New Indie Love for Chirality

Amanda Duron is a self professed nerd with an amazing husband and a recent diagnosis that changed her life. Starting her new indie line of polish appealed to her creative and intellectual sides as well as filled her time while dealing with life's struggles.  I got a chance to have Amanda answer a few questions about herself and her new line.

Dom: What got you interested in polish and eventually helped you decide to make it? 

Amanda: I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma earlier this year which is a rare form of cancer. I was forced to take a leave of absence from school which pushed any sort of plans of graduation, setting up a practice, or having children back further than I wanted it to. Needless to say, it was a bit depressing. I was also stuck inside a house for many months unable to go anywhere unless it was to get nasty chemo injected into my body.  This sort of unhappy state caused me to revert to some of the hobbies I used to enjoy several years back, particularly nail polish. So much has changed thanks to social networks and the increase in indie nail polish. After awhile, my nerd side kicked in and I found myself intrigued by starting my own indie polish line.  The rest is history!

Dom: Where did the name for the line come from and what does it mean?
Amanda: Since I'm an Optometry student, the first year of school is pretty much nothing but science courses. One of the courses that ended up being fun was Organic Chemistry. Because I'm such a nerd, I would continue reading up on the subject outside of class and learn about various other aspects, like Chirality, which usually refers to molecules that are non-superimposable mirror image.  LOL, very nerdy!  Plus, I think it's a very pretty sounding name.

Dom: What made you do holos first?
Amanda: I don't know why but holos really appeal to me. I think they're beautiful, and I really wanted my first line of polish to set the standard for what fans of nail polish can expect from me.

Dom: What are some of your inspirations?
Amanda: This is going to sound corny, but my husband is my inspiration. He pushed me these past six months to fight this cancer. And then, pushed me to start this line. He's been such and inspiration that I now call him my muse. I don't know why but the first couple of times I tried making polish, they were disastrous. But, whenever my husband is around, I wind up making the polish that you now see on my Facebook page and Big Cartel store! Plus, he lets me test them out on his nails, which amuses me.

Now that we know a bit about Amanda, let's move onto the POLISH! The first collection from Chirality Nail Polish consist of four amazing holographic lacquers. When Amanda sent me the set for review I immediately ordered my two favorites! After swatching the collection I realized that I needed them all! For all of my swatches I used Beauty Secrets Base Coat, two coats of polish and Orly Glosser for the top coat.  I was also lucky to get a day of beautiful sunshine so, all the shots were taken outside in full sunlight!

The back story's that Amanda uses to describe her colors are amazing so I will add them for your reading pleasure!

"In the woods, a killer stalks a group of young, nubile women. They've come off as lost, injured, and scared of what goes bump in the night, and the killer could not be happier. Little does he know that these ladies are far from lost, far from injured and very far from scared. Morning is coming quick, but not quick enough, because these ladies are ready to strike. They're ready to turn the tables on this killer and attack just before dawn."

Just Before Dawn is a super pretty fall orange base with a subtle linear holo effect.  I am not generally an orange kinda of girl but this polish is nuts.  It painted like a dream and with two coats I was able to get full opacity.

Just Before Dawn 

Just Before Dawn

"The Symbiote is an alien life-form that came crashing down to Earth in search of female host to ooze over them and bring forth from its newfound owner a devilish and mischievous side she never knew existed. Once the Symbiote takes over, she owns the night."

The Symbiote is an amazing charcoal black holo that I could not stop looking at once I had it on! Again, I had no issues with application.

The Symbiote

The Symbiote

"A lonely scientist is working to compose the ultimate love potion. While working in her laboratory, a freak accident involving copper, or Cu2+, infuses to our heroine to create an electronically charged Siren. Who says elements from the periodic table can't be beautiful?" 

Cu2+ is an ridiculous blue, with a hint of teal, holographic polish. Application was flawless and this one is a favorite for sure!  

Cu2+

Cu2+

"Purified in the waters of Lake Minnetonka, Apollonia is the pure definition of sexuality and beauty. She's a no-nonsense kind of girl who will scratch her way to the top to get what she desires. Her voice is strong and can be heard by everyone, even through the rain."

Apollonia is my favorite of the entire collection. Mostly because I love purple but also, something about wearing a polish with that description makes me feel like a sexy beast! LOL! The application rocked and man oh man, I did not want to take this one off!

Apollonia

Apollonia

Well, there you have it!  Chirality is amazing and I cannot wait to see what Amanda comes up with next!  Tell me what you think.  Which one is your favorite?

You can find Chirality Nail Polish for sale at http://www.chirality.bigcartel.com

You can also like Chirality Facebook Fan Page at https://www.facebook.com/chiralitypolish?fref=ts

Studio M Skittles Style

Why is the Meijer store so close to my house???  My husband has been asking the same question, I am sure!  I mean, it just sits on the corner full of nail polish... needless to say, we HAD to run to Meijer the other night for some random non-essentials.  I left the store with a few "absolute-essentials" in perfect little bottles!

A Studio M display full of amazingly bright colors caught my eye on the way out of the store and I had to grab a few!  So I picked up Orange Sunset, Psychedelic Scene, Neon Caution, Glitter Envy and Energy Star.  I don't know about anyone else but, when I get home with new polish I cannot wait to try it all on.  The lighting in the store is never quite right!

So, I did exactly that!  I tried on all of the polish at once and it ended up being a pretty cute mani of sorts.  The Studio M polish line is really growing on me the more I use it!  The formulas are great and there is really no streaking issues at all.  Most of the colors that I have picked so far have been a one and done.  This shopping trip was a bit different because I ended up with several neons.  Neons are known for being thin and needing some sort of underwear to make the color pop fully.

With this mani THERE IS NO WHITE BASE!  Yes that's right.  These neons did not need a white base coat!  I did paint three coats with these for full coverage but I think they stayed really true to color on there own!  LOVE THEM!

So here it is... my Skittles Style Neon Mani!  All Studio M Nail Lacquer in order from thumb to pinky: Energy Star, Glitter Envy, Neon Caution, Psychedelic Scene and Orange Sunset!

Base + 3 coats of each polish + Northern Lights Top Coat + Flash 

Base + 3 coats of each polish + Northern Lights Top Coat + Flash

P.S. Glitter Envy is really awesome in person and has a bit of a Floam like texture.  The glitter in it appears almost white!  

I hope you like it!  Let me know what you think. 

Tape Mani... Finally!!!

It has been a while since E first told me about the "tape mani".   This fun nail art technique using tape to create really nice sharp edges or shapes on your nails was something that has alluded me for a while now!!! I mean, it sounds so complicated, but she said it wasn't! How can this be? It's tape! I mean, she has pulled off some really cute mani's using this method and always told me that I should try it.  My patience level is not quite where E's is and she seems to get some really cool things done that I just cannot get my head around!  LOL!  "Just try and try again" she always tells me.  So I figured the other day while we were skype-ing I would try and see what I could come up with.

I already had a nice base of Wet n Wild - Through the Grapevine on my nails, so next I got out my little scissors and just started cutting some little strips of tape. Trying to place them on my nails evenly was a different story.  I will say that this was actually a fun mani to do.  It really didn't take that long and I really like the fact that it wasn't too messy.  So here is what I came up with... I hope you like it and please keep in mind this was my first time!  LOL!  I will continue to "try and try again" and hopefully, if I'm very patient and lucky, I will be able to use this trick to do many more interesting mani's in the future.  

Tada!  

Dotting Tool, Sally Hansen White On, Wet'n'Wild Through the Grapevine, I Need a Refresh-Mint & Club Havana

Not bad for my first attempt... I hope!

Wet n Wild... Getting the Kids Involved!

My youngest son, Savion, is so funny when I am in polish mode.  He really tries to be as involved as possible even though I know that he could care less.  He still wants to spend time with mommy and if that means pretending to be interested in polish colors and nail art, then he will do it.  At ten years old, soon to be eleven, I really can't complain about his wanting to spend time with me because it will soon change I know!  

Savion single handedly picked out the colors and pattern for this mani.   I love my boy and he didn't do to bad a job on the colors!  Wet n Wild megalast line of colors is fast becoming one of my favs.  The formula is awesome and most times it is a one and done polish.  The brushes are great and make for a really easy and clean cuticle line.

The color combo that Savion chose was Club Havana and I Need a Refresh-Mint!  GOOD JOB SAV!  I wasn't so sure at first but once I had these colors on I realized that they perfectly complimented one another!

I hope you like it!

Both of these shots were taken with 

flash and one coat of each polish plus a base and top coat.

Don't these colors look great together?  

Easter Nail Art, A long way to go... but it's a start!

With Easter around the corner I knew I wanted to do a themed nail but hadn't quite decided what. I've seen a lot of super cute stuff in the past month and have really felt the pressure! Well with the arrival of my brushes I was anxious to give them a test drive just that much more... but the question still remained test drive them with WHAT?

It came to me in a flash... of middle finger waving angrily in my direction on Southside Blvd in Jacksonville (FL).

Yup... it was like a lightning bolt made of soft creme colors and easter grass sparkle! I wanted to have 3D grass on my nails, eggs hidden in the grass and of COURSE an Easter Bunny! Yup! So simple... yet how exactly to achieve this and with which polish and in what order. Oh the logistics lol.

I formulated my plan while moving along in the hell that is traffic on that particular road for my 40+ minute drive home and got nowhere. Really and truly nowhere. I just couldn't see it yet. It was like I was mentally constipated or something. I had the idea and I knew I had the colors but the rest was just... stuck.

I went the rest of the day like that and let me tell you it was just as uncomfortable as the real thing! I can't stand being creatively stuck it sucks sour eggs!

The end of the day bled into the end of the night and while on Skype with Dom I just started picking out colors... before I even really realized what I was picking out colors for lol. The next thing I knew I had a base coat and my background of Julep - Leah on and drying!

Dom of course was asking me what I was doing because i looked so intent. I wanted it to be a surprise so I told her nothing and beat around the bush for a bit. The next part were the eggs. Now I knew I was going to do the grass so I needed to put the eggs about mid nail, so I had to sort of imagine the grass already there when picking out space for the different eggs on the other 4 nails. Next up, the bunny!

I learned a VERY important lesson that night... White nail polish (aka Sally Hansen - White On) is just like some paints... the white will pull the color behind it! So what ends up happening (in my case) was I had a verrrrrrrry light LIME GREEN EASTER BUNNY!!! ACK! So, what do I do? I put down another coat of white. And another. And another. And another. AND ANOTHER COAT OF WHITE POLISH! Yes people, SIX COATS of white polish to get a WHITE Easter Bunny lol. Seriously I had so much polish on my middle fingernail, the pile-o-polish was this little white mound as though I had some acrylic on my nail!

Moving on... the next step was the background for grass. For that I mixed a little pile of China Glaze - Holly-Day with Sinful Colors - Happy Ending to get this darkish green shimmer color. It was actually very pretty, but a little bit darker than Julep - Leah to give some depth and what not (or some such artistic blah blah)

Once that was done I very politely asked my husband to go to Wally's and get me some green glitter. Yup, 2am my loving husband said "I will... if you REALLY want me to..." my response? "yup, thanks! Love you!" LOL He chuckled and said he'd be back. A while later I get texts with pictures where he's asking me if I want fine glitter or regular or some such caddy thing. I love that man, he cracks me up.

Pre-Glitter Grass

While Dom and I wait for the delivery of glitter goodness I decorate the little eggs. I should back up and tell you the egg colors lol. NYC - Spring Street, Essie - Play Date, Essie - Turquoise & Caicos, Loreal - Tweet Me, Revlon - Indigo Night, China Glaze - Shower Together. I decorated each egg with glitter since they were so small I wasn't sure that an actual design would be visible, but glitter is! I used the small holos from OPI - Servin' Up Sparkle, Jordana - Blue Bash, Jordana - Celebration and of course, last but certainly not least my new Dollish Polish - I'll have what she's having. I saved that beautious pink confection of sparkle for the most important feature on a bunny- the pink hears and nose! I did try to do the Bunny's face in proportion but the whiskers came out bigger and thicker than I thought they were going to be so that part was poop, but I like his little blue eyes and cutesy ears!  I do  know in the pictures it won't look as though all these colors are represented but I promise they're there lol. Some got covered up with overzealous glitter glass application lol.

L to R: OPI - Servin' Up Sparkle, Jordana - Blue Bash, Dollish Polish - I'll have what she's having, Jordana - Celebration, NYC - Spring Street, Essie - Play Date, Essie - Turquoise & Caicos, Wet n' Wild - Tickled Pink, L'Oreal - Tweet Me, Revlon - Indigo Night, China Glaze - Liquid Leather, China Glaze - Shower Together, China Glaze - Holly-Day, Sinful Colors, Happy Ending, Julep - Helena, Julep - Leah *not pictured Sally Hansen - White On

Alright... the piece de resistance! My glitter-grass! A coat of OPI - Top Coat was applied where I wanted my grass to stick and then copious amounts of fine green glitter applied.

Finished!

TA DA!!

I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at free-hand nail art. It was a lot of fun and while my painting skills are rusty, they're in there... just have to blow the dust off and work out the kinks!

Side note: I wanted to mention that all my photos are done inside and with my iPhone. Unfortunately my camera has been in the shop getting repaired. Hopefully I will have it back soon!

Pointillism... not just for canvas!!!

I love all things art!  I love all things rainbow!  I love all things mani!  Put them all together and you get my attempt at a really artistic nail design.  After several hours spent trying to get a stamp mani done that I liked, I gave up and just started playing with polish.  It's nail play time like this that I usually do some of my best manicures.  I knew I wanted to do something super interesting and something using a rainbow color set.  I started by choosing my polish palette.  This is by far largest number of polishes that I have used on one mani to this date.

From Left to Right: OPI - An Affair in Red Square; Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Sun Kissed; Ulta - Sun-Sational; Sinful Colors - HD Nails; China Glaze - Sexy in the City; Wet n Wild FastDry - Buffy the Violet Slayer; Sinful Colors - Snow Me White.  I also used my MASH Dotting Tool Set.

This mani evolved by accident ... I was chatting with E via Skype all the while dotting away.  I think my husband and I even went to grab dinner in the middle of the process!  At any rate, I think what I came up with was pretty cool though! (excuse the shiny shiny cuticles lol I forgot I had oiled up when I took the pics)

So, there ya have it, my attempt at a pointillism mani.  I don't think it will be my last!