Katniss, Girl on Fire: Hunger Games Midnight Release Mani

Edited to add sun pictures.

After re-reading the Hunger Games in the last couple of days, I was reminded that Katniss herself had her nails done for the interview directly preceding the beginning of the Games. In the book, Katniss says Cinna's team decorates her by "painting flame designs on [her] twenty perfect nails." So of course, I had to do a flame design.

(sun)

(sun)

(artificial light)

For a background, I used Orly Iron Butterfly. I wanted it to look a bit like smoke and ashes as well as being representative of District 12's coal industry. It's an easy one-coater matte black with silver shimmer, and it resembles China Glaze Stone Cold from the Colors from the Capitol collection.

(artificial light)

I wanted a flame design but I wanted it to look a little more natural than the typical hot rod flames. So I opted to paint the flames right over the charcoal instead of using a more opaque base. I started by freehanding the flame design in China Glaze Riveting, a red-orange glass fleck.  At first I'd planned the flames coming up my nails from the tip, but decided since Katniss was the girl on fire, the flames should be coming from her nails instead.

(indirect sunlight)

After doing all the red, I used Zoya Tanzy to fill in all the flames, leaving a bit of a red outline around the edges. I went over it twice to make it a little more opaque.

(indirect sunlight)

Lastly, I added some Milani Gold Glitz to the base of each flame (at the cuticle), to make it fully opaque and add a little bit of extra sparkle. It also toned down the fire to a bronzey-gold. Again, I didn't want bright hot rod flames, but more natural coppery flames.

(indirect sunlight)

I tried so many "versions" of flames (including the "hot rod type" which were made by painting black over the flames instead of the flames on the charcoal), but these actually came out exactly how I wanted them to.  I had a heck of a time trying to get pictures of these in natural light because the glare wanted to wipe out the flame shapes.

I won't lie, these were NOT easy, and it took a LONG time. But the result made it all worth it to me. I feel like the Girl on Fire.

Some Manglaze Swatches and Review

After reading so many good reviews and seeing awesome swatches of ManGlaze nail polishes, I figured I should try some of them!

First of all, can we talk about how AWESOME the names are of these polishes?? They all go right along with the attitude of the company, which is straight-forward, brutally honest, and not in the least bit "work safe." And yet because of their antics ("If we don't hear from you, we will assume we sucked ass" on the receipt), they are incredibly likable. I'm not one to throw obscenities into my daily speech, and I think it's for that very reason that I can truly appreciate how amazing it is to have a polish named something as perfect as "Fuck Off and Dye." I suppose my blog may get a "mature filter" for that statement, but oh well, SOPA is going to censor the internet anyway, right? (Holy gooses, I hope not... please sign Google's petition here if you haven't yet!)

Manglaze - Mayonnaise

ManGlaze - Mayonnaise (with top coat)

Mayonnaise was really the reason I wanted to try ManGlaze. Gotta love the name, and the color is awesome too! I have a couple shimmery whites, but this is the only matte one, and also the only one that is an off white instead of stark, bright white. It's as wonderful as I'd hoped, though it took three coats instead of two.

ManGlaze - Fuggen Ugly

ManGlaze - Fuggen Ugly (with top coat)

This is one I threw in to the order just because it was on sale... and it ended up being my favorite of them all. Not only does it look so drab chic matte, but it turns out to be a stunningly edgy gunmetal shimmer with a top coat. I don't know which I like better! Two easy coats.

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder (with top coat)

And last is their matte black shimmer: Matte is Murder. This is one of the blackest mattes I've seen, although with a top coat it becomes a lovely charcoal shimmer that has amazing depth. Could be my new favorite black shimmer. Two coats and super easy to apply!

All of these can be bought directly from ManGlaze on their website, or from their Amazon store or Facebook store (all three link can be found here).  Fuggen Ugly and Matte is Murder are still on sale for $6.66 as of this post!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 4 - Red and Green Matte

Time for the fourth holiday manicure of the season!  Remember to check out all of Sammy's here - she has more intricate nail art ones than I do, and they are AWESOME!

Some people say the "every other finger" type of manicure is one you'd do only as a kid, but I love the combination of red and green too much and had to try it with my Zoya Matte polishes.

 Zoya Veruschka and Zoya Posh

Simple, but pretty, I think.  I love these two matte colors, and together it's just the epitome of Christmas.  both are really rich and deep, and I think the matte finish tones down the tacky "alternating colors" manicure.

For a twist, I decided to put some shiny French tips on with my Zoya Armour top coat.  It's not quite as shiny as some of my quick dry polishes, so I would probably use one of those next time I tried this.  Also, I would have liked the tips to be skinnier.

Btw, I forgot to mention that the reason I hadn't posted in a week was because I was in Hawaii!  I'd never been there before, and it was a blast!  However, while we were there, it just didn't feel like the Christmas season, so I'm glad to be back and feeling the holidays once more.  Anyway, I'm going to be playing catch-up a little more to get my 12 holiday manicures by Christmas!

Orly Au Champagne and Little Bird

This was really the only one from Orly's winter collection that I really wanted. I love white polish that looks like snow, and from swatches I could tell this one fit perfectly. Here it is at three thin coats with not top coat. Notice how it dries to a satin-matte finish. Beautiful!

Orly - Au Champagne

I loved how it looked with the satin finish, but because I had stuff to get done, I needed it to dry quickly so I put a coat of Seche Vite on top of it. Here is how it looks shiny:

I really don't know which way I prefer. It's gorgeous both ways! In a day or two I'll probably end up putting China Glaze Snow Globe over it.

And here is a bonus picture of another pet: my little feather-baby named simply Little Bird or LB for short. I took this picture because I thought it was a hoot that Neiman Marcus sent one little bottle of nail polish (Nars Purple Rain) in this big ol' box.  LB is extremely curious (doesn't he look like he's reading the label?  haha) and destructive, so most likely he tore right into the box shortly after this picture.

Little Bird (white-bellied Caique)

Hawaiian Color Matte and Blitzen

Of course, because everyone loves China Glaze Fortune Teller mattified, I had to try it with Hawaiian Color as well, and here it is! I just hate how matte topcoats make the polish cloudy instead of just matte. This is China Glaze Matte Magic, but I think I'm going to go looking for Essie Matte About You because it looks like it may be a little better.

China Glaze Matte Magic over Island Girl Hawaiian Color and China Glaze Liquid Leather

NOTE:  Seche Vite's shrinkage drives me nuts... but it's the only one I've found that REALLY dries my polish in minutes.  As in, I took two rambunctious German shepherds to puppy school RIGHT after finishing my nails once and didn't get a single ding!

Oh speaking of, here's a bonus pic of my little white shepherd boy, Blitzen.  I adopted him from the White German Shepherd Rescue here in Phoenix last November and I consider us to be each others' Christmas present last year.

 Blitzen (White German Shepherd)

Isn't he smiley?  He's ALWAYS smiling, where my little girl dog always has sad puppy dog eyes.  It may not show in the picture, but this guy has a HUGE HONKER.  It's a diabolical nose that knocks over anything and everything.  Also, he's the shedding-est dog EVER, and I wouldn't give him up for anything in the world.

Black Comparison and a New Way of Mattify-ing

I love black nail polish... I don't know what it is, but it looks so classy in an edgy sort of way, and I just love it. So here are two of my black polishes swatched normally with not top coat, just glossy all on their own. On my index and middle is Orly Liquid Vinyl, and on my ring and pinky is China Glaze Liquid Leather.


The Orly is more pitch black than the ChG, which is much more of a charcoal jelly that builds to a black in two coats. Honestly, I CAN tell the difference in person, but I doubt anyone else would notice. The ChG looks deeper, like you're looking into a black pool, while the Orly is darker and looks more like a shiny black surface like patent leather or vinyl.

Now here is my new way of mattify-ing polishes. Honestly, I never got into the matte trend much, but I like it sometimes. Usually I'll take an existing color and use ChG Matte Magic over it, but I hate how it always seems to lighten the color or make it cloudy looking. I got this new buffing block that feels like the buffing surface is just the foam, and not a separate piece of "sandpaper" like on some. I just lightly buffed the topcoat (in this case, Seche Vite) once it had dried in long sweeping motions. Here is the result:


I REALLY like how it comes out. Yeah, it doesn't come out too matte - more like a satin finish, but I think I prefer that anyway - and it shows a bit of buffing stroke lines, but the best part is the lack of cloudiness! I've been considering getting Illamasqua Scorn because of how gorgeously dark it is for being a matte (or satin) black, but I may have found a new way to satisfy the craving.

Here is a picture of the buffing block I used:



What do you think of this way of mattify-ing a polish? Have you ever tried it before? Do you have a favorite matte topcoat?

Lincoln Park After Dark and Nfu-Oh 49 Matte

So for today, I figured I'd give the matte version a shot, even though the manicure is getting a little ragged at this point. I used China Glaze Matte Magic.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark w/ Nfu-Oh 49 and China Glaze Matte Magic

I really like the matte version! It looks even more like fall leaves! What do you think? Matte or shiny??