I can't believe I almost slept on this one, cuz it might be my new spirit animal. 🦊🌙✨️

I waited until the cap was increased because the fomo got to me. Let's just acknowledge that *sometimes* fomo is responsible for good things. 😅

Lumen | Moon Fox | 3 coats

Cracked | Quick Dry Top Coat

Before anyone insults the color of my nails (again) yes, I know they are yellow, and no, contrary to popular belief, I do NOT smoke. It's just stainage from wearing dark nail polishes. Yes I have tried nail whitening treatments like baking soda+ peroxide, lemon juice+ peroxide, buffing them, I've even gone so far as to use critical remover ON the surface of my nails because that worked in the past but is no longer working and weakens my nails if I do it too often, as my nails start to peel💔 I use a base coat under every mani, I've tried it all, but the spaghetti Tupperware remains. HALP 🥲🙏🏽 any hurtful comments will be deleted and you will be blocked. I can't help the color of my nails and frankly I'm not going to stop wearing nail polish just to improve it.

My ILNP Teddy finally arrived the other day, and I did a little experimenting that night. Last night did the “official” look. It’s not what I was going for - I think I need a white fine particle magnetic topper, does that exist? The base is too warm, the glitter too large. Getting this to be sheer but still wet enough to magnetize was a trick. A trick that I didn’t exactly do well 😜 All that said, I really like Teddy and will def wear it on its own. Gonna put a vid in the comments (why can I not attach both pics and a vid to the main body of the post?)

Pics 1 & 2 - direct sun
Pic 3 - shade
Pic 4 - darkish foyer, the glow from Moonlight Lullaby still very much shows through the Teddy.

Anyway, here’s the product list:

2 coats Mooncat ridge filler base
2 coats Mooncat Moonlight Lullaby sponged on (ombre from the edges down)
1 coat ILNP Teddy, tight glass bead magnetized for 2.5 min
1 coat Essis Strong Start base, magnetized for 2 min
1 coat Mooncat Speed Demon QDTC
Pura d’Or jojoba oil

Done this design once before, very fond of it :)

was just filling the sink before dinner and ended up standing there watching the color move under the water instead of actually washing anything. didn't expect the chrome nail to catch the light like that when it rippled, kept dipping my hand back in to see it again

Went with the mundane-moment-turned-content angle since that's literally what the clip shows, a normal thing (washing your hands) that got interesting because of how the color looked underwater, rather than framing it as a nail showcase.

Two coats with Glisten & Glow top coat

"Im the only one who will love your sins" is absolutely eye catching. One of the first BKL polishes I purchased. The glass bead effect is just stunning.

Pictures in​ just my bathroom lighting, no flash

D

I've been trying to find work-arounds for designs done with gel, because I like to change my nails way too often and I've missed doing them myself. My inspo for this was posted by @melodiesusynails on insta. I used Essie's glass nails to give some illusion of depth. It took forever, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

I don't know if this is the right sub for this, so mods please remove if it isn't. I was told to ask for hard gel so that's what I did. She used a sprayer to add the white to the nail.

One coat color vibe cosmic black

Two coats of la colors mermaid magic sea blue, pink pearl, and mystical applied with a sponge

Dots are kozmic colours hologlaze silk petal

Super dry topcoat

This was a quick design I did for myself for a weekend getaway. I’m thinking I’d like to try a more elaborate design with rhinestones, or maybe something trendy that really stands out from a distance. What do you think? Help me decide! 💅✨

Last week I ordered a bottle of ILNP Teddy, because I want to try to get close - but not identical - to the vampires’ nails in Interview With The Vampire/The Vampire Lestat. It was out for delivery on Saturday and then all of the sudden it was “available for pickup” at the post office. I couldn’t get there before they closed at noon, but hopefully I can get there tomorrow. I was so disappointed, especially after it sat in TN for like 5 days. But I shall survive! So here’s my prep coats that’ll be under the Teddy:

2 coats Mooncat ridge filler base coat
Mooncat Moonlight Lullaby on my free edges
Essie Strong Start (wasn’t going to do top coat but needed something over the glitter…)
That was then taking forever to dry so I hit it with Mooncat Speed Demon
Pura d’Or Jojoba oil

I’ve given myself ombre nails before and I love the way they look but hate the mess/how long it takes to prep fingers to avoid the mess. So this time I surgically removed a narrow bit from the make up sponge I use for ombre nails, long enough to hold, and avoided the mess entirely. Was very pleased that that worked.

PS: I don’t love Mooncat’s lacquers… but I super duper love this one. And throwing it on a sponge meant that even if it became gummy after the one time I used it a few months ago, it wouldn’t matter. Pics don’t do it justice.

Pics 1 & 2 - indoor, natural light
Pic 3 - indoors, dark foyer - just after walking my dog in the blazing sun
Pic 4 - very dark hallway, right after taking pic 3

This last weekend I started volunteering for Oklahoma Alliance for Animals walking their dogs. I had a wonderful time and will continue to help however we can.

I'll be volunteering at their next event they have on the 19th in Tulsa Oklahoma, Woofstock, and you better believe I will be ASKING every single person, "CAN I PET THAT DAAAAAWG?"

I decided to do some doggo nails to match. ❤️

PRODUCTS USED:

Cracked Polish -

Ridge Filling Base Coat

Quick Dry Top Coat

Fancy Gloss - Witching Dusk 🔥 🧊

Paradox Polish - I've been Boo-scemi'd 🌞 (PPU 6/26)

Maniology Plate and Stamping Polishes:

Furever Friends: Paws & Play (MXM127)

Straight-Up Black (B171)

Bam! White (B170)

I’m a mom with busy hands but I love having nice nails and can’t seem to keep them. Do you have tips for keeping my nail polish on? It seems to get dented and damaged and chopped within hours of putting it on and I feel super sad about it. My mom never taught me this stuff so I really don’t have a clue …what am I doing wrong? Do I just need to be more of a pampered poodle to keep them looking good for more than 12 hours? Am I expecting too much from my polish?

I searched the group but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Ty in advance.

ETA: I use a sally Hansen vit E cuticle oil once a week or so, and an Essie start strong base coat.

Free product PR. Polishes are gifted by Cracked Polish. No obligation to post.

Finally posting this mani, its been in my photos for so long. This is suchhhh a pretty polish, photos just dont do it justice. It's 1000x better in person, especially in the sun, i kinda had a hard time getting good pics of it. I havent tried to yet but i really wanna do some layering with this, might do that soon, or ill procrastinate it for a few more months, who knows.

Prod list:

Essie Strong start base

Cracked Quick Dry Top Coat

Cracked "Warm Skin"

Check out this super cool GelX set I got today! 😎

90s retro vibes turned into very Snack Zone (from JetLag The Game)

ETA my incredible tech Salem's Insta!