The Polished Bookworms: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 Don't panic! Or maybe panic a little. It's a little panic-inducing how fast another month has gone by. April's Polished Bookworms book is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I had seen the movie before but I was surprised by how abruptly short the book was. The movie adds in some extras that aren't in the book so I was expecting a little more action. I enjoyed it, but not so much that I'm dying to read the next four books. I'll get around to them eventually, just not terribly soon.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the most remarkable book to ever come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor, beating out its competition because "First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letter on its cover."

I've thrown a few things together for these nails. I started with galaxy nails for obvious book/title theme reasons. Plus they're really really fun to paint, so that too. I loved the don't panic quote so I painted that onto my thumb. The ship that Zaphod steals and that later picks up the hitchhikers, Arthur and Ford, is called the Heart of Gold. It may seem like a cop out to paint a literal heart of gold, but the ship is powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive. If it can turn two missiles into a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale, then it's entirely possible that the ship itself might take on the form of its namesake. Plus it was a lot prettier (and easier) than painting the perfectly white, sleek running shoe shaped ship described in the book.

The depths of space are Zoya's Storm. My rainbow galaxy is sponged first with white to make the colors pop and then with neons from the China Glaze Electric Nights collection (because lets face it, I'm obsessed). I think I've got some Daisy Know My Name?, Violet -Vibes, DJ Blue My Mind and Glow With the Flow in there. My heart of gold is made of Sally Hansen Color Foil in Liquid Gold.

What did you think about the book? This may be the first and only time that I thought the movie was better.

See more Hitchhiker's Guide inspired nails here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Toesday: Electric Nights Rainbow Water Marble

Hooray, the first Toesday of 2015! It's definitely hot enough for sandals already- in the 90's today. Bleh. I'm not ready. I'll take 3 more months of boots, please. If the weather is going to be "terrible" I might as well have a cute pedicure to cheer myself up.

I know what you're thinking... water marble on my toes?? But it was easier than it looks- no dipping required. I used the water marble decal technique where you let the marble dry on the water and then cut out the bits you like from the dried disc of polish to stick on your nails. I'll do a tutorial soon to show how easy it is.

I used a bunch of the polishes from the China Glaze Electric Nights collection for this marble- Red-y to Rave, Home Sweet House Music, Daisy Know My Name, Treble Maker, UV Meant To Be, DJ Blue My Mind, Violet Vibes, and Plur-ple. I'm so in love with how these came out. It takes a little patience to get them all stuck on, but it was worth it. I can't wait to try out more water marble designs on my toes.

Electric Nights Neon Blobicure

Welcome to my very first blobicure. I thought this technique was going to be easy, but it's a little trickier than I expected. Since the Electric Nights collection from China Glaze worked so well for water marbling I thought they'd be great for a blobicure too. The colors are stunning and I think it came out pretty well for a first attempt.

Here are some helpful tips on how to blobicure:

1. The base coat needs to be thick and very wet. Do one nail at a time so the polish is fresh and the blobs can spread correctly. I painted a thin base on each nail first and went back with a thicker second coat later. I think the first coat helps by outlining the area where the thick polish will go and gives it a base to float on.

2. Be ready to blob. I opened the caps on each of my blobbing polishes ahead of time so I'd be ready to pull out the brush and place the blobs as soon as I had painted my base.

3. Use the right amount of polish for your blobs. You'll need to wipe some of the polish off the brush, but not too much. If you get too much polish your blob will start to take over the entire nail (like the top one on my ring finger) but if you wipe off too much you'll have a hard time getting the polish to spread.

Hopefully these tips will be helpful if you decide to try this technique yourself.

These are the colors from the Electric Nights collection that I used:

Blue base- DJ Blue My Mind

Blobs- Red-y To Rave, Glow With the Flow, Violet Vibes, Plur-ple

Red base- Red-y To Rave

Blobs- Home Sweet House Music, DJ Blue My Mind, Violet Vibes, Plur-ple

I played around with some other color combinations on my off hand. These were my favorites, but all of them looked great. I love that this collection coordinates so well together. It's been fun trying all the different combos.

I've still got a few more Electric Nights looks coming. Is there anything you'd like to see with these polishes? I'm still completely addicted and willing to try anything so let me know.

Electric Nights = Water Marble Awesomeness

{Insert drooling noises here}

Have you heard about this little thing called the Electric Nights collection from China Glaze? The collection is made up of nine neon cremes and three neon glitters with rave inspired names. About a month ago I started hearing rumors... they're all two coat neons (no white base coat needed) and awesome for water marbling. The rumors are true! I love this collection. After watching some water marble tutorials on YouTube I knew I had to have them. They spread so nicely in the water and the colors are bright and gorgeous. I can honestly say this is the first collection I've gone out of my way to order and actually paid real money for instead of waiting and hoping to find them in the clearance bin at half price. I'm not even a little disappointed. I've been using them non-stop since they arrived about two weeks ago. I hope you like them too because I've been working on several looks to show off how great these polishes are.

Lately I've been using a new method for water marbling. You let the disc of polish dry in the cup instead of dipping your nails into the wet polish. 

Pros:

*It's way less messy- you're not dipping into the wet polish so your fingers stay clean.

*More precise placement- after the disc is dry you can take your time lining up where you want it to go on your nail and then position it exactly where you want before you press it down onto tacky polish to adhere it. You cut around the area you want and then use a brush dipped in acetone to melt away the excess. Add top coat and you're all done.

*Less waste of precious polish- because you don't have to dip and then skim away the excess you can use the disc to marble multiple fingers while still getting the exact part of the pattern you want.

Cons:

?

If you know of any let me know, because I haven't seen it yet.

I didn't use a white base coat for any of this. The colors are so bright and vibrant on their own! The purple nails are two coats of Plur-Ple. For the marble I've used seven of the nine creme shades- Glow with the Flow, Red-y to Rave, Home Sweet House Music, Daisy Know My Name?, Treble Maker, DJ Blue My Mind and Violet-Vibes.

I have no idea how I created this spotted swirly awesomeness. I've noticed that the pink, purple and blue tend to get a bit spotty when I marble them together. It's technically a mistake, but it turned out so cool. I think it makes the marble a little more unique.

I might put together a quick tutorial on this marble technique if anyone is interested. Let me know!

Neon Doughnuts

Today I have an updated version of my last swatch. Since this neon yellow-green creme is Key Lime Twist from Orly's Sugar High collection I thought it was appropriate to stamp some sweets on top. I love doughnuts! I can't find an excuse to have them very often, but when they're available I'll stuff my face with as many as I can grab. I can't say these acid-bright neon doughnuts look very appetizing, but they are cute!

I used the advanced stamping decal technique to give my doughnuts their bright colors. To do this you keep the image on your stamper and color in the areas you want with polish. Let it dry for a few minutes before transferring it to your nails so the colors don't smudge. I had a little trouble getting my stamp to stick after it was dry so I ended up painting a clear coat on each nail and waiting for it to get tacky so the image would come off the stamper more easily. I used Bundle Monster plate BM-614 for the small doughnuts and BM-308 for the larger one with Mundo de Unas black stamping polish.

I had previously been skeptical about making my decals on the stamper, but I found this technique to be pretty easy and I love the results.

What's your favorite once-in-a-while sugary treat?

Orly- Key Lime Twist Swatch

Neon time! I'd say it's getting closer to summer, but here in CA it's been summer all year long. I recently picked up Key Lime Twist by Orly. It's a really bright yellow slightly green leaning neon creme. I really wanted this polish because it's very similar to another color I own that has a terrible formula. I always want to wear it, but never want to deal with the goopy, sticky formula. Thankfully this Orly polish is much better behaved. Key Lime Twist is from the Sugar High Collection. I'm already kicking myself for not picking up more of the colors. At first I wasn't too excited about the others (lots of pinks and purples) but the more I don't have them, the more they're growing on me. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to find them in the clearance bin soon. I really hope I'm not the only person who does this.

I'm wearing 2-3 coats in these pictures- no white base coat was needed. This polish is nice and opaque on its own, but true to the nature of neons it was a bit streaky. Some nails covered nicely in two coats, but some needed three to cover up the last bare patches.

Also, apologies for the lumpy middle finger nail. I had a horrible break as you can see from my previous posts that I'm still working on growing out. The nail is now entirely held on with glue from the Orly Nail Rescue kit (I'll be giving this kit a great big positive review post soon). I didn't do the smoothest job with my patch, but I am super pleased though that it's still holding nicely three weeks later and the nail is well on its way to growing out.

Overall I love this polish. It's eye-searing just like a good neon should be and the formula is good so I'd have no hesitation wearing it over and over again.