Vote!

I did patriotic nails in honor of the election. I don't care who you are or what you stand for, but if you're qualified to vote in the US election today, you certainly should. Even if it's for Roseanne Barr or "none of the above". Because it's a right and a responsibility that millions of people fought and died to gain and preserve.

The base is actually an unnamed L.A. Colors color craze polish -- I had bought a set of six of them at ROSS Dress For Less for my kids to use before the Great Polish Disappearance of ought-twelve (only two remain). I don't have any good non-shimmery blues in the good stuff. It only took two coats for decent coverage. Then I used two coats of Sparkler, by Kawaii Nail Lacquer. I love this polish, I hate this polish.

On the good side: there's microglitter in red, silver, and blue. There are red, white, and blue medium squares and hexes. There is white bar glitter and silver and blue stars, all in a nice clear base.

On the not-so-awesome side: I had a heck of a time convincing any big pieces to come out, even though I had flipped the bottle between each nail and rolled it between my hands. I had to use a toothpick to tease the big stuff not to all glomp together when I did get it on the nail. While the medium and small stuff lay nicely, the stars just wouldn't, and I had to pick one off of my ring finger even after three coats of SV.

Overall, it's pretty, it's patriotic, and I love how it looks, but it's a pain in the ganeckdagazoink to make it work.

So now, since I went to all of that effort to inspire you to vote with my lovely manicure, did it work? :) I'm totally willing to take complete credit for it.

Grab Bag Goodies!

I have a terrible time checking my mail -- I mostly have bills (that I already get and pay online), junk mail, and the ubiquitous political advertising that makes me like my chosen candidates a little less and hate the other fellas with the fire of 10,000 angry suns. And I voted like two weeks ago! Thank god the election is only a week away.

So...I get the mail every two weeks at best, every month or so more often. I signed up for MyGlam (now ipsy) and I love having a reason to check my mail once a month for that. I'm trying to branch out now, and having joined the Copious brigade, I have exciting stuff coming for not much money, every so often.

Anyway, I was super excited when Love For Lacquer offered five indie polishes for $25 a week or so ago, and was lucky enough to get in. She sent the five polishes above, which I poorly photographed under fluorescent lighting in my kitchen:

• 365 Days of Color - My Little Cuppycake (it looks exactly like angel food cake batter with confetti in it. My mom used to make one every few weeks and I'd sneak bits of it while she pretended not to notice.) I'm sure it'll find a home at some point, obviously if I attempt a cupcake mani, but I bet I'll find other places to use it.
• Dandy Nails - Caught in the Crowd (looks like a clear polish with aqua small hexes and maybe silver and copper tiny glitters). It totally caught my eye immediately, and I thought it was really pretty. I already know what I'm doing with that one, and you all will see it soon!
• Kawaii Nail Lacquer - Sparkler (a super cute clear lacquer with red, white, and blue tiny glitters, bigger red, white and blue hexes, and white bar glitter). I will definitely be using it in a patriotic-themed mani sometime next summer.
• Lacquer Convention - Galinda (a milky pink base with pale blue, holographic purple and pink multi-sized glitter). I think this might look really nice as a base to a jelly sandwich.
• Lacquer Convention - Snap, Crackle, Pop! (a clear lacquer with purple hexes, white squares in large and small sizes and fine holographic purple glitter) I really love the look of this one. I think it'd look lovely over a purple base or on top of white.

So my Halloween manicure will be coming tomorrow morning, but I was so excited to show off my haul! It's all lovely and I think I'll be able to put it all to good use. And see? My polish hobby *cough*addiction*cough* has me going to the mailbox more often (it's 3 blocks away! And I'm laaazy!) so my mail-lady won't have to bend or mutilate any more political advertising to fit it in around the bills and grocery circulars. It's a win-win!