No Hate Rogue! An Introspective Grey and Electric Pink Manicure with OPI and Hello Kitty

Greetings from the warm, fuzzy heights of attempted open-mindedness, fellow rogues!

First up, I just wanted to thank everyone who participated in the caption contest! The results are being considered carefully by a panel of experienced (if a bit sniggery) kobolds, and the winner will be announced soon! 😀

Right! So: a couple of days ago, the fabulous adventuress Kelly From VampyVarnish had an important post on her blog: it was part of a #StopTheHate campaign, and was a great piece on the mysteries and evils of ‘hate’ online, and cyber bullying. You should go and have a read, if you haven’t seen it already! Go ahead, I’ll wait ^_^.

Done? Great 🙂 Now, her post got me thinking about hating on stuff, and how it often has to do with a lack of open-mindedness. From there, this rogue’s brain leapt to thinking about situations in which I myself am a little less than open minded when it comes to beauty. I hope I do OK when it comes to accepting peoples’ differing tastes and choices (wouldn’t be a very effective adventuring party if everyone was identical, would it?), but I do have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to certain shades and styles on myself. This dislike is totally irrational, and I decided to have a go at breaking through a couple of my pet ‘hates’: grey nail polish, and french manicures!

The result:

A grey and pink french manicure with the polishes responsible: OPI My Pointe Exactly and Hello Kitty Pop Fizz.

 

So, obviously, due to my dislike of the idea of grey polish on me, I only actually had one in my stash – and that was one I got ‘collaterally’ in the OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection mini set. It’s My Pointe Exactly, and it’s a cool grey jelly polish. I was casting around for something that would look cool with grey for the french manicure part, and came across a mini bottle of Hello Kitty polish that I bought in Hobart (of all places) for a dollar once. It’s Hello Kitty Pop Fizz, a neon pink base with pink and iridescent hex glitter in it.

 

This is how it looks if you overexpose your photos slightly (or you put neon polish in bright diffused daylight and your camera packs a sad :-D)

 

In terms of the polishes themselves: the OPI grey jelly is marvellous – it flows onto the nail smoothly, self-levels any streaks, dries to a gorgeous squishy shiny jelly finish, and is reasonably opaque in three coats. BUTITSGREYSHUTUPSYL!. Pop Fizz is, er… a little more difficult. It’s incredibly thick, and dries practically on the brush. The upside of this is that you get really dense, opaque coverage. The (other) downside is that it’s lumpy and gritty and incredibly hard to freehand french manicure lines with… 😛

 

Grey and pink manucured nails clutching an invisibility potion. What does it mean? No-one knows…

 

So you might be wondering, at this point, what my problem with grey polishes and french manicures is. After all, this manicure actually looks pretty snazzy, right? Well, the grey part has to do with the fact that I’m a cool-toned vampire, and tend to assume that anything in the grey/taupe spectrum will make me look even deader than usual. Like ‘will-get-confused-for-one-of-the-undead-by-the-cleric-and-friendly fire-shall-result’ kind of confused. The french manicure part probably has to do with the fact that I think it looks better on longer nails, and my nails are never very long (makes scaling rooftops and disarming traps much harder, you see).

 

A little thumbnail diversion….

 

My thumb nail, in fact, is so short at the moment that I couldn’t even bring myself to give it the thin french manicure line that the other nails had! I decided to go with a chevron instead, as I figured including an element that just looks ‘objectively’ strange  and contrived wouldn’t really help the goal of this little quest of beauty-related self discovery…

 

Never let go of your invisibility potions, guys. Once you drop one, you will never find it again, trust me…

 

Incidentally, if you’re wondering why the very tips of some of my nails aren’t pink, it was an unfortunate result of the rather thick pink lines catching in the topcoat as it dried and being pulled back a touch. Obviously, I didn’t penalise the grey/french issue at hand for this 😉

 

Cuddly sweater shot! 😀

 

So, the big question: what did I get out of all this in terms of my little enlightenment quest? Well, for starters, since most enlightenment quests involve schlepping to the top of some precipitous spire to have a singularly obtuse conversation with a wizened old sage, I’d say the cost/benefit ratio for this one was pretty great! No mountains to climb, no sour yak butter tea to sip politely, etc, just a bit of faffing about with a rather sticky pink polish. As for my opinions on french manicures, I still think the traditional colour scheme on my shorter nails is beyond me, but two unconventional tones are actually growing on me. And the grey polish issue? Well, even though I probably started at the shallow end with a soft, cool, sheer grey, I’m still not sure I would reach for it over, say, my beloved purples. I will own, however, that it has opened my eyes to some of the possibilities with grey polishes, and even made me curious about…

…taupe…

*ducks*

…

Hm, no lightning. Anyway, there you have it! a couple of assumptions challenged, a mind wedged slightly further open, and a spiffy manicure accomplished. Would you give this combo a go? Do you have any little pet beauty ‘hates’ that you would be open to trying (again)?

 

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images and text on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. These may not be reproduced without permission, unless you want a fleet of gelatinous cubes after you. The ones with rotting corpses inside and dicky digestive systems. I’d run, personally.

Thaw Your Heart: A Spring Madness (and Friendship) Manicure!

Greetings from the crisp, cold edges of the spring thaw, fellow rogues!

OK, full disclosure: technically, we’re going into autumn in these parts of the world, but I received an email from Julep inviting me to try my hand at their spring-inspired manicure contest! No strings attached, no Julep polishes need be used (fortunately for us, as Julep is, sadly, not a thing in these parts). Although, as I said, spring is quite a while away here, I seized the opportunity to have some more nail-art practice. I also seized Ooly, as I thought it might be nice to try what I think of as a ‘friendship manicure’ – looks good on its own, but if you put two peoples’ hands together, it makes a bigger picture.

(Tip: if you’re going to seize a ranger, warn them first. You can only take a crossbow bolt to the neck *once*, folks!)

The ‘madness’ part of the name of this manicure comes from the fact that we pooled our polish collections and used (in total) about 33 different polishes! They range from bottom of the apothecary’s bargain barrel (Miki) to idols from the Temple of Luxury (Chanel), and all the way across the rainbow! Obviously, of you would like to have a go at this crazy, springtime mani, you can use whatever colours and brands your little adventuring heart desires. 🙂

Most of the polishes used in this manicure. This is what happens when two PhD students try to do a manicure. Things get…complicated.

So: the ‘picture’ we wanted to get across was the thaw of winter into spring, all the way from sparkling frozen wasteland to a riot of colourful spring blooms and green shoots. Ooly has much experience of what this looks like from her travels through the mountains, and I needed a bright, fun antidote for the grim, dark catacomb I’d just finished clearing out. The broad concept entails a story from thumb to pinky finger:

Thumb: Icy, swirling, frozen winter. Red berries and bare branches, stark against the snow.

Index Finger: The first blooms of spring, breaking through the snow: daffodils and crocus.

Middle Finger: The snow receding slowly, to reveal hardy little flowers in soft spring colours.

Ring Finger: The snow is gone! Flowers bloom in full and more green shoots start to peep through.

Pinky Finger: Spring in full swing! A riot of brightly coloured flowers and green shoots, with extra glitter, because duh.

The highly sphosticated tools required for this look: a yoghurt pot lid, one dotting tool to share and about a zillion toothpicks (not all pictured).

By now I expect you’re wondering exactly what the actual manicure looks like! So here we go:

Ooly’s Nails…

Syl’s Nails!

Details from Syl’s manicure, with the main ‘themes’ of the story. Please excuse the hideous dry cuticles >_<…

Now, where does the friendship part come in? As you can see, the individual hands tell their own spring thaw story, but if you put your hands together in friendship (your choice of ‘awww’ or ‘pass the bucket!’ at this juncture), you can see a larger picture. It turns out that putting your hands together in friendship to show a large story manicure is actually quite difficult, but with the assistance of a further PhD student (a wizard) and an engineer, we managed to get some photos!

*phew* Spring Friendship (and Madness) Manicure Ahoy!

How we did it (take a deep breath):

ICY THUMBS
Base = OPI Bond Girls “Solitaire” + Orly Mini “Winter Wonderland”
Snowdrift = China Glaze “Lorelei’s Tiara” + OPI Katy Perry “Last Friday Night” + OPI NYC Ballet “Pirouette My Whistle”
Berry Branches = OPI Oz Collection “What Wizardry Is This?” + OPI Russian “An Affair in Red Square”

INDEX THAW
Base = as for thumbs
Leaves = Butter London “British Racing Green”
Crocus = Petals(Orly Mini “Velvet Rope” + Chanel “Coco Blue” + OPI NYC Ballet “Care to Danse?” + OPI San Francisco “Alcatraz… Rocks”) + Stamens(Sinful Colors “Let’s Meet” + MIKI No.15 “Orange”)
Daffodil = Petals(Sinful Colors “Let’s Meet” + CoverGirl Glosstinis “Bahama Mama”) + Middle Part(MIKI No.15 “Orange” + OPI Russian “An Affair in Red Square”)

MIDDLE WEISS
Base = Dior Trianon “Perlé”
Snowdrift = OPI Bond Girls “Solitaire” + OPI NYC Ballet “Pirouette My Whistle”
Flowers = Chanel “Rose Insolent” + Chanel “Coco Blue” + Dior Gel Shine “Mirage” + Mix(OPI Mariah Carey Holiday “Ski Slope Sweetie” + OPI Skyfall “Goldeneye”)
Stalks = Butter London “British Racing Green” + MIKI No.2 “Green”

RING SPRING
Base = Dior Trianon “Perlé”
Gradient = OPI Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
Flowers = Chanel “Tentation” + OPI Brazil Beach Sandies “Samba-dy Loves Purple” + OPI Euro Centrale “OPI… Eurso Euro” + Chanel “Gold Fiction”
Green Buds = MIKI No.2 “Green”

PINKY FLING
Base = Picture Polish “Douceur” + Etude House “Pyjama Party” + OPI Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
Flowers = OPI Brazil Beach Sandies “I’m Brazil Nuts Over You”, “What’s A Little Rain Forest?” & “You’re So Flippy Floppy” + OPI Russian “An Affair in Red Square” + Butter London “Come To Bed Red” + MIKI No.15 “Orange” + MIKI No.2 “Green” + Chanel “Gold Fiction” + Butter London “British Racing Green” + OPI Euro Centrale “OPI… Eurso Euro”

 

Well! So that was Ooly and my spring friendship manicure adventure…quest…marathon 😀 Are you rocking a spring (or autumn!) inspired manicure at the moment?

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images on this blog, are the property of the author of this blog (unless otherwise stated) and may not be reproduced without permission. If you do, I’ll send minotaurs after you. Crazed ones.

Exploring an Ice Dungeon! A Frozen Glitter Gradient Manicure with OPI and China Glaze

Greetings from the twinkling depths of a frozen crypt, fellow rogues!

Sometimes, adventuring can take you to some pretty unseasonable places. In this case, a crypt full of skeletonized warriors slumbering uneasily in their icy alcoves. All I can say is that there mustn’t have been this glacier here when they were buried, because I have no idea how they’d have persuaded the stonemasons to work in that chill. Presumably they had a fire elemental on hand.

Anyway! While exploring this ice-themed world, I found myself overwhelmingly tempted to re-create the idea of it on my nails when we got back to the surface. Minus the skeletons, but with additional glitter! And so I present, for your amusement, my Ice Crypt (or Frozen-themed, if you’re on a Disney kick) glitter gradient manicure!

 

Glittering, sparkling, glistening icy beauty. Cuddly sweater optional but highly recommended, especially if it is actually cold.

 

 

This manicure was simple enough – basecoat, two coats of OPI Happy Annniversary (a shimmery, pearled silver) as a ground layer, followed by gradient coats of China Glaze Lorelei’s Tiara and one layer of topcoat just to seal everything in. If you want more detailed info on how to create a gradient manicure, check out this post! Below we have the polishes I used to create this look:

 

China Glaze Lorelei’s Tiara and OPI Happy Anniversary, the polishes responsible for this glacial manicure.

 

Normally I’m very much a fan of having things as smooth and shiny and lacquered as possible,  but for this manicure I wanted to capture the gritty, crystalline nature of ice, especially ice particles that have blown over a surface and stuck. Or, you know, blown over your face and stuck while you were trying to fight off the skeletal undead. Very distracting.

 

Bit more of a closeup to get an idea of the whole look in the shade…

 

Quick review of the polishes in question:

OPI Happy Anniversary is a reasonably thin, sheer, pearlescent white/silver polish that takes at least two coats to build up to even visibility. It is very thin, though, so you can easily layer up as many coats as you like to achieve your desired opacity. I like this one as a staple base for doing arty things like this ice manicure, or just two coats on their own for a subtle pearly-but-not-too-white effect. This polish appears to be part of OPI’s permanent collection, so it’s always on hand!

China Glaze Lorelei’s Tiara is a dense silver glitter with medium cyan blue hex glitter in a clear base. This polish is…tricky. Like some of the Butter London glitters, I find that it’s absolutely gorgeous, but tends to dry out quickly, meaning that it crusts up a bit on the brush and inside the neck of the bottle. If you’re prepared to work quickly, it yields lovely results, but it is a bit more awkward than I’d like. You can build the polish itself up to a completely covering foil layer on your nail, which is quite spectacular! Lorelei’s Tiara belongs to a collection that came out in 2011, so I’m not sure what the availability of it is like. However, you can try any other glittery blue/silver polish you have for a similar effect!

 

Another cuddly sweater shot! This manicure sparkles and glitters something fierce in actual direct sunlight – it’s really quite glorious. 

 

More delicious manicure goodness, in a couple of different lighting schemes and with a couple of different cameras. Don’t you hate how it’s never quite possible to capture the full glory and wonder of glitter-based manicures? I don’t know about anyone else, but the camera never seems to take in all the detail and sparkle my eye can see. I do, of course, realise that eye ≠ camera, but still…it’s like going into a new dungeon – no matter how many times you get decomposing ancient warrior on your shoes, you hope that this time will be different!

 

This was more of a warm-sunlight and indoor artificial daylight shoot, as opposed to the first picture in this post, which was a cool morning daylight set. Blur is deliberate  for the sparkle in the left hand picture.

 

The verdict: Glitter gradient manicures are a lot of fun, and it’s relatively easy to create a very artistic looking effect! If you’re new to nail art, or just a glitter fanatic (like me), I’d say definitely give something like this a go! Maybe try a more seasonally/dungeonally appropriate one than I have here 😉

Tip: Glitter gradient manicures are also quite a good way to get some use out of polishes that aren’t so fantastic on their own – particularly a glitter that doesn’t cover evenly by itself!

The practicalities: OPI colour/gitter polishes cost NZD ~20 – 26.00/USD ~8.00 each for 15 mL/0.5 fl. oz, depending on where you shop,  and may be found on the OPI shelves at your local pharmacy/Farmers, as well as various online distributors. OPI and China Glaze ($15.94 for 14 mL) polishes are also available in New Zealand (along with Zoya, Picture Polish and a number of other hard-to-get brands!) from www.candygirl.co.nz.

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. These images may not be reproduced without permission, unless you want a fleet of gelatinous cubes after you.

Which Ones are Poisonous Again? A Toxically Cute Toadstool Manicure from Ooly the Ranger

Greetings from the shadowy depths of the forest floor, fellow rogues!

As everyone knows, you must always check for traps. In dungeons, we rogues locate and disarm all sorts of dastardly potential pitfalls, but out in the wilderness, sometimes you need to turn to the trusty ranger in your party. Although I’m reasonably adept at using the poisons that come out of assorted funghi, I have to admit that I could use a refresher on identifying them in the wild. Fortunately, Ooly the ranger is here to show you a fabulous manicure that will help you to remember what not to eat! Also, it’s terribly cute.

Without further ado, I’ll hand you over to Ooly!

Toadstool Nails, Ranger-Style

Hi! I’m Ooly, a mountain ranger type. I enjoy the snow and ice, reading, the view from a comfy tree at sunset, crafting my own projectile weapons and weaving nets for traps. Also, nail polish.

I’m hijacking Syl’s blog with a set of toadstool nails that feature a recent random acquisition of mine: Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstini in #515 Sangria, from the Tropical Collection (LE).

Sangria: it’s good for you. Contains fruit.

I bought it on a winter whim, as part of a 5 for $25 deal from a pedlar who happened to pass through my neck of the frozen woods. If he’d been offering me sangria that was actually this red, I’d have suspected a poisoner lurking about: the only time I usually see this colour is on top of those toadstools that are cute, but better left to themselves.

In the snowy whiteness that is my current world, though, this is a pleasure. It’s eye-catching but not scary; bright and cheerful, like the fire that’s roasting my dinner, with a very, very faint pearliness to what is otherwise solid, glossy colour. It goes on well, and if you were careful but in a hurry, you could probably get away with one coat. Wears well, too, and doesn’t stain.

Oddly, I almost immediately developed a strong desire to take to it with some French white and my dotting tool. So I did.

Pretty…but deadly?

The kit: these nails have a base of Chanel Base Protectrice (never leave the cave without it). Two coats of Sangria, dots in Manicare French White (because that’s what I had – any solid white will do). Top coat is Chanel Vernis Cristallin (Nail Glaze) in #95 Diaphane, because my other top coat ran out, but honestly, you could use any. Add a two-ended dotting tool, a bit of patience, and there we go! Toadstools. 🙂

Left to right: armor; liquid courage; frosting; relic. Foreground: Double-ended weapon of choice.

My favourite mani-comment ever came today, from a three-year-old boy in the village, reaching out to touch my thumbnail: “Look, mushrooms! Shiny, so shiny.” ♥

Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstinis: NZ$5 (about US$4) each, from wherever stocks Covergirl near you. Since they were LE, it will be whatever’s left, but there seem to be some still around online.

Until I learn to spit gold, no one will pay me for my opinions! Alas. And so, I return to my mountain dwelling. Good hunting, friends. And always look up.

…

Thanks Ooly, for the fabulous manicure and the words of rangery wisdom 🙂

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check what you’re eating before you eat it!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images on this blog, are the property of the author of this blog (unless otherwise stated) and may not be reproduced without permission. If you do, I’ll send minotaurs after you. Crazed ones.

Treasures from Waters Deep – A Glittering Gradient with OPI Eurso Euro and Last Friday Night

Greetings from the alley behind the tavern, my fellow rogues! (Don’t ask)

One of the things about adventuring is that it often takes you into places where you’re absolutely sure you’re going to be murdered by mindflayers or eaten by ettins. While there is probably a good chance that something like that might happen (especially if there’s good loot in the offing), you square your shoulders and march on (because there’s good loot in the offing).

If you’re still hanigng on after that obtuse introduction, what I’m trying (laboriously) to say is that I attempted my first piece of nail art yesterday evening. Nail art is something that I’ve long been leery of, mostly because I am convinced that I will make an absolute hash of it. However, I was searching through my (miniscule) nail polish stash, and two polishes caught my eye – OPI…Eurso Euro and OPI Last Friday Night.

Left: OPI…Eurso Euro. In the morning sun! Right: OPI Last Friday Night. Blue and glitter – how can you lose?

These are two of my favourite polishes – they look good alone, they look good together. Eurso Euro is a dark cobalt blue creme from the Euro Centrale collection – super pigmented, this goes on opaque in one coat (it can stain a tiny bit though). Last Friday Night is a pale blue transparent base with loads of super iridescent glitter in a couple of different sizes (tiny and, uh, tinier?). This time I thought…perhaps…a glitter gradient manicure?

Once I’d finished diving for cover in case the nail polish gods zapped me for my hubris, I set about putting together my very first piece of ‘nail art’, inspired by a recent adventure in Watersdeep, a city perched (in true RPG style) on top of a cave network filled with things that want to separate you from your delicious flesh. Ahh, the loot we found down there – and I thought the name matched the colour scheme quite nicely!

Syl’s first attempt at nail art, displayed with some of the loot from Watersdeep, place that inspired this glittery blue manicure.

I used the classic method of painting my nails fully with Eurso Euro, then putting a thin layer of Last Friday Night over the top 3/4 of the nail, then another layer over the top 1/2, then another layer over the top 1/4 and so on to build up a decent gradient that photographs terribly :-P. Topcoat was my usual Sally Hansen Mega Shine. Dry time is on the long side of average for Eurso Euro, because it is so thick and pigmented. Last Friday Night dries in about half the time, but then again I was applying thin layers and it is a glitter polish. Wear time (individually) for these is about the ‘OPI average’ for me (i.e. 24-36 hours), with the glitter polish eking it out to the longer end of that. I should probably state that ‘wear time’ for me means ‘the polish is still absolutely perfect’.

Loot is MINE! ALLL MIIIINE!!! *cough* uh, I mean..yeah. Manicures and stuff.

The result turned out pretty well, all things considered. Certainly, the first time I tried to disarm a trap things ended a lot worse for both me and the eyebrows of the wizard standing next to me.  The gradient isn’t as nuanced as I might have liked, but Last Friday Night can actually get a bit chunky of you’re not careful with how many layers you end up with, not unlike goblin blood after a long fight.

The best for last? I feel like you can actually sort of see the gradient a bit better here! No potion this time – I drank it and then some water got in while we were wading around in the caves…

A note for those interested: Waterdeep (no s!) is a very famous campaign setting from the Dungeons and Dragons universe. It’s a fabulous city, sitting atop a sinister place called the Undermountain. If you’re curious, check out the details here. If you’re new to D&D, and would like an amusing introduction to what in the name of Corellon it all is, you can see Chris Perkins from Wizards of the Coast (they own the D&D brand) teaching the guys from Robot Chicken how to play below. Highly recommended!

(See ZerotoHero? I embedded a video *and* tried a new manicure! New experiences FTW!)

The verdict: Like the glimmering vault of a starlit night, or the iridescent depths of enchanted waters, this pairing makes for a gorgeous manicure. If you have these shades, or similar ones that you think might work, I say give it a go!

In general: Glitter gradient manicures: I think this is a nice place to dip your toe into the waters of nail art – it’s hard to really make a total hash of it, you might (like me) just have to work a bit on the detail of the gradient! The two polishes I used are favourites of mine – they apply well, they look pretty,  and I think they make great staples for any rogue’s polish kit.

The practicalities: OPI colour/gitter polishes cost NZD ~26.00/USD ~8.00 each for 15 mL/0.5 fl. oz, depending on where you shop. Topcoats, treatments etc tend to be much more expensive, around NZD 40.00/USD 16.00. OPI…Eurso Euro is from a recent limited edition collection, but these typically hang around for several months (to years!) on the OPI shelves at your local pharmacy/Farmers, as well as various online distributors. Last Friday Night seems to have been made permanent (?) as it’s been around for ages and appears in the permanent ranks at my local Farmers. OPI polishes are also available in New Zealand (along with China Glaze, Zoya, Picture Polish and a number of other hard-to-get brands!) from www.candygirl.co.nz.

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided!