Wet n Wild - Gray's Anatomy

I have to be honest. Gray's Anatomy didn't speak to me at first. I saw swatches on a few other blogs and read about how it is a supposed dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Wicked Game. While I really love the look of a lot of Lippmann polishes, Wicked Game never thrilled me and in turn I was quite meh about Gray's Anatomy. Then I saw it in person...



These photos show two coats (no base/top coat) in natural light. It really could have benefited from one or two more coats, but I kind of liked it a bit sheer. I plan on trying Gray's Anatomy as a layering polish at some point.



Sometimes this polish is a silvery grey, sometimes it's green, sometimes purple, and sometimes all three. And the way it looks in the bottle really makes me want to try a few more coats and see what full opacity will bring to the table.



Gorgeous.

Tipped nubbins? Why not!

This was my first time attempting colored tips. I know these sort of manis are usually done on longer nails, but I think it came out pretty cute so I thought I'd share it. Since it has been dark for hours now and my light box is shut in a room with a sleeping baby, the lighting for these pictures isn't the best. Sorry!





What do you think? Are colored tips best left for longer nails?

My first attempt at nail art!

I have never done nail art in my life. Ever. I thought it might be fun to try, so I did. I suppose I did an alright job. I used a regular thin paint brush for the snowflake. This is also my first time doing an accent nail.

Black: Wet N Wild 424A
Silver: L.A. Colors Live



My cuticles are still disgusting and the light box is still being tweaked. All of my nails could really use a good filing but they're too short to try right now.







The black works in ONE COAT (but I used two for photos and applied the second way too thick). This polish was recommended to me and I'm so glad I picked it up. The silver is a really pretty silver foil which would probably work well for stamping, but it gets a lot of bald spots when used in a normal fashion and requires a lot of coats because of it.

I know I apologize for bad photos a lot lately, but the lighting inconsistencies in these...ugh. I could probably fix a lot of them if I had/knew how to use Photo Shop, but I don't (to both). I have a crappy photo editing program that doesn't do a whole lot of anything besides resizing. I drew a weird dark line around a finger in one of these because the lights blew the photo out all weird, but that's as fancy as I get. It's pretty pathetic, since I used to be a professional photographer. I really need a better camera and a better photo editing program. Maybe from Santa?

Sally Hansen - Black Pearl (Chrome)

Natural light. Two coats with no top coat.

Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup in Black Pearl is slightly darker than silver and definitely not chrome. This polish applies a bit streaky and dries pretty quickly. It smells strongly of chemicals and death. It might work for stamping, but it's not anything I'd ever use for a full manicure.


Natural light.

Black Pearl is not even a little reflective and has very little shine. There was obvious shrinkage minutes after I applied, and it started chipping within a half hour. Huge disappointment.