Glass terrariums in crystal shapes from Score + Solder

Score + Solder is a cute online shop from Canadian crafter Matthew Cleland.
He creates glass sculptures, lamps, planters, and terrariums (terraria for those latin scholars out there).

I like the terrariums best, but you can check out all his work and see what you like.

In high school, I used to work with stained glass and I can see that these are made well and soldered well. If only I'd stuck with it and could make my own versions of these today! It's hard to devote a space in a NYC apartment to crafts and glass shards.

My picks:

$140 Small Quartz Terrarium
This really does look like a quartz crystal in shape


$340 Quartz #2 Terrarium
This has more room for plants and a wider base


$210 Hanging Crystal Point Terrarium
This one has a more regular shape and a little stone suspended from the top to hang out with your plants (get it?)


$130 Large cube planter
The planters have one open side so you can access and water things more easily.
This is a very simple modern design.


$230 Suspended Tetra Planter
This is so much more elegant than the hanging plastic baskets from home depot (which I have one of now).

Adventures in Glycerin Part 2

(read part 1 here)

I ran out of nail polish remover!! Normally this would not be a cause for celebration, but since I bought that giganto container of glycerin, I've been waiting for an excuse to use more of it.

Apparently nail polish remover is made of acetone, glycerin, and dye. I have all those things available to me! And who needs dye, really.

I found this recipe and post on how to make a dupe of Zoya's moisturizing nail polish remover, and that was my guide. It has some cool science in it, so check it out.

I kept my empty nail polish bottle just for this reason, and assembled my (2) ingredients.


Here is my lineup: glycerin, empty nail polish remover bottle, acetone.
Doesn't it look like there is a halo on the acetone? It's angel acetone. And this project was clearly blessed.

Ok so I started by looking at my empty bottle to see how much it holds- it says 177 mL. That is important because my instructions said 1-2 TBS of glycerin for every 200 mL acetone.
So I measured 1.5 TBS and poured it in to the empty bottle, over the sink.

Then I poured acetone in to about the level where the top of the yellow circle is on the bottle. I am very glad I did this part over the sink because I spilled a TON.
I wanted to leave room for some water, since I learned that water is what helps glycerin mix fully with the acetone.

Here is the problem: my bottle was already kind of frosted and not totally clear and see through, so I can't actually tell if the ingredients are fully mixed.

After I put the acetone in, I shook the bottle (with the cap on but it still leaked- thank you sink) and tried to see if I could tell where the line of glycerin was on the bottom. I couldn't.
Well, experiments are experiments and nothing was going to blow up, so I just opened the top up again and put in about 1 tsp water for good luck.
Then I put the cap back on and shook again.

I think I did it!
I mean, it works as remover, so I at least didn't mess up the acetone to the point where it doesn't strip the polish off anymore.

But oh god, I still have so much glycerin left.
Every damn thing I try seems to only want a tablespoon or two at most of the stuff.
REGRETS.
Should have bought a much smaller bottle.

If anyone has glycerin-related needs, please let me know and we can try to use this bottle up so I don't have so much stuff under the bathroom sink.

Orly Nailtrition

A lot of people have brittle, cracking, flaking nails. Or nails that are dried out and in bad shape from too much polish (guilty).
If you are one of those people, looks like Orly Nailtrition can really help..

It has great reviews on MakeupAlley.
It's one of those nail strengtheners that you apply every day for a week, like Nailtiques, but it is reported to work even better than others.

$8.50 Orly Nailtrition

As the layers build up over the week, it becomes more and more pink.

Do you use a nail fixer?
I've tried nailtiques before and it worked pretty well, but I am tempted to try this one since my nails keep breaking.

New nail looks I've been trying

OK, so you've missed a bunch of my manicures and I'm here to rectify that now. Don't worry.

Dark Green with Patterned Accent

This one features a very dark (almost black) green on all nails but the ring finger. Remember how that is your accent nail?
On that nail I used a Rimmel Steel gray base coat and then free hand drew the arcs of green. After that dried, I used the tip of the brush to make dots of green between each stripe.

White with Neon Undertips

I like this look because the neon can be overwhelming if it's your whole nail, but with just the underneath parts of the tips, it's a fun surprise.

For this look, I started by applying 3 coats of Essie Bone white to each nail.
If I had to do it over again, I'd probably only use 2 coats and let it be a little streaky in order to be more translucent.


View from the underside

Then I painted the under side of each nail with neon orange.
It's important to use a Qtip dipped in nail polish remover and really clean underneath your nails before you paint them.
You probably have some dirt and oil and stuff in there and you want to get it all out so you can make the polish stick well.

Everyone who saw this look in person asked me how I did it so neatly without making a mess on my fingertips.
The answer is that I didn't! I had neon orange all over my fingers. I just took another Qtip dipped in nail polish remover and cleaned it up after I was done. I was careful not to use the Qtip under my nail since I didn't want to accidentally take off the orange.

Starry Sky

These nails belong to my friend Chelsea, who came over and let me mess with her hands.
In this photo the base coat appears grayish but in real life it was more of a sky blue.
Then after three coats of that (it's a cheap UO polish that takes a lot of layers), I went over it with my Essie silver jewel effects flakies.

I am getting better at using the flakies. I still have to really coax them off the brush and  position them on the nail, but it seemed easier this time to get the distribution I wanted.

Any nail requests?

Essie Luxe Effects nail polish tips

I tried out the Essie silver glitter polish that I got in this month's Birchbox (see my post about it here)
and I liked it a lot.
I've been wanting to try using glitter as a French manicure, so I put it on over my Sephora by OPI black glitter polish.

Essie Luxe Effects nail polish $8 for one



First I did 2 coats of a Sephora by OPI black polish with multicolor glitter that is similar to this one:

$9.50 Sephora by OPI Good Tidings We Bling
(If you like this, get it soon because it's limited edition like mine was, and you won't be able to find it again.)

I like my polish but the glitter gets hidden by the black polish matrix and doesn't really sparkle or stand out on top. The one I linked to above has a clear matrix so it won't have that problem.

So I put the Essie glitter on the tips to make them stand out more.
As I mentioned in the Birchbox review, I found that it worked better to have a drier brush instead of a fully loaded one. The glitter seemed more willing to come off the brush and stay on my nail when there was less clear liquid.

I like the results, though they are kind of hard to see in these pictures (I tried flash and no flash but neither really worked)


another

Cuticle oil: the next level of nail care

As you know, I love doing my nails. I have a vast collection of polishes and topcoats and remover and thinner, but I don't have many other tools.

Of course, I have a file and cotton balls, but I don't have those orange wood sticks or cuticle cream or scissors or a UV light.

Many of those things are either expensive or wasteful, which is why I keep on just buying the polish, but I think it might be time to expand my holdings and get some cuticle stuff.

$4.39 Sally Hansen Cuticle remover

So what this stuff does is dissolve your dead dry skin and moisturize the remaining skin.
If you use this, then push back your cuticles, your nails will look a little longer and your polish will stick better.

Do you ever get that thing where the bottom of your nail polish flakes up and then you pick at it and then before you know it, half your nail polish is gone?
Just me?
Well, this is supposed to help with that- you just put the polish on the nail instead of on the cuticle on top of the nail, so it stays down and doesn't bend.

Wish me luck! I'll update and let you know if it works.

Revlon Whimsical looks just like Deborah Lippman's nail polish

Looks like the Revlon one is a little more sheer, so maybe doing a more opaque light blue creme base coat under it would achieve the best results.
I have been wanting a polish with flakies in it for a while, so I might put this one on my list.

$17 Deborah Lippman Glitter in the air

compare that to

$3.99 Revlon Whimsical

Read the full review here on Fabfatale

Mermaid Nails

Over the weekend I was experimenting with my China Glaze crackles and I came up with a combo that I like a lot.

I'm calling it "mermaid nails" since the colors remind me of the ocean and the crackle looks like scales.

I used Sally Hansen HD Wavelength as the base coat (I did 2 coats which made the polish color even but not completely opaque) and then China Glaze oxidized aquamarine metallic crackle on top.
Finished it all with CND super shiny topcoat.

What do you think?

How about the other hand?

Butter London 2012 nail collection

Butter has come out with a bunch of new nail polish colors. I like Slapper and Knackered.
What do you think?

The teal of the Slapper color reminds me of my Bat Mitzvah theme color in 1994. I knew it would make a comeback!

I am not sold on Bossy Boots because I think green or whitish polish makes people' hands look weird. I have a lot of colors already like Disco Biscuit and Trout Pout, but those are fun names.

Butter- feel free to send me some to review!

Pastels are in for Spring

Well, we just had our first snow since October. Are you ready for Spring yet?

I am, but maybe not if it means pastels are back.
Pastels are gross.
The end.

Especially on clothing. Nails and bags, maybe.

Anyway, the Zoya Feel collection is out:

$8 each Zoya nail polish
(That's a link from Birchbox, which is how I tried my first Zoya. If you want to sign up for Birchbox please use this link and I might get some credit!)

Out of this collection, I really like the grayish color called Carey and the lavender one called Megan. The one I tried was the blue one, Kristen.

Topshop is also going pastel with their Spring Equinox Collection.

BARFFFFFF

Look how unhappy this model is to be wearing this narsty mullet dress in washed-out neon.

Fashionista collected a bunch of pastel runway looks for Spring as well:

The Guardian spotted a few more:

So you might be seeing more of this coming up soon.

I'm not happy about it.

When I heard that the color for 2012 was "tangerine tango," I was excited because I like saturated colors and bright bold statements. So far, there is none of that yet.

Zoya nail polish review

I got my first Birchbox  subscription package of makeup in the mail (review of that to come), and in it was a teeny bottle of Zoya nailpolish in Kristen.

I was excited to see it because I'd been wanting to try Zoya but you have to buy it online and pay shipping and I didn't know if it would be worth it.

They offer "color spoons" to try to counteract that, which is a thing where you pay 50 cents to get  stick that has the nail polish painted on it in the mail. WHAT? That is so dumb. Who would want that? They say they take the amount you spend on the spoons off your next purchase, but that is totally stupid. They should send out $1 samples of the real polish instead.

It's one of the "3 Free" line of polishes that doesn't have the bad chemicals in it. It's also vegan-friendly.

$8 Zoya Kristen
The color here looks a little more gray than it appears in person.
I'd call it a light blue with some lavender and gray tones.

I was really pleasantly surprised by the texture and coverage of the polish.
The first coat was a little streaky but went on smoothly, and then the second coat was creamy and solid and was all I needed.

It dried pretty quickly and has a very hard finish. I am always happy when my nails dry before I can smudge them.

The color is like one I already have from Urban Outfitters, so it's not the most useful addition to my collection, but it is way better quality than the UO one.

It's lasted pretty well, too. This is a pic of my nails after wearing it for 5 days, and they are still almost like when I painted them. You can see a little chip/hole in my middle finger nail.


 
I got a bunch of compliments on them, too.

Zoya: thumbs up!

Lady Gaga/Barneys nails!

So, Lady Gaga has teamed up with Barneys to create "Gaga's Workshop," a line of makeup and stuff. They just released press on nails that are totally crazy.
They have shit hanging off them all over the place and they are sparkly and gold and overall nuts.

Some are too crazy or weirdly shaped for me, but I like a bunch of them.

Here are my picks:

$45 Geometric with rhinestones nail tips

$45 Black and gold chain design nail tips

$45 Geometric black stones design nail tips

Go check them out- do you like these or the crazier ones?

A Few of my Favorite Things: CND Stickey nail polish base coat

I used to think that base coats didn't really matter, and that the quality of the nail color itself and the addition of almost any top coat were the keys to making a manicure last.

But now that I have used Stickey base coat from CND a few times, I am a convert.
It really works!
My nail polish usually shows tip wear and maybe a few chips by day 3 even if I use a top coat and good (Essie or OPI) polish.
With the CND base coat through, and Essie polish but no topcoat, I am on day 6 with just minor tip wear.

Totally worth it.

$3.50 plus shipping Stickey base coat

It's now a part of my manicure routine and I won't be skipping it.

Especially after my last round of using the crappy black Urban Outfitters polish (don't buy it!) stained my unprotected nails.

Are you mani-curious? Black and silver purple manicure with black shiny tips

Whee!
A new manicure.



For this one, I started with a black coat (a cheapo crappy Urban Outfitters polish I wouldn't recommend to anyone). I only did one coat because I knew I'd be covering it and it just needed to be a base, not a perfect layer.

Then I used a China Glaze silvery purple crackle over the top.
Imagine my surprise when it hardly cracked at all!
Oh no!
What was I to do?
Well, the crackle made the polish look matte, so I decided to try a look that I've been thinking about: matte nails with shiny tips.

I went back over the tips with another layer or two of black, and sealed the black part and the joint of the black and crackle with a clear topcoat. I didn't want to put the topcoat on the main nail because I wanted it to stay matte. If you have a matte topcoat, go ahead and use it.



Not bad, right? I like the look of the black tips; the ultimate reverse french manicure.

It's chipping badly already because the black polish is so crappy, but I like the effect and will try it again sometime with better polishes.

Sephora Nailpolish

$5 Sephora Urban Forest nailpolish connection
This set of mini nailpolishes is marked down from $11 to $5.

The colors are very in for Fall, and the small sizes are a good way to try them out and not commit to a whole big bottle.

- Jungle Playground: pale mint
- Military Jacket: dark green
- City Amazon: taupe

What do my nails look like? Thanks for asking!

It's been too long since I've done a nail post, and my nails are kind of fun right now.

I started with a blue metallic Sally Hanson base, and then when the tips got chipped and worn, I added a Rimmel Marine Blue (greenish) tip, and an H&M hot pink stripe underneath it.



I free-handed it instead of using tape, so that is why it's a little shaky and uneven. But freehanding is so much faster than tape.
Also, you can see some of the Marine that got on my finger, but that will come off in the shower.

Clear Acrylic Tipped Nails- Hot!

Check out this photo of a model wearing Candice Manacchio of CND's manicure at the Joy Cioci Spring 2012 fashion week show:

I haven't seen anything like that before! I think it's cool.

You can buy clear acrylic nails and create the look at home (or bring them to your salon and have them do it)

 $1.60 Lamour Clear Nail Tips (50 count bag)
I think these are meant to be bought in bulk, because you order by size and most people have several different sized nails. So you probably have to get at least 3 sizes (thumb, middle 3, pinky), but even so it is still really cheap.

$9.99 Clear tip nail set in box
This boxed set has a bunch of sizes if you just want one pack.

Youtube tutorial on application:


Tips on how to blend with your own nail while keeping them shiny and clear: Here

Reverse French Manicure

This is what is sometimes called a "reverse French manicure" because the bottom of the nail is lighter than the tip (traditionally, the bottom would be pinkish and the tip would be white).






I like the way it came out, do you?
The base color is Revlon linen, which smells really weird and not like my other nail polishes, btw.
The tip color is a silvery blue el cheapo brand which I forget now.
The combination of colors was suggested by E. Didn't he do a good job?

Normally when I am doing Fancy Nails, I'd cut out scotch tape to protect the part of my nail I don't want painted.
In this manicure, though, I decided to freehand it. That is why it looks a little lumpy at the boundary between colors.

Freehanding was definitely faster than taping, but it is harder to do and not as accurate. Also, I made a total mess on my fingertip skin because as I was dragging the brush across my nail, I was trying to keep the line thin by making sure that half of the brush was off my nail (and hence, on my finger).
It cleaned right up in the shower, though.

Tonight after work! Get awesome nail art done for FREE!

R29 has the scoop:

Tired of attempting your own at-home nail art (and fudging up your less dominant hand)? Well, here's your chance to get fab nails done at the Abby Walton pop-up nail salon. Stop by the JF & SON storefront tomorrow and walk away with 10 fresh reasons to be doing spirit fingers all the way home. There will be colorful cocktails and snacks, not to mention a store filled with JF & SON merch. Nails are free, but to avoid disappointment, be sure to RSVP (and don't forget to tip).
When: Thursday, September 1, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: JF & SON, 56 University Place (at East 10th Street); 212-343-3131.

My advice is to RSVP, get there early, and have a $5 bill out in your lap so you don't have to reach in your purse and screw up your pretty new nails.
I wish I could go to this!

Here are some pretty nails that Abby Walton has done before, to give you a taste of what you could get.

Sonia Kashuk for Target New Fall Nail Colors

Muted, dark colors are in for Fall nails.
Sonia Kashuk's new line follows suit:

$4.99 Each

Dusty punks, brownish burgundy, dark teal, and gray.
Do you like them?
I am not the biggest fan of this dark and heavy trend, though I do really like gray nails.