Good morning, Dear Reader! I have loads and loads of pictures for you today.
The first batch isn't so chipper, so feel free to skip to the Blingtastic part - you'll know it when you see it. Yesterday, I got the word that my Uncle Bud, my mom's last remaining brother, passed away late Monday. I decided to do a mourning mani for him, which mad me feel a little better. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing I've ever done, so I left out the details of the plate numbers, as I doubt any of you will want to duplicate my Uncle Bud mani. I did use my blackest black, which I haven't shown to you yet, and that's the bottle in the picture - Lippmann Collection's Fade to Black.
Uncle Bud was a sailor in the Navy during WWII, so I used a bubble pattern for water. Once he was home and married, he dedicated his life to breeding and showing champion German Shepherds - he was one of those breeders who bred out the defects, bred in personality, and basically covered the costs of his travel and raising the dogs with the proceeds of his hobby, so I added a puppy to it. Since his nickname was Bud, I did rosebuds for the tips.
Before I show you the mani on the depressing note of his death, I thought I'd partake of the Irish way of mourning: telling funny stories about the deceased. I think of two for my uncle, and will give you a little background for the stories...
My grandparents were Irish immigrants, and at the time of their childhood in Ireland, the poor only got to go to school through the third grade, so neither had too much education. They had eleven children, with two sets of twins and one single dying in infancy, leaving six remaining. My grandfather died when my mom was five, which left my grandmother to support herself and her six kids as a cleaning lady during The Depression. My mom was the youngest, with Bud being five years older, so he got stuck taking care of her a lot of the time. One of my mom's favorite stories, which she must have told me a hundred times (killing herself laughing every single time), was that it was Bud's job to walk her home in the summer evenings when she was small. He'd hold her hand and take her most of the way home as he was supposed to, then he'd look at her and say, "It's a nice night for a m-u-u-u-urd-e-e-r..." and run away. She'd go screaming after him every time, which only encourage him to do it! Another was of him being a good twelve-year-old, with a desire to help out his overworked mom. He came hime from school and noticed that the kitchen floor needed to be waxed, so he waxed it with the shiniest thing he could find - bacon grease! That was my Uncle Bud. On that happier note, here's the mani...
On to the blingtasm! I tried out Nfu-Oh 66 this morning, and pictures don't show quite how fantastically holo-y this one is, but I'll try. For a base coat on mega-holos, I've had the most success using something slightly sticky, so I used Sally Hansen Insta Grip. I let the first coat dry for a minute or two, apply the second coat, and let that dry for another two minutes before applying top coat. When the top coat goes on, it seems to dull the blingyness of the polish, but not to worry - as it dries, the full effect of the holo returns.
Check out the bottle - the Nfu-Oh bottles are amazing! Here's a little look at the front, the back, and the top.
Every single detail of them is ornate and perfect - I just love them!
Nfu-Oh #66 was not the end of my mani today, though. One thing I like a lot with mega-holos is an all-over Konad pattern in a non-holo polish. That, for me, accentuates the blingtastic goodness of the base polish. I used a swirly pattern from plate M63 that gives the effect of water marbling without the mess, using SpaRitual Surreal to compliment the green of #66. Here she is!
I'm pretty dang pleased with it. It's not my most perfect application ever, but washing my hair will make the little bits on the skin go away, so I'm not concerned about them.
That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!
