Suzanne Calling

I didn't intend to wear the same shade for a month, but my schedule and Katie's didn't mesh up with me starting work. However, I have the same shade on my nails she put on a month ago. Other than my nails growing out a bit, it's looking pretty darn good. In the morning, I'll upload the pictures I took today and judge for yourself!

I love Shellac in Hotski to Tchotchke so much that I'd told Katie, my nail tech, that I wanted to alternate every other manicure with the shade. So yesterday, she didn't even ask what was going on my nails this time around. What she didn't expect is that I'd show her a Pinterest picture of a similar teal (but creme) with polka dots all over it, kind of in a lighter teal and cement shade. She was willing to do all my nails in polka dots (I love that woman!), but I just wanted a little bit of accent, so my pinkies were festooned in dots of Purple Purple and Studio White. Now I understand why nail art looks so much better when other people do it-they've got these cool tools to work with. Katie's been working with the Shellac line since shortly after CND launched it (and she's the only local nail tech listed on CND's site that answers emails inquiring about it, too), so I guess it should be no surprise that she was contacted by an OPI sales rep about th...

At the beginning of the year, CND announced the Shellac line would have 50 colors to choose from by year's end. The palette last month had a whopping 18, with 6 more announced to launch in September. When I saw them pictured on another blog, I saw two colors that called out to me. In a bit of a surprise, my lovely nail tech Katie emailed me a picture a few days ago of five of the six new colors, a full three weeks before the scheduled launch date. I'm wondering if the announcement that OPI is coming out with a full palette of UV gel colors has motivated CND to launch the new Shellac colors early. In any event, I was pretty sure that the new teal color, Hotski to Tchotchke was going to be on my nails as soon as it came out. I have to say, I wavered for a moment when Katie showed me the purple. It's vibrant, it's iridescent and it definitely has pizzazz. Ultimately, though, my love of all things blue and aqua won out and this is what my nails looked like immediately...