Still loving the June SquareHue SoBe Collection. You can see swatches at The Silver Nail, and see the art I did with the first color here on Formulated Phrase. The second color I used was Ocean Drive.
2nd color: Ocean Drive and Yellow Submarine
My first video game console was an Atari, and my cousins used to play the Smurfs game on it all the time. My one cousin lived with us for a few years when I was in grade school, and after we were supposed to be in bed, he would sneak into my room to play Ninja Gaiden on my Nintendo. My ex-boyfriend put Final Fantasy VII on my computer when he was rebuilding it before I went to college, and I got hooked. Another ex-boyfriend let me essentially crash in his dorm so I could play FFVIII on his PlayStation. Becca and I met through our love of Final Fantasy XII. And in tutoring a student on Brave New World this week, I explained that the Cyprus Experiment was an example of “we do what we must because we can” (the kid totally appreciated the reference).
I’m not a huge gamer, but I love the ones I’ve played. One of my favorites is Nintendo’s flagship RPG, The Legend of Zelda.
May’s SquareHue was a huge disappointment for me: three shades of pink, a color I hate. One a neon, which is tough to work with, one a frost, which is a finish I dislike, and one a creme, which is the only one I kept. So I was nervous about June’s SoBe (South Beach) collection.
I got it (and, like, four other nail polish packages — I have a problem!) earlier this week, and was deliriously happy when I opened the box and saw three colors I loved. The Silver Nail swatched it fast (she’s got great swatches of a variety of polishes on her site, along with breaking polish news like new collection press releases), so I thought instead of swatching it like I did with the Bloom Collection, I’d show some nail art I do with each color.
1st color: Lincoln Road
Episode 9 of each Game of Thrones season is the most powerful one, and this week was no exception. As book readers, Becca and I knew what was coming, so we coordinated our manicures to match.
I didn’t forget my weekly mani, but when I got home from my mother’s last weekend, I had some pretty disappointing news waiting for me, and then I had a polish disaster that resulted in shattered bottles and stains all over my closet carpet, and then it got boiling hot out, so I haven’t been able to get myself together enough to post. I’m sorry!
I love floral nail art, so I found it pretty difficult to narrow down what I wanted to do, but I finally ended up with this simple, pretty manicure that’s perfect for spring.
Ah, yellow. I love yellow, but it very definitely does not love me back. My ancestry is first-generation Portuguese (which in a perfect world would give me lovely olive-toned skin), and I-don’t-know-when-they-came-here Russian Ashkenazi, so the combination leaves me with cool-toned light skin that burns easily but then tans well. Or it would, if the weather would cooperate, but it’s been raining for four days. But what it really means is that while I love buttery pastel yellows and covet them in nail polish, they look pretty terrible on me. Sadface forever.
So I have to start by noting two things. First, I’m editing this post while sitting in the gorgeous spring sunshine on my patio, so I can’t properly see the colors; I hope I didn’t overcompensate for my camera’s tendency to redden my skin. Second, I suck at freehanding straight lines. I need to invest in some striping tape.
Click here to see more Cinco de Mayo nails (and overripe clementines)
Now that I’m into manicures, I polish my nails two or three times a week, mostly to avoid grading tests. Usually I just do a simple mani of a single color, but a couple of days ago I wanted to do something more exciting.
I intended to draw cherry blossoms again, but I’m really bad at them.
I used Zoya Angelina, a rich, cool-toned brown, China Glaze Keep Calm Paint On, a pistachio green with a subtle shimmer, and CG Pink-e Promise, a petal pink that looks much brighter in person than in the picture. I made the dots with a dotting tool.
I love this mani so much. The only reason I took it off was because all the Zoyas I purchased in the 50% off sale arrived and I couldn’t hold out. But I really love how this design came out; it reminds me of the oxford shoes I wore in grade school — not that I enjoyed grade school or those shoes, but I like the pattern on my nails!
formul8edphrase 