Last night I decided to break into that bottle of Color Club Snowflakes from the Color Club Enchanted Holiday mini set, and the manicure ended up being one of those rare instances in which the finished product is just what I had in mind at the outset. To refresh your memory if you didn't feel like clicking on the link, Snowflakes is the white glitter in the set, and my plan for it right away was to layer it over a pastel blue.
I started by selecting the blue for the base color, and I'd mentioned OPI's What's with the Cattitude when I was tossing the idea around. It turned out that the OPI was a hair darker than I had in mind, as was Color Club Take Me to Your Chateau. I settled on Nubar Baby Blue, the whitest pastel blue I had handy. It's a good one for layering as well - it's super pigmented, so it's two thin coats with exceptional drying time.
I had the Nubar handy because I just stocked up on some staples and replaced some colors I've almost finished with their current sale, and I noticed that the new bottle of Baby Blue has a new brush. Honestly, the brush might have changed a while back without me noticing, so I don't know if that's news (I try to pay attention, but when I'm swatching I'm looking at the colors more than the brush). The new brush is a bit flatter and wider, and the cap it's attached to is different - the old had no rounding of the edge at the top of the cap, while the new one has the edge rounded. I did like the old brush, but even though I didn't notice a difference in using the new one, the new seems to work better for me - my application was very thorough and tidy with little effort, so it seems the change is an improvement for me. Anyhow, I did the two coats of Baby Blue.
As for Color Club Snowflakes, I was concerned that it may either (or both, for that matter) too white or too dense with glitter for good layering. It is quite thick, but I found that in applying it, it was easy to spread it thinly and evenly for a good layer of glitter that did not alter the base color, and it shows pink, blue and white glitter. It looked a little gritty when I finished, so I used two coats of Seche Vite (my thickest top coat) to smooth it out. A few hours later, after the SV had dried all the way, it was still not smooth to the touch, so I added two coats of Barielle Manicure Extender. Those last two coats of top coat were not needed, but they were the difference between whether the manicure I'm wearing looked exactly like what I had in mind or falling a bit short, so I added them. Now it's glassy smooth and the glitter even sparkles by candlelight.
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| Color Club Snowflakes, One Coat, over Two Coats Nubar Baby Blue |
The picture's by artificial light, which always washes out the sparkle of glitter. It looks like that, only sparklier!
I'm still toiling away at my little domestic project, so I've only been changing my nail polish when it chips. I'm really hoping that this one holds out for a few days, because I really like it and it's just right for the weather. I think the pastel blue with glitter looks cold like winter, but not stark cold. More like when it's 25° at night and snowing big fluffy snowflakes that melt during the day, not like a -10° January day with the wind cutting through your very soul. It looks like the part of winter that I like.
So that's my Snowflakes manicure, and that's the update for today. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!
So that's my Snowflakes manicure, and that's the update for today. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!
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