Sinful Colors Endless Blue + Darling Diva Ringer

I want to apologize for the tipwear and kitchen sink you're about to see. I usually have pretty high standards for the pics I upload. However, the color and finish of this mani are too amazing to let it go unseen by the Internet.

This picture is not Photoshopped. My nails really are an intense, ultra-saturated blue with strong purplish-pink shimmer. This is two thick coats of Darling Diva Ringer over one of Sinful Colors Endless Blue. Endless Blue is the Sinful answer to Nails Inc. Baker Street and the other ultramarine blue crèmes that have been all the rage lately. As a bonus, it's opaque in one coat, which makes it a real live unicorn among Sinful polishes, which are infamous for still showing VNL after five coats. Darling Diva Ringer is supposedly a dupe for the legendary and discontinued Clarins 230 - I wouldn't know, as I've never seen it in person. If you own both these polishes or any of these dupes, it's a must-try layering combo that reminds me of a brilliantly lit nebula. That makes it very appropriate for the playing of Mass Effect, which is a bonus!

TMNT 2012 is awesome

I've been getting very into this series lately, and with moments like this, how could I not?

I'll probably end up posting more animated GIFs pics in general from the series here since Blogger will host larger files than Tumblr, but I'll confine them to this post. Also, if you want to check out my brand-spankin'-new Tumblr (which is so far all about TMNT2012), it's here: radiumcandy.tumblr.com

I promise actual beauty content soon, but my last manicure was a catastrophe (Milani Enchantment), and I've been busy with the Mass Effect series after *finally* replacing my XBOX 360. If anyone in the polish community saw my nails right now, I'd be banned from MUA and have my blog deleted.

Ruby Kisses Crystal Glosses in Hot Voodoo and Flirt

I was interested to discover these at the beauty supply store down the block today. I had no idea Ruby Kisses made lip gloss! The ice pink on top is Hot Voodoo, a name I could swear I've heard somewhere else; the coral-ly peach is Flirt. They're both very sheer and will probably only show color if thickly applied over pale lipcolor; however, they're super shiny and positively laden with subtle, slightly iridescent clear sparkle. They're very thick and sticky (my preference) and have a generic tropical fruity scent (not my favorite, but acceptable) as well as a slight sweet flavor. At US$2 for 0.5 oz, it's a good bang for one's buck, too!

Finally, a makeup case I can love instead of just make do with!

For me, the dollar store is a kind of paradise lite - not as awesome as Hawaii, or a good Thai restaurant, or even the beauty supply store, but still frequently a source of treasures. I think this kind of love affair with cheap and tacky is what Gretchen Wilson was talking about when she sang "You might think I'm trashy, a little too hardcore, but in my neck of the woods, I'm just the girl next door." If this doesn't convince you of my pedigree, ask me about my family's lawn ornaments made out of shotgun shells, or my great-grandfather marrying his cousin. ANYWAY...

It fits my eye and face makeup well, and I could probably cram all my lipcolor and a few nail essentials in there as well. I could also dump the makeup out and use it as a travel toiletry case, although I'd worry about runs in the "satin." Not bad for US$8 at Dollar General. We recently got a huge new one that has a full range of Wet n Wild nail polish, and a very good range of L.A. Colors cosmetics and polish both - I'm becoming a big fan of L.A. Colors' standard line of lip glosses. Remind me to review Orchid and Altered Beige one of these days.

(Note the eye shadow quad, brush, and mascara in the drawer. The first two are Cover Girl - I'm always intrigued by the shadow sets that are supposed to enhance a given eye color, even though I know perfectly well which colors enhance my green eyes. I just couldn't resist this snazzy little set, especially since the brush looks and feels good for a d/s brand. The mascara is a sample I got from Chanel when I bought myself Sky Line nail polish for my birthday - both still untried because I'm nuts.)

Different Dimension Orion Nebula

First off, I want to apologize for the application job you're about to see. It's messy, not because of Orion Nebula itself, but because of the Pure Ice Black Rage I used as lingerie under it. I find it practically impossible to apply black polish without making a mess (I suspect this is purely psychological), and Black Rage is a somewhat difficult polish, needing to be thinned after almost every manicure.

This is two coats of Different Dimension Orion Nebula over one coat of Black Rage. I was intrigued by Orion Nebula several weeks ago, then abruptly vetoed after reading that it requires a lot of "fishing" to get the larger pink/purple iridescent circles out. Then, in an act of polish-ADD hilarity that I suspect is actually pretty common, I forgot that I'd decided against it and bought it on impulse, remembering the "fishing issue" about five seconds after placing my order with a merchant who doesn't accept cancellations.

The copy was partially right: You do have to fish if you want many of those big iridescent circles in your manicure. However, I'm perfectly content with one or two. The smaller hot pink circle glitters are easy to get, but it does require dabbing onto the nail to get a semblance of even coverage. Fortunately, the black jelly base seeps away from the glitters as the polish is applied, so there's no need to shove glitters around with the brush, trying to get them clear of the base.

In the end, I was surprised by how much I like the result - some of my nails look like constellations or diffuse clusters of hot pink stars in an utterly black night sky, while a couple of unplanned "accent" nails have big, shiny, iridescent (and holo/dichroic at some angles!) planets or supergiant stars. Perhaps best of all, Orion Nebula has what I consider to be the most desirable quality in any jelly glitter polish - it looks positively fathomless on the nail, like I could stare at my manicure for a few minutes and end up lost in space. It's definitely worth the minor application hassles, although it's perhaps too fidgety for the strictly casual polish lover.

A little Monday miscellany

This is how I store my lipcolor, which is the only makeup I wear on a daily basis. I've tried keeping drawers or even cases well-organized, but I find that this is the easiest system to decide what I want, grab it, and go...although the truth is that I'm so lazy and absentminded in the morning that I usually set out everything the night before, anyway. I even put the ice for my iced coffee or tea in my water bottle and in the freezer, since I drop more ice than I put in the bottle if I try to do it in the morning. I'm a night owl!

My new Havaianas - Slim Animal in Gray. I really can't stand wearing closed-toed shoes, so I live in Havaianas for 3/4 of the year here in Texas. They're much more supportive and comfortable than other flip flops, even in the same price range. I actually have a bum ankle, but can stand comfortably for hours in my Havaianas. Fortunately, my office is totally laissez-faire about how I dress, allowing for both my Havaianas and my love of flashy nail polish.

 Can you believe she's still alive after just over a month? I should rename her GladOS.

Ninja Polish Glamorous bottle shots

OPI DS Glamorous is a highly desirable blurple (blue/purple) linear holographic polish that's become basically impossible to get. It occasionally pops up on eBay at exorbitant prices---think two or three digits---or, every once in a blue holo moon, someone will find one in an off-trend salon or nail supply store ("dusty"). Ninja Polish has wisely anticipated that a good dupe would sell like hotcakes and released the pretty you see below, named Glamorous, as part of their Spectrum collection.

I'm not sure exactly why I immediately snatched up my own bottle of Glamorous. It could very well be due to the hype surrounding OPI DS Glamour. Fortunately, that's an existential crisis I don't actually have to deal with, as I'm a sucker for blue linear holos anyway. With that in mind, Glamorous is actually a lot more purple than I expected - I would describe it as a deep denim blurple. I haven't actually tried it on yet, but so far I prefer Hits Apolo to fill the (quite important) ocean blue holo niche in my life. Glamorous is US$11 at Ninja Polish, although it's currently out of stock and will probably be hard to get for a while due to the insane popularity of OPI DS Glamour.

Suave Professionals Rosemary + Mint Conditioner

I have great hair naturally. I'm also extremely modest.

Really, though: my hair doesn't need much help to be shampoo-commercial worthy. The trickiest part is dealing with the thickness - if it's moisturizing enough for the dryer outer layers, it tends to exacerbate my already oily scalp. If it gets my scalp clean, it tends to dry out my hair. You get the idea.

Suave Professionals Rosemary + Mint Conditioner has been my hair's favorite thing for a good two years or so now. It's just the right texture (not too thick, not too watery) to easily work through my hair without having to use half the bottle in one sitting. Even if I rinse out every trace, it leaves my hair smooth and nearly effortless to detangle. It never leaves buildup or causes greasiness, never breaks out my scalp or back, even when I use it for several days in a row. It smells like wonderful herbal mint, and gives my scalp a light tingly feeling. It's dirt cheap, about US$3 for the biggest bottle (36 oz, I believe). Even the packaging is my favorite kind, an upside-down squeeze tube.

I have this vague frisson that it's going to be discontinued now.

Here, check out my awesome earbuds. I love anything with radiohazard symbols, especially bright blue ones. Yeah, this pic is from last Christmas - we're kinda redneck, but not that redneck.