn't seem to want to apply evenly and would start what is known as "balding" when I began to add my second coat.  I ended up changing the brush for a smaller one from an old SinfulColors polish I didn't like, and the smaller brush helped a tiny bit with my control of the product.  I also added a little bit of nail polish thinner (not nail polish REMOVER, don't do that!) since my bottle was a little thick.

Despite my efforts, I still don't find it the easiest polish to work with, so I don't wear it that often.  I pulled it out 2 nights ago assuming I was going to struggle all over again, but for some reason the nail polish gods were smiling down on me and it ended up being one of the best polish-jobs I have ever done, in any color!  The photo was taken after 48 hours of wear.

Manicure ingredients:

1 coat CND Stickey Base Coat

3 coats Wet 'n'Wild "I Need a Refresh-Mint"

1 coat Sally Hansen Insta-Dri No Chip Top Coat.  (Don't even get me started on chipped nails.  I'll save that rant for another day.)

Oh, and since I used my iPhone to take the photo, I figured I'd also include a photo from a REAL beauty blogger and not a hack-job like me:

                                    Source: polishetcetera.blogspot.com via Chandra on Pinterest

OK, time to go, the Tall Cute Guy is going to be here soon!