Friday, July 6, 2012

NOTD: Playing with Galaxy Girl

This is a nail polish combination I wore about a week ago, and I can't get it out of my head... I might just do it again, or at least a close variation on it!

Can you believe that Galaxy Girl is the only Orly polish that I have? This is unforgivable, and it's definitely something I need to work on rectifying... They come out with some really amazingly beautiful and unique colors, and I don't even have a good excuse as to why I don't own more of their polishes. At any rate, when I first got it, I wasn't crazy about the way the color looks on me; sort of like a bruise. However, it's been growing on me, and I recently played around with layering it... boy, does it glow with a base color underneath! For this manicure, I used three polishes. My base was OPI Number One Nemesis, a very sparkly gunmetal. I put Galaxy Girl on top of that, which is sheer enough that the sparkles of Number One Nemesis show through, but dark enough that Galaxy Girl's color dominates. Finally, I added a layer of Icing's Pampered and Primped, an incredibly sheer orchid with angular pieces of mylar suspended in it that flash blue and peach.

OPI Number One Nemesis, Orly Galaxy Girl, Icing Pampered and Primped 

Ugh, I know, I know, I need to get back into the habit of cleaning up my manicures... This is embarrassing, but I dropped my clean-up brush into my bottle of acetone! And it started melting! I need to remember where I put my backup brush...

Indoor light
 If you enlarge this next photo, you can see the effect of Number One Nemesis peeking out from underneath Galaxy Girl. I really like the bigger pieces of shimmer of Number One Nemesis layered beneath the fine shimmer of Galaxy Girl, it's really lovely!

Natural light
I love layering glitters and shimmers... So much fun! I am still really bad at jelly sandwiches (I experimented a bit last night, might have made one work!), but layering is so easy and so satisfying. Now, if only I could find my clean-up brush so it doesn't look like a five year old painted my nails...

What layers do you guys like on your nails? Do you have more manual dexterity than a child? I sure don't. Any clean-up tips? (Other than pouring your acetone into a small dish so you don't lose your brush in your industrial-sized acetone bottle... Figured that one out on my own. Gotta break a few eggs, right?)

22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Isn't it!? I am a sucker for sparkly...

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  2. This mani is awesome! I love layering polishes too! I can't believe Galaxy Girl is your only Orly polish!? Luckily it is such a beautiful one!

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    1. I know, I keep thinking I must have at least one or two others... But no!

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  3. I love galaxy...I want it!!! I am still learning to clean up. I use an Eco Tools angle brush, however, I am a bottle dipper so the bristles are just falling out like mad. Nothing worse then cleaning up a passable manicure and having a clump of brush fall out all over it. I love the brush though, keeps shape and creates a narrow channel around the nail. I am too chicken to pour out acetone. I am so afraid of spilling it or it eating through my pipes.

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    1. I was using an itsy-bitsy E.L.F. concealer brush, which had the virtue of being cheap, but as small as it was, it was hard to get a crisp line around my nail... Maybe I should try an angled brush next time I have to buy a replacement. But yeah, the acetone really does a number on the brush, I go through them about once a month. At $1 a pop it's not too bad, but I wish I could find a more permanent solution. I'm terrified of acetone, too! My boyfriend knocked over a nail polish bottle onto our stone floor and I had to use acetone on the travertine to clean up the lacquer... ooh boy, was I nervous!

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  4. I really like the final result!
    I have LESS manual dexterity than a child, so I alway go for one color :)

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    1. Haha, how funny! I swear I've gotten better at applying polish in the last couple of years... Practice makes closer-to-perfect, I just haven't nailed it yet!

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  5. This is such a lovely combo! How was the removal process?

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    1. Surprisingly easy! I usually find flakies awful to remove (it's like they trap the polish underneath them and the acetone can't get through...), but this was really reasonable; I let my acetone-soaked piece of felt sit on the nail for 4-5 seconds and then most of it wiped off. I had to go back and work on a couple of stubborn spots, but it wasn't bad.

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  6. i really like scrubbing my nails with a nail brush and a tiny pump of soap after removing nail polish and before painting. i find it gets any dead skin but it also feels really soft. :)

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    1. That's a good tip for people who have difficulty with the removal process!

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  7. Galaxy Girl is such an interesting color! I love it with the bits of flakie on top :)

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    1. It's really pretty, very fun to layer with :)

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  8. Definitely a cool intergalactic look!! :-)

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    1. I think so, too! It kind of reminds me of outer space...

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  9. This is so pretty! I never thought to layer shimmer and glitter polishes before but that's a great idea!

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    1. With the right polishes, it can be a really neat effect!

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  10. Oooh, this is a very unique combo! Yeah, I don't have much for manual dexterity either, any nail polish job I do looks frightening until I get it cleaned up and even then....

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    1. Haha, maybe I should have more shame about my poor nail-painting skills... Oh well.

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