The Summer Polish Edit

Clockwise (almost): Essie Watermelon, Catrice Meet Me At Coral Island, ANNY Summer Love, Essence Redvolution, Essie Lights, Essie Fear or Desire

Summer, endless tanning, road trips with your best friends and listening to the season's hottest tunes. And if you're lucky an escape to some tropical paradise to lounge on a stretcher with a fruity drink in hand. But even if any of the above don't apply to you, you can still decorate your nails with the finest shades of the summer. 

I tend to drift towards brighter shades. Although I am not quite adventurous with colours, I stick to pinks, corals and reds, I love them nice and bright. Miss Essie Weingarten still takes the throne with her summer selection of shades, and her formulas are nail polish miracles. But essence, Catrice and ANNY still know how to how to make a sunny stunner. 

There are only a few months in the year where it seems permissible to wear these bright feminine shades, and I take advantage of this time. What are your favourite shades for the summer?

OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection

After the massively succesful Skyfall collection earlier last year the masterminds behind OPI's development team decided that they would whip up a collection focused around my favorite part of the secret agent movies, the bond girls. The collection holds six original shades named for several bond girls and they all have the latest finish from OPI, Liquid Sand.

Liquid Sand finishes kind of remind me of really fine grit sandpaper, mixed with glitter and paint, of course. They apply easily and dry fast to a matte textured finish.

I purchased the mini collection which comes with four shades..

- Jinx, a coral base with pink undertones, and filled with coral and gold glitter. 

- Vesper, a really deep aubergine color that was pretty sheer on the first coat, but was gorgeous on the second coat. It is loaded with black specks, rather than glitter.

- Pussy Galore (I chuckle every time, sorry) a cool pale pink packed with pink glitter. Looks great on all skin tones. When I wear this I prefer a pink base underneath, like Essie Muchi Muchi, just so I don't have to pile on coat after coat of this stuff.

- Solitaire, is a white infused with silver glitter. To me it looks almost icy. It covers nicely in two coats and works great on most skin tones. 

I love that OPI always comes out with a mini set of the special collections. If you're like me and you pretty much collect nail polish like your life depends on it, you're never going to finish a bottle. And mini collections are a great way to go along with the trends, without breaking the bank. 

The OPI bond girl collection is available in stores now.

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Papaya

Oh goodie, my acrylics need filling up

Sometimes I feel like packing up my bags and moving on down to the United Kingdom. Folks over there get so much more amazing brands and stores. A short selection. Space NK, Boots, Superdrug, Harrods, Selfridges, Emma Hardie, REN, Indeed Labs, Bumble & Bumble, Sleek. And the list goes on...

Luckily, there's a small group of webshops based in Europe/The Netherlands that offer these brands at much higher prices. Enter River Island, an amazing clothing store that is more than a little overpriced but have such nice pieces that it is sometimes worth your dollar. 

River Island has these bins by their registers that often offer nice products for a good price. And while standing in the queue to check out my awesome new hat, I saw a rack with Barry M nail paints, and just went ahead and grabbed the peachiest shade my eyes landed on. Which so happened to be the one pictured up top. 

The Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine nail paints have been raved about by a plethora of bloggers, and today it's my turn. Great formula that applies beautiful and smooth, perfect in just two thin coats and a shine that is difficult to achieve with even the glossiest of top coats. In short terms, I approve. I've been wearing this shade without a top coat for about three days and it is yet to chip. That saying, I have found that polish lasts a lot longer on acrylic nails than it did on my natural nails. So the wear-time may vary for girls that haven't put plastic extensions on their fingertips.

The shade papaya is the perfect balance between peach and coral and it really does my skin justice, but also looks good on girls with a little bit more of a tan. Now that I am such a fan of this shade and formula, I kind of want them all. I guess it's back to Amsterdam to raid River Island...

Barry M is available in some Dutch webshops and River Island in the Netherlands

RRP €5,00

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

pink: essie lovie dovie | orange: essie fear or desire 

yellow nyc lexington yellow | blue w7 sheer blue

In search for the spring nail polish essential? I suggest you dash to the drugstore and pick up this super cute and affordable confetti top coat from L'Oreal. A clear base spotted with black and white, not just polka dots  but hexagons as well. And too top if off, tiny little glitter flecks were added into the magic as well. It is also similar to the previously revied indie polish from Lush Lacquer which you can find here. 

As you can tell by the pictures up top, it looks pretty with more than one color. But I suggest sticking to the fresher colors, rather than burgundy's or dark blues. A clean fresh color underneath makes the black and white dots pop a little more. 

So if you wish to adorn your phalanges with a cute crisp manicure, the L'Oreal Confetti nail polish is a good choice. Affordable and with countless combinations.

This L'Oreal Top Coat Confettis is available in drugstores all over the world.

Spring Polish Picks

It seems like spring is finally upon us here in the Netherlands. The sun manages to break through the thick layer of clouds and we're begnning to celebrate that there won't be any more snow for a lot of months. Winter wardrobes are being swapped for the new spring pieces and our hair and makeup is becoming a little more fresh and vibrant.

Part of the shift to spring is waking up my polish collection. My standard winter polishes are moved to the back of my Helmer and there seems to be a standard group of colors that I reach for in spring. T hese six colors are among my current selection of favorites.

fltr: Gosh 607 Crispy Coral / Nails Inc Brooke Street / OPI Ate Berries In The Canaries

fltr: Essence Wake Up / Essence No More Drama / Essence Sweet As Candy

I like my shades nice and bright. A little bit of personality on my nails, I think. And because you can't ex the pastels in spring, two really nice soft colors for that spring wedding you are about to attend. Truth be told, in my twenty years of living, I've only been to a wedding once. And I think I was about five years old. People better start getting married around me, I have a bunch of cute dresses to wear.

So I went a little Essie crazy

 

The other day I was just casually popping into a drugstore to pass some time waiting for an appointment when I stumbled upon probably the best Essie display I have ever come across. Instead of the usual vertical display that is in all the Dutch etos stores, this particular DA drugstore had a gorgeously bright lit built in display. And the best part, I saw some bottles from my favorite nail polish brand with a nice red little sticker saying '50% off'.

I checked out the bottles and to my joy I saw that they were colors from previous collections that I had actually wanted to buy, but it had proven to be impossible, because they were always sold out.

I bought five essie polishes, because I totally needed them, right? From the older collections 'Poppy-razzi' and 'Bikini so teeny'.

Clockwise, starting at 9:45.

Lights / Cascade Cool / Fear or Desire / Camera / Action

Each of them brilliantly bright summer shades, that I personally cannot wait to wear around town. (I might be going against the winter rules by wearing Lights right now). You can tell from Lights and Action that the pigment has seemed to drop down a little bit. This worried me at first but after a good shake of the bottle before application the colors have mixed and it still applies beautifully to the nail. As do all of Essie polishes. 

Mrs. Weingarten sure knows how to design her colors and I'm so glad her hybrid brand has come to drugstores across the world.

OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand Swatches

 

Every once in a while OPI brings out a special collection designed with a celebrity. This year it's diva extraordinaire Mariah Carey. Together with OPI she designed a collection of eight shades. Four for the studio, and four for the stage. The lacquers made for the stage are the real stunners in this collection. They feature OPI's newest finish in nail lacquer, the Liquid Sand finish. The polish dries to a textured matte finish infused with reflective glints of light. You are supposed to apply two coats of the color and you should not use a top coat over them. For that would undo the matte finish. 

I ordered the Mariah Carey OPI Liquid Sand nail lacquers off of eBay, which saves me a lot of money considering OPI almost quadruples their prices over here in the Netherlands. I would tell you the seller but upon checking I saw that they are no longer selling these sets. I think they must have sold out. 

Below you can see two swatches of each color. One without top coat and one, obviously, with top coat. I applied two coats of each color on the nail wheel, so you can judge the color payoff equally.

Get Your Number is a matte blue with different sizes of silver glitter infused within. There is really fine micro glitter and larger hexagonal glitter. The color payoff was a little dissapointing, I'd personally wear a bright blue shade under this to really make it pop.

 

Can't let go is a bright purple stunning shade, again with different sizes of glitter. There is silver, lilac and purple glitter in this one. I particularly like this one without a top coat. Again I would apply it over a purple shade to make the pigmentation a little more intens, it kind of lacks some now.

Stay The Night is one of the more interesting shades in this collection. The black jelly based filled with hot pink small glitter flecks looks really great on the nail. Especially over a black polish.

 

Last but most definitely not least. My favorite shade from the collection is without a doubt 'The Impossible'. This gorgeous color looks red in this light and then pink in the other. Really interesting and filled to the brim with shiney glitter really makes my magpie like tendencies play up. The larger bottle of this also has star shaped glitter, but I'm glad my version doesn't have that. It just seems a little too childish for me. 

The OPI Mariah Carey collection is now available all over the world. I'd run to the stores if I were you, because it's  a limited edition and you never know when it is going to sell out!

Lush Lacquer Review and Swatches

The world of indie lacquers is growing every single day. All across the world crafty people are showing up that know there way around glitter and bases. They make beautiful polishes with extraordinary finishes, colors and effects. This also goes for the American women Lexi and Karin, who founded the indie brand Lush Lacquer. I ordered two polishes from their etsy store and they arrived yesterday. 

I'd like to warn you in advance. This post is super image heavy.

First we have the amazing Salt 'N Peppa. A mixture of black and white bar, hex, round and square matte glitters and small tiny holographic glitters in a clear base. On the picture above the top nail has one coat, and the bottom nail has two coats.

I'd like to say a little something about the application of this polish. It's FANTASTIC! Never have I experienced a glitter polish that transfers this easily and prettily onto the nail. Impossible to describe how pretty it is. You'll continuously have to snap your fingers in front of my face to snap me out of staring.

Above it is layered over to different color polishes, to show you what it looks like over nail polish. I layered it over the beautiful barbie pink called Free Hugs. It's an essence polish. The way Salt 'N Peppa makes the pink polish look sweet yet edgy.

The blue polish is called 'let's get lost' and I've been abusing this polish a lot lately. I can't help it, the color is just lovely. Another essence polish. They're so pretty yet cheap.

A macro shot to show you all the different sizes and types of glitter that this spectacle holds.

Snap Crackle Pop is a beautiful blue jelly base filled with red and silver iridescent glitter and loads and loads of white and blue matte glitter of different shapes. Hexes, bars and squares, it's all in there. The polish looks spectacular on it's own, but layered it really is a beauty! Two coats looks really nice as well.

Here is Snap Crackle Pop layered over ANNY's True Love on the right and over Essie Blanc on the left. In the bottom picture is it over essence let's get lost.

A macro shot of Snap Crackle Pop's multi glitter extravaganza.

October Polish Picks

It seems like I'm a big fan of the nail polish posts the last week or so, but I just think my nails are more important than ever. With october being just around the corner my polish choices are warming up. Although I don't necessarily believe in shades being strictly for one time of year, I wear what I like, I do notice that I stick to warmer shades in the colder months. 

These six polishes are the ones I picked for the month of october. Mostly earthy tones, with a little plum becaue that essie polish is just perfect. From left to right OPI My Private Jet, OPI Tickle My France-y, ANNY Make-up, Essie Penny Talk, Essie Stylenomics, Essie Recessionista.

FLTR ANNY Make-up, OPI Tickle My France-y, OPI My Private Jet

FLTR Essie Penny Talk, Essie Stylenomics, Essie Recessionista

Essie Stylenomics Fall Collection Swatches

Essie is quick on its way to becoming my favorite nail polish brand. Their colors and collections are spot on and super feminine. I have yet to find a formula that I did not like. The polish dries quick and the darker colors have excellent coverage in just one coat. I also own their 'good to go' topcoat which is my absolute favorite. 

Their 2012 fall collection is named after style and fashion, and the current economy. Essie shows that you can be stylish and live on a budget with these rich jewel toned shades. The six shades are perfect for fall, I wish I could own all of them. Down here is a description of each of the six polishes. 

Stylenomics - Get rolling in the deep, opulent green that's the new black.

Recessionista - Smart & savvy millionheiress ups the ante with color and style that's priceless.

Miss Fancy Pants - Greige under pressure. Refined chic & executive privilege never looked so pretty.

Skirting The Issue - An a-line of gorgeous saturated burgundy.

Don't Sweater It - Lavish in warm, cashmere mauve, that goes with anything and everything. 

Head Mistress - This take-charge red out-classes the competition.

I ordered two of the polishes from this collection for myself. Recessionista, look at the (unfocused, damn you camera!) pictures below.

Recessionista is a dark burgundy red, aiming towards purple. To me this is the quintessential fall nail polish color. However, it is not really that unique. I love it nonetheless and it will be adorning my nails many a time this autumn.

Stylenomics is a really dark green that aims toward black in some lighting. It's the namesake of this collection and I can see why. It's gorgeous and unique, I own nothing like it. I adore this color and will definitely be wearing this a lot. 

Black & Gold, the stars don't even matter

In preparation for my makeup job coming Wednesday I decided to do my nails in a way I hadn't before.

There is something about the way black and gold look combined. If done correctly it looks super chic, don't you agree?

The polish I used is Gosh's Nero. This black is the perfect creamy intense black. It covers in just one coat and doesn't take long to dry. I think it was discontinued, which makes me sad Kelly.

Anyway, plain black polish with a thin strip of gold striping tape from eBay.

W7 Pastel Polishes swatches and reviews

There's one thing I am certain about when it comes to the British brand W7, they're not very original when it comes to packaging. Their nail polish bottles are shaped exactly like OPI's and their box blushes are obviously modeled after Benefit. But nevertheless, they do know how to make nice affordable cosmetics. I'm especially a big fan of their nail polishes. They have a wide range of colors from super bright neons to glitters to the softest of pastels. And that last mentioned group of colors is what I'm showing you today.

These four colors are all soft and pretty, really feminine. The names are added in the picture. All are two coats, except for chiffon, that took three coats to get to this opacity. I think they would need three to four coats on the actual nail. 

Chiffon is a super soft muted pink. I can really see a bride wearing this. I don't know why, it just screams wedding to me. Sheer peach is the perfect peach color, which I had been looking for for quite some time. Sheer lemon is a pretty pastel yellow, not sure how this will look on darker skintones. Sheer mauve is more like a lavender in my opinion. Not the most interesting of colors, nor is it very original but it's pretty and soft enough. 

A closer look at chiffon and sheer peach.

And sheer lemon and sheer mauve.

These polishes last a proper amount of time on the nail, very good job for this price. The only thing I don't like about these polishes is the smell. It's super strong, and my dad already starts complaining when I unscrew the brush. W7 polishes are sold at Dutch op = op voordeelshop stores. €2,99 a piece or two for €5.

Essie Bikini So Teeny Collection

Essie is an American salon nail polish brand that's been around since 1981. They're the expert on fun fresh colors, in my opinion. And they certainly don't stray from that with their Summer 2012 collection titled 'Bikini  So Teeny'. The collection holds six fresh shades that are all limited edition. 

- bikini so teeny is a sparkling cornflower blue

- cascade cool is a creamy, sweet dusty pink

- all tied up is a rustic bronze with subtle golden shimmer

- off the shoulder is bold, hot pink

- fear of desire is a bright orange crush

- mojito madness is a fun-loving lime green

images and shade discriptions from essie.com

I myself own the shade 'off the shoulder', the shade spoke to me most when I stood in front of the overwhelming display filled with polishes. I wanted to buy them all, but I contained myself and purchased just one. 

'offthe shoulder' is a nice enough hot pink. It's isn't exactly spectacular, and it certainly isn't bland. I really enjoy this polish. It covers pretty well in just one coat, but I applied two for good measure and a completely even coverage. The essie nail polish brush is pretty darn huge, using it on my tiny pinky nail was almost impossible to apply neatly. The polish spreads nice and streak free, and it dries to a nice smooth shiny cream finish. 

As I said, not the most spectacular pink I have seen, but it is the first one like this in my collection. A perfect color for a nice fresh and fun summer manicure. So let the sun shine!

Meet Leo Black, he's a nice mister.

A new day, a new design. I really wanted to try something with leopard print today, because who doesn't like a little rawr? I loved pairing the printed nail with the solid nail, what about you?

polishes used

ANNY - 300 Makeup

Gosh - Nero

and a bunch of different sized dotting tools to create leo's spots

I'd also like to take this moment to explain why I have been less active than usual lately. I'm in my first year of college and currently it's all becoming a bit much. I pretty much go to school, come home to eat dinner and then leave for work until late in the evening or middle of the night. With all that time spent on things that aren't blogging, I'm finding it pretty difficult to manage every thing and still have time for a personal life.

That said, school is almost over for the year. Sooooo... be prepared for an abundance of posts from me as soon as I wrap up and advance to the next year.