Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The NOTD that I couldn't let go of (and I'm not sure why): China Glaze Agent Lavender

Today's NOTD was pretty much my NOT-Entire-D because I was too lazy to change it, even when I got really bored of it (repeatedly). I did a whole lot of swatching yesterday so I think I didn't want to deal with the whole polish-on/polish-off/polish-on-again rigmarole.

Even the application of China Glaze Agent Lavender was lazy: two coats, when I usually do three. And this one NEEDED three coats: it wasn't ugly VNL but it was VNL nonetheless. It was a little sticky in application but not streaky, since it did apply very evenly in two coats. It's just a shade more blue than lavender, IMO, but definitely more on the purple side compared to a somewhat similar shade, BB Couture Zuma Wave Rider (much bluer and more saturated, even though it is quite a light blue itself). It's a delicate color but it pops against my tanned skin, as evidenced by random people commenting on it today.

China Glaze Agent Lavender, pre-boredom:

About 12 hours into wearing Agent Lavender (6 of those were spent asleep), I felt the need to jazz it up with some sparkle so I put SpaRitual Shower the People (fine purple glitter topcoat suspended in sheer beige): very pretty but so subtle, it doesn't show up in photos.

Feeling dissatisfied 2 hours later, I decided to use some That's It? Instant Nail Art rub-on decals that I got from EZNails.com (they often, but not regularly, have them on sale for $1 each).

China Glaze Agent Lavender with That's It? Instant Nail Art in Black Daisies
I thought these decals would be less of a pain in the ass than they turned out to be. It's hard to hold a piece of stiff, flat vellum-type paper on a curved nail while simultaneously trying to rub the design on: it moves very easily and designs are easily transplanted in places besides those which you intended. But they are also easy to remove if you mess up: just scratch them off (obviously, this has to be done on dried nail polish).

Because I didn't use topcoat with these designs, they ended up getting wet an hour or two after I finished... essentially, melting the decals. That's fine, I thought they were kinda uninspired anyway... so instead of doing a new mani, I put on YET ANOTHER LAYER OF POLISH.

China Glaze Agent Lavender with Nfu.oh #50
I'm still trying to figure out what looks best with this delicate flakie polish. This isn't it. It's pretty... but it's also pretty boring. After this, I gave up -- though I did consider Konading but that would've been carrying the lazy too far (and would have defeated the whole purpose of being lazy, to boot) -- and I redid my nails in a light yellow franken that I couldn't take pictures of because by the time I got to redoing my nails, it was night (and I don't like photographing manis in sub-par light).

Voila, one polish (plus two as topcoats) and four different looks. That is how restless I was with my polish today, as well as how lazy I was. :)

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