Beauty

[lulu1]

@SurferWife 

Beautiful manicure.  Thanks for sharing.

[lulu1]

I was bored today and needed a manicure. I decided to cut my natural nails and try Static nails.  I'd purchased them a long time ago and had forgotten about them.  They were extremely easy to use and I must say look great.  It took longer to do my cuticles than it did to apply the nails. 

I used round, Breakfast with Audrey.  They are a bit bluer than this (stock) picture shows.

[gacat123]

@lulu1  

Thanks for posting  * Breakfast With Audrey *  Beautiful!  

I have a similar Tiffany Blue color polish I may try after seeing yours.   

Today I did a DIY manicure.  The polish I used is Sally Hansen #180 Debut-Tint.

It is a shimmery sheer candlelight gold and one of my favorites.    

Keep Calm, Wash Your Hands and Polish On, 

CAT

[gacat123]

ESSIE GEL TOPCOAT ?? 

I have some in my shoe box stash that I have never used. 

I may try it this weekend.   Anyone familiar with this product? 

Happy with my DIY manicure.  I usually put on a topcoat a day after the polish.  

Keep Calm and Polish On, 

CAT

[lulu1]

@gacat123 

Sorry I cannot help you with the Essie top coat but I have used CND gel top coat but only with their gel polishes. Truthfully I noticed no differences between these and regular polish and top coat.

Based on recommendations from @Shelbelle , I ordered Poshe top coat and have been using it for awhile now.  It's inexpensive on eBay, and dries very quickly.

I always enjoy your posts.

[gacat123]

@lulu1   

So...  I decided to put a coat of  Nailtiques 2 Plus over polish as a top coat.   

Dries fast and the DIY manicure still looks like new.  ( Sally Hansen #180 Debut-Tint ). 

Thank you for the kind post compliment  <G>

Keep Calm and Polish On, 

CAT

[juperier3]

@gacat123  My understanding is that the "gel-like" top coats (don't require use of a lamp) are similar to regular top coats, with additional ingredients. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they fell into a couple of categories...those that worked by themselves and those that reacted with ingredients in the polishes from that brand, but I could be remembering wrong...  Learning a bit more about the ingredients typically used in gel polishes is on my list of things I want to do at some point.

Right now I'm so far behind watching youtube videos. There are hours and hours of them that I want to watch. I haven't been posting in here because I keep thinking I'll get out the DSLR I bought a few months ago and learn how to use it. Then I get sidetracked doing other things. I don't really have an area where I can just leave it set up and I just keep putting off getting it on my tripod and pointed at some half way decent background. I have lots of polishes that I can take pictures of!

I just received my order from the second Zoya 70% off sale. No actual polishes in either order. I picked up another Gelie-Cure set (this time with the mini lamp). 70% off is just too good a deal. I'm still getting the technique for the Gelie-Cure down. It does seem to protect from peeling when I manage to get all the layers right. Hopefull I can get the nails that love to peel to stop long enough to grow out. One major reason I decided to give it a try is that I'm finally at the point where I can apply polish without getting it on my skin. That's particularly important with gel polish to minimize the risk of developing an allergy. (Definitely to be avoided because the same, or similar, ingredients are used in medical/dental procedures.) Even tho some of their promotion seems a bit sketchy/incomplete to me, I do feel comfortable that their lamps and Geli-Cure are properly matched.

I also picked up an additional large bottle of Remove+ and a small plus a refill size of their quick dry drops. An a large cuticle oil. I think that's all, but I haven't actually opened the box yet.

This month's Polish Pickup polishes should be here tomorrow. I'm headed off to make the labels for the swatch sticks.

[juperier3]

@lulu1  Those are really a pretty color! I've never been brave enough to glue on nails. Back in the 80's I did wear some of the ones you could stick on with little sticky tapes. All I remember is that 1) the heat in Las Vegas would make them slide around on my nail if I wasn't careful, and 2) I couldn't DO anything without bumping them. These weren't even long or pointly, just wasn't used to anything extending past the tips of my fingers.

[lulu1]

@juperier3 

I remember those press on nails.  They came off that the most inopportune times.

My static nails are still holding firm.  I did polish over the original polish. (the polish is removed easily to restore the original color)  I am now "sporting" Deborrah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream

[SANNA]

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@lulu1 wrote:

@juperier3 

I remember those press on nails.  They came off that the most inopportune times.

My static nails are still holding firm.  I did polish over the original polish. (the polish is removed easily to restore the original color)  I am now "sporting" Deborrah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream

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Very nice, Lulu, my nails are horrendous -  3 weeks without manicure..... I need to sit down and paint my nails, make myself presentable !