ChG: Cling On (And Goodies!)

First things first: My mom's follow-up appointment with the dermatologist yesterday went way better than I ever could have hoped. It's not lupus and it's not cancer. It's just inflammation in the tissue under the skin triggered by her diabetes. So she got some cortisone shots while we were there and a prescription for some ointment and another follow-up in three weeks. *phew* I think that may have been the extent of yesterday's "goodness" because these stupid fx people are still jerking us around about the latex. It's been nearly a month so we finally caved and found an online supplier out of Utah (unrelated to the two we had been contacting for the past month because they will not be getting our business) and this morning I put in the paypal transfer so now the latex-getting is in our hands and in the works. It's going to take up to 2 weeks (from today, all together), but I'm feeling good about it. As long as they don't jack up the prices by the time the money gets into paypal. *grumbles~stupidAvon~grumbles*

Second things second: The beautiful Bethany over at A Plethora of Nails is hosting a giveaway! Since I helped (and have both of those polishes) I won't be entering so that's better odds for everybody else! They are so pretty and I've seen them together (and now I can't remember where, sorry!) so it's a perfect combo! Go on and visit Bethany's blog, follow and enter! !!!!!!!!{~That's how excited I am!!

Ok, now that all the semi-official stuff is out of the way we can get to this magnetic polish everyone is so hyped up about. (ok, so I spent way too long watching swatch videos on Colette's blog and she's super hyped about it; I was less-than-enthused given the price) *ahem* I now present to you China Glaze: Cling On!



If you look closely at my middle finger you can see where I quit paying attention for a second and accidently touched the magnet to the polish....



Ok, let's start here. I used the star pattern because if I get anymore of these (likely the kind with the caps; I found nabi on amazon and eBay for about $5/each) this is the only pattern not widely used. And another reason I'll get to momentarily. After watching Colette's videos I figured I'd use her technique of one thin coat, let that dry, one thick coat, magnet. I used my sticky basecoat hoping that would help keep the bottom layer in place and it mostly did. I only have a couple of bald patches that aren't even really noticeable unless you're looking right at them. I was a bit disappointed I didn't get all of the stars centered (or at least off-center in some kind of logical pattern), but since this was only my first try I think it came out ok. I did have a bit of a problem with my thumbs.....





ACK! Off-center sticker..... Ok, it's a little hard to see there, but the magnet either did or didn't work fully across the whole nail and I don't know if that was my fault or the magnets.... Here's a video so you can see all of the design better. Yes, those are Hello Kitty pajama pants you see in the background.



See? It is pretty cool, and kinda freaky. LOL As a total afterthought I matte-ed up one nail. My ring finger if you can't tell by the picture. In what can only be described as Herculean Laziness I took this with my webcam:



I really like that affect! Next time I use this polish I'm definitely going to do some kind of taped off design with the matte topcoat.

Now, here's the thing.... I was taking some pictures with my phone while I was experimenting (So I could show Sandy. Life or death, ya know!) and here's how crisp the star design starts out looking:



You can see more baldness there and I think next time I use this I'm going to make sure I have the time (and inclination) to sit there with the magnet until the polish is more fully dry. That looks great!! I also did try the other designs, but.... I had problems.....



Again, I don't know if it was the magnet or just a first-timer's mistake, but the stripes only showed up on the very center of my nail. :/ I was a bit excited about the chevron-looking design, but that one.... well.....



What is that mess? *shrugs* Again, it could have been totally my fault, even though I'm pretty sure I did the exact same thing I did with the star design. Luckily if it is a problem with the magnet, those two designs are pretty easy to come by. I really like the star, though. It's fancy. I've also seen a wavy design floating around out there and last night I found a heart-magnet (sold seperate from any particular polish) on eBay, but the picture on the site left a bit to be desired. So I don't know if I'd invest in that or not. Here it is. It's only $4 with shipping, but.... they really should have done a better picture, imo. And, of course, after tooling around eBay I was kinda wishing I had checked there first (but cash and eCheck are so much quicker and easier than paypal!!!), but I'm still glad I have Cling On. The Trekkie in me is tickled by the name.

Now to wrap things up, just two quick little goodies from outside. When I first got into the back yard with Jet I noticed a squirrel in the middle of the yard. She didn't. By the time she did it was already racing up the peach tree-bush, but I did get a picture of it pretending to be a lawn ornament!



On my way back inside I noticed all that rain finally coaxed the honeysuckle out of hiding!



Ta-da! Ok, that got a bit long-winded in parts. I hope you enjoyed the magnetic polish run-down. I'm not expecting to have anymore since I'm officially on Beetlejuice savings time. I may see if Blogger has a "goal" gadget so I can keep track of how close I am. Hopefully Illusion will come in today like it's supposed to and hopefully it won't be disappointing so hopefully I'll have that up tomorrow!