China Glaze Cherish

July 31st, 2011

China Glaze Cherish is a beautiful light green polish from the Romantique collection. Last time I wore this I had the same first impression as with Harmony from the same collection, that it was a bit messy to apply. So I tried doing just one coat of polish this time around, and it was definitely better. I did get some pooling on a couple of nails, but after it dried with top coat on (Fast Forward) I thought it looked pretty good anyway.

In sunlight. I love the way the polishes in this collection shimmer in the sun.

Indirect natural light, where it looks more satiny.

With flash, showing off my Schefflera as well. It’s one of the few living green things in my home..

And you know what, I finally have vacation! But something tells me I won’t be able to do half of the things I have planned, but I’ll try my best to get some fun things done. Hopefully that means more posts on my blog =)

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Beauty UK Haul

July 21st, 2011

After seeing the lovely swatches by Nihrida of the pearl eyeliners from Beauty UK, I had to check them out for myself. And I rarely even use liquid eyeliners! I decided to get three of them, and I also got myself one of the palettes and a lip gloss.

Here we have the pearl eyeliners:

From left to right: Oceania, Purple Haze and Blue Lagoon. Aren’t they gorgeous?

They have a felt tip applicator that looks like this:

I’m not really used to wearing liquid eyeliners, but I like this type of tip compared to more brush like applicators.

The Pastel Eyeshadow Palette:

I really like the selection of colors in this palette. It’s also quite small and I think this one will be great for travel.

And last but not least, a Lip Lust in the shade Envy:

I’m not really that fond of lip glosses in general, and especially not sticky ones, but I really like this one. It’s just enough stickiness for me to handle. The color is a dark pink/berry shade with lots of shimmer in it, and it’s quite pigmented. The gloss smells sweet and fruity, but you don’t notice it that much on the lips. It has a sponge tip applicator that’s fairly easy to use, but I find squeezing the tube to be a bit difficult as the plastic packaging is quite hard. Or maybe it’s just me that’s weak =)

So, want to see some swatches? Some really bad swatches?

This photo is taken inside with flash. Left to right: Pearl eyeliners in Purple Haze, Blue Lagoon and Oceania, and Lip Lust in Envy.

This one is taken in the shade outside (I’ve also reapplied the gloss). And let me tell you, these eyeliners won’t budge at all once they’ve dried! But they’re still not too difficult to get off, I use Lorea’l Eye & Lip Makeup Remover – Waterproof for the removal.

And here are some really crappy swatches of the palette, with some shadows out of focus:

The two brown shadows on the left are the ones I find most pigmented. I know that the pink is hardly visible on my swatch but you do see more of it IRL. So, most of the shadows aren’t super pigmented, but considering that these are light pastel shades I find it acceptable. They also don’t feel chalky so that’s a big plus.

I tried doing a quick look with the palette and an eyeliner, so this is shadow number two and three from the top row, plus the Purple Haze eyeliner:

As you can see I didn’t wear any other makeup at the time..

Lip Lust Envy on the lips:

A close-up of my lip so you can see the shimmer:

All in all I’m happy with my purchase, and I will probably check out more of their products. I payed £19.49 for all of this including shipping, and I think you get really good value for you money.

Have you tried anything from Beauty UK?

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Zoya Adina

July 13th, 2011

I’ve had this polish for over a year and haven’t used it until now! It’s the purple/green duochrome Zoya Adina, and it’s absolutely lovely to look at. To be honest I’m not sure how many layers I did, but probably three or four plus top coat (a sticky Seche Vite). I found the formula to be a little thin, but easy to apply. I wish I could have snapped some better pictures of it, but these will have to do.

In natural light. Looks like I got some shrinkage going on.

With flash.

Weird angle in natural light, here it looks more like a plum purple. Do you see my tiny thumbnail?

I’ve been quite absent from the blogging for a while, I hope I’ll have time to stock up on some fun things to show you on my vacation, which is only two weeks away now.. and I wouldn’t mind spending some time like this:

Lazy Lakrits

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White Caps on the Ocean

June 29th, 2011

I couldn’t leave my Isadora Dazzling Ocean alone, so I added a layer of China Glaze White Cap on top of it. I love the result, and even a couple of guys at work gave me compliments on it =) It turned the underlying polish to a slightly greener shade, with a beautiful golden shimmer.

First a not so good photo with the bottle:

Yes, I’ve been wearing the polish for over a week, please excuse the outgrowth.

Here you can see more of its beauty:

Close-up! This manicure made me think of mermaids and light dancing over the water, it was gorgeous in sunlight.

And it has happened again, I’ve broken a thumb nail..

The icky stuff on the left side is just residue from a band-aid. I blame it all on the plastic lock on the cats’ litter box..

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Some Dazzling Polishes

June 20th, 2011

It’s been a while since my last post, sorry! I blame it on work, and an evil gum ache from hell (caused by one of my wisdom teeth). I didn’t have much motivation to do anything while my mouth was hurting 24/7, but now it’s fine again.

When I saw the blue and turquoise polishes from Isadora’s Ocean Drive collection I couldn’t resist. They look perfect for summer! This post is mainly about Dazzling Ocean. I keep confusing the names, I think this turquoise/aqua color should be named Acqua, and the blue one Ocean. But maybe that’s just me.

Bottle shot of Dazzling Ocean and Dazzling Acqua.

Both of the polishes seem to have a blue/purple flash in the bottles as you can see in the next photo, but it’s not very visible on the nails. I can see it in a certain angle in lamp light, but I only managed to capture one lousy photo of it in Acqua, which you can see at the end of this post.

(Click photo for full size)

I did the nails a little different this time, I applied my first coat of polish one evening while watching a movie, then the second coat the next morning while I was eating breakfast, and then another one. I didn’t apply a top coat. I don’t know if this is what caused the polish to bubble, as I did get some bubbling on a few nails. Fortunately it’s not that noticeable so I can live with that. What bothered me more was how sheer it was, but I do forgive it for being such a gorgeous and summery shade.

In full sunlight.

Here you can clearly see how sheer it looks.

With such a name I thought it would be fitting to splash some water on my nails =)

And then we have the other Dazzling polish, the blue Dazzling Acqua which adorn my toes. I’m not sure if this is quite as sheer as Dazzling Ocean, but I applied three coats here as well.

If there are any foot haters reading this..

 

 

GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

 

 

 

 

You have been warned! =)

(Click for bigger version at own risk)

And here’s a crappy photo in poor indoor lighting, which was the only way for me to get the purple flash to show:

 

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Orange/Pink EOTD

June 5th, 2011

I went to a BBQ with some friends this weekend and wanted some colorful eyes, so I decided to pick up on the orange and pink shades from the dress I was wearing:

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Product list
Too Faced – Shadow Insurance
Meow – Passion on entire lid
Brite Bird – Orange shadow from the “It’s Bright Right?” duo on outer third of the lid and slightly in crease
Bride Bird – Hot pink shadow from the “It’s Bright Right?” in outer v and in crease
MAD – Cancun Sand on browbone
Isadora – Inliner kajal Blonde on water line
Sugarpill – Bulletproof to line upper lash line
Urban Decay – Skyscraper Multi-Benefit Mascara
Claudia – Wonderlash Mascara on lower lashes
Viva La Diva – Mix & Match Eyebrow Color, medium brown shade used to lightly fill in eyebrows

As you can see in the product list I’ve used TFSI as my eyeshadow primer this time, I usually go for Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. I’ve tried TFSI a few times now and to be honest I don’t find much of a difference except for the color, as in this one is slightly more yellow. The eyeshadow stays put all day long without creasing, so for me I’d say they’re just as good!

As usual I didn’t get any good photos of the look, so here are the ones that are least bad.

Taken indoors with flash.

And the last photo is in direct sunlight. I tried to take one photo with my eyes open but it was impossible due to my vampiric nature =)

 

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Lovie No 93

June 1st, 2011

I wanted a color with a summer feel on my nails, so my choice fell on Lovie no 93. I’ve never tried this brand before, apparently it’s Greek, and I got it att ÖoB of all places (Swedish store Överskottsbolaget) for 39 SEK. It’s an orange coral shade, and my first impression is quite good. The brush isn’t too wide, the formula was nice and went on smooth. I applied three coats and then topped it with Seche Vite. There was a bit of VNL but I don’t know if a fourth coat would have made any difference. The color isn’t quite as bright as it may appear on the photos, but you definitely notice it! I’m guessing it’s quite similar to Eyeko Coral Polish, if you have that one.

Photo taken with flash.

Some sunlight.

More sunlight!

And after a few days I wanted something more on my nails, so I put on a sticker from Depend. All in all, this is a manicure that makes me happy when I look at it!

 

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Harmony

May 25th, 2011

As I wrote in the post about the challenge I did, I wore China Glaze Harmony on its own first, so of course I’ll show you that as well. I first wore this polish about a year ago, but I had some problems with the application. I tried to do my usual three layers and it got a bit messy as the formula is a little thick.

So this time I had another approach – just one coat (well, two on the thumbs). If you do it right that’s all you need, I haven’t used a top coat either. But you have to be a bit careful when you apply it so you don’t get visible brush strokes. As the rest of the polishes in the Romantique collection, it has a metallic finish with a beautiful shimmer. The color is a medium cool purple, and I love it!

In full sunlight, the color got a little washed out but you can see the shimmer.

The next photos are in the shade to show more of the color.

Please ignore my paper cut..

I haven’t posted any links to music in my blog before, but I just have to do it this time. Whenever I see the name of this polish one song pops into my head, “In Perfect Harmony” by Within Temptation. You can listen to it in Spotify: Within Temptation – In Perfect Harmony

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L8R G8R

May 15th, 2011

I haven’t had time to read any blogs for a while, so when I finally got back to it this week I fell right into Sminkans holo week, and a lot of other blogs have picked up on the theme. I’m actually wearing a holographic polish now so I thought I’d show it on the last day of the holo week.

China Glaze L8R G8R is from the now hard to find collection OMG!, and is a light green holographic. I’m usually not very fond of yellow-based greens, but thought this one would be nice to have. And when I finally saw it on my nails it was instant love! I applied three coats and had no problems with bald spots, it behaved very nicely. It also dried quickly as the rest of polishes in the collection, so no need for a top coat. And the holo effect is superb!

In full sunlight.

This photo is taken with flash.

A blurry photo in the shade to show more of the base color.

Bonus pic with kitty!

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A Challenge

May 13th, 2011

It’s been quiet around here for a while, and I just want to inform you that I’m not dead! I’ve just had a lot to do lately, which means less time for nails and blogging.  But now I finally got something to show you.

I saw this challenge at Annie’s Colors a few weeks ago, and it sounded really fun so I had to give it a try as well. What you do is pick out three colors from your stash without looking, and then combining them in a manicure. I have three drawers in my IKEA Helmer that are dedicated to polishes, so I randomly chose one from each of them. First one out was China Glaze Harmony, a medium purple, and then I got hold of Color Club Electronica which is more of a blurple. So far so good. The last polish I ended up with was Nfu Oh 60, with orange/green flakies. That one made me a little confused as how to combine it with the others. I felt I needed some time to think about what to do with these, so I wore Harmony alone for a week until I made the full manicure.

The chosen ones: China Glaze Harmony, Color Club Electronica, Nfu Oh 60.

I thought I would fail miserably with the manicure so I didn’t put much time into the application. I used Harmony as a base, and then I applied Electronica on top for a Ruffian design. Then I layered Nfu Oh 60 on top of Electronica. The Ruffian doesn’t look too bad for a first try, if I do say so myself. After that I applied Nfu Oh 60 on top of Electronica.

Tadaa!

Still not sure if the flakies work with the rest of the colors, it’s not the colors I normally would have combined.

Trying to mimic alizarine claws wonderful shots… big fail! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to keep my nails in a straight line..

Have you done this challenge? If not, I think you should!

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