Turquoise Skittlette

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Skittlette". We had the same theme about a year ago and if you want to see that manicure click here.

The base for this skittlette is OPI Gone Gonzo! (ring finger) and I chose the rest to match that one. That resulted in a silver textured polish from Depend on the middle finger with the cool name of #2066 ;) and a turquoise polish from Color Club called Pure Energy. On two of the turquoise nails I did a glitter gradient with Gone Gonzo. All very matching and well thought through ;)

How do you like this skittlette?

New arrivals!

Some new beauties found their way home to me this week all the way from the US. I welcomed them with open arms of course ;)

Some newly released and some really old, almost vintage actually :)

Are you curious on some one/ones?

Funky French Leafs Nails

This is a manicure I did a few weeks ago. The base is the vivid OPI Red Lights Ahead…Where? and the leafs are made with MoYou London plate Artist Collection-05 and By K Pink Dahlia . Before stamping I attached a strip of scotch tape to get straight edges of the tips.

I like the result. Less is more ;)

How do you like this manicure?

Traffic sign nails

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Traffic Signs" and I've done a "beware of upcoming traffic light" sign :) I believe my inspiration is an Italian sign. Here in Sweden we have a yellow background instead of white.

The base is Smitten Polish The First Lobster and then I did a striping tape manicure and added OPI My Vampire Is Buff. Three dots completed the look. Top coat on top.

My inspiration :)

How do you like my traffic sign manicure?

OPI DS Glamour - swatches and review

It's Friday. It's payday. I'm on holiday. AND it's time for Holothon again! Could it possibly get better?! ;) Today I'm going to show you an old favorite of mine (not gold or yellow lol!) - this is OPI DS Glamour!

I've showed it before but it's so beautiful and rare it deserves to be shown again - and again, and again... :)

Great formula, great rainbows, great base color - do I need to say more…? ;)

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Holographic.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Excellent! No bald spots, no streaks. So easy to apply! Dries fast.

Brush: Wide straight cut brush.

Top Coat: Yes. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 5+++/5

The only negative thing about this polish was that it had a quite strong chemical smell to it. I haven't noticed it before so I'm wondering if it's an age thing…? I opened the bottle perhaps four years ago. It won't stop me from using it though ;)

How do you like Glamour?

An InLinkz Link-up

Swallow Nails

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Summer" and here in Sweden there is a saying going something like "one swallow does not make it summer" which means that an indication of something does not make it definitely. Anyhow, today I've got some swallow nails to show you! :)

The base is the stunning OPI Give Me The Moon! and the swallows are made with Misa I Will Survive and MoYou plate Mother Nature Collection-03.

I'm quite happy with the result. Grey/silver and black are always pretty and swallows are such delicate and gracile birds!

How do you like my swallow nails?

What is your favorite saying?

Throwback Thursday: OPI Red Lights Ahead…Where? - swatches and review

I'm a fan of sometimes bringing forward older polishes. So today I'm having a throwback Thursday! This is one of my absolute favorite red leaning to orange polishes! It's so bright and juicy!

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Cream.

Number of coats: Two. For long nails I think three coats would be better.

Formula: A nice formula. I wish it could be a bit more self leveling though.

Brush: Wide straight cut brush.

Top Coat: Yes. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 5/5

I've got loads of new untried polishes but I still want to wear this one from time to time. That's how much I love it :)

How do you like Red Lights?
Do you have a polish you always return to?

United in Grey: OPI Give Me The Moon! - swatches and review

I'm having a throwbackthursday and wearing an old favorite today. Give Me The Moon! was released in 2007 with the Nights Bright Collection. I really love this grey shade with its pale blue shimmer glow! However, its formula could be much improved.

This is also my first contribution to United in Grey, a initiative taken by Helena at Lacky Corner to raise awareness to brain cancer.

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Shimmer.

Number of coats: Three.

Formula: Thin and runny. Easily streaky if you're not careful.

Brush: Wide and straight cut.

Top Coat: Yes. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 4/5

If the formula would have been better I'd probably wear this more often. But I do think this polish is worth the extra effort! I love the color of it! The blue shimmer effect is amazing!

How do you like Give Me The Moon!?

An InLinkz Link-up

New arrivals haul

A few days ago I got a parcel full of new beauties from USA! Nine new friends moved in :)

For the first time I going to give OPI's Nail Envy a try. The Essies are mainly for stamping. The rest is for pure pleasure ;)

As per usual a family picture first and then closer pics ;) Enjoy!

China Glaze OMG a UFO, Misa High Brow

Essie Nothing Else Metals, Essie No Place Like Chrome

Essie Penny Talk, Essie Good as Gold

OPI AmazON…AmazOFF, OPI Original Nail Envy

Did you see anything you liked?

Which are your best stamping polishes?

Comparison Cirque Bejeweled and OPI DS Glamour

When I applied the beautiful Cirque Bejeweled I started thinking about how similar it would to OPI's epic DS Glamour. Said and done, here is the comparison of the two of them. Just in time for Holo Friday! ;)

This is two coats of each. No top coat.

Cirque Bejeweled on middle finger and pinkie.
OPI DS Glamour on pointer finger and ring finger.

Bejeweld to the left.
Glamour to the right.

I think the pictures say it all really. You can see both the similarities and the differences. They are both blue holos but they are so different that they both deserve a place in my (or anyone's) collection! :) They are stunningly beautiful!

Which one is your favorite?

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me - swatches and review

It's time for a look in the rearview mirror! This polish was released with the James Bond Skyfall Holiday Collection in 2012. Many bloggers showed it back then and as always I get a bit put off when I see a polish absolutely everywhere ;) But I got a mini bottle of it and saved it - until now! :)

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Glass flecks

Number of coats: Three.

Formula: Ok but a bit thin.

Brush: Thin - but then again it was an OPI mini bottle.

Top Coat: Yes.

Color accuracy in pictures: A bit more orange red looking irl and the golden glass flecks are more visible.

Grade: 3+/5

This polish is a classic pretty red with an extra feature of golden flecks. They make it glitter in bright lights and give it a metallic look in the shade. Beautiful! However, I'm not impressed with the thin formula. Three coats and still some vnl. Shape up OPI!

How do you like this polish?
Do you enjoy reading about golden oldies?

Alien Nail Art

Today's theme in the Halloween Challenge I'm doing is "Favorite Horror Monster".

I've always been fascinated by the Alien movies. I saw the first one when I was about twelve and I was so scared I had to watch the end with no sound! Lol!

Anyway, I decided to make a down sized version of the alien herself. Only her tail actually :) I did dots in decreasing sizes to simulate that spine lookalike tail ending with a knife looking end. To get that metallic feel to it I added some silver dots.

I quite like the outcome of this nail art. You can see the shapes of swinging tails but you can also just see nice geometrical shapes.

The red base is OPI You Only Live Twice. The tails are made with Illamasqua Boosh, Barry M Nail Art Pen in black and Max Factor Silver Effect Polish.

My inspiration :)

How do you like my Alien nails?

Do you like the Alien movies?

Skittlette

The task for today's Nail Art Sunday is to do a skittlette! A very fun theme which you can keep on a very easy level or do just how advanced you like. I chose to keep it very easy but I tried to convince myself that less is more ;)

I decided to chose one polish as starting point and chose the others after that one. So I chose Nails Inc Sugar House Lane (middle finger) and chose the others to match that one. I ended up with OPI Solitaire on pointer finger, Illamasqua Scorn on ring finger and Barry M Vanilla on thumb and pinkie.

And finally a huge thank you for all your birthday wishes yesterday! They really warmed my heart!

How do you like my skittlette?

Are you into skittlettes?

Comparison textured polishes

Today I've got a comparison of four different textured brands for you. I'm comparing Orly, OPI, Isadora and Barry M.

These are today's stars:

From left to right:

Orly Aqua Pixel

OPI Get Your Number

Isadora Sky Crush

Barry M Atlantic Road

Without top coat

With one coat of top coat

Number of coats: 
Two on all except OPI which has three coats. One coat could actually be enough for Orly.

Texture:
Isadora has the most rough surface, tightly followed by OPI and Orly. Barry M doesn't feel textured at all, more like it's dust in it.

Sparkle: 
Orly is the sparkliest. Isadora is on second place and OPI is quite sparkly and has holo in it. Barry M has no sparkle at all.

Drying time:
Isadora is no doubt the fastest, about 10-15 minutes. Barry M is on second place with approx 30 minutes. OPI and Orly took 40-45 minutes to dry.

Removal: 
Orly and OPI was fairly easy to remove. Barry M wasn't that hard either. Isadora was the less easy to remove. Note! No one of these polishes was very hard to remove. No need for the foil method. :)

With one coat of a top coat:
Orly and Isadora looked pretty much the same with a top coat and Isadora was still very rough. Barry M looks like an ordinary cream polish when you add a top coat. OPI on the other hand turns into a fantastic polish with gorgeous depth and shine! A great difference and a great improvement if you ask me! :)

Summary:
In my opinion Isadora is the winner here. Beautiful, sparkly, fast drying. I don't mind that I have to work slightly harder during the removal when I get the other qualities ;)
Runner up is Orly which could be a one coater, has an amazing shine and texture and is easy to remove. The only downside is the long drying time.
OPI is only beautiful with a top coat in my opinion and Barry M's "textured" polish is a pure joke.

Which one is your winner? :)

PS. I have not taken the prices of the polishes in consideration here.

Blue and Pink Holo Interlocking Dots Nail Art

It was really hard to name this manicure. I didn't quite know what to call it. But anyhow here it is and it's my contribution to Holo Friday!

The pink holo polish is China Glaze Visit Me in Prism and the blue one is OPI DS Glamour. Both are wonderful and rare holo polishes which I'm so glad that I own!

The nail art itself is pretty easy. The base is the pink holo. Then I have painted half the nail with the blue holo. I didn't bother with any tape, I just did it by free hand - hence the crookedness lol! ;)
Then I did large blue dots in the joints and then smaller pink dots inside the blue one.

I got the inspiration to this manicure from the lovely Colorful Cupcake Cat!

Finally a short reminder that today is the last day to join my giveaway! 

More info here.

How do you like this holo dotticure?

OPI DS Glamour - swatches and review

I have showed you this wonderful holo gem before, but I can never get enough of it so here it is again the wonderful Glamour from OPI DS Collection. I think it was released in 2008 but I might be wrong.

The formula of this polish is pure perfection and so is the wide brush! It could pass for a one coater but I have two coats in these pictures to get a little bit more depth and holo effect. I really love the dark denim blue bas color! B E A U T I F U L ! :D

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Holographic.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Excellent! No problems at all with holo sickness or bald spots.

Brush: Excellent! No complaints. Pure perfection to me!

Top Coat: No. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. Of course even more beautiful live! ;)

Grade: 5+++/5

I'm really glad I own this polish because now it's quite hard to find! I got this on e-bay several years ago to a very reasonable prize. It's a true gem in my collection! I wear it far to seldom, but for this Holo Friday I wear it with pride! :)

Do you like Glamour?