Floral Funky French

Say that five times fast, I dare ya. Alliterations are never not-fun. Except maybe painful penis puncture, that one makes me cringe. 

BUT I DIGRESS. 

I'm going to be honest with you guys, I'm not feeling this mani much. I don't know if it's too classic and simple for my tastes or what. I didn't have much ease with the actual process - I was impatient - and maybe that frustration turned me off? It's just SO GIRLY.

What do you think? Do you dig the classic french manicure? 

I used Essie Ballet Slippers and Essie Blanc for the french base and the flowers are Essie Watermelon and L'Oreal Boozy Brunch with Revlon Spanish Moss leaves. 

I originally tried Revlon Red for the roses, but it was so hungry, it just overtook the white I needed to swirl the flowers. It also sucked up my top coat like a vacuum. Some of the pink flowers are Revlon Red and some are Watermelon. I honestly can't tell the difference. 

You're My Satellite

I have something very exciting to show you today! 

I don't even know how to introduce it to you guys, so I'll let it speak for itself.

I can't get over the shimmer. Isn't it a beautiful blue?

Well, I made it! 

You're My Satellite is my very first franken! It's a deep cobalt color with a subtle teal shimmer. I made it using old, crushed eye shadow and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails clear. It's pretty sheer, even after I darkened it with black. Pictured is four coats, though three brought it to opacity. 

The color reminds me of a night sky. I think it'd be great for a galaxy nails base. The name is a lyric from a Guster song, and I think if you have a listen, you'll know why I chose it.

What do you think of my first franken polish? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know!

Boozy Brunch

No, I'm not drinking and blogging at noon. Boozy Brunch is the color I have for you today! The name cracks me up. It may or may not have played a hand in my buying it.

This is my first real swatch and review, so feel free to leave a comment and tell me how I did with it.

Ahh! There's a hair on my ring finger. Can you see it? Drives me crazy!

L'Oreal Boozy Brunch is a super bright orange creme with a slight coral tint. It's really pigmented - might have been a one coater, but the formula was slightly off. I don't know if it needs thinning or thickening. I had a few bald spots and a uneven patches. Shown is three coats and topcoat, not for opacity but for evenness. The problem isn't the brush, as my L'Oreal Violet Vixen is a dream to apply. Over all, I think it's a great color to use in nail art. Dotting, stamping, striping, anything of that sort. It would also make great underwear for glitter or shatter, but I wouldn't suggest wearing it as an overall even color, unless you try it over a white base. 

With my very first review out of the way, I want to share with you some exciting upcomings for Rejoice!

First, you might notice something new at the top of the blog. I added pages! I plan on adding more as time goes on, tutorials and perhaps an about me. 

If you click on the challenges page, you'll see that I will soon be participating in the 31 Day Challenge. This will start with the beginning of March and I've already got a ton of ideas.

I've been checking out a lot of franken blogs recently and I'm getting so inspired. As soon as I get some empty bottles, you can expect a lot of franken polishes and you can also expect a franken giveaway! 

And speaking of giveaways, Lacquered Lover is having a giveaway right now that I think everyone should know about. It's a Manglaze and Lacquered Lover Giveaway! Manglaze is my biggest lemming, at the moment. They're beautiful, high quality matte polishes, so check that out.

And don't forget to enter the Chalkboard Nails Dotting Tool Contest! 

Dotting Tool Contest Entry

I have never been more excited to share a manicure with everyone! 

To be honest, I drew up this design in photoshop before I started and I was worried. I got myself thinking that the mix of techniques were too much and the idea wasn't cohesive. But I went ahead with it and I am so glad I did, because this is my favorite, by far.

As I mentioned in a separate post, this is my entry for the Chalkboard Nails Dotting Tool Contest, where the rules are essentially create your art using only dotting tools. For this design, I free handed the yellow half-moon shape and everything else was applied with a dotting tool. 

I used Essie Blanc, LA Colors Black, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening, L'Oreal Violet Vixen, Essie Watermelon, and Revlon Minted. 

Violet Vixen and Versatile Blogger Award

Today's post is brought to you by the letter V!

For this simple taping mani, I used L'Oreal Violet Vixen and Revlon Scandalous - two colors from my Valentine's Day haul. 

Here's a better shot of Scandalous.

Scandalous is a violet micro and hex glitter suspended in, wait for it.... black jelly! It may not sound too exciting, but when I first swatched it, it was over black, so applying it over this violet was a big surprise.

I am digging this color combination! 

I'm also digging the ladies at Miss Vee's Nails and Pretty Polished Pointers for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you guys! It seriously means so much to me.

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.

2. Inform the bloggers of their nomination.

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

5. Add the Versatile Blogger award picture to your blog post.

I'm sort of breaking the rules on number one because I'm not following a lot of blogs just yet, some of the people I'm following haven't updated for months, and some of the blogs are giant and have probably seen this award a thousand times. Instead, I'm going to tag seven people, because hey, symmetry with rule number three. Everyone not tagged can be found in my blog roll, so check them out as well.

1. The Polished Perfectionist

2. Mad Manis

3. Just Add Polish

4. Polish All The Nails!

5. The Nail Network

6. The Acetone Heathen

7. Careless Cooking

1. I have two cats, both named after Batman villains - Ivy and Selina. Selina is the kitten pictured below.

2. I have four tattoos, three of which were inspired by books.

3. I'm a Hufflepuff.

4. I am on my schools forensics team and it all but consumes my life.

5. The name of my blog came from this song.

6. I'm a big Marvel fan.

7. My nail polish obsession started thanks to the ladies (and occasional gentlemen) over at Reddit Lacqueristas.

The Formalities Post

You know what I'm talking about, most blogs have them. The ones that are all talk and no pictures, usually explaining a random occurrence - an absence, an issue with email or the like. This is one of those things and I apologize in advance. 

I'm sorry for my week long vanishing act. My SO and I went on a big, ol' cleaning spree (which isn't exactly finished yet.. bedroom, here's looking at you) and between dishes and lifting random boxes of junk, my nails where in the line of chipping fire. So I haven't had a lot to share with you all. 

That being said, I do have a lot to look forward to! I still have the Versatile Blog award to share and the awesome polish I'm wearing now. That will be posted tomorrow, pinkie promise. I got two new polishes yesterday, one of which I'm very excited to swatch for you guys. I also plan to enter Chalkboard Nails' Dotting Tool Nail Art Contest and you should too! And finally, I went out and got this awesome holo foam board so I can make my own nail polish rack. 

Look for all that and be really excited, because I totally am! 

Here's a picture of my cat trying to get me to play with her instead of photographing my nails.

What is it with bloggers and cats?

Celebrating My First Haul with Shine Of The Times

Here it is, my first haul!

Just look at it. What a beaut. It pretty much doubled my collection, which sort of saddens me, but twenty three polishes (as of yet) makes an excellent jumping off point. 

The Revlons I got at K-Mart in a buy one, get 50% off special. Talking to other polish lovers on Reddit Laqueristas, I hear this is happening in a lot of different chain stores, so you might want to check that out.

Click to enlarge and read the color names. 

I was so excited to try out these new polishes, I spent the better part of my Tuesday swatching each one on a different finger. I tried for hours on  Tuesday and even a while on Wednesday to get a good picture of the random swatching. I'd always end up with one problem nail that wouldn't photograph right, be it out of focus or colored wrong. I quickly (or not quick enough) came to the realization that I need to do this the long way and swatch them one at a time. 

And where better to start than my biggest lemming? I've wanted Shine of the Times since I first saw it. The opal feel just blew me away. And seeing a picture vs. seeing it in person? It's a thousand times more beautiful.

My skin is a little discolored in the last picture, but I thought is showed the shine quite nicely.
This is one, albeit thick, coat of SOTT over two coats of Sephora OPI Frankly, I Don't Give A-Damn, topped off with one coat of SV.

In other news, I was nominated for my first award by Miss Vee's Nails, which I super appreciate! And I will be spreading that love tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that. 

My Heart-less, Pink-less Valentine's Day Mani

Wait, what? How can you have a Valentine's Day Mani without pinks or reds or hearts or kisses?

Well, dear readers, it's easy!

My boyfriend and I celebrated yesterday by travelling to a nearby city, going shopping, eating dinner, and seeing Star Wars in 3D. I originally had a cute little green dress picked out, but for the first time all year, yesterday decided to be super snowy. I improvised with a green shirt, a vest, skinny jeans, and gold boots. 

Instead of devoting my mani to all things love and kisses, I wanted to commemorate our celebration. 

Here's what I came up with.

A funky french galaxy mani!

For this set of pictures, I played with a new photography set-up, trying to find what looks best. These were taken using two points of artificial light and an overhead wash from the ceiling fan. The colors are more true-to-bottle now, where as natural light made them a little washed out and dusty-looking. I'm still playing, though, so bear with me.

Here's a shot of just the galaxy nails, pre-cleanup, before I knew how I wanted to add the green. Below is my set up.

I'm going to try to list the colors used from memory, because the kitten in my lap is keeping me from getting up to check. 

From left to right and in order of application: LA Colors black, Revlon Blue Slate, NYC Times Square, NYC Starry Silver Glitter, Revlon Sunshine Sparkle, and Essie Blanc.

Not pictured is Revlon Spanish Moss for the french tips. 

In other news, yesterday in my Valentine's Day outing, I picked up ten new polishes, which I am SUPER excited to swatch and photograph for you all as soon as this post is up.

May your holiday be filled with love, cuddles, and nail polish!

Not-That-Ugly Sweater Mani

I can't wait to share my first dotting manicure with you. Well, really, it's my second. I tried out something else, decided it didn't look right and took it off. But this is the first that I'm going to share with you, technicalities aside.

I've been browsing a lot of other nail blogs and tumblrs recently, looking for inspiration. Browsing led me to this wonderful picture.

Dan and a fun print? That has to happen, I thought to myself. 

After about an hour on photoshop, this is what I came up with. Originally, I just had the idea of using the sweater print as an accent nail, but I just can't ignore the wearer. I mean, look at that face.

I know what you're thinking, "Taylor, there's no dotting in your dotting tool experiment!" And, well, you're right. Dotting tool, drawing tool, same thing.

And for fun, here is the art on my right hand. Though I've always tried to teach myself to be ambidextrous, I'm far from it. 

The colors I used are Revlon Sunshine Sparkle, Essie Blanc, Revlon Spanish Moss, Revlon Blue Slate, and my LA Colors black.

If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to do a tutorial for the ugly sweater nail. 

A New Sort of Rockabilly

MY DOTTING TOOLS CAME EARLY!

I was so excited, I had to run (metaphorically) right over and tell my few, but very appreciated followers. Though, silly me, I forgot to grab nail polish remover while I was at the store last night, so I can't play just yet.

Here's another B.B. mani, my own personal spin on Rockabilly (aka I don't know when to stop)

It was just going to be the pink and the leopard accent nail, but that wasn't enough, so I added the thumb spot. That sat for a few hours before I decided it STILL wasn't enough, and that's when the flat half moons came in.

The colors used were Essie Watermelon and Sephora OPI's Frankly, I Don't Give A-Damn.

If you check back in later today, I will post the product of my dotting tools experiment. The only question is if I should get started on my Not-So-Valentine's Day mani or try another design between here and Monday... Choices, choices.

Glitter Gray-dient

I just ordered my first set of dotting tools! They'll be here on Saturday. (Amazon Prime, I love you.) I'm just super excited. It's not rational, but I feel like ordering these tools takes my silly little time-passer and makes it a serious hobby. Blogging, dotting tools, I am on my way!

Anyways, to celebrate, here's a mani dated B.B. (before blog)

I used Sephora OPI's Frankly, I Don't Give A-Damn (one of my favorites) and NYC's Starry Silver Glitter, which will probably make an appearance in my Valentine's mani, so keep an eye out for that!

Berserker Mani and welcome to the world of blogging!

After a quick introduction - hello, I'm Taylor and I'm very excited to be starting my own nail blog! - I'd like to jump right into it and get started. 

As an outlet for my creativity and free time, I'm hoping for this blog to be about eighty percent nail art and twenty percent swatching and reviewing. Before I show you the fruits of my labor with this first mani, I'd like to give a quick review of the major colors used. 

Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue and Lightening.

For four dollars at Walmart, I wasn't expecting too much, but I really love the formula for these polishes. They're both really pigmented and it actually took one coat to get them opaque. The yellow was a little streaky, but if you use a heavy coat, it isn't a problem. I actually recommend using one coat, because the way the brush is shaped caused cuticle drag. While I loved the formula, the brush left much to be desired.

As you can see, the wand of the brush is thick and flat. This makes it impossible to get any excess paint off by running it across the rim, as you would a cylindrical wand. You'd have to wipe the brush completely clean and work with what was on the wand if you wanted to apply the polish smoothly. Even after that, I still managed to flood my cuticles. 

In the end, the awesome formula and the bad brush sort of cancel each other out. It's not enough to deter me from using the product, but I may seek out another cap for the bottle. 

That being said, the colors were perfect for a mani that I've had in mind for a long time. 

As I was reading over recent issues of Wolverine & The X-Men, inspiration just jumped out and sort of clawed me in the face. (clawed? like Wolverine? ....no? ok) I promptly ran to my computer, looked up Wolvie's iconic yellow costume, and drew out this design. 

Here is the finished product.

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Brisk Blue and Lightening (pictured above), OPI DS Radiance (silver), and a nameless L.A. Colors black.

If anyone told you I was over-ambitious... well, they'd be right. I wasn't expecting a simple taped/free-handed color blocking manicure would be so hard or take so long. I spent hours working on this last night. But the more you put into it, the more you get out, yeah? I really do love it. 

I appreciate you checking out my blog! Check back for more possibly-nerd-inspired manicures.