Nail depression

Ouch. That nail staining incident has done very bad things for my nail enthusiasm. There is a natural explanation to that. I really like bright colors in my nails - but they don't go with everything. When my nails are in good shape I have always the option just to remove the polish if my bright manicure is too much.

With stained nails I feel that I need some sort of cover all time - plus I have abandoned my plans to grow the nails a bit, I'm keeping them almost tipless to get rid of the yellow as soon as possible.

I'm not good with superfast manicures, I always end up with a mess when I do my manicure in a haste. So I have end up using super safe color options that go with almost everything: black, gray, opaque neutrals. Both of my Manglaze polishes have been in constant use, I really like them in everyday use.

The stains are now halfway of my nails and I have slowly started to browse through the autumn shades.

Half moon mani attempt with Opi Time-Less is More and Color Club Fast Woman

The half moon manis have been bubbling around - at least in burlesque circles. Dita von Teese has been sporting the style quite a lot.

And lately the half moon circles have been seen in the runway, too: in Dior, Thakoon, Ruffian...

The manicure definitely has the retro vibe in it. The origins of this style are on 30's and 40's. Personally I remember seeing it first long time ago on Imelda Marcos in some magazine. Images of Imelda, her perfect manicure and several thousand pairs of shoes was contrasted to strong photography from Manila protests for 1986 election...

As you can see, my first half moon attempt was not an immediate success, but I definitely learned something in the process.


I started with two coats of Opi Time-Less is More, this is nice cool but soft shade of white. The two coats i used here were perhaps bit too sheer for this purpose. The red polish is Color Club Fast Woman, a rich deep cool red. For some reason this polish is really hard to photograph, it easily looks brown based.

On the pinky I tried freehand application - a total disaster, I did not even bother to clean up the mess. On ringfinger I tried a paper guide - it bled. On middle and forefinger I went back to freehand method, but this time I rolled the finger I was painting instead of trying to achieve the shape with brush stroke. This provided quite decent results.

For line painting it is essential that there is not too much polish in the brush. But after creating the arch shape you need quite a thick coat of color to disquise the stroke painted to vertical direction. Add the top color immediately after the stroke so that the vertical stroke still blends to the color area. A thick coat can be easily applied close to the color border, the vertical stroke will act as a light barrier for bleeds if you are careful. The blending is not perfect in the previous image, but I made another round with better success. I'm sure that practise will help with this.

And few random thoughts and ideas about this kind of mani. For top colour I would pick shades that are decent looking with just one thick coat - the half moon circle will not get prettier with several applications of top color. The classic way is to use pale base and strong contrasting top color, but I quess that inverting the colours could be nice effect. I can easily see the half moon mani done with more subdued shades - or bright contrasting ones - and different textures could be utilized as long as the base shade leaves a surface smooth enough to work with - a rough glitter base might not be the best idea. I would not try to paint the moon over the main color, but with steady hand and small decoration brush even that could be possible.

Glamour magazine has a clever trick for half moon manis, the editor uses the paper hole reinforcement stickers as guides for the half moon. I certainly will try this, although I think that the guides usually create a little too harsh edge between the colors. Plus one has to wait the base color to be completely dry before applying the stickers, otherwise the stickers will ruin the base.

I guess that the best results could be achieved by shaping the arch with small, sharp brush and remover afterwards leaving the half moon area bare (that's the classic way to go) - but of course then I could not use two polish colors for this. And I quite enjoy the strong contrast that the white base creates... Maybe I just purchase a separate precision brush, perhaps a small slanted one for painting the first line with dark polish? Or maybe a thin one with long and flexible bristles would be even better? That kind of extra brush might also help with french tips and cuticle cleaning... ...perhaps I should take a closer look to my artists brush collection!

Color philosophy

I see painted nails as an accessory, not necessarily as a touch up or make-up. For that "me, just better"-look I think that well maintained, natural nails do a pretty good job for me. That shiny surface of traditional nail polish always exceeds the boundaries of "natural" somehow. For that reason so called "natural" manicures make me just feel a bit funny, like planting plastic trees to my backyard. Yes, they can look quite natural, from a distance!

So when I color my nails I usually opt to bright, funky colors. I try to complement my outfits and general look with nail polish, and there are much more factors than color of my lipstick that affect to my color choice. There is no official flow chart for color selection for me, but I've noticed some rules of thumb that I tend to use - most of the time.

I combine bright and loud nails with quite natural and light makeup, or light makeup with just one heavy accent. There are two reasons for this - manicure time uses up a big chunk of my maintenance time, so there is usually no time for anything too complicated after that. And I try to avoid "too done" look on me, whatever that means.

I like to contrast my nails to my outfits, somehow. Orange or pink brighten up often my gray or black outfits. If I wear soft colors it is nice to have something shiny and and loud on my nails. When I wear jewel tones I opt for bare nails - or in some occasions bright contrasting colors. Black, charcoal and almost black nails are my safe choice, those I can coordinate to many outfits and looks.

From varnish finishes I go often for opaque cremes, jellies layered to opaqueness, shimmers and some times foiled metal finishes. I hate to remove glitter polishes, plus I think that they are extremely difficult to coordinate to my outfits in satisfying ways, so I don't have too many of those in my stash. Duochromes are not my favorites, either (although there are exceptions in this category) - and holographic polishes are far out from my comfort zone. But matte look is just so totally me, especially in those safe black and gray! My general appearance is 101% feminine and I really like the nice contrast that matte nail look creates to all that excessive femininity...

I don't fancy to purchase whole seasonal collections at all. Of course sometimes there are colors that I especially wait and want, but usually I like to see some real life swatches on several nail types and make my decisions after that. Or I hunt for color with specific mood and don't care if it's new or old, collection or basic selection, popular or rarity. I want to keep my stash size very reasonable, so I tend to recycle my unsuccessful purchases and occasional shade duplicates. So you don't probably see too many news in this blog, but I hope that these images help someone else with those difficult choices and decisions to make.

Nail art is not my thing - too time consuming and too little impact for the time invested. That does not prevent me to admire a well made and exceptional ones on other people's nails. Well, I might do an occasional French manicure with a twist, or I could try a half moon mani with brights, but those really don't count.

Nail care philosophy

I'm pretty low maintenance gal, after all. So my nail care ritual is quite stripped to basics, but it works well for me. My nails are on thin side, but they are very bendy and don't really crack or peel easily. Nail surface is extremely smooth with natural shine and weirdly they resist staining naturally. They also grow pretty fast, but there is some natural fluctuation in the growth speed. I like to keep my nail short or medium length (under 5 mm tips), my nail beds are quite long and shortish nails just feel comfortable and easy.

My skin and cuticles are on dry side, so that needs a special attention. Otherwise my cuticles are quite carefree, they are small and easy to keep detached from the nail. I usually push them lightly after showering with fingers and that's enough. Those cuticle sticks give me creeps... My right hand thumbnail grows sometimes little bumpy, but I guess that it's pretty much my only regular nail problem. If I tear my nail it tends to break just under the tip and from side, the tear is usually very short. So it is very probably possible to repair it with glue.

Here's few things that work for me.

Natural oils. I have noticed recently that natural oils penetrate the cuticles extremely well and improve their condition significantly. Oil is not the most practical hand cream, but I keep a bottle in the living room and massage my fingers and nails with oil while watching TV and remove the excess with tissue if needed. My favorites are almond and coconut oil (very penetrating and well absorbing) and vitamin rich avocado and pomegranate seed oils.

Cuticle oil I have used cuticle oil for a long time - and this oil massaging therapy has not replaced it. I use it mainly when polishing the nails. I protect the cuticle and nail surroundings with oil - it eases the stain removal process and moisturizes at the same time. I'm not faithful to any brand, pretty much everything with application brush works. Right now I have LCN Nail Therapy Nail Builder from the Spa series (for some reason I can't find the exactly same product there) - I like the generous bottle and lovely light scent of this oil.

Clippers I don't know if I'm lazy or crazy, but I think that clippers work beautifully for my nails when they need shortening. Clippers don't promote peeling and give a very smooth edge. I use nail file only to fine tune the nail shape and smooth down occasional damages from the nail edge.

Nutrition. My eating habits are not the best - but at least I do eat a good variety of non processed home made food, fresh vegetables and fruit, enough protein and variety of fats. I don't eat frozen meals and my fast food intake is minimal. Fortunately my vices: full fat non-pasteurized cheese and chocolate actually seem to promote nail health... ...don't know about the red wine and beer :-D.


Things that don't work for me

Buffing - my smooth nails don't need it and I don't really get why to thin out the top layer of the nail. I use the buffer very sparingly, usually to smooth down a glued tear or sometimes very lightly to my bumpy thumbnail and toenails.

Nail hardeners promote breakage with my nail type. If thin nail gets hard it actually snaps really easily. So I rather try to maintain the natural stretchiness of my nails.

Fast dry drops - uh, I don't like the feel of this stuff at all.

Edit. Here are my bare nails, very short, almost tipless. I had a tear in my right forefinger few days ago, followed by minor tear in the left thumb on the photographing day. I've had a special project going on and it puts quite a lot strain to my hands and although I usually protect my hands when working this time it was not possible. The project will be over in a week - and my nails can grow in peace! Usually my tips are somewhere between 2-4 mm but I go for supershort look deliberately time to time.

Opi does mattes

Temptalia writes about Opi's matte collection, announced to be out on July.

I'm quite excited! It seems to me that Opi did not take the safe route with blacks and grays, the color choices look interesting! I think I need You Don't Know Jacques in matte...

Edit. and here's All Laquered Up on Opi mattes, she's the true early bird!