Crumpet's 31DC: Tranquility

I'm a bit behind with this prompt, ironically, because I was relaxing.  On Friday I just didn't feel like doing anything after work, so polishing waited.
I thought through so many calming and soft colors, but pretty quickly realized what I wanted to do for this prompt.
I'm from a small town in wine and redwood country.  I now live in a big city on the beautiful Pacific.  There are a lot of things I love about San Diego, but a lot of things that I've grown tired of.  When I go home, there is quiet.  There is stillness.  There are old, towering redwoods. 
There are stars.
I miss dark skies full of stars.  They make me feel calm.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Song
*2 coats Zoya Dream (accent)
*1 coat Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope
*Cover Girl Boundless Color White Knight
*1 coat Out the Door

I did a simple "starry" sky with Song on most nails, a pretty, shimmery navy blue that is much darker in person than my photos.  I did a thick coat of Kaleidoscope, a favorite silver holo glitter, on top for "stars."  Then, on my accent, I used Dream, an almost perfect match to Song except that it's full of scatter micro holo glitter.  On top, I dotted on the big dipper, which I always look for when I'm home.  I sealed it all with a shiny top and fell in love.
As Switchfoot says, "When I look at the stars, I feel like myself..."

What do you find calming to see on your nails?

A Thankful Movember

This is the first year since 2006 that I will get to go home and spend Thanksgiving with my family and I canNOT wait!  That being said, November will be over before I know it and I really wanted to get another Movember mani in.  I was struggling for some inspiration.  (It struck and I must warn you, I'm feeling full of some thoughts, so this post is a little long-ish.  I make no apologies.)

*1 coat Gelous base
*4 coats China Glaze 108 Degrees
*4 coats Zoya Harper (accent)
*1 coat Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope
*1 coat Out the Door

Mani deets: I had to use FOUR coats of each of these polishes and still have some noticeable visible nail lines.  They are sheer!  But, they are also super pretty, so I'll remember to layer them in the future.  I wanted a dark pink and realized that, despite my bigger-than-I-like-to-admit collection, I really don't have one!  108 Degrees is my darkest and a pretty shimmering berry pink.  Harper is a light pink PACKED with iridescent shimmer and glitter.  I added an RLR Creations decal mustache, obviously because they are awesome :)  I am loving this one!

I was trying so hard to think of something inspired by men's health or my dad.  I was coming up blank.  I couldn't think of anything except that this cause has become dear to me because I am an all-out daddy's girl. 
I went with sparkly, bright, over the top pink because that's what I love.  I am thoroughly a stereotypically girly girl.  I am my dad's firstborn.  I know men have a special dream of having a son, someone just like them, but if he was ever disappointed that his first was a daughter, it was his little secret.
My dad has supported and embraced all that it is to raise a girl.  He loves my brothers, too, and did more than his share of coaching and camping and rough and tumble play with them.  He also, however, buys me nail polish (awesome story: when the OPI San Francisco line came out, he went to a salon and bought almost the whole collection to send me.  He stopped short, worried he'd gone overboard.  He knew I liked OPI and also wanted to send me something to remind me of home.  Dad of the year, am I right?).  He watches terrible TV with me (cough*Grey's Anatomy*cough).  He learned to get excited about Mock Trial and dolls and Broadway musicals and let me be me. 

Especially at this time of year, I am SO thankful for the support and love he has shown me in every aspect of my life.  I am thankful that he made a decision to be healthy for his family and himself, faithfully going in for checkups and not-particularly-enjoyable tests.  He kept a brave face and positive attitude when he was diagnosed with cancer and worked with amazing doctors to make the best decisions for him. 
He didn't let cancer win.  He got ahead of it because he has bigger, more important things to do in life.  He was open about the hard parts and strong through the scary parts.  I am thankful that his experience was not worse, that he and his doctors let early detection ease his fight. 

I am thankful for my dad.

So, I figured it was fitting to celebrate a man that I love, a father who embraces all of the girly-ness of his daughter, for this last Movember mani.  Men's health affects women too.  That's why we need to care.  That's why we DO care.  It's not necessarily the most comfortable thing to talk about, because it's personal and private and scary.  I think that's why this movement is so awesome--it makes it easy to talk about in a casual way. 

A final Movember thought: I found some pins while creating my Movember Pinterest board that I thought were brilliant.  (Word of warning: these are probably the least suitable for work)  The Checkum Testicular Cancer Awareness Campaign is a UK photo series of famous men, many athletes, strategically posed in their birthday suits.  The ads read "Embarrassed?  The only person embarrassed by this is you."  This, I think, is the essence of Movember.  And breast cancer awareness.  And mental health awareness.  And SO many other issues we face.  Your doctor has heard and seen it ALL.  Like, more insane and weird than you could ever imagine ALL.  The have learned not to bat an eye at weird question or concerns.  I am just as guilty as most when it comes to this, but it is a striking, effective reminder that this is not the time to feel embarrassed because it's your health, or the health of someone you love.  Take a deep breath, embrace the awkward, and remember that it will pass and then life can move on.  

Thanks for sticking through this long post with me!  If you didn't, well, that's okay too.  I understand.

If you've been rocking some Movember looks, let me know!  Feel free to leave a comment below with a link to your manis--I'd love to see them! 

Candy Corny?

This was the first Halloween mani I did this Halloween.  I am a sucker for Candy Corn.  I love it.  I was crushed to hear that it is the most hated Halloween treat (and I totally don't think that's true).  I wanted to do a Candy Corn mani without going overboard or taking too much time.  The result was...well, it was.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
*Cover Girl Boundless Color Candy Corn
*Wet 'n' Wild French White Creme
*Zoya Myrta
*1 coat Out the Door Northern Lights
*1 coat Out the Door

Ignore the tip wear--it took me a couple of days to snap some photos and it's the lease noticeable here.  I wanted to use the candy corn accent with a French.  My oranges are rather thin, so I used Myrta for the tips over my natural nails.  This is a gorgeous, burnt orange with a sparkling foil finish.  Unfortunately, it kind of clashes with the candy corn.  I was disappointed in the color coordination here.  I liked my accent and I liked my French, but together they didn't quite work liked I had hoped.
Have you ever had that happen--colors just not quite working that you had high hopes for?

New 31DC: Inspired by me

I had a lot of different ideas for this challenge, and they'll make an appearance sooner or later.  Right now, though, life is a little overwhelming.  I fell off a bit at the end of the challenge, and am just kind of exhausted right now.  It's only been a month since I was home-home, but I'm missing it a lot right now.  There are a lot of things that I miss when I get homesick, but a bit one is the stars.  I miss dark skies at night and millions of stars coming out.  The big city has its benefits, but sometimes you just can't beat a small town...

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Zoya Song
*1 coat Savvy Touch of Glitter
*1 coat Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope
*1 coat Out The Door

I could have done a full-blown galaxy nail, because I kind of love them, but that defeats the purpose of this.  I want simple, easy, perfect night sky.  I just got Song in my Zoya promo mail today.  This is a gorgeous dark blue with a shimmery/foil finish to it.  I was worried that this would be a dupe for Co-Bolt Blue, which I have and love, but this a brighter blue (I'll compare them soon).  It is more of a deep blue than a dark one.  It was 2 easy, smooth coats to get this color, but 1 careful one would still be pretty--a little lighter.  It is actually quite a bit darker than these pictures show.

I added Touch of Glitter, a micro silver holo in a clear base that is pretty sparse, then Kaleidoscope.  These actually ended up more dense than I had imagined, but that's okay.  Every time I get home and see the stars, they are always more beautiful and numerous than I remember. 

New 31DC: Color Opposites

After staring at color wheels, I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do for today's challenge.  I was planning to do some pink with green, but that really wasn't the right contrast--green is more of a red opposite.  I was a little bummed because I really wanted some pink in the mani, but don't own any lighter green polishes (I know, how is it possible?  Mint was everywhere last year!) until I remembered the little beauty Mint Apple!

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Sinful Colors Mint Apple
*Wet 'n Wild Sparked
*China Glaze Material Girl
*1 coat Out The Door

Mint Apple is a gorgeous mint/seafoam green polish.  It is soft and dusty and simply packed with golden shimmer!  Two easy coats were perfect for coverage.

I used Sparked, a small light pink hex glitter, as my first gradient polish.  I wiped most of the polish off of the brush before beginning at my cuticle and brushing about 2/3 of the way up the nail, letting the glitter get more sparse as it went.

Then, I used Material girl over the top of Sparked, mostly at the cuticle.  This is yet another amazing polish from my amazing mom!  It is a super-dense pink glitter, with super micro light pink pieces (squares?), small light pink hexes and larger, slightly darker, pink holo hexes.  Mine is a bit thick, so I may add some thinner, but part of the thickness is just the unbelievable amount of glitter packed in the bottle!

I like the contrast of the colors, both somewhat dusty in hue.  Do you own any of these?  Have you found awesome ways to use them?  I can't wait to hear!

New 31DC: Tape

Now, tape is something I feel much more at home with.  I have gotten better at using it for clean lines (when I rally my patience) and like the help it give.  My big problem was settling on a design using tape.  As I browsed through my nail board on Pinterest I remembered this look from My Vanity Basics that I fell in love with and had to make my tape mani.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Zoya Storm
*Cover Girl Boundless Color City Lights
*Wet 'n Wild Stars & Stripes and Icing Written In The Stars
*1 coat Hoof Lacquer
*1 Coat Out The Door

I used Storm for the first time after admiring it in the bottle for so long. A-mazing! I used 2 easy coats of this for my night sky. The black is loaded with tiny silver holo particles. My only regret is that this takes away from the star tails in the photos, but in real life it's perfection!

City Lights is a fine silver holo in a clear base (sorry, I forgot to snap a picture).  This bad boy dates back to high school!  I had to work pretty hard to open it and then dumped quite a bit of thinner.  Voila!  I used Scotch tape to tape off the edges of my star trails and then striping tape inside.  When I do this again (not "if," because it's amazing and I am dying knowing it has to come off tomorrow) I think I'll lay down the two pieces of striping tape first, then the edges to make sure that I have enough space for my little wedges.  Other than that, these are just as awesome as I hoped they would be!

I used a paint brush to scoop out a star for each nail, using the silver ones from Stars & Stripes for all but my ring finger.  Because I couldn't figure out which stars I liked best, I used a little blue one from Written In The Stars on my ring finger.  These little glitters were perfect (though if I ever get start rhinestones I can't wait to try them!) and are holo too!  This is just one awesome, glittery holo-fest.  LOVE it!  What do you think--is there such a thing as too much holo?  I think my feelings are clear...

New 31DC: Splatter

Holy moley!  I don't know what I really expected when it came to a splatter mani, but not...this.  One thing that I am committed to, and love that many other bloggers are too, is being real about our nail adventures.  That includes the less than stellar.  Which 75% of this challenge is. 
First and foremost, Chalkboard Nails' tutorial really had the single best piece of advice: put down a big piece of wax paper.  If you think it's too big, it's not!

 

When I hear "splatter paint" I think of my childhood and homemade shirts.  Then, I think of Lisa Frank.  Thus, my color choices:
*1 coat Yello-Out
*1 thick coat Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*China Glaze Sun Worshipper, Four Leaf Clover, Gothic Lolita and Pool Party
*1 coat Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope

I wanted a neon blitz on my nails.  I got...something like that.  By the way, this was way messier and tougher clean up than my water marble disaster learning experience, even with some solid taping.  I realized that I was holding my hand like I do in pictures and splattering my palm too.  This is not for the sleepy!

I used a regular soda straw (probably from Wendy's because you NEVER use it when you have a Frosty...that's all plastic spoon!) that I cut into quarters.  I bet you can tell which finger I started with and where I ended up :)  Actually, my ring finger was first, then my pinkie (I got cocky).  I learned that some colors were blobbier (totally a word) than others.  Four Leaf Clover, a pretty bright teal cream, tended to be my worst enemy.  It overtook each nail and was hard to get to splatter instead of spill down.

I liked the color combination of the neon creams.  I wish that I had not used Sun Worshipper, though, because it is not truly opaque.  As you can see on my pinkie, it kind of layered into new colors.  Awesome neon marigold color, but not really what I had envisioned.  Gothic Lolita (always gorgeous in its bright purple-ness) and Pool Party (neon pink wonder) were pretty cooperative.  When I was less than satisfied with this outcome, I asked myself what Lisa Frank would do in this situation.  Add glitter!  So, I layered a coat of Kaleidoscope holo silver perfection over it all.  (In case you were wondering, adding glitter is ALWAYS the answer)

 

I actually really like how my thumb turned out!  That's a Lisa Frank dream!  This is what I pictured for all of my nails.  Index and parts of Middle aren't too shabby, but Thumb is really '90s rad.  I think that next time I'll get (and by that I mean swipe from a coffee shop) some smaller straws that don't hold as much polish inside and have a little more control in their splatter.  The improvement I saw as I moved from finger to finger was encouraging and means that you and I have not seen the last of some splatter fun.  Have you splattered before?  Any tips for avoiding Pinkie?  Any Lisa Frank love you just need to get out?  I totally understand.

Even stop lights...

Tonight I had to give Christmas light nails a try!  I was not loving my Santa bellies, mostly because I was lazy.  When I decided to scrap the original candy cane mani after I painted my left hand, I left my right hand white and just layered Ruby Pumps over it.  The effect was not nearly as deep and awesome as it is on its own, and I just got tired of looking at it with regret.  So, here is a little string of lights!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope
*OPI Skip the Gift Wrap
*Zoya Myrta, Zuza, Kimber and Rory
*1 coat Out the Door top coat

 

I knew I wanted to give this look a try and agonized over what color base to use.  I wanted to do green, for the tree, but I also wanted to use green for the cord.  I finally went with white, but added Kaleidoscope to soften it a bit and to add some sparkle.  I love this glitter so much!  It is a silver holo with micro particles and scattered larger hex pieces.  It is sparse enough to not overtake a mani but can easily build.

I used OPI Skip the Gift Wrap for my green cord.  It is a shimmery deep green that dries to a foil finish, almost frosty.  It's really pretty and pretty perfect for Christmas.  Again, I debated colors for the dotted lights for a while and chose to go with the 4 from the Zoya Surf collection.  I NEVER get tired of using these beauties.  They shimmer like no other and have proven perfect for dotting.  The shimmer makes them glow in the sun, which is why I chose them for the bulbs.

I didn't get too particular about the shape of the lights or where they were placed.  I think that I like some shapes better than others, like my index finger and thumb.  Overall these aren't necessarily my best art, but they are so fun!  It's late, so I'm excited to see them in some good sunlight tomorrow!  Have you done lights this year?  Did you find some really good color combos?  Do tell!

'Stache Celebration

Okay, it's technically December 1st, now, but this was planned for the last day of November until life got in the way.  It has a funny habit of doing that...
I want to thank you all SO much for your amazing response to the Movember movement and my own personal story.  You have created some amazing manis showing love to the men in our lives, letting them know that their health is important to us because they are.  I have been so humbled by your kind words, amazing art, and awesome response.  THANK YOU!

Today is my final Movember mani for the year, because the month is over.  Like breast cancer awareness, though, this is not the end.  These awareness campaigns are wonderful and really do cause people to pause and think about their health, but I worry that there is a danger in moving on afterward.  Yes, we think and talk a lot about breast cancer in October and prostate and testicular cancer in November, but what happens in March?  We need to be aware of our bodies and our health all the time, trusting our instincts and speaking up when we see changes.  Why?  Because it literally saves lives! 
So today I am celebrating.  Celebrating you, and all of your support that far surpassed my hopes.  Celebrating the promise that medical advances bring, thanks to pressure from the public and the hard fundraising work of people like you and me.  Celebrating my pappy, and his healthy new reality.  Celebrating early detection and the wisdom of those who have devoted their lives to saving others. 

 Celebrating the 'Stache!

I figured that I would pay tribute to all of you brave ladies that freehanded mustaches this month and do one of my own. Yup, it's a weird looking little guy! I know that the nails are a bit dark, but I really wanted to let the confetti stand out! However, that little mustache needed to show up, so I added an accent of Zoya Ginessa (2 coats).

I was going use my trusty Black Out, but instead tried out Jacob's Protection by Essence.  This was part of their Breaking Dawn quad.  I have no experience with the Twilight books or movies, but these polishes were pretty (and less than $2!).  This black base is full of a pretty blue shimmer, so I used 2 coats as a base and then again for the mustache.  Then came the glitter!  I wanted a celebration, but couldn't choose one glitter, so this also morphed into a comparison:

Insert more pictures here.

(Well, I'm at a bit of a loss right now.  As I was uploading photos I hit my 2G limit.  Now I have to decide how to continue this blog and how much I want to invest in it.  For tonight, though, no more pictures, I guess.  It's late and I have some decisions to make.  I do have shots of all of these glitters to compare though.  Oh well, this was really about something more important anyway!)

So there it is--glittery joy!  I love the names of the polishes, too, which are appropriate for this joyful post: Party of Five Glitters by Wet 'n Wild (pinkie), Milani Gems (middle finger), Pinata-Yada-Yada by Ulta (index) and Happy Ending by Cult Nails (thumb).  How perfect!  These are all so fun, with Gems and Pinata-Yada-Yada being the most similar (and my favorites).  Happy in a bottle! 

Life is short and can be scary, so why not embrace a little celebration?  Cancer can be so dark and daunting, but the reality is that there is hope and can be life after, which is worth some sparkling joy.  So thank you!  There has been a lot of good this month to celebrate and I can only hope that movements like Movember bring a lot more celebrations to many more people--here's to the power of the 'stache!

31DC: Recreate your favorite

I've made it to the end! I really did not think that I would make it much past the first week, but now I can say that I have completed the 31 Day Challenge! The final challenge is to recreate your favorite from the month. There are a ton that I loved and am excited to try again or work on. This was a bit tricky because today is Halloween, so I really wanted to choose one that was Halloween-themed. Then I couldn't decide. So, here's my Halloween skittle!

That's the lineup!  I changed up a few polishes from the original designs, but most are the same.

 

 

 

Day 12: Stripes.  My candy corn is a Color Club Almost Famous base, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed and Julep Kate, topped with Out The Door Northern Lights.  It's getting late and I know that this will be coming off tomorrow night, so instead of waiting for the base to dry an use tape, I freehanded the stripes.

 

Day 2: Orange.  For my orange nail, I used Zoya Myrta instead for this nail, which is a bit darker than the previous 2.  It is still shimmery with a great "foil" finish.  This Surf collection is gorgeous and they need no more than 2 coats.  I used Black Cat Lacquer Static Age again over the top.

 

Day 23: Inspired by a movie.  I decided to give Mr. Skellington another try. I couldn't decide between him and spider webs from my black and white mani, but I'm going to see my aunt tomorrow, and I'd love for her to see him!  This is 2 coats of Julep Kate with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out for accents.

Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural.  It's not Halloween without the Great Pumpkin!  I wanted to do the pumpkin that I painted again, but because I was doing this on both hands, I worried I wouldn't be able to pain straight lines.  So, I had to settle for this polish that I love!  Bummer!  This is 2 coats of Zoya Yara under the awesome Sonoma Nail Art Sincerest Pumpkin Patch.

 

Day 11: Polka dots.  Before I began this challenge I really wanted these little spooky eyes to be my Halloween mani.  I used 2 coats of Fantasy Makers Rest In Pieces with Kate and Black Out for the eyes.  I love these little eyes!

So there it is!  This is my Halloween look and a decent round-up of different themes and techniques from this month.  Thank you so much for sticking with me through some of the rougher challenges and letting me get excited about the ones I felt successful about!  I'm a little sad that it's over because it forced me to try new things and to post all the time.  I do have a lot to revisit, though, and try with new insight.  Plus it's fall now, so it's a whole new color palette to play with (not that I really stick to "seasonal" colors).  Have you completed the challenge?  What are your favorite days to do?  What are you wearing for Halloween?  I'd love to hear!

On a side note, on 10/20 I mentioned that it was my 4 month anniversary of starting this blog and I was so excited to have reached 450 page views.  In the past 10 days I have reached over 700!  I am so amazed that there are people out there who are interested in what I am doing and I want to THANK YOU so much for stopping by!  Please feel free to leave me comments and start up a conversation--I can talk about nail polish for days!

Capybaras Jungle

I know that I have had a ton of posts lately with the 31 Day Challenge, but I really just wanted to do a manicure for myself.  I wanted something that felt like Halloween and didn't have any restrictions.  I also wanted to play with a beauty I won recently!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*3 coats Wet n Wild 9.0.2.1.Orange
*1 coat Enkelini Capybaras Jungle
*1 coat Out the Door

I started out with a simple intent of just the Black Out cream with the shimmery 9.0.2.1.Orange as an accent.  A part of me wishes that I could just leave well enough alone and stop.  But I can never help myself!  I had to add something, and it felt like it needed to be glitter :)

Warning: this is about to get out of control!  I am so in love with this beauty that there are probably a lot more pictures in this post than there should be.  I added a jump break for you so you can choose to see them all or not (but you really should!).

Now, I never know when to stop, but this time I am so glad I don't!  This glitter is amazing!  You can see some of the colors in the bottle and on my nail in the picture, but they are so much more gorgeous in real life.  One of the best parts of this polish, besides the color shift, is that it dries smooth!  Glitter, even when it is fine, never really feels like a nice shiny cream does on the nail, but this one totally did!  I added a quick dry for protection and shine, but it isn't necessary if you're not a fan. 

31DC: Polka Dots

I decided to add some Halloween to my dot manicure. I only have one dotting tool, which is pretty small (and stolen from my mom's art supplies...) so I didn't have a ton to work with. But, I had seen some inspiration for this on Pinterest (do you sense a trend? I waste a lot of time there...) and wanted to try it.  Today only has one untried.

 

*1 coat Yello-Out base
*2 coats Fantasy Makers Rest In pieces
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black out
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Seche Vite

The pin that I saw was a cream black background with just one little set of eyes looking out at you.  I thought that is was so cute, but figured that I needed more dots for "polka dot" day, so I added a set of eyes to each nail. 

 

Rest In Pieces is a blackened base with micro purple glitter in it.  It only took a couple of coats for full coverage.  I don't know why, because I've used it for so long, but I'm always pleasantly surprised with my Wet n Wild polishes.  

 

In these two you can really see how the glitter shows through the base.  I thought that the sparkle would be much less prominent, and actually wanted it to be more subtle for this particular look, but it's hard to complain about too much glitter showing up too well...

Pretty simple, I know, but still kinda fun.  I need to invest (very little, I know) in some more dotting tools so I have more sizes to work with.  I had to improvise a bit with the end of a pain brush, which made for some interesting eye shapes, but it could have been worse.  Overall, though the perfectionist in my cringes a bit, I liked this one.  It's a cute, not really scary Halloween look that didn't take too much to pull off.

31DC: Orange

We're on a roll: here's day two!  There are 3 untrieds today!

I know that there are a million Halloween ideas for orange polish.  I decided to try two new colors that are much closer than I realized when I bought them...this may be an embarrassing and costly trend.  When I painted a quick swatch on a piece of white paper, there are some distinct differences in color, but on the nail, well, you'll see!  I thought about an orange base for these because the are really sheer when you paint your first coat, but I did not really need one in the end. 

*1 coat Yellow-Out base
*3 coats Spoiled Vitamin C on all but thumb
*3 coats Wet n Wild 9.0.2.1.Orange on thumb
*1 coat Black Cat Lacquer Static age on ring finger
*1 coat Seche Vite

Both oranges built up really well.  I guess that you still might be able to see a slight nail line with 3 sheer coats, but 3 is not bad at all--even I can live with it!  These oranges are so gorgeous, packed with golden shimmer that is blinding in the sun!  I considered putting Static Age on each nail, but because I just have a mini and this was going to be short-lived, I conserved my precious resource! 
Static Age is a really cool glitter: black, white and silver holo in a clear base.  There are a couple of sizes of hex glitter for the black and white, bars, and square holos.  I couldn't get the holos to come out and play, but this is just one coat that I only had to coax a little onto the nail--not a ton of dabbing, but a bit.

You can see a tiny bit of the difference between the two in this photo, if you are looking for it.  9.0.2.1.Orange (thumb) is a bit pinker than Vitamin C, which is a very yellow orange.  As you layer, the differences are very hard to see and if you have one, you don't really need the other, though they're both less than two dollars and gorgeous!

I'm a little disappointed in myself for not using these sooner!  They are so pretty and the shimmer is amazing.  They will definitely be making a comeback this month!  Static age is also so cool that I am kicking myself for not grabbing a full-sized bottle instead. 
Have you tried these before?  Do you love them as much as I do?  They're like fire in a bottle!