Mani(c) Mondays: breaking out of the blues...

I rushed out of the house the other day to get my hands on the cheap @ss polishes that Karen from Lovely Girlie Bits blogged about in this Chanel dupe post.

image (kindly) from Lovely Girlie Bits

I love the colours, but I when I attempted it, I had to start over 3 times, and I still managed to mess it up (grumble grumble stupid jeans that need to be undone in order to pee grumble grumble).

Breathe... 10... 9... 8... and all that....

74 Sure Azure by Essence is a lovely powdery blue that has a faint silver shimmer (that doesn't show in the nail sadly). But its a pain in the ass to work with. If you are willing to sit quietly for 2 hours before doing ANYTHING with your fingers, then you can get opacity with one medium coat. It starts "drying" (without properly drying) as soon as you put it onto the nail so you need to work quickly otherwise you pull colour off the nail and you end up with a lumpy finish and then it doesn't dry properly for ages.. Very Frustrating. But I want the look so badly....

So I painted on one thin patch layer of colour and went about my very careful business for an hour. Then I painted on another thin coat and the colour evened out. And I stupidly picked up the TV remove and mushed the polish on my index finger. QUICK QUICK, Lick other index finger and smooth polish down to reduce the damage. GRRRRRR

I did very, very little for another hour and silently cursed my kids (and their father) every time they asked me for something.

Then I covered each nail in a thin layer of the silver frost finish 58 Frozen Queen (Essence too). I admired my nails and waved my fingers around waiting for them to dry so I could take photos of the beauty on my fingertips. And I mashed my ring finger against the button of my jeans.

THUNK. THUNK. THUNK. *that was my head hitting the wall, repeatedly*

I could have just thrown in the towel and removed it to start all over... again. But I was not about to be beat. So. It had taken me a whole day to get this look right. So I decided that I would mix the look up and totally break up the blue with something brighter and more spring-like.

Enter the Dragon: Orange.

HELLO! Awesome! 

22 What Do U Think? (also Essence) is a gorgeous Orangey-peach with gold shimmer running through it. Middle finger to the sheer patchy cool colours already on my nails.

No Flash. Just artsy shadows

With Flash, its a dull day today

So this is how you do it:

2 coats of Sally Hansen Miracle cure to help with my peeling nails.

1 thin coat of Essence Sure Azure.... wait one hour
Another thin Coat of Essence Sure Azure. Wait another hour
Apply one thin coat of Essence Frozen Queen
Wave fingers gently to dry. For an hour.
Feck up ring finger. Swear under your breath for 20 minutes trying to decide that to do.
Remove ring finger polish with nail varnish remover
Apply 2 coats of Essence What Do U Think? (which dries in a blink, just in case you are wondering).

5 hours later and I am totally happy with them.

 Next time though Blue Azure will be the accent instead. I couldn't be bothered to faff with it.