Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse! (PICTURE HEAVY - but oh so worth it!)

Well look at me! Posting three days in a row here...guess I'm back for real this time!

The other day in one of the many nail polish related groups in which I am a member, I posted this picture:

Isn't it the prettiest bug you've ever seen??

 Then I remarked that this beautiful bug reminded me of all the Unicorn pee polish out there: Clarins 230 (someday, someday), Nfu Oh #59, Max Factor Fantasy Fire, Girly Bits Shift Happens, etc.  We all agreed that, while the Unicorn pee is amazing, it doesn't quite capture wow factor seen in this amazing technicolor dream coat.

So I got into my stash, (did I mention I need another Helmer? Oh, stop your tsking! It'll only be my second. MANY of you already have 2 or more! :-P ) and tried a few things. I don't have pictures because I wasn't astoundingly happy with the outcome of my experiments, but I'll tell you what I tried.

I pulled out Orly Flare - a muted gold foil from the Fall 2012 "Fired Up" collection. I applied two coats to each nail of my left hand and then I played with the unicorn pee colors I have. I topped one with Nfu Oh #59 and found the purple to be a bit too intense. I topped another with Girly Bits Shift Happens and it didn't have enough color variation even after 2 coats. To another I applied Max Factor Fantasy Fire and that was pretty neat so I wish I had Clarins 230. (If you're reading this and you have Clarins 230 and the polish I ended up using for the pics below, I'd love to see it turns out. Please?) One another nail, I applied an oldie but amazingly goodie- Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Turquoise Opal. One coat of Turquoise Opal was pretty neat, so I added a second coat and I think that's just a little too much maybe? Plus "Flare" was TOO muted. So I removed it all, repatched my thumbnail since it has torn below the quick and I want it to grow out before I cut it off. *whimper* Then reapplied my Dermelect Launchpad basecoat because I'm having really bad peeling issues again.

Fast forward to last night, I was having all kinds of trouble deciding what to do with my nails. I finally decided to try a different gold foil and use the Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal again. "What the heck," I thought, "I can make a blog post out of this!"  I reached into my stash again for my favorite gold foil. Orly "Glitz and Glamour" from the 2010 "Tis the Season" collection. This is bright, flashy gold...as gold as a gold can get I think. I do love it so. I topped it with one coat on Turquoise Opal on my left hand and two coats on my right. Just to see, and to share with you. Enough chatter! Get on with the pictures!

Left hand, full sun. It kind of hints at the color variation.

 Left hand again, full sun again, different angle shows a slight shifting...hmmm

Still Left (I'll let you know when I switch to the right hand), in natural light. Now it's getting interesting!

 Look at all those different colors! I see purple, pink,blue, teal, green!

Look at all the Pink and Gold! This is fun...

And one more to show all the rainbow!

So that's what one coat looks like, what about two coats? Continued here is the right hand using two coats of Orly Glitz and Glamour topped off with two coats of Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal.

Full sun

 Full sun, different angle.

 Natural Light

 Natural light again

 And the rainbow again.

So, what do you think of this combination? Did I manage to capture the beauty of the beetle in the first picture? I think not, but I also think it's about as close as one can get with the current pigments out there. Of course, I'm very willing to be proven wrong. I did try putting water drops on the nails but it didn't do anything to change the way the colors looked.

As usual, these pictures are a simpler representation of how this combination reflects light when gazed upon by stereo vision. Someday, I want a camera with two lenses so I can truly capture how these polishes appear to our human eyes.  I will say that this is the second manicure I've worn in the last 3 years that has prompted compliments and diverted eyes as my hands draw peoples attention. Yesterday I was told how perfectly it went with my purple lace tunic, and today I was told it was a perfect match for my textured satin teal tunic! Therefore, the Lizard rates this one Toasty bordering on Sizzling.

Will you try this or something similar? Do you love or hate it?