Orly Rage

Another that I swatched a while ago.  There are lots of swatches out there of this, but here are mine.

And indoors...

Love this polish.  I also have done a comparison with this against Ulta3 Envy.

Award

We would like to thank Yoannita from On My Nail for our first award ! You should really go check on her blog !

The Rules of this award:

1. Thank and link the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers to tell them about this award

7 things about us:

1. We live in Switzerland (which is a really beautiful country but not a winner as far as polishes are concerned...)
2. We fight almost as much as we love each other
3. We have the exact same car
4. We love the USA (hello polish lovers' heaven !)
5. We were born on august 4 1987 and on august 5 1989
6. We paint our nail every two days in front of the tv
7. We are absolute Disney movies fans and we sometimes love to say at home on sunday watching those movies.

15 recently discovered great bloggers: 15 is hard to find considering the fact that a lot of bloggers have already received this award, so we will stick to these 8 great blogs ;)

Also known as

The Art of Nails

Scrangie

Nail Juice

Vampy Varnish

The Lacquer Files

Short and Sweet Nails

Nailstah

Khaki, really ?!

Hey guys !

What's up ? It's exam day 5 in my I-have-no-social contacts-anymore life and today I was wearing Orly - Country Club Khaki (which seems to have brought me luck) ;)

Anyway, I don't know if I have vision issue or what but I can't see the khaki in this color... It appears to me more taupe than khaki. What do you gals think ? However the lake of khaki-ness in this one, it's a pretty neutral edgy polish which is also really smooth. I only needed two coats.

Let's see if it lasts longer on me than OPI - Over the Taupe. I'm gonna try a little stamping on this one right now, even if I love it (I get bored easily as far as polish are concerned). How often do you guys change polish ? I could change everyday if I had the time, just to match my outfit ;)

Update: here is the stamping attempt. I really need to practice the use of the dotting stick ;)

Comparison: Catherine Arley #674 & Milani - Cyberspace

Here we have the comparison I promised with #674 from Catherine Arley and Cyberspace from Milani. I applied three coats (no topcoat) and the picture is taken in normal daylight.

First the similarities: they're both baby blue polishes with prismatic particles. The application is very nice, they dry rather quickly and removing them is easy.

The differences: Cyberspace is a bit darker and more opaque; the Catherine Arley one seems to have a tini tiny bit more yellow in it. The prismatic particles in Cyberspace are chunkier and they give a scattered prismatic effect (best seen under bright light), whereas #674's prismatic particles are more delicate and they show off a nice rainbow even in low light.

I prefer the opaqueness of Cyberspace, but I love the rainbow effect of #674. What can I say? I'm happy owning both. :O

Thanks for watching!

TBN Ultramarine blue

Today I have a frankenpolish that I made up ages ago and never got around to posting.

I made this up using a bottle of white polish from Totally Beautiful Nails (a cheap Aussie brand) and then added about a teaspoon of Ultramarine Blue pigment that I got from TBK Trading.  It made a a strong creamy bright blue polish.  A really simple frankenpolish that anyone could do.

Below shows the first time I swatched this.  This was two coats without a top coat.  As you can see, there were still tiny granules of pigment left on the nail which made it look slightly rough.  A nice layer of Seche Vite covered that right up, as you can see in the top picture.

Urban Decay - Twisted

I have posted this polish in my gold comparison, and I did promise to swatch it separately.

I originally saw this polish on Scrangie's blog when searching for good gold polishes.  This one really is fantastic.  Indoors, it's a dark gold without too much sparkle, but in the sun it POPS.

Close up of the foil finish sparkle in the sun

This is an old polish, but a beauty.  I got mine off ebay, and there are still listings for it, all at reasonable prices.

Catherine Arley #674

#674 it is for today.. One of the Catherine Arley polishes I am most excited about (did I say that about the others too? They're all so great *sigh*). Look at it! Isn't that delicious and amazing? #674 is a light, baby blue prismatic polish. In the sunlight it's so freakin' awesome I couldn't believe my eyes. And indoors it doesn't dissapoint either (3rd picture), my nails look so soft and glassy, like little gems. I don't want to take it off. Never. I know I have to eventually, but you know what I mean, right? :) This baby blue polish made me think of Cyberspace from Milani, a comparison is coming up. I think the biggest difference lies in the prismatic effect, but we'll see!

There is one little downside: this polish is one of the not so pigmented CA's, after applying the first coat I was a bit worried. I ended up doing three, no topcoat added. As you can see it's beautiful on its own, but I think it's going to be great for layering experiments too!

Did I already mention I adore this one? :L

Thanks for watching!

First things first

I'm back for the new year, and am hoping to:

1. Do more nail polish swatches and
2. Post more regularly to my blog. 

This is because I have the next eight months off work!!!  Yay, you've got to love maternity leave, long service leave etc!!

Any how, first up, here is my little girl at two days old, who arrived on 14 Jan.

And here she is in the bath yesterday at two weeks old.

And here are her gorgeous little finger nails.  She has lovely long fingers with long nail beds.  Guess who can't wait to paint them one day!! 

Will be back tomorrow with some swatches.

OPI - Dim Sum Plum

Hello dear readers !

Here's the color I chose for my 4th exam. It's Dim Sum Plum from the OPI Hong Kong Collection. I would say it's a classic color, sort of a dark pink with a drop of plum in it. It's a nice color for intermediate season in my opinion, not too dark, not too flashy.

The thing I like the most about this polish is the application. OMG, it's so good (like every polish I own from the HK collection). I only needed two coats but I think it could maybe be a one coater, if you go with a thick one. 

I love most of the colors of that collection, the creme ones anyway. For me it's one of the best OPI collection so far.

Do you guys like it ? Which color from the Hong Kong collection is your favorite ?

Catherine Arley #800

Let me tell you first that photographing this polish, #800 from Catherine Arley, was SO frustrating. xo I love my camera, but sadly it does have some flaws, like picking up coral looking colours. So when you look at the pictures you have to add a good dose of coral to it, bright coral actually (like the colour dot on the left), 'cause this ain't a subtle polish. The prismatic effect of #800 isn't extreme, but clearly there. Just beautiful, I love it! It makes me wish there were more reddish prismatic polishes out there. I think this one would be fa-bu-lous for summer (hmm, I'm saying that quite a lot the past days.. Wearing bright, prismatic polishes in wintertime, great idea! Lets just say I'm well-prepared for summer, lol).

The application was very good, I'm pleasently surprised every time I try another Catherine Arley. They glide on so easy! #800 is very pigmented, this is two coats without topcoat.

And I have another comparison for you featuring one of the OPI Designer Series polishes, Reflection. What a great shade! The main difference you see is the golden flash Reflection has, whereas #800 has more of a pink flash. You can place both polishes in the same colour family, allthough #800 has more coral in it. They both have a nice amount of prismatic particles, but Reflection seems to have particles of different sizes and the effect is more scattered.

Well, that's it for now.. I wish you all a great day and thanks for watching! :h

Deborah Lippmann - Today Was A Fairytale and Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Hello snow day!! This is probably one of the worst snowstorms of the year here - NY is swallowed by snow. I've just about had enough of the snow and the winter, and I hope we have an early spring. Look at this chaos! I do love fresh snowfall, but in a few days everything is brown and mucky and disgusting.

So Liam took me to the mall this evening, we were getting stir crazy from being in the house so much due to crappy weather. I got two lovely new additions today - I am not able to swatch them until I return from vacation Sunday, but I did take some great photos of them so you can see how beautiful these really are. Today was a fairytale is the most amazing glittery color - silver and blue are just so cohesive and I can't wait to try this with a powder blue base. Hit me with your best shot is a slate gray/blue and I want to try this in a reverse french. Both are so lovely and a treat to look at until I get to try them :)

I also gave the sparkly french mani yet another go, because it is definitely my favorite experimental mani! This is my best yet, because I had the right swatches that all went together much better.

Catherine Arley #803

normal daylight - sunlight

It may come to you as a surprise, but I have another Catherine Arley polish for you today! This time it's #803, a lime green prismatic polish. If ogre Fiona would want a sparkly nude, this is the one for her. :O It's very sparkly, especially in sunlight! The prismatic particles don't show a full-on rainbow, most of the time you'll see yellow, orange, green and a blue green. I hate to say it, but I don't like this colour on me at all, it's too yellow-toned and apparently that doesn't compliment my skin tone. But I'll definitely try it again in summertime, when I have a little tan!

I also have a little comparison for you guys with Hi-Tech from Milani. As you can see the Milani one is much lighter, less yellow-toned and less bright if that makes sense. Another difference is the size of the prismatic particles; the ones in Hi-Tech are a bit bigger. Application wise: no differences actually. If I had to choose one I'd go for Hi-Tech, because the colour looks better against my skin tone. 

The application of #803 was good! I wouldn't say it's sheer, but I still needed three coats. It applied very nicely, so I don't mind. :) I didn't use a topcoat.

Thanks for watching!







PS, I recommend looking at my post about #667 again, because I added a picture which shows real holo yummyness. Oh, how I love the sunshine! These polishes definitely come to life when sunlight is added.. :L

Frustration

I really need to share my frustration with you right now...

I was on the Zoya website looking at all those beautiful shades when I found out that there is a polish which is named like me. Great right ? Well, not so great... the thing is Zoya doesn't deliver outside the US. Boohoohoo... :(

I really need to find a way to get this polish (and I love the color too... corals are my thing, it isn't just about the name !)

Anyway here's the polish:

Can you guys guess which one is this ? And do you have a Zoya polish which is named exactly like you ?

Catherine Arley #667

Enough with the pinky pink polishes for now. Today I have a non-pink Catherine Arley for you (I want to type Elizabeth in stead of Catherine áll the time, maybe because of Elizabeth Hurley? Arley.. Hurley.. ah, well) Uhm, where was I? :i This is #667, a grey prismatic polish. This one is some kind of a lighter, toned down version of Let's Do It In 3D from the China Glaze Kaleidoscope Collection. Sadly I don't have that polish to compare, but seeing the online swatches I can definitely see some similarities. The main difference would be the size of the prismatic particles, which seem to be bigger in the China Glaze one. #667 is one of the Catherine Arley polishes with a more visible prismatic effect, even in normal daylight (2nd picture) you could see some rainbow rockin'. This is already one of my favourites as I love grey polishes and I don't have anything like it!

The application was a dream, again. This is two coats with topcoat. The topcoat doesn't seem to dull the prismatic effect by the way, so that's nice too!

Thanks for watching!

PS, getting tired of looking at these Catherine Arley polishes yet? ^^

Butterfly wing nail art( or at least my attempt at it) (Erika)

I went on FB a few weeks ago, just to spend a few minutes(coughhackhours) looking at nail polish pics. I noticed that Julie had "Liked" a few pics, so the nosey person I am, I went to see what else was posted, haha. After about 10 mins of looking, I found this tutorial by the amazing elenaeris:



Instantly I wanted to try it! So fast forward a few weeks( hey even if with nail polish I drag my heels, really got to try to work on that whole procrastination thing...) and here are the results:

The nail polishes I used are:
Sally Hansen Insta-dry 430 Brisk Blue
Kiss Nail art (black)
Kiss Nail art (white)
Color Club nail art (opal glitter)

This is my first experience with the Zoya color lock system. I have to say I'm impressed! The remover is amazing! Non drying and no god awful toxic smell. My favorite is the base coat called Armor. It really grabs the color and leave a nice and smooth finish. I am a little bias about the speed drops. I don't think it really helped in the fast dry dept. But overall, its a great set for a person who is starting out with building a nail polish collection(or obsession..tomato..tomoto)

Katy Perry for OPI Shatter Polish (Julie)

Took a drive today to Ulta to check out the new Katy Perry line. There wasn't much left - and the shatters were all gone, which is what I was really after. Had a nice employee check in the back, but there were none in stock. So I shopped around for a while, and low and behold, I find a bottle of Shatter hidden amongst the sale boxes that somebody must have tucked away to come back to. Lucky me!

I applied it over Revved Up Red by Ulta Professional Nail Lacquer line - it's a really bright red and I thought it'd really glow through the black.

I am not sure how I feel about this. It did apply evenly and shattered immediately, and dried fast. However, it dried matte which I hate - so I applied 2 coats of Prolana Quick & Slick, and it was an improvement. I think it's neat I am just not sure it's my style per-se. I think I prefer the shimmery stuff. But maybe it'll grow on me.

Exam Day 3

Hey dear followers,

Hope everyone's week has started nicely...

Today I was wearing OPI - A Grape Fit which is gorgeous but really hard to capture. I'm so sorry for those bad pics (and for my cuticles who look awful...). They don't really do that polish justice.

It's a lilac creme but depending on the light it seems to have a little bit of gray in it. The application was smooth and it gets opaque in two coats.

Artificial light

Natural light

What do you think of that polish ? Do you have a favorite lilac polish ?