Fourth of July Manicure

Happy Fourth of July to the American ladies home and abroad! This is my third 4th of July I've spent in Switzerland. I also officially moved to Zurich last year on the 4th. I've never really got to celebrate much year. The first year we grilled out the day before and I wore my flag t-shirt, the 2nd year we were at the Zurifest and watched a bizarre dragon boat firework show, this year I spent the evening alone but ate every usual thing I could. Chicken breast, corn on the cob, blueberry muffins, and coca cola. When I'm done writing this I'm breaking out the watermelon!

Here are the different polishes I used for my manicure.

Color Club - Art of Seduction, MNY 661, Milani - Ruby Jewels, Nivea - White, N.Y.C. White Lights Glitter

First, I used two coats of MNY 661 as the base color. Then I used two coats of N.Y.C White Lights Glitter. I did the glitter gradient with Color Club Art of Seduction. Lots of different coats of glitter for that. I think I had to paint it on at least five times for the gradient.

The flag on my thumb had a base coat of Milani - Ruby Jewels. I used a paint brush to create the rectangle with MNY 661, Sally Hansen nail art pen for the dots, and the Nivea White to make the stripes. Obviously it's not totally accurate, but it's a lot harder than it looks!

I love this shot of the manicure!

You can really see the between coat of N.Y.C. White Lights Glitter in these photos. Which is a lovely color btw. I'm going to need to use it again soon.

 

 Here is the right hand. It's got dented a bit on two nails since the glitter didn't dry to well.

What's your favorite way to celebrate the 4th? Or to celebrate your nation's important holiday? Swiss National Day is August 1st but it's pretty tame compared to American fourth of July.

Something Different Sunday's: The Essentials of My Make-up Eyes/Lips

If you missed Part One: Skincare and Part Two: Foundation/Powders/Blush click here and here.

Now to continue on with the essentials that I packed for my move to Switzerland. Let's start out with the eyes. I brought with me a total of 10 eye shadows and 1 shadow liner all from Bare Minerals. They retail for $13 a piece. However the best deals are to be found when you purchase them in gift sets which is how I purchased most of my eyeshadow from them. I have at least 20 more eye shadows that I had to leave at my parents for safe keeping. So the ones I'm showing you are my top 10 favorites. The first three I'm showing are the newest. The rest is fairly old and many of which are discontinued. I must say that the newer shadows are much more pigmented and smoother than the old ones.

Pussycat

Oasis

Queen Phyllis

Kudos

True Gold

Kindness: This is the link to a matte version that replaced this slight shimmer version.

Serene

Peacock: Link is to a reformulated version.

Sugar Plum

Arm Swatch!

These are the seven eye shadow brushes I brought with me. I'm just going to give links to the ones I can still find online. Most of my shadow brushes are the Bare Essentials because they are high quality and sturdy, plus I get a lot of them in gifts sets I've bought. I have at least another 10 Bare Essential brushes back home.

Wet/Dry Shadow Brush
Double-Ended Precision Brush
Eye Defining Brush

Next stop Mascara...

I'm blessed with fairly long eye lashes so when I'm buying mascara I'm the two keys things I want is a mascara that doesn't clump or flake. These two mascaras from Clinique do a very good job at meeting those guidelines. Both these shades are black and the little white tube is a trial size I got in a bonus buy. I have a full size version in the closet that I will open up when these two are empty.

- High Lengths Mascara The brush is odd, but as long as you don't put too much mascara on the brush it works perfectly! $14

- High Impact Mascara It gives good volume and length without clumping. $14


- E.L.F. Eyelash Curler I paid $1 for this. It does the job, but I really need to get a higher quality eyelash curler.

I want to add a big reason why I only by Clinique mascara. It's because when you go to their make up counter at a department store and want to try one of their mascaras they have disposable wands that match the brush in each of their mascaras. So if you want to try the High Lengths Mascara but are worried that you might have problems with the odd brush you can actually try the odd brush before you buy it.

Now to the lips. These are all chap sticks/lip glosses from Nivea. If you live in Europe you can find similar products from Labello (aka Nivea) I also use Carmex but I couldn't find mine to take a picture of.

I became hooked on Nivea lip products at the beginning of the year. Mainly the kiss of  moisture stick and then I continued to buy other lip products from Nivea. The chap sticks keep my lips, silky and moisturized and the glosses add a nice hint of color.

A Kiss Of Moisture
A Kiss Of Shimmer
A Kiss Of Shine, Pink Glossy

That's what a tube of Carmex looks like. I bring this out when my lips are dry and cracked. It's a lifesaver and really helps heal you chapped lips. My mom used this stuff on me when I was in Kindergarten. Plus it's made in my home state of Wisconsin. And it's still run by the founder's family! It's widely available all over the world so look for it in your supermarkets folks. If you live in the US you can request a free sample here. While on their website, I noticed that they make lotion now too! So I will look for that next time I'm in the states.

Well, thanks for joining me in this massive Something Different Sunday! And remember I can fit all this make up in this medium size bag!