Etude House LUCIDarling Glittering Pink Jewel & China Glaze Cracked Concrete

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

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

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

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!

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

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