Inky Whisker's Musings

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Show & Tell Time!

Hello Dahlings!

For this week's Show & Tell

I have a new to me indie brand & an old fav indie brand!

Grab a beverage, kick back & lets get to it...

Up 1st is Carpe Noctem Cosmetics.

I just discovered this store & alas, Emily is now on vaca until Jan 1st,

but you can dream & drool over these beauties until then.

Look how cute she bundles her polish!

Inside each bundle were 2 bubble wrapped bottles.

When I saw da names of these 2, I just had to have them!

(OK, it didn't hurt that they're holos in 2 of my fav colors. lol)

I'm A Big Fucking Deal!

Pimp My Purple

These 2 are from one of my all time fav book series.

Can you guess which one?

Look at that adorable label!

Don't Panic

Interstellar Towel

If you're thinking that these 2 look a lot alike, you'd be correct!

Don't Panic is da holo version of Interstellar Towel.

>^..^<

Next up is LynB Designs!

This is one of my earliest indie brands &

Jenna hasn't disappointed me yet with her lovely polishes & creative titles.

I don't know if she could & I'd rather not find out!

These 3 are singles from various collections.

Black Dragon Pearl

Start With The Riding Crop (Baker Street collection)

Stella (Twitterpated collection)

These 2 are from the Gemstone collection

& appear to be unavailable at da moment.

Black Opal

Spectacular Hematite

Who doesn't love Dr Suess?

(If you don't, I don't want to hear about it. LOL)

Everybody Needs a Thneed

Mutual Weirdness

(I had to have this one just for the name,

but it doesn't hurt that it's purpley!)

Ah! Nightmare Before Christmas...my fav holiday frolic.

Nightmare Revisited

Pumpkin King

Let's not forget The Princess Bride!

The Spaniard

You Are The Brute Squad

I scored big by ordering when I did between Black Friday & Cyber Monday.

Both of these are Limited Editions & I got them for FREE.

Fa-La-La-La-La-La-La-Ven-Der

Have you ever seen a grayed lavender holo?

Well you have now,

but if you want a bottle of this unique beauty for your own

you better hustle your tushie over to Jenna's Etsy shop

cuz it's only available until da end of December 2013.

Frosty Snot

This one was a bonus polish for ordering that weekend.

It's a linear holo topper!

Me thinks another holo topper comparison will be coming your way in 2014.

I had one more LynB in my order o' polish delights to share with y'all,

but it didn't survive traveling across da country in a blizzard & broke.

*sad whiskers*

Lucky for me, Jenna is awesomesauce on toast

& will be sending me a replacement after da holidays!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Inky

Friday, December 20, 2013

Red, Gold & Green Neon Gradient w/mini tutorial!

Hello Dahlings!

*sigh* I am so not a traditional Christmas colors kind of person. In fact, I rarely use these colors on my nails da rest of da year (unless some theme specific nail art requires them) & I have very lil clothing to go with my nails when I do use them. Black really does go with everything! LOL However, after doing several more subdued manis (they matched my mood, but didn't really qualify as 'cheerful') I needed to bust out with some neon before da season ended...

Is there anything better than a scatter holo in da sun?

Unless it's a linear holo in da sun. LOL

Da line up: Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia 21, Santee Gold Bright,

Ruby Kisses Lime Green With Envy, China Glaze Angel Wings

plus reverse grip tweezers & a bit of sponge

1 coat of Gold Bright.

Normally I would apply 2 coats for full opacity, but with a gradient planned,

it wasn't necessary. This was my go to gold/yellow polish in 2012

cuz it has such a lovely rich color. It does go on a bit streaky with da 1st coat,

but da 2nd smooth's it out. It also passed my stamping test.

This is what I use to create my gradients. It's a bit of dog bone sponge (this is a cartoon bone shaped car washing sponge, they're big, cheap & work well for all kinds of stuff) held in a pair of reverse grip tweezers. I know many bloggers use make up & other sponges in a larger size for their gradients, but I like da control I get with da smaller piece & my sponges last a long time since I cut them into lil bits.

This smaller size also cuts down a bit on clean up!

I trim my sponge bits to about 1/4" wide by a lil shorter than my nails are at da time.

This one is about 1/2" long since my nails are about 5/8" from cuticle to tip right now.

I paint one stripe of all 3 colors on da sponge then dab it side to side & a lil up & down the nail. (up & down means from cuticle to tip, not closer & farther from da nail) Da side to side motion applies da colors in bands & da up/down motion blends the demarcation lines. Some peeps don't include da base color when they sponge or only apply one color at a time, but these methods don't always give you a smooth transition between colors.

I wanted da green to be a bit stronger & I also wanted da gold to be even with da other colors, so I painted just those 2 colors on da sponge for a 2nd coat. I do each nail with da 1st coat, then go back & do da 2nd coat.

A word about color choices & placement on the nail: da polishes you select to use for a gradient will blend together where they meet as well as show da base coat if da polishes are on da sheer side & you can create a 3rd color. If you put 2 colors that are opposite on da color wheel (i.e. complimentary colors: red/green, yellow/purple & blue/orange), overlapping each other on your nail, you are very likely to make mud. What is mud? When 2 complimentary colors are mixed together (or are sheer & overlapped) ...they tend to make brown. This is why I have da gold between da red & green cuz I don't think Christmas mud looks very pretty. LOL

After da 2nd sponged coat.

See how da green is now opaque & da gold more equal to da other colors?

I started sponging on my left hand with da red at da top,

but that looked a bit like I had bloody cuticles,

so I turned da sponge around.

I added a coat of Angel Wings to bring on da bling!

A coat of Seche Vite really brings da sparklies out to play!

Gradients are fun & easy to do! If you pick a 3 color glitter topper & 3 polishes that match da glitters, you get a really nifty shift of colors since one of da glitters will show less over each color of da gradient. A nail art optical illusion!

End wear report ~ I had a bit of tip wear over da 3 days I wore these nails. Da sponged layer doesn't count cuz it's so thin, but obviously one coat of Gold Bright with SV tc isn't up to a week of wear.

>^..^<

Ciri says...

I no care bout dat, Meowmy! Gimme shiny shell fud!

(Good thing it was me getting begged & not Mr Inky

or Ciri would be round as a sofa cushion

cuz Mr Inky cannot refuse Ciri's big begging eyes! LMBBO)

Now go enter da Jingle All The Way Giveaway!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Inky

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Weird Wednesdays ~ Sally Hansen texture Comparison

Hello Dahlings!

You may remember my noting in my haul post on the 8th that one of the new Sally Hansen texture polishes may be a dup for one of the one's they released last summer. Well I had to find out for sure
& have some fun while I was at it!

This is da final mani in da sink!

Let me 'splain how I got here...

Da line up: Sally Hansen Royal Icing, Sugar Cloud & Sugar Fix
plus a large dotter.

SH changed da name of da line from Sugar Coat to Sugar Shimmer with this release. Da 1st bunch last spring were all crèmes, da 2nd bunch last summer were mixed with some being crèmes & some having micro glitter, but this 3rd bunch all have micro glitter.
So da change to 'Shimmer' makes sense, even if it wasn't really necessary.

I have 2 coats of Royal Icing on my ring & index fingers

with Sugar Cloud on my pinky & middle fingers.

I'm calling it...they're dups!

There are very minor differences between them i.e. Royal Icing is da tiniest bit darker, but not enuf to really need both. So if you missed out on Royal Icing last summer,
go ahead & get Sugar Cloud. If you did get hold of RI, you can skip SC.

Both go on thin, but not runny & both need 3-4 coats for opacity or undies. Hmmm...white undies would pop da light blue base color of both polishes, making da color show true. I wonder if pink undies would make the light blue look more lavender? I haven't seen a lavender base with pink micro glitter texture polish yet, have you?

Me being me, I just couldn't leave my nails plain!

I used da larger ball of da dotting tool to add lumpy, irregular French tips with
da Sugar Fix to cover da VNL & used da small ball end to add falling snow.
This is really easy to do since neatness doesn't really count.

I do have a tip or 2 for newbies:
Clean the dotting tool after each nail or at least every other nail! Polish will build up around da ball & make your dots get larger as more polish accumulates.
Also, less is more! You can easily add a lil more polish to da design if you need to, but removing blobs is a pita & it's best to avoid making them in da 1st place.