NOTD: Layering NfuOh over My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

Hello!

Well, initially I had planned to post this at the weekend but then my internet connection at home broke down for some unknown reason and I had to postpone this. My internet still isn't working but I hope the company can solve the problem soon. Yet I found the opportunity to go online so I can finally show you this mani I wore last weekend!

As you may have noticed I bought a whole lot of new polishes and most of them are still waiting to be worn. So I wanted to do some layering to reduce the pile of untrieds in my stash :) And I have to warn you that this is a picture heavy post because the finish looked different every time the light and angle changes. You can click all the pictures to enlarge them.

I started with two coats Orly Royal Velvet from their Precious Spring collection 2011. It is a deep navy blue/purple duochrome with a very nice shimmer! I also like this color worn solo a lot! Sorry for the messy application but I took photos of this before cleanup. I just had to show you this polish on its own.

Orly Royal Velvet

I then added one coat of Catrice My Milkyway from their recent Out of Space limited edition. The cap says "color changing topcoat". In fact it is a milky white base with iridescent blue/pink shimmer particles. Indeed it changes the base color a lot and I wouldn't use it as a topcoat since it is pretty opaque even with one thin coat. But see for yourself how it adds some more sparkles to the base polish.

My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

So to finalize my layering I added two coats of NfuOh Shiny Opal No.51. This one has a sheer purple jelly base with tons of multichrome flakies of various sizes in it. Depending on the angle those flakies flash blue, green, orange or red. I just love these polishes! So now here's the final result of my layering attempt. Pretty, huh?! The last photo was taken with a flash while all the others were indoors in natural light.

NfuOh 51 over My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

NfuOh 51 over My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

NfuOh 51 over My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

NfuOh 51 over My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

NfuOh 51 over My Milkyway over Royal Velvet

That is all for today. Now I will finally build up the Helmer I bought already two weeks ago and then my stash will finally move into its new home :D

Have a great day!

- Sabine

NOTD: Essence Color & Go Irreplaceable

Good evening my dear reader,

only recently Essence added some new nail polish colors to their core product line. When I first saw them I wasn't really happy with most of the colors since many were pastel or teal shades. However one of those polishes caught my eye. Its' name is Irreplaceable.

Irreplaceable has a nude beige creme base that is densly packed with gold flecks. To be honest this combination did not look spectacular in the store but still I took it home. Also indoors I could only see the golden flecks. BUT when artificial or sunlight hits the nails right, there were flashes of green, red and orange. I am not sure if it's the gold flecks or some tiny glitter particles inside that sparkle like this. Sadly those orange, red and green sparks were so hard to capture on camera that my pictures are not doing this nail polish justice! You can click them and they'll enlarge so you can see the texture of the glitter.

Irreplaceable in sunlight

Irreplaceable in shade

Irreplaceable in artificial light

Irreplayceable in artificial light

Texture and application of Irreplaceable was good, I like their long (in relation to bottle size) and flat brush! Drying time was also quick. I used three thin coats to get it opaque and added one layer of top coat.

Have you tried any of the new Essence shades? Which one do you like best? And do you like nude polishes at all?

Until next time,

- Sabine

NOTD: China Glaze TMI

Hello my readers!

To "celebrate" my newly shaped nails I recently wore China Glaze TMI from their Spring 2008 OMG collection, which had been devided into 2BHOT and 2BKEWL consisting of six shades each. Unfortunately this gorgeous holo collection now has been discontinued and all the polishes are hard to find or cost a fortune these days. Therefore I was surprised when Inge from PolishSis introduced me to Enchantra, a Dutch Beauty online shop. And guess what, this shop sold some of the OMG polishes for a reasonable price! So I just couldn't help but order the polishes that were still available (along with some other polishes I found there, tehe). The pictures below are not doing the polish any justice. It was so hard to capture the beauty of this polish but hopefully you get the idea. The first two pics below are indoors in daylight, the third one is with camera flash.

TMI is a coral pink. Usually I am not into pinks so much but I like this tone since it is not too bright. When I unpacked the bottle I was a little disappointed because the holo effect wasn't as obvious as I expected it to be. Also on the nails indoors or in darker light it still didn't sparkle too much. But when I went outside and the sun hit the nails, you could see the nice linear holographic effect. TMI is richly pigmented so two coats were enough to get it opaque. The tiny holo glitter particles are also pretty dense. However I have to mention that I had some problems with application. I applied one layer of a base coat and only later I read on some blogs that it was better not to use a base coat. The first coat of TMI was ok and dried real quick. When I applied the second coat I got a bit of dragging resulting in bald spots. So in the end I added a third coat to even everything out. The finish is a little dull, though it is not really matte. I put on one coat of Essence 60 seconds top coat because I preferred the shiny finish and I did not feel that this influenced the holo effect. The two pictures below are taken in direct sunlight.

The only real let down was wearing time. I knew that holo polishes are chiptastic, but I got the first chips already at the same day! I tried to cover those chips with a bit of polish. At the second day half the polish of every nail had chipped off so I had to remove it completely. For me the effect of this holo nail polish is still worth the effort!

Don't you think so? Do you like holo polishes at all?

Thanks for reading!
- Sabine

NOTD & Comparison: Essence Circus Confetti vs. Milani Gems

Hello,

after I posted my little durgstore haul I was asked to show some pictures of the Essence special effect topper Circus Confetti. Since I also recently got Milani Gems from their Jewel FX collection, which has been an untried so far, I decided to wear them both and show you a comparison of the two glitter polishes. I was thinking about which base color to put those on. In the end I went for Agnès B. French Manicure Duo beige. In the following picture I wear Milani Gems on two fingers and Essence Circus Confetti on the other two. Can you guess which is which?

Milani Gems and Essence Circus Confetti in shade

To finally solve the mystery: On my index and pinkie I applied Circus Confetti while on my middle and ring finger I am wearing Gems. They look pretty similar but aren't complete dupes. Circus Confetti has large, medium and small hex glitters in blue, green, orange, pink, silver and gold. In addition it also contains golden micro glitter particles. In contrast, Milani Gems only has large and small glitter particles. Colors I have discovered so far include green, purple, silver, gold, red and turquoise. Gems also lacks the microglitter that Circus Confetti has.

Milani Gems and Essence Circus Confetti in sunlight

Both nail polishes have a clear base. When you have a look at the bottle you can already see that Milani Gems is more densly packed with glitter than is Essence Circus Confetti. So with Gems you get more glitter onto your nails with one coat. In the pictures I thus used one coat of Gems and two coats of Circus Confetti. I also have to mention that I like Milani's brush better because it is narrower and softer. The glitter just stuck better to the nail while with the stiff Essence brush I kind of dragged it towards the tip so you have to use a light touch to apply it evenly.

In the end I found it hard to say which one I like better. For me Essence Circus Confetti pips Milani Gems at the post (ok, I looked that term up in a dictionary and it sounds somewhat strange. If there's a better expression please let me know ;-) ). Simply because I like this gold microglitter and the colors of the hex glitters a bit better. 

Which one is your favorite?

Thanks for reading,

-Sabine

Layering: NfuOh 60 over Catrice I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Hello,

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday! Over here it is finally sunny and warm and I hope summer will stay a little longer this time. The weather forecast doesn't think so though.
I know it is not even fall yet, but somehow I already feel like wearing those darker shades. So for the first manicure on my newly shaped nails I chose Catrice's I Wear My Sunglasses At Night which is now part of their core product line. This polish has a black creme base with tons of purple glitter and also green glitter particles in it. Well, at least it looks sparkly in the bottle. When I applied it to my nails, the glitter was not very obvious anymore. In fact you had to look real close to see some hints of purple and green. Since the result didn't really please me, I added two coats of NfuOh 60. This is a very watery sheer black base stuffed with lots of holographic flakies, which I love a lot! Depending and the angle the flakies - which come in various sizes - flash gold, orange, red, green and blue. On the nails they appeared mostly orange and red while the blue and green showed up only at extreme angles. All those layers took pretty long to dry so I added one coat of Seche Vite. Unfortunately I always get some shrinkage at the tip when using this top coat - even though I wrapped my tips this time. Anyway I want to show you the result since I like this combination. If you click on the last two pictures you will see them large so the texture of the glitter/flakies can be seen better.

NfuOh 60 over IWMSAN indoors

NfuOh 60 over IWMSAN in shade

NfuOh 60 over IWMSAN in sunlight

Application of both polishes was good. I needed two coats of IWMSAN for opacity, which was neither too thin nor too thick. NfuOh 60 is very thin but easy to apply. I think next time I will choose another base color that has more obvious glitter or shimmer in it to make the mani more sparkly!

How do you like this layering? Over what polishes do you layer NfuOh 60? And what do you do to prevent shrinkage when using fast drying top coats?

Thanks for reading and enjoy the sun while it lasts!
- Sabine

NOTD: OPI Rising Star

Hello there,

I recently shaped my nails into a more square shape - they're like squoval now and as soon as they've grown a bit I'll finally file them square. Hope that way they won't tear as easily. Anyway, this will be the last mani with my "old" oval nails. Today's NOTD is OPI Rising Star from their Holiday 2010 Burlesque collection. When a local perfumery had them on sale I couldn't help but get the entire collection and Rising Star is the first polish I tried.

OPI Rising Star photographed in natural light

OPI Rising Star in natural light

Rising Star is a very warm copper polish with lots of gold sparkles in it. I really like its finish. When the sun hits it right, it flashes golden! It went on flawlessly and since it's richly pigmented, I only needed two coats to get it opaque. Afterwards I applied one layer of top coat. As all OPIs I have tried so far, it really wore well and lasted four days without chipping and only minimal tipwear. On day four I wanted to spice up the mani a little and added one coat of Glow Up Already but since I did not like the combo, I took it off again.

Rising Star really makes me looking forward to the rest of the Burlesque collection! What is your favorite of this collection? Have you done any layerings with the glitters?

Thanks for stopping by!

- Sabine

Review: Mystic Haze adhesive nail foil

Hello and good evening,

during my last Transdesign haul for the new China Glaze Metro Fall collection I stumbled upon some adhesive nail foils I have seen before in some YouTube videos. I thought it was a quick substitute for a real mani and I loved the holographic effect of those foils. So I chose one called Mystic Haze, a silver with a linear holographic effect. Along with the foil I also got their foil primer.

Transdesign's website also has a manual how to use the foil but there are lots of tutorials online as well. So I put a thin coat of the foil primer on my bare nails - well, just with a layer of basecoat. I tried to apply it as thin as possible, then let dry for a good five minutes.

I found it is much better to cut the foil into pieces roughly the size of your nail BEFORE applying the adhesive, because the foil sticks easily to the base. I simply pressed the foil on my nail and then used an orange stick to push it into the edges. Afterwards you can easily peel of the supporting film and the design will stick to the nail. Unfortunately I got some bald spots where the foil did not adhere, as you can see in the pictures on my index and ring finger. These bald spots would be less obvious if you add a layer of matching polish as a base.

 

I also got some foil on my cuticles because I didn't clean up the adhesive before applying the foil. But you can easily remove the excess with nail polish remover

The manual recomments to add a layer of top coat to protect the foil from wearing. There are special top coats for foils available but I saw several people using regular top coats as well. So I picked Maybelline Express Finish top coat because the brush is very soft and the polish rather thin. BUT when I added the polish on my thumb the foil dulled and the whole design got messed up! I guess the top coat reacted with the adhesive. Manufacturers also recomment not to use quick dry top coats as those may lead to wrinkling of the foil. I did not encounter that problem, but none of the topcoats I have did work well with the foil as all of them dulled the foil.

All in all I really like the idea and there are very nice designs available. Maybe with some more experience the results will turn out better.

Have you tried adhesive nail foils? Did you encounter any problems or have some insider tips on how to improve foil application and wearing? Please let me know!

Thanks for reading,

- Sabine

NOTD: Essence Style for Summernights

Good evening!

Man, weekends always pass way to quick, can't believe it is Sunday again. Hope all of you had a great weekend! Yesterday I went to Ikea and initially wanted to buy a Helmer for my polishes. When I saw them in person, I didn't really like them that much - sorry people. BUT luckily I found another one named Alex which is now the new home for my nail polish stash. Yay! Hopefully I can post some pictures, soon.

Well, now let's come to today's NOTD. It is Essence Style for Summernights, which I already introduced to you a while ago. This polish is part of the Essence Nails in Style limited edition that was released in Germany in July this year.

Style for Summernights is a very sparkly silver with a foil finish. It's formula is rather thin but it went on flawlessly. I used three thin coats to get it completely opaque. For the picture I did not add a topcoat. I really like how shiny this polish is, don't you think so?

Enjoy your Sunday evening, thanks for reading and until next time.

- Sabine

NOTD OPI Just Groovy or Got the Summer blues!?

Hello everyone,

the polish I am showing you today has been around for quite a while. For four years to be exactely. However, I still love this color and it is so made for this season. I am talking about OPI's Just Groovy from their 2007 Psychedelic Summer collection. It is a very nice sky blue almost baby blue and I am in love with the formula!

OPI Just Groovy photographed in artificial light

What you see in the pictures above is three thin coats and no top coat. Right, it is that shiny without a top coat! OK, I have to admit it was a bit streaky during application, but after the third coat absolutely no brushstrokes were visible! Finally I added one layer of Essence 60 seconds top coat.

Just Groovy in natural light

Just Groovy in direct sunlight

After two days the mani still looked good but I needed a new look. So I put two coats of OPI Last Friday Night from their Katy Perry collection on top.

Jujst Groovy and Last Friday Night in natural light

Just Groovy and Last Friday Night in direct sunlight

To me, Last Friday Night is too sheer to be worn solo but it goes pretty well with Just Groovy as a base. What do you think?

Have a great day,
- Sabine

My first BeautyJoint haul

Hello there,

I am so so happy right now, because finally my first order from BeautyJoint arrived savely :) I first heard from this store from Jeanette's blog and from that day on I needed to have these awesome holo glitters in my stash. And there they finally are. 

Kleancolor's Holo Glitters

From left to right we have Metallic Aqua (which actually is not a holo glitter), Holo Blue, Chunky Holo Bluebell, Chunky Holo Black and Chunky Holo Scarlet. 

BeautyJoint also sells other brands so I got myself some glitters from Milani as well.

Milani Glitter polishes

Those are Gems from the Jewel FX collection (quite similar to Deborah Lipmann's Happy Birthday and Essences Circus Confetti), One Coat Glitter Silver Dazzle and 3D Holographic Hi-Tech. 

Aaaand they sell some crackle polishes from Cherimoya. I've never heard of that brand before but there were some really nice creme shatter polishes - so far I just own metallic ones. So I also put two of those in the basket. Those are called #21 Hades (left) and #21 Crucify and shown below.

Cherimoya Crackle Polishes

Do you own any of these polishes? Then I'd be happy to hear about your experiences. Otherwise, which polish would you like to see first on my blog? Let me know!

Until next time,

- Sabine

Comparison: Iron Mermaiden vs. Where is the Party

Hello everyone,

I've planned to do this post a long time back but never found the right opportunity to take good pictures. But now I can finally show you the two drugstore nail polishes Where is the Party from Essence and Iron Mermaiden from Catrice. I first owned the Essence one and weeks later stumbled upon the one from Catrice and since they looked quite similar in the bottle, I wanted to compare them in person.

 Both polishes are duochrome, meaning the color changes depending on the angle the light hits it. The base is a greyish purple which changes from silver to a murky green. In the bottle you can also see a teal color, but this never showed up on the nails.

The Essence polish is much darker compared to Catrice, thus it takes less coats to get it opaque while Catrice's polish is more on the sheer side. What you see in the pictures are three coats. Please excuse the mucky application this time. Both polishes were a bit streaky during application and after drying, you can clearly see the brushstrokes. Iron Mermaiden is a bit more frosty than Where is the Party. For the pictures I did not add a top coat.

I third polish with the same pigment that comes to my mind is OPI Not Like The Movies from the Katy Perry collection. I don't have it in my stash to compare it on the nail, still I think it's more similar to Catrice's Iron Mermaiden, but in addition it has small silver glitter particles in it. both polishes I showed you maybe are a cheaper alternative for Not Like The Movies. Catrice costs 2,49€ (approx. 3,55$) for 10ml and Essence is 1,29€ (approx. 1,84$) for 5ml. However, all three are not perfect dupes for one another.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Thanks for reading.

- Sabine

NOTD: China Glaze Ginger - Glittery Copper Polish

Good evening,

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend since Monday is coming up fast again. 

Today I show you one of China Glaze's glitter polishes I wore last week. Say "Hello" to Ginger!

Close up of China Glaze Ginger in natural light

China Glaze Ginger in natural light

This polish has a copper base that has small gold glitter particles as well as large holo glitter particles in it.

China Glaze Ginger in direct sunlight

For this I did three coats. However I could obtain full coverage in only two coats. The large glitter particles make the surface appear a little bumpy, so I added one thick coat of Seche Vite to even it out.

Texture of this was on the thick side and you need a little more drying time between the coats but in the end I really liked this polish!

That's it for today. Be prepared for lots of new polishes in the near future since only yesterday my hauls from Transdesign and BeautyJoint arrived :D

Good night and thanks for reading,

- Sabine

Little Drugstore Haul

Hello,

since it is Saturday I had time to go shopping with my boyfriend and just went browsing through the polish racks of the local drugstores. And guess what, indeed I got some new nail polishes, which I'd like to share with you. And here they are:

My little local drugstore nail polish haul

As you can see, I got Essence and Catrice polishes, which I will show you a little closer now. Let's start on the left. There we have Lavenderlicious, which is obviously a nice light lavender creme polish. This polish is from their Enter Wonderland limited collection that has been in stores between March and May this year and now was on sale ;) Here's a bottle shot:

Catrice - Lavenderlicious

Then I got from Catrice's recent limited collection Modern Muse the shade Khaki Perry (what a wordplay). This has a khaky or olive green base with golden shimmer. I am curious what that will look like on the nails! At least in the bottle it appears a perfect autumn shade.

Catrice - Khaki Perri

Since my boyfriend keeps asking me to do pedis as well, I finally gave in and bought one polish from Essence's Show Your Feet Polishes called Caribbean Sea. It is very nice shimmery dark turquoise color. It is actually more green in person but my camera likes to emphasize the blue... The label on the bottle promises an "anti-bacterial" polish that is opaque in just one coat and "extremely long lasting". We will see! Here is the bottle shot:

Essence - Caribbean Sea toe nail polish

Believe it or not, but until today I haven't had a silver polish in my stash, just because I never found the right one. But now I stumbled upon Style for Summernights from Essence's Nails in Style LE. This is a very densly packed shimmer that looks kinda foil-like in the bottle. Can't wait to try this on! Sadly the label prevents the shimmer from showing up on camera, but in the upper part of the bottle you can nicely see this sparkly silver!

Essence - Style for Summernights

Than I found one last bottle of Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper called Circus Confetti and this one immediately reminded me of Milani Gems or Deborah Lippmans Happy Birthday. This top coat has a clear base that's stuffed with glitter of various colors and sizes. There's green, blue, pink, orange, silver and gold (and maybe even more I haven't seen yet). It has small round and hex particles as well as large hex glitter particles. I have a feeling that this would look great over a black base, don't you think?

Essence - Circus Confetti Topper

Last but not least I took two Tip Painters home. One is almost the same foil-esque silver you've seen above and one is a very nice shiny purple with darker purple and blue shimmer in it. The silver is called Silver Surfer and the purpler is Purple Magic.

Essence Tip Painter - Silver Surfer and Purple Magic

That is my little haul for this weekend. Which one do you like best or do you already own one of those? Which one would you like to see first on this blog?

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading,

- Sabine