Posts Tagged ‘Shimmer’

White Caps on the Ocean

Wednesday, 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..

Some Dazzling Polishes

Monday, 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:

 

Harmony

Wednesday, 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

Isadora Mellow Yellow, And Happy Easter!

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

This is just a real quick post before I’m off to catch the train to where I’ll be spending Easter.  This holiday is one of the few occasions where I consider wearing yellow nails. So this year it’s Isadora’s Mellow Yellow, a light shimmery yellow. I still hate the wide brush, but I really like the color. This is three layers plus Seche Vite. It does not compliment my skin tone at all, but I don’t care!

In sunlight.

Kitty ear!

Click for bigger size.

Happy Easter everyone!

OPI Purple With A Purpose

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

When I saw Purple With A Purpose at ClawsInColor I knew I had to have it, I’m pretty weak for this kind of purple. And now that I got it, I can definitely say it’s my type of purple. If I only were allowed to wear one color on my nails for the rest of my life, it would be something like this. I’m not sure if you could call this a blurple, I don’t find it blue enough. On the other hand it’s not really red either, so I guess it’s just purple =)

I have to say that I’m not too fond of the wide brush that OPI has, it was a real pain to paint my pinky nail with this. Other than that the formula was OK, I ended up with three layers as usual. This was also my first try with China Glaze’s top coat Fast Forward. I have one thing to say about that one, it sure smells a lot! It’s too early to tell how it compares to my Seche Vite, but it seems to get the job done as well.

In daylight with no flash.

Taken with flash.

Full sunlight, the base color looks a little too red here. The shimmer seems to be a mix of pink and blue, and it’s so beautiful!

Depend 227 and some more layering

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

I just couldn’t resist picking up Depend 227, it’s a lovely bright green turquoise with silver shimmer. Unfortunately I didn’t really get along with the formula, it was a little too goopy for my taste. I applied two layers and the result was a little uneven, but I was in a hurry when applying it so I could probably have done better than this. I also applied Seche Vite top coat.

I just love this color!

Then I felt like playing some more, so I made a gradient with the light blue turquoise Depend 221:

The colors may be a little off here but I think you can still see the effect.

Then I wanted to try my new CND Effects polish Amethyst Sparkle.

You can’t see much of the sparkle here, it was more obvious IRL. The bottle shows more what it looks like on the nails.

And to top it all of I pulled out my favorite Nfu Oh polish, #50:

This manicure was quite fun to do! I’m sorry I couldn’t get better photos than this.

Ahoy!

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

This is the last one of the four polishes I have from the Anchors Away collection, Ahoy! I’ve really been missing some more color on my nails! Ahoy is a dark cool pink jelly with golden glass flecks in it, and it’s absolutely gorgeous! It’s a little darker and cooler than I thought it would be, but that’s not a bad thing at all. I had a really hard time trying to capture the color, but I did some Photoshop magic to try and correct the color a little. This is my usual three coats + top coat (Seche Vite):

Outside in indirect light.

Direct sunlight.

In the shade I think.

This is a shot of the bottle where you can see the gold a little better, ont he nail it kind of sinks in. Click the photo to see a bigger version. Ahoy! is probably my favorite from this collection, but that wasn’t much of a surprise as I love shiny things and cool pinks!

Sunset Sail

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Here’s another polish from the Anchors Away collection, the pale peachy Sunset Sail with silver shimmer in it. I didn’t plan to get this one at first, but I was curious about what it would look like on me. I first tried it out on my toenails and asked my fiance what he thought: “It looks discolored”. That didn’t sound very encouraging… To be honest I wasn’t sure about it myself. But then I tried it on “for real” and I think I actually like it. My fiance still thought it looked ugly, but he doesn’t care much for polishes anyway so it doesn’t really count =) This is three coats plus one coat of Seche Vite:

Full sunlight. I feel that Spring is slowly approaching! The polish looks a little more saturated on the nails than what it looks like in the bottle.

I like the subtle shimmer that some of the polishes from this collection have. It makes it so much more interesting than just a plain creme.

This photo is taken with flash.

What do you think of this one? Gorgeous or ugly?

Pelican Gray

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

The next polish that I’ve tried from China Glaze’s Anchors Away collection is Pelican Gray. It’s a soft light grey with a subtle shimmer in it. It was quite easy to apply and get even, I think I applied three coats as I usually do (and top coat).

Please excuse the dry cuticles and papercut..

Photo taken in direct sunlight.  I see a hint of blue in the shimmer, especially on the index nail.

A close-up to show the shimmer, I see some blue and pink/magenta in there if I’m not totally color blind.

I like this polish even more than I thought I would. It’s a very wearable color, and the shimmer makes it a little more interesting than a plain creme.

The Show Must Go On!

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

I only got Let Me Entertain You from OPI’s Burlesque collection at first,  but after seeing all the lovely photos of The Show Must Go On! I just had to get this one as well. Even if I prefer LMEY I’m glad I got this one, if just for the name (it’s one of my favorite Queen songs!).

I applied three coats and then Seche Vite. I can’t say I love the OPI brush as I find it a bit too wide, but it’s still quite okay for application. I had a hard time photographing it but I managed to take some quick photos in the morning sun.

I think this is described as a pink shade, but honestly I think it looks more like bright red for the most part. But here you can see both red and pink.

Here you can clearly see the orange/gold tone of this polish.

The duochrome effect isn’t that strong in “normal” angles, but it does make it a little more interesting. I think what I like the most with this is the shimmer, it’s gorgeous!

This photo is taken inside with flash, to try and capture how sparkly TSMGO is.