Browns and golds and warm sparkly tones mark the start of fall. I always use browns this time of year to welcome falling leaves and warm mugs of hot chocolate. This chameleon tone wouldn’t look right any other season. Even though my nails are short, this color spends more time in the desired half and half; where the tips of the nails are the darker, colder tone and the nail beds are the lighter, warmer tone. I don’t know why this is is. It’s not like my fingers are suddenly warmer now in cold rooms. I’m left to forever wonder if the particular chemistry of this color makes the gel even more sensitive, or if the sensitivity is added because of the way I applied it. Mysteries!
Tag Archive: Nail polish
I chose an alternating neon green and orange because I felt like keeping up the bright colors. Time to shine brightly!
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Can you believe that all these pictures are from the same manicure? No, I can’t either. These chameleon nails changed so fast and so vividly it was unbelievable just to glance down at my nails. Take a look at some of the pics in the middle of the gallery- they show how quickly the color changes just when water splashes on them. I never knew a manicure would be so much fun. Yeah, the gels nails take a long time and I wish they lasted longer than the 1-2 weeks. There has to be a way I can get them to last 3 weeks, that would make the effort of the manicure and damage it does to my nails much more worth it. But still, this is too much fun not to do. This manicure is just the red chameleon over a clear a clear basecoat. I added several coats to get the white to show. I’m thinking I’d like to try this over a green basecoat for Christmas. I think that would be pretty fun.
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This chameleon gel nail polish set a new bar in the world of nail polish. I have always been drawn to polish that is more than just color. I tried my first color-changing polish in the year 1996. That polish changed when hit by UV light (sunlight). I remember it well. Even though I remember it fondly, it didn’t work very well. It only had a few changes before the color difference was negligible. Eventually it would change from silver to pale green. The next level in the color-changing experience was the Maui Girl color changing polish. The Maui Girl polish came in a pack of 6. Out of the 6, one bottle worked really well. The other changed from magenta to deep pink. Again, a change, but not much. Then along came this chameleon polish. I put it on my Christmas list a couple of years ago. I don’t have very many gel colors. Gel colors tend to be pricey, upwards of $20-$25 per bottle. I can’t justify that expense, but when I saw this pack of reasonably-priced chameleon colors I thought they would be fun.
This polish performs better than I could ever imagine. The coolest thing? The color changes FAST. It is sensitive to many temperature gradients, so I can watch it go from deep midnight to bright clue to pale blue to white in a matter of moments. Step outside, put your hand next to a heater, and the colors respond faster than a second. I can have warm hands in a cold room, and cold hands in a warm room- they are that sensitive! I can see how much colder my raynaud’s fingers are on any given moment. I can note a temperature difference between my thumbs and fingers based on how my hands are in my pockets. I’ve never seen anything so sensitive and responsive.
This polish was a breeze to apply. It went on smooth and wasn’t too thin or drippy. I was able to apply several thin coats quickly and cleanly.
On top of all that, this polish has lasting power. As I type this, I am on day 15 of wearing this polish and I only have 2 small chips. I got the chips from fumbling around trying to open a box about a week ago. I’ve been washing dishes, loading pallets, skiing, cooking food; al sorts of things that tend to kill nail polish, but nope, this stuff is solid.
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Summer is coming! It’s time for this year’s version of summer solstice nails!
This year I decided to depict a summer sky view, complete with puffy white clouds and a bright yellow sunshining sun. It came out looking reminiscent of The Simsons’ intro. Fun in the sun!
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I like to call this color blurple, because it’s half blue and half purple. What a fun two-tone effect. This actually isn’t one of my colors. It appeared in my polish collection, maybe someone left it at my house or something. Sally Hansen is definitely a low quality polish. It doesn’t last on the nail very long. You can see it starting already to peel away from the edges of my nail. Still it’s a fantastic color that I like a lot. 
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I decided to glitter up my nails for St. Patrick’s Day, and boy did I get lucky! My color choice ended up making the glitter looks like a field of clover. It doesn’t translate real well in photos, but every time I look at my nails, I expect to find little 4-leaf clovers lost in the design.
I started out with a light teal for the background color. For some reason, I tend to use golds and yellows to pair with my greens, and I grew tired of being mistaken for an Oregon Ducks Fan (I went to thier rival school- Oregon State. So this is a catestrophic problem!)
Then I added Jade green confetti glitter on top. The result is spectacular! I feel like I won a pot of gold! Have a happy day, everyone!
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They say breaking a mirror is 7 year’s bad luck. But what about making broken mirrors? Seems like pretty good luck to me.
About a year ago a dear friend showed me this nail style from another blog. it seemed simple, and extra fun. I have a long unrequited love for holographic nails, and this catches the light in a similar way.
You create the effect by first painting your nails black. Then you cut up tiny pieces of cellophane wrapping paper. This was the hardest part. I used a large part of scissors and the blades were bigger than most of the pieces I was trying to make. The cellophane was hard to see to begin with and stuck to the scissors and everything else it touched. the pieces were so small they were hard to pick up without folding. But the effect is amazing! Â They really draw attention to themselves by catching the light as my fingers move!
I would probably do this look a lot more except I am finding it doesn’t last. By the end if the first day, several pieces if the cellophane fell off it curled at the edges even though I sealed them on with two thick coats of my very classy CND super shiny top coat.
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I’m certain I’ve posted on this before, but I like it so much I had to post this fall’s replica. This is the famous Island Girl color changing polish from Hawaii. This blue tone changes only slightly, giving my nails a nice ombre effect when the long part of the nail extends farther and cooler than the nail part that’s on top of my finger.
I added a matte topcoat because this polish is matte on its own and I just love that look.
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Ghosts called me, begged me to be represented on my nails this Halloween. “Okay,” I said, “Why not?” It was only after I carefully applied white blobs over black nails with a paint brush did it occur to me that they might look more ghostlike if I used primary colors and made them the ghosts of PacMan fame. The White on black may have been just as effective had I tried to make Misfits-styled skulls on my nails. Needless to say, people got the Halloween-themed intention of my nails and one person even asked to take a picture of them!
On the Other Hand... 