Nail Polish Lexicon ~ Lemming

I have no idea where the term originated, but a Lemming polish is simply a polish you very desperately want to get your hands on. It's one at the top of your wishlist and you will probably spend more money that you should to get it. I have a handful of lemmings myself, one of which I just got a dupe of and am thrilled even if it's not exactly the same thing.

I've never bough Salon Perfect before, but when they released this polish I spazzed out a little bit. It is nearly an exact copy of Ninja Polish "Floam", one of my lemmings.

China Glaze "Whirled Away" was another attempt at fulfilling a lemming desire. Again I so want Ninja Polish "Sticks and Stones" but it is usually sold out so I got this to try and replace it. It is not nearly as close a dupe but it will do till I find something better.

Some of my other lemmings:
Nuf-Oh 61
Color Club Halo Hues
China Glaze OMG Collection
Finger Paints Special Effects Collection
Almost anything by Nerd Lacquer but especially "Don't Blink", "I Think You Call Me...Sexy", "Don't Panic" and "Gorramit".

Temporary Nail Tattoos

These are nifty little things. Fing'rs has a line of nail art products out now called "Heart 2 Art" with all kinds of fun things. Stamping plates, gems, striping tape and these cool little nail tattoos. They are not the nail polish strips that have been popping up the last year or so. These are literally just temporary tattoos cut in convenient nail sized squares. They were so easy to put on and each pack comes with 30 sheets. My nails are not all that long so I cut each sheet into quarters. And to top it all off it was cheap! I paid 2.50 bucks for the whole pack.

After the jump I'll show you just how easy these are to apply.

Pow! Bang! Kaboom!

I loved the old Batman TV show with Adam West and Burt Ward. Seeing the POW! words pop up during the fight scenes make me giggle to this very day. Now an interesting thing about these nails is that they are created using temporary tattoo paper. I'm gonna do a product review on them soon (tomorrow or the day after depending on when I can get to an internet hotspot). For now I'll say they are pretty awesome with very minor drawbacks. I used a basecoat of Sally Hansen "White On" to make the tattoos stand out better.

Sandy Chevrons

I promised I'd give my Liquid Sand polish a fair go and here it is. I've been on the fence for a while about textured polish. Well maybe not on the fence. I've been pretty negative about it to be honest. But with this mani, maybe I've judged it a bit harshly. Sure the gritty texture is weird, but it's less sandpaper and more, I dunno, softer? Like instead of grit it's more like teeny tiny balls. It's very hard to explain. Because I was so unsure about using texture, I only used it on the edges of the mani. First I painted my nails with Sally Hansen "Grape Race". Then, knowing I wasn't gonna top coat it at the end because of the sand, I top coated it after "Grape Race". I then cut some tape so it would come to a point and placed that over the purple. Paint over that in the OPI Liquid Sand "Can't Let Go". Peel off the tape while the polish is still wet for crisp lines. I was gonna stop there, but then I got the brilliant idea to outline the chevron with a white striper, so I busted out Stripe Rite striper polish in white. I'm really glad I did because without it you really loose the V shape. I'm actually happy how this turned out. I didn't think I would be.

Neon Stripes

Yep, neons again! But this time set in black to make them stand out even more! This wasn't an original idea of mine, I saw it in Nail It! magazine, a magazine all about nail polish and nail art, but in their version the black was a textured polish. I don't have many textured polishes (pretty much just a purple so far) so I used my favorite black Orly "Liquid Vinyl".

Step by step on how to do this manicure after the jump...

Pink and Purple Daisy Gradient

I haven't done many vertical gradients before. I usually like doing the top and bottom half of the nails in different colors. This was an attempt to do the left and right sides in different colors. I really like where the 2 colors joined. I did it so long ago I don't remember exactly how I got such a smooth gradient, but it turned out well. The 2 colors are Sinful Colors "Cotton Candy" and "Tempest", I think. It was months ago that I did this. I stamped with BundleMonster BM224 in Milani "White on the Spot". I then used the pink to dot the center of the flowers on the purple side and purple to dot the center of the flowers on the pink side. I really do like how it turned out. I might just do more vertical gradients soon.

Deer Hunting Camo

I'm not sure why I created this one. It was around Father's Day but nail manicures for Father's Day aren't very popular. This was a second attempt, the first being dark and muddy. Anyway I started out with a plastic wrap marble, but I'm not sure which colors I used, Sally Hansen "Lickety-Split Lime" and "In Record Lime" or China Glaze "Starboard" and "Tree Hugger". 2 shades of green were used in any case. Then I stamped the deer using BundleMonster BM214 in Wet n Wild "Black Creme".

If your interested in the failed first attempt here it is. Again I'm not sure which colors I used, but it might be Sinful Colors "Nirvana" and "Exotic Green" with the same stamp and black. The red targeting circle was freehanded (badly) in Bath and Body Works "Candy Apple Cream" I think.