Lacquer Slacker Liz: OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and Lynnderella Snow Angel

Each spring OPI releases a special collection called Soft Shades consisting of sheers and/or neutrals plus the occasional topper-type glitter ostensibly targeted at the bridal market. Don't Touch My Tutu was released as part of the NYC Ballet Soft Shades collection for spring 2012. It's a sheer white jelly that is not meant to be opaque but to give a soft wash of white to the color of the natural nail. With my nails as polish stained as they are, I would never normally go for a sheer like Don't Touch My Tutu. But since my awesome personal trainer at the gym where I work out, Tory, is affianced with a wedding planned for this coming October, I had the brilliant idea to try and put together a few bridal looks for her. You know, just to give her some manicure input as she thrashes and flails her way through finalizing the finer points of her special day.

It's a fun idea, but the execution in this case left something to be desired. As you will see.

Staining isn't my only obstacle to wearing a sheer. As I frequently mention, my nail beds are rife with ridges. Some nails are worse than others, but suffice to say that none of them have a smooth bed, all are furrowed to a degree. I also have a few washboard nails. This is problematic because however sheer a polish may be, it does contain some pigment and is subject as are we all to the laws of physics. However slightly, nail polish inevitably thins over the top of ridges and pools in the furrows, creating streaks.

So I started my manicure with two coats of my current favorite ridge-filling basecoat, Pretty Serious All Your Base, hoping this would work to minimize streaking over my ridges. DENIED! I think I actually heard my ridges laughing at the doubled basecoat... oh well! Next time maybe I will try a slightly more pigmented ridge-filler like my previous go-to, Butter London Nail Foundation. In the meantime, I must live with the streaks.

Don't Touch My Tutu actually applies very nicely. The consistency is fluid and on the thinner side, but not so thin as to be runny unless you swipe a cuticle or sidewall. It has has a smooth, silky flow over the nail and is easily manipulated with OPI's pro-wide brush. The self-leveling properties are much better than you would think from looking at my photos. Of course I did swipe cuticles and sidewalls, but this sheer white cleans up in a snap. I used three coats of Don't Touch My Tutu to create a milky, translucent base for my glitter topper, Lynnderella Snow Angel. Don't Touch My Tutu dries naturally in fairly good time to a glossy finish.

Photos show three coats of Don't Touch My Tutu over treatment and a double basecoat. No topcoat since I planned to layer.

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu

Given the pervasive yellow staining, prodigious ridges and typically uneven hand at application, I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have chosen a more problematic manicure. What was I thinking? It certainly looks like hell in the photos, but to be honest I rather like it in person. The streaks are less distracting than I thought they'd be, and the wash of milky white (albeit quite muddied on me) feels fresh and tidy. Still!

And it's all downhill from here.

Snow Angel, the famous glitter crelly from Lynnderella, has been around since at least 2011 as far as I can tell. It's a timeless mix of satiny white hex and square glitters in various sizes from micro to medium suspended in a shimmering white base. While it's possible to build it to opacity on its own, it is at it's most lovely layered over another polish, preferably a delicate shade that showcases its serene, glistening beauty.

This is an easy polish to work with. The suspension base is surprisingly fluid and paintable. It has a lovely, easy flow over the nail with excellent glitter payoff and dispersion. You'd think it would be a simple matter to add a thin coat over the Don't Touch My Tutu manicure. It should be! But my application somehow took a wrong turn and I ended up with something that is much closer to a hot mess than any potential bride should ever be exposed to.

I guess I just ran out of steam and painted on Snow Angel willy nilly. In the process, my simple coat of Snow Angel morphed into a chunky excrescence. I tried to salvage it with Glitter Food and Seche Vite to no avail. View the evidence!

Lynnderella Snow Angel over OPI Don't Touch My Tutu

That whoosh you hear is the wind going out of my sails. Fail! I wish I could say that I plan to try again, but I'm not sure whether it's feasible to recreate the kind of manicure I had in mind on my nails. See Nailderella's post here or Lacquerish's post here for examples of what that is. Perhaps a more opaque white or a pale pink and a lighter, more carefully applied coat of Snow Angel would be less problematic. We'll see.

love,
Liz

Lacquer Slacker Liz

Sunday, May 10, 2015

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and Lynnderella Snow Angel

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