Harry Potter release party nail art!!!

OH MY GOSH, YOU GUYS, THERE IS A NEW HARRY POTTER BOOK COMING OUT TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!

Okay, it's the script to a play, not a true novel like the rest of them, but IT'S HARRY POTTER AND IT'S WRITTEN BY JK ROWLING SO IT'S CANON SO AHH I'VE BEEN PEEING MY PANTS LIKE ALL WEEK.

My favorite local bookstore is having a midnight release party for which I am SUPER pumped.  I haven't missed a Potter midnight release since the fifth book came out (book #4 had a morning-of release party, a bit more kid-friendly).  There's going to be a costume contest and, thanks to the inspiration of my friend Joanna, I'll be dressing as a wizard masquerading as a muggle.  Or, I guess, a no-maj since we're in America.  But anyway I have a super silly outfit planned, parts of which came from the thrift store, and I decided to do my nails to not-really-match.

You've seen all of these polishes on the blog before: they're the Houses and Horcruxes and We'll Take the Lot collections by Twisted Colors (who has tragically stopped selling polish).  I debated only using the Houses and Horcruxes collection since they're more recognizably Harry Potter themed, but decided to use all 8 of my Potter polishes because how could I leave the others out? <3

Since these have all been featured on the blog before, I won't go into detail about their names or their coverage.  Follow the links above for more details on each specific polish!

I actually kinda messed up the order on my left hand!  I meant to paint them on in the order of which House I most relate to: Ravenclaw (that's where I've been sorted on Pottermore), Hufflepuff (where I always kinda felt I'd end up when I was a kid), Gryffindor, Slytherin.  But I accidentally reached for The Sword before The Cup so there we go.

On my thumbs, I painted Deathly Hallows symbols over white with Fairy Dust because holo sparkles = magic.

This part of the manicure totally doesn't show up on camera, but I used a scented top coat by Dream Polish so that my nails could smell MAGICAL!  One Good Jump on my right pointer finger is chocolate scented, so that is also magical and just makes me smell delicious as I sit around.

It's super fitting that this midnight release is happening so close to my blogiversary, because I got to look back at my old photos and sort of see how far I've come.  I first swatched them all in my first year of blogging, and while the photos look fine, it's nice to have a redo with my new lighting setup and macro lens.  So I'm going to force extra photos down your throat, including some of the old ones.

This is, to this day, one of my favorite nail polish photos I've ever taken.  And it was only in my fifth-ever post!  I just love the depth of field on it, and the way I have my fingers positioned against the bottle.  This was long before I had a soft box for my lighting, so the glare is super harsh.  I don't even think I was wrapping a white pillow case around my LED lamp at this point! :D

Back in the day, my idea of a macro shot was to take a picture with the best focus possible and crop it tightly to one nail.  It technically worked, but it certainly doesn't capture the depth of a polish the way an actual macro lens does!

Oh yes, it's time for a storm of macros.  Here we go...

My macro lens isn't perfect - it is so very macro that I have to hold it about 1-2 cm away from my nail, and its depth of field is so narrow that I often struggle to get a good plane of focus on my very curvy nails.  Still, it clips on to my cell phone's camera and it only cost like $15 on Amazon, so it's pretty decent.  And it definitely has more of a true macro look than simply cropping a regular photo!

The silver glitters in The Locket are holographic, which you can especially see when you look at the ones in the bottle.  LOL I CALLED THEM "SHINY" IN MY ORIGINAL POST DID I NOT EVEN KNOW THE WORD "HOLO" YET?

 

That "perfectly stacked 90 degree angle" hand pose was so uncomfortable for me.  I almost feel like you can see the discomfort in the photos.  My current slanted hand pose is so much more relaxed and natural-looking for me.  Back then, I was trying to emulate some other bloggers' poses, but eventually I learned that I had to find what was comfortable for me, because when a hand pose feels better, it looks better.  And, doesn't my watermark look so much better wrapped around my middle finger's cuticle than crammed randomly between whichever two nails?

Well, that's enough reminiscing for now.  I may or may not do some more looking back and re-creations over the next week or two, who knows?  In the meantime, be sure to enter my blogiversary giveaway first thing on Monday!  And please, no calls on Sunday.  I'll be reading some new Harry Potter content all day <3

Creative Cuticles Nail Polish: Christmas polishes

Have you ever felt that sometimes, the best gifts are ones that you've picked out?  Plenty of times the surprise of something unexpected is awesome, but there are also times when you want three specific nail polishes and really nothing else.

That's how my Christmas went this year.  I even went so far as to order the polishes myself, because I wanted to choose the gift wrapping that Creative Cuticles Nail Polish was offering around Christmas.  (For the record, Derek was super happy with this.  He insists that he's bad at choosing out gifts and reminded me of the one time he did, how badly wrapped it was.  So I took the guesswork and the manual labor out for him!)

The names of these polishes may be out of season, but I think the colors are just dandy for any time of year!

One quick note before I get to the swatches: I recently got a new phone, and discovered that the camera in it is pretty much as good as my bulky old camera.  All of the pictures in this post were taken on my phone.  I want your advice!  Do you think the picture quality here is any better or worse than my previous photos?  Do you like them better with or without flash?  Please let me know in the comments!

Who Wants Eggnog?

Let me just say how hard it was to not drink this nail polish.  That's how much this looks like eggnog!  It's so convincing that I even swore I could smell eggnog for a few seconds.

Who Wants Eggnog is a cream-colored creme polish leaning slightly towards crelly, with some brassy beige-toned glitters representing flakes of nutmeg.  Two coats yields solid coverage, and I actually stayed with two this time!  I felt that three coats would have too much glitter to look as perfectly like eggnog - or at least the way I drink it.  If you like tons of nutmeg in your nog, then three coats might look better to you! :)

Application was perfectly wonderful.  The formula is really easy to work with, not too thick or thin, and the glitters apply easily.  I had to dab just a tiny bit because I was being picky about the placement of the glitters, but they won't wipe completely off the nail if you swipe it on.

  

Please Have Snow and Mistletoe

Please Have Snow and Mistletoe is a super fun glitter topper.  It's festive, but I don't think it's super Christmasy; I'd totally wear this any time I'm celebrating, no matter the occasion or time of year!

From pointer to pinkie, I have one to four coats over bare nails.  I think I would like this best using two coats over a fun creme or metallic polish, but it does still look great loaded onto bare nails!  The base is ever-so-slightly green tinted, but you can't really see it until you build up to three or more coats.  (My nails are embarrassingly yellowed at the tips.  Please excuse this atrocity and don't confuse my discoloration for an odd base color in the polish!)

Application of Snow and Mistletoe was pretty standard for a glitter topper: a bit of dabbing was required, but since the glitters are all relatively the same size, it wasn't too frustrating.  I generally have to do a lot more dabbing when there are glitters of many sizes, especially for the bigger glitters.

Macro at three coats.

Ugly Christmas Jumper

This one caught my eye because it's inspired by Molly Weasley's Christmas sweaters that she always knits in the Harry Potter series.  How could I not want this polish?

Ugly Christmas Jumper is pretty festive, but again, I don't think it's 100% Christmasy!  The base is slightly tinted yellow, but you can't really tell until you build up to three or more coats.  (This time, I have one to four coats from my pinky to pointer.)  Again, my nails are super yellow starting about halfway up, so the polish looks way more yellow than it actually is.  Does anybody know how to prevent yellowing nails from constant polish use? :(

Application on this one was a little bit tricky.  Since most of the glitters are so big, I had to do a lot of dabbing.  And, while there are plenty of the red hearts in the bottle, I just could not get them onto the brush, let alone onto my nails!  It took me a few minutes just to fish out the one that I got on my pointer finger.  Like Snow and Mistletoe, I would personally like this best with two coats over a creme or metallic.

Macro at three coats.

Which one of these is your favorite?  And do you think the new camera quality stands up to my old one?  Please let me know in the comments!

P.S. I just have to say how much I adore CCNP's label.  Penguins are my favorite animal and these little guys are so precious!!

Twisted Colors: We'll Take The Lot Collection!

If you've been following my Facebook page, you'll know how absolutely excited I've been for this collection to be released.  My first purchase from Twisted Colors, Houses and Horcruxes, was inspired by the Houses of Harry Potter.  We'll Take The Lot is inspired by the candies of Harry Potter, and they are all absolutely fantastic!  There's not much else I can say about this collection aside from reviews, so let's just get right to it!

Twisted Colors: P.S. I Enjoy Acid Pops

Acid Pops has actually already been featured in my blog.  I got this collection about two weeks ago, having ordered it about 5 minutes after the collection was released, so I used this awesome neon green as a background for the ghosts on my left hand on the first day of the LPLGlamghouls challenge.

In the Potter universe, acid pops are something of a novelty candy.  They actually have acid in them which can burn a hole through the tongue!  Which brings us to the neon lime-y green of this polish.  I love it!  A holo polish in a green crelly base, with some medium-sized square glitters, PS I Enjoy Acid Pops is super fun.  (There's no acid in this polish - your nails are safe!)  Application is very easy and smooth, and two coats makes for perfect coverage.

The name of this polish comes from the sixth Harry Potter book, when Professor Dumbledore invites Harry to his office via a note.  The phrase is to let Harry know what the password is - for Harry learned early on that Dumbledore's password is often a type of candy.

I heart macros.

Twisted Colors: Alas, Earwax

Alas, Earwax is inspired by Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans - the jelly beans of the wizarding world.  As Ron Weasley tells Harry in the very first book, there are normal flavors like chocolate and coconut, but you also get flavors like liver, grass, and tripe ("George even reckons he ate a bogey-flavored one once!").  In the first book, Dumbledore tells Harry about how he was turned off to the beans when he ate a vomit flavored bean in his youth.  He decides to take one from Harry's bag and - "Alas, earwax!"

Alas, Earwax is an INCREDIBLE glitter bomb.  It's definitely the most dense glitterbomb I've ever owned!  The glitters come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors and are in a clear base.  I have three coats on my nails here.  It's actually a little bit too much for my taste - I think I would prefer one or two coats on top of a creme polish.  (Bet you didn't think that was possible for me!)  I wanted to use a creme base for these swatches, but I couldn't decide on a color!  I'm sure this would look great on top of any color.

Application is fairly tricky, which makes sense based on how dense the glitter is.  Rather than swipe the brush over my nail, I had to dab it on.  I'd place a big drop on the base of my nail, and then sort of dab the brush all around my nail in order to get good coverage.  I highly recommend a peel-off base coat if you use this polish, even if you only use one coat of it.  

RAWR SO MUCH GLITTER!!!!

Twisted Colors: One Good Jump

One Good Jump is inspired by Chocolate Frogs - or, more specifically, their packaging as seen in the movies.  Chocolate frogs are frog-shaped chocolates that have a charm placed on them which actually makes them able to jump around.

Another glitter bomb, this polish has a blue jelly base to match the main color in the candy's packaging.  The glitter colors all come from the packaging - and the chocolate itself!  What else is inspired by the candy?  The polish's smell! That's right, One Good Jump is available with a chocolate scent!  I think this is my first scented polish since I was a little kid.  Surprisingly, the scent doesn't get covered up by a top coat.  I assumed it would, but nope, you can still smell the chocolate even with a normal top coat.

Application of One Good Jump is easier than Alas, Earwax, but it still doesn't spread on as smoothly as Acid Pops or the Houses and Horcruxes collection.  I used sort of a dab-spread motion to get this polish on.  Two coats looks pretty good, but the shade of the jelly and the density of the glitter, as always, look best with three coats.

One awesome thing about this one and Alas, Earwax is that if you smudge your nail when it's still a little bit wet, there's so much glitter going on that you an hardly tell!  I smooshed at least one nail on each hand before I took the pictures for both of these, and I don't see any of that in the photos.  Hooray!

Twisted Colors: Never Loses Its Flavour

Drooble's Best Blowing Gum is the inspiration behind this polish.  It's a bubble gum that lets you blow bubbles that last for days, as well as never losing its flavor - thus the name of the polish.

It is an absolutely beautiful polish!  With an icy-periwinkle blue base and a few different sized glitters, the main feature of Never Loses Its Flavour is the holo glitter.  It is absurdly holographic, and I can't get enough of it!

Application is pretty smooth, though if you want a lot of the larger circle glitters it's a little bit trickier.  But if you're okay with less of the circles, it's very easy to spread on.  The holos are so dense - denser than any of the other holo polishes I own!

Just out of focus enough to see how awesomely holographic it is!

 

I'm super, super happy with this collection.  I love them all, but if I absolutely HAD to pick a favorite, I think I'd go with Never Loses Its Flavour.  Which one is your favorite?  Are any of them totally not your style?  Let me know in the comments!

Laidback Polish Lovers October Nail Art Challenge Day 1: Ghosts!

Recently, while browsing the nail polish community on reddit, I came across a nail art challenge for the month of October.  I've never taken part in a nail art challenge before, largely because painting my nails every day for a month sounds exhausting!  But this one is a "laid back" challenge, with 3 days between manicures, so I decided to give it a go!  Here's the original image detailing the challenge:

I just want to note how awesome it is that #10 is Frankenstein's Monster, not just Frankenstein.  That's

a pet peeve of mine!

Apparently Laidback Polish Lovers is a Facebook group, but unfortunately I can't find it, not even through Google.  If any of my readers know how I can find this group, please let me know!

Anyway, as today is October 1, here's my ghost nail art!

 

I decided to mix it up a bit, and not do only white ghosts on top of black.  The green you see on my left hand is Twisted Colors' "P.S. I Enjoy Acid Pops," a color from the We'll Take The Lot collection that I've been waiting for!  My order of the whole collection came in today, and I decided to use it as a background for some of my ghosties.  (You'll see the color swatched with the rest of the collection in the next week or so!)

 

I used a lot of different nail art tutorials as inspiration for my ghost shapes - including ones by Naileditnz, SaraBeautyCorner, and BeautifulYouTV.  The white I used is China Glaze "White on White."

 

The face on my middle finger is based off of Ghostface from Scream!  I like these multicolored little guys.  I think they kinda turned out like the ghosts in PacMan!  My black polish is Nina Ultra Pro "Black."  From left to right, the ghost colors are Sephora "Pink Bikini," ORLY "Saturated," Sephora "Caipi Freeze," and ORLY "Ablaze."  (The Sephora colors are part of a mini collection, called "Paint Rio in Neon.")

 

Here's a closeup of my thumbs, since you can hardly see them in the picture of both hands.  The one on my right hand is actually 3D - I used Scribbles 3D fabric paint to draw on the face, then painted over it.  I think it really makes the ghost face pop!  And I like the little guy on my left thumb - I think he looks like he's singing. :)

I had a ton of fun with this manicure and I'm super stoked to paint the rest of the challenges!  If you choose to partake, even in just one of the challenges, be sure to include the hashtag #LPLGlamghouls in your social media posts!  Which design are you most excited for?  Let me know in the comments!

Twisted Colors: Houses and Horcruxes

Any of my readers who know me personally know how much I love Harry Potter.  Readers who don't know me personally shouldn't be surprised; it's hard to find a person in the Millennial Generation who doesn't totally love the books and/or the movies.  The series pretty much shapes and defines our generation.  I could go on and on about the books, buuuut that's not exactly the point of this blog, is it?

No, the point of this blog is nail polish.  So, how does one relate Harry Potter to nail polish?  By creating a series of nail polishes inspired by things relating to the series, of course!  And that's exactly what indie nail polish maker Twisted Colors has done!  Here is a link to the Houses and Horcruxes collection.

Twisted Colors is my very first indie polish, and so far it's my only.  I plan on buying her next Potter-themed collection, which is inspired by the candies of Harry Potter, the moment she releases it.  She's posted two sneak-peaks on her Facebook page, and they look absolutely gorgeous!  They're both glitter bombs, and I expect that the other two will be as well.

One more thing, and then I'll get to the swatches.  I have a hell of a time removing glitter polishes.  It's probably the reason I didn't start my blog out by swatching this collection!  So for this, I decided to try out a DYI peel-off basecoat.  (here's the tutorial I used, but there are tons more out there!)  OPI makes a peel-off basecoat, but I wanted to be thrifty and try making my own.  Luckily I had a topcoat that I absolutely hated due to its inability to dry, so I used that bottle rather than dump out a color I even sort of liked.  Normally, peeling off nail polish is terrible for your nails, but remember smearing glue all over your hand in elementary school, and then peeling it off after it dried?  That's basically the idea behind a glue basecoat!  It peels safely off of your nails, without ripping up layers of your nail!

To save time, application is a teeny bit tricky for this entire collection.  The brushes are just a little too wide, at least for the shape of my nails.  You know how if you've been painting for a long time without washing your paint brush, it ends up super saturated and it globs on too much paint no matter how much you try to wipe off on the edge of your paint can ?  That's sort of the feeling I get from these brushes.  It's not the worst thing in the world, because at least the nail polish formula isn't thick and globby.  So it spreads well, but you just have to be careful with the brush.  The glitters don't cling to the brush too much, nor do they glob up on the nail.  

Anyway, enough rambling.  Let's get to swatching!

Twisted Colors "The Sword"

The Sword, inspired by the sword and the House of Godric Gryffindor, is a red sheer (is it quite a jelly?  I'm not sure) polish with large gold glitters.  It. is. GORGEOUS.

Three coats for this one.  You could get away with two, and you could build up to four, but I wasn't quite satisfied with two and I didn't think four were quite necessary for me.  The red is the most sheer out of any in this collection - I almost wish they were all this sheer!

Twisted Colors "The Diadem"

The Diadem, inspired by Rowena Ravenclaw's House and Diadem, is a blue creme with a few  different bronze glitters.  (Twisted Colors also offers a version of The Diadem with silver glitters, to match the movies.  For some reason, Warner Brothers decided to swap Ravenclaw's bronze for silver.  I really adore Twisted Colors for offering both versions!)

I did three coats on this one.  Two is perfectly opaque, but as usual, I wanted to get more depth with the layering.

Twisted Colors "The Cup"

The cup, inspired by Helga Hufflepuff's House and Cup, is a yellow creme with many different types of black glitter and some sort-of-subtle sparkly glitters.  I was actually kind of unimpressed by The Cup when I saw it online - mostly because those long, thin bar glitters looked weird to me - but I ended up liking it a lot better on my own nails than in the online photos!

The Cup is a bit harder to apply than the other polishes in this collection.  The glitters tended to fall off the brush when I wiped off excess drips of polish into the bottle.  Or, if they didn't, they would stick to the brush.  It was a little difficult to get a nice distribution of the glitters, but not impossible or even all that frustrating - it just required a little bit more concentration while applying.

You can see lots of air bubbles in this color - that's because of how hard I had to shake the bottle almost between each nail.  The glitters settled more quickly than the other polishes, and since I needed so many extra pieces of glitter on every brush stroke, I had to shake it up a lot. 

Three coats to get the best coverage of glitter; two coats is enough to make it opaque.

Twisted Colors "The Locket" 

 The Locket, inspired by Salazar Slytherin's House and Locket, is a green creme with many shiny silver glitters, and a few black ones.

I have no complaints about this one; the application was as easy as you can get with glitters of this size.  It did photograph a liiiiiittle bit yellower than it is in real life, but all in all this whole collection photographed really well!  

Three coats.  Again, two coats is good and opaque, but three is more fun!

DIY Peel-off Basecoat results

After wearing these polishes over my peel-off basecoats for a few days, they began to chip - even on nails that I remembered to wrap the tips.  This is normally tragic, but in this case it's actually a good sign: chipping polish means it's not adhered to the nail, which is a good thing when your goal is to peel the polish off!  I actually had an entire nail break off in one piece while I was helping my boyfriend's brother move.  

I didn't have my good camera with me - sorry for the cell phone quality!

I found that it was easiest to peel the polish off if my hands were recently soaked in warm water - after a shower or while giving myself a nice, relaxing foot soak.  My nails were totally fine and not super damaged after peeling the polish off!  The yellow of The Cup did stain my nails a little bit, though.  I guess two layers of watered-down glue form less of a protective coat than my usual 3-4 layers of base coats.  The staining isn't too bad, though, so I'll definitely be using my glue basecoat for all glitter polishes and manis from here on out!