Acetone and Old Lacquer

Paris Memories #263 & Pastel Manicure M22

2012-01-11T19:45:00.003+02:00

Paris Memories - #263, 2 coats

Ahh, my memories of Paris... This jelly-like creme is as beautiful as the city of love itself. The photos reveal that a third coat of polish might have been necessary, but it wasn't nearly as apparent IRL. Unfortunately I'm unable to tell where to find more of Paris Memories' pretty polishes internationally, as I found this one in the Finnish abscure lacquer wonderland Seppälä (who sell clothing, cheap-end makeup and accessories) for a paltry sum of 2,95€.

Paris Memories - #263 & Pastel Manicure - M22, 2 + 1 coats

I chose Pastel Manicure M22, a funky-smelling Chinese eBay curiosity as the layering polish. It's an irridescent glitter lacquer with different sized flakes that flash blue and green - it's very much like Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor, but with a truly sheer base and larger glitter particles.

We Care Icon Magic Sapphire & glitter gradation

2012-01-07T23:30:00.000+02:00

We Care Icon - Blue Sapphire & glitter gradation

Oh, look - it's another glitter gradation... again. The reason I like these is that it's an easy way to spice up any existing mani, and the lesser amount of glitter used (vs. a full glitter mani) means that one can remove a gradation like this with relatively little hassle.

Blue Sapphire by We Care Icon has this incredibly glowy shimmer in it which would take it to the top of my dark blue polishes list, but the packaging is just dismal. The WCI polishes come in these teeny-tiny, square-shaped 5 ml bottles with the shortest wand you'll EVER see in a nail polish brush. Now, if the bottle is just sitting on the table and you dip the brush into it, you can't get any of the product out, but you'll have to pick the bottle up and actually POUR the nail polish out and onto the brush. Not cool, WCI, not cool.

OMG y'all girly girls.......!!!

2012-01-05T23:11:00.004+02:00

Yesterday, I got a great tip from Minttu AKA Sonne from Sonnela about a nail polish shirt to die for...!! Now, paillettes are usually not my thing, but the photo she posted [edit: um, if the link forwards you to some random post of mine, just click here and scroll ALL the way down... I don't know what happened here... darn Blogger] made me hop onto the bus today and head for my nearest Gina Tricot store here in Tampere. Sure enough, this whole rack was filled with these gorgeous magenta coloured nail polish T-shirts with a generous 75% sale tag on them, so I grabbed one of my size and headed for the cashiers desk. I'm still all like... "holy crap - did I just pay only 5€ for this shirt?!" :D

BTW, I SOOO want to buy this for myself - Pantheon Black. My old PC is 4½ years old and the Chrimbo money I got is burning a hole in my pocket...!

Layered purples & glitter gradation

2012-01-04T19:09:00.002+02:00

Layered purples & glitter gradation

Oh dear... this mani has so much going on in it I don't know where to start. Originally, I had wanted to do a simple, clean nude mani with absolutely no bells or whistles, but the polish I was using was so sheer I would've had to do 5 or 6 coats to get an even semi-opaque finish. So I said to hell with it, I'm going to have to redo this all in any case, and just started slapping on any sheer polish that was on my desk. In addition to the nude polish, this has at least the following: Flormar Supershine Miracle Colors U28, Maybelline Purple Water, Pure Ice Busted, China Glaze Nova, and an unnamed Yes Love purple tinted hologram glitter. Phew! And you know what - I actually really, really like the end result!

Maybelline MNY 661 & Color It Beyond Blue

2012-01-03T20:00:00.000+02:00

Maybelline MNY 661, 2 coats

The MNY by Maybelline stands appeared in Finnish stores about 6 months ago, and naturally I bought a boatload of their polishes which were/are only 3,50€ apiece (about $4.50 - gosh, I bet most muggles over the pond would refuse to pay even that much for a polish!). 661 was the first of them which I wore, and apart from the stubby brush I'd grade this colour as an 8 (or a B to ya Yankees). Nothing special, and I bet you can find a dozen dupes for it in any store. I just was to thrilled to have this huge brand new display of polishes in front of me, and went shopping happy.

Maybelline MNY 661 & Color It - Beyond Blue, 2 + 2 coats

I bought a bunch of interesting Color It polishes for layering purposes from an Amurrican seller on eBay, and chose Beyond Blue to layer over 661. This one has iridescent mylar hexagons in a clear base, and it adds that extra oomph to the Maybelline which it was clearly missing. Have you ever heard of the Color It brand or have any information on their polishes?

Del Sol Girls Night Out & fimo butterflies

2012-01-02T20:23:00.003+02:00

Del Sol - Girls Night Out, 2 coats

Ooh, it's my first ever colour-changes-in-the-sun polish! Girls Night Out only needed two coats to be opaque and applied like a dream, but I'm still a bit iffy about both colours... a bit too granny-ish for me, perhaps?... Bah, it's still super fun watching the polish change colour!

Del Sol - Girls Night Out, 2 coats & fimo butterflies

Even with two generous coats of SH Insta-Dri top coat Girls Night Out is still going strong and exhibitioning a radical change in shade/ in sun! W00t! (I'm sorry for the extremely lousy description, me so drunk. Sorry. I hate trying to come up with stuff to say about each polish I show you, I only do good if a polish is total crap, otherwise it's just hum-hum oh-what-a-nice-lacquer derp-a-herp. --- I do wish Facebook had an Alcolock application, I sure do need one. *grin*)

I love him more than I can ever express ♥ Mah fur baby!

Look what the ~~cat~~ dog dragged in! ;D

Etude House LUCIDarling Glittering Pink Jewel & China Glaze Cracked Concrete

2011-12-31T22:30:00.000+02:00

Etude House LUCIDarling - Glittering Pink Jewel, 2 coats

I think I own 20 dupes to Glittering Pink Jewel, but hey - glass flecks in creme base, one of my favourite finishes! And it has a pretty name, and it's so... PINK! 8) As with all of my LUCIDarling polishes, I had to thin this one quite a lot because the first coat applied like cold porridge.

Etude House LUCIDarling - Glittering Pink Jewel & China Glaze - Cracked Concrete, 2 + 1 coats

The China Glaze crackles aren't among the best (uhh, crack-wise?.. also, the brush is way too skinny and soft for applying such thick polishes), so I was half-expecting a nail fail when I chose to put Cracked Concrete over the pink Etude House. But hey, this one really did work, unlike most of the Crackle Glazes. I really like those thin strands on my pinky and ring fingers!

Wild and Crazy Sagittarius & OPI DS Perfection

2011-12-30T21:45:00.004+02:00

Wild & Crazy - Sagittarius, 1 coat

I find myself currently craving for these vampy red/wine coloured polishes, but I own very few of them. I grabbed Sagittarius since it was only 2,95€ and I've found Wild & Crazy polishes pretty darn decent quality-wise. Even though the brush handle of this particular brand is very bulky which makes application somewhat difficult, I'd like to praise Sagittarius' excellent pigmenting - this is just one coat! There were a couple of almost unnoticeable spots close to my cuticles which *may* have warranted a second coat, had I decided to wear it own its own, but since I had already decided on layering OPI DS Perfection over it...

Wild & Crazy - Sagittarius & OPI - DS Perfection, 1 + 2 coats

I was afraid that DS Perfection and MAC Bad Fairy would be dupes, but (at least to me) they are different enough. Yes, the differences are subtle, but still they're there... oh and I also just HAD to have Pinky Brown by Models Own - what can I say, I'm a duochrome hoor. :3

Revlon Ocean Breeze

2011-12-30T16:21:00.001+02:00

Revlon - Ocean Breeze, 3 coats

So this is Ocean Breeze, another scented polish from Revlon. Even though I tried applying the polish carefully, letting each thin coat dry for ~15 minutes, I still got a little bit of bubbling. :L But I absolutely LOVE the scent of this as it reminds me of Davidoff's Blue Water... or more specifically, this cheap Blue Water copycat EdT which I had more than a decade ago. Actually, with a bit of luck you can find genuine Blue Water scented polish on eBay! :D Supposedly they were a strictly limited promo-only release... I'd love to get my paws on one of those bottles!

Revlon Orange Pop

2011-12-29T11:39:00.004+02:00

Revlon - Orange Pop, 2 coats

Hello ladies, and sorry for not having posted any NOTDs in a while... but I'll try to squeeze a couple of more posts in before the year ends. :) Here's a mani from last summer and it's Revlon Orange Pop from the Scents of Summer collection. I absolutely love these scented polishes even though they usually bubble on me if I don't let each coat dry fully. Apart from the sickly sweet (but yet nice!) fake orange scent, Orange Pop was nothing special in my opinion - I don't think I even tried layering anything over it. It's more red than orange, but I think the Nailphile pointed out that the colour reminds her of the U.S. soft drink called Sunkist, which, I guess, is this colour?... Anyone?... Anyways, I still think that when my nails are this long, wearing warm colours that really pop draw too much (negative?) attention to my talons.

Regarding Cosmetics Central / Nail Etc.

2011-11-30T00:17:00.011+02:00

In case you haven't already read about it, here's a quick post to bring up the ongoing debacle that originated on MUA concerning the seller known as Cosmetics Central on Amazon.com AKA Nail Etc. What started as a great Black Friday sale on a bunch of Essies ended on a sour note, as apparently Cosmetics Central failed to ship ANY of the Essie "Colour Cubes" their customers purchased, claiming they "mispriced" them, or, more recectly, that they are "out of stock" yet they still continue to sell the Essies in question!

Makeup Alley thread #1 - first mention of the supposed "great deal"
Makeup Alley thread #2 - the plot thickens
Makeup Alley thread #3 - the s**t hits the fan
Makeup Alley thread #4 - the picture's getting clearer
Makeup Alley thread #5 - even Amazon.com notices all the complaints from a large number of people, offers reimbursements

Edit:
Makeup Alley thread #6 - ...seriously, I could stay up all night and post links to new threads, people...
Makeup Alley thread #7 - ...these just keep popping up...

Edit #2:
Makeup Alley thread #8 and #9 - when everything else fails, the seller resorts to bribery and/or laying a guilt trip on their customers

Edit #3:
Makeup Alley thread #10 - including Nail Etc's response
Makeup Alley thread #11 - "RAGE. SO MUCH RAGE."
Makeup Alley thread #12 - "U buyers R meanz 2 us!"

Cosmetics Central / Nail Etc. = False promises, undelivered products, bad business practice. Don't do business with them via Amazon or their own site, period. Keep spreading the word!

Hi guys... want to see something I made?

2011-11-25T21:31:00.003+02:00

Click on the picture to enter my gallery!

Ah yes, sorry about the long break between posting something, but... I finally managed to finish my watercolour paintings & other drawings subpage - please feel free to visit and possibly leave a comment! I read and appreciate every comment even though I rarely reply to them (another theme which I wish to shine a light on... someday). Please click the picture above or follow this link to visit my little gallery! :) I also added a permalink to the side menu - you can click on the framed picture of Björk to the left of you if you want to revisit the gallery.

OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue! & Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe

2011-11-02T19:38:00.000+02:00

OPI - Yoga-ta Get This Blue!, 2 coats

I got this particular OPI from a stock elimination sale for peanuts (3,5€ vs. 15€), but I ended up being quite disappointed in Yoga-ta Get This Blue as it's not nearly as duochrome on the nail as it appears to be in the bottle. Indoors, it's near black and even in direct sun the shinmer is somewhat lacklustre. At least the formula was your standard OPI quality, but I doubt I'll ever reach for this polish when I want to wear a dark blue.

OPI - Yoga-ta Get This Blue! & Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe, 2 + 1 coats

I had already made my own Across the Universe/Lady Sings the Blues franken but I desperately wanted to lay my hands on the real thing. Luckily I found ATU and Happy Birthday on eBay for a reasonable sum (around $15 each plus shipping), and this was my first layering experiment with Across the Universe. I didn't use the foil method so removal was a major bish, but look how pretty she is... :)

Missha Crystal Nail Polish HGR01 & Zoya Charla

2011-11-01T00:38:00.000+02:00

Missha Crystal Nail Polish - HGR01, 2 coats

Oh HGR01, you so pretty! Just look how many different faces she has! Formula-wise HGR01 is nice for a metallic polish, but the wand is way too big in relation to the bottle's neck and you'll end up getting polish all over it. So remember to wipe the neck clean with some acetone after use if you don't want this beauty to evaporate before its time. The strong rose scent makes me almost queasy, but the polish is so lovely that I guess I just must grin and bear it... By now HGR01 has become a cult polish and you can easily find it on eBay if you don't yet own it.

Missha Crystal Nail Polish - HGR01 & Zoya - Charla, 2 + 2 coats

Everyone says that Charla stains like a mother, thus I've never worn it by itself. But just look how these two polishes compliment each other so well! To avoid streaks I used two coats of Charla over HGR01 and it dampened the duochrome maybe a bit too much, next time I'll stick with just one coat of Charla and make sure to apply it with extra care.

Collection 2000 Maxiflex Purple Mist & Color Club Too Violet

2011-10-30T12:49:00.000+02:00

Collection 2000 Maxiflex - Purple Mist, 1 coat (left hand) & 2 coats (right hand)

Beauty on a budget! I got Purple Mist for £1 on eBay and was very pleasantly pleased. The reddish purple base is packed full of blue shimmer and small golden & multicoloured flecks.

Collection 2000 Maxiflex - Purple Mist & Color Club - Too Violet, 1 + 2 coats

I was lemming for Too Violet for so long until I decided to purchase it. With purple and holographic glitter in purple jelly base, it's a bit too sheer to wear on its own so I layered it over Purple Mist. So much purple!

Bloody Halloween nails!

2011-10-29T01:44:00.000+03:00

Bloody nail art for Halloween!

My nails haven't been this long since November '09, but it's only because I still haven't found the time nor the energy to file them down to my preferred '2/3 of nail bed and 1/3 of free edge' length. But hey, they're the perfect length for some creepy Halloween themed nail art! The base colour is a nude creme franken of mine and for the dripping blood I used several different polishes including Maybelline Berry Water, an ancient L'Oréal Bordeaux Noir and China Glaze Stroll. I didn't use a special fine brush here, just the polishes' own brushes.

CQ Gem Green & abstract nail art

2011-10-27T22:34:00.001+03:00

CQ - Gem Green, 2 coats

Gem Green is a mint/sea foam green shimmer with a weak holographic effect. The formula was nice and the polish dried fairly quickly. In the bottle Gem Green appeared pretty sheer thus I initially thought that this one must require a ton of coats, but no, this is just two coats. o.O

CQ - Gem Green, 2 coats & abstract nail art

I'd seen people use those French manicure guide stickers in this fashion before and decided to try it myself. The gold polish is by Beauty UK and the pink one is Petites Fairy Pink (full mani done with it is here). I put a coat of Nubar Pink Crème under Pink Fairy, and I also used it for the dots. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm not a fan of '80s colour schemes, so this mani came off the same day. :p

China Glaze LOL & IsaDora Black Tag

2011-10-26T02:02:00.002+03:00

China Glaze - LOL, 2 coats

One of my all time favourites is LOL from the OMG collection! Here it is in direct/indirect sun and in shade. Now that it's dark and dreary outside, I very much wish I had worn more holos during the summer...

China Glaze - LOL & IsaDora - Black Tag, 2 + 1 coats

This black crackle from IsaDora looked great with LOL. I prefer the glossy version although this second coat of TC diminished the holographic effect quite a bit.

Revlon Sublime Strawberry & nail art stickers

2011-10-23T21:46:00.005+03:00

Revlon - Sublime Strawberry, 2 coats

I was debating with myself whether to get this polish for the longest time. I mean it looked nice enough on other people, but didn't I already have several dupes of this same shade already? It was the 'scented when dry' label that made me pull the trigger, and am I glad I did just that. As soon as I had unwrapped the polish and took my first good look at it IRL - love. Sublime Strawberry is the perfect blend of pink and coral, and ohmygosh it smells good! It's like holding a handful of those scented erasers from your childhood to your nose, I couldn't stop smelling my nails! :D So the scent is very fakey, but in a good sense. Revlons always tend to bubble on me but I had no problems with this particular polish.

Revlon - Sublime Strawberry, 2 coats & nail art stickers

Since I suck at stamping, I once again used nail art stickers. :p These really cutesy 3D cotton stickers stayed on for a whole week without any significant wear or discoloration.

Grey franken & nail art stickers

2011-10-23T03:12:00.000+03:00

Grey franken, 1 coat & nail art stickers

There's nothing special about this franken, it's just Wet 'n' Wild's black & white cremes mixed together. I just don't see the point in buying a separate grey creme polish when I can make one myself... The result isn't a completely uniform grey but you can see the tiny separate black and white pigment particles, which I think is pretty neat. And it's a one coater! I found these Lolita-esque stickers at - of all places - a flea market, but I think they were a little too small for my nails. :/

OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender & animal nail art

2011-10-21T23:04:00.001+03:00

OPI - Lucky Lucky Lavender, 2 coats

Lucky Lucky Lavender - a beautiful lilac (not lavender) creme with near-perfect formula. Again, I struggle to find anything to say about this polish that hasn't been said before - the OPI formula glides on effortlessly, dries fairly quickly and there is little to no bubbling. Just scroll down to see the cute little nail art I did. :D

OPI - Lucky Lucky Lavender, 2 coats & animal nail art

Klaus the Penguin, Gösta the Hippopotamus, Ruben the Pig and Raimo the Frog. And then there's Yrjö-Ahmed the Panda on my thumb. (I was IM'ing with a friend and asked him to provide me with a couple of really ugly names. Hence - Yrjö-Ahmed. Yrjö = George in Finnish, but it's also an euphenism for vomit. I came up with all the other names by myself.) I used ordinary polishes to paint these guys, but I should look into making an investment on acrylic paints.

Oh, and... notice anything different? (About the site, I mean.) :p :B I spent the last two weeks putting this baby together, and I must say that I'm very happy with the results... or, as Nubar puts it, the resluts. ... Okay, I might be a little drunk by now, but I think I deserve to have a drink or two after finally finishing the new layout. Woo, posting while drunk, that's a first for me!

Nubar Pink Crème, Snowcrystal #208 Lavender Pink & GOSH Rainbow (and a tour through a rose garden!)

2011-09-24T02:28:00.002+03:00

Nubar - Pink Crème & Snowcrystal - #208 Lavender Pink, 1 + 1 coats

Nubar - Pink Crème, Snowcrystal - #208 Lavender Pink & GOSH - Rainbow, 1 + 1 + 2 coats

After a few days of wearing plain pink on my tips, I was itching to change my mani, but didn't really have the time to do so. I recalled seeing pics of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure layered over baby pink so I grabbed my GOSH Rainbow, aka the HT dupe. Wowsa! My nails looked like pink opals! I've been hesitant to layer Rainbow over pretty much anything because I don't like the orange in it, but this combo looks so good that I encourge everyone to try it out!

Rosa Borbonica 'Louise Odier'

Pink Rosa Grootendorst

A picture post á la Painted Lady Fingers! These pictures were taken last July at the Hatanpää Arboretum botanical garden in Tampere. I know with certainty what the first two cultivars are called, but I didn't write down the names of the rest. :L

Zoya Savita & Pure Ice Busted

2011-09-23T01:40:00.001+03:00

Zoya - Savita, 2 coats

Purple matte polish.
Add a bit of magic, oh!
See the sparkles glow!

Zoya - Savita & Pure Ice - Busted, 2 + 1 coats

Hedy's okē.dokē Steal This Teal & nail art stickers

2011-09-20T21:02:00.000+03:00

Hedy's okē.dokē - Steal This Teal, 2 coats & nail art stickers

Great name, not so great of a polish. For me, Steal This Teal was a bit of a let down as it's way dustier than I had expected based on other people's swatches. Ok, so Steal This Teal desperately needed some sort of cheeriness added to it; cue a whole sheetful of butterfly and floral 3D nail art stickers. The designs needed two thick coats of TC to smoothen things out (hence the bubbles galore), but the stickers themselves were great as they didn't stick out anywhere on my super curved nails, and they came off with ease.

Phloxes or daisies, which ones do you prefer?

More mani-matching flowers from mum's garden. I'd love to have Steal This Teal look like this, but it isn't as blue or saturated IRL. See the first two pictures for more accurate representation of the colour.

Glass-flecked sunset gradation with flakies

2011-09-16T20:13:00.002+03:00

Glass-flecked sunset gradation with flakies

My mum has a plethora of different perennials growing in her garden, and in July I was visiting my parents at the perfect time to admire her beautiful daylilies. Originally I had wanted to do a yellow & orange gradient, but as I only store a limited selection of random polishes at their house, the gradient came out more on the pinkish side. The yellow base is one coat of Misa Under my Sunbrella, followed by Flormar U05 (middle) and U24 (tip) which were sponged on, and then topped with GOSH Rainbow. I absolutely loved this mani and wore it for days.

Mum's daylilies

Orly Polo Princess & nail art stickers + French pedi

2011-09-15T21:06:00.006+03:00

Orly - Polo Princess, 2 coats & nail art stickers

In August, my younger cousin got married and I got to attend my first wedding in over a decade! My outfit, accessories and mani/pedi were all very matchy-matchy: a linen dress with black & white oversized floral print, a light pink shrug, a black satin clutch and a silver toned necklace + earrings with pink plastic roses. You can see my sandals in the pic below (if you dare to take a peek at my footsies). I chose Polo Princess because it was matched the colour of my shrug perfectly, and of course I slapped on a ton of floral stickers. :p

Pedi warning, feet ahead!! :p

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French pedicure with rhinestones

I swear this pedi wore like iron - I had no chips at all for three weeks! I layered two different pinks over my base coat, then painted the tips, applied a coat of white jelly and finished with a thick coat of SH Insta-Dri. I waited until the next day before placing the rhinestones, topping them yet again with the Insta-Dri (I didn't lose a single one of them during the three weeks! Thank you Sally!).

H&M Going Bananas & nail art stickers

2011-09-14T16:50:00.000+03:00

H&M - Going Bananas, 2 coats (no topcoat)

"Hola! Ese bato loco! / I'm going bananas / And I feel like my poor little mind is being devoured by piranhas / For I'm going bananas."

*Ahem* Now then... Going Bananas has green shimmer and pink tiny flakes in a cool toned yellow creme base. I have a sneaking suspicion that Going Bananas might be a relative of Chanel Mimosa - her prettier sister, maybe? I've seen the Chanel in person several times, but I've never had the chance to swatch and compare it to this one. H&M's currrent choice of bottle design features a wide rectangular, non-detachable brush handle that isn't the most practical one out there and can make applying polish - depending on the formula - quite frustrating.

H&M - Going Bananas, 2 coats & nail art stickers

Make Up Store Britta

2011-09-13T19:35:00.000+03:00

Make Up Store - Britta, 2 coats

Since fall is here again (yuck), here are several pics of Britta from last June to remind you of summer. This is two coats over Nfu-Oh Aqua Base. Look how holo she is even indoors (last pic)! I'm glad that in the midst of the current Diamond Cosmetics / Nfu-Oh dud holo pigment situation there is still a surefire (albeit pricey) way for us holo hoors to get our fix. B)

GOSH Milky Way, OPI Passion & funky French w/ nail art stickers

2011-09-12T21:19:00.003+03:00

GOSH Milky Way & OPI Passion, 2 + 1 coats & funky French w/ nail art stickers

I didn't take a picture of Milky Way - a neutral light beige with a strong pink flash - on its own, but it was quite streaky after two coats so I put a single coat of OPI Passion - a nude jellyish creme - over it. What I got was a pretty subdued pink colour that looked lovely against my pale yellowish skin. :) I could still see where the free edge starts on all my nails and thus decided to do yet another untraditional French mani. I drew the smile lines with a black striper brush and filled them in with Wet 'n' Wild Black Crème, slapped on some floral stickers and added a little extra bling with a silver glitter striper.

GOSH Milky Way & OPI Passion, 2 + 1 coats & funky French w/ nail art stickers

I felt that the daisy stickers I used on my left hand were a tad too big, so on my right hand I switched to smaller rose decals. In retrospective, I think that I should have painted a tiny white leaf or two next to each rose.

Essence Cherry Juice & vampy half-moon mani

2011-09-11T22:48:00.001+03:00

Essence - Cherry Juice, 2 coats

A red polish on me, a sight most uncommon! Cherry Juice is part of Essence's Jelly Baby line which consists fully of - can you guess it? - yes, jellies. This one went on effortlessly and was almost opaque after two coats. I wore two different basecoats underneath Cherry Juice, but after removal I noticed that a little bit of orange staining had still occurred.

Essence - Cherry Juice & YSSY - Dark plum #35, 2 + 1 coats

I had planned to do a half-moon mani before I even put on Cherry Juice. I used hole reinforcers to get a nice crisp line. The YSSY may look like an ordinary black polish, but under strong sunlight you can see that it is a very dark plum with matching shimmer. The red glitter gradation was done with La Femme Jupiter, and I also added some red rhinestones where the two contrasting polishes meet.

Depend 245 & cupcake nail art

2011-09-11T19:01:00.001+03:00

Depend - 245, 2 coats

This light pastel mint with a hint of blue was a difficult colour to photograph, and I had to tweak the hue and saturation levels a lot afterwards. These two pictures offer a far more accurate representation of the polish than the ones below with the cupcakes. Once again, I have nothing negative to say about Depend's formula, brush or drying time.

Depend - 245, 2 coats & cupcake nail art

My first shot at painting cupcakes! For the bases on my left hand I used OPI You Don't Know Jacques (index and ring) and my own nude franken (thumb, middle and pinky), then using the alternating colour to paint the stripes. For the different frostings I used a turquoise and a pink from H&M, a lilac from Depend and a pastel yellow from Rimmel. The bottom picture shows the results before I added some shading to the cupcakes. I also threw in a photo of my right hand even though I'm not especially proud of the wonky stripes and bleeding colours. :p

Wild and Crazy Sheri & Barry M Instant Nail Effects Pink Fizz

2011-06-18T21:05:00.010+03:00

Wild and Crazy - Sheri, 2 coats

I know it might not look like much, but I absolutely adore this polish. Sheri is the perfect blend of pink and purple with super fine gold shimmer. It was pretty thick (not gloopy though) so I added a little bit of thinner to make it better suit my formula preferences, but without thinning it would be a one-coater. Wild and Crazy = Sinful Colors, thus Sheri has an identical twin somewhere in their line.

Wild and Crazy - Sheri & Barry M Instant Nail Effects - Pink Fizz, 2 + 1 coats

I luvz the crack, gotta have the crack... The Barry M Instant Nail Effects are very nice in all aspects - the formula is grand, the brush is stiff enough and they crackle in an even fashion on the nail. Me gusta!

Lumene With the Flow

2011-06-17T00:32:00.002+03:00

Lumene - With the Flow, 2 coats

I don't know why, but these muted colours with contrasting shimmer make my heart skip a beat. ♥ I love Essie Demure Vixen and am always on the lookout for Estee Lauder Surreal Violet. Go With the Flow is a purple toned taupe with pink shimmer (and odd dark flecks, see above). I think this is a seasonal colour and not part of the Gloss + Care core line, perhaps it's time for another backup purchase.

L'Oréal 842 Aurore & second attempt at water marbling

2011-06-16T02:40:00.002+03:00

L'Oréal - 842 Aurore, 4 coats

Another old sucky L'Oréal LaquiResist polish, I haaaaaate the formula! I had to do four coats to hide VNL, and of course it wouldn't dry and I woke up with sheet marks. Mind you that there was at least six hours between me finishing the mani and going to bed. The colour itself is cute, a pastel baby blue, but the finish is somewhat frosty and the fact that it won't dry... yuck.

L'Oréal - 842 Aurore & water marbling, 4 coats

(Eek, I can't believe how hard it was to get a decent shot of my right hand...) Quick, you have to camouflage the ugly! I used Essie Mod Squad (pink), Misa Honeybunch (white glass fleck) and H&M Hello Kitty brand turquoise. Even though I worked fast, I had trouble with the layer of polish hardening before I could drag a toothpick across it to make the pretty swirls. The water I used was regular, room temperature soft tap water that I had left to sit overnight... I may need to experiment with store-bought filtered water.

Petites Daze & LaRosa Maroon Red

2011-06-15T00:04:00.001+03:00

Petites - Daze, 3 coats

Dazed, yes, but definitely not confused - unless this out-of-this-world green foil causes you to drool all over the keyboard and its stunning beauty gives you heart palpitations. :P~ This is perfection, my quest for the ultimate blend of kelly/lime green has come to an end. Since the Petites are only .25 fl.oz. each I bought two bottles of Daze so I won't have to regulate its use.

Petites - Daze & LaRosa - Maroon Red, 3 + 1 coats

...And of course I had to try crackle over Daze. Maroon Red has two purple pigments in it which you can clearly see in the photo above. This is what the Joker would wear as his mani, lol.

China Glaze Lighthouse & first attempt at water marbling

2011-06-14T15:56:00.002+03:00

China Glaze - Lighthouse, 2 coats over 1 coat of Rimmel - Sunshine

This is Lighthouse, a cheerful yellow glass flecked polish, and my favourite from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection. It's a relative of Misa Under My Sunbrella but whereas the Misa is like a tall glass of chilled fruit punch, Lighthouse is sunshine in a bottle. B)

China Glaze - Lighthouse & water marbling

This was my first foray into the world of water marbling and albeit messy, it was also tons of fun. I used Essie Mod Squad (pink creme), Misa Honeybunch (white glass fleck), a white jelly and a clear polish. Most people use Scotch tape to ease cleanup, but I grabbed a tin of unused petroleum jelly lip balm (didn't like the scent) and an artist's brush and carefully masked the cuticle area and the surrounding skin with the jelly. This took more time than covering the skin with tape, but oh how easy it was to simply wipe away the excess polish afterwards! Of course you'll have to wait for the water marble to dry but that doesn't take long.

H&M Peppermint Fusion, Milani Cyberspace & IsaDora Spraycan Blue

2011-06-12T19:01:00.002+03:00

H&M - Peppermint Fusion, 2 coats

I've been lemming for Barielle Slate of Affairs for ages, and now H&M has released a colour that is very close to it! A dusty periwinkle with turquoise shimmer, Peppermint Fusion is slightly more vivid than SoA but it's a near dupe and close enough to the Barielle to kill my lemming.

H&M - Peppermint Fusion & Milani Cyberspace, 2 + 1 coats

Did a coat of Milani Cyberspace, a blue scattered holo...

H&M - Peppermint Fusion, Milani Cyberspace & IsaDora - Spraycan Blue, 2 + 1 coats

...and then applied IsaDora Spraycan Blue crackle over the whole thing. This dark blue crackle is not completely opaque, letting the underlaying polish to shine through, and has shimmer in it. IsaDora's brush is perfect for applying crackles with one stroke and their formula is among the best.

Lilac OPI knockoff & nail art stickers

2011-06-11T12:06:00.000+03:00

Lilac OPI knockoff & nail art stickers, 2 coats

Here's a fake, stinky "OPI" that I found on eBay about a year ago. The bottle has a white cap and the sticker on the bottom says the colour is #681 Sheer Nude. :D It has the ProWide brush which I love, but the formula was terribly thick and I ended up thinning this one a lot. I pretty much had to pat the polish on and then wait 30 minutes between coats to avoid bubbling. Nevertheless, it's quite a cute colour and reminds me of Nubar Vaso.

L.A. Girl Color Addict Extreme

2011-06-10T21:35:00.001+03:00

L.A. Girl Color Addict - Extreme, 2 coats

Woo, I finally filed my nails down! :p Anyhoo, I want to show you this pretty lil' lacquer I got from the most recent Cherry Culture sale. Extreme is a slightly dusty, delicate periwinkle blue with beautiful green and gold shimmer. This polish really reminds me of my grandma's vintage coffee set with tiny forget-me-nots and gilded edging. :3

Zoya Adina

2011-06-09T18:16:00.003+03:00

Zoya - Adina, 2 coats

Adina from Zoya's Reverie collection is a lilac with duochrome shimmer. I love how it looks in indirect light when the lilac base and green shimmer coexist in sweet harmony. :p I'm not a huge fan of Zoya's formula (which is often watery and runny) but this applied nicely and I'm glad to have Adina in my stash.

More nail polish rings!

2011-06-05T01:57:00.000+03:00

Nfu-Oh 51 & black crackle / Nfu-Oh 52 & black crackle

Various blue glitters & LaRosa Sea Weed / Silver glitter & black crackle

Various purple glitters & Scherer Chameleon / Orly It's Not Rocket Science

Lace imprint on blue / Nfu-Oh 54, China Glaze Tantalize Me & black crackle

CND effects on dark purple / Silver glitter & pink 'n' black crackle

These are the same type of cabochons that I used in my previous post. Some of them I love, some just like and a few I consider failed experiments. I had some unwanted side effects with the first epoxy glue I tried (it contained acetone, major FAIL) so I'm waiting for some E6000 to arrive in the mail. I also placed an order for 50 more cabochons and some more "modern style" ring bases (don't like the ones I have now so much), so I might someday have a small nail polish ring shoppe section on my blog.

See the beauties sparkle: Cabochons in direct sunlight

My hair feels sticky: Cabochons indoors w/ flash

Vintage purple to green duochrome comparison

2011-06-02T00:40:00.004+03:00

Sally Hansen Maximum Growth - Chameleon, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Emerald Amethyst, Revlon - Kiwizing & Hard Candy - Groove, all 2 coats

So what's the difference between these four I hear you ask... there isn't one. They're the same frigging polish! Now, several days after doing this comparison, I couldn't tell them apart if I hadn't written down the order I applied them in. ...Well okay, Chameleon is a *tad* more blue than the rest, but basically if you own one there's no need to hunt down any of the others.

Skinfood Pedicure Sparkle Cool Mint & purple crackle comparison

2011-05-31T23:51:00.042+03:00

Skinfood Pedicure Sparkle - Cool Mint, 2 coats

I accidentally bought a duplicate bottle of Cool Mint, I'm either including it in an upcoming giveaway (hint hint) or franken with it. And no, I didn't trim my nails yet, this is an older mani from about a month ago. I have a backlog of about 30+ manis that I need to sort through, edit and publish. x.O

Skinfood Pedicure Sparkle - Cool Mint & LaRosa Hot Purple (i, r) / China Crackle - Fault Line (m, p), 2 + 1 coats

A small purple crackle comparison: Hot Purple vs. Fault Line. I LOVE the LaRosa crackles, the brush is nice and wide so you only need to dip once, and the formula is dreamy. Fault Line is the most challenging to use of the China Glaze crackles, a fact that isn't helped a bit by the skinny, floppy CG brush. It doesn't look too bad here but this is the best Fault Line mani I've ever done, usually all I get is a strand-like effect with very little actual crackling of the polish.

Orly Galaxy Girl & Sally Hansen Byte

2011-05-30T01:19:00.002+03:00

Orly - Galaxy Girl, 2 coats

Galaxy Girl has teal to pink duochrome flecks of foil in a murky brown/purple base. I almost gave this the "ugly" tag, it definitely isn't my favourite polish - I don't dig the murkiness. I desperately need to file down my nails, but it's such a chore ("wah wah"). I really don't like wearing my nails this long anymore, and I'm very self-aware and feel kind of ashamed if other people (mainly kids) notice them.

Orly - Galaxy Girl & Sally Hansen - Byte, 2 + 1 coats

I like this one way more with a coat of Byte over Galaxy Girl, which gives it a purple boost. Time to go dig up my small arsenal of nail files... *sigh*

OPI Windy City Pretty & funky French with nail art stickers

2011-05-24T23:38:00.002+03:00

OPI - Windy City Pretty, 2 coats

Here is Windy City Pretty from OPI's 2005 Chicago collection. In the bottle it's a pinkish dusty mauve with beautiful golden shimmer, but on the nail it dries darker and the shimmer pretty much disappears. As with all the older OPIs the formula was fantastic. However, I wanted to spice up this one since I thought it looked too grannyish on me.

OPI - Windy City Pretty & funky french with nail art stickers, 2 coats with sponged tips

I sponged the tips with Nubar Pink Crème and dug up these super pretty nail decals from my vast nail art stash. I dabbed a little bit of fine silver glitter onto the centers of the flowers, and voilà! From drab to fab in minutes!

Nail polish rings!

2011-05-15T03:33:00.000+03:00

DS - Original & black crackle / Nfu-Oh - 50 & Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Burgundy Orchid

Various green glitters & LaRosa - Maroon Red crackle / Dried flowers & China Glaze - White Cap

Holo-blue-purple glitter franken / Blue-purple glitter franken & black crackle

Sinful Colors - Deep Blue Ocean & Sally Hansen - Purple Pizzazz / MAC - Bad Fairy & black crackle

Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday & various glitters / Iridescent stars on silver

These are my first attempts at making nail polish jewelry - ten ⌀25mm glass cabochons with matching silver toned ring blanks... uh, except that I do not have any epoxy at my disposal right now so I haven't glued the cabochons to the blanks. :p I absolutely loved making these, and I already ordered ten more cabochons/ring blanks! I want to make a hundred of these! The only one I wasn't that pleased with was the iridescent stars one which I thought was too... cheap and tacky, perhaps? Or one-dimensional compared to the others, dunno. It looks inherently better in the photo above than it did IRL, sooo I gave the cabochon a nice little acetone bath and tried another combo of colours - hot pink holo and iridescent glitter (no pics yet, sorry)! 8)

All together now: Cabochons in direct sunlight

One, two three four, can I have a little more: Cabochons indoors, w/ flash

Meteorites haul & quick swatches pt. 2

2011-05-13T22:56:00.002+03:00

Meteorites - Venus, Crater, Pulsar & Cosmic Comet

Venus - blue, silver & holo

Crater - green & blue

Pulsar - green, purple & violet

Cosmic Comet - red, blue, green, purple, gold & silver

Meteorites haul & quick swatches pt. 1

2011-04-23T01:24:00.002+03:00

Meteorites - Young Star, Vulcan Probe, Halley's Comet & Moonshot

Young Star - red & gold

Vulcan Probe - red, purple & silver

Halley's Comet - green, purple & gold

Moonshot - red, blue & silver

Meteorites - Fireball, Life on Mars, Supernova & U.F.O.

Fireball - red, silver & holo

Life on Mars - red & green

Supernova - green, silver & holo

U.F.O. - red, green, blue & silver

I don't know how old these are, but I do know that Meteorites polishes were manufactured by Blue Cross. I found these on eBay where they have been recently available from several British sellers. I have at least four more Meteorites polishes heading my way and I'll post swatches of them when they reach me.

Make Up Store haul & quick swatches

2011-03-23T22:00:00.005+02:00

Make Up Store - Britta, Madeleine, Anki & Lea

Recently, my dad gave me an unwanted (to him!) 50€ gift card to a mid/high end department store chain, and my first thought was "Make Up Store haul!!" 8) At 14.50€ a pop for 8ml of polish, those pretty little bishes are far too dear for my wallet. So today I hauled my hiney to my local Sokos and headed towards the MUS stand. Hello holos! Now, since I already have GOSH Holographic and Nfu-Oh 65 I skipped Greta and Siw and only grabbed Britta and Madeleine. I knew I *had* to buy Anki for I've held her tester in my paws for countless times. I figured I'd also get Lea because basically I'd "only" pay 8€ for her.

Make Up Store - Anki, Anki over black, Lea, Britta & Madeleine

Lineup of my little bishes, swatched on a nail wheel. Anki, a lilac-y pink with blue glass flecks, seems a little shy until you put her over a dark colour. Oh and she's a duochrome, too. Lea belongs to the same sisterhood as Claire's Magic, Zoya Yasmeen and Rimmel Art of Noise. Britta is a pretty pink with a strong holo effect, and then finally there's Madeleine who's a beige holo.

China Glaze IDK & 2NITE holo stars on night sky nail art

2011-03-22T23:20:00.004+02:00

China Glaze - IDK & 2NITE, 1 coat each over H&M - You Rock My World

After my fruit salad nails I wanted to do another flashy mani. I started with a coat of H&M You Rock My World which is a silver holo polish, and then painted vertical stripes of IDK and 2NITE over it in a random order.

China Glaze - IDK & 2NITE holo stars on night sky nail art

I placed a star shaped sticker on each nail and painted over with black polish. After the black had dried I went over it with Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope and let both coats dry again. Then I removed the stickers and topped the whole thing with SH Insta-Dri top coat. There was some minimal bleeding of black over the holo stars, and you can see where I didn't press down the stickers hard enough against my nail as all the lines aren't nice and crisp. In retrospect I wish I had used a smaller sticker on my index as I did on my pinky.. they also had a stronger sticky side to them so the small stars' lines are neater.

"GRR, BRUNO SMASH! I VILL KRUSH YOU!!" :p

Milani Hi-Tech & pink funky French with fimo fruit slices

2011-03-20T22:25:00.000+02:00

Milani Hi-Tech, 2 coats

WOW x 10,000 - Hi-Tech is a scattered (or more like shredded?) bright lime green holo that everyone should own! It's noticeably holo even in indoors, but in direct sunlight it almost explodes! I cannot put into words just how muxh I love this. ♥♥♥

Milani - Hi-Tech & pink funky French with fimo fruit slices

Fruit salad nails! The vibrant green begged to be accompanied by other happy colours, so I painted the tips pink and one by one placed pink opalescent hexagons on them. Some fimo fruit slices and a couple of silver rhinestones later I was left with cheery spring nails! The tips are a bit chunky (I. HATE. CHUNKY!) but I'll survive. :p Tomorrow, I'll go to the police station to apply for a new passport and will get my fingerprints taken, I'm imagining that I'll be getting some funny looks. :D

Claire's Mood Calm/Wild

2011-03-19T23:52:00.001+02:00

Claire's Mood - Calm/Wild, 2 coats

Claire's Mood polishes are great fun and they look really cool on longer nails. I own four or five of them and would possibly like to collect them all. The downside to colour changing polishes is that they will eventually stop reacting to your body temperature and stay the way they look in the bottle. Here you can see the colour change quite well - from what it looks on me most of the time, to hot and then the transition to cold. These mood lacquers dry matte so they need top coat to look nice and shiny.

Skinfood Milk Creamy Prism Nail #1 Pink Prism

2011-03-17T20:44:00.000+02:00

Skinfood Milk Creamy Prism Nail - #1 Pink Prism, 2 coats

Talk about false advertising - this looks incredible in the bottle, but on the nail the holo effect is very dull. :L This is two coats of this light pink scattered holo over Nfu-Oh Aqua Base. Oh, and the baby bottle shaped container freaks me out.

BiChun #8322

2011-03-14T23:40:00.001+02:00

BiChun - #8322, 2 coats

Now I THINK that this is called #8322 which is what was printed under the brand name BiChun. It's an absolutely gorgeous purple jelly jam-packed with silver glass flecks. When I was visiting the 'rents I asked my mum (who never ever wears polish herself) to pick a polish for me to wear from an assortment that included so-called safe and neutral choices, and she picked this! :o This polish was an eBay find, I think it cost me a few euros (shipping was free).

Orly Catch The Bouquet & nail art stickers = FAILSAUCE

2011-03-14T17:44:00.002+02:00

Orly - Catch The Bouquet & nail art stickers, 3 coats

Catch The Bouquet... three coats, about 20 mins of drying time between them + SH Insta-Dri, yet it never dried. The colour is super cute though, perhaps I'll have better luck next time with another base coat? As for the stickers - they're cr4p. $hite. P00. I don't know what level of Hell did they crawl out of, but it's where they should have stayed. >:( The edges started curling up as soon as I had applied a coat of clear polish over the stickers. I tried pushing them down gently but no dice, I think that even nail glue wouldn't have helped here.

Wet 'n' Wild 445C Limitless & China Glaze Crushed Candy

2011-03-13T20:51:00.000+02:00

Wet 'n' Wild - 445C Limitless, 2 coats

Limitless is a grey creme with tons of turquoise shimmer in it that tints the polish a very subtle blue. The formula was on the runny side (then again, this polish must be about 15 years old) but covered nicely in two coats. This is very much like Essie Demure Vixen but in grey & blue, très chic. I found this on eBay where it's still available if you do a search for "wet wild 445c" or "wet wild limitless".

Wet 'n' Wild - 445C Limitless & China Glaze - Crushed Candy, 2 + 1 coats

Of course I had to try Crushed Candy over this, I swear she never disappoints me. ♥

Collection 2000 Hot Looks Minx

2011-03-12T19:38:00.001+02:00

Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Minx, 2 coats

Oh lawdy how I love this lacquer! Blue, pink and gold glass flecks in reddish purple base, oh my! I already one backup of this and I might go back for another. My only gripe with Minx is the horrible brush the Hot Looks polishes have - they're shaped like duck's feet, normal on the top but they flare out like crazy.

Black holo comparison!

2011-03-12T14:54:00.000+02:00

Color Club - Revvvolution, Eveline - 470, Golden Rose - 119 & China Glaze - Let's Do It In 3D, 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 coats

W00t, black holo polishes! ^o^ These were all swatched over Nfu-Oh Aqua Base which eliminates any cuticle dragging. The China Glaze packs the most punch in the holo department, then Eveline followed closely by Golden Rose, and finally dragging far behind comes poor Color Club. I do not know if my Revvvolution is a dud version as it has some holo to it but it's quite subtle. China Glaze Kaleidoscopes still pop up on eBay quite often and Revvvolution ought to be pretty easy to find if you don't care if you're getting the original or a dud version. As for the more unknown brands, Eveline originates from Poland and Golden Rose hails from Turkey (?).

Etude House WH004

2011-03-12T02:06:00.000+02:00

Etude House - WH004, 2 coats

Another mildly disappointing lacquer, Etude House WH004. I was so excited to finally pull this out of my untrieds and slap it on, hoping to soon see a duochrome heaven on my nails. Yes it's black but I wasn't expecting it to be so... black. :-L It looks pretty cute here but I had to look hard to see the teal-to-blue-to-pink effect, even in bright daylight. I was visiting my parents when I wore this and hadn't brought any layering polishes with me for my 1½ week visit, but I bet that a polish like, say, Pure Ice Busted layered over would do wonders to this.

Snowcrystal #446 Electric Turquoise & China Glaze Crushed Candy

2011-03-11T21:55:00.000+02:00

Snowcrystal - #446 Electric Turquoise, 2 coats

Snowcrystal is a Swedish brand whose products are sold in Kicks stores here in Finland. I got this polish when it was on sale (around 5,80€ vs. 8€ regular) and I'm sort of glad I didn't pay full price for it. 1st - it's not turquoise but teal (not that it matters but hello false advertising :p), 2nd - it was a frost (but not a seriously bad case), and 3rd - it stained my nails (BOO!). It's not a yucky lacquer but I don't see myself wearing this a lot in the future.

Snowcrystal - #446 Electric Turquoise & China Glaze Crushed Candy, 2 + 1 coats

A little crack(le) makes everything better, right? These two go together great and I may need to invest in a backup bottle of Crushed Candy if they're still available on eBay for a reasonable price. ♥

Rimmel Lemon Drop & China Glaze Crushed Candy

2011-03-10T23:48:00.000+02:00

Rimmel - Lemon Drop, 2 coats

I've got good news for all of you who're trying to hunt down Maybelline Banana Puddin' - she has a dupe and her name is Lemon Drop. Plus, she's lemon scented! And streak-free in two coats! I was hugely surprised by how much I liked this colour on me, I'll be sure to wear this and other yellows in the summer. :)

Rimmel - Lemon Drop & China Glaze Crushed Candy, 2 + 1 coats

Crushed Candy is by far my favourite of the new China Glaze Crackle Glazes! Here it is layered over the Rimmel, without and with top coat. A pretty nice colour combination and not *too* 80's, I think.

H&M Spoiled Beauty & nail art stickers

2011-03-08T22:30:00.004+02:00

H&M - Spoiled Beauty & nail art stickers, 2 coats

I'm a bit disappointed in Spoiled Beauty - under store lighting it looked more coral than this...The formula was pretty thick but the polish self-leveled beautifully. I don't really like the huge rectangular handles of these newer H&M polishes as it makes application trickier than usual. The disgustingly adorable decals were bought from Seppälä (I got backups since I love these so much).

Orly Rio Nights & Pure Ice Heart Breaker

2011-03-07T22:44:00.001+02:00

Orly - Rio Nights, 3 coats

Rio Nights is a dark purple creme who wishes she were a jelly, but she's just faking it. You can see that she is super glossy, though. Err... I don't really know what else to tell about this polish since it's been so long since I wore it and - typically - I didn't write down any notes. :T

Orly - Rio Nights & Pure Ice - Heart Breaker, 3 + 1 coats

I wore these on my birthday this year because purple and green are my favourite colours. :] This is by far one of my very favourite layering combos - the green to blue duochrome effect on purple reminds me of those über awesome (and long discontinued) Liquid Euphoria polishes! You must try this yourself if you own Heart Breaker!

(10 old NOTDs down, 16 more to go...! x.O Urrgh.)

Blueberry Shake franken, Jesse's Girl Confetti & crackle swatches

2011-03-07T17:56:00.001+02:00

Franken - Blueberry Shake, 2 coats

This franken consists of Eveline 421 (a dupe for Essie Splash of Grenadine), some blue, a pinch of black and a whole lot of Depend's unnamed white glass fleck polish.

Franken - Blueberry Shake & Jesse's Girl - Confetti, 2 + 1 coats

Confetti, a sheer blurple duochrome glass fleck, is similar to the Sally Hansen HD polishes of last year.

Franken - Blueberry Shake, Jesse's Girl - Confetti & various crackles, 2 + 1 + 1 coats

The crackles used are, from index to pinkie:

I: IsaDora Black Tag

M: Depend Dark purple

R: Depend Blue shimmer

P: IsaDora Spraycan Blue

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Ruby Diamond

2011-03-06T23:02:00.002+02:00

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Ruby Diamond, 2 coats

Who doesn't love an old Nail Prisms polish? Sally the Ho needs to re-release these, stat (internationally, please). This is two coats over Nfu-Oh Aqua Base - I learnt that you only need to apply a super thin coat of Aqua Base or it'll take ages for it to dry, and next day you'll find your pretty holo mani decorated with large "blisters" caused by your base coat.

Revlon Cotton Candy & Depend Pink crackle

2011-03-06T21:32:00.000+02:00

Revlon - Cotton Candy, 3 coats

Cotton Candy was one of Revlon's 2010 Scents of Summer scented nail polishes, and I am totally smitten with this very pale baby pink with golden shimmer! To me it smells more like marshmallows than cotton candy, and the scent is in no way fakey or overpowering like some reviewers have claimed.

Revlon - Cotton Candy & Depend - Pink crackle, 3 + 1 coats

I topped Cotton Candy with a pink crackle from Depend. Of all the crackles I've tried so far (China Glaze, IsaDora, Depend and those unknown brand Chinese ones) I like Depend's the best - the formula is pretty much like that of a normal polish, they're not too thick or chalky, and they crackle beautifully. It's too bad they only come in 5ml bottles which cost more than normal Depend polishes (3,90€ vs. 3€).

BYS Phantom

2011-03-04T23:55:00.000+02:00

BYS - Phantom, 3 coats

Phantom was my first BYS polish, and I must say that I'm mostly unimpressed by it. I didn't like the stiff brush or the very flimsy handle which just screamed "I'm cheapo!" at me. Also, the formula was sort of gluey (or as I prefer to call it, very much like kiisseli). The combo of silver glitter and blue shimmer in a purple jelly base sounds delectable, but in addition to the iffy formula and the cheap packaging there's just one setback: the smell. It was the strangest I've ever come across - Phantom has a VERY strong mildew-like scent that overpowers any usual chemical fumes that the polish has. Now I know I'm a freak because I adore the smell of old musty cellars, and I found myself sniffing my fingers frequently while I was painting them... it really smells like mildew. :") Perhaps Revlon should launch a new line of scented polishes for people like me - in it, they could include gems such as the ever so popular Sunbaked Roadkill (duochrome orange/red/brown), an old time favourite Suave Sewage (chunky green glitter), and tailored especially for me - Mil-Dewdrops (teal & green glass flecks in sheer black base). Anyhoo, the scent was there even the following day which was when I decided to remove the mani.

China Glaze Gilded Treasures & Color Club Wild and Willing

2011-03-04T21:40:00.001+02:00

China Glaze - Gilded Treasures, 3 coats

I'm on a quest to find The Gold that perfectly suits my skintone. Gilded Treasures, a pale golden shimmer with silver microglitter, comes very close to being that lacquer. The tiny glitter is small enough to keep the polish from looking bumpy.

China Glaze - Gilded Treasures & Color Club - Wild and Willing, 3 + 2 coats

Wild and Willing is one of the most breathtaking duochrome polishes out there, but it's too sheer to wear on its own. These two make a pretty pair that looks best under indirect light.

Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz

2011-03-04T15:15:00.030+02:00

Sally Hansen - Purple Pizzazz, 3 coats

This is Purple Pizzazz, a purple jelly with blue and pink glass flecks, very similar to Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl. I think that they're discontinuing this particular colour so you better act quick if you wish to add it to your collection. I dig the Xtreme Wear brushes, but they're slightly too large for the "mouth" of the bottle and you end up getting polish all over the neck (the same thing happens with their Insta-Dri bottles but they're 10 times worse).

Petites Fairy Pink

2011-03-03T23:03:00.004+02:00

Petites - Fairy Pink, 3 coats

Oh Fairy Pink, I want to marry you! ♥ It's pink, it's holo AND it's duochrome all crammed into one seriously cute polish, and I love it thiiiiiiiiiiis much! Welcome into my Top 20, Fairy Pink. As a base coat I used my newly purchased Nfu-Oh Aqua Base. It truly does make applying holos much easier and eliminates that pesky dragging thing that happens with holos when using traditional base coats (although I've read that you can substitute Aqua Base with a matte top coat for a cheaper alternative).

L&B Metallic green

2011-03-03T11:44:00.001+02:00

L&B - Metallic green, 2 coats

I know very little of the L&B brand, I guess their polishes are sold in UK supermarkets?.. I bought this cute little set of four L&B lacquers (standard red, metallic charcoal, sparkling silver and this one) from an eBay seller, and since none of them had any names so I'll just call this metallic green. Nice brush & formula, no complaints there.

L&B - Metallic green mattified w/ Essie Matte About You, 3+1 coats

I've had Essie's Matte About You top coat for at least 6 months and I really haven't used it for anything else than goofy experiments, so I figured I'd do at least one proper mani with it. Lo and behold, I think I've killed another lemming of mine - OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow suede. While I do like the matte effect, I moisturize my hands so frequently that I'm soon left with a lacklustre satin finish which I don't really dig all that much.

Maybelline Berry Best & Zoya Roxy funky French

2011-03-03T00:43:00.009+02:00

Maybelline - Berry Best, 3 coats

I didn't think I'd like Berry Best as much as I did when I first held the bottle in my paws... Or it may be my memory that's playing tricks on me since these photos are from mid/late January, and I actually hated this one. :p Anyhoo, a slightly duochromey berry pinky red (imagine that!) & three thick coats for acceptable opacity.

Maybelline - Berry Best & Zoya - Roxy funky French, 3+1 coats

I *too* envy them super nice funky French manis that Chloe does with just a few pieces of Scotch tape (and a buttload of talent and magic, I'm sure) so I reached for my scissors, some tape and a bottle of Zoya Roxy. But it seems as if my nails are too curved for the DIY tape method to work for me, as the edges of my FF are pretty wonky. :< Oh well, I'll just have to stick with my old trusty store bought French stickers.

State of the (Br)union

2011-02-16T00:10:00.002+02:00

Hiski & Onni... just chillin'.

Hey guys... I know I haven't posted anything in about 3 weeks for which I'd like to apologize. I've had quite a lot of stress in my life lately and those pesky serious IRL things have kept me from allotting any time for blogging. But - I have been doing my nails as often as ever and as of now I have 15 NOTDs waiting to be put through my usual photo editing process. Lately, we've had sunny weather (w00t!) so I've been wearing lots of holographic polishes. B) I've also bought a ton of crackle lacquers including IsaDora and Depend crackles, plus I have all of them new China Glazes coming my way. So it's Holo Hullabaloo and Crack-O-Mania here at AaOL as soon as I get my ass in gear and start going through that massive folder of unsorted nail photos.

China Glaze Jitterbug & holo glitter gradation

2011-01-23T23:56:00.000+02:00

China Glaze - Jitterbug & holo glitter gradation, 2 coats

Party on my nails! Too bad we didn't get any sun so I only got to admire the pretty bling under supermarket lights (my camera is too large and clunky for any discreet photo sessions between the aisles, teehee). The gradation was done with a kitchen sponge (an unused one! :D) using Nubar Hologram Glitter, China Glaze Nova and Model's Own Silver Spangle - oh, and removal was a major PITA...

Beauties Factory nail art stamping swatches

2011-01-21T23:07:00.009+02:00

Beauties Factory nail art stamping swatches, left hand size reference

Beauties Factory nail art stamping swatches, right hand detail reference

I recently ordered a bunch of nail art stamping plates from Beauties Factory. The price of each plate is a very affordable $2, shipping is essentially free (unless you want tracking) and my items arrived - with a free gift - a week after I had placed my order. They also accept PayPal which is a huge plus in my book since I don't wish to submit my CC info to just any random site. So, I rate the buying experience a solid 10.

Buuut....

...The designs are TINY, about half of what Konad's images are. They're very detailed but the details get smudged when they're stamped (I'm crap at stamping, though; someone with more experience could get clean, crisp images). The designs in my pics are from the following plates:

HB26 - Hand & footprints (the hand's right side is smudged in my pic, as are the feet)
HB28 - Halloween (the plate's two witches are just blotches when stamped, too small detailing)
HB34 - Insects, birds and other critters
HB35 - Xmas ornaments
HB37 - Pawprints

The reviewed items were bought at my own expense.

Milani La Vie En Rose & DICI 063

2011-01-20T21:03:00.003+02:00

Milani - La Vie En Rose, 2 coats

Son, I am disappoint. La Vie En Rose is darker and more red on the nail than it is in the bottle - I was expecting a daintier and more blue leaning colour. The formula was runny (not thin, though) and the polish flooded the sides of my nails on several occasions.

Milani - La Vie En Rose & DICI - 063, 2 + 1 coats

I love this blingy pinky purple glitter on my toes, but on my nails it looks a bit too chunky. This needs to be patted on because the clear base is quite thick in consistency, and the larger hex bits have to be fished out of the bottle and placed on the nail one by one.

Maybelline Colorama Ruby Flare & Beams of Fire

2011-01-18T23:55:00.000+02:00

Maybelline Colorama - Ruby Flare, 2 coats

I filed my nails down and was feeling brave enough to sport a red lacquer. Ruby Flare is a delicious poison apple red and lands somewhere between a jelly and a creme. The formula was wonderful and the polish was easy to apply despite of the usual splayed out brush that Coloramas tend to have.

Maybelline Colorama - Ruby Flare & Beams Of Fire, 2 +1 coats

This was a gorgeous combination - look at the third picture! - and I think I may have just killed a lemming for Barielle Elle's Spell. I think that these Colorama flakies lie flatter on the nail than Nfu-Oh's and thus don't require an extra/abnormally thick coat of TC to get a smooth surface.

Color Club Pucci-licious, China Glaze Electric Lilac & IsaDora Black Tag

2011-01-15T23:58:00.037+02:00

Color Club - Pucci-licious, 2 coats

Um, just wow. The formula in this was WONDERFUL, probably the best I've come across so far. Color Club calls Pucci-licious a neon but most don't consider it as such. It dries slightly matte, though but it's not retina-searing like neons tend to be.

Color Club - Pucci-licious & China Glaze - Electric Lilac, 2 + 1 coats

Electric Lilac has been in my untrieds since last summer and I figured it'd go great with the similarly coloured Pucci-licious. It was a nice combo, sure, but not really earth-shatteringly gorgeous.

Color Club - Pucci-licious, China Glaze - Electric Lilac & IsaDora - Black Tag, 2 + 1 + 1 coats

... And of course I had to see what the black IsaDora crackle polish would look layered on top of these two. I guess it looks okay but this combination devours top coat like nobody's business. This is with three coats of TC and it still wasn't smooth.

Etude House Glittering Sherbet Blue & lace nail art

2011-01-13T23:44:00.035+02:00

Etude House - Glittering Sherbet Blue, 2 coats

I'm not sure if this polish is really called Glittering Sherbet Blue as it has no name printed on the label, but that's what the majority of eBay sellers are calling it. I have no complaints about the formula, the polish was easy to apply and it has one of those wide brushes that I love.

Etude House - Glittering Sherbet Blue & lace nail art, 2 coats

I followed this tutorial and used a well pigmented dark blue to create the effect. When the polish was dry enough not to smudge underneath, I added a coat of opalescent glitter similar to Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor, a coat of clear and finally top coat. I loved this effect and will be sure to use this technique again.

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy vs. Sinful Colors Subdued

2011-01-10T23:46:00.043+02:00

OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy (index, ring) & Sinful Colors - Subdued (middle, pinkie), 4 + 2 coats

Perhaps a slightly dull comparison of nudes, but hey. Coney Island Cotton Candy and Subdued look relatively similar in the bottle, but on the nail CICC is much more yellow and Subdued definitely appears to be very pink. The Sinful Color is a nice self-leveling creme but it's way too pink to be a perfect match for my skintone. I guess the OPI can be classified as a jelly and as such takes tons of coats to be even remotedly opaque - I did four coats and you can still see my VNL. I think there are two versions of this one floating around - mine is from the newer batch.

OPI Catherine the Grape & Lumene Magical Moment

2011-01-08T23:55:00.045+02:00

OPI - Catherine the Grape, 2 coats

Catherine the Grape is a muted red/brown purple with shimmer what I think is a sort of an orange colour. It's quite chic, methinks. Formula was okay but not quite on par with most of my other OPI's.

OPI - Catherine the Grape & Lumene - Magical Moment, 2 + 1 coats

Magical Moment might be too sheer to be worn on its own, but layered over another polish is when the real magic starts happening!

Avon Splendid Blue & Sinful Colors Deep Blue Ocean

2011-01-06T23:53:00.026+02:00

Avon - Splendid Blue, 2 coats

Yet another winner from Avon! Splendid Blue is a maelstrom of teal glass flecks in a blue base. Again, formula was spot on and the flat, wide brush is - well, splendid! I have a feeling that this one could be quite a stainer so be sure to use a good base coat.

Avon - Splendid Blue & Sinful Colors - Deep Blue Ocean, 2 + 1 coats

Adding a coat of Deep Blue Ocean over the Avon transforms it into a deeper, more violet toned blue. This combo required two coats of clear polish in addition of my regular top coat to get rid of the rough surface. Removal was a bit of a pain but this super pretty flakie & glitter polish is totally worth it.

H&M Kitty Queen & OPI Wing It!

2011-01-05T23:55:00.043+02:00

H&M - Kitty Queen, 1 coat

Glass flecked. One coater. Cost less than 2€. Me likes! Kitty Queen is a raspberry coloured pink creme that has silver glass flecks in it. It's super thick and needs to be thinned before use or it'll be a pain to apply.

H&M - Kitty Queen & OPI - Wing It! 1 + 2 coats

Don't these two make a lovely couple? I'm sorry I didn't get any pics showing the duochrome nature of Wing It! but the glass flecks in it change from pink to yellowish orange. I've fallen a bit behind on posting but I should be able to catch up soon, I'll post another NOTD tomorrow and hopefully yet another on Friday.

Casuelle Purple Pearl

2011-01-02T23:55:00.002+02:00

Casuelle - Purple Pearl, 3 coats

Casuelle is one of those cheap obscure brands that pop up in shady discount stores. I searched the net for any info about the manufacturer and pretty much only found product reviews written by Finnish and Dutch bloggers; they don't even have a website. Also, any of their polishes I own don't have names on them so I'm calling this colour simply Purple Pearl. I picked up this lacquer from a display advertising their "new" pearly polish collection which had about five different shades ranging from a boring standard white, super pearly colour to a couple of different pinks and a slightly muted baby blue to this purple which was the most exciting one. I'm hesitant to call this a true pearl polish, it's more of a weak shimmer. The base is an undefinable grayish colour which brings depth to the lacquer - if Chanel Paradoxal had a more transparent base and stronger shimmer this is what I'd imagine it'd look like... sorta. There's a teeny tiny bit of duochrome action going on but not enough to call it one. The formula was pretty bad, like I was trying to apply wallpape paste on my nails (or if you're familiar with the dessert called kiisseli or kissel, it's exactly the word I'd use to describe Purple Pearl) and drying time was... I won't even go there. This was the most difficult colour ever to photograph and I had to do a lot of colour correcting on the pics. Still I'm quite fascinated with this polish and will definitely try layering it over my Barry M Dusky Mauve which is the only Paradoxal dupe I own (not counting my own franken).

Lumene Night Party

2010-12-29T22:42:00.001+02:00

Lumene - Night Party, 2 coats

Remember OPI's notorious Shim-Merry Chic from last year's holiday collection? The bronzy brown shimmer that had flakies in it? Well meet Night Party, her twin sister (we don't know which is the evil one but both are pretty deranged). It may look cute in the bottle but opaque shimmer base and flakies don't mix, period. Each time someone scrolls down and gets to the last picture I think I can hear a distant "Oh that's not that bad, in fact it's quite uniq-- KILL IT!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!1!" :D Application was piss poor as the formula is very chunky and porridge-like. The only reason I got this lacquer for was its sheer ugliness.... and I got a discount. A very generous discount, Lumene has discontinued the Quick & Chic nail polish line and shops are getting rid of the uglies.

Etude House Sparkling Indigo & OPI Catch Me In Your Net

2010-12-27T23:58:00.018+02:00

Etude House - Sparkling Indigo, 2 coats

I just noticed that I mislabeled the pictures - they say Sparkling Blue when it's supposed to be Sparkling Indigo. I'm sorry, I blame it on my flue. :< I'll fix the pics once I'm done gathering enough energy to do so. In any case, Sparkling Indigo is a silver foil in blue jelly base and it's simply divine. Great application, wonderful wide brush.

Etude House - Sparkling Indigo & OPI - Catch Me In Your Net, 2 + 1 coats

I made the mistake of thinking that Sparkling Indigo was wonderful enough on its own, but when I added a coat of Catch Me In Your Net over it it rose one step above divine. Wow, just... wow. The sparkle is out of this world!

Zoya Happi

2010-12-25T17:37:00.000+02:00

Zoya Happi, 2 coats

Happi is a Barbie pink loaded with duochrome shimmer that changes from greenish yellow to soft orange. It's a wee bit brushstrokey and may even appear frosty to some. Application was okay but cleanup was harder than usual and I had to go over the mistakes several times with my trusty corrector pen.

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T17:34:00.000+02:00

Season's greetings from us to you! We were supposed to travel to northern Finland to spend the holidays with my grandfather, but I came down with a cold and as my mum fears others will catch it from me (mainly my grandfather who is 86) our travel plans came to a halt. It's only the third time ever for me that I won't be spending Christmas there with my mum and dad... :< I'm not especially fond of Christmas or any other holiday but it feels very strange to be spending it at home.

Sinful Colors Color Scare & Precision Hazel & Gretel

2010-12-23T20:22:00.006+02:00

Sinful Colors - Color Scare, 2 coats

The gorgeous, glowing Color Scare has golden metallic particles in a burnt orange base. I'm really not into ~~gold or bronze~~ copper at all, but I have to admit that Color Scare looks great with my skintone, bringing out the warm tones (I usually look like a corpse with just about any polish on).

Sinful Colors - Color Scare & Precision - Hazel & Gretel, 2 + 2 coats

I'm not sure if Hazel & Gretel has a typo in the name ("Hanzel & Gretel") or if it points to the orange half of this silver and orange glitter polish. Anyway, these two make a great festive pairing that looks good under all lighting conditions.

Revlon StreetWear Envy

2010-12-21T22:09:00.035+02:00

Revlon StreetWear - Envy, 2 coats

Envy is the love child of olive green and chartreuse - too saturated and bright to be the former and too muted for the latter one. It has small golden flecks and orange and green shimmer in a green creamy base and two coat were enough to reach opacity. Unfortunately, this one didn't quite suit my skintone. :L BTW, the UK version of Toad is almost identical with Envy except I find Envy a bit prettier than the UK Toad as it has a bit more of that gorgeous golden shimmer.

Wet 'n' Wild Flirty Rose Crème & French manicure with nail art stickers

2010-12-19T19:25:00.002+02:00

Wet 'n' Wild - Flirty Rose Crème, 3 coats

PSA - Avoid, I repeat AVOID Flirty Rose Crème like the plague! It's a watery, streaky mess and a pain to apply. It took three carefully applied coats to hide the streakiness and a lot of cleanup to make this wreck of a lacquer presentable.

Wet 'n' Wild - Flirty Rose Crème & H&M - Kitty Princess, 3 + 1 coats

The tips were painted with H&M Kitty Princess and a bunch of heart, flower and butterfly nail art stickers completed this vomit inducing pink sugary cuteness!

L'Oréal 413 Supernova

2010-12-17T23:57:00.001+02:00

L'Oréal - 413 Supernova

Hello, and welcome to another disappointing episode of Bad Swatch Day. This old-ass L'Oréal comes from their long extinct LaquiResist line (good riddance!). It's a dark plum shimmer with some silver glitter thrown in and it took absolutely ages to dry. All my other LaquiResist polishes were/are also this way and most of them also have god awful splayed out brushes. Still, it's fun to have some remaining relics from the darker ages of nail polish no matter how bad they are, and Supernova isn't _that_ bad a lacquer, just a very mediocre one and layering some kick-ass polish over it could save the poor Supernova.

Claire's Twinkle Twinkle & chevron funky French

2010-12-15T18:43:00.018+02:00

Claire's - Twinkle Twinkle, 2 coats

Twinkle Twinkle = ♥. This little beauty has silver and blue glitter in very saturated blue jelly base. I wish I could have this in every colour imaginable! This is two coats of Twinkle Twinkle plus additional two coats of a fairly thin regular clear polish and then a coat of SH Insta-Dri top coat to finish things off. Glassy-glossy! Oh, and can you see how my free edges are curling inwards? We've experienced some seriously cold weather here for the last week or so, thus my nails are rapidly losing moisture.

Claire's - Twinkle Twinkle & chevron funky French, 2 coats

I used pieces of tape as makeshift chevron guides and went over the tips with Wet 'n' Wild Black Crème. Any jagged lines were then covered with a silver glitter art liner, and finally I slapped on a couple of heart shaped silver rhinestones. The colours remind me of the Estonian flag which is blue, black and white.

Eveline 413 & JDN 66

2010-12-13T23:52:00.008+02:00

Eveline - 413, 2 coats

Eveline 413 is a weak holo lacquer that looks either mauve or brown, depending on lighting. I did this mani last night and was absolutely certain that it was a brown holo, but come daylight and I am looking at a completely different colour. Formula was good, 413 is an easy colour to apply and the brush is pretty nice.

Eveline - 413 & JDN - 66, 2 + 1 coats

JDN is a Chinese (I think) nail polish brand who have put out some wicked colours - one day, I'll show you this gorgeous purple glass flecked shimmer that's OPI DS Royal's little sister! 66 has a decent amount of small magenta coloured stars and normal sized glitter in a clear base. This combo was okay but the placement of the stars bugged me so much that I removed the whole thing after a couple of hours.

Ruby Kisses Cream White & black and white half-moon manicure

2010-12-11T18:42:00.000+02:00

Ruby Kisses - Cream White, 3 coats

Cream White is an off-white jellyish creme, quite a classy colour IMO. Judging by the INCI my bottle must be at least half a decade old - non 3BF polishes are great, I get no bubbling with them, ever! But I also got a small dent on one nail while I slept which meant that it never fully dried. :/

Ruby Kisses - Cream White & Wet 'n' Wild - Black Crème, 3 + 1 coats

I did a half-moon manicure with Wet 'n' Wild Black Crème, using hole reinforcers cut in half as guides. I only added rhinestones to one nail as an accent, but if I were to wear this mani for longer than two days (or to a festive event) I'd add them to all my nails. I have to say that this is a really sophisticated look which I'll be sure to duplicate someday. But now I really want a pair of black & white peep-toe pumps with crystal accents...!

DICI 013 & IsaDora Subway Green

2010-12-09T22:57:00.000+02:00

DICI - Metallic green 013, 2 coats

Lobster hand alert! 013 is a very pale green consisting of super dense, super tiny metallic pigment particles. I got this super cheap off eBay last summer - I'd direct you to the seller's profile but they're no longer registered there. I could've gotten away with only one coat, but since I'd be applying a crackle polish over it I decided to do two to avoid bald spots for this base colour would be shrinking with it.

DICI - Metallic green 013 & IsaDora - Subway Green, 2 + 1 coats

This is a pretty spot on photo of what the colours really look like together - the base polish looks almost golden until you take a better look. Be prepared to work FAST and try to apply only one swipe of polish. My gripe with the IsaDora graffiti lacquers is that without a top coat they wear off super fast. I don't mean they chip off but little by little, the actual pigment is transferred to anything you touch, be it a tissue, your clothes or even the walls of your house. You could use your nails to draw on a piece of paper! I've worn this mani for less than 12 hours and already I've lost almost half of the graffiti lacquer from my index fingers and my right thumb. Also, I noticed that after I took a shower and applied my regular hand lotion the graffiti shrank even more, pulling the base polish with it and now my mani is a faded crumply mess. :< Next time I'll be sure to use my regular quick dry top coat.