Zoya Monica and pals - Shop le Stash Part 2

Are you ready for shopping my stash Part 2? Well let's get on with it…

You certainly aren't surprised to find a purple in the basket I brought from my vault. This is Zoya Monica, released in Zoya's Designer Collection for 2012. A wonderfully dark purple with a hint of dustiness. The formula was Zoya perfection: creamy, perfect consistency, flawless application - I am swooning here. Dry time was fantastic and look at this beautiful shine!!!

I have observed some more brown shades ranging from camel to dark brown in many of the Collections. Now camel and I are one of the few absolutely totally no-no-no go combinations. Wearing this color on my nail brings forward the most unflattering shades in both of us - polish and my skin - LOL! I therefore went for a middle toned brown that got little love when it was released as some less appealing associations with its colors were made but look:

These are two coats of China Glaze Mahagony Magic, released in the Hunger Games Capital Color Collection for Spring 2012. The formula is thin but since the brushes of China Glaze are thin as well (I think by now they are the thinnest out there) application is easy though certainly not to be achieved in those famous three strokes with nails as wide as mine. Dry time is normal. Browns are usually not the shades I tend to gravitate to but walking the planet for a full day with Mahagony Magic I found the shade really grew on me. In the sun it looked as if I would have muck on my nails - very glossy and edgy muck that is - and I LIKED it!!!! (I can hardly believe I write this…)
perfect consistency, flawless application - I am swooning here. Dry time was fantastic and look at this beautiful shine!!!  Note: Polish dries darker on the nail.

Lastly one of those dark pine greens had to be included in my vault-basket. Guess what - I own exactly one bottle of bottle green cream polish - this being Illamasqua Kink - and it even isn't your regular cream but dries to rubber finish. Today though I show it with Essence Better than Gel Nails High Gloss Top Coat. I applied two coats of Kink over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. The formula is thin and Kink is not self leveling so an even application helps to prevent bold spots or pools of polish. Now the dry time is a bit peculiar - it dries relatively fast to "dry to touch" level but from there drying goes downhill - it takes FOREVER to thoroughly dry and to be honest, I wasn't really all that exited about the rubber finish in the first place. It is whether a satin sheen, nor matte nor I don't know what. Whenever I wore this polish I always applied a high shine Top Coat as the rubber finish also is not very lasting and you collect dents and marks throughout the day, not to mention the tips turning shiny half way through your day - eeeeks.

Final thoughts: I am more than happy with what I came up with to mirror this years fall collections and I don't feel the need to add any polishes of the new collections to those four I bought. However, I clearly want to state that while I didn't buy any creams from Zoya, Opi, Essie or China Glaze I like the fact that they release staple colors in their spring and fall collections - not everyone is frantic for Indies like me or having such a vast collection. Also the fact that some colors seem very close to each other is very nice - isn't it often enough, that you like a shade of let's say purple but it is just this Yota off the range that would look just stunning against your skin? Having more than one (in this case) purple available to choose from and to find YOUR perfect shade is clever thinking I find.

So, these are the finds out of my vault - are any of them also in your Collection? How did you feel about the uniqueness of this years main stream brand collections?

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

Saturday Skittlette featuring a stamping gone bad and then rescued

I really, really need to improve my stamping skills - I know practise is the key so I will continue trying. Meanwhile I at least managed to come up with some saving ideas. These are the polishes I used for this weeks Skittelette:

And this is what it looked first

Pinkie: Shimmer Polish Jennifer

Ring and middle: Opi My Vampire is Buff, a stamp from DRK-C stamping plate, I used Illamasqua Scorn for the stamping

Index and thumb: Opi Can't Find My Czechbook

The pattern should be LEAVES - it looks like splatter though mostly. I liked the combination so much that I wanted to keep it but I also was not all too happy with the mumble-jumble of the colors. Fast forward some thinking and ruffling hair (YEAH great idea right after hairdresser):

I added some dots with Opi Can't Find My Czechbook with a Rosewood Stick on ring and middle finger and some glitter from Shimmer Polish Jennifer on my ring finger - I just LOVED the result (and I got plenty of compliments for the finished look)

The glitter on my ring finger was very discreet - just giving off a sparkle here and there, so here's a close-up:

Final thoughts: As long as my stamping skills are on toddler level, I should mainly use more blending and less contrasting colors ;-)!!!

And here's my question: what do you do if a stamping goes haywire - any ideas beyond redo?

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

Christine

Illamasqua Kink

This is a quick post for Vicky from Boombastic Nails!! Vicky, you mentioned that you were not sure how Illamasqua Kink looks and I omitted taking pictures when I swatched KBShimmer Get Clover It. So here comes Illamasqua Kink:

The above picture is taken indoors, the below photo outdoors in the sun

I applied two smooth coats of Illamasqua Kink over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. Kink was one of three rubber finish polishes that were released in the winter of 2011/2012 as part of the Collection "Theatre of the Nameless". The consistency is on the thin side but very pigmented and easy to apply. The polish has a selflevelling quality and two coats are all there is needed to achieve this opaque look. 

If I wear any of the rubber finish polishes during the day, I apply one coat of Orly Matte Top. This Top Coat does not dry really matte like Essie Matte About You but leaves a silky finish, resembling the intended rubber finish. According to my experience the rubber finish polishes from the Theatre of the Nameless Collections don't wear particularly well without Top Coat.

Liesl, I hope this helped :-)

Please do not hesitate if you want to see a particular polish swatched, I will try to accommodate your wishes in reasonable time.

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

My New Year's Eve nails

Happy New Year to all of you!!! I hope you had a wonderful party into the New Year!!! We celebrated with a bunch of friends, lots of laughter and dancing :-)))

Yesterday I have shown you a selection of manis I considered for our New Year's Eve party. After some to's and fro's I finally fell for RBL Locavore!! This polish sold out a couple of months ago and I savour each and every drop. Applying any of it always fills me with regret and I observe the polish left anxiously - LOL!!!

I started out with one coat of Illamasqua Swinger. We have seen a fair share of golds in 2012 and giving it some thoughts I believe that was one of the first golden polishes released last year.

This was the canvas for the wonderful RBL Locavore

The above two pictures are taken indoors in daylight, the following two are outside, one in the shade, one in the sunlight

I applied two coats of RBL Locavore. So sparkilicious, I love it <3!!! I used Illamasqua Base Coat and used no Top Coat, I admittedly like the uneven finish. Removal was a piece of cake by using the foil method.

How did you celebrate the New Year?

I order my Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes through their own website http://www.rescuebeauty.com/ .

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

Specialita HITS Bananasplit

My wonderful friend in Brazil has spoiled me with a biiiig box of yummies - she really made my week!!!! For the past 2 days I have been playing with all those polishes whenever I could find some time.

First up HITS Bananasplit from their Mari Moon line. A slightly tinted base filled to the gills with rainbow glitter. You think Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday? Well a good thought but Bananasplit is loaded with gold glitter while Happy Birthday got tons of silver glitter. Or KB Shimmer Clown Puke? Not bad either but I don't own this polish, so I cannot really tell, it seems though that Clown Puke got some bar glitter, which Bananasplit does not.

The second I unwrapped this sparkiliciousness ideas started to pop what to do with it. A jelly sandwich did not cross my mind though (??? seriously ???) - I am so grateful to Pretty Digits to have thrown this idea my way. 

I started out with 2 coats of Zoya Katharine from their Gloss Collection. I painted my thumb with 1 coat of Illamasqua's Swinger from the Naked Strangers Collection

Hmmm, I actually quite liked this and hope to remember wearing it on its own soon...

Next up I layered 1 coat of HITS Bananasplit over it:

and last but not least I layered another coat of Zoya Katherine - unfortunately I ruined my thumb in the process so its no longer on the picture :-S

I like this jelly sandwich a lot and I would rather wear it this way than without the last layer of Zoya Katherine.

The formula of Bananasplit is a tad gloppy so you got to be careful to prevent massive clusters of glittered polish. But since it is soooo loaded with glitter there is no need to dab plain spots.

Next up I tried HITS Bananasplit over Kiko 384. First up a picture showing Kiko 384 on its own. This goes on so effortlessly and is opaque in 1 coat, dries within minutes. Another one I need to wear soon on its own.......

...and then topped with 1 coat of HITS Bananasplit:

...and then mattified:

While I liked the shiny version, the mattified finish is totally up my alley and I could even wear this for work!!!!!!!

Purchase info: I buy all my Zoya's with Nailcare Club, Kiko 384 was a gift from a wonderful friend who brought it back from Italy recently. HITS Bananasplit was one of many gems I received from my sister in polish in Brazil - thanks again for all your thoughts and time that went into filling this box of treasures <3 <3 <3

Do you also like mattified glitters? Could you wear this for work? Looking forward to reading your comments!!!

Thanks for reading!!!
Christine

Allez les Bleus - a comparison

Let's get this out of the way first: blue is the most prominent colour in my stash!! This inevitably leads to owning some polishes that require hardcore arguments to justify owning all of them - or being a true blue-addict like me. Today I compare a couple of brights, none of them to be considered a wallflower:

From left to right:
China Glaze Ride the Waves
Yves St Laurent Bleu Majorelle
Nails Inc Baker Street
Illamasqua Force
Deborah Lippmann I know what Boys like

I applied them as follows:

Pinkie: Deborah Lippmann I know what Boys like: the thinnest of the bunch and as you can see in the picture (if you look hard ;-)) the darkest. While the formula is thin, application was easy and not runny at all. I used 3 coats in this picture to achieve opacity.

Ring finger: Illamasqua Force. Also a dusty blue that leans purple compared to the "clean" blues on my middle and index finger. Formula is very creamy and fast drying. This is 2 Coats.

Middle finger: the famous Nails Inc Baker Street. It is the clearest and most vibrant blue of the bunch. 2 easy coats. Kiko 336 looks to be a close enough dupe at a reasonable price for Nails Inc Baker Street but I do not own that (yet).  

Index: the incredible Yves Saint Laurent Bleu Majorelle. While a tad darker than Baker Street and a tiny bit less vibrant though as saturated it looks like Baker Street's sophisticated sister. This is 2 coats. What is not to love with this polish? I cannot stop staring at this blue. AND it is not limited edition and will therefore be around for a long time.... I hope!!!

Thumb: China Glaze Ride the Waves. OK I added this for good measure but to be honest I am not happy with this purchase. Formula is weird - thick but not very pigmented. It is not self levelling and takes its own sweet time to dry. This is 4 coats - oh my this felt like glue on my nail in the end. What a pity, because by looking at the picture I really like the colour......

I guess you know by now which cult colour is missing in my stash: it is Rescue Beauty Lounge IBK012 (you will be missed forever!!!). I was too slow when the Fan Collection became available - sigh - polish regret forever......

Am I missing any in this bunch? What are you're favoured vibrant blues? I look forward to reading your ideas and suggestions in the comments!!!

Thanks for reading

Christine