China Glaze Gelaze Flying Dragon

I think it's pretty obvious that I prefer regular nail polish over gel. Gel polish is fun to wear, but I rarely want or need to wear my nail polish for longer than a week. The few times I wear gel it's often as a clear or sheer nude base that I use as an overlay for more regular polish. I'll also often employ a peel off gel base so I don't have to soak off with acetone. That's because it lasts longer than UNT peel off under gel for me. UNT peels magnificently under gel, but I can never get it to last longer than a day on me. I prefer to wear my polish, gel or no, for at least two days after all.

China Glaze Gelaze Flying Dragon

This time, however, wearing the UNT would've been an improvement.

Sayuri Linen and Lace

You know how people will joke about having 500 channels but nothing to watch? Sometimes it feels that way with polish. You got 500 polishes at your fingertips but nothing to wear. Whomp whomp.

I knew I wanted to wear something, but wasn't sure what that something could be. Normally I have a "queue" of sorts of polishes I want to wear. I took out the next polish I thought of putting on, however, and just felt "meh." It wasn't that I thought that it was boring. I just didn't want to wear it "now."

It didn't help that I'm currently suffering from a case of overstimulation. I'm autistic and it occasionally seems like every little thing is too much for my senses. It's like I'm a cat with its fur sticking up in its back. Every touch, every sound, every touch, sight, smell- amplified. Amplified to the point of pain. Normally I've gone semi nose-blind to polish's pungent smell but last night I could smell it very well.

Eventually, my sensations of goosebumps and sore areas that were barely brushed reduced just enough for me to do a quick mani. I decided to do a palette cleanser. And that palette cleanser? It had to be a neutral. And that neutral? It had to be Sayuri Linen and Lace.

Sayuri Linen and Lace, direct sunlight

Every Polish I Hauled from July's Polish Pickup (except one)

And that sole exception is only omitted because it won't be coming my way for a good six to eight weeks. I waited until my other final orders from July's Polish Pickup arrived to write this, and I'm as giddy to see all these goodies as the day they arrived in my mailbox.

Polish Pickup logo

You may be asking yourself right now- what is Polish Pickup? Glad you asked. It's kinda like a Facebook group custom and an indie box fused together, only better. Every first weekend of the month, a whole bunch of nail polish artisans craft polishes, nail care items, and other items around a  theme voted on by group members and post them for sale on the Polish Pickup website. Some items have caps, others don't. Since it's not an indie box you can buy whatever you want while they're up for grabs. It's like a little indie polish candy store for a weekend and it's as amazing as it sounds. There's combined (domestic) shipping too!

There used to be non polish related items such as wax melts, makeup, and jewelry for sale too, but the sale front grew so massive that it was losing its main focus. Most Pickup customers still wanted these items, so non polish items are being spun off into its own Indie Pickup later this month.

Normally there is a monthly theme. Past themes include cocktails, old Hollywood, fandom, books, and space. The hosts of Polish Pickup took a well deserved break in July, however, so there was no pre-selected theme. Instead, the theme was "Rewind" where indie makers brought back their most popular or requested items for one month. Unlike previous months you had to go to the actual sellers instead of a convenient "all in one place" website.

My July 2018 Polish Pickup haul

...I may have gone a little bonkers with my spending.

Femme Friday: Femme Fatale Mermaiden's Adoration

Greetings, y'all! Happy Friday!

Along with this blog, I regularly share my manis on Instagram and on appropriate Facebook groups. Many of these manis are entirely or partially from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. I adore their makeup in general, but their polishes? Be still, my heart! They make up a good fifth or more of my polish stash. And I have a boatload of polish. Nothing beats a good Femme.

Since I have a lot of pictures and Femmes, I figured I do a sort of series on my older Femme Fatale manis. I'll post an old mani every Friday. Ergo, Femme Friday. For this series's first entry, I'll be focusing on a summery glitter topper called Mermaiden's Adoration.

Femme Fatale Mermaiden's Adoration over nude base, direct sunlight

Enchanted Polish Organic Opals

Greetings, y'all! Can you believe it's August 1st? It's back to school in my county's school district today. So early! When I was in school the first day was in mid-August most years. Even that felt too early. August is also my birthday month and I'm moving later this month as well (eek), so it'll be a very eventful month for me.

I decided I wanted to wear one of my new Enchanted Polishes for my current mani. After some consideration over Marge's Blue Beehive and Organic Opals, I settled on the latter.

Enchanted Opals Organic Opals, indirect sunlight