My armor

 

Recently, I needed to go to a meeting I didn’t really want to go to; one dealing with my mom’s estate.  Emotionally, I was feeling very vulnerable, small, and scared.

So I needed to get some emotional armor on.

Even though I would not be working, I chose to wear formal clothes, which I never do when I don’t have to.  My favorite pair of plum trousers were even a part of it.  Check.

I don’t often wear perfume, but this is one instance when it was a good idea to.  Some of my favorite Givenchy.  Check.

But what about my nails?

I kid you not, I actually spent a good deal of time debating on what color to wear days ahead of time.  But this thought process was mostly on my mental back-burner.

At first I thought of holographics, as those are my favorite finish.  However, I knew that while looking down at my nails would make me smile, it was also a little more loud and celebratory for the tone of the meeting.

I could wear a StrangeBeautiful - as I’ve said, they make me feel very chic - but I just wasn’t feeling it.

There’s Essie’s Love, Beverly Hills xx, but red just didn’t seem to be the right color.  I wanted something to make me smile, but something that could also be understated.

The final decision?  Chanel’s Kaleidoscope.

 

I first made the acquaintance of this color on Stephanie’s Polish Addict.  But twenty dollars for a Chanel seemed pretty steep.  (Hah! They’re routinely up to thirty now; what was I complaining about?)  So I hemmed and I hawed, and I hawed and I hemmed.

But the more I read about this color, the stronger my lemming became, As it was released at the same time as Gold Fiction, you often saw the two talked about in the same post.  And people such as Scrangie were often saying the twenty-dollar price tag for Kaleidoscope was worth it; the thirty-dollar one for GF was not.

So, in a fit of madness (and with a rare discount as I had opened a Macy’s card the same day), I bought my first (and, to date, only) Chanel.

 

 

And when I first put it on, I was disappointed.  I know, it’s a gorgeous color – what was I thinking?

Well, I think that when I looked on others’ blogs, it looked a lot more silver to me.  On my hands it definitely had more of a golden/olive thing going on.  (Maybe that’s why it’s called “Kaleidoscope”; as soon as you think you’ve got a description pegged down, it turns a bit and changes on you!)  I honestly thought that I had made some kind of terrible error in putting this on because it didn’t look like I expected it to.

Fortunately, I dropped my comparisons and just learned to appreciate the color for what it was.

 

(That thick, boxy cap comes off; this is the size of the handle you paint with.)

 

This is three coats, by the way.  It really would have been fine at two, but as I was applying to my dominant hand, I caused a dent in the polish of my non-dominant, so I had to apply a third to try and save it.  The application was very nice, even if I was applying coats a little bit thicker than I’d’ve liked.

This is almost certainly a metallic with shimmer, and it is even somewhat reflective.  Wearing a black top, I can see that color reflected in my nails.  I’m sure it’s not Maybelline’s Mirror Image  by a long shot, but it’s certainly somewhat akin to it.

 

(You can see the red curb reflected in two of my nails above.)

 

For those of you who have not heard of this little factoid yet, Chanels are pretty darn famous for their lack of durability.  I honestly can’t remember what the wear was the last time I wore this, but none of my polishes usually lasted long, as I hadn’t yet developed any techniques for applying varnish.

 

 

But since I am now (slightly) older and (moderately) wiser, I know to expect chipping, and soon.  Believe it or not, I often leave colors on for anywhere from three to five days (gasp!), so that’s actually an important consideration to keep in mind.

Thankfully, Nora at Nail of the Week did a top coat comparison  on Chanel lacquers.  The winner was CND Air Dry.  So, based on her recommendation, I added a bottle to a recent online order, and that’s what’s gone on top.  It actually worked really, really well, and I only found a slight chip in one nail about day three or four.

I’ve tried finding some image to compare the color to, but I lack the appropriate adjectives to find it.  Humph.  But looking for a clip has yielded just what I need.  Not only is this exactly what it made me feel like – strong and capable of deflecting negativity with my indestructible bracelets, but her crown and wrist guards, while not identical to the color, certainly put me In mind of it!

 

 

Well, Kaleidoscope gave me just what I needed it to.  It was my armor that I required, a beautiful color that’s not going to go unnoticed, per se, but also one that’s not going to shout, “Party Time!” either.  A well-made choice, I think.

 

 

Looking back at these  pictures makes me long to wear it again.  And you can see how much it changes, depending on the light.  That’s why I compared Molten Metal to it in its inability to be defined.  My favorite shot of it, though, you might recognize as my current ID photo.  It’s taken at sunset.

 

 

How about any of the rest of you?  Do you have a color, brand, finish, or specific polish you use as your shield?

My own little disco ball

 

My manicure du jour (well, du “weekend”) is really a fun little number!  As you may recall, I purchased three glitters from China Glaze recently, and though I had been planning on another color for this weekend, I thought one of them would be good to wear because a couple of my nails have been feeling kind of weak lately, and glitter’s good for reinforcement.

I decided on Nova (#832) over Atlantis for the simple reason that there have already been two swatches (that I know of) of the latter at Body and Soul (note the new address!) and at Dizzy Nails (whom I learned of through Inbal).

And here’s what I got:

 

 

Check out this fun little gem!

 

 

 

As you can see, this is a clear base packed with gorgeous (as Brooke would say) Glittah!  (A rare example of when a flash shot way out performs a sunshine shot!)  This large glitter really does have personality; it looks fiery orange, medium blue, grass green, bright yellow, or blood red, depending on how you rotate it.  Here are a few blurry shots that hopefully show off the colors.

 

 

 

This look was accomplished in using four coats.  I can tell you already I am not looking forward to the removal in a few days time, and not just because this is so fun to look at for once.  But for now, I say it’s kinda worth it!

As is true for most glitters in a clear base, there will be a few bald spots as you start polishing.  In fact, if you wanted to wear this as a top coat over another base color you certainly could – it’s somewhat dense, but not to the point where you couldn’t see the color underneath.  I bet this would look great over an inky blue.  Kind of like a heavy, thicker-glittered version of Starry Starry Night.  Mmmmmm.  Heavy, thicker-glittered version of Starry Starry Night. 

 

 

Er, um, ahem!

Anyhoo, it took me, as I said, about four coats to get it to where I didn’t see any little bald spots.  However, once I looked back at the photos, I saw them.  I’m sure you can see them easily in the shots above.  The good news is, there’s so much sparkling going on, it’s hard to notice! 

I put on one coat of Poshe, and when I felt my nails a little later, they still felt a bit bumpy.  Remembering  wixology’s comment on my post about Yello-Out, where she said that it can slightly brighten a shade, I decided to used that as my final coat:

 

 

 

Maybe it’s only psychological, but I do feel like there is an ever-so-slight additional “pop” to these now.

Another cool thing about glitters is that they are really, really, really easy to work with!  Whatever got slopped up onto my skin (which, as you can see from the first set of photos, isn’t a whole lot) came off within a few hours of just plain daily living.  And any bald areas that I found (which took a lot of up-close inspection, as it’s hard to see through all of those sparkles!), I simply covered up with an additional daub of polish.

I haven’t yet noticed any tipwear, but that would be remedied by the same method.  Anyone who has any doubts about their application skills should definitely go to glitters!

The other benefit to them, as I alluded to before, is that due to the nature of having all of these little stiff square bits in your polish helps make the whole nail become a little stiffer than might be normal for you.  And believe it or not, I have extremely weak nails.  Using various tricks of the trade has caused them to improve., but still it felt like time for some extra reinforcements.

The downside to glitters, though, is that they can be a major PITA to remove.  Using felt, I’ve been led to understand, makes things go a LOT smoother, but otherwise, you need a lot of patience, and a bit of elbow grease to get the dang things removed.  Be warned!

The other potential downside to these is THEY ARE ABOUT AS SUBTLE AS THIS!!!!!!  If you aren’t comfortable wearing, for example, neons, then these really wouldn’t be your cup of tea, with the possible exception of as a top coat, as I mentioned before.  These nails WILL get noticed, as I learned from the very first person I saw after I had it on, who wanted to know what it was I had on my nails.  (Believe it or not, that’s maybe only about the second or third time I’ve been asked that, and the first time from a person I didn’t know.)

Then there’s the term my friend used.  “Those are stripper nails!”  Nothing negative was meant by it, but all the same, that’s not an adjective I’m filing away for my own personal description of this varnish.

But, as I say, if you prefer subtle nails, this just ain’t the way to go.

For me, though, they’re fun, and because of them I’ve had ABBA songs running in my head for two days now.  I know for a lot of people out there that would be torture, but I came to love ABBA after first seeing what has since become one of my favorite movies, Muriel’s Wedding.  So while I think of “Dancing Queen” and “Super Troopers,” I think I’ll regale you with this snippet that includes “Waterloo.”

 

 

(“Stripper nails,” indeed.  Honestly!!)