HANDS, NAILS, ETC.

carl, you got a great picture! I don't have a phone/camera that will focus at that close a range, mine are always fuzzy. Will do Lechera's later, woo.

No one has ever taken this amount of care with my hands/nails -- not ever! I have only had 2 professional manicures in my life, but in orbit's was the most caring by far. We did the base part and now I am getting the glitz added today after we go grocery shopping.

I am totally sold on this nail business btw. Going to learn how to trim my cuticles at least.

aw :)

yay!

look, even someone with little shovel-shaped nails can have super fierce dagger lacquer!! thanks L!!!!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8219/8300689824_1c41b6119a.jpg

pretty!

Aw you have nails like me

I took my favourite red polish to do at my parents' and it's gone gloppy and horrible >:(

My pleasure! I spy a cup of coffee on that table. Jealous tbh.

they looked so pretty, but now i have jacked up my nails to the point of no return -- i'm afraid it's endtimes for this mani

also this

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/188ym7db6vgmejpg/xlarge.jpg

wow Jay-Z and Beyonce nails!!!

Who will be the first ilxor to sport the penis manicure.

the phrasing of that is amusing me greatly

Hahaha LL I saved that exact picture from the gawker post <3

My relatives went deliciously nuts with the nail polish, I got about 10 full size bottles and another 20 minis? No little Jay-z/Beyonce faces though. :( I also got a motorized nail shaper/buffer which I tried the other day & seems amazing. And a little hand dryer that doesn't inspire much confidence but is fun all the same.

My mom surprise-got me 3 E Lauder nail polishes under the guise of buying make-up for herself. I love my China Glaze but I have to say, the amount and intensity of the pigments in these is stupendous. I might be a convert to insanely expensive nail polish brands soon.

Trying out my new colours. My application technique leaves something to be desired... also I think it's the Seche base coat that is making some of my polishes go on weirdly :(

http://i49.tinypic.com/2mos753.jpg

I like that purple.

I bought some Seche Vite topcoat at in orbit's recommendation and I like it a lot better than the Sally Hansen combo base and topcoat I was using. It's shiny, it evens out the boundaries between different polish colors (I did black nails with sparkly red tips for NYE. And today since I haven't gotten around to taking it off yet) and my nails still look good today.

I'm thinking about buying an Esse base coat that was highly rated on MUA. We'll see if Target has it.

That was the royal "we." I'm going to Target with Old Bess.

I left my beloved Seche Vite behind so used an Essie fast-dry top coat for the manis I did on holiday but SV is a secret weapon in the war against imperfect paint jobs.

I'm glad it worked for you, carl.

If I don't wash a sinkful of dishes or put my hands in sand or corn meal or scrape at things with my nails, Seche Vite manicures usually last around 3 days in perfect-or-really-good shape and addl days with just a little wear. Also when it starts to chip it tends to come off in rly big pieces bc the top coat holds it together.

If I love a mani and don't have time to re-do, I spot-fix with the base color and then put another layer of SV over the fix to even out the lines, like carl said.

Also when it starts to chip it tends to come off in rly big pieces bc the top coat holds it together.

yup
also when a nail got ruined like that, i just removed the fancy polish and then painted it black until i only had pinkies left with the fancy design (because who uses pinkies to actually do anything?)
is that gauche? i thought it looked alright.

I think "accent nails" are all the rage these days so you're good.

I think it sounds mad stylish plus my heart is warmed that our little project has survived so long.

I just attempted my first fancy paint job and I have two things:
* electrical tape works just as well as masking tape
* making triangles look even and consistent is not as easy as it looks.

I got better toward the end of the 2nd hand but yikes, there's some mess in there.

Still, not as difficult as I expected, which is good for a first try. But there's no chance I'm going to get good at this, that's for sure.

Triangles are the devil, also how many times did I say how much easier they were on another person? A lot. A lot of times.

I can see how this could be fun, that's for sure! You should do little video tutorials for the ILS blog.

Funny, I did chevrons last night! I was lazy & didn't want to wait for the base layer to dry enough for tape, so I free handed it. Turned out well but a little shaky. Annoyingly, I bought myself a beautiful blue Essie polish & that's what I used for a second layer.. what watery, lumpy crap! Just smeared a bit when I put too coat on too, 12 hours later.. sticking to cheap Sally Hansen bottles from now on.

I had a dream last night that LL came over and we compared our nail polish collections.

Anybody tried Zora brand? I bought their black polish to replace the streaky, cruddy Essie polish I had bc it turns out, I wear a lot of black nail polish. I haven't used it yet, though.

Zora gets high marks from nail art blogs! Tell us how you find it to be when you get around to it?

Working from home Monday so probably then. Excited, tbh.

I'm going to attempt black and coral and silver explosions. Wish me luck. :/

And, you know...pray.

New experiment (that explosion one was a failure/never happened, btw).

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Bobbles.jpg

I was ripping off a design from online in which the person had longer nails. Not sure the white branches translate as well short, think in future I'll make it graphically simpler. But it's fun for now.

I think that's my favorite orbit mani yet!

When I am in NYC will you do my nails??? I am envious of LL and it will inspire me to take care of my cuticles.

that looks awesome, l!!
winter is a good time to do nails because it's one of the only areas of exposed skin

It makes me keep my dry awful cuticles in shape, too.

io, that looks great!

Thanks! I'm going to a show tonight, will twiddle my fingers a lot unnecessarily to show them off. q, of course I'll paint your nails if you want, if we can find a time! Sometimes when I finish my own I'm sad to be done already because I have more ideas to try, come on over.

I think LL is onto something about winter being nail time--in summer they're wet and in the sun and sand all the time (well, mine are) and a mani would be p much toast. And you get to have a visible body in the summer and wear light clothes, so there are other ways to feel luxurious and do something for your senses. Winter is a time that needs more color and calls for a little more formality and a harder outer shell to go with fighting the elements. We'll see how long I stay obsessed.

I tend to have painted nails in the winter, and painted toenails in the summer.

i read somewhere on pinterest that pam non-stick spray INSTANTLY dries nail polish, so i gave it a try tonight - i would say it works about 90%

I am pretty sure this is my personal favorite paint job of any I've done:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Manipulative/Electronicladybug.jpg

Cute!

Thx! The pink is really coral-y. I don't know, I just love it.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/17f6a57e5c0712737f34cf94a10b6cc6/tumblr_mh9lhdQglE1rlbyzno1_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/fe4bca107a26573b5c0c473c37c5fd2d/tumblr_mh9li8Oozj1rlbyzno1_500.jpg

both ads are from 1965 if this tumblr is to be trusted

nail art brush set for $6 and free shipping!

Those look good! I hope their quality is better than my brushes, some of which have disintegrated from the repeated lashings of acetone, and some of which aren't the right size and shape for details or small lines. I have to go to an art supply store and pick out more specialized ones, but that's okay. Use them in good health and have fun!

I tried a complicated color combination today...didn't like it. Tried a different polka-dot pattern on each finger...didn't like it. Ended up with this, which is same old-same old for me but what can I say--I LOVE IT.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Manipulative/Explosive_zps930ca219.jpg

That is a truly obnoxious orange, btw. Not red, as it may appear.

I got bored.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Manipulative/Multi_zps4547da23.jpg