NYC, Divage and B. O.

Shimmer, duochrome, flakies and glitter in harmony

I grabbed a few polishes today, for another layering experience.

I started out with NYC’s “Midnight Amethyst” which is a lovely deep purple with microshimmer. The formula is ok I guess. The first layer was a bit patchy but the second coat evened out most of that. I wasn’t quite satisfied though, also because I know that the camera enhance the irregularities, so I applied a third coat, and then I was happy. The drying time between the coats is really good so happily it wasn’t a big deal with the three coats.

Here’s a picture of the first step, the picture is taken in the evening sun:

Isn’t that just pretty? I think it’s an amazing purple!

I grabbed Divage #4908 from the special effect collection. It’s a microflecked polish with a slight duochromatic effect too. I applied a layer over my already purple nails, and here’s what that looked like:

Did you see the blue to purple effect? If I switch the lighting you can see that it almost flashes red as well. Pretty!

Last step was glitter! I used a Chinese polish from B. O., I think it’s number 66 (it could also be number 99 :D ). It’s a clear base with red  and silver holo glitters in various sizes. I brushed a bit of it on the fingertips and let it dry, and my mani was done. I have to say that I don’t like the smell of this glitter (appropriate that it’s by B. O. then ;) ) and it doesn’t have a very good drying time either, but I do like the way it fits with the rest of the mani. Here’s the final result:

That was my little layering experiment for today. I hope you like it as much as I do! :)

Musical Mani Monday, week 7: Eminem feat. Rihanna ~ The Monster

This week number 7 is by far the one I’ve had the most fun with so far. First of all I needed to figure out how I wanted the song to inspire me. I went through all sorts of monsters in my head, but honestly, my freehand skills are rather limited. I can’t even draw a proper monster on paper, so drawing one on the nails seemed rather impossible.

I had almost decided to go for Frankenstein’s Monster, but all of a sudden it struck me: The cookie monster! That’s the monster I want on my nails!

And here’s what they ended up looking like:

Here’s the “real deal”:

Close? Well, close enough! I didn’t do the cookie for two reasons. 1: I knew they’d be ugly and not look like cookies, and 2: I don’t do brown polishes ;)

I did them with regular polish, no acrylic paint involved.

I want to show you how I achieved the little monsters. I started out with one coat of Julie G’s Gumdrop polish “Sleigh Ride”, which is a lovely blue texture. Cookie Monster is furry, which is why I chose a texture.

I wanted  to get a more “furry” look, so I added a coat of Divage Cosmic in the colour #9806, and before it dried I removed some of it with a makeup sponge, and here’s the more furry look I achieved:

This is the sponge, I used:

I was afraid to fuck up the mouths, so I took some pictures after having dotted the eyes on, in order to be able to post at least something if I didn’t do good with the mouths.

Here are the polishes I used:

Julie G Gumdrops “Sleigh Ride”, Divage Cosmic #9806, OPI “Alpine Snow”, Essence “Black is Back”

 I had fun making these and I loved having them on my nails! 

Here is The Monster sung by Eminem and Rihanna: 

 

That was the seventh challenge in my Music Mani Monday. Stay tuned next week to see how I interpret The Way I Are with Timbaland! 

See what the other girls made on their nails: 

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Mail from Russia again - and with love ♥

Once again I've swapped with my dear friend from Russia, Anastasia from Little World of ColouredNails.  The waiting time wasn't as long this time as it has been before. I think it took about 5 weeks this time. So yes, I was thrilled when the mailman arrived with my Russian goodies!!


Here's one half of the polishes: 

And here's the other half: 

 Let's take a closer look at them, shall we. 
First three up are Dance Legends. Lots of glitter, yay!

Dance Legend: 917, Aztec 8 and 920

Two more Dance Legends. I love the brand so I was happy to see five of them in this swap! These two are colour shifters - the left one is textured, and the right one is a flakie! 

Dance Legend: Sahara Crystal 15, and 529

Then there's a couple of brands I also recognize, Pupa and Jeanmishel. Pretty shimmers both of them: 

Pupa 726 and JeanMishel (name is in Russian :) )

Here's a pretty couple too, Eva and Bell. Eva is pink hologlitter and Bell is a blue/purple glittertopper: 

Eva 085 and Bell Glam Night sparkle 03

Then there's a brand I've been wanting to try for a while: El Corazón. This is a pretty pink with black "dots" that look like tiny poppy seeds. And Seventeen - a beautiful duochrome called 539

El Corazón Dotty Girl and Seventeen 539

Divage is a brand I've received from Anastasia before. They're so pretty, so I welcome another member of that family. It's a blue/red/purple/golden duochrome. Aurelia is new to me, but wow! She's absolutely gorgeous. I love the colour shift in her! 

Divage Special effects 4908 and Aurelia 405

Holo and glitter is always welcome. Dona Mirella is a silver holographic glitter. I can't see the name of the Max Factor, but it's black with silver shimmer.

Dona Mirelle 010 (I think) and Max Factor unnamed

The last polish of them all is very special to me already. It's a multicoloured glitter leaning green. And the best of it is that it's a frankenglitter made especially for me. I'm thrilled! ♥

Frankenglitter

 I also received a new handcream - perfect timing, because the one I got last time we swapped is almost empty. Then there's nail wraps and what I believe is a lip balm with cherry. It's something with cherry anyway :D

Handcream, nail wraps and maybe lipbalm

Anastasia also sent me a necklace with a cute pendant. 

There was also candy, but I didn't get to photograph that, sorry! 

That's my great Russian swap. Thank you so much, Anastasia for making this a great one! ♥

Another haul of polish from Russia

Hi there girls,

Here are some polishes I've been waiting for for almost two months: These polishes are all part of a swap package from my dear friend Anastasia from Little World of Coloured Nails! The waiting time has been almost unbearable long, so I was very happy that the polishes finally arrived! 

Let's take a look at some of my new pretties from Russia, shall we?

Divage Special Effects: 4910, Jeanmishel without name or number, Golden Rose 194

 I'm looking forward to trying all these. Jeanmishel seem to be a special effect polish, and shimmers and glitters are always welcome in my stash.

Dance Legend: 11 from Red Show Collection, and #40

Red glitter! And a red polish with the most amazing holo-glitter! 

Pupa 606 and 34, Eva 062

 Burgundy with pink shimmer, blue holo and pink holo. Now we're just waiting for the sun to shine!

Maybelline Colorama: 53, 171A, 54 and 170A

Maybelline has made some pretty cool polishes in their Colorama series. Pink with micro holo glitter, silver shimmer, red with holo glitter and blue jeans with shimmer. I love them all!

I'm so pleased with all my new pretties, and have the luxury problem that I don't know which one to try on first! :D 

Thank you Anastasia, for doing this great swap with me! <3

PS. I'm still working on my UK haul. Expect it to be up by the end of this week. 

Divage Chic and Ja-De - From Russia

Divage Chic ~ 1714  

Deep burgundy crème

Ja-De ~ 355 Celestial  

Iridescent glitter in a pink base

Today I’m going to show you two polishes I received in my first swap with sweet Anastasia from Little World of Coloured Nails. They’ve been sitting in my box of untrieds for too long already – so now it’s time for them to shine!

I started out with two coats of Divage Chic 1714, which is a rich and very delicious burgundy. The formula was great and very easy to work with, and the drying time was fast. I like that a lot in a polish.

Two coats, no top coat:

It leans a bit towards brown, so I decided to spice it up with a bit of iridescent glitter. I used Ja-De 355 Celestial, which is also from Russia (with love, obviously :D). The glitter applies easily; no need to dab the brush around to spread it. The drying time was a bit slower than the Divage, but still on the normal side. I only applied one coat of the glitter:

Here’s a shot from a different angle to show you all the colours this glitter flashes:

I enjoyed the look of this for a little while, as I trying to figure out what to do with it. I ended up with stamping, because I have got a lot of stamping plates from Gals that I haven’t tried yet. I settled for GA30 from the Fairy set, and I used a white no name stamping polish. And I sealed the whole thing up with my faithful Poshé top coat.

This design is much more tribal than it looked on the actual stamping plate, but I like it. I also like that the design is only on half the nail.

Here are my pretties:

So, the burgundy crème is another win from Divage, and this time with the bonus of drying super fast. The Ja-De is indispensable for all glitter lovers, it can spice up any manicure in a rush. So a double Russian win today, don’t you think?

Divage Cosmic ~ 9806

Divage Cosmic ~ 9806 

Petrel blue with silver shimmer

Here’s another Divage polish from sweet Anastasia from Little World of Coloured Nails. I was very excited to see if this one was just as impressively good as its sister, 9805 (Click here to see her).

I can reveal it right away: It was just as good. Great formula, fantastic pigmentation. Dryng time was just as slow as 9805, but it dries up beautifully, and then I’m very forgiving. The brush isn’t the easiest one to work with, because the handle is so small and weird to hold. But it’s manageable.

 I applied one coat to achieve this look:

There’s no top coat involved just yet, but man, this polish is pretty! Here’s a pic from another angle:

Then I used my light blue striper from Color Club called “Blue Chrome” – and that’s exactly the colour it has. I made 3-4 stripes on the top of each nail, and then I sponged some glitter from Amour on the tips. The glitter is called “Silver Stars”. And then I topped it all with Poshé top coat, and my mani was done!

Bottle shot:

I’m very impressed with Divage polishes so far. The biggest downside is the drying time. I’m not that good at just sitting around and wait for it to dry, but hey – sometimes it’s just worth it, you know?

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Divage FX Cosmic ~ 9805

Divage FX Cosmic ~ 9805  

Teal with silver shimmer

I got this lovely polish in a swap with sweet Anastasia from Little World of coloured Nails. It’s teal - and you know, I love teal. It’s got shimmer in it, and guess what? I love shimmer. This polish has got every opportunity to become a winner, so let’s see how it goes, shall we?

The brush itself is approximately normal sized, but the handle is really short. This makes it a challenge to manoeuvre, but I managed alright. The formula is great! The polish spreads out easily and without brush strokes, and girls, this is a one coater!! The shimmer doesn’t really look like shimmer on the nails, more like tiny silver flecks. But this polish is really pretty!

You want to see it on? Alright then. Here’s one coat, no top coat:

 And from another angle:

Very pretty, don’t you agree?

You know I can’t leave polishes on their own. They feel alone and lonely on my nails! So I decided to stamp on this prettiness, in order not to cover it up too much. I used Mash stamping plate Mash-26 and Essence’s “Stamp me! Silver” stampy polish.

After the stamping I sealed it all up with my faithful Poshé top coat, and here’s my final mani:

And another pic, just because I think this is really pretty:

This polish lived fully up to my expectations. It’s easy to apply and it looks really pretty on the nails. The drying time is a bit on the slow side, but I’m willing to be forgiving about that little detail.

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

From Russia - with Love

Yesterday when I got home, I had nail mail waiting for me. It was all the way from Russia, and it was from very sweet Anastacia from Little World of Coloured Nails. I didn't know exactly what was in the package, and man, was I in for a surprise. There were so many pretties in it, that it was difficult to stay calm.

Let me show you what I'm talking about:

JA-DE: 210, 225 and 355 Celestial

 Duochrome, shimmer and glitter!

Dance Legend: 12, 14 and 52

 2 holos and a very pretty multichrome!

Divage: Cosmic 9805 and 9806 and Precious 1222

 Shimmers! And a duochrome!

Pupa: 136 and 051, Eva 061 and Divage Chic 1714

Pupa polishes - I have been wanting to try Pupa polishes forever. And that Eva looks really interesting!

Severina 3D: 310 and Chameleon:  615. Chatte Noire 709

A holo, a duochrome and a multichrome. That Chatte Noire is probably the most spectacular multichrome I have! 

Golden Rose Paris: 131 and Golden Rose Care and Strong: 165
Avon Viva Pink, Max Factor Nailfinity Lilac Haze

 Golden Rose is a really great brand that I like a lot. And the two others were the two polishes that started this swap to begin with :)

And I also got deliciously smelling hand cream, a home made lip gloss (or two, in a box) :) and oil for my lashes.

Am I being pampered here, or what? 

Thank you so much for this swap, Anastacia, I appreciate it all! ♥