Some nail polishes are dramatic. Some are boring. Some are chaos agents disguised as innocent pastel dreams. Kiara Sky’s Lunar or Later is… complicated. On first impression, she is beautiful. A soft, milky, barely-there pink that whispers classy French tip energy instead of screaming fresh acrylic set at the mall. When applied correctly, it gives that elusive “my nails but better” look. The kind that says, Yes, I drink water and moisturize my cuticles and definitely have my life together. Which is hilarious, because I absolutely do not. The Application Experience: A Journey Here’s the thing: Lunar or Later is gloopy and streaky, like it can’t quite decide what consistency it
Tag: nail polish
The Unvarnished Truth: Kicking Off with Holo Taco’s Lemon Spritzer
Here’s the deal: I own too much nail polish. Like, museum-exhibit levels. One day, future historians will crack open my closet and write dissertations titled “Why Did This Woman Need Seventeen Shades of Slightly-Different Purple?”Instead of hiding my stash in shame, I’m flipping the script. Welcome to The Unvarnished Truth — my new series where I test out polishes from my collection and tell you exactly what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s just aggressively mediocre. No fluff, no filters, just straight-up polish honesty. And we’re kicking things off with a bubbly little number: Holo Taco’s Lemon Spritzer. Meet Lemon Spritzer This polish is basically
Venus in Furs by Deborah Lippmann
I can’t tell you how long I dithered over how to describe the color of this nail polish. At first I thought “This is so what a vampire who’s part of the Volturi clan would wear!” But then I looked at the first coat of nail polish and thought “Blueberries! Blueberries that have been squished!” The squish then triggered a memory of an I Love Lucy episode where her and Ethel are stomping on grapes to make wine which of course led me to think, “No, these nails are the color of red wine!” Which now has me wanting to
Black Magic Woman by Deborah Lippmann
This bottle, when you look at it, presents itself as your average glittery gray/black bottle of polish, BUT IT IS SO MUCH COOLER THAN THAT. This is the aptly named “Black Magic Woman” because trust me when I say that this is sorcery in a nail polish formula. It initially comes off as a dark gunmetal grey but then light hits it and let me tell you, it comes to LIFE. It shimmers with an opalescent beauty that shows off all the colors of the rainbow. It’s like a very low key holographic effect that doesn’t demand your attention, but
Hot Child in the City by Deborah Lippmann
This nail polish is BRIGHT. It will light up the night and your nails when you put it on. It’s a fluorescent orange with a coral tint thrown in to keep it classy. It’s versatile enough that it looks totally cute in the summer and workable in the fall. It also screams for attention so if you are into loud colors then this might be up your alley. One thing to note, this did go on a wee bit streaky on first application so two coats is definitely required to get an even nail color. I would also like to
How to Sort of Do Nail Art
In my quest to figure out how to bedeck my nails in a chic fashion, I have stumbled on “What Not to Do” and now I’m in the realm of “Sorta Kinda Am Figuring This Crap Out.” First, start off with a simple design. Something that only requires blobs and streaks. Turns out cheetah print is basically that. Nailed it! Second, if you don’t have the *exact* color match for the look you’re going for… Just use whatever you want and say you’re doing a unique version. Since I have neither a beige, white or black… I just went ahead
How to Not Do Nail Art
When it comes to nail art, I suck. Badly. Unfortunately, I have this strong desire to have artsy, flashy nails. But I’m cheap, so I don’t want to *pay* to have them look good. I want to do it myself and save my money for things like lipgloss, chocolate and travel. The problem though is that when you’re a FAILURE at nail art, it makes life a wee bit difficult on the nail front. I don’t quite know what to do yet, but I feel like I’m making headway on what *NOT* to do and that has to count for
Happy Birthday by Deborah Lippmann
I went hunting through my box of nail polishes and found this unicorn dream sitting in the pile. It’s Deborah Lippmann’s “Happy Birthday” glitter polish. I put it on my nails and it looked so festive! Almost like Christmas elves had barfed confetti onto my fingers! I’m sure if I had other base coats besides red it would have a different effect. Like if I had used pink it would’ve looked like fairy barf instead. You get where I’m coming from right? I have to say the pictures really don’t do it justice because you miss the sparkling effect that
Tips and Toes
So I’m preparing for another vacation (as if my tour of the eastern seaboard wasn’t enough), but this time it’s off to Eastern Washington. Like many women heading off to sunny lands, I’m dithering over what to paint my nails. Priorities people. Priorities. Otherwise known as first world problems. I’m loving the idea of using these two colors. They just scream summer fun to me! I’m thinking Deborah Lippmann’s Blue Orchid Gel Lab Pro Nail Polish on my fingers. Then adding a pop of orange color to my toes with Deborah Lippmann’s Hot Child in the City. It could work