2023 in summary (personal talk) + annoying nail problems

I'll just come out and say it: 2023 was bad. 

Like, really bad. 

I'm at the point now where I'm counting my simplest of blessings: I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food in my stomach, a family who loves me. This is what I have to be happy about. 2023 was a year of realizations, rumination, and rude awakenings. It was very, very lonely. (I can confidently say that there is no one in my life who I consider a true friend. My romantic situation has been a major source of stress.) There were many tears cried. Lots of anger. Frustration. Ennui. Monotony and repetition, days bleeding into weeks into months into one big muddy mess of a year. My mental and physical health are at a possible all-time low. My self esteem is completely shot. To be honest, I don't even know who I am anymore. It has most certainly NOT been my year.

That should explain why I haven't been tending to this blog very much. This year's post count is pretty spare compared to the others. I simply haven't had the energy. I love writing and taking photos for these posts, but it's one of the hallmarks of depression: losing interest in the things you like to do. Quite honestly, just getting my nails done at all has been a little difficult. Ever since I started with gel/acrylic overlays in August, my nail routine has become much more complicated. Removing and replacing the gel, which needs to be done every three weeks or so, takes three hours at the very least. It's done wonders for my nails, but it's a serious chore to maintain.

(Color is Zoya Prim.) Speaking of my nails, they're looking pretty, um... "short". Wink wink, nudge nudge. I can't jinx it. Every time I say they look... "bad", something happens to them. But seriously, aren't they "awful"? That's the gel overlay for ya. There have been a couple of small side splits here and there, but nothing that can't be fixed with a dab of nail glue. The only downside is that the thickness and length of my nails make some tasks near impossible. Trying to open the clasp on a necklace is an exercise in patience. Forget about picking a coin or credit card up off the floor. I'd be able to put up with all of this if not for one thing. This always happens when my nails get "short" and it annoys me to no end.

What did I do to deserve this? The nail itself is perfectly square, but the corner curls in something fierce. All of my nails do this to some extent (except for my ring fingers, for whatever reason), but my left thumb here exemplifies it best. I don't know why this happens or if there's a way to fix it. Moisturizing doesn't seem to help – even when drenched in jojoba oil, that stupid corner won't unfurl. The only time it cooperates is after I've taken a shower. Only when it's completely saturated with water does it loosen up. So maybe it is a moisturization issue. Maybe soaking my nails in oil five times a day would fix it... but let's be real here, who has time for that? I never understand when people talk about keeping nail oil everywhere, especially at the desk. Doesn't the oil get everywhere? Or maybe they don't mind having a greasy keyboard? Who knows? Not me.

Here's a top-down perspective. Kind of a weird picture, I know – my finger sort of looks like E.T. wearing a lopsided baseball cap. Come on, tell me you see it too! Anyway, this is another great demonstration of this maddening curve in my nail. Look at how it droops on the left side, curling in far more than on the right. I've seen these metal clamps made to straighten out ingrown toenails and I have to wonder if something like that would work in this case. Oh, well... truth be told, I'm thinking of cutting them anyway. Not too much, just a small trim. They're becoming unwieldy! We're also coming into winter, AKA dark creme season, which I don't like the look of on... okay, I'll say it now, long nails. I just want to wear my vampy purples and reds, dammit! 

I know this was a long, ranting kind of post, but trust me when I say that I needed to let it all out. No one really reads this blog anyway, so what's the harm in baring my soul? Here's hoping that 2024 brings better days for us all. And until next time... happy holidays, and peace out!

Wild and Crazy Sylva

It's been quite a while since I posted last! If this little passion project of mine ever needed some attention, now's the time. Quite frankly, I have been doing very poorly as of late. I won't delve into the sordid details, but let's just say I've been downright miserable for a good few months now and I've been looking for anything to keep myself occupied. What better distraction than to paint my nails one of my favorite colors and prattle on about it for a bit?

We're talking about Wild and Crazy again today. Can you believe it? Nearly three years since my first post about the brand and I am STILL in love with it. It needs no introduction by now, but I'll give it a brief one anyway: Wild and Crazy was Sinful Colors' fraternal twin – the same colors produced by the same company, just rebottled with new names. Born sometime in the late '90s and died sometime in the late '00s or early '10s, likely as a result of a lawsuit filed by the owners of Wet n Wild over the name. It is one of my all-time favorite nail polish brands for its fun array of colors, strange polish names, and overall wacky vibe. Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the polish!

Everybody say hello to Sylva! Isn't she pretty? This is three coats. Yes, I'm aware of the giant gash along my pinky nail, which I decided to place front and center for some reason... you should see my thumb! I'm learning that gel topcoat over regular polish yields strange results. I love this color entirely too much to care, though. I mentioned it in my Wild and Crazy collection post, but this polish has a REALLY interesting finish to it. I don't know how visible it is in the photo, but it's very unusual. Let me copy and paste what I'd said back then, because my brain is too fried to try and describe it all over again:

"...a formula that I've never seen anywhere else. I don't know if I can put it into words... it's buttery smooth but has a tendency to pull if it doesn't dry completely between coats. It dries to this incredible finish... it's somewhere in between a frost, a pearl, and a chrome. It is AMAZING. It reminds me of satin... not satin finish nail polish, but actual satin fabric."

It really is something else. It's got this indescribable gossamer quality to it that's tough to capture on camera. The gel topcoat has also flattened the effect, sadly. I never shared this photo from back in March because it wasn't color-accurate, but it does a better job of showing off what I'm talking about. I have two other colors from W&C in this exact finish, Suzammi (a greyed-out lavender) and Lazarine (a greyish-blue), but something about this particular shade of pink really speaks to me. I'm typically not big on pink polish, but there's something about this that feels weirdly... edgy to me? How crazy do I sound, describing baby pink as "edgy"? I can't explain it. It could be an ironic thing - it's SO soft and SO girly that it loops back around and becomes subversive. Maybe I've just lost my mind... it's entirely possible.

Well, there's really nothing more I can say about this polish. Just look at the photos and pray for me because I've only got this one little bottle and I will shed actual tears when I inevitably finish it. And until next time... peace out! 

A Tale of Two Glitters: NYC Starry Silver Glitter

NYC is an odd duck. Omnipresent in drugstores during the mid-to-late 2000s, it offered fun colors with Big Apple-inspired names on the cheap. Once the 2010s rolled around, it vanished without a trace and has been MIA for about a decade. There's not much information about the brand online, either. The patent for New York Color was filed on July 24th, 1998 by Del Labs, former parent company of Sally Hansen. Del was acquired by cosmetics monolith Coty in 2007 and subsequent bottles would be labeled accordingly. Aside from these tidbits, NYC's history and demise are shrouded in mystery. Still, for the brief moment in time that the brand graced store shelves, it provided a small but solid range of trendy hues for little more than a dollar. 

Starry Silver Glitter is possibly one of NYC's most fondly remembered shades. It consists of standard-sized metallic hex glitter in medium blue and light purple accompanied by holographic micro glitter. While not very exciting in the modern nail world, it holds its own as a fun, simple topper. I typically wear it on its own when my nails are short, like they are right now. My right hand is making a rare appearance as its nails are slightly more presentable than the ones on my left. This is only one coat. The hex glitter is mostly unfinicky but fishing may be required every now and again, sometimes for color distribution. I somehow ended up with only purple on my pinkie nail and did not notice until it was too late.

Ah, but there's a twist! This is not the only edition of Starry Silver Glitter out there. On the left in this photo is an older bottle (with original tri-color logo as described in the 1998 patent) containing a completely different version of this polish. I firmly believe that I may be the only person left on earth in possession of this original version, as I could not find ANY photos of it online. Additionally, this bottle is now approaching 20 years of age. I can't say when it was purchased as I am not its original owner, but similar bottles in my collection are dated 2006. Side note: this is not the only NYC polish to receive a reformulation during its lifetime. I have two bottles of Broadway Burgundy Frost, one of my favorite red polishes of all time, that differ slightly (but enough for me to favor the earlier bottle, even though it is running dangerously low). The difference here is not nearly as subtle.

Here is version #2 in more detail. I swear, sometimes I just tip this bottle and watch the glitter fall down. Mesmerizing. (Ignore the dried polish booger on the neck of the bottle. I need to clean it off, I know.)

THIS is version #1! I encourage you to enlarge these photos for more detail. The original featured silver hex glitter (as the name would suggest!) instead of purple, as well as a more muted blue. Holographic glitter was less common when this polish made its debut, so in its place is a fun confetti mix of silver, red, and green. The base has gone a bit murky with age, but was undoubtedly clear when this polish rolled off the manufacturing line. I feel oddly lucky to have this is my collection. Any seasoned collector will tell you that while rarity and value often go hand-in-hand, this is not always the case. This polish is rare, but would almost certainly fail to fetch any more than five dollars, even within collector's circles.

It's little oddities like this that remind me why I love collecting vintage nail polish. Unfortunately, I am anticipating that I will need to drastically downsize my collection. I will be moving sometime within the new few years and simply will not be able to lug my three Helmers with me. I don't need to start thinking about it just yet, though. (OG Starry Silver Glitter will definitely be coming with me no matter what.)

And until next time... peace out!

The Body Shop Almond Hand & Nail Overnight Manicure Butter (+ NOTD!)

It seems that I can pretty easily separate my adolescent years into phases based on my allegiances to different "personal care" shops. In elementary school, it was the ever-popular Bath and Body Works. By high school, I'd become hip to the artsy whimsy of Lush. Middle school, however, was all about the Body Shop. The simplest and most no-frills of them all, it offered single-note fragrances across a wide variety of products, all priced just right to drain a 13-year-old's stash of birthday money. Their strawberry body butter was basically my entire reason for living in 8th grade, along with the green tea lotion and moringa "body milk" (or, in layman's terms, an extra-thin lotion that left me smelling like a delicate li'l flower). After discovering Lush in my freshman year of high school, I left the Body Shop, which seemed so pedestrian by comparison, in the dust. Now that Lush has gone more mainstream, retiring most of my favorite products and raising prices to unjustifiable heights, I figured it was about time to return to my old reliable.

This is the Almond Hand & Nail Overnight Manicure Butter. What a name! I can't be the only one with a soft spot for frivolous specialty items like this. For someone as obsessed with their nails as I am (and struggling with dry hands during the winter), this was a no-brainer. Since my purchase in December, it appears that this has been discontinued, as it is no longer visible on the Body Shop website. However, it can still be found elsewhere for just about retail price ($20), and I'd imagine that some locations still have leftover stock. They also offer a cream formulation in a squeeze tube, though I haven't tried it and am unsure of how similar it is to this product.

I can hear you already: "wow, $20 is pretty steep for a 3.3 oz. tub of gunk". I would be inclined to agree with you, but in all reality, a little goes a long way. I've been using it a bit more liberally than I typically would because I recently came to a realization: I don't think I've ever finished any of my lotions. I'm entirely too precious with them, using them so sparingly that I either forget about them or they spoil before I can use them all up. I'm pretty sure my aforementioned vat of strawberry body butter is still sitting around somewhere, several years past its expiration date, collecting dust. I should probably find it and toss it...

but anyway, yes, you don't need much of this to get the desired effect. And you will desire the effect once you try it, believe me. This stuff is extremely thick in consistency – if you are familiar with their body butters, it's about the same – so you will really only want to use this as an overnight treatment. Gloves may be a good idea if you don't feel like smearing it all over your bedding, because it will not sink in before you fall asleep. I applied it the other night during one of my bouts of insomnia, and it hadn't even gotten close to drying down in the hour I spent tossing and turning. The tradeoff, though? The softest, silkiest hands you've ever had. Babies wish their butts were this smooth. I can't vouch for its effect on the nails, though I'd imagine it's good – cocoa seed oil, shea butter, and sweet almond oil all sound very promising, in addition to providing a lovely almond fragrance. Even if it does diddly for my nails, it still stands as a phenomenal hand cream. A day and several hand-washes later, my skin still feels significantly more moisturized than it did before I used it. No more dry, flaky hands catching on my sweaters! I feel so pampered and nourished.

To close out this post, I figured I'd share what's currently on my nails: Zoya Frida. This polish is so weird and I love it. I'm immediately into anything that can be described as “unlike anything in my collection", and such is the case for dear Frida. It's a murky medium teal jelly that will never, ever be opaque – this is 4 coats, and I'd estimate that you'd need about 7 before your nail line was obscured. Something about the combination of the jelly finish (my favorite) and the offbeat color just really, really works for me. I imagine some might call this "ugly-pretty" or "so bad it's good", but not me. I'm just honestly, unironically in love with this. And in love for what it means coming from Zoya – I'm always impressed when bigger brands take chances on experimental colors. Clearly it paid off, seeing as they’ve been producing this shade for over a decade now. I hope they never stop! 

And until next time... peace out!

Zoya Gelie-Cure: All it's cracked up to be?

As someone with fragile nails and a penchant for growing them long, I'm always on the lookout for ways to strengthen them. I've heard great things about overlays and clear dips, but before taking the plunge, I wanted to try something a little more beginner-friendly. For this reason, Zoya's new Gelie-Cure system instantly appealed to me. What exactly is Gelie-Cure, you may be asking? Zoya describes it as a "demi-gel" that is easier to apply and remove than traditional gel, but with many of the same benefits. I was sold! I grabbed the travel kit during the Thanksgiving weekend sale, prepared to be blown away by the results, and... well, let's just say that I was not impressed. I haven't touched the kit in a couple of months, but I'm trying Gelie-Cure once more in an attempt to ascertain whether my initial experience was the result of user error or product failure.

The first step to any Gelie-Cure mani (after washing your hands, of course) is the application of the Rescue Serum, which is massaged into the nails to moisturize, strengthen, and repair damage. (I am skeptical of these claims and worry that the moisture may affect the longevity of the final result, but I'm trying to follow the instructions as closely as I can.) Zoya advises that a pea-sized amount split between all ten fingers is sufficient. I admit that I may have been ever-so-slightly too generous with it, which Zoya indicates may lead to lifting. However, I did allow the serum to soak in completely before moving onto the next step. 

Next up is the Repair Base, which is said to lock in the Rescue Serum and provide a smooth, ridge-filling base for the next step. It's fairly straightforward: apply like a normal base coat, making sure to cap the tips and avoid the cuticles. It's a little thin, but nothing that most people won't be able to handle, though I will say that the tiny brush of the travel-sized bottle can be a bit hard to maneuver. All told, I had no issues with this step. 

Now, it's time for the star of the show: Naked Gelie. I have a major bone to pick with this stuff. Not only is the formula much thinner than I was anticipating, but the brush is one of the worst I've ever seen. It's supposed to be a wide brush, but since this is a travel-sized bottle, it ends up being larger than a standard thin brush but smaller than a standard wide brush. This makes it awkward to cover the nail without overloading it with product. This happened to me MANY times. A quick tip: pop your nails under the LED lamp for a second to spot any cuticle flooding and remove with an orange stick or angled brush with acetone. Make sure to cap your tips as well.

Here's what the USB-powered LED curing light looks like in action. Nail rave, woot woot! Despite its funkadelic appearance, this step is akin to watching paint dry... literally. I promise that my application was much more even than this photo makes it look. The lamp has a built-in 60-second timer, so over-curing (if that's even possible) is pretty hard to do. Under-curing, however, can be achieved if you are an idiot like myself. I kept checking out my nails for a few seconds at a time to scope out any errant Gelie and remove it, so I assumed I didn't need to sit for the full minute when it came time to cure. I was proven wrong by smudges and marks in my half-baked Gelie. They put that timer in for a reason, people. Please do as I say, not as I do... 

Here it is after curing. Oooh, shiny! (Yes, my nails really are that yellow and translucent. No, I'm not happy about it either). You could stop here after wiping with Clear Shine and a lint-free pad, but Zoya advertises the "2-10-2" or "sandwich" method. This consists of all the steps thus far, plus some colored polish and an additional layer of Gelie. Zoya promises gel-like shine and a wear time of 7-14 days when following this method. To give it a fighting chance at lasting that long, I used a Zoya polish (Midori, one of my favorites) as my color of choice. I probably should have gone for something with a better formula, as Midori is quite finicky and requires 3 coats for full coverage... but who could resist that pretty golden green?

And here is the finished result. Is it shiny? Sure, but not any more so than the Seche Vive topcoat I usually use. In no world is this comparable to the look of a fresh set of traditional gel, but by no means does it look bad. 

And now for the wear test. How far did I get before it chipped? Just under 24 hours! The corner of my right middle nail began to peel following a hot shower. Yes, hot water and nail polish are not friends, but shouldn't something that touts itself as a long-wearing gel alternative be able to stand up to a 15-minute shower? It's not even like I was using my nails to scrub my scalp or anything. This is exactly why I stopped using Gelie-Cure after the first couple of times. A regular manicure prepped with dehydrator and consisting of Orly's Bonder base, a Zoya color, and Seche Vive topcoat will last me at least 5 days before significant chipping occurs... so why should I ever use this? Maybe I'll try it again someday minus the Rescue Serum, which I believe is the culprit. Until then, though, I'll be sticking to my normal routine: much less labor-intensive and much longer-lasting.

And until next time... peace out! 

Enamelettes Antique Copper

I am finally talking about one of my polishes that has absolutely no online documentation. I don't know why, but I seem to post most often about the more prominent vintages. UD Toxin, Revlon Street Wear Toad, any of the BLOPIs... they're popular for a reason, they're beautiful, but does the Internet really need any more of them? I've spoken before of my archival nature, but I haven't backed it up. From here on out, I'd like to make an effort to post more about the obscurities in my collection that will completely slip through the cracks if I don't. Today's polish is one such example. 

Ever heard of Enamelettes? No? Well, don't feel too bad. I can only find a few instances of this brand online. I can't tell you where it was sold or for how much, but I know that the name was trademarked in 1992. This belonged to my mother before I nabbed it from her, which is strange. It doesn't seem like the type of color that she would go for, then or now, but I'm glad she did!

Antique Copper (#410, seen here in two coats) is a strange name for this polish. It's a dusty dark rose with a fine-milled pearly shimmer. I was actually a bit disappointed at how subtle the brushstrokes are, because I was craving something extra frosty. It's a nice color regardless, tame and old-fashioned. Again, that's why I chose it. A little fact about me: I spend pretty much every second of my life wishing I were in the past. I hate to get all "I was born in the wrong generation" on ya, but it's true. The 80s and 90s are where I spend most of my fantasies, but I've been preoccupied with the 70s as of late after watching a lot of TV from the time. Little House on the Prairie, Quincy M.E., and my very favorite, Columbo (I could write an entire blog about how much I love Columbo)... it's all got me so nostalgic for a time I never lived in. I've got my Clinique Aromatics Elixir on and Lowdown by Boz Scaggs blasting, so why not whip out an era-appropriate nail color? I know it's not actually from then, but it could've fooled me because...

look at the bottle in all its glory! Tell me, why doesn't every bottle of nail polish look exactly like this? I'm not a fan of the ginormous barcode (nor do I think it would've been there in the 70s), but I do like that the color's name and number are listed on the front label. There's something about this conical design and ribbed cap that I find very aesthetically pleasing. I wish it would make a comeback. There was a brand of water-based polish called Tweets from about 10 years ago that used a similar cap, but I haven't seen anything like it since. Indie makers, get on this!

I mentioned it at the beginning of my last post, but I haven't been doing very well these past few weeks. While I'm still not feeling great, even just posting about this polish brings me a small bit of joy. My sister is coming home for spring break on the 2nd, and I know that having her around will alleviate some of my loneliness. I don't have much, but I've got my family, my cats, my music, my polish, and Peter Falk to keep me company. :P

And until next time... peace out!