What kind of house doesn't have salt?

So, there's this show called Supernatural.

Perhaps you've heard of it?

I uh, have some *feelings* regarding this show and so when I saw that Incidental Twin not only had SPN themed polishes but one PARTICULARLY FREAKING COOL polish I had to have it.

*cough*andabouteightotherpolisheswhichyouwillbeseeingallingoodtime*cough*

Every time I pick up one of the Incidental Twin polishes I'm not sure how it's going to work out. They're somehow just different from other polishes I've ever used... but at this point I've been impressed with the results EVERY time so I just go with it. I actually have a custom order in the works right now!

I hatched a plan to do a particular manicure for the final episode of season 10 using the Incidental Twin polish, a Supernatural themed stamping plate from Apipila, and Snowed In - a white stamping polish from Hit The Bottle which I bought off of Beautometry.

Those tiny black flecks, that's real CHARCOAL.

The hazy cloudy voids in the design, that's not a camera issue, that's SALT.

If there was ever a mani that needed a macro

A deep translucent charcoal jelly sandwich of protective sigils in a suspension of salt, charcoal, hex glitter in two sizes, and micro glitter "embers".

When I started I was REALLY dubious. I was sure that somehow I was going to mess this up. I was convinced that the polish was not going to layer how I envisioned, and that the stamps would be smeared and too busy, but I stuck with it and I think it came out even more amazing than I had hoped.

It's been a bit of time since I did the pics but I believe the base was CnD Stickey base coat, two coats of Salt And Burn, and a coat each of American Classics Gelous and Poshe topcoat to smoothe it out for stamping. 

I stamped each finger, sealed with Poshe again, put a final layer of Salt and Burn over the top to add depth, and finally smoothed and sealed with the same Gelous-Poshe combination.

I found a neat trick to use hairspray to keep the stamp from smudging From Youtube user Denisejohn65 - Nail Ed which seemed to work great! I'm pretty sure if I had to take this off to fix smeary stamping there would be salt from crying in the mix as well.

I was worried the polish layers wouldn't stick on top of the hairspray but there were no issues with the technique as far as I could tell. I will absolutely be doing this every time I stamp.

A very Supernatural season ender manicure special

I've been sitting on this post for no reason for months but I figured the new season was as good a reason as any to get back on the horse!

What else am I up to?

Edit: this idea has been nixed, everything is all in one place now, Huzzah!

I've looked at what it would take to run a broader topic blog the way I'd like and it basically involves writing my own code. I'm going to stick with Blogger for the time being so this is how I'm breaking it up instead...

I've started up a blog specifically for crafty and more lifestyley stuff:

Click image above to check out the new blog

So that whole plan of having one multi topic space? Completely abandoned for the moment. :(

Maybe someday I'll combine into one lifestyle blog, sadly today is not that day.

This page will continue pretty much as usual: hair, makeup, skin, clothing, accessories.
Other topic pages are linked on that navigation bar on the top of my page.

Rebel Rebel

I've decided that not only am I doing the bat design with the stitches in different directions as previously discussed... I'm apparently now kind of obsessed with the idea of playing with texture and stitch direction in cross stitching.

While I agree doing things haphazardly in all different directions can look messy and detract from a pictorial piece that's no reason to abandon the idea of deliberately working with texture to create a desired effect.

One of the specific joys of many other types of embroidery is the play of light on directional stitching... so why is this such a taboo idea in cross stitching?

Historically, changes in texture are EXACTLY how we create visual interest in regular, single material objects. Jacquard, knitting, card weaving, pressed velvet, mosaic work, crop circles, magnetic nailpolish... texture play is everywhere!

I'm kind of obsessed with herringbone so I'll probably start there, but yeah, expect some experiments.