Life

  Hey guys, I wanted to pop my head in and let you know I am still alive.  It has been a bit of a crazy last couple of weeks.  From several very late nights in the lab followed by early mornings... bringing home new pets, to another pet having a medical emergency... family birthdays to family funerals.  My Papa passed away on Sunday and it has been a little tough on me.  I have been lucky enough never to have anyone close to me die before - until now all four grandparents have been alive.  He was 90, he had a great long life, and I know he was struggling toward the end... it is probably best for him, but of course I (somewhat selfishly) would have much preferred him to stay around at least a little longer.  When I get really sad about it I just try to think of all of the fun times with him.

  Anyway, I apologize for not posting in the last couple of weeks.  I will try to get things up and running again soon, and should have the giveaway winner selected sometime next week.  Thanks so much for your understanding!  You guys are awesome. 

  No nails today (sorry, no time.. got to go get ready), but here are a couple of pet pictures to keep you busy.  :)

New gerbils, Niko (gray agouti boy on top) and Nudge (brown agouti boy)

Cute close-up of Nudge

Nova

And Nova again

Across the Universe... and a sad setback

  So sorry for missing the last couple of post dates... I am finding it really hard to shake this sinus infection, and am still a bit sick.  Things have been really busy, but I will try not to miss any more posts!

  Unfortunately, I also have some very sad news.  Last Friday I was so stressed out, because I have been waiting an entire year to get this particular cell line I need for my research and after finally getting the people to agree to send it... well lets not get too complicated, and simply say there were some possibly devastating consequences of the timing it was sent.  Anyways, super stressed + one of my nails totally broke off.  I chewed them all off.  Down past the nail bed, painful, super short.  I am so dissapointed in myself!  I am going to give them a few more days to grow out just a bit, and then I will share my new tiny ugly nubbins with you all, because I created this blog to be accountable to YOU for these nails and I have to make myself share.  Despite this setback, I will go on!

  For now, enjoy some gorgeous nails from pre-chewing disaster!

  This beauty is Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, a fabulous sheer navy jelly base with green and blue large hex glitter, plus light blue small round glitter.  I am so in love with Lippmann glitters!  I do find it hard to keep my eyes off my nails when I am wearing them, haha.

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  This was three coats, which gives fabulous coverage.  There was a tiny bit of dragging issues, but I did not wait at all, which is always important with glitters - so be sure to give this one a minute in between coats so the glitter sets.  The wear on this was very nice as well, only a small amount of tipwear after a few days.  Removal of course is a bit of a pain, as with all glitters... but I have had worse.  Overall a really great polish!

  If you have not yet, be sure to enter my giveaway!  It ends on Friday.  :)

OPI Miss Universe Collection - Swatches and Reviews

  Today I want to share with you the OPI Miss Universe Collection, a four piece collection full of sparkle and shimmer, covering a wide range of colors and finishes.  I have really enjoyed this little collection, and hope you will too!  All swatches are shown without base coat, with topcoat.  I would recommend clicking on some of these to see the detail of the finish!

It's My Year

Outdoors, shade

 Shimmery purple packed with golden microglitter.  This is a stunning polish!  It is very similar to OPI Rally Pretty Pink, except much more purple.  Look for a comparison later!  Three coats for full coverage.

Outdoors, sunlight

Congeniality Is My Middle Name

Outdoors, shade

 Deep berry with subtle pink and golden shimmer.  The shimmer here can be a bit difficult to see, but it is there, just enough to give this berry polish a unique glow.  It really stands out more in sunlight (below).  Three coats for full coverage.

Outdoors, sunlight

Crown Me Already

Outdoors, shade

Clear base totally packed with silver small and large hex glitters.  This is like a silver glitter explosion.  Very blingy, haha.  Three coats for full coverage.  It is a bit too dense to use for layering, since one coat almost covers up the base color entirely, so it is best worn on its own.

Outdoors, sunlight

Swimsuit... Nailed It

Outdoors, shade

Really beautiful bright royal blue packed with glitter.  Almost has a foil look to it.  This one is also very pigmented, needing only two coats for full coverage.  I absolutely love this color!  This might be my favorite from the collection.

Outdoors, sunlight

Overall Review

I love the variety in this collection, from color to finish, there is a lot to choose from here.  It is hard for me to pick must-have polishes out of this collection, since I love them all so much.  My two favorites perhaps are Swimsuit... Nailed It and It's My Year, but then again blue and purple are also my favorite colors, so that is not much of a surprise.  They all applied very nicely, all 2-3 coats.  I have no problem recommending any of these pretties!  A great little four piece collection.  What do you all think?  Which is your favorite?

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by OPI for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company

Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers

  Quick post today - I have been sick the past week, and have fallen behind on posting, but I will catch up within the next few days!  Here is a gorgeous polish from Deborah Lippmann, Ruby Red Slippers.

Outdoors, shade

  This is one of the stunning glitters Lippmann offers.  Deep black jelly base full of small round and large hex crimson glitter.  I wore this to my cousin's wedding, went very nicely with my black dress.  Three coats for full opacity, fabulous application.  I just love her glitters!  I need to get my hands on Candy Shop.  To win this polish, as well as several others, be sure to enter my giveaway!

OMG! Water Marbling!

  I realized I hadn't done a water marble manicure in quite a long time - I have had some failed attempts, but that of course does not count.  I was trying to decide what colors to use when I was struck with the idea to do a holographic  water marble!

  For this water marble manicure, I started off with three coats of China Glaze OMG! silver holo as a base.  I then swirled China Glaze OMG, TMI, LOL, and 2NITE for the water marble effect and ta-da!  Holographic water marble.

Close up of thumb detail - my favorite nail!

  The thumb was my favorite on this one.  The last couple of times I water marbled, I did one finger at a time, but this time I did two-three fingers at a time to conserve polish and go a bit faster, so each nail turned out a little different, which is kind of fun.

Outdoors, shade

  Also pretty in the shade!  These colors go really well together.  I forgot how much I like water marbling, I should do it more often.  It is kind of a pain (especially when you have your heart set on a polish that was just not meant for the technique) but turns out really fun.  Hope you all like it!

Cherry Blossoms

  Ever since I saw Konad plate m66, I knew that when I finally got it I wanted to do this manicure.  So when I recently purchased the plate, it was at the top of my list!

Outdoors, shade

  Base is two coats of China Glaze For Audrey (one of my all time favorite polishes).  For the design, I used Essie Little Brown Dress and Essie Your Hut or Mine? and plate m66.  I first colored in the branches with the brown, and them dabbed pink onto the flowers.  Occasionally I got a touch of brown in the flower as well, but overall it was a successful dual color stamping attempt.  In a couple of places, I added an extra flower here or there.  I really love how this one turned out, it's very pretty.  I may try it again in the future with both pink and white flowers, but for now I am enjoying my cherry blossom mani!  Hope you all like it as much as I do.  :)

OPI Serena Williams Grand Slam US - Swatches and Review

  To finish off the awesome Serena Williams Grand Slam line that OPI has been putting out, the last duo contains two really amazing bright glittery colors!

Love is a Racket

Shade

Bright cherry red with glittery glass fleck finish.  I had a hard time catching the beauty of this one in photos, it is really gorgeous.  As soon as I received it, it went straight on my toes!  Bright, bold, and lovely.  Opaque in two coats, smooth application.

Sunlight

Pros & Bronze

Shade

 This polish is completely stunning.  I don't even really know what color to call it - it changes between rosy pink, yellow gold, and orange bronze.  It is full of gorgeous microglitter - click on the images to see full detail of this one!

Duochrome shift

Above you can really get a sense of the sort of duochrome shift this polish has.  I absolutely love it!  Three coats for full coverage, wonderful application.

Sunlight

Overall Review

Definitely two thumbs way up on these two.  I am in love with Pros & Bronze, and Love is a Racket is a gorgeous bright cherry red.  With fabulous application and amazing shimmery, glittery, duochrome finishes, these two polishes are definitely ranked high up there!  I would definitely recommend snagging this set if you see it in stores!

Serena and Suzi at the launch

Serena's launch nails - Love is a Racket with Pros & Bronze designs

  DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by OPI for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.  Event images from OPI/Bill Davila.

Girly Pink Flowers with Barbie

  Here is one of the lovely Zoyas I got in the recent 2 Free offer - Zoya Barbie, a gorgeous bold light pink with subtle shimmer.  I have been looking for the perfect light pink for awhile now, and while I always end up liking the polishes I get in this search, it is never quite perfect.  I will say now that I have finally found what I was looking for!

Outdoors, shade

  Gorgeous girly perfection.  I am not kidding when I say I have been looking for this color for a long time, haha.  Creamy smooth application that you would expect from a Zoya, two coats for opacity, great wear.  I have a feeling she is going to get a lot of wear!  Added flowers using one of my latest Konad acquisitions, m74 and Konad Special White.  This was a fun super girly manicure!

Let's See How Far We've Come

  What better way to celebrate Polishology turning one than to have a look at how far this blog has come?  Recently Cristina over at Let Them Have Polish posted this fun tag and passed it along to any blogger who wanted to participate - so I thought "why not?" and went to whip up some old photos!  Included in this post are my very first never-before-seen konadicure pictures!  Enjoy a bit of a good laugh! ;)

  This is the very first konadicure I ever did, and the first picture I ever took of my nails.  Not so in focus... but you know, you have to start somewhere!  This is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lime Lights with flowers from plate m73 in Konad Special White, a couple of weeks before I started my blog.

Never-before-seen first konadicure!

  Next up, another new reveal - my second ever Konad experience and nail pictures!  Still working on those skills.. haha.  OPI Glitzerland and Konad plate m73 in Konad Special Black Pearl.

Sexy Cuticles.

Now on to something a little better, lets look at a picture from October, a couple of months after starting Polishology.

Getting better!

  Finally I got a new camera for Christmas, which has allowed be to take a bit better macro photos of my nails.  There was a learning curve with this camera though... I am still on it, haha.

Forgot how much I loved this manicure!

  And finally, on to recent work.  This is my Hawaii manicure from a few weeks ago.  I have recently started cropping my pictures at this angle and I am really liking it - although I am sure I will change again at some point!  I am also getting better at keeping my cuticles nice and unpainted - but it is a work in progress.  At least I have (for the most part) stopped biting my nails - so it looks like the blog was a success! :)

Mm, holo

  Well, I hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane, especially some of those very first nail photos I have not ever shared with... anyone.  I tag anyone that wants to do this!  I would love to see how you all have improved in your nail painting, nail art and picture taking skills as well!

Another Year... Another Layout! And Kitty Picture Outtakes!

  One of the comments I have seen a lot in the survey is that the old layout of Polishology was too busy.  Since I had been thinking it was time for a change anyway, I thought... why not now?  It is a nice birthday present for the blog... ;)  So I'm here to present our new layout!  I have gone with a simpler (but still gorgeous) background, and rather than two columns on either side there is now a large column on the left.  Eventually that column splits into two, to show my blogroll as well as labels, which I am in the process of updating.  I also changed the text around a bit to make it easier to read (I hope).  It is now in a less curly font and darker.  Let me know if it is better.

  The biggest new addition are the tabs at the top - this is now where you will find giveaway info, info about me, my wish list, and more.  I hope soon to have a spreadsheet of all of my stash up there as well.  And hopefully soon there will be a tutorials tab!

  So what do you all think of the new layout?  I hope you enjoy it!  I am really loving it.  You will of course notice a new header with now both of the kitties!  You know what that means.... kitty photo shoot outtakes!

Luna has the sweetest face!

Even if she is a bit evil :)

Majestic.

Aw, love. <3

Of course, Leo turns his back to me

And prefers nomming the blanket to playing with the polish

  You will notice I included more of Luna... that is because I got about 10x more pictures with her.  She hams it up with the camera, while Leo is rather afraid of the camera, so it is hard to get up close pictures of him when he knows I am doing it.  I almost gave up on him and did two Luna photos but I finally got a couple of cute ones!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and please feel free to comment on the layout!  I love hearing your suggestions!