Konadicure - Blue Jay

This is a Konadicure from last week - I will call it Blue Jay.  It is only my third attempt at Konad, as well as my first try layering two designs.

Bluejay Konadicure (Outdors, full sun, no flash)

 For this I used Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!, and then Konad plates M60 and M64 for the patterns, with Konad special polish in black and white, respectively.  I feel like the finished effect was almost like a bluejay's wings (although a very brightly colored bluejay).  I really loved the Blue Me Away polish, it went on very easy, covered beautifully in two coats, had pretty speedy drying time and was a gorgeous blue.  I wish I had taken a picture of the blue itself - next time!  Overall I was pleased with this manicure, even if the final product was a big different than expected.

I had some issues with the Konad on this manicure, as well as some of the same issues on previous attempts.  Other than my obvious need to practice getting these centered and covering the whole nail in some cases!  I am hoping some of you that are more experienced with Konad will be able to answer these questions; any advice is appreciated!

1. I notice that when I Konad, the patterns are not always perfectly clean.  You can see some here, especially on the argyle pattern, that there are little black lines or splotches where there shouldn't be.  Is this because I am not scraping the polish off enough before I roll the stamp on the plate, or is it the rolling/application itself?

2. I have also had a problem with Konad smudging when I paint on the top coat.  I have even waited up to 20 minutes after applying the Konad print to top coat, but still it smudges a bit when I apply the top coat.  It is not as bad here, but it was even worse on my non-picture hand.  I have been using OPI Rapid Dry top coat, although I did get some Seche Vite and am going to try that out tonight.  Do I just need to wait longer, or is the switch in top coats going to help?

3.  Finally for my most obvious (to me, at least!) problem of this manicure - I put the white stripes on AFTER the black argyle.  This looked fine until I applied the top coat; then the black showed through the white, with the final result as shown above.  I assume this could be fixed  by applying a top coat after the black, then doing the white, then another top coat?  Or is there something else I should be doing?

Thanks so much for any advice you can give!  Overall I still enjoyed this mani, even with all of its flaws.  Practice makes perfect!  I am off to practice some more now... :)

Orly Cosmic FX Space Cadet

Time for my very first actually polish post!  Today I have for you one of the polishes from Orly's new Cosmic FX collection, Space Cadet.

Orly Space Cadet, 4 coats plus top coat - Outdoors, shade, no flash

Space Cadet is a green polish that is full of pink/gold duochrome foil.  This color is AMAZING!  There are so many possible colors to see in this polish.  The majority of the time I would say it is either a pinkish/purple color or a nice warm golden color, but you can also see warm pink, copper, bronze, and even the green of the base showing through.  This is one of those polishes you will just stare at on your nails.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to photograph, so these pictures may not be the best ever to show off the true effects of the polish, but it is stunning!  My mom actually asked me last night "What color is it supposed to be?  Pink?  Green?  Gold?  Purple?"  To which I replied "All of them!"

Here you can see more of the pink effects (Shade, no flash)

Here you can see more of the gold effects (Indoors, no flash)

This was my first Orly polish, as well.  Up until now, I have always used almost exclusively OPI (and Nicole by OPI), as well as a few Sally Hansen.  I am branching out!  I used 4 coats for full coverage, but it was fairly opaque in three coats.  I used Nailtek I as a base and OPI Fast Dry top coat.  I was very pleased with the application!  It went on nice and smooth with fairly fast drying time.




Overall this is a gorgeous polish, and as far as I am concerned, the big superstar of the Cosmic FX collection.  It is truly duochrome, and constantly changing with the slightest movement of your hands.  I also purchased Out Of This World from this collection, and hope to buy Lunar Eclipse soon - you will be seeing those reviews shortly!

Introductions!

After much big talk of starting a nail blog to friends and family, I have finally decided to go ahead and do it!  Hopefully I will be able to keep up with it, and find some people that are interested to see what I have to offer on nails and nail art.  So if you are reading this, hello and thanks so much for stopping by!

As a bit of an introduction, I will say that I am a big nail biter, and have been since as long as I can remember.  And I don't just chew on my nails a bit - I bite them all the way down to nubs.  When I was younger they used to bleed often because I would bite them down so far.  As I grew up, I realized one of the only ways I could keep myself from chomping on them was to keep them polished.  And the polish had to be nearly perfect, or I would pick off the rest of the polish and then chew the nail.  Sad, I know.  But this led me to because somewhat polish-crazy, and lately that necessity has turned into a true nail polish hobby.  I now find myself reading all of the latest blogs, knowing way more than I ever thought I would about the different brands and terms, and also being introduced to Konad about two weeks or so ago.  It has been a lot of fun!  And so far, so good - I have not bitten my nails in over a month and hope I can keep that streak going!

I am also an MD/PhD student, and have finished my first two years of medical school and just began my first year of graduate school.  My husband is also in the same program that I am in, and we both hope to be done with the program in five years to become full-time physician scientists!  The title for my blog was inspired by our love of science - it was actually my husband who first suggested the use of the ending "-ology" for the blog.

I have two Bengal cats, Leo and Luna, who are my babies and I absolutely adore, so don't be surprised if they make their way into this blog from time to time.  I also have two gerbils, Navi and Ciela.  I have two sisters, a younger one that lives practically down the street and an older one that lives too far away.   My parents, my in-laws, and several members of my extended family all live nearby as well.

I think that should just about do for initial introductions, I hope you enjoy my blog!  I will plan on getting my first actually polish post up tomorrow - I will be showing off the Orly Cosmic Fx Space Cadet that I am wearing now.  It is stunning!