KBShimmer Beach Please and Shore Thing from the 6th Anniversary Collection

So my dear readers! Since quite a bunch of stuff has accumulated on my kitchen/polish table I have to leave safe boundaries and show you more than one polish per post - at least today.

I am sure most of you have seen the threesome pretties by KBShimmer created for their 6th Anniversary. I have picked the two creams for me - Beach Please the boldest blue leaning pink before edging into neon-magenta territory and Shore Thing a "short of neon" turquoise which reminds me strongly, very strongly indeed, of Illamasqua Nomad (I have given this one on to a friend who was craving for it so unfortunately I cannot show comparisons). Let's get down to polish business:

I applied two coats of KBShimmer Beach Please over my regular Base Coat which currently is Nail Pattern Boldness Digital Hydration (a ridge filler). I found the formula a smidgen thin and I had to be wary to not flod my nailbeds but carefully wiping off the brush at the rim of the bottle sorted all out. The first coat turned out quite sheer and even streaky due to the aforementioned but the second coat which I dared to apply medium thick, provided the opacity I love to see on my nails with such bold colors. Dry time clearly is on the fast side and I definitely would recommend to spruce up the shine with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

isn't this just glowing like neon?

I also applied two coats of KBShimmer Shore Thing again over my regular ridge filling Base Coat. Same story as for Beach Please. And with this one I had an amazing experience: I managed to get my thumb really dented not a big dent but it was deep and it was already past 10 pm and I was in no mood whatsover to restart business with my thumb. I did some soft pushing and shoving and could actually close the dent, slapped on another coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top and now look at that: no traces left of that dent that once sat square in the middle of my nail - how amazing is THAT? In my humble opinion this speaks of true quality and excellent performance of both the nailpolish AND the Top Coat.

Since I wear my polishes hardly ever for more than a day, I cannot give you an account on longevity but after a full day of wear at the office of both, Beach Please and Shore Thing I could not detect a single nail with tip wear much less a chip or any other signs of wear, I guess once more both of these are big thumbs up for looking gorgeous for a couple of days.

I ordered KBShimmer Beach Please and Shore Thing from Harlow & Co.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine <3

Dance Legend Enamel Color No 332

Hello my dear nailpolish friends!!! I admit I have been dragging my feet writing up posts, there were just too many ideas tumbling round my head and I could not get myself to decide on what to show you. Also I had some quite awesome stuff on my nails which kept me from swatching - I just could not get myself removing the pretties - one of them is todays pick Dance Legend Enamel Color No 332. Now there was quite a hype in the nailpolish universe about the Dance Legend Multi Chromes, about their holos, prisms, new prisms and so on. But that brand has also an incredible amount of cream, crelly and jelly collections that get a lot less attention outside Russia or so it seems to me. Cruising Llarowe's site some weeks back I stumbled over No. 332 in their Enamel Color line, a perfect grass green high shine cream and since I have been whining and complaining about the lack of straight forward green creams available I had to snag that little beauty:

and one picture taken indoors in daylight

I applied three coats of Dance Legend No 332 over my regular Base Coat. The formula is a hybrid between a cream and a crelly like the pigmentation is that of a cream, the consistency that of a crelly. I had a little struggle with some polish flooding on my index (as you can still see in my pictures, no amount of clean-up or editing pictures would get all traces erased). This is mostly due to the long brush of Dance Legend polishes paired with the formula and me not wiping off the brush at the rim of the bottle carefully. Of course you could get away at two coats - it provides a decent opacity - but I just wanted to get more saturation and vibrancy from that green and went for a third coat. The dry time was pretty decent and the finish pretty shiny. I finished this mani with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

And then I wanted to add something make-upey: Yun from The Polish Hideout stated in a comment that she likes to read my thoughts on make-up as she also is loving simple and fast best, just like me. Today I want to share one of my holy grail/staple items that is both fast and efficient: colorless lipliner. Mine is from Dior - I use it since many years and while now a lot cheaper alternatives pop up left and right, I sort of stayed faithful with it. Why a clear lipliner? Because IMO you end up every so often missing just that one color of liner in your collection that you would need. Now this little guy here has solved me from ever ranting about the right color of liner again. No matter what I put on my lips, this is my liner. Not to mention that the Dior Universal Lipliner Pencil really gets the job done. It prevents ANY lip color from bleeding on me. At the same time my lips don't look unfinished or "border-less" if you know what I mean. It cannot get better than that, right?

Here you see me about halfway through the day having just reapplied some Gloss Volupte without repainting my contours and look how it works - no staining around the edges from my earlier application. But as said, I am not correcting the shape of my lips - this might have quite some impact

Please note that this is just my very own opinion based on the experience I made with this product over the years and I do not correct the shape of my lips but just frame them to prevent the lip product to flow all over my face. I also haven't tried any other brands, so I cannot really tell if this is any better or worse than cheaper stuff or other high-end brands.

I ordered Dance Legend Enamel Color No 332 with Llarowe.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine

Dior Lagoon

Welcome to my old untried post for Sunday! I came to quite like this new weekly post as it forces me to dive into my vault and shine some light on longtime neglected purchases. Today I have Dior Lagoon for you that was released in the Dior Summer Mix Collection 2012. Back then it didn't get all this much love as it was not as squishy and summery as the other colors of this collection. Truth being told, it doesn't strike me as a real summer color either. Lagoon is a muted mid-toned blue cream without any punch (that I love with any blue except the pastel shades) but let's have a look at the pictures and judge:

NOTE: IRL Lagoon looked a shade more subdued on my nails - does this make sense? I applied two coats of Dior Lagoon over my regular Base Coat. The first coat of Lagoon goes on like a crelly, the second morphs Lagoon into a cream. Revisiting posts about the Summer Mix Collection reminded me that these polishes were all crellies - with the exception of Lagoon which ended up acting more like a cream then a crelly. Application was the usual high end performance we except of a brand like Dior, no? Also the short drying time and the self leveling and immaculate shine belongs to me into the "must" category with a polish of this price range.

Truth being said, I don't find this an overly exiting shade of blue. It is whether really bright nor muted. But very pigmented and surprisingly dominant when trying to have a glitter or another effect Top Coat applied over it. This leaves just digging for similar polishes...

pinkie and middle: Dior Lagoon, ring: Cult Nails Party Time, index: Kiko 384

 ...I wasn't too surprised that I did not come up with anything really identical. The closest, actually very close polish in my collection is Cult Nails Party Time but that one plays in an entirely different league, it is a lot more vibrant and glows in blue whereas Lagoon honestly looks flat next to it. The other polish I picked to compare is Kiko 384, a twin to Essie Mesmerize.

Final thoughts: So after all, Lagoon had a reason to be in my untrieds for so long and probably will spend again quite some time in my drawer before I reach for it the next time.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine

Neutral shades with an edge: Dior Gris Trianon

I cannot tell you how often I felt tempted to buy Gris Trianon since its appearance at our Dior Counters. I was strong and resisting the urge until M sponsored me some nailpolish - how could I possibly give a pass on this any longer???

 The above two pictures are taken indoors in daylight, the below photo outdoors in the shade

I applied two coats of Dior Gris Trianon over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. Application was the usual Dior dream. The consistency is a tad thin but then you will want this beauty to look squishy and jelly-like. It dries to a fantastic high shine, so you would not necessarily need a Top Coat.

Final thoughts: I particularly like the slightly shifting change in the color depending on the light. Still it looks at any time simply classy and cool. I did try some effect Top Coats with it but frankly none of the options could beat its original glossy look :-)

I bought Dior Gris Trianon with Globus.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine

Saturday Skittlette

Finally I again managed to come up with a real Skittlette. In my last week's NOTD of the Week post, you might check it here, I have shown you Dior Diablotine. I modified the look with some stripes:

Recipe for the Skittlette:

Ingredients:

Dior Diablotine

La Couleur Couture 1977

A England Camelot

Application:

Pinkie and index: two coats of Dior Diablotine

Ring and middle: I separated the nail diagonally with striping tape painting the reversing halfs with La Couleur Couture 1977 and Dior Diablotine. I sealed it with A England The Shield Top Coat, waited a couple of minutes and taped it with two stripes in the reversed direction, then simply added one coat of A England Camelot.

I really grew fond of striping tape manis and could not resist to add some more ;-) as you can see I intentionally left my thumb plain red.

Observations and remarks: I seem to not have really firmly pressed down the striping tape on my middle and ring finger because there was just the tiniest black cloud visible. When working with striping tape it is really crucial that you press it firmly down on the nail before applying the next color to prevent the color bleeding. As you can see on my pinkie and index I learnt my lesson ;-)

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!

Christine

here

My NOTDs of the Week

I had a week off and next to doing plenty of household chores there was plenty of time to do NAILS!!! To even sweeten things M sponsored me some serious nailpolish - two of them are further down this post.

I was nearly obsessed with La Couleur Couture 1972 - I already posted about this - and wore it (that was before the mosaic Skittlette) with an accent nail using Opi Don't Burst My Bubble and Opi Which is Witch?:

I applied two coats of La Couleur Couture 1972 over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. For the accent nail I applied two coats Opi Don't Burst My Bubble to my ring finger and one coat of Opi Which is Witch? Very soft and delicate.

Come Tuesday I was still in the mood for soft and delicate. From Opi's Wizard of Oz Collection I only picked two polishes, Witch is Which? is featured above, my second pick was Don't Burst My Bubble. Worn on its own it looks like this:

To amp up the look I applied one coat of Picture Polish Mardi Gras:

I love the small sized glitters of Picture Polish. They are not super densely filled with glitter but their consistency is perfect and dries down to a smooth finish.

As mentioned above M was incredibly sweet and sponsored me some nailpolish - swoon!!! On top of my wishlist sat Dior Diablotine - somehow my nails urge for happy and bright corals at this time of the year.

The application was a DREAM, dry time fantastic!!! It dries down to a slightly dull finish due to the amount of sparkle in it, on the above picture I have not applied any Top Coat yet to show the shine induced by the sparkle.

M was really generous and I could get another Dior. I choose Pourpre Revolution - this was released I believe in Fall 2012 (but am not sure here). It is the darkest possible purple looking just a hairline off black.

Again application is a dream and Pourpre Revolution dries down to an incredibly high shine. I used two coats of Dior Pourpre Revolution over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. I finished the look with Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer.

I am a Cultie and of course pre-ordered the Cult Nails Spring 2013 In The Garden Collection. Right now I am counting the days to the anticipated shipping on 10 April - from there it is probably another 10-12 days until these babies arrive at their new home. To sweeten my waiting anxiety I threw Cult Nails Afterglow from their Behind Closed Doors Collection onto my nails.

I know, I know, this is more of a wintery shade. But then I find it just too beautiful to wear it only during winter. I applied three thin coats over Essence XXL Nail Thickener (this is NOT the ideal base coat for Cult Nails - it causes the tiniest polish shrinkage, but nothing that tip-wrapping could not handle). The consistency is sheer - the first coat looked very see-through and a bit streaky but it built up nicely in three coats. I used Butter London Hardwear to finish the look.

Do you have any favorites here?

I bought the polishes at the following places:
Dior Diablotine and Dior Pourpre Revolution at Magasins Globus
Opi Don't Burst My Bubble and Opi Witch is Which? with Nailetc.
La Couleur Couture 1972 with Harlow & Co
Cult Nails Afterglow with Cult Nails own website

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine

Dior Bengale

Oh I was bad with the Dior Golden Jungle Collection - I bought all of the polishes. Amazonia I have already shown and the crocodile mani I showed once on Instagram. This leaves Bengale. And what I a shame that I neglected Bengale until now:

 These are two coats of Dior Bengale over China Glaze Ridge Filler. The formula is on the thin side and combined with the wide brush you might want to be careful with the amount of polish loaded on the brush. Nevertheless application gave no issues and by now I am pretty used to short and wider bristles in a brush. Dry time is brilliantly short.

Have you also recently discovered a neglected gem in your stash? If so - which one?

I purchased Dior Bengale with a local department store.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for reading!!
Christine