31 Day Challenge (v.2) Day 26: Inspired By A Pattern

Good morning lovelies! Happy Caturday!! Charlie is currently trying to pet some Guinea Pigs. Hard. With her claws. But if she wasn't so very busy with urgent kitteh stuff, she would say hello. ;)

Today's challenge is a fun one, Inspired By A Pattern. I love patterns, so this was tough to narrow down. I love circle patterns, plaid, ikat, dotted patterns...but there is one that I always end up with in abundance around here. My very fave, especially in Winter, Argyle!

Since Arglye is such a fun pattern to use with all sorts of different colors, I decided to go bright. I broke into my untrieds and chose Julep Daphne, a dusty teal, as my base color. then I taped off triangles at the top and bottom of the nail and added Julep Charlotte. Then I carefully removed the tape (I used painter's tape for this one. I'm liking it better than scotch tape since it seems to adhere to the nail just a touch better than scotch tape) and added the dashes lines using Julep Niecy.

I really dig how this came out, although I am not that stellar at uniform lines! Practice makes perfect, right? This totally reminds me of a pair of funky socks that I had a few years back. I'm pretty sure the dryer ate one of them, leaving me sockless and sad.

I love me some Argyle! Not bad for my first attempt at Argyle, right? Although I am noticing that it's time to shape my growing nubs a little. Honestly I've been trying to steer clear of the file as long as possible since my OCD flares when I file and I do not want to lose any more length than absolutely necessary.  I tend to make light of my OCD, but it can easily get out of hand, so if I don't do much filing, please don't be offended. I *did* clean up my cuticles though, so no-one can lynch me. ;)

What do you think of Argyle? Classic or tacky?

Be sure to check out all the fab patterned manicures the Varnished Vixens have dreamed up!

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
- Robin Sparkles  

Be sure to check back this week for some A England Gothic Beauties, More Halloween polish, and China Glaze Holiday Polish!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

NOTD: Kleancolor Blue Eyed Girl

Hello lovelies! Happy Thursday! So close to the weekend, yet still so far. On the upside, it's payday! Which means that I get to order more A England! Woohoo! I'll also be mailing packages, so if you have yet to receive one from me (a couple got lost under the seat of my husband's car), it should be there soon!

Speaking of packages, is anyone interested in doing a Secret Polish Santa this year? I think that would be great fun! Lemme know if you're interested and I'll set it all up. Also, 31 Dayers? The final challenge is looming. I wanted to know if you all wanted to re-create your fave mani that you have done during the challenge, or if you wanted to re-create a mani that another one of the partcipants has done. Please let me know! I'd like to have us all on the same page.

Lately I've been trying to get my butt in gear and start working through my untrieds. A good couple hundred are untrieds, or have been used only for dotting, striping, or nail art and I really want to give them some love. I fully believe that older polish deserves to be in the spotlight just as much as the new collections, so I'm planning on doing a 30 Days of Untrieds deal after the 31 Day challenge is over. If anyone wants to join in, let me know! There are no rules, just using untried polishes.

Today's untried polish is from Kleancolor, one of my fave less expensive brands. Kleancolor makes some really awesome glitters, and some gorgeous colors as well. I feel like I  never really see much from them outside of the Chunky Holos and Holo series, so I wanted to show off one of their lesser known, yet gorgeous beauties. Blue Eyes girl is a Cobalt Blue Jelly loaded with large Blue hex and small hex glitters.  The first time I saw this, I knew I had to have it! My awesome BFF (i also refer to him as my brother) managed to snag a bunch of Kleancolor polishes and Glitters for my birthday, and this was among them. Thanks J!!

I love this kind of polish - bright, sheer jelly combined with larger glittah! Yummy! However, this one was a bit problematic.

Formula:
Blue Eyed Girl was kind a PITA. It was so thick that I had to dump a serious amount of thinner into it, then grab a paper clip that I had straightened out to mix the polish. Yup, that thick. I don't think it was just this bottle that is like that either. I had a bottle of this before, but my husband dropped it and it broke. I had not had a chance to use it yet, but it had that same ultra-thick, unusable until thinned like crazy consistency. Once it was thinned out a bit, I dropped it into a bowl of ultra hot water, and after a few minutes it was fine.

Application:
This girl applied nicely - as long as I kept the thinner close. It thickens up very fast, which leads to clumping of the glitters. When it plays nice, it's wonderful...but when it glops up, it's a nightmare.  It was also quick to drag, and the glitters don't always lay flat on the nail. It's a serious top coat eater, so I added a thick coat of Gelous as well as a good coat of SV, and it's still a bit rough.

I love this color enough to really work at being able to use it. If you don't want to put the work into making this polish thin enough to actually use, I would steer clear. If you love this kind of polish, don't mind spending a whopping $3-4, and have thinner and time to spare? Well, its worth that much.

What do you think of Blue Eyed Girl? Do you have a fave Kleancolor polish?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber