March 31, 2010

Lumene - Magic Night / Taikayö (51)

Hello fellow polishers!

Time to show you Lumene Magic Night / Taikayö - I showed you the bottle in my Polish-Shopping post and finally I was in the mood for wearing it. And in short: I'm in love with it!

It's a lilac base which contains pink glitter and small blue/pink flakies.

You want pictures?! Here you go!


(inside, daylight)

Dragon said "Whoooa! This one is cool - suits your skin!" (wait a second: since when he realizes that a color suits my skincolor?!)


(outside, natural light)

For the first time at work someone (besides the one co-worker who knows about my addiction) mentioned my polish! They wondered how I manage to apply it so neatly. Well they haven't seen Michèle from Lacquerized ... so I just enjoy their compliments.


(flash)

Later my cosmetician also told my how great this polish looks on me - and that the application was so wonderful (again: she did not read the blogs of the real application-artists!) and she even asked "Are those your real nails?" - "Yeah" - "Great!" (I think it's save to say that I'll never convert to acrylics and so on because I'm just too afraid about them, too economical and I don't like my nails much longer than they are now - so why I should try them out?)


(daylight)


(flash)

Okay, what else there is to say ... application was okay - nothing too great, nor too terrible. But it took 3 coats to get a perfect coverage - by now I get the feeling that I do very thin coats. Only downside: Shrinkage. Looks like my nails usually do after 3 days with tipwear. But I don't care - as long as it is even, I can live with it. And the good: I didn't get worst - on my 3rd day of wearing it it's pretty much like on the day I applied.

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
3 x Lumene Magic Night / Taikayö
2 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

Lumene seems to like "Night / Yö" in their polishnames ;o)

I'm glad that I have a backup from this - and I hope that Lumene has nice summer polishes when I'm back in buying range in july and not only those "play it save" colors they had the last time I checked their polishes.

Oh, and you remember my brush comparison? This bottle had a really uneven brush :o( Didn't like it a all. It was so hard to get an even line at the cuticles! Too bad. But I wasn't in the mood for trimming it, but one day I'll do.

March 29, 2010

BPAL - The Hesperides

Another random BPAL! Today The Hesperides from the Bewitching Brews Collection. The Hesperides ...
are the Nymphs of the Evening who dwell in a verdant garden located in the Arcadian Mountains, guarded by the terrible three-headed dragon, Ladon. Within their garden lives the tree that bears Hera’s sacred Golden Apples. Their perfume is that of sturdy oak bark, dew-kissed leaves, twilight mist and crisp apple.

Morphing:
first - sweet apple and something woody
after 30 minutes: sweet, a bit like cotton candy, apple almost gone.
Later: subtle cotton candy with a hint of rose - nice! (don't ask where the rose came from!)

I really think that I should wear this one more often. It's such a nice candy-scent without being too sweet or childish! It's a possible new BPAL favorite for me! Something totally different from all my other favorites, I think.

March 25, 2010

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by SeeingSunshine! Thank you very much! :o)

I hope I do it the right way ...



Okay, 7 things about me:
  1. Right now I have 3 guinea pigs, hope to be able to get a 4th one soon again.

  2. I have ants as pets. Camponotus ligniperda, guess the population ist something between 20-30.

  3. I'm a vegetarian.

  4. I'm singing in a gospel choir.

  5. I usually wear my hair up into a bun, fixed with a ketylo stick - just love them. Some might consider it an "old style" - well, I don't ;o) It's easy, it's not bad for the hair and I think it looks nice.

  6. I love knitting and painting/drawing but I don't find enough time to paint or knit frequently.

  7. I'm a chocolate-addict. I don't want to know how much chocolate I have at home. It's quite a bit.

And 10 things that make me happy - in more or least random order:
  1. My dragon (also known as my boyfriend)

  2. My family

  3. Sunshine

  4. Rain

  5. Food in general ... I love a good meal and I love to cook it and you can be sure that at least 80% of my cookings include chilli and my family considers it uneatable - while my dragon likes it, well me too.

  6. The universe - I just love it and enjoy reading about astronomy and I get heartthrob when I watch the stars or the sun.

  7. Books. I love my bookshelves and they always seem to be to small.

  8. To sit by the sea and enjoy the sound of the waves.

  9. Waking up in the middle of the night and realizing that I can still sleep for several hours.

  10. The scent of freshly cut grass - the best scent in the world. Still searching for a matching perfume!


That's it from me - now I'd like to tag:
Nail of the Week
The Swatchaholic
Nail Addicts Anonymous
A Polish Problem
Charming Nails

March 24, 2010

BPAL - Ultraviolet

Hello fellow BPAL-friends!

Today I grabbed another random BPAL out of the hat. It's Ultraviolet from the Bewitching Brews Collection.
Electrifying, mechanized and chilly - the scent of crushed blooms strewn on cold metal. Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint.
So what do I get?

This one I have to split, it morphes extremly:

1-10 minutes:
This is really terrible and I think that I have to wash it off immediately. It is sharp eucalyptus with sweet chewing gum mint and a hint of floral. It makes me nauseous and it has something from a very digusting cough drop. The one you'd refuse to suck even if it would really help you. I had to fight to manage those first minutes.

10-30 minutes:
Violet with edgy eucalyptus. Luckily not with the cough drop eucalyptus any more. Very interesting, surely something unique. Nothing you'd expect a perfume to be. And not my style. But I can imaging that I'd like this scent on a man - so I'd label it as "unisex".

After 30 minutes:
The longer I wear it, the more it becomes a plain but nice violet scent. Of course a bit sweet. I'm note sure if this is still unisex ... well I still think that I'd like it on a man - even if it's not the conventional masculine scent.

Verdict: If you endure the first minutes this one becomes a really nice violet scent - violet, not ultraviolet.

March 23, 2010

China Glaze - 2nite (640)

Hello polishfriends!

Okay, time for another holo! This time: China Glaze 2nite from the OMG Collection.

It applied easily in 2 coats but it tends to produce bold spots. It has a light blue color and a great holo effect. I love that the China Glaze Holos dry so fast!

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
2 x China Glaze 2nite
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

I often read that a topcoat reduces the holo effect - I can' agree with that. Granted, while the Poshe topcoat is wet there is no holo left - but dried it shows the holo goddess again!

Ignore the big chip - that was my fault, the polish was innocent.

(in sunlight)

On the sunlight picture you can see my heavy ridges - but on the middlefinger you can see my special ridge with diagonal stripes - by now I really love it :o) My unique ridge.

(in the shadow)

(with flash)

And one closeup of the polish:


I think this one calls for a backup ...

March 20, 2010

BPAL - Squirting Cucumber

Okay, another random BPAL! I wanted this one so badly becaus the lab writes:
Yikes! A spurt of wet, grassy greenness.
This one is from the Rappaccini's Garden collection. But well ... what can I say. Wet? Grassy? Green? No, my skin turns this into very sweet cucumber. Not really something I want to smell like! Fresh cucumber?! Why not. But sweet? No thanks.

Anyway I should not come to close to my guinea pigs with this one ... couldn't blame them for wanting to take a bite ...

March 19, 2010

P2 - elegant (017)

And again a P2 polish (as I told you, drugstore polishes tend to jump right into my shoppingbasket): P2 elegant

It's a toned down lavender with pink shimmer.


(with flash to bring out the shimmer)

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
3 x P2 elegant
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

I had to try it in matte right away - so here it is with Essie Matte about You:

(daylight)

I don't know ... somehow it does not work too well with my skintone and I hoped it would be a bit more grey. It's not totally ugly but it's not great either. And again: Shrinkage! Seems to be normal with P2 and Poshe. I only wore this one for one day - just didn't feel right.

And lets face it: This is no way elegant - at least not on me and at least not in the matte version.

March 18, 2010

P2 - perfectly (147) matte

Before removing P2 perfectly, I tried Essie Matte about you over it:


(with flash)

This looks like a rubber dolls nails ... very strange! Yet somehow funny. Unsure if I'd ever wear it like this!



Just wanted to show you just another great giveaway:
Celebrating 64 Followers! from the nail addicts anonymous.

March 17, 2010

BPAL - London

This one is going to be a short post ...

London belongs to the Wanderlust category.

The lab explains:
Venerable Victorian Tea Rose… twisted, blackened and emboldened with wickedness.
This is sweet but very fresh rose. Gras green. Really nice. After some hours it's only sweet rose but that's around the time I would reapply anyway. So: Two thumbs up for this one!

March 15, 2010

P2 - perfectly (147)

Hello polishlovers!

I was searching for an OPI Tickle my France-y substitution and I found something in a local drugstore. The brand is called P2 and the polish is perfectly. At least that's its name ;o)


It's not really a dupe for the OPI but still ... it was the best I found so far. It has a really subtle shimmer to it, at the first glance it seems to be a creme but no, here you can see that there are some shimmer particles in it:


I think perfectly is the wrong name. From something called like that I don't expect that it takes 3 coats and still is streaky and show VNL. It does not dry very good either, but with Poshe it was bearable but produced shrinkage.

So we have:
1 x P2 Base + Care Coat
3 x P2 perfectly
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

I think this polish is disturbing. Somehow reminds me of "Flowers of Evil" from Rene Magritte with the flesh-rose. Makes me uncomfortable. And yet somehow it's nice. And I love the high gloss finish!

In daylight it's a tad too pink for my skintone - but in artificial light it's the perfect color for mannequin hands.

Final verdict:
Disturbing :o)

What do you think about mannequin hands?

See you later, OPI

Hello polishfriends!

I own 3 OPIs and now I say: See you later, OPI. Why? Because 2 out of those 3 won't dry! Not with P2 or Poshe basecoats or Poshe or INM topcoats - or without any topcoat.

So I'll just ignore them until I make my next order - and then I'll order some OPI base- and topcoat and then we'll see if they work better. I really hope they will, the colors are so nice!

And I want to advert to the March Giveaway from You've Got Nail - check it out!

March 14, 2010

Lumene - Night Party / Öiset juhlat (75) matte

Had to try Lumene Night Party / Öiset juhalt in matte!

This is one coat Essie Matte about You.

I was not sure if the matte finish would make the flakies disappear - but no, it did not, it's quite the opposite: Now you can see them much better because there are no more reflections on the nail. I like this! It makes the polish even more fascinating.

(with flash to show the orange/brown flakies)

By now the shrinkage + tipwear is disturbing but I don't want to remove the polish yet.

Gee, I hate how my skin looks on pictures - it's by far not that dry! It's not perfect either but still a lot better than what the pictures suggest!

For following posts: I seem to have find the best setting on my camera to capture the colors as accurate as possible - you'll see it next time when I show you P2 perfectly - my OPI Tickle my France-y replacement - not quite a dupe but the closest I could come up with in short notice.

March 12, 2010

Lumene - Night Party / Öiset juhlat (75)

Lumene, now you're talking!! This is really wonderful and a can't understand that I ever questioned flakies! They are perfect and I can't stop looking at them! This depth! Great, amazing, I'm totally thrilled!

Okay, what we have:
A brown shimmer polish with very small silver glitter and flakies that vary from yellow - green - orange - copper/red



Dragon says: Too tacky.
Sheep says: Just tacky enough!

But judge yourself:



(at sundown, therefore the reflections)



These are:
1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
2 x Lumene Night Party / Öiset juhlat
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

And one close-up:

Isn't this just wonderful?!

This combination did not dry as fast as China Glaze Emerald Sparkle with Poshe but still fast enough for me. But for the first time: Shrinkage! But let's face it: No one realizes my tips when they are facing the flakies!

My co-worker was so distracted that she did not listen anymore and I had to repeat my sentences 3 times. Cute :o) She agrees with me: Great polish!

Well Lumene - go on like this! More of those polishes, please! You've shown that you can do more than sheer oder creme pinks!

Leaves me with a dilemma: Need more flakies ...

Do you have a craving for flakies as well or do you agree with my dragon?

P.S.: There is another giveaway I want to mention:
The Springtime Giveaway from The Dutch Nail Blog - check it out!

March 11, 2010

Lumene - Angel Touch / Enkelin kosketus (8) with China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat

Okay, I admit it:

I was bored by the Lumene after 2 days and I had 3 layering-choices:
  1. Essie Matte about You
  2. China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat
  3. China Glaze Fairy Dust
My dragon ruled: China Glaze Wireless Topcoat

Still very low-key, right? But at least with a bit bling. But really ... nothing more to say about this one. It lasted 24h and than I moved on to a little bit more fun - stay tuned, I'll show it soon - till then I have this hint for you: The Giveaway from AllYouDesire.

March 10, 2010

Lumene - Angel Touch / Enkelin kosketus (8)

Here comes the first Lumene review!

It's a sheer duochrome polish and so hard to capture! In the sunlight the effect is pretty obvious but the camera just won't show it the way it really is - and of course by the time I was able to take a picture the sun was low again. Anyway, here are 2 pictures:



As you can perhaps guess the color goes from bluish pink over yellow to green - I wasn't able to capture the green at all! This is one coat of polish.

And here is one picture of the bottle:

I was able to wear this polish for about 5 days without any bad chiping but of course tipwear - without any base- or topcoat, because I just forgot to take them with me! So I just figured that this color looks so innocent, it won't stain. Well I was very surprised when I took it down after 5 days - my nails were yellow. Thanks a lot!

I will have to layer this one over a dark creme ... blue or black or something like that. Guess it would look pretty nice!

I already talked a bit about the Lumene brush, now lets hear a bit about the color range of their polishes. It's very dowdy. Mostly pink, nude and reds, cremes and shimmer. No blue or green. I saw 2 duocromes: This one and one light pink one which I will swatch somtimes later. The 2 most interessting colors I found was one brown with flakies and one lilac polish (the bottle is shown here). That's it.

The bottle size is pretty small, 6ml/0.19fl.oz. at a quite big prize between 4,90€-8€

There is one product line called "Natural Code" which also has nailpolishes and it even contains bold colors like green and yellow besides the notorial pinks. But I wasn't tempted to buy any of those, even if some colors where really interesting. Why not? The bottle size was even smaller! 4,5ml/0.14fl.oz. at a price around 4-5€. Somehow I fear that with such a bottle size I will wind up buying too many backups if I really like one color!

But I guess in the summer my curiosity has grown and I will buy a test bottle anyway ... so stay tuned ;o)



I usually use a basecoat to avoid stains - so do you know such innocent looking polishes that stain so badly?

March 8, 2010

Brush Comparison - Lumene and China Glaze

Some polishes really come with great brushes and others have the same brushes I know from my childhood nailpolishing advantures. One of these typical "childhood brushes" would be the China Glaze brush. It's not too bad but nothing great either. I can live with it.

And then there are brushes that are really an ease - like the "One touch brush" from Lumene.

Here's a comparison between Lumene Angel Touch / Enkelin kosketus and China Glaze Wireless Holographic topcoat:

Okay okay, I admit it: The Lumene brush is not perfect! And no, it's not only "one touch"!

Great: It's wide and I really need less strokes + the round shape of the tip makes it easier to apply around the cuticles

What could be better: As you can see the tip is not perfectly shaped. Perhaps I cut it myself one day. One half of it is perfecty round, the other one is frayed.

I'm undecided about the flexibility of the brush ... while the China Glaze is really soft and flexible the Lumene is sort of stiff. This has advantages but I'm not really used to it.

But over all I prefer the Lumene brush.

BPAL - Suspiro

Time for another random BPAL. Today it's Suspiro from Ars Amatoria.

The lab tells us:
A Latin word that means to sigh or draw a deep breath, that also suggests longing, desire, yearning, and a passionate wish. Ylang ylang with white plum, white orchid, jasmine, calla lily and lily of the valley.
First minutes: Guess what! This is a real floral! Of course my skin turns it sweet, but still - this is a fresh, nice floral. I can't get any Ylang ylang. The lily of the valley is faint, the jasmine behaves - the rest: Yep, definitly there!

Later on: Well ... okay. After I put this one on I thought "how could I have forgotten this scent?!" Now I think "Yeah right ... my skin". Of course this one turns so sweet that there is nothing fresh left!

And I'm always astonished about the difference in the scent on my left and right hand! My right hand is often colder than my left - that's the reason for the difference but it also means that the right hand keeps the original scent after application for a bit longer than the left one. The left one gets sweeter and sweeter, the jasmine comes out more and more and the scent is a pastel pink-lilac one while the right hand is still fresh and fruity and nice.

Final verdict: This gets too sweet and too faint on me. If it would stay in the phase like it is on my right hand, I would love it. Fresh, like spring on a sunny day in the garden. But well, the left hand shows how it really behaves and ... no. Not for me. Not totally bad, don't get me wrong but - lets say it with the words of the gorgeous Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me" (does this mean we end up together after all?!)

March 7, 2010

Nude swatches

It's weekend, I have a bit time - so it's time for nail polish! And some surfing! Just found this great Birthday Giveaway I'll take part in! I mean - Gosh polishes!! Gosh! Very hard to get around here ... nice idea for a givaway!

Okay, I'm in the mood for something nude or light pink, creme ... something low-key but nice.

You won't believe it, but the sun is shining!!


So here we go from left to right:
2 coats of OPI Tickle my France-y
2 fingers with 2 coats of Lumene New World - Uuteen maailmaan (hey, this is not properly translated, is it? It should be "To the new Word", not?)
1 coats of Orly Country Club Khaki + 1 coat of OPI Tickle my France-y

Of course with basecoats and topcoats ... the dents in the coats are from "hey are you dry" testings. Have to do them :o) By the way: The Lumene is from my 10 new polishes shopping spree.

I'm not really happy with the colors in the sun picture - they seem more similar than they are in reality. New World is rosy, the others not. The shadow picture is a bit better:

Okay, the OPI is what I really want. The Lumene is nice but very girly, even if it's not a real pink - it is quite toned down. The Orly+OPI combination is okay but the colors on their own a nicer.

And what is with my Tickle my France-y problem? Is it solved with only 2 coats and VNL? No, it's not! This time I tried it with Poshe base- and topcoat - and yes, it won't dry! Later on I will try it again with P2 basecoat and no topcoat. I want to make this work! Can't be that hard, can it?

Tickle my France-y - why can't you be like Orly Country Club Khaki? Almost a onecoater and dry within minutes without topcoat! Makes me want to buy more Orlys! I hope they are all that great. And I love the rubber-lid!

So, mental note: Need more Orly!

And now ... where is my polish remover?

March 6, 2010

OPI - Tickle my France-y (NLF16) - this time with Poshe

I think I give it up!

Or not.

The color is so nice!

No, I think I will make it an everlasting quest, always trying new approaches. Next time perhaps with this one from The Manicured Manatee (and then only two coats of OPI). By the way a really great blog!

But back to my problem:

These are:
1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
4 x OPI Tickle my France-y
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

approx. 35min after applying the topcoat. Great, isn't it? And I needed no effort at all to achieve this wonderful polish mountain. Indeed I waited another 15min till my dragon (I'm sheep, he is dragon) came home to show him the real beauty of this and pushed it even more together without effort. So perhaps my anger towards INM Out the Door is unfair - at least in regard to this polish.

4 coats of Tickle my France-y are simply too much for my topcoats and less than 4 coats of the polish are too sheer for me and leave VNL. Perhaps I should live with the VNL - in this case 2 coats would suffice.

Will have to think about it - I want this one to work!

March 5, 2010

Polish-Shopping

Polish-Shopping is a dreadful thing!

I have to buy most of my polishes online since the great brands like China Glaze, OPI (still not sure if OPI is really that great - I mean you, Tickle my France-y!), Orly, Essie, Nfu Oh and so on are not available in local stores around here. You may find Essie - but at a price that makes me laugh and think "it would be advisable to order that stuff online" - even if I have to figure in the shipping fees from e.g. USA to Europe + additional fees if the value of goods is too high (which it quickly is). The polishes in my local stores are mostly boring. Sheers, french, reds. A blue is already something special, the only two brands being a bit bolder are P2 and Essence - the good is that these two are really cheap and I don't feel guilty when buying them.

Since I'm a penny pincher - not in the sense of not buying stuff if I want it but in the sense of getting the most out of the money spent - I usually wind up in ordering as much as the postal fees allow. For example: You can buy up to 9 bottles of polish for a shipping fee of 18$ - of course I will order 9 bottles. Everything else would be silly, right? And I'll always have enough polishes on my wishlist to find 9 polishes!

But ordering 9 bottles of polish seems very lavish and my boyfriend won't understand why I need 9 more polishes because I already have enough for the next 10 years and don't get me started on my mom who'll even throw in a "Is it really advisable to order stuff from abroad?". But it is just total me: I always want more. More BPALs, more polishes, more water colors, more hairsticks, more books, more more more. I cut back on other stuff to afford something else.

Anyway, I try to avoid getting to the point that I allow myself to order online because I know that I'll spent more money than I should - excused by "if I pay the postal fees it's better to get one polish more than one polish less". But the yearning for more polishes is still there so I'll go into local stores, watching out for cheap polishes, having in mind which ones I would buy if I'd order online. But of course I only find boring ones in the stores - and still I buy some of them, thinking "better than nothing and hey, they are cheap!", bringing home more polishes which makes it harder to argue for another online-order while at the ssme time having spent already a part of the money I would have spent online - because the "hey, they are cheap" leads to "what the heck, this one looks almost interesting, even if I know that I won't be really wearing it" (I'm looking at you, P2 Happy) - meaning: I end up with more than one polish for sure!

Well, that's what happens if I'm in a local store with local cheap brands ... but what happens if I finally get to a store that has great brands I usually won't get?! Total mayhem!

Let's go back to last monday. I was in another country, in a great store called "Sokos" and well ... they had Gosh, Make Up Store (didn't know that one at all), Wet'N'Wild, even OPI, the usual suspects like YSL, Dior and so on and of course local brands like Lumene (but let me tell you: Don't buy Lumene at "Sokos"! I got mine from "Anttila" and "Vapaa Valinta" where they are much cheaper).

The moment I realized the options I went nuts. First I crept through all the aisles, critically watched by all the sales women there - I can understand them, I had this treacherous glow in the eyes which means either I'm going to spend a lot of money soon or I'm trying to shoplift. So they came twice to ask if they could help me but I just smiled and declined - and went on scanning everything in their displays before making any decisions. Well okay, one bottle jumped right away into my shopping basket: Make Up Store SIW. A light blue holographic polish!! How could I resist?! I even ignored that this would be the most expansive bottle of polish I bought until now (yes, until now, because lets face it: If I'd see a Chanel Particulière I'd grab it right away, never telling my sweetheart how much I paid for it).

And somehow - over 3 days - I bought 10 new polishes. And I paid much more for them than I would have paid for one online order, because I fell into the "wow, once I can see the polish live before ordering it! That is so great!" mode. Okay, I got polishes I can't order online, that's true. But still ... perhaps it would have been better to place one online order and ignore the local stores.

To sum it up: If you are used to online shopping like I am - beware of local stores! Try to avoid them! The sight of a filled nail polish rack will be too much for you and after some hours you wonder how this could happen (but since I wrote that I bought the poilshes in a period of three days it is obvious that even this phase of remorse does not last long for me).

But to give you at least an idea of some of the polishes I bought - here are some pictures:

This is the Make Up Store SIW - the picture didn't capture the blue hue but believe me: It's not silver (but they had a silver one ... I think there were 5 holographic colors but somehow I only wanted this babyblue one - partly because of the price and I thought "if the quality is good I can get another one in 4 months" - because then I'll travel there again).

Gosh Rainbow - I can't remember why I was thinking that flakies are not really my style. What was wrong with me?!

This one is Lumene Magic Night - Taikayö. It's a lilac base which contains pink glitter and small blue/pink flakies - grow you silly thumbnail, grow, I want to wear this one to work! :o) (for this picture the sun came out! Such a nice moment - and I have to say it: I don't want anymore snow! I want summer!)

Well, these are 3 out of the 10 polishes I bought - you'll see the others in time ;o)

Do you have these shopping problems as well? Should I join a help group?

March 4, 2010

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle (28843) - matte

As I promised Musicalhouses here comes the mattified version of China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. And what should I say? Despite telling that mattifying this polish killed it - I love it! And here is why: First time I tried Essie's Matte about You on this it was very late and I only tried one nail in artificial light. This time I did the whole hand and in daylight and it looked great. Not quite as intriguing as the mattified Ruby Pumps but still wonderful (ignore the dry skin):




It brought out the glitter in a most amazing way and I will try this again - but first my thumbnail has to grow back.

Ripped nail

I'm back again - with 10 new polishes in my stash ;o) - and the best is: They are from brands I can't buy i my homecountry: Gosh, Make Up Store and Lumene. I'd love to try them right away but I've got a problem:


It happend while I grabbed my luggage ... and now there are those beautiful polishes waiting for me and I can't try them out. I guess I can go with sheer polishes where you won't see chipping so badly and perhaps thats what I'm going to do. I wonder if I should cut the edge of the nail - but then it would look really ugly - but I wouldn't get stuck in socks or hair anymore and it wouldn't rip any further. Will think about it this weekend.

Nails shouldn't rip ... what do you do when your nails are ripping? I know of the teabag method but I don't own any buffers yet, so it would look quite funny. Any other ideas?