Hi guys!

Have you missed me? I'm not sure what's going on - is this the post-summer slump already or is it because I said I'd post several times a week, but I haven't really felt like blogging lately. I've been rather busy but I think it's more than that. I had to cut my nails really short and now I'm trying to slowly grow healthy nails and lay off the polish for a while, but even my little nubbins keep breaking. 

I've got enough photos in store to last me a while, but at the moment selecting and editing photos is what seems to annoy me most. I love the nail art bit and I like the writing, it's the in between that seems tedious to me. Which is annoying, because I've got an FFFF post all written up but lacking pictures... Well, we'll see how things go, I hope you'll bear with me while I figure that out.

But enough of that! Here's some nail art I made two weeks ago for the Tri-Polish Challenge so I figured I could at least post in on the last day. The colours for August are green, red and yellow, and the ones I picked reminded me of rasta colours, so here's a tribute to Bob Marley.

The colours I picked were my super cheapo b.pretty yellow and "lime" green and the red Boulevard de Beauté. I sponged them onto the nails, then used LynBDesigns Quoth the Raven for the king of reggae.

I hope you like it - and go check out everyone else's pics in the linky below!

Capt. Lazypants out

Before you start reading, please be aware that this post contains information about the new Doctor. I'll hide videos behind links and won't actually use the actor's name but my comments may still give something away, so if you’re trying to avoid spoilers, enter at your own risk.

Dear readers,

Welcome to the next edition of Friday Flailing!

Last week I told you about my stance on spoilers and how I chose to deal with them in the case of Sherlock. Now it’s time for another of my favourite shows, Doctor Who.

I really didn’t want to know. And then I decided I did, so I’d have time to get used to the new Doctor before Christmas. I fully expect to be underwhelmed and then grow to love him slowly as the eighth series unfolded. Neil Gaiman says it here much more eloquently than me.

But you know what? The instant I heard him say “I’m the Doctor”, I knew he was telling the truth. He IS the Doctor.

There’s been a lot of criticism (more so than with previous Doctors, I think): Time Lords can swap gender, so a female Doctor was a possibility, and instead it’s a man again, and a white one at that. And he’s not even ginger. But quite honestly, I don’t care. Because LOOK at him. He has the classic Doctor Who look. And that little smirk when he says he’s the Doctor, like he’s telling you a secret? That reminds me so badly of the Tenth Doctor it hurts (and Ten is my Doctor).

Am I Ginger? - No, once again. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Some people complain he’s too old to be the Doctor – I beg to differ. People also complained Matt Smith was too young to be the Doctor. Previous Doctors have been older. Canon-wise, it doesn’t matter. The guy is about a thousand years old. And you know what? I actually like it. (And let’s face it, he IS slim and a little bit foxy... )

 

Why yes, yes you are (Slim and a Little Bit Foxy)

(And as others have pointed out, he did play a WHO doctor in World War Z – best unintentional hint ever!)

I’m looking forward to seeing him in action – and hopefully in interaction with Clara and a certain spoiler-abhorring lady. I started writing a few lines about the latter, but I think she deserves her own post. Look out for River Song polishes, nail art and fangirling next week on Fantabulous Friday Fangirl Flailing! (I still can’t decide in what order those words belong – let’s just call it FFFF, okay?)

I’m sure I will cry when Eleven goes and I’ll miss his bowties and crazy hair, but I don’t think I’ll be as heartbroken as I was when Ten regenerated, because I know a wonderful new Doctor is just around the corner. Welcome, Twelve.

LynBDesigns Am I Ginger? Three coats, sunlight.

For today’s nail art I used LynBDesigns polishes from two of her Doctor Who collections. It shows Doctors Nine to Twelve in Slim and a Little Bit Foxy over Am I Ginger? All nail art shots except for the one at the bottom are with a coat of Lucky 13 Lacquers Revenge is Suede. 

I'm not too happy with the nail art - well, Nine and Eleven turned out alright but I had issues with David's glasses and chin. It didn't look quite right without but I couldn't get the shape right. Twelve was tricky because we don't know his distinctive features / clothing style as a Doctor yet. His hair isn't as distinctive either. But I am sure this time next year there will be just the perfect little detail that will characterise him just as much as Matt's bowtie.

The formula, as always, is wonderful to work with. It spreads evenly and dries rather quickly. Am I Ginger is an orange linear holo with quite a good bend. It’s not as crazy holo-y as ILNP's ultra-holos but about on a par with Literary Lacquers. Here it is on its own and in comparison with Literary Lacquers Greatest Treasures (middle finger) and More Like Fire Than Light (pinkie).

Slim and a Little Bit Foxy is a stormy slate grey with dark green particles that are only visible in sunlight. Here it is on its own and with one coat of Oh You Beautiful Idiot, which is from the Innuendos in Space collection just like Slim and a Little Bit Foxy.

What do you think of the new Doctor? Which one is your favourite?

Happy Friday!

Capt. Spacenails

Dear readers,

Just a quick nail art post today: a-England Rose Bower and St. George in a simple freehand mani that I spruced up by adding contrasting dots with my dotting tools. Don’t they look fantastic together?

Hallo ihr Lieben,

heute zeig ich euch mal ein schnelles Design, das ich gestern gemacht habe. Die Farben sind a-England Rose Bower (aus der neuen Kollektion) und St. George. Ich liebe diese kräftigen Farben!

The quality is what I’m accustomed to from a-England: easy-to-apply one-coaters with incredible colour depth and a ridiculously shiny finish (this is without a top coat).

Wie üblich bei a-England ist die Qualität sehr hoch, das Auftragen ist einfach und eine Schicht reicht normalerweise.  Das Finish ist sehr glatt und glänzend (die Bilder sind ohne Topcoat) und die Farben sind der Hammer.

 

Sehr sommerlich sind sie nicht und ich hab auch kein dazu passendes Gelb, deshalb werd ich sie nicht für die Tri-polish Challenge verwenden, die diesen Monat nach Grün, Rot und Gelb verlangt, aber für den Herbst/Winter sind sie perfekt! 

I was trying out different colours for August’s tri-polish challenge, which calls for green, red and yellow, but unfortunately it won’t be these – I have no yellow that works with them. You can find out which polishes I ended up using next Tuesday. If you want to participate this month, check out the info here.

 

Was ich dann wirklich für die Tri-polish Challenge gewählt hab könnt ihr ab nächsten Dienstag sehen – und falls ihr mitmachen möchtet, findet ihr die Infos hier.

Captain Spacenails out (yes, I just changed my captain name. I get to do that.)

This is the German version of this post.

Willkommen an Bord der USS Nail Polish! (Nö, gar kein doofer Name - wenn die Sternenflotte ihren Schiffen Namen wie USS Non Sequitur oder USS Sherlock Holmes geben kann, dann werd ich mein kleines feines Raumschiff auch nach seiner Hauptmission benennen dürfen.)

Wie ihr seht ist mein neues Blogdesign live (jetzt auch mit deutschem Intro-Post ;)). Es wird in den nächsten Wochen sicher noch die eine oder andere kleine Änderung geben (Seiten wollen noch eingefügt werden und kleinere Layoutprobleme gelöst werden), aber ich wollte jetzt nicht mehr länger warten. Ich hab ein bestehendes Template verwendet und dann so lange im Code rumgebastelt, bis es so aussah, wie ich wollte. Ziemlich abenteuerlich wenn man kaum HTML und kein CSS kann! Hat aber Spaß gemacht.

So, jetzt wollen wir aber eine kleine Führung machen um euch die Navigation zu erleichtern! Viele der Menüpunkte in der Leiste oben sind thematisch angelegte Postsammlungen, aber es sind auch einige statische Seiten dabei.

Ganz links haben wir die Brücke (Bridge), wo ihr Infos über das Blog und mich findet - Disclaimer, Nutzungsbedingungen für die Fotos, eine About-Seite (First Contact) wo ihr auch noch mal was über das Blog und mich erfahren könnt. Das Logbuch (Captain's Log) versammelt Posts über das Blog selbst (wie diesen hier) und persönliche Posts. Ich poste eigentlich nicht viele persönliche Sachen, aber die findet ihr dann dort.  Über die Brücke kommt ihr auch wieder auf die Startseite.

Unter Phasers on Stunning findet ihr meine Nageldesigns, Rezensionen und Beautyboxen. Falls euch Holo-Nagellacke gefallen, solltet ihr unbedingt dem Holodeck einen Besuch abstatten!

Im nächsten Punkt bringt Sulu alle meine Posts zum Thema TV und Film auf den Schirm. Hier gibt's dann Doctor Who und Sherlock und Star Trek-Designs und Posts über Filme und Serien. Da ich diese Sachen meist auf Englisch schaue, sind die Posts oft auch nur auf Englisch. Die deutschsprachigen Sendungen haben ein eigenes Untermenü, wo ihr die beliebten Zusammenfassungen von GNTM und ANTM sowie diverse andere Sendungen, über die ich ab und zu mal lästere, findet. (Übrigens sind 5 der Top 10 Posts auf meinem Blog GNTM-Zusammenfassungen. Krass, wa?)

Im Library Computer sind dann alle meine weiteren Interessensgebiete versammelt: Bücher, Musik, Mathe und so weiter. (Und ja, auch die Bienen.)

Im Transporterraum ist neben Scotty, der Beautypost an Bord beamt, auch Kommunikationsoffizier Uhura - hier gibt's Kontakt zu anderen Raumschiffen Blogs in Form einer Linkliste sowie (hoffentlich demnächst) Gastposts. Ich wette, das war auf der alten USS Enterprise auch nicht anders - Uhura trägt in jeder der Originalfolgen einen anderen Nagellack (in ziemliche wilden Farben), da hat sie bestimmt immer wieder mal ungeduldig im Transporterraum auf ihre Beautypost gewartet!

Wem all das zu viel oder nicht genug ist, kann auch zur Tagcloud im unteren Teil des Blogs greifen.

Ich hoffe, das neue Design gefällt euch!

Captain Nagelnewbie Ende.

P.S. Warum recycle ich das Design mit USS Enterprise gegen USS Vengeance in diesem Post? Naja, erstmal um ein Bild zu haben. Zweitens, weil's zum Thema passt. Und drittens weil das doch tatsächlich der beliebteste Suchbegriff ist, der Leute auf mein Blog bringt (noch vor GNTM Sabrina und Heidi Klum Strickmantel - aber es gibt doch tatsächlich auch Leute, die nach Hamsterschwimmweste suchen). Ich wüsste gerne, ob sie mit dem Suchergebnis zufrieden sind!

Deutsche Version hier.
 
Hello and welcome aboard the Federation Starship Nail Polish! 

(Yes, I can call it that. If Starfleet can call ships USS Non Sequitur or USS Sherlock Holmes, then surely mine can be named after its ongoing mission to boldly polish what no-one has freehanded before!) 

As you can see, my new blog design is live. I used this template and I’ve spent the last 3 days tweaking the design to my liking. It’s been quite fiddly, let me tell you! I knew very little html (other than that you should always close your tags) and nothing about CSS going in, and I can’t say I know a whole lot more now, but it’s strangely addicting – I’d start fiddling around with some setting and next thing I knew it was 5 hours later. I’m glad I’m done though! I hope you agree with me that the results are worth it.
Expect some minor changes in the next weeks as I struggle to discover how I can get each page of posts to contain the same amount of posts (and not, bizarrely, max-results=20 on one page and 4 on the next) and to add margins to the static pages (about etc.) to prevent the text from sticking to the borders. But I just couldn't wait any longer!

Let me give you a little tour of my new menu. Most of the options point to tags, but there are a few extra pages in there as well.

In the menu bar on the left, we have the Bridge, where you'll find information about the blog and me: blog-related pages such as the about page and my disclaimer, and the Captain’s Log, which will show you all posts about the blog itself (such as this one). I don’t talk about personal things a lot, but when I do, you can find them there as well. The bridge will also always take you Home.

In the next section, Phasers on Stunning, you’ll find my nail art and reviews. If you like holographic polishes, make sure to visit the Holodeck!

Helmsman Hikaru Sulu will be happy to show you all my on-screen obsessions, from Doctor Who and Sherlock to Star Trek and superhero movies. This is also the place for TV rants and my surprisingly popular German recaps of Germany’s Next Top Model (in fact, 5 of them are in my top 10 most popular posts, but I excluded them from the popular posts above the menu to show only posts with pictures).

The Library computer is where all my other geek obsessions live: books, comics, music, maths and assorted nerdery.

The Transporter room, finally, fulfils the same function as on board the USS Enterprise, with a few of Lt. Uhura’s duties mixed in: Ship-to-ship – er, blog-to-blog – communications, guest post exchanges and nail mail. You just know they had to have nail mail on the Enterprise NC-1701, because Uhura wears a different fabulous nail polish in each episode.

Some of these options (such as the guest post link) don’t lead anywhere yet, but I’m sure they’ll be filled in time. Others will appear as I continue to add to my obsessions.

Finally, there’s also a good old-fashioned tag cloud at the bottom of each page in case you’re looking for something specific or something not included in the menu.

I hope you like the new design!

Captain Nail Art out

P.S. Fun fact and justification for recycling the photo in this post: USS Vengeance is the most frequent search term that leads people to my blog. I hope they like my nail art!

Dear readers,

check it out, it's a review with a proper swatch! No nail art in sight anywhere. Crazy, eh? Well, with polishes this fun and sparkly, you don't really need anything else.

This is one of Different Dimension's recently released polishes, Never Grow Up. It reminded me of Money, so I grabbed it when I was reordering that one, but where Money has small and large glitters in various shades of green and blue as well as black, white and silver holo, Never Grow Up has only silver holo and blue in a milky white base with a blue, glassfleck-type shimmer. So while I am attracted to both for the same reasons (huge circle glitters! White crelly!), they are different enough for me to want them both.

I think Money seems more playful, while Never Grow Up has a somewhat crisper air to it. It can be fun and playful, but with its snow-blue shimmer (especially in matte) it's about as close to sophisticated as a glitter-loaded polish can get.

Here's a comparison for you. The two fingers on the right are matted, the other two have a glossy top coat (second pic). It doesn't make a lot of difference - in fact, I think I prefer the glossy version of Money - but the blue shimmer of Never Grow Up shows up really nicely in the matte version.

 

The full hand mani of Never Grow Up is without a top coat because it spread so smoothly. I went swimming that day and oh, you should have seen it in the clear green water! Between the sun and the water, my hands that were all but trailing sparkles as I was swimming. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me, but you should try it sometime. 

Both of these polishes spread well and are opaque in three coats. I have the impression the base of Never Grow Up might be a bit more opaque than Money's, where the first coat seems to consist of more glitter than base. Particularly the latter is chock full of glitter, but if you want large circles in either of these, you may have to fish a bit, though not excessively.

You can find these at Different Dimension's etsy shop, but you'll have to wait for the next restock if you want Never Grow Up or its pastel purple sister Today Was a Fairytale (but you can't have that because I want it, so forget all about it, sorry about that).

As always, I'm doing this review because I feel like it and want to show you pretty polish - I bought these pretties myself. I know it says so in my disclaimer and we don't have blog disclosure laws like in the US, but I doubt everyone reads the disclaimer so I sometimes add one to my reviewier posts. That said, I'm not generally opposed to writing reviews for indie polish makers in exchange for sample products, I just never have been asked to do so. If I did, you can be sure it will be clearly labeled as such and as honest as all my other reviews.

Have a nice weekend and go swimming if you can!

S.

Before you start reading, please be aware that this post contains officially sanctioned (i.e. released by the producers) spoilers for Sherlock S3. I'll hide them behind links and won’t use spoilery names in the post but my comments may still give something away, so I'll put warnings on those parts.

Dear readers,

As part of my blog renewal, I was thinking of doing some sort of Fangirl Friday thing (though the name is shamelessly stolen from AccioLacquer), but that makes about as much sense as Casual Friday in an office where everyone dresses casually all week, because when am I not fangirling? When I’m writing scathing reviews of stuff that smells funny or ranting about something, I guess. But that’s not enough to fill the other 6 days of the week, so I’m introducing Fantabulous Fangirl Flailing Friday, where I go off the geek deep end. It’s like all my other fangirl posts, but worse. Rather like introducing Casual Friday in a casual-dressing office, which I can only imagine would deteriorate into No Pants Friday pretty quickly (and I’m using pants in the British sense here) – something I could only appreciate if I were working with Sherlock Holmes.

It may surprise you to hear that someone as fangirlish as me hates spoilers, but I do. I don’t want to see photos from the production set, I don’t want to hear what new characters will be joining the next season of a show, I don’t want to know that somebody is going to die* or that a film has a happy (or unhappy) ending or that there is this epic fight scene between X and Y because all that gives away too much for me. I didn’t want to hear whom Benedict Cumberbatch was playing in Star Trek and I definitely didn’t want to know who the new Doctor was going to be.

That’s a bit of a problem unless you’re willing to stay offline for a few months. I do occasionally avoid Twitter and blogs/news sites that might inadvertently spoil me if I’m a week or two behind on a TV show, but even then it’s pretty hard to avoid. 

Can you guess where this post is heading? (IOU by LynBDesigns, 4 coats (opaque in 2-3), no top coat)

When I heard the producers were getting ready to announce Sherlock’s new nemesis for Season 3, I unsubscribed from all relevant twitter channels and stayed off fan sites – only to stumble upon the picture on a seemingly “harmless” blog four days later. I was so annoyed I decided to take a different approach: Since it was unrealistic to hold out till December or so both with Sherlock and Doctor Who, I would embrace the official spoilers (or previews, I guess, what with them being official and all) and watch them on my terms. I’m much happier with that, but if you’re not, I suggest you stop reading now and just click on one of the photos for a picture gallery of my manis in this post.

Warning: fangirling and spoilers beyond this point.

IOU bottle shot

Still with me? Oh, so many announcements in such a short time! That new villain? I can sort of see building up the character from that Sherlock Holmes story to a season-long villain, though it will require some changes. But given how they have managed to rework other stories into a plot that is both very Sherlockian and completely surprising, I don’t doubt that the team will manage to blow our minds. Now, the actor? PERFECT. Just look at him! Like his brother, he looks like he’s born to play a crook, but I suspect (or hope) that, like his brother, he does better at greyscales that at stark black and white. That said, I don’t really know much about him, so we’ll see, but I’m quite optimistic.

Non-spoilery version: Somebody thought they owed Sherlock something. Unfortunately, he took them up on it. Which is why we're where we are now.

Next up, the teaser video for season 3. (If you haven’t seen it, go watch it now so you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t want to see it, go look at the pictures again.) Not at all as spoilery as I feared, it’s just enough to whet my appetite (like I haven’t been drooling at the mouth for over a year). My mind spins stories from each of those first scenes, but they mainly involve shrieks and fainting and mildly raised eyebrows and maybe a well-placed fist in the face. But that final one. When he walks into the restaurant. There is anticipation on his face and then, in the last shot, I swear you see his heart breaking. And I’m afraid it’s not because of Watson’s moustache. [Though come on, that moustache? That has to go, John. Very few people can pull off a moustache without a beard to go with it. Not even Benedict.] 

I may be drifting into fan fiction territory here, but what I see in that scene is John in a fancy restaurant – not alone, the table is set for two and the carelessly folded cloth napkin on the left suggests they have already eaten, but Mary has excused herself for a moment – looking through the dessert menu, wondering when to ask the question, checking his inside pocket to make sure the ring is still there (what has it got in its pocketses?). And Sherlock sees his hopes crumble, and something inside of him dies. I don’t normally say this but OH GOD THE FEELS!

See that up there? That’s why I don’t do spoilers. My mind grabs them and runs and I work myself into a state. I’m not saying I can deduce the plot from spoilers (thank goodness!), and let’s face it, that look of Sherlock’s is probably mild disappointment rather than heartbreak, but now I have to live with this alternate (but maybe, just maybe, accurate) reality in my head for the next half year or so.

"IOU" by LynBDesigns, four layers, matte

If you need a pick-me-up after this drama, why not find out how he survived that thing he was owed? (Spoilers, but not really. Except for whom Benedict Cumberbatch plays in Star Trek.)   

On to happier things next Friday: the new Doctor (and a slew of Doctor Who-related polishes). For now, let me wallow in my Sherlock feels.

Come back tomorrow if convenient (if inconvenient, come anyway)

S.

*The only exception to this rule is A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). I consider it only fair to pass on the warning I got along with the first book: People are going to die. A lot. I won’t tell my friends who, but I will tell them it’s people they can’t imagine could die because then where would the plot be? But they do die. A lot. It's traumatic even once you know that because you don't know who. Not pretty at all. (Spoilers, duh).

Polishes ring finger: LynBDesigns Eloquent Dust and Quoth the Raven, OPI Innie Minnie Mighty Bow, Essie Marshmallow

   

Here we are, guys - the name change is live. I'm working on a new design for the blog as well, but that requires quite a bit of fiddling. For now, welcome on my continuing mission to explore strange new polishes, to seek out new fandoms and new indie polish makers, to boldly polish what no-one has freehanded before.

Live long and polish!

Captain Nail Newbie out.

Jetzt ist er live, der neue Name! Ich arbeite auch an einem neuen Blogdesign, aber da muss ich noch ein Weilchen dran herumbasteln. Inzwischen aber willkommen an Bord des Blogs, das in den unendlichen Weiten des Internets unterwegs ist, um fremde Nagellacke zu entdecken, unbekannten Nerdkram und neue Indie-Nagellackmacher. Das Nagelnewbie dringt dabei zu Nageldesigns vor, die nie ein Mensch zuvor gesehen hat.

Lackiert lang und in Frieden!

Captain Nagelnewbie Ende.

ILNP Amanda Hugginkiss (shade)

Dear readers,

I feel like I was at some sort of blogging camp for the last month. Posting almost daily made me take a good look at my blog and think about where I want it to go. I guess this is the sort of thing you should do at the beginning, but up until now I've usually just been glad if I had something to post about and time to post it. And as I've mentioned before, I never expected to keep up the blogging - I've always failed before.

Hallo ihr Lieben,

ich fühl mich als wäre ich letzten Monat auf einem Bloggercamp gewesen. Durch das beinahe tägliche Posten hab ich mich stärker als sonst mit meinem Blog auseinandergesetzt und überlegt, in welche Richtung es gehen soll. Wahrscheinlich sollte man solche Überlegungen am Anfang anstellen, aber bisher hab ich von einem Post zum nächsten gelebt und mich gefreut, wenn ich was zum Posten und auch die Zeit dafür hatte. Wie ich schon mal erwähnt hab, hatte ich nie erwartet, dass ich das so lange durchhalten würde - meine früheren Blogversuche sind immer schnell gescheitert.

But now I know I not only want to keep blogging, I want to give this blog a clearer profile. Given my geeky disposition and my love of freehand nail art, I think you can tell where this is going. This doesn't mean I'll stop blogging about non-nerdy polish and nail art, beauty boxes, or bad TV, but it does mean I will change my focus a bit. 

Jetzt weiß ich aber, dass ich nicht nur weiter bloggen möchte, sondern auch ein klareres Profil herausarbeiten will. Nachdem ich ja ein ziemlicher Nerd bin und es liebe, auf meinen Nägeln wild drauf los zu malen, könnt ihr euch wahrscheinlich denken, dass es nerdig und Nail Art-lastig wird. Das bedeutet aber nicht, dass ich nicht mehr über nicht-nerdigen Nagellack und Designs oder Beautyboxen und schlechtes Fernsehen bloggen werde, aber mein Schwerpunkt verlagert sich etwas.  

With that comes a name change. I've been thinking about this for a few months since I discovered through the tri-polish challenge that there is another, well-established, Nail Newbie in the blogging world: Helen, who you can visit here. I'm a bit mystified how that happened because I searched for the blog name before naming mine and only found an apparently defunct blog called "Nail Newbie!", so I felt safe in using the name. But now it turns out I inadvertently nicked Helen's name, which isn't cool, even though I didn't do it on purpose. And not only must it be annoying for her (or so I assume), I'd prefer my name to be unique as well.

Der neue Schwerpunkt bringt auch eine Namensänderung mit sich. Ich habe mir schon einige Monate überlegt, meinen Namen zu ändern, seit ich festgestellt hab, dass es schon eine etablierte Bloggerin mit dem Namen Nail Newbie gibt (Helen aus England, hier ist der Link). Ich hab keine Ahnung, wie ich das übersehen konnte, ich hab nämlich bei der Blogerstellung extra gesucht, ob es schon Blogs mit dem Namen gibt, und hab nur ein offenbar stillgelegtes Blog gefunden, Helens aber nicht. Das ist jetzt natürlich blöd, weil ich ihr unabsichtlich den Namen geklaut hab, und es nicht nur sie (wahrscheinlich) stört sondern auch mich, weil ich gerne einen einzigartigen Namen haben möchte.

After much deliberation, I settled on a name that I feel represents me and my blog: "To boldly polish". It's got polish, it's got a Star Trek reference, and it's still a title that makes people think of nail polish (well, or possibly furniture wax?) and bold designs even if they don't know that the USS Enterprise's mission is to boldly go and fix the split infinitive - err, to boldly go where no-one has gone before.

Nach reiflicher Überlegung hab ich einen Namen gewählt, der meinen Blog und mich gut repräsentiert: "To boldly polish". Dieses Zitat ist aus der englischen Version des Intros von Raumschiff Enterprise (wisst ihr noch? Der Weltraum, unendliche Weiten...) und ist für Nerds als Anspielung darauf erkennbar, für alle anderen als Hinweis auf Nagellack und Nageldesigns - beide sind mir als LeserInnen sehr willkommen.

Ich hab versucht, einen Namen zu finden, der auf Deutsch und auf Englisch funktioniert, aber das klappte nicht so recht und da mein Blog international über den deutschen Sprachraum hin ausgerichtet ist, habe ich mich für einen englischen Namen entschieden. Es wird auch immer wieder mal vorkommen, dass ich nur auf Englisch poste, weil es viel mehr Zeit in Anspruch nimmt, zweisprachig zu posten und es auch nicht immer klappt - ich schaue und lese "Nerdkram" fast immer auf Englisch und kenne daher meist nur die englischen Zitate. Und selbst wenn ich was auf Deutsch kenne, funktionieren Anspielungen und Wortspiele nicht immer in beiden Sprachen, wie man schon am neuen Blognamen sieht. Ebenso schreibe ich Posts, die sich auf deutschsprachige Sachen (z.B. Castingshows) beziehen, eher nur auf Deutsch. Wo es sinnvoll ist, werde ich mich aber bemühen, möglichst in beiden Sprachen zu bloggen. 

I considered changing my blog design and possibly host as well, but I don't feel comfortable making that many changes at once. I'd rather ease you and myself into it gradually. I'm not fully convinced that wordpress is a better option for me and I don't feel ready to move to a self-hosted blog yet, so I'm sticking with blogspot. 

Ich hab mir überlegt, auch das Design und vielleicht auch den Blogservice zu ändern, aber ich will nicht zu viele Veränderungen auf einmal machen und euch und mich langsam daran gewöhnen. Ich bin auch nicht ganz sicher, ob wordpress wirklich die bessere Option für mich wäre und der Schritt zu einem selbstgehosteten Blog ist mir noch zu groß, deshalb bleibe ich bei Blogspot.

A new blog design will happen sometime but for now I'm giving you an advance warning that my blog name will change in the next week, though the address will remain the same. I've reserved toboldlypolish.blogspot.com, but I'm not sure how to do it - should that address redirect to thenailnewbie, or should I move my content there and set up a redirect from here to the new name? Either way, you'll continue to find me at thenailnewbie.blogspot.com.

Ich werde zwar irgendwann ein neues Design machen, aber jetzt warn ich euch erstmal vor, dass sich mein Name im Laufe der nächsten Woche ändern wird - die Adresse bleibt aber gleich. Ich bin mir noch nicht ganz sicher, ob ich eine Weiterleitung zu toboldlypolish.blogspot.com einrichten werde oder hier bleibe, aber ihr erreicht mich auf jeden Fall weiterhin unter thenailnewbie.blogspot.com (bzw. .de / .at).

Thoughts on that, dear readers? Do you like the new name or do you have other suggestions for one? Does it annoy or confuse you if the blog name and the url don't match? When should I change my watermark or should I leave it as it is? (And what do you think of the version in the photo above, with the old address and new name?) Do you have any suggestions or experiences concerning blog changes? I'd love to get some feedback from you!

Yours,

the nail newbie (still a newbie despite the new name)

Wie findet ihr das? Gefällt euch der Name oder habt ihr andere Ideen? Stört oder verwirrt es euch, wenn die URL anders ist als der Blogname? Sollte ich mein Wasserzeichen ändern und wenn ja, wann? (Und wie findet ihr die Lösung im Bild oben, mit Blogadresse aber neuem Namen?) Ich würd mich sehr über Feedback, Vorschläge oder Erfahrungsberichte zu Blogveränderungen freuen!

Euer Nagelnewbie (trotz Namensänderung bin ich ja immer noch ein Newbie)

Dear readers,

Wow, look at me slacking as soon as the challenge is over! Technically it's not even over since the linkies stay open till tomorrow, so here is my final offering - the recreation of a favourite by someone else. That was difficult, let me tell you! There were so many gorgeous ones, but in the end I decided to pick Craftynail's cupcake mani from day 1 (pink), which showed me right from the beginning that this 31 day challenge would have great nail art!

Since I didn't actually do a day 1 mani, it seemed even more appropriate. And of course it doesn't hurt to remind people once in a while that the cake is a lie. Cupcakes are where it's at. Anyway, this cupcake is great.

I was late with this because I couldn't bear to take down the Calvin & Hobbes mani until Friday (that's nearly five days of wear with no chipping!) and because I've been spending all day swimming and when I get home there isn't enough natural light for good nail art photos. You can already notice the days getting shorter. I wonder what I'll do in winter when the mornings and evenings are dark - I can't very well reschedule my nail art sessions for midday! I don't want to go back to last winter's crappy pictures. Maybe I'll look into a lightbox and/or a daylight lamp... but enough of that, it's summer now. Yeah yeah, winter is coming, but in like, five books, maybe.

Revenge is Suede (and slightly glittery)

So anyway! Cake! Cupcake, that is! The only real changes I made to the mani were the blue wrapper (due to a lack of good brown polishes) and the positioning of the cupcake on my freakishly long nail art nail. Okay, not freakishly long, more like the length I'd like my others to be, which is why I'm keeping it at that length as an incentive to the other nails. Also, the cherry on top looks more like a raspberry. Yum. Like Craftynail I used lots of different polishes, so if you want to know more about any of them, let me know. I will tell you though that only the pink Boulevard de Beauté is "old", the others I purchased in the last couple of months, so I also achieved my personal goal of using only new and/or indie polishes throughout the challenge. The top coats are essence gel look (not pictured - beautiful look but takes forever to dry and even then is soft to the touch) and Lucky 13 Lacquer Revenge is Suede (far right - it adds the matte, glittery look).

This is what I need all my polishes for.

And now for a little recap of the Oh Mon Dieu Rather Awesome 31 Day Challenge, organized by international dream team Brijit's Digits, Craftynail and Eeeek! Nail Polish!: Ladies, you did a fantastic job. The themes were fun and called for a lot of creativity, everything was so well organized, and there was so much beautiful and inspiring nail art from you and so many other participants.

I had so much fun coming up with manis and the nearly daily posting was definitely a challenge as well. Out of 31 days, I missed 6, which is a lot better than I expected. I thought I'd run out of steam after a week or two but the relaxed and fun atmosphere kept me going. Thanks for organising this! Or, in GLaDOS' words: 'This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.' I'm sad to see it end but I'm looking forward to new challenges and to reading the great blogs I discovered through this challenge.

Essence gel look top coat (over Revenge is Suede on the thumb) - delicious but moist

I also see that a few new people started following me during this challenge, which makes me very happy! What can you expect in the next months? Well, probably no daily posting, but my goal is to post 2-3 times a week. I still have a bunch of new indies I haven't shown you yet (some of them I've even already swatched or worked into nail art), so you'll be seeing more geeky and generally strange and unusual nail art (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Firefly), some actual swatch posts (crazy, I know!) and reviews of beauty boxes, which I neglected in July. I hope you'll stick around!

See the other tribute manis below and go to the reference page for all the linkies. Manis are still being added to older ones so it's worth a second look!

31. Recreate your Favourite (by someone else) :

Thanks for a rather awesome challenge, everyone!

The nail newbie (look at me still talking when there's nail art to do)

You just keep on trying till you run out of cake..