Tag: Man Hunt

Of Life and Lacquer > Man Hunt

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 24: Nautical Inspired Nails

Posted on by Cynthia

The closer we get to finishing this challenge, the less “inspired” I feel. After yesterday’s gluttonfest, I haven’t eaten anything besides toast today. I guess I am still kind of full. I still have a nice piece of tri tip so I will probably have some of that for dinner. I’ll just have to come up with some interesting side dishes later. So maybe I’m still feeling blah from eating so much junk and that’s why I lagged on doing my nails for today’s nautical inspired nails challenge. Let’s get to it, shall we?

I started out with China Glaze White Out as my base.

China Glaze White Out Swatch          China Glaze White Out Swatch

I don’t usually paint my nails all white, so it’s really nice to have a nice and opaque white polish to use. This is three very thin coats.

For the nautical part I used a combination of stripping tape and stamping.

Nautical Inspired Nails          Nautical Inspired Nails

I used cheeky plate CH 49 for the wheel design with Adventure Red-y as the stamping polish. It is not a perfect stamping polish so I had to go over the design with a dotting tool and brush when needed which accounts for some of the mess-ups. Still, I don’t think I did too poorly with it.

How is everything with you after your thanksgiving feasting? Did you end up going shopping? I’m happy to report that I have avoided the stores so far and probably will for the rest of the week. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest nail disaster. Our next challenge will be inspired by a celebrity…oh boy! Don’t for get to check out Nicole’s nautical nails over at Polish Me, Please! Talk to you soon.

Happy 4th Of July!

Posted on by Cynthia

I was not feeling any kind of inspiration for a 4th of July nail look. None at all. I’ve been posting like a machine lately, and I’m trying to slow down. The thing is that I am working really hard to keep myself occupied. I have not been feeling very motivated lately, and I’m afraid of my anxiety getting worse. I thought Prozac was supposed to help with anxiety as well, but it’s not working very well lately. I’m having problems sleeping regularly and have started the stupid cycle of nightmares. It seems that my nightmares always center around my worst insecurities so they seem even more intense and leave me completely emotionally overwhelmed when I do wake up. I hate feeling like this but there isn’t that much to do about it right now except to keep my head above water and not let it get the best of me again.

As far as being patriotic, I don’t think I’ve ever been crazy patriotic. I am grateful for living in a country where I can say and write whatever I want without fearing persecution. We enjoy many freedoms that we take for granted so it’s worth taking a moment to be thankful for all that we do have. I always try to put things into perspective because in the grand scheme of things, we are almost living in paradise compared to other places in the world where war, extreme poverty and hunger are just something that is in their every day reality. I’m not trying to be preachy or anything; I just think it’s nice to have a day to spend with your friends and family even if you’re not all hyped up on Independence Day.

So back to nail stuff…

I used Adventure Red-y which is an amazing one coat red from the China Glaze On Safari collection as my base color and then used Man Hunt, also from the same collection, for the chevron tips. Using Konad plate M84 and their white special polish, I stamped the stars over both colors. Simple, right? This was actually the second look I tried today. The first one was a complete disaster–better as an abstract idea because it was horrid once I tried to execute it. Oh well…you live, you learn.

If you’re in the States, do you have anything fun planned for today? Stay safe whatever you end up doing!

Gradient Attemp # 2

Posted on by Cynthia

The fact that my last gradient attempt turned out so crappy made me fixate on trying it again so here I am with another post. I feel like I’ve been on a roll lately when it comes to posting so I’m going to try to keep the wind in my sails. I used two China Glaze polishes: Bahamian Escape and Man Hunt. I’ve swatched Bahamian Escape before but I added some swatches to this post again because this polish is so darn pretty.

I used a different type of sponge this time so I do think it created a slightly different effect. I am still not happy with it, but this one looks slightly better than my first attempt so I will keep practicing until I’m a gradation fool.

And just for shits and giggles, here is my favorite psychotic Kelly moment from The Office:

I am looking forward to my salad from Cafe Rio–yum!–and catching up on my favorite blogs. I have tons of reading tonight! 🙂

China Glaze On Safari First Glimpse

Posted on by Cynthia

When the first promo images of this collection came out, I knew I would love it even if I am constantly disappointed by the disparity between promo images and the real-life polish. I already knew that I was going to pass on the 2 glitters in this collection so that left me with 10 polishes to choose from. I decided to get the first 5 that really caught my attention. I still want a couple more colors which I will most likely eventually purchase later on if become interested enough down the line.

Elephant Walk is a color that I liked a lot more once I got it on my nails. I could see that it was gray with some blue tones and some slight shimmer, but it just looked so much more interesting once I was wearing it. I don’t think I have anything quite like this so I’m loving it (in a un-mcdonald’s kind of way).

Jungle Queen is simply goygeous! It would have been perfect if the shimmer actually showed up on my nails. The only reason you can see a hint of the shimmer is because I had to use flash since it was so overcast today. I am pretty sure that I have seen a few people compare this to Chanel Paradoxal but since I don’t have it, I can’t really say. Dangit…this could have been my perfect color if it had more of that beautiful shimmer. I guess we can’t have it all.

I have been wearing tons of teals lately so Exotic Encounters is right up my alley. Despite having so many teals, I don’t think this one is a dupe for any colors that I currently own; it’s somewhat darker and smokier than most of the teals I usually wear. The formula was super opaque and easy to work with so no complaints from me!

Creamy, dark, shiny creme? Yes, please! Purr-fect Plum is a staple color that I am sure most people already have a dupe for. It’s one of those colors that always attracts me in a way that I forget that I already have similar shades. Oh, the price of being a nail polish hoarder. I did feel that the formula on this was runny city so I had to be super careful and apply thin coats because I did completely flood my cuticles on the first coat. I love you acetone!

SOPI Blue Grotto, I mean Essie Mesmerize, I mean OPI Dating A Royal…err…you know what I mean. This is Man Hunt and yes it is a very pretty blue, but it’s really really overdone. The formula on this one was Raging Waters watery as well so I’m not that impressed.

Have you been able to spot any polishes from this collection yet? Is there a color you’re drying to try? Let me know what you think of these colors. Thanks for stopping by.