I'm finished swatching...

I'm finished swatching 8/12 of my helmers, or 48/72 of my helmer drawers. Or I'm just 2/3 of the way finished, if you prefer that. 😂

I'm taking the rest of the week off. I do have 2 small paint shakers, but I've been hand-shaking each bottle after the machines as well. Since I've been working on this basically every day since I started (in August? September?) my hands and wrists are hurting and I don't want to damage myself. And I'm tired. And since I'm about to be away from home for a couple of weeks I want to spend my time with Shaun.

I'm so excited to be closing in on a "maintenance phase" for this project. I'm having a great time playing with my polish, but it's gonna feel so good to my brain to have it all organized. Plus, it'll be so much easier to plan out nail art and jewelry. 😊

As of last night...

As of last night I finished swatching half of my polish drawers. I don't know if it's *quite* half of my collection, but it's probably close! 😁

I did these over this past weekend...

I did these over this past weekend and they aren't very decorated, but I like how the color-flips came out. UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't write down which chrome powders I used to get these colors so I have no idea how to get exactly these results again. I'm especially fond of the green and pink ones, so that sucks.

Maybe after I finish swatching my polish I can make a "cheat sheet" with my gels, the silver magnetic polish, and various chrome powders to get an idea of how they'll look all together. That sounds... difficult. And like I'd waste up a lot of gel. 😬 Maybe I'd better start writing my good combos down as I go.

As of this morning...

For math purposes:  I started swatching on August 27th. It's taken me 7 weeks to do 1/3 of my collection. I don't think I'll be finished by December, especially since I'll be away for 2 weeks. But that's ok. I think I'll have the bulk of my colors done and will be down to toppers, magnetics, thermals, gels, etc.

I did not plan / stage this, but...

I did not plan / stage this, but when I saw it I had to get a photo. 😂😂😂

If I'm not super social or responsive...

First 50 done!

First 50 done! Now <100 more days of this and I'll be done. 😂😂😂

It was actually really fun once I got started and got over my nerves. I miss my polishes and I love them. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤍 They are so beautiful and bring me joy.

So all of these were in one of my "red" drawers. As you can (most likely) see, they are not all what is usually considered to be red. So when I do the big sort with my friend, we are sorting them by the color that the swatch ring says. That makes a lot more sense to me for ease of finding what I'm looking for.

My helper in all things: Scar.

My helper in all things:  Scar. Even when he's not thrilled with what I'm doing. 😂😂😂

Shaun ordered...

Shaun ordered 5000 swatch sticks for me and I printed 4500-ish labels last night... Meaning that I can start swatching my nail polish collection.

I am thinking I'll do 3 coats of polish on each stick + topcoat. It's the way I'd normally wear it.

I don't know why, but it feels like a big deal and I'm nervous to get started. It's definitely a large undertaking, but I have until the end of the year to do it before a friend comes to help me re-organize the whole collection by color. (We both enjoy that kind of task. 😂) I think I have time, so that's not the reason for the feelings.

I guess I'm just being weird. Nothing new there. 😜

Interesting to no one but myself, but I'm sharing anyway:

Interesting to no one but myself, but I'm sharing anyway:

I have completed the data-gathering phase of building my nail polish database.  I have swatches, color descriptions, collection names, release dates, etc., for the 4000+ nail polishes I have.  Any information I'm missing at this point is because it's not easily or readily found on the internet.  Next comes deciding how I'm going to configure all of this into my database.  I already have several test tables made and I like how that is going, so that's a good start.  But I've put that on hold for the moment because...

I've been focusing my efforts on gathering the data for my website.  It's basically going to be a blog-style site that hosts my photos and posts dating back to 2005.  Much of it will be familiar content because I'm pulling posts from Facebook to fill it in, but after it's up and running it will also contain exclusive content.  I have probably another solid month of work to get that to a maintenance phase, which I am very excited about.  After MySpace dumped so much of my content without warning back in the day I trust no social media to last.  I want ownership of my photos and stories and to know that they are safe.

My website will probably be of interest to no one but me, but I write primarily because it makes me happy.  If anyone is inspired to help animals or feels less alone in their struggles with depression or whatever, then that is a side effect I am happy to have.  Also, to be completely honest I fear the possibility of getting Alzheimer's and don't want to forget my life.  I find it very comforting to have a chronicle of the things I've done and the way I felt at the time.

Anyway, both of these projects are things that I have either been working at slowly but surely over the years or have wanted to do.  I feel like I'm finally at a place in life where I can put energy and focus into my personal projects and I am grateful for that.  It is such a relief to not have it hanging over my head, neglected and begging for attention.

The only major downside at this moment is that I spend so much time sitting in front of a computer.  I work on a computer and then get off work and get back on one.  Hyperfocus can be super productive, but it's not the best for my physical health.  But I feel like once I'm to a maintenance phase on both projects I will be able to shift more focus onto myself.  I've been eating healthy for the most part, but not exercising or moving around like I should.  I'm definitely going to work on that.  Not only do I miss skating, but I feel that I am decently healthy and want to hang onto that for as long as I can.  So, as they say:  Use it or lose it.

I hope you all are having a good weekend.  If you need me I'll be here on this laptop.  😆

I'm not in love with these and...

I'm not in love with these and the stones weren't a great idea (Shaun told me so), but they're not bad. This is a pretty purple polish with an orange flash, so I wanted to use gel stamping polish and chrome powder to see if I could make it look like the orange was cracking through. It didn't turn out the way my brain expected, but that's ok. It was fun to do them and  I'm gonna keep them on until I'm tired of them. 😂

Research polish;
Research plate;
Stamping technique

Shaun's nails I did yesterday.

Shaun's nails I did yesterday. He won't let me use cuticle oil (he doesn't like the feel of lotions or oils), so ignore the dry cuticles. 🙄 But his favorite colors are red and black. I found out yesterday that I could use gel stamping polish and then use chrome powder over it to make it pop. He really likes these. The patterns are all different because we were just trying stuff out.

Research polishes

When I was doing Shaun's nail this weekend...

When I was doing Shaun's nail this weekend it triggered a memory in me of my MaMaw doing mine when I was a kid.  I noticed I was touching Shaun's fingers the same way she touched mine... but he wasn't complaining "You're mashing my veins!  Stop mashing my veins!" like I was.  😅

I distinctly remember being so uncomfortable with any pressure where my fingers bend and I guess because I could see veins under my skin there I thought they were being mashed.  I really don't know what that was about except that I still don't like pressure applied there.  I'm weird about being touched on my hands and around my nails, anyway.  I guess "on my hands" is a weird and unnecessary qualifier because I'm not a touch-me person in general.

But anyway, I had that memory come flooding back and I could hear in my head how my MaMaw would get in a huff and say "I am doing no such thing!" while painting my nails.  😆😆😆  And it just made me feel happy to remember that.  ❤️

These are the nails I tested on Shaun...

These are the nails I tested on Shaun - chrome powders over magnetics.  They look really neat!

Write recipes here

I tested out using gel polish to make stones for jewelry.

I tested out using gel polish to make stones for jewelry.  I'd say it worked.  :D  The stone on the left is just the holographic chrome powder Lust by JReine over black.  I definitely need to make sure my sticky coat goes down smooth.  You can see some brush strokes in that one.  It was the first one I made so the second one came out smoother.  The stone on the right was made using the same method as my dandelion nails, except thatw I didn't put the dandelions on it because it was just an experiment.  It turned out so well that I kind of wish I had, but I'll know better next time.  Now that I know this works I'll probably make some jewelry using these methods.  I'm excited to once again have more to paint than just my nails.  I am slowly but surely working towards re-opening my Etsy and I'm really excited about that.  I definitely need a creative outlet in my life.

Video

These are the nails I did...

These are the nails I did after seeing a new layering technique on the 'Gram. The bottom layer is a sheer purple, then over that is a silver cat-eye magnetic, then it's topped with a chrome powder, and finally sealed with topcoat. The product of that layering reminded me of a summer sunset, so I added the dandelions blowing in the wind for good measure.

I played with this technique on Shaun's nails over the weekend and found some really pretty combinations. I'll bother him for a photo (or video!) at some point soon.

Encore Solid Gel Polish and Magnetic Super Cat Eye Gel by Vettsy;
Mermaid Nail Powder Dawn-04 by Vettsy;
Harunouta plate L034
Stamping technique;
Magnetized

Video

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Encore Solid Gel Polish and Magnetic Super Cat Eye Gel by Vettsy;

Mermaid Nail Powder Dawn-04;

Harunouta plate L034

I learned a new polish-layering technique...

I learned a new polish-layering technique on Instagram and I am OBSESSED. Shaun likes his nails done, so he's volunteered as tribute to let me experiment with more combinations. I'll post my nails probably tomorrow. They have a summery, sunset vibe. 😁❤️

Me all day:

Video

JReine?

I never did anything else to these.

I never did anything else to these.  I just haven't been energetic lately, and that's probably because I'm not allowed to exercise.  So this is what I'm wearing this week.  No complaints.

Taken in direct sun to show the holographic flame

 Taken in indirect light to show the chrome shift

Work in progress.

Work in progress. This is a holographic chrome powder over black. It's GORGEOUS on its own, but I would at least like an accent nail. Currently trying to decide what to do...

Suggestions welcome.

I just did something.

I just did something.

This is going to sound STUPID DRAMATIC, but I finally merged my nail art page (Blu's Happy Nails) with my polish jewelry page (Polish ALL the Things!).  It was a long process because Facebook wouldn't let me change the page names to match so I had to trick them and do it like, a word at a time.  I went from "Happy Nails" to "Polish All The Things" and it took MONTHS.

Then on top of that a lot of things had to match up on the pages.  A big deal was that one of the pages was "Classic" and the other was the "New Page Experience" and I kept trying to upgrade one but finally figured out that I had to downgrade the other.  They could have just SAID THAT SOMEWHERE, but anyway.  I got that done.

Then at long last, tonight, the actual merge happened.  The merge itself was fast once requested.  I'm glad it's done and over with.  It's something I debated on doing for years and once I finally made up my mind the whole everything was so scary and I had so many doubts and now that has disappeared BECAUSE IT IS DONE.

Anyway, I am finally starting to feel like I have the time and creative energy to do nail art again.  Hopefully I can get back on my jewelry bullshit, too.  I've even thought about creating decorative press-on sets to sell.  I see a ton of them on Etsy and it honestly looks fun to make them, so I'm considering trying it.  I don't know.  I don't have to jump into the deep end right off, but you never know - I just might!

It's been such a long time since I've done any nail art for myself.

It's been such a long time since I've done any nail art for myself.  As lame as it may sound my one and only goal for this weekend was to do nail art on ME.  Before this the most I could manage was to put on a pretty color (there is a reason for that).  It's nice to have a pretty color to look at, but it's not the same a being able to flex my creativity.

Since the polish color I used (Sakura by Ethereal) was kind of sheer I decided to put down a couple of layers of a milky white gel polish by Beetles.  Then I painted my pinky, pointer, and thumb with Sakura.  I used stamping plates to get the outline of the floral shapes onto a stamper head.  I let it dry, then took a super tiny brush and filled in the colors of the flowers.  After that dried, I put a clear coat on it to make it into a decal and let that dry.  After THAT, I put down the same clear coat on my nails, let it dry just until it was tacky, then placed the decals onto my nail using the stamper.  I cleaned my edges and topcoated, and this was the final result!  I am pleased with how it turned out!

There are so many other techniques I want to play with and try, but since I'd already spent basically all day on my nails (removing hard gel and putting down polygel) I decided to keep it simple.  This nail art was (obviously) inspired by spring.  I'm so into the flowers and plants right now.  Everyone is showing out and I love it, so this is my tribute to spring. 💮💗

Sakura by Ethereal, Milky White gel by Beetles;
Bundle Monster plate BM-S326 and Apipila plate Our Power;
Stamping, Layered Stamping, Reverse Stamping techniques

Boyfriend picked out my nail polish.

Boyfriend picked out my nail polish. Now let's see if I still got my nail art skills.

Between last night and today...

Between last night and today I swatched all of my burnishing powders that are used with gel polish. I swatched them over both black and white polish because they look dramatically different depending on the base over which you put them. I have ~50 powders, so x 2 colors, that's ~100 swatches. 😳

This wasn't a huge "need to get it done" type of task, but I rarely use my powders because I didn't have an easy way to see what they would look like. The powders usually come in little pots with an eye-shadow type brush to apply them, and those two things usually come in a small bag so they stay together. At one point I'd starting swatching them on an old nail wheel and snapping off the nails to go in the bag, but the bags weren't always clear and the nails would sometimes be turned around where you couldn't see them. And if I ever wanted to take the nails out to compare one powder to another, there was always the risk of getting things mixed up. It just wasn't effective.

You would think that in the years I've been messing with nail polish that somewhere along the way I'd have finally started using swatch sticks with labels, and you'd be wrong. That is a thing I started doing literally YESTERDAY. But it makes so much sense and it's so much easier to compare colors without worrying about getting things mixed up. I'd love to eventually swatch my whole nail polish collection, but that's not a task I'll be starting anytime soon. 😅

Anyway, this is my drawer of powders, and my swatches over both black and white, with and without flash. Now that that's all organized and lovely and satisfying I have no reason not to use my powders and I'm pretty excited about that.

This is the state of my nail stuff currently:

This is the state of my nail stuff currently:

The stack of drawers to the left contains things like files, gel tools, fake nails for swatching, magnets for the polish, different kinds of tape for nail art, brushes, etc.

The 12 helmers in the middle contain my polish. I have 3 empty drawers at the moment, and that is with all of my polish in there. My polish is a mess; it's sorted into drawers by color, with things like magnetic and multichrome and topper polishes (mostly) separated. The drawers are just in there every which way at the moment. I do plan to re-sort by color and arrange the drawers better, but it's a process since I have the physical storage of my polish to contend with as well as the digital storage for my database (swatches, color descriptions, collection, event, release date, which drawer it's in, etc). According to my database, I have a little over 4,200 polishes.

On the right, those drawers contain things like my gel lamp, my chemicals, my stones, studs, and other small embellishments, as well as powders (the kind you buff into gel), my hard gels, and my stamping polish.

Not pictured:  My binders of stamping plates and my binder of decals, vinyls, and stickers.

Nail polish these days. 🤯

Nail polish these days. 🤯 I am not good at writing descriptions, but this darker one is definitely AT LEAST a holographic multichrome with reflective glitter. These two photos are of the same polish - the only difference is that one photo was taken with flash and the other was not.

That blue jumping out is the reflective glitter, and it's going to be CRAZY on the nail in bright light. I opened the package it was in just now and it stopped. me. in. my. tracks.

Edited to add in this green; it's magnetic with reflective glitter.  Not my swatches; they are by Christian Gillespie, but I just want to spew a bunch of cursewords because it's so pretty.  It also came today with the other one pictured.

The things that independent makers have done with nail polish over the years have never ceased to amaze me. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. 🤩

If you have nothing more fun or interesting to do...

If you have nothing more fun or interesting to do this fine Friday evening, feel free to browse through my nail polish swatch folder. According to my spreadsheet I have around 4000 nail polishes, so this is far from all of them. I'm hoping to finish gathering swatches, descriptions, and collection names over the next few months, so the folders and photos found at this link will be updating while that happens.

The folders that are most complete are Bee's Knees and Tonic. Sadly, they are both on hiatus for now, but they make up some of the largest numbers in my collection and if you look at them you'll definitely see why. They made some beauties.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-1FdO7iQBsyidgnZNggHySOs4xIOsCyG

I don't know how many of you have a bunch of small things to sort through, but with my nail art collection I have a good bit of stuff. A couple of years ago I thought I'd make an app for storing nail stamping plates, but then I found the "Color My Life" app and changed my mind. "Color My Life is a mobile cataloging app designed exclusively for Paper Crafters." It's not meant for me, but it actually works quite well.

I have all of my stamping plates stored in there, as well as stickers, vinyls, nail wraps, water slide decals, etc. It has space for photos and brands and barcodes, as well as a field for listing where you stored your items. You can tag things by color and search by pretty much anything. I should probably give in and use this for my nail polish, but I've been too invested in making my own database to give that up. 😂 I'm nothing if not stubborn.

I thought I'd share this piece of my nail art organization for any of you who might be interested. I've got more Helmers on the way so it'll be a bit yet before I get my actual polish straightened out. That is a much bigger job. 😂😂😂

Today Shaun and I built 7 Helmers from Ikea.

Today Shaun and I built 7 Helmers from Ikea. Then we moved 58 small totes of nail polish downstairs. I got 36 of those totes put away into the Helmers. The rest of the polish is sorted by brand (easier to put into my database) rather than color (how the rest of my polish is sorted), so it's slower going putting those other 22 totes away. And I think I'm going to need a few more Helmers, anyway.

I sure wish I had Janet here to help me sort the colors! 😂❤️