Beat the Heat!

I needed to beat the heat today; it was 109 in Sacramento.



SensatioNail "Beat the Heat", with accent nail of "Sun Kissed", three coats of each. Nailtiques 2+ as base coat, Sally Hansen gel base and top coat, one coat of each.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE yellow. And my sister's favorite color is orange. So when I wandered into Walgreens and saw the new SensatioNail Island Fever collection, I picked these two up immediately. Without hesitation.

The application was great! "Beat the Heat" could probably be a two-coater. As a hater of VNL, I did three coats of each. The orange is definitely a jelly and although the VNL doesn't show up well here, it was very much there. The colors are a little less neon than they are in the photos, more like straight yellow crayon yellow and orange. My camera really hated them. You can see that it's a little brighter than the box color, though.

The wear ... lacked. I had issues with bubbling, some after the fact. On one finger, the bubble peeled off and revealed several layers of polish which made me wonder if it hadn't cured correctly. I tried again, doubling the cure time, and it still happened. It only happened with "Beat the Heat" and is visible on my index, middle finger, and thumb in the photos. I have used SensatioNail polish without the base layer ("gel primer") before and never had this problem. I'm hopeful that this was a bad batch. A lemon even!

Verdict: the colors are worth it for me. There isn't a comparable/dupe yellow gel that I'm aware of.

*All products here were purchased by me for my own wear and review. 

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine 'Copperhead'

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine 'Copperhead', a photo by TartanHearts on Flickr.

This is CND Stickey as base coat. Three coats of SH 'Copperhead' and a coat of Jordana Quick Shine top coat.

I hated this. I didn't even bother to do much clean up. There is a gorgeous green shade in the bottle that doesn't show up on the nail at all. It ends up being a rose gold or copper color most of the time that shows purpley-brown at extreme angles. It would be MUCH better with the green. I like most of my duochromes to have the DUO part!

I've only swatched one other Lustre Shine (Scarab) and it was great. This one was not. I still have a couple more, so the jury is still out on the collection as a whole.

With all the awesome duochrome/multichrome polish out there, don't waste your time with this one.

the final Halloween manicure

This is one coat of Sinful Colors 'Black on Black' with a coat of twee & honey 'Viscera' over it. Base coat was Nailtiques 2 and top coat was Jordana Quick Shine Top Coat.

I love this. I loved it enough to actually take off one nail, after it chipped, and replace it with the exact same thing. 'Viscera' is amazing and the best part was that it had teeny little hearts! I didn't see them in the bottle and they were a wonderful surprise! There aren't words to describe how awesome this was. And it was perfect for when my GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!

Also, this gorgeous mani matches my blog! I didn't plan it, but it's perfect!

Halloween/Giants manicure!

China Glaze Riveting stamped with BM-221 and Sinful Colors Black on Black. Two coats of Jordana Quick Shine top coat, one before stamping and one after.

I LOVE THIS! I hadn't stamped anything since around St. Patrick's Day. Somehow the stars aligned and I didn't have to re-stamp anything! And miraculously, my right hand looked better than my left. The bottle of SC Black on Black that I use for stamping is a couple years old now, and it stamps like a mofo! As good a Konad special polish, for sure. (I will probably replace it with a bottle of the Konad special polish, but for a starter stamping polish, you can't go wrong with it.)

We all know how fantastic China Glaze's 'Riveting' is. I don't have to reiterate that. It is even more amazing when you stamp over it. I love stamping over creams, but stamping over this micro glitter/shimmer was fantastic. It gave a lot of depth. (I have a gorgeous pendant made with it in my shop now.) And this is one of the few oranges that works pretty well on my skin tone. The gold shimmer really helps with that.

This has inspired me to do a little more stamping. Or maybe do some leopard print freehand. Or both!

Pretty & Polished 'Candy Corn' color change polish

This stuff is amazing! I think I'm going to have to get some more of Pretty & Polished's color change polishes because it was so much fun to have this on. Every time I'd look at my nails, they would be different. Especially great this time of year because the temperature is all over the place.

The one downside to this polish was that it wasn't totally opaque. I HATE hate hate VNL and had I realized I would have it (somehow I didn't think I would; wishful thinking!), I'd have done it over white or nude gel or something. Next time! Because I *will* be wearing this again. It would be very cool to stamp over.

Pretty & Polished polishes are available on etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrettyandPolished 'Candy Corn' is in stock at the time I'm posting this.

Halloween mani #2

Three coats of Revlon Sparkle Aplenty with Pretty & Polished Pumped Up Pumpkin accent nail.

I LOVE the Sparkle Aplenty. It's the kind of thing I'd use any time, not just for Halloween. It's hard to tell, but it has both silver glitter AND black glitter in a black base. Gorgeous!

I also love the Pumped Up Pumpkin. It's got red and orange glitter (mostly orange) and I think some holo/silver micro glitter. Perfect for Halloween.

However, I didn't love the combination. I think Sparkle Aplenty is enough by itself and Pumped Up Pumpkin would be better over a cream.

What do you guys think about this combo?

Halloween/NLDS manicure

Halloween/NLDS manicure, a photo by TartanHearts on Flickr.

China Glaze 'Ick-a Bod-y" with Kleancolor "Chunky Copper" accent nail. Two coats of Jordana Quick Shine top coat.

LOVE THIS! And it has worked so far. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. I'm not sure whether I should change it or keep it the same to keep the mojo going.

Orange is one of my least favorite colors, and isn't the best on my skin tone, but it is my favorite team AND Halloweentime! I have to wear it. Ick-A Bod-Y is my favorite of the CG Halloween polishes that I own. I'm really lemming the new Orly orange and black Halloween polish, R.I.P. Reminds me of China Glaze Fortune Teller, which is amazing.

I also have a pendant that matches this mani in my shop! https://www.etsy.com/listing/107975007/los-gigantes-nail-polish-pendant Perfect for Halloween.

Do you have a favorite orange (or black) polish that I haven't mentioned? There are some great ones out there.

Paraphernalia didn't make it.

If you read my post about Paraphernalia, you'll know I hated the pattern. HATED it. In trying to work around it and start from almost scratch, I ended up with a weird number on the back of the leg and started to frog. Without lifelines. With cables. Yeahhh. FROGGED.

They became Gentlemen's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.

 

I love this pattern. I started it before, and didn't like the yarn. This time, I think the match of yarn and pattern was great. I did do the pattern toe-up instead of top-down, but the way the patterns in this book are written makes it VERY easy to adapt them to your own preferences. (She outlines several toes and heels at the beginning and throughout the book that are interchangeable.) The pattern is deceptively easy, and most of it is stockinette, though it doesn't appear that way. I did a 64 stitch sock with a flat toe and a short-row heel.

I don't have an FO picture of these yet. I finished washing and blocking them Christmas Eve at about midnight, so needless to say, I didn't take the time to photograph them before I wrapped them. They were a gift to my sister so I know I will have an opportunity to photograph them in the future.

Pattern: Gentlemen's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern
Yarn: Lion Brand Sock Ease in Circus Peanut
Needles: US #1s / 2.25mm
Ravelry project page: http://ravel.me/JessSacto/kihgg

Paraphernalia is my favorite word.

I've been knitting since 2002. I've knit my fair share of things for my sister. Mostly scarves, with the occasional hat or other item thrown in. Finally, after almost a decade, I'm knitting her a pair of socks. Orange, of course, as it's her favorite color.

Paraphernalia is the pattern, and it's been in my queue for a while. I really like that the cable is off-center. That is about where my like of the pattern ends. Firstly, it's top-down. I don't knit top-down socks unless I absolutely have to. (This is partly why I'm considering frogging the Crossbones socks already. That and they just aren't fun. I'm a process knitter.) The pattern also has a flap heel, which I don't think will work very well with my sis's narrow feet. I'm rewriting the pattern with the only thing the same being the cable pattern and placement. The cable chart and key are kind of weird and not very clear. Luckily I have decent cabling experience, so I know that when you have k3, p1, k3 that crosses front/left, you need to put the p on a separate needle to the back or it's wonky.

Maybe I'm just rewriting the whole goddamned pattern.

I've got four short-term WIPs going right now. Three are socks. Two plus hours of travel time tomorrow ought to put a dent in them I have a finished sweater that hasn't been photographed. May wear it tomorrow, who knows. It's green, so it'll be perfect for the Holidays. Also, this is my newest tattoo. I love it.

Emelie and a snoodle.

Working on an Emelie cardigan. I love yellow, so this is perfect for me. Hopefully I'll finish it before the cool weather comes. (Which for me means that I hope it stays warm for a long time. I'm not a big fan of winter.)

I've made about a thousand mistakes in the left side lace, even though it's stupidly simple. I keep forgetting what row I'm on and repeating row three and not noticing until I do row five. And fucked if I'm frogging two rows to fix a YO. So it's going to be a little wonky. I don't imagine that it will bother me, so I'm ok with that.

My only problem is that I hate the construction of this thing. Bottom-up, with sleeves picked up and knit top-down. STUPID. Stupid stupid stupid. I wish I wasn't too lazy to do the math and make it either top-down or sleeves cuff-up, but I am. I am into the look of set-in sleeves, though. I just wish they were knit-in and not picked-up.


Also, I finished a snood last night. I need to take pictures. It's crocheted!