Polish and BPAL

BPAL - Gingerbread Poppet 2010

2010-12-21T09:42:00.000+01:00

So close to Christmas we need more BPAL Yules!

Freshly applied this is for 2 seconds sweet cream (hate those 2 minutes, it's just far too sweet) and after those 2 seconds it's warm gingerbread fresh from the oven! Love it!

Dry: ... ?!

I tested this scent already a few times and always loved it! It lost a bit of the spicyness and turned into a sort vanillary gingerbread which was delightful. Today something is utterly wrong. It smells like plastic on me! It never did before! I guess that it's best to stop the testing today - my skin seems to be in a funny mood - or my nose. Will come back for this one!

Later: Okay, now it's back to normal! :o) Plastic gone, cookie back. Spicy, sweet and gives an overall good feeling.

It seems to have some throw - but I can only catch it when I attach my nose to my skin ... but a coworker told me "you smell sooooo good" - and was standing 1m away from me.

Verdict for me: A bottle please!!

Oh, but let's have a look at the lab's description!

Warm, cozy gingerbread spiced with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon.

Yes, can confirm that :o)

BPAL - The Waltz of the Snowflakes 2010

2010-12-09T15:15:00.002+01:00

And the next Yule - this time from The Nutcracker.

Wet: The first second this is heavy and creamy - but right after that it turns into a mint scent with vanilla and some woods in the background.

I'm not a real big fan of mints ...

After a few minutes the mint blends in with the creamy-woody vanilla and it's just intriguing and wonderful. Comfy but not boring.

And now the lab's words:

The Snow Queen and Snow King greet Klara and the Nutcracker Prince as they journey through the Enchanted Forest: vanilla-laced snow, graceful and sweet, with fir needle and black pine bark.

Yes, fits :o) Vanilla + snow = mint, a bit wood from the bark and I guess the fir needle makes it so special.

After several hours this gets a chocolate note - I like the morphing of this one and it's so unique to me - definitely a bottle of this one!

BPAL - Jolasveinar 2010

2010-12-08T10:23:00.000+01:00

It's Christmastime, right? So lets have a sniff at the BPAL Yules. BPAL Yules seem to work a lot better on me than the Weenies - so I guess it'll be difficult to figure out which ones are bottleworthy - or better: Which ones I can affort!

Let's start with Jolasveinar 2010!

Wet: Soap with some gingerbread!

Dry: The soap takes off more and more - the stage welcomes sweetmint and a light wood scent. The gingerbread have disappeared. After some minutes a light iced fruit scent blends into the woods and takes back the sweet mint.

This seems to be one of the few BPAL scents that does not turn sweet on me - quite nice! It's fresh and nice and cool. The more I sniff on it, the more it reminds me of a less sweet and less artificial but more herb "Cool Water" - strange!

Time to have a look at the description! The lab says:

The Jólasveinar are the seventy-some offspring of Grýla and Leppalúði, an ogre couple with a taste for chomping naughty children. This impish brood delights in causing discomfort, sowing confusion, and all-out raising hell during the Yule season. Their names are indicative of their malicious intentions -- Strap Loosener, Door Slammer, Window Peeper, Sausage Snatcher, Doorway Sniffer, Icebreaker -- and their creepy natures -- Lamp Shadow, Smoke Gulper, Crevice Imp. The devillish Jólasveinar finally cease their mischief and head for home at Þrettándinn.

Their scent is a mishmash of snow, dirt, Icelandic moss, marsh felwort, and the smushed petals of buttercups and moorland spotted orchids, with the barest hint of the scent of pilfered Christmas pastries.

Wow - somehow this doesn't match ... or does it? Snow = hint of mint ... no dirt in this one ... moss - yes, at least a little bit of it ... marsh - perhaps the soapy thing in the beginning? ... can buttercups and spotted orchids turn into something icy-fruity? The pastries have been there in the first seconds. Okay, perhaps this does add up after all! :o)

Anyway, this one is nice an different from my other BPALs and it's on my "would like to get a bottle" list!

And this one would be great on my dragon, will have to dab some on him.

BPAL - The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

2010-11-15T11:35:00.000+01:00

This was a frimp from the lab :o)

Wet: warm fruit with a hint of spice and a background of grass and hay

Dry: still fruity but without any tartness to it. Perhaps sweet pear + something floral. Good that the spicy feeling didn't stay, in the first moment it felt like one of whose "spice" scents that make me nauseous and my skin amps them like crazy - instead it turned into a kind of honey underneath the fruit.

Later. Whoa ... this is just getting sweeter and sweeter, the honey seems to grow on me. Time to have a look if there even is honey in this blend from Rappaccini's Garden:

Whiffs of cinnamon bark, almond, and spikenard surround a perfect fruit, whose scent is akin to a tamarind, with the grace of a fine grape, as warm and rich as a fresh fig, glistening red like pomegranate seeds, and as crisp as an apple.

No honey. But okay, something like tamarind! Yes, that explains the sweetness. I really can't get any apple nor pomegranate - there could be a hint of grape - but it's a really overripe grape.

No no no, this just is not the right scent for me, far too sweet! I'm not the fruity scent person anyway but if I wear a fruitscent I want it to be fresh.

Easy verdict: Absolutly no bottle ;o)

BPAL - Haunted

2010-11-11T11:45:00.000+01:00

Wet: Sweet citrus

Dry: Still citrus - this is funny because I pretested this scent a few weeks ago and back then it was a amber-foody beauty I adored - but now it's ... just so different! I'm not a citrus-fan, so this one is really not my alley.

Lets have a look at the lab's description under Ars Moriendi:

A mournful, poignant scent, thick with foreboding. Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk.

Well - obviously my skin is confused. Back at the first test I knew that this scent should not be foody. Now it's not foody but fruity and that's wrong too. I just don't get it.

Both scents don't fit the description at all - todays citrus is everything but not mournful - it is sunny and happy. And the warm amber scent is very comfortable and nice - perhaps hauted by a nice blanket to wrap myself in ;o)

A bit later: Now it's baby-powder ... dead on.

A lot later: Aah, now it's like the first time I used it - amber and a bit foody, really nice. I'll have to think about this one. My favorite amber scent is still Blood Amber - and I'm not sure if I want to wait more than one hour for this scent to become nice. Without Blood Amber I guess I'd go for this one. I'll have an eye on it while the imp ages a bit, perhaps it becomes better, otherwise this won't pop up my bottle wishlist.

BPAL - Halloween: Brooklyn 2010

2010-11-09T09:05:00.000+01:00

I confess: I just ordered this decant because I loooove NYC - so I just had to have this one, even if the labs description did not call out for me:

Flowering dogwood, weeping cherry, Korean pine, camellia, moonflower, Alberta spruce, arborvitae, and crab apples.

Wet this is a sharp scent. Aquatic mixed with smashed floral stems and a hint of some sour fruit.

As it dries down it gets a lot more gentle. Now there are wet trees, and wet leaves on the gravel in a park.

My skin seems to eat this one - it has no trow at all - which is too bad because it is a very interesting scent. It's not a "perfumy" scent to me - it's just very beautiful, conjuring up a perfect park scene after a heavy rain, paired with some melancholic thoughts.

I can't pick out the scents listed in the labs description - but on the other hand I don't know most of these scents ;o)

Cotton-test: On my cotton piece it's the fresh and aquatic scent with some crushed stems but without the fruits. Pleasant and rainy.

Verdict: I'm torn about this one. I only want to buy bottles of scents I'll truly want to wear - and I don't want to wear this one. But it's so nice - on my skin and on the cotton, even - or perhaps because - those scents are so very different. I enjoy sniffing it every few minutes ... but I wouldn't want somebody else to sniff it on me. So perhaps I should just keep my imp and enjoy it ... but I'm not determined yet.

BPAL - Satyr

2010-11-04T10:15:00.001+01:00

Wet this reminds me a bit of Lush Tramp - not that it's the same scent, it's only the same feeling.

It's really hard for me to pinpoint what this scent could be. Musk and something wooden? A dab patchouli? A hint of lavender?

As it dries it's a lot like Czernobog which I looooooove. It looses the disturbing complexity it had in the wet phase and becomes sweeter and softer but still a bit wild and extraordinary.

I'll have to do a comparison between Czernobog and Satyr. Wet I like Czernobog better - but dry I'm not sure.

But lets have a look at the BPAL homepage, Ars Amatoria. The lab doesn't reveal a lot about this one:

Unleash the bawdy, unrestrained passion of the satyr! A ferociously masculine scent: sexual, vigorous, and truly wild.

Sexual: yes. Masculine: perhaps. Wild: a bit. Anyway: Dry it makes me want to eat my hand! It's gorgeous and will go right to my "need a bottle" list - and I'd love to try it on my dragon!

But this won't be a typical "go to" scent for me like Blood Amber. Blood Amber feels like a blanket I can cuddle in or like a second skin. It just feels "me" - Satyr is more "what I'd like to be" or "that's my mood today".

edit: Several hours later this becomes powdery in the best way possible - still in love with this one!

BPAL - Punkie Night 2010

2010-11-03T10:30:00.001+01:00

Another Halloweenie from this year! The lab description says:

Once upon a time, on a wild October night many years ago, a fair took place at Chiselborough. The men of the village of Hinton St. George made their way to the fair, and spent the night in revelry, drinking and carrying on, far into the darkest hours. Their wives grew concerned, and went looking for their unruly husbands. In order to see their way through the autumn gloom, they hollowed out mangel-wurzels and crafted them into makeshift lanterns. The drunken men, in their sloshy haze, saw the ghostly lights approaching, and believed them to be goolies -- the furious spirits of unbaptized children. In terror, they fled in panic from their bemused, bewildered wives.

To this day, that night of foolishness is still celebrated! This is a light-hearted scent: apple orchards, bright cranberries, and a touch of warm cider.

Wet this is fresh and crisp, green apple! Nice, authentic and crisp.

After a while it seems get a floral sidenote, but it's very discreet.

Dry: It gets warmer and I can get some cranberries, but they stay in the background. It's still mostly apple but the cider part adds something mellow to it and gives it a boozy feeling (still wearable in public without someone thinking you drank ;o) ) - it's not the fresh cut apple anymore.

I like this scent, but I'm not often in the mood for a warm, cozy fruit scent. I'll keep my decant but I won't need a bottle of this one.

Still in regard to the day I'll get my scent locket, I tested this one on a piece of cotton to see how it behaves without my skin altering it.

Comparing my wrist to the piece of cotton approx. 45min after application:
While my skin turned this one into a warm scent, the scent on the cotton is still fresh. It's all about freshly cut apple with a really tiny hint of cranberries, no cider noticeable at all. I prefere the cotton version because of it's authenticity and freshness but I'm not tempted to buy a bottle of this for scent-locket use. While it is a beautiful apple scent, it's "only" an apple scent. I wan't more from a perfume than the feeling of a single note. But I'd like this scent as a room scent ... perhaps placing the cotton piece on my heater will help me with that ;o)

Update: The cotton peice on the heater is more red apple scent, a bit warmer than before - nice roomscent!

BPAL - Halloween: San Francisco 2010

2010-10-25T10:35:00.000+02:00

I was so waiting for this decant! The lab's description just sounds too great:

Salt air wafting in from the bay. Rain falling on rain-soaked leaves.

I love the idea behind these "Halloween memory" scents from Beth :o) Thank you for sharing your Halloweens with us!

Lets see what my skin does to it:

Wet this is salty + fresh sort of herbal. I don't associate this one with leaves - for me it is too sharp for leaves.

Dry: This is definitively playing in the "fresh" class! It really reminds me of taking a walk on a foggy autumn morning next to the sea.

But I don't get enough from the leaves in this one - it's only foggy and fresh, that's why it's not really what I was hoping for. It's drawing a nice picture and I really like the idea of it but I don't think that I'll need a bottle of this one. But I'll appreciate my decant.

I could imagine this one on my dragon - will have to ask if he'll finally give in and try his first BPAL! If he should like it, I consider one bottle as a gift for him - always wanted to enable him!

BPAL - Wanda

2010-10-22T10:50:00.001+02:00

This was one of the lab's frimps in my last order. So without reading anything - here are my impressions:

Wet: booze!

Dry: First there is some cherry coming trough and the booze is not overpowering any more. This is nice and fresh and feminin on me! And there is a faint floral undertone coming to the surface.

After one hour or so there is mainly rose with a fruity-boozy background to it. No "old lady's rose", I'd say.

Well ... this is nice and I think I'm going to wear it again but it's not something I'll really crave for. Overall conclusion is: Feminin, subtle, an everyday scent for someone liking floral scents with this extra fruity stuff - but not in a foody way.

And what is in the lab's description from this Ars Amatoria blend?

Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes, Wanda is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch's fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.

Oh okay, so it really was booze in the wet phase! But I really don't get any leather nor musk - but yes, merlot and roses - perhaps with a hint of the myrtle!

But for a Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes this is somehow demure ... ;o)

BPAL - Ghoulish 2010

2010-10-13T22:46:00.003+02:00

I snatched myself some Halloweenie decants - hate to buy bottles unsniffed. And even if these are LE I still want some of them.

So today's scent will be Ghoulish 2010. The lab site says:

This season's Ridiculous Scent! Creepy like Creepy and as spooky as Spooky, this is the scent of a black cherry and coconut amaretto confection gently laced with saffron.

Wet: Gorgeous cherry! Rich and deep and great!

Dry: First this gets spicier. I guess it could be the saffron and the amaretto comes out to play while the cherry is almost gone which is too bad because I really liked it a lot. This is sweet, but not toothaching sweet due to the spicy background. This scent gives a warm feeling to me and reminds my of a fire cracling in the chimney while having a cup of tea and nibble a some gingerbread (even if there is no resemblance to fire or gingerbread in the scent, don't get me wrong here!).

While this is a nice scent I can't see myself wearing it a lot.

After 1h: Oh no :o( This is getting more and more spicy on me like usually only BPAL pumpkin and caramel does. Gnah. It's not that bad that I'd have to wash it away but it's just not good on me.

I'll have to try this one under scent locket conditions (I don't have one yet but I'll change that in the future) - if it should stay the way it's in the wet phase, I'd love it.

edit: I tried this one on a piece of cotton for a scent locket test: It is spicy cherry + amaretto cookies - it's true to the description but I don't really like the spicyness it has - so no, this one is truly not for me.

update: But after 1 day the cotton smells like some wonderful cake/cookie - and this scent stayed for 4 days *sigh* wonderful!

BPAL - Dorian

2010-10-11T09:00:00.001+02:00

After several years of BPALing I finally ordered an imp of Dorian from Sin & Salvation. It's one of those legend BPALs that are loved from a lot of people - so it's just time to try it (even if my cold is still lingering).

So, the lab description says:

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself. Inspired by and created for my beloved Tedwin: my eternal, beautiful, wicked Dorian Gray. Refined, elegant, and lovely, with a noble bearing and seemingly gentle air. This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.

Wet: Tea, lemon and vanilla - a bit foody. This could be nice!

Dry: Gets more bitter and lemony, right like the black tea my dragon likes to drink.

After some minutes: Unfortunately this goes sour on my skin - very unpleasant. No musks and no vanilla left.

And again: One bestseller BPAL that does not work on me!

One of the rare occasions I had to wash the scent away ... but it reminds me that I still have the unread Dorian Gray book at home.

BPAL shopping

2010-10-07T13:27:00.005+02:00

BPAL shopping is a ritual - and it requires a certain amount of patience ...

First I check which bottles I really need. Which is always 1 bottle of Blood Amber + some additional scents.

Then you go to the Lab site and search through the site, make a list with scents that sound good (typically way too many). Usually I stop searching the labs site after a while because I consider it to be too hard to narrow my wishlist later - so better not let it grow too big in the beginning.

After that I go to the forum and search for recommendations and reviews - which usually ends up in adding more and more scents to my wishlist, crossing out a few, reconsidering others.

Then comes the day when I finally allow myself to order - a lot of BPALers do that on lunacy updates (for 1-2 days you can order a special lunacy blend) - I try to avoid all lunacys and Limited Editions because I fear that I fall in love with a scent that might never come back again. So I usually stick to the GC (General Catalogue - which is huge and filled with wonderful blends). And then comes the waiting ... mostly it takes about 3 weeks for my orders to arrive.

And then - after a looooong time - I finally get this magical little parcel filled with beauties ...

4 bottles, 13 imps and a lot of frimps (free imps - I'm so glad the lab tosses them in! Somehow I often end up loving the frimps more than the imps I chosed! ... of course ending up in buying more bottles ... so thank you BPAL!!) and a card.

And then the testing beginns ... usually ending up in trying up to 4 different scents at the same time and asking the dragon "And this one?!" - and after that comes the careful testing, only one scent at the time and allowing it to morph over the hours.

This time the package just arrived at the wrong time - I'm having a cold and my nose is just unfair, depriving me of sniffing thoroughly through my new treasures - but I guess one day my cold has to go away ...

BPAL - Khephra

2010-09-24T11:00:00.000+02:00

A random BPAL, this time a discontinued one (it was from The Stations of the Sun: The Midnight Sun):

Hail unto thee who art Khephra in Thy hiding, even unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in Thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Evening.

Wet: I can't pick out any specific note but some cardamom ... this is just something golden and warm to me (I usually write my own thoughts before I go to the lab and read their description - somehow I wouldn't have thought the Midnight Sun to be such a warm and golden scent!).

Dry: The cardamom fades a bit, some soap appears ... and something herbal comes out to play. Herbal-floral. Perhaps camomille?! Nice but light. Suits this rainy day. Despite the soapy undertone in this one it's a very nice and warm scent which gives me a comfortable feeling.

Verdict: It's okay, even nice - but nothing I need more of. Other BPALs suit me much better and give me a warmer feeling overall.

BPAL - Bon Vivant

2010-09-23T11:02:00.001+02:00

Random BPAL from Bewitching Brews. The lab writes:

An effervescent blend of crystalline champagne notes and sweet strawberry.

Wet: Artifical boozy scent, sparkling and fresh. No strawberries yet.

Dry: Gets sweeter and looses the sparkling scent and becomes nicer - reminds me of a bodyscrub I once had. I still don't get strawberries which is too bad because I love strawberries ...

Becomes a fresh and fruity, light scent. Pleasant but just not the right thing for me.

BPAL - Jailbait

2010-09-22T11:49:00.000+02:00

The next random BPAL comes from Sin & Salvation:

Innocence defiled. Sticky pink bubblegum and the thick, sweet scent of orange and cherry lollipops smeared over a breath of heady womanly perfume.

Wet: Bubblegum!

For german readers: Do you remember the pink "Fix und Foxy Kaugummi" that was sold in the 80s? This smells dead on like those bubblegums!

Dry: Something sweet, soft and fruity, candylike. Artifical - but not bad. I think this is a typical little girl scent - I know I'd have loved it when I was a little girl. But for now it's too ... well simple - I miss the "heady womanly perfume". Perhaps I should give this one to my niece (to be) - she is 6 and I think she would appreciate this one.

BPAL - Kill-Devil

2010-09-21T10:22:00.002+02:00

Lets grab a new random BPAL! Again from Bewitching Brews:

"Rum punch is not improperly called Kill-Devil; for thousands lose their lives by its means. When newcomers use it to the least excess, they expose themselves to imminent peril, for it heats the blood and brings on fevers, which in a very few hours send them to their graves."

Sugar cane, molasses, oak wood, and honey.

Wet: Very sirupy.

Dry: Sweet, a bit mossy with a hint of wood. Not unpleasant but also not really my thing. And somehow this one is a very flat scent - I more fond of the complex BPALs. But this one could be nice for layering!

Still this one would be a good choice for a cold and sunny day, perhaps for a walk on a fair or something like that.

And while this is sweet, I'd still consider it to be unisex because it's sweet + masculine undertone.

BPAL - Black Forrest

2010-09-18T10:09:00.000+02:00

Another random BPAL from Bewitching Brews.

This is the captured scent of a cold, moonless night, lost deep within the darkest wood. Haunting and desolate, this scent evokes images of fairy tale tragedy and half-remembered nightmares. Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress.

Wet: Shower gel "Aqua". Cheap, soapy, blue with something sweet underneath (well, no wonder, I ruen everything sweet, right?!)

Dry: Still soapy, a bit piney - only the sweet note is a bit more prominent.

I don't really get the picture of a forrest from this one since there is a sweetness to it, I can't see any dark night or cold or desolate feeling in it.

After 1h: soap + shower gel seem to vanish and leave a nice sweet piney scent with something sour behind ...

My skin might spoil it - I think I'll try it once on my dragon, otherwise it gets a "no" from me.

BPAL - Bliss

2010-09-17T10:08:00.002+02:00

A favorite of mine :o)

It's from Bewitching Brews and the lab description says

A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate.

This is far from milk chocolate on me! It's the scent of my favorite chocolate cake the moment you take it from the oven and the whole room becomes one big yummy!

It's not too sweet and has a tart edge. I really love it!

My dragon and my mom think that it is masculine - and they don't get the chocolate at all - while my coworker agreed with the hot chocolate cake.

This scent is just perfect for cold and rainy days because it's like a blanket I can wrap around me. It definitively cheers me up and gives a warm feeling - and makes me crave for chocolate :o(

BPAL - Cathedral

2010-09-16T10:00:00.001+02:00

The next random BPAL from Sin & Salvation:

Venerable and solemn: the scent of incense smoke wafting through an ancient church. A true ecclesiatical blend of pure resins.

Wet: Somehow soapy with a nice spicy background and a touch of eucalyptus.

5min: This reminds me of Aureus, I think ... it's somehow pleasant but the soapy note is distracting.

Dry: The soap is gone, the spice (guess it's the incense) is still there and is now accompanied by a very dry, wooden scent. Nice!

After 1h - either the scent almost gone or nose is stuck! There is only a light scent left, a bit spicy and somewhat nice but I really have to put my nose on my skin to smell it.

Verdict: A nice scent but somehow unsigificant on my skin and too faint. But I'll revisit it on another day to rule our that my nose is the culprit!

BPAL - Gluttony

2010-09-13T08:25:00.001+02:00

I know when I ordered this one I was sooooo thrilled. Gluttony from Sin & Salvation:

Thick, sugared and bloated with sweetness. Dark chocolate, vanilla, buttercream, and hops with pralines, hazelnut, toffee and caramel.

Sounds great, right? Foody, yummy ... but on me it is really ugly! No chocolate, no cream, nothing of the nice things that should be there! On me it is very powerfulf, very spicy a bit smokey and it makes me nauseous! I guess by now that it's my skin + BPALs caramel - they just don't go together.

I let the dragon sniff at this and he even claimed that the scent reminds him of a oddly sweet broth.

Definitively a scent I won't need ...

BPAL - Eclipse

2010-09-09T08:45:00.004+02:00

Again a random BPAL: Eclipse from Bewitching Brews. The lab tells us

All the glory, warmth and majesty of the sun -- darkened. A delicious blend of bitter almond, vanilla, frankincense and heliotrope, with a drop of cinnamon.

Well, wet this is wonderful. It's cherry/almond, wonderful, not too sweet, just perfection.

Wet on my skin I almost went nuts: Perfect!! Still like in the imp!

Dry: Huh?! Where did all the cherries go ... ahm, almonds?! After 10 minutes I barely can pick up any scent at all! My skin ate Eclipse!!! And my skin is tingling a bit where I applied the oil. Strange. Everything left is a slight sugary note - absolutely nice, but nothing more or less, far too subtle for a perfume! I have to attach my nose to my skin to guess that there is something to smell!

2nd try: A bit of oil in my hair - perhaps the scent stays there! But again ... after some minutes there's only a faint sweet scent, not as sugary as on my skin - but no almonds, no vanilla.

This is sad - wet it's such a great scent!! Perhaps I should use it as roomscent in an oillamp - that could work.

Well, perhaps good for me: I escaped another "have to buy a bottle!"-trap.

Supplement: After one hour the scent came back. Well, not THE scent, more a scent. I'd say its a bit cinnamon and some vanilla ... it's nice but still not very intense. This is really a funny kind of morphing! From great to nice to nothing back to nice.

2nd supplement: And one hour later there is even some cherry in scent! (this time really cherry, no almond) - I'm not so sure anymore that I won't need a bottle of this ... damn! Make this a half favorite ;o)

3rd supplement: Okay, make this a favorite! I ordered a bottle! On most days it's a bit like Antique Lace + some almond - just beautiful!

BPAL - Miskatonic University

2010-09-06T09:57:00.001+02:00

The next random BPAL is from A Picnic in Arkham and the lab discribes it as

A venerable New England university, whose vast library holds many rare, diabolical and obscure arcane works, including one of the few surviving legitimate copies of the Necronomicon. Home to innumerable scholars of the esoteric and the occult, and the notorious Dr. Herbert West.

The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

In the first moment this ist pure coffee - and I'm not too fond of coffee, but this is sweet and kind of soft, not the harsh scent I know from our coffeemachine. No dust or wood to my nose.

After drydown: This pretty much stays soft, warm, sweet and creamy coffee - I can wear it, I even like it, but it is so not me. I'd consider this scent comforting and cozy - it smells like a rainy day on the couch with a great book - and well, coffee I guess ;o)

After a few hours: Now this is spicier and a bit woody - not so sweet anymore.

BPAL - Obatala

2010-09-03T10:30:00.000+02:00

Again time for a random BPAL. Obatala from the Excolo Collection. The lab says:

The King of the White Cloth, King of the Orishas, the First Among Equals. He is the King of Power, and his weapon is wisdom. He is the essence of honored maturity, wisdom through age and experience, purity of intention, virtue, humility, tolerance, judicious use of power, the knowledge of what is truly right and wrong, the moral code, and the obligation to do what is right. Obatala is the Creator God, who first fashioned mankind from clay; thus, he is also the first sculptor and potter. The human head itself is Obatala’s creation, and it is through it that he grants us the ability to discern genuine morality as opposed to oppressive, mistaken and arrogant self-righteousness. His is not the falsehood of societal boundaries, His Truth is the understanding of one’s own character and the obligations that we all have to our world, our Gods, and one another. He is the Benevolent Judge, calm and lucid, and he governs rational deliberation. His color is white, as His spirit is free from any soil or stain, and His energy radiates sanctified purity, great wisdom, happiness and internal peace. He is associated with cloth, as that was one of His gifts to mankind. The aspects of Obatala are symbolized by the chameleon, boa constrictor, elephant, gorilla, and snail. Obatala is the Lord of Laughter, for it is through wisdom that one may see the joy in life, and through laughter we are able to see the follies of mankind not with cynicism and derision, but with humor, compassion and understanding. Obatala’s Laughter helps soothe the pain of life’s rigors, and takes the sting out of the harshest of life’s lessons. Obatala’s ofrenda is soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.

Whoa, this is sweet! I don't remember it beeing so sweet when I first tried it! But my imp is aged by now, so perhaps I got sweeter over the time.

Wet: very sweet and coconutty with somethig underneath I'm not too fond of. Almost like the milk in it turned sour ;o)

Later: It starts to behave ... it's not cavity giving sweet anymore - now it's just sweet and there is something similar to Lush Silky Underwear to it.

My verdict: Nice but too sweet on me - and I think my skin doesn't work well with the milk, so this won't become a favorite.

1. Co-workers verdict: Pure coconut! She's in love ;o)
2. Co-workers verdict: Something smells like coconut! - It's me - Never wear that again, it reminds my of those candys I like and I get hungry!

BPAL - Spellbound

2010-08-27T11:38:00.000+02:00

A random BPAL - this time from Ars Amatoria:

Perfectly enchanting! An irresistibly sexual, utterly rapturous blend of three roses, radiant amber, and sensual red musk.

First I thought: Huh, how could I forget this scent?! It slept for a long time in my "try again" stash - and it is so nice! It's roses with a hint of Blood Amber and something earthy.

After a while the Blood Amber hint vanishes, the scent becomes more earthy and somehow masculine - not at all a romantic rose, but really a great scent.

Afer a few hours becomes sweeter - somehow with a hint of vanilla - and still some earthiness. The vanilla is not candylike, just perfect.

Overall an interesting scent with a lot of morphing. I think I should wear it more often!

Vacation!

2010-07-02T14:52:00.000+02:00

Just to let you know: I'm on vacation! Without any internet - so don't wonder. By August I'm back with new polishes!

I wish you all a nice summer!

MNY - 109A

2010-07-01T14:30:00.001+02:00

What a glorious name ... 109A! No really, bad marketing. BAD! I know a lot of polish lovers who reach out for a polish with a great name - just for the sake of the name (same with BPAL, by the way. It's just fun to wear something like "Eat me"). Creative names are important! So stop using only numbers! It's just no fun "Oh, your nails look nice, what kind of polish is that?" - "Oh, that's MNY 109A". Much better "Oh this is Catrice London's Weather Forecast" (to stay within the drugstore range).

But the polish is nice - it's a light turquoise/blue/pink duochrome shimmer. A bit on the sheer side, after 3 coats I still had VNL.

This is on the 3rd day - yes, there is some chipping ...

1 x Nubar Foundation Base Coat
2 x MNY 109A
1 x Nubar Diamont Seal & Shine Topcoat
1 x MNY 109A

I liked this polish a lot! It's a LE - so good that I got 2 bottles right away (will I ever finish one bottle?) And I have one shirt that is the same color (he he, no the shirt is not duochrome ;o)) and the combination was just wonderful!

Oh, by the way: I thought I mastered my peeling nail phase - but I didn't. Before I removed this polish I already saw it: Massive peeling on 3 nails :o(

Nubar - Petunia Sparkle (G186)

2010-06-30T14:25:00.001+02:00

Hello out there!

Here comes another glitter: Nubar Petunia Sparkle! A pink glitter in clear base.

I almost didn't dare to wear this at work - and lets face it: The color is so not me!!

But actually I liked it and the female coworkers too! The male ones ... well they were baffled and started at it. Hm, a lot of people stared at it!

These are:
1 x Nubar Foundation Base Coat
3 x Nubar Petunia Sparkle
2 x Nubar Diamont Seal & Shine Topcoat

But even with 2 coats topcoat the surface was still bumpy and not really nice - but I was too lazy to add more topcoat.

And a closeup in the sun!

I already tried another Nubar sparkle and the first on did not chip - this one chipped after one day - I think the picture shows the 2nd or 3rd day.

Removing was nat that bad - I cut 2 makeup pads into nice little pieces that fit my nails, soak them with polishremover, place them on my nails and wait for 2-4 minutes - after that the polish comes off easily.

Make Up Store - SIW

2010-06-23T08:45:00.001+02:00

Hello again!

So here comes the most expansive nail polish I own right now (14€ about 17$):
Make Up Store SIW
It's sitting for quite some time on my shelf - I showed a bottle picture here - I was afraid to try it out and to regret the money spent. But finally I dared to do it:

Isn't it a beauty?! I just love holos!

But of course: This beautiful light blue holo had to be a PITA to apply! Well at least when I tried it the "normal" way. I figured out that this one needs the following procedure: Base coat, 1 coat polish, topcoat, 1 coat polish and so on - 2 coats of polish on top of each other will cause bald spots. Unlike the China Glaze OMG holos this one really dulls down with a topcoat. But the good thing is: It dries really quick! You won't need a fastdrying topcoat with this one, a fact I love.

So this are
1 x Nubar Foundation Base Coat
3 x Make Up Store SIW
1 x Nubar Diamont Seal & Shine Topcoat
1 x Make Up Store SIW

So all in all this are 4 coats of SIW! Not because it's too sheer, no, because of the bald spots. Otherwise 2-3 coats would have been enough.

(had to make one picture in natural light but indoors because thats where the blue color is really beautiful)

Well, but it's not only a PITA to apply - it chips. These pictures are on the 3rd day of wear, but the chipping started on day 1 - I had to do minor touchups every day - but in the end I wore it for 7 days because it was just so nice.

So this is a very expansive polish which is terrible to apply and likes to chip but dries quickly. But somehow it is worth the trouble because it's just so - wow! I really like it and I'll have to check out the other holos from this brand - unfortunally they rised prices, now it's 15€ a bottle, at least the homepage tells so - so I'll only reach out for something really special - otherwise there would be a lot of nice colors to try, the color range was quite nice! And I love the bottles ...

I only wish for a personal lighting technician so that all holos always look adoreable!

Color Club - High Society (881)

2010-06-08T14:47:00.000+02:00

I know I know - so many great and bright new polishes and I go for something like this ...

But be honest: It's really nice, isn't it? Well, I like it! :o)

So, this is:
1 x Nubar Foundation Base Coat
2 x Color Club High Society
1 x Nubar Diamont Seal & Shine Topcoat

Application was great (again, one coat would have been enough on most fingers), drytime was good to - there was some chipping after 24h - but that's due to my peeling and therefore weak nails. And the name High Society is a perfect one for this taupe creme - I always feel elegant and mature with these kind of colors.

I'm not sure if the Nubar Foundation might be the wrong way to go with peeling nails - it seems to stick too good to the nails and takes a bit nail with it when it chips.

The Nubar Diamont Topcoat seams to be a great alternative for Poshe! Perhaps I should try it with a P2 polish cause the Poshe caused shrinkage with them - it would be great if the Nubar wouldn't!

Bottle Spam

2010-06-06T19:23:00.007+02:00

In the last month I got some new polishes I wasn't able to show - but better late then never ;o)

These are Catrice London's Weather Forecast (280) - love the name and I sea You (250)

These two are Nubar Foundation Base Coat and Diamont Seal & Shine Topcoat

Do you think I'm into glitters?! ...

These are (from left):

Nubar Gem (NPZ316), Prize (NPZ321), Petunia Sparkle (G186), Violet Sparkle (G185), Night Sparkle (G182)

And then ... I bought some nail polishes in NY (so don't wonder about the little stickers on the bottles). My NY haul:

The first ones (bought at Duane Reade near the Rockefeller Center):

Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink (05) and Lime Lights (25)

Sinful Colors (bought at Times Square/Walgreens and Duane Reade/Rockefeller Center and somewhere else I forgot) - again from left to right:

Pearl Harbor (142), San Francisco (802), See you soon (931), What's your name? (319), I love you (925), Ruby Ruby (369)

Sally Hansen HD's (CVS near Chrysler Building) l to r:

Wavelenght (11), DVD (15), Laser (16), Spectrum (14)

NYC Skin Tight Denim Creme (115A)

Essie (bought on the way to High Line Park ... Ricky Something ...)

Sag Harbor (683), Mint Candy Apple (702)

OPI - yes yes, I know ... I said I won't buy them anymore - well, but this one was not an online order ... just don't blame me, it was so nice! (same shop as above):

Catch me in your net (NL D33)

Orly (the blue one at Rickys from above the red one ... well from somewhere):

Star Spangled (40721) and Blue Suede (40241)

Claire's Mood Polish happy/earthy (from Jersey Gardens)

Milani (from CVS near Chrylser Building and some other stores):

Molten Rock (188), Totally Cool (119), Garnet Gems (27A), Ruby Jewels (23A)

Prevail (from Duane Reade in the Chrysler Building):

See you in Chelsea

And last but not least! Sephora by OPI (I don't consider those as OPI ... from a Sephora at times square, not 1500):

Mr. Right Now (210), Teal we meat again (007), 212-Sephora (016)

Well, a lot to try, I'd say!

I won a giveaway!

2010-06-04T08:03:00.007+02:00

And here are the wonderful polishes I got from Scandalously Polished:

These beauties are:
OPI DS - Design
Finger Paints - Decked with Dazzle
Incing - Blackout
Finger Paints - Sparkling Snow

They are perfect, dear Scandalous! Blackout is my favorite (at least in the bottle) and they are all firsts to me: Never had Finger Paints or Icing or any OPI DS!

And thank you for sending me a second parcel, cause folks, the first one is somewhere in parcel-nirvana :o( It's almost 2 months ago that Scandalously Polished sent the first parcel - and I really appreciate that you went through the trouble of sending a second one! Thank you!

Catrice - I Sea You! (250) with China Glaze Atlantis (80406)

2010-05-17T00:10:00.000+02:00

After 3 days of Catrice I Sea You! I just had to do some layering - and what a coincidence that I just received China Glaze Atlantis!

But I've to say: China Glaze Atlantis is not a all what I expected! I wonder why - I saw it so many times in blogs! But I didn't realize that it contains just silver holo glitter! Somehow I thought it would be multicolored! But well, it's still nice! It's just a turquoise jelly with silver holo glitter.

Here are 2 layers of Atlantis over Catrice:

1 x P2 Care and Basecoat
2 x Catrice I Sea You!
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat
2 x China Glaze Atlantis

And a closeup:

The surface is really bumpy but I was too lazy to apply any additional topcoat - and since there is no sunshine in sight I can't even show the wonderfull bling this polish has! All I get is cold temperatures and big clouds!

Removing was a real PITA ... next time I'll try the aluminum foil method!

Catrice - I Sea You! (250)

2010-05-14T10:23:00.001+02:00

Long time no see! I'm sorry for that - but my nails peeled too much and my nose was out of order ...

But now I'm back with a new polish - my first from the brand Catrice - cheap drugstore brand - and I've got to say: It won't be my last! Application was a dream! I did 2 coats but on some nails the first would have been enough (yeah, they don't come out consistent - I'm still in the learning phase). The brush is nice and wide - which I really love! Drytime was as always when I use Poshe.

So here it is, Catrice I Sea You!

1 x P2 Care and Basecoat
2 x Catrice I Sea You!
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

I saw some swatches and it seams to be closely to Misa Dirty Sexy Money, but not quite as greyed out or dusty - so I'll still buy the Misa if it should come my way but otherwise I'll be happy with I Sea You!

And I got a lot of comments on this one - especially my co-worker loved it a lot!

And to celebrate the "I won't buy OPI anymore" I bought some Nubars - they already arrived, I'm excited to try them out! And I try to fight the peeling with some new stuff: The Nubar basecoat and polish remover with acetone.

OPI

2010-04-29T13:23:00.000+02:00

A little addition from me: The Swatchaholic wrote a wonderful post about OPIs price policy - check it out!

I totally agree with her - I got a mail from OPI once that I should not buy OPIs at US internet shops but over my local distributor - I couldn't refrain myself, I wrote them that with their absurd international price policy I surely won't buy them here.

It's funny, it almost seem that they don't want to boost their market ...

Sad news - where to get nailpolish?!

2010-04-27T07:58:00.003+02:00

I'm bummed ... transdesign - my polish dealer - stopped shipping nailpolish in flat rate boxes outside US. How should I get my polishes now? They had good prices, especially on China Glaze. The prices on China Glaze, OPI or Essie are absurd around here! OPI polishes go from 14-20€ (18-26$)! And after my bad experiences with OPI I would not buy a polish at that price. The China Glazes I bought here were 7-8€ (10-11$). Even with shipping and taxes the polishes I bought at transdesign were less expensive.

Very very sad.

China Glaze - Bermuda Breakaway (674) with Gosh - Rainbow (546)

2010-04-26T09:37:00.004+02:00

Sorry for the big break! After the massive nail-peeling I gave my nails a little break and afterwards I needed a China Glaze FYI treat. The peeling is still bad ...

But now I'm back with a picspam from something ... well ... colorful! Very colorful indeed:
China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway layered with Gosh Rainbow.

Is it too much? - Perhaps

Do I like it? - Yes

Does the dragon like it? - No way!

This time the coats are a bit different:
2 x P2 8in1 nailwonder
2 x China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat
1 x Gosh Rainbow
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

I think a bit less flakies would have been nice - but Gosh Rainbow is really packed with them!

(in the sun)

And guess what? I had bed linen stamping! But thanks to the flakies you won't see it, so I don't care that much.

So what do we have? China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway is a creme blue - ink blue. A least the ink I wrote with as a child - before we were allowed to use black or lilac or teal ink ;o) And Gosh Rainbow is a clear polish filled with transparent flakies - I love it layered over darker polishes but some days ago I saw it layered over a white polish - it was just wonderful!

This polish combination is nice, I think. But I got a whole lot of different opinions. Some loved it, some were very doubtful and others hated it. But it certainly got a lot of looks from everyone - so it's not for those days you wish to go unseen ;o)

I applied this one monday evening and was pretty sure I'd remove it tuesday evening because - well, let's be honest: I was too afraid to wear ist. Anyhow - I removed it on saturday morning. Somehow my boldness growed and I went into "I like it - so you have to live with it!"-mode.

Removing it was not the PITA I anticipated! But after I removed it I had to file my nails way back because the peeling is still so bad and I can't leave it alone.

After this flakie-week I think I really need Nfu Ohs ... well well well - perhaps next month!

I just love how much depth the flakies create while their surface is perfectly smooth!

And I have a giveaway I wanted to show:
Painted Lady Fingers Hard Candy Giveaway!

And another Giveaway!
This time from R3 Daily - a Rescue Beauty Lounge Giveaway!

BPAL - Strangler Fig

2010-04-12T11:51:00.001+02:00

This time from Rappaccini's Garden

A glorious parasite! Once the seeds of the Strangler Fig find root in the bark of a tree, snakelike roots erupt and reach graspingly at the sky. The Strangler Fig then sprouts numerous epiphytic vines that strangles and surrounds its unwilling host, and finally snuffs the life from it. Rooty, woody, with deep green tones.

wet: sweet grass and wood
later: Still a bit woody but I'm surprised: They said nothing about vanilla! Why is this vanilla on me? Really nice vanilla! Grown up vanilla! I think I'll need a bottle of this for those days a crave the security vanilla gives me. This might become a BPAL favorite of mine!

Peeling Nails

2010-04-09T14:00:00.000+02:00

Now I remember why I stopped polishing my nails a few years ago!

The polish wouldn't dry and I had always this nice bed linen stamping.
My nails started to peel like crazy.

For the first point I found a solution (hello Poshe!) but the peeling is still a problem! It would be nice to pinpoint the reason for the peeling. Is it the polish or the polish remover? And how to counteract the effects? I'll try adding oil to my polish remover - but I already put oil on my nails after removing the polish, so I'm not sure if that will work. I already use a base coat that is supposed to prevent the peeling but well - my nails haven't read the text on the box, so they don't know about that.

Do you have a solution to peeling nails?

Color Club - Ms. Socialite (886)

2010-04-08T12:31:00.000+02:00

Oh, this one is nice! And the application was a dream in 2 coats:

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
2 x Color Club - Ms. Socialite
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

After 2 Color Club polishes I have to say, that I really like their formular so far! The brush could be better - but still! No shrinkage like with P2 and no drying issues like with my OPIs.

I'll be wearing this one a lot because I have severaly shirts in this color (I simply call it berry-color) and one wonderful, long skirt with paisley pattern in which this color occurs (someone convinced me last summer that I should wear more colorful stuff - and I think that someone was right.)

Two thumbs up for this Color Club Ms. Socialite!

Color Club - Take me to your Chateau (878)

2010-04-06T15:14:00.000+02:00

Time to show my easter mani! Color Club Take me to your Chateau

This one seemed to be too much for the people around me! I got a lot of critical looks and comments. And I'm not sure if I loved it that much. And yes: A very messy application from me! But still: It was fun!

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat
2 x Color Club - Take me to your Chateau
1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

If you don't have ridges (or a good ridge filler) this one would be a one coater!

Wonderful polishes I won in a giveaway!

2010-04-04T12:34:00.002+02:00

I won the giveaway from Kris Primps! Thank you again for these wonderful Color Club polishes and this great giveaway!

Here are the polishes that reached me:

These are from left to right: Take me to your Chateau, Gossip Column, Wild at Heart, Wild and Willing

These are: High Society, Best dressed List, Ms. Socialite

And once again Wild at Heart, Wild and Willing with flash:

My first Color Clubs! I'm so excited to try them out! Thank you Kris!

And happy easter to all my readers! I wish you all a blessed holiday!

P.S.: I think Take me to your Chateau would be a good easter polish choice, wouldn't it?

Lumene - Magic Night / Taikayö (51)

2010-03-31T15:23:00.000+02:00

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.

BPAL - The Hesperides

2010-03-29T13:04:00.000+02:00

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.

I've been tagged!

2010-03-25T13:24:00.001+01:00

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

I hope I do it the right way ...

Okay, 7 things about me:

Right now I have 3 guinea pigs, hope to be able to get a 4th one soon again.

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

I'm a vegetarian.

I'm singing in a gospel choir.

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.

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

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:

My dragon (also known as my boyfriend)

My family

Sunshine

Rain

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.

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

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

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

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

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

BPAL - Ultraviolet

2010-03-24T13:35:00.000+01:00

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.

China Glaze - 2nite (640)

2010-03-23T19:47:00.000+01:00

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 ...

BPAL - Squirting Cucumber

2010-03-20T20:00:00.000+01:00

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 ...

P2 - elegant (017)

2010-03-19T16:00:00.002+01:00

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.

P2 - perfectly (147) matte

2010-03-18T21:00:00.000+01:00

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.

BPAL - London

2010-03-17T13:00:00.001+01:00

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!

P2 - perfectly (147)

2010-03-15T14:10:00.001+01:00

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

2010-03-15T08:31:00.003+01:00

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!

Lumene - Night Party / Öiset juhlat (75) matte

2010-03-14T14:37:00.000+01:00

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.

Lumene - Night Party / Öiset juhlat (75)

2010-03-12T08:24:00.006+01:00

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!

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

2010-03-11T15:40:00.001+01:00

Okay, I admit it:

I was bored by the Lumene after 2 days and I had 3 layering-choices:

Essie Matte about You
China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat
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.

Lumene - Angel Touch / Enkelin kosketus (8)

2010-03-10T08:17:00.003+01:00

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?

Brush Comparison - Lumene and China Glaze

2010-03-08T18:43:00.008+01:00

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

2010-03-08T08:17:00.008+01:00

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?!)

Nude swatches

2010-03-07T10:11:00.007+01:00

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?

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

2010-03-06T18:58:00.008+01:00

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!

Polish-Shopping

2010-03-05T12:22:00.013+01:00

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?

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle (28843) - matte

2010-03-04T19:37:00.005+01:00

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

2010-03-04T09:15:00.005+01:00

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?

Something personal

2010-02-25T07:32:00.002+01:00

I just wanted to say that I won't be around the next few days. My wonderful, beloved grandma died on the 10th of february and this weekend will be the furneral. She lived in another country than I do and tomorrow my family will fly there and we will stay a few days to keep my grandpa company. In this time I won't be able to look after this blog, but I will return at the end of next week.

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle (28843)

2010-02-23T18:21:00.007+01:00

I just needed a hot, long bath - that's why the China Glaze FYI peeled off again (great, avoided the polish remover once again!) and I took the chance to try China Glaze Emerald Sparkle.

Because of my recent problems with INM Out the Door I played it save and went with Poshe again.

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

(Pictures taken after 24h of wearing it - and sorry that they are not perfectly sharp)

This is green glitter (well, actually again silver, you'll see it when removing) in a dark green jelly. Of course the sun won't come out and I had problems to catch the beauty of this one. I really like it, the glitter is great in artificial light - and I suppose in sunlight, too ;o)

First coat - terrible. Streaky and just *yuk*. I was convinced that I'd remove it right away ... in one coat the jelly color is ugly - at least on my nails. But with the second coat everyhing is beautiful again and I fell in love with it.

My sweetheart really liked it (well, he picked it!) and told me that I've already learned to apply the polish neatly. Ha ha. Not really. This one was a big mess (but it was my fault, I was tired) and it took me quite some time to make it a least presentable.

I think this evening I'm going to apply Essie Matte about you over it ...

BPAL - Brisingamen

2010-02-22T09:09:00.007+01:00

Time for a random BPAL. Today it is Brisingamen.

It is part of the Ars Amatoria collection and BPAL descibes it as:

The amber necklace of Freyja, Norse Goddess of Love, Sex, Attraction and Fruitfulness. Her magnificent necklace was bough from four Dwarves [Alfrik, Berling, Dvalin and Grer] at the price of four nights of her passion. When Brisingamen graces your throat, no man can resist your charms. A glittering mantle of rich golden notes: five ambers, soft myrtle and apple blossom, myrtle, and carnation.

This is a very warm and sweet scent. Well, almost all BPALs turn pretty sweet on my. My skin turns everything sweet. Still this is nice but I'm not sure I'd wear this a lot. I can't find the carnation, nor the apple blossom but there is something woody in it.

There is a slight similarity to Blood Amber - but it's just the other way round: While Blood Amber has this "wet and floating, juicy" feeling to it, this one is totally dry and a powdery. In addition to that it's soapy. In the beginning not really much it grows ... the soapyness in addition to the powdery touch prevent it from becoming a favorite. It's really funny because it is so close to a potential "total love" scent - I have to sniff it again and again, still hoping that it changes a bit.

Anyway, I think this is a very comforting scent, I can imagine it as "good night" scent if you can look past the soapy part.

Addition after a few hours: By now the soap has gone and there is sweet powder left - no resemblance to Blood Amber anymore! But somehow nice. But I hate to wait that long till a scent is nice ...

OPI - Tickle my France-y (NLF16) and INM Out the door

2010-02-21T17:18:00.008+01:00

Total disaster! I didn't even take a picture of this. But first: Tickle my France-y is a wonderful color! A really beautiful creme nude.

First I applied the Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat.

It took me 4 coats to get the OPI almost opaque, there was still a slight VNL. 4 coats is a lot of work. And I'm kinda lazy. But it was such a nice color that I thought it's worth the time.

Then I applied one coat of INM Out of the Door and waited. And waited. And reached out for another bottle of nailpolish and accidentally touched the bottle with one fingernail. And there it was ... a big mountain of nailpoilsh pushed together on my nail. Oh yes, it was still totally wet. Seems that INM Out the Door and I won't become good friends, this is the second letdown. But since INM and the Poshe basecoat already worked fine together and OPI and Poshe have proved that they are compatible too, it seems to be a problem between INM and OPI.

On one nail I tried to apply one coat Poshe - perhaps this would save me - but no, it was too late. So I waited till my partner came home, showed him the nice color - he agreed that it looked very nice - and pulled out the nailpolish remover ...

I wasn't in the mood for another 4 coats - so I went with my favorite: China Glaze FYI.

But I'll try OPI Tickle my France-y again - then with Poshe base- and topcoat. Guess I'm just more the Poshe-girl ...

OPI - Parlez vous OPI? - layered

2010-02-19T08:20:00.011+01:00

Yesterday I was in the mood for some layering experiments. I wanted to remove the OPI Parlez vous OPI? - not because it would have looked bad - there was no chipping at all, it was still perfect! - but I decided to give my nails a least 24h hours to catch some breath. So yes - right now they are naked!! They only got some pure coco-oil I primarly bought for my hair - but my nails seem to like it, too. That's what they look like naked:

But I'm too fast! I wanted to show you my layering projects! I wanted to see the OPI with the China Glaze Fairy Dust and the Wireless topcoat, always hoping to get a better picture of the differences. Once in normal ligh, then in the sunlight to get the sparkles (well, the sun was low already):

from the left
1 x China Glaze Fairy Dust
1 x China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat

And I found some of my older essence duochrome polishes and tried layering them:

These are (from the left)
1 x essence Splash! (36)
1 x essence Electric (25)
1 x China Glaze Fairy Dust
1 x China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat

Splash! is really great for layering! I remember that I tried to get it opaque by itself and it was terrible - but like this it's great. From some angles it's unvisible, then it's a bit purple (didn't catch this one in the pictures) or just wonderful teal like in the pictures!

Electric was even harder to catch. You can see the pink/yellow shimmer but I didn't manage to catch the angle on which it is green!

I hope I find more of these polishes because the bottles of those 2 are old and not really full anymore.

In the end I wanted to see Splash! together with Essie Matte about You - it was okay, but not the "woooow" I expected:

Everything like above - only one coat Essie Matte about You over Splash!

I think tomorrow I'll polish again - but right now the nails stay naked ;o)

OPI - Parlez vous OPI? (NLF14)

2010-02-17T09:30:00.006+01:00

Time for my first creme! It's OPI - Parlez vous OPI?

I was in a hurry (again) and this is the result:

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat

2 x OPI Parlez vous OPI?

1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

I still had in mind that cremes are terrible to apply. Well ... this one wasn't really better. The first coat looked ridiculous, the 2nd was okay (except on the thumb - thumbs seem to be a problem with me) and I applied the Poshe topcoat - and saw today in daylight that a 3rd coat would have been a good idea because there are a lot of "bald" spots. Well, too late.

But I loved the brush! I know that some don't like it at all but I really love it. Makes application very easy and I need only 1 stroke for my pinky!

But anyway, I like the color ... toned down lilac. Very special. I feel sophisticated. And the shine is wonderful - after the pumpy CG glitters it's just nice to have a smooth surface again. The topcoat works fine with the OPI and there is no shrinkage.

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps (182) with 3 different topcoats

2010-02-17T07:55:00.008+01:00

Yesterday I got some new polishes and had to test some of them on my CG Ruby Pumps nails:

This is (from left to right):
China Glaze Wireless Holographic Top Coat (2 coats)
China Glaze Fairy Dust (551)
Essie Matte about You
pure China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Great effects! I loved all of them! The Essie Matte about You was my favorite, I think - at least in the combination with Ruby Pumps. This combination looks so nifty! Glitter and yet no glitter. I think soon I'll do a manicure with those 2! It's just a very special combination and I'm totally in love with it.

The Wireless Holographic topcoat needed 2 coats, otherwise it was too subtle for my taste. Holo + glitter was kind of boring - the holo effect totally killed the glitter. So while I really like the Wireless topcoat I just don't like it on Ruby Pumps.

Fairy Dust was a total eyecatcher *sparkle sparkle* I think it would be wonderful on a dark blue polish, will have to try that! It too killed the glitter in Ruby Pumps but was less subtle than Wireless and thatfore I liked it better in this combination.

Unfortunately the difference between the Wireless topcoat and Fairy Dust is not that obvious in the picture - but believe me, there is a big difference! The particles in Fairy Dust are much bigger than those in Wireless - but still small enough for my taste - I'm not a big fun of flakes in polishes ... it's just not "me". The Fairy Dust is much brighter than the Wireless - much more eyecatching.

Here is another picture that shows the difference in the particle size a bit better:

Anyway: I like all the 3 of them - but since I never had a matte polish before, the Essie Matte about You is the most interesting at this moment - but I'll juse them all, that's a given!

BPAL - Dragon's Eye

2010-02-16T08:29:00.004+01:00

I think it's time for "random BPAL" - I just pick one BPAL imp and test it. So this is the first one.

It is part of Ars Draconis and BPAL says:

A piercing, radiant perfume: dragon's blood resin, lily of the valley, lilac and galbanum.

I bought it because I thought that I'd love everything with Dragon's Blood. I was a bit wrong. The first minutes after applying this one is simply soap to me. Some soap I don't like at all. It's a very sharp scent and the Dragon's Blood is very subtle. In this scent's describtion it says that there is lily of the valley in it (funny - in Dragon's Blood it's not supposed to be but I smell it, in here I don't).

But after a while the sharp note disappears, but the soap note stays. But it's not that ugly anymore and has a sweet touch. Still, I won't buy a bottle of this one and I'm not sure I'll ever complete the imp.

This one's color: Shifts from grey to a bright green and back.

I might like this one on a man ... definitely a unisex scent!

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps (182)

2010-02-15T08:52:00.008+01:00

Hello out there!

Yes, I know: I said that I wanted to enjoy my Dorothy Who? nails for a while but it seems that Poshe + CG are very delicate regarding to water. The polish peeled right off the nail (and I admit: I take pleasure in picking the polish away like this - and it prevents me from the work of removing a glitter polish the conventional way).

Anyway, I had to redo my nails and since it was Valentine's Day I went for a glittery red: China Glaze Ruby Pumps.

This one is really nice - such a deep color and red glitter! Well ... silver glitter, as you'll see when you remove it with nailpolish remover (which, by the way, is a nice effect: Polish the nails, carefully rub with a bit nailpolish remover over the nail until the glitter is silver and then apply topcoat) but on the nail: red red red! But also a hint of pink - at least at some angles - this makes it even more interesting for me, I like those effects!

Application was nice, this time it went better than with Dorothy Who? at least regarding the thickness of each coat. But since I was in a hurry I messed around a lot and didn't even purge properly - so please excuse the messy application on the following pictures:

A closeup:

And here you can see that the surface of this polish is not smooth, even with one coat of INM Out the Door:

I applied:

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat

2 x China Glaze Ruby Pumps

1 x INM Out the Door

A small excursion to INM Out the Door:
My first try with this one was a disaster! I had 2 coats of P2 Base + Care Coat on my nails and applied 2 coats China Glaze Emerald Spark to one nail and 4 coats of P2 happy to another nail. Then I applied INM Out the Door and waited for 20 minutes. Then I gently pushed one nail into the polish and both nails were totally squashy. I applied another coat of INM and waited another 20min and pushed the P2 polish again - it was wet down to the basecoat - I could move all 8 layers from the nail without using force. The CG nail was a little bit better but still a big letdown. I was surprised: Everybody seemed to be happy with INM Out the Door and it won't work for me?!

After my test yesterday I can say: INM Out the Door works fine and is a good alternative to Poshe fast-drying topcoat, but you should never use it together with the P2 Base + Care Coat - it simply won't work.

China Glaze - Dorothy Who? (857)

2010-02-13T13:50:00.010+01:00

Finally! Today I got one of my 2 ordered polish-packages!

Since I need a serious cheer up I went for a glitter: Dorothy Who? from China Glaze. I was surprised because it looks pretty dark blue with a purple hint in the bottle. Once applied I liked it much better because it has a nice teal color. But I had some trouble applying it. This is my first glitter/jelly polish.

First I'll show you some pictures:

It was not easy to capture this color or the wonderful glitter effect.

Back to my problems during application. Here are the used layers:

1 x Poshe nail strengthening treatment basecoat

2 x China Glaze Dorothy Who?

1 x Poshe super-fast drying topcoat

The Poshe basecoat was nice to apply and one coat was enough to smooth out my ridges the same amount as two coats of P2 basecoat do. The first layer Dorothy Who? was a pain. It seemed to dissolve the basecoat and I got terrible blotches, parts with hardly any color or glitter. The second coat made almost everything nice again - only the biggest blotches on my thumb needed a 3rd coat.

But there are big differences in the depth of color in my 2 coats. I'll have to learn to apply the polish more evenly over all nails!

And then: My first time with a fastdrying topcoat. What a relief!! It didn't take 30min to dry my nails perfectly and I can't detect the much dreaded shrinkage. I'm really happy with the Poshe topcoat! Now I hope that it makes my polish last at least 3 days - then everything is wonderful.

Before polishing my nails I made two test-nails with fastdrying topcoats, one with INM Out the Door and one with Poshe. I had the feeling that the INM didn't really work with the China Glaze glitters. Will have to run a real comparison between those two fastdrying topcoats - but first I'll enjoy my Dorothy Who? nails for a while.

BPAL - Dragon's Blood

2010-02-10T08:33:00.006+01:00

Another favorite of mine!

It is part of Ars Draconis and BPAL says:

Powerful, commanding, blazing with strength.

This one also belongs to my "feel good and confident and protected" group (and well, right now I need it - yesterday I woke up and couldn't hear with one ear. Acute hearing loss - possibly due to some news I didn't like to hear at all. It really seems to be a case of "I didn't want to hear that - thatfore I now quit and won't listen anymore. Well well ... I hope it goes away soon!).

It has the same floating, wet quality like BPAL Blood Amber, but this one is not that sweet - guess it is the "blood" part that makes them silimar. But it has a spicy undertone to it. It feels grown up. Not ladylike - I'd say this one is unisex - at least on my skin. In addition it smells like lilies of the valley.

This ones color: lilac + blue with brown sparkles.

I got a lot of compliments out of this one, it seems to agree to a lot of people.

I hope this evening I find the time to polish my nails again. Only problem: I'm still waiting for my orders - so still no Fast Drying Top Coat and all I want to see on my nails right now is a holo polish! I'd love to go for CG FYI again. But perhaps I could switch to CG OMG instead - this way I'd have the opportunity to take some new pictures and post them here.

BPAL - Blood Amber

2010-02-05T10:02:00.010+01:00

Todays scent is Blood Amber.

Blood Amber is part of Bewitching Brews, BPAL itself says:

Slivers of warm, pulsating blood forever crystallized in golden amber resin.

Blood Amber is my signature scent, it's just so ... me! I got it as a frimp and I have to admit: I would never have ordered it. I was repelled by the name - I'm not a big fun of "blood" in the name. Anyway, after I tried all the scents with names I liked better, I finally had the heart to try a bit of Blood Amber.

And it was love at first sniff!

Most BPALs have a heavy murphing going on between their stages from wet to dry. Some are beautiful while wet and when they are dried they are ... well ... average. I think I'll stick to describing the dried scent because lets face it: the wet stage is no factor for going for a scent!

Okay, back to Blood Amber. This scent makes me feel so great (scents have a huge impact on my mood) - it makes me feel self-confident, sexy, very feminine, warm and protected.

It is a sweet scent but not cavity getting sweet or candylike. For me it has a juicy quality with a touch of very faint flowers. The sweetness is very sophisticated and a bit ladylike - but not powdery at all. I don't know why but every time I sniff it it makes me think "wet" - I picture it floating wet an my skin ... at the same time it still has "an edge" that gives the sexy quality to it and keeps it from being immature. There is a hint of soft cinnamon to it, not the scarp version of cinnamon.

I realize that this scent is very hard to describe for me. I can tell you how it makes me feel, what it makes me think but not actually what it smells like. I have nothing to compare to this one!

Well in this case I go on about telling how it "looks" for me. In cases of numbers, scents and tastes I have synesthesia - so a scent has an actual color to me and I'm going to describe it to you:
This one is copper colored and on some edges it sparkles with orange and warm yellow, burgundy and a little lilac. The colors aren't bright, it's more that they seem to be illuminated by a candle ...

In short: This is MY scent. It's the one I use the most and I have several backup bottles from this one and made a deal with myself: Everytime I order some BPAL I will order 1 bottle of Blood Amber - ignoring how many bottles I already might have (but to be honest: I don't order that often - so the number of bottles is still reasonable).

China Glaze - FYI (64)

2010-02-05T08:59:00.015+01:00

And here comes another polish!

I really really love this one! I ordered rightaway 2 backup-bottles of China Glaze FYI because once applied I knew that I'm going to wear this one a lot! I love holographic polishes! Well, I love everything holographic! But this one is just perfect! I can wear ist to work because on a cloudy day (and believe me: we have a lot of cloudy days!) it looks quite inconspicuous and works well with my skin tone:

(Sorry for the blurry quality - I was in a rush and the light was bad.)

In the sunlight or with artificial light it goes to "woooow!" and shows its entire holographic beauty:

When I saw the promo pictures of this color I thought "boooooring" - but one look at Scrangies Review of this made me reconsider. This could be THE holographic polish for me!

The pictures are taken on the 3rd day after applying, the 4th day would have been okay too but while peeling a cucumber for my guinea pigs I accidentally peeled one nail, too. So bye bye FYI - but I'm sure we'll see soon again!

The chipping was minimal and due to the nude quality of this color the chipping was quite unnoticeable and I was still happy with it.

For this one I used:
2 coats P2 Base + Care Coat
2 coats CG FYI
1 coat P2 Diamond Shine 3in1
and some Rival de Loop Fast Drying Spray (not sure if it really works)

P2 - spacy (209)

2010-02-05T08:19:00.011+01:00

Last week I polished my nails with P2 spacy, a quite nice anthracite shimmer (on the picture it's darker than it is in reality):

This are 2 layers of base coat, 2 layers of the actual color and 1 top coat. I think 1 coat of P2 spacy would have been enough for someone who is better skilled in applying nailpolish - I anyway needed 2 coats to get it opaque.

Right now I'm using P2 top and base coats and I'm desperately waiting for some fast drying top coats I ordered because right now it takes hours until the polish is that dry that I don't get imprints anymore. This one got imprints even 10 hours after applying. I really hope that everything will be better with my ordered Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat or INM Out the door. I know that a lot of polishers love Seche Vite but I wanted to avoid Toluene and Seche Vite still seems to contain it.

I always need 2 coats of base coat because my nails never have been even and I need it to fill the ridges.

But right now I am so very impatient ... I have 2 orders on the way, both containing 9 polishes. One was shipped on january 25th, the other on february 1st - I'm still hoping for one order to arrive this week ...