Isadora Atlantis 759

I don't know about you, but right now in the middle of winter, I start to long for bright colors. So it is time to bring back my beloved turquoise creams. Today I show you Isadora Atlantis (No 759) that I got from my wonderful friend Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish. Atlantis is a very simply straightforward turquoise cream, but what a saturated and vibrant shade - there is no need for anything to be added to such an eye-catcher.

I applied two effortless, easy coats over Essence Hardening Nail Base. The formula is excellent to work with. The consistency is a bit runny and the first coat goes on a tad streaky. But the second coat leveled out all of it. And just look at this high shine finish, awesome, no?

Final thoughts: This was just the right color to brighten up my End of January blues - Jezz, I adore the color, thank you for sending me this beauty xxx!!!

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

Polished Marvels Review of 2013 Part III: favorite nail polishes

This was at the same time my favorite and the hardest review to compose. Part I favorite brands can be viewed here and Part II covering my favorite Indie Brands here. How could I possibly limit the polishes to a number that simply didn't hold the majority of them? This year I jumbled them all together, no sorting color or brand wise, some brands appear more than once, some colors give repeated appearance. What they have in common on top of it? They stayed at the front of my nail polish memory to the day.

I start with what I would call my probably favorite polish of the year - the honor goes to Colors by Llarowe All Bidness. Its incredible complexity got me staring at my nails day in and out (grateful I never hit any lamp post or running into people while having this on my nails). I never got tired turning and twisting my hands to detect yet another color or shine:

Colors by Llarowe All Bidness original post

As striking and mesmerizing to my eyes is Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo - a simple straight forward cream, what a contradiction to the above but this blue? It must come from out of this world…….

Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo original post

Vampy is definitely my most worn look on my nails and Elevation Polish Toubkal is to me an epitome of vampy and subtly sparkly (and one of the very few polishes I own a back-up bottle of):

Elevation Polish Toubkal original post

and yet another Elevation Polish - Jengish Chokusu was in my eyes the most beautiful soft turquoise of 2013

Elevation Polish Jengish Chokusu original post

Now let's stay on turquoise territory for a while - I was into ALL sort of turquoise this spring and summer and one of the most captivating, saturated and vibrant turquoise I came across was Bondi Teal  Magnolia

Bondi Teal Magnolia original post

… and turquoise in glitter…. Emily de Molly's Monet's Garden original post

The most delicate neutral polish I added to my collection this year was Picture Polish Majesty, another Collaboration Shade, this gem was created by Sahrish Adeel

Picture Polish Majesty original post

I have swooned over Crows Toes already in my yesterday's post so here are two more stunners released this year - the first one is One Trick Pony, a purple charcoal holo

Crows Toes One Trick Pony original post

And of course, naturellement, naturalmente, natürlich Indian Summer, the most awesome duo chrome out there original post

Textured polishes hit big this year, I remember the mixed feelings of the first reviews. To be honest I was swept from my feet by my first textured polish and eagerly ventured into gritty territory exploring all available brands - that was until I received some Isadora Sugar Crush polishes. To the day, they are my favorites

Isadora Sugar Crush Pool original post

If push comes to shove holo polishes are my favorites this year. Most of my purchases were probably holos (now guess how many untrieds/unshown there still are in my drawers). Girly Bits Bachelor Button remains one of my favorites: vivid yet delicate, the holo visible yet a pigmented base - in short this polish looks beautiful in any lighting

Girly Bits Bachelor's Button original post

Last year I still was all over glitter (any form except bar glitters which continue to remind me of paper snippets) this year only few really got me drooling but the most outstanding, spectacular one clearly is Fish by Nail Junkie Polish.

Nail Junkie Polish Fish original post

You didn't expect to see no further holo polishes in my review of 2013 I hope! Pahlish Olea Eurpaea is such a complex and multi faceted polish that has another finish or look depending on the light, you never get tired to ogle your nails - I promise ;-)

I finish with a BANG! A England Excalibur reborn had me close to fainting the second I applied the first brush stroke of the first coat. Original post

Formula wise all of the above were wonderful to apply, while this sounds like a über-boring advert in the case of this review it is certainly true (as all the adverts state too) since not necessarily visible, the formula plays a major role in my rankings. Polishes that are tricky and challenging to apply are hardly ever in for another round on my nails. And however nice the end result might look, I would never consider them in a list of favorites.

And while all of the above have the one or the other "special effect" I do need a classic red once in a while - here are my two most used reds of 2013, both by La Couleur Couture

LaCC 1945 original post

LaCC 1940 original post

Of course I am more than eager to learn from you if any of the above grace your collection and what your personal favorites were in 2013!

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!
Christine

My choices for the Holidays - another one: Isadora Rocky Ruby over Isadora Mulberry Wine

Last week ended on a happy and exiting tone: On Friday evening I found the Christmas package from my wonderful friend Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish. To put it short and sweet, I got spoiled rotten - beautiful Limited Edition polishes from Depend, a Gina Tricot, UP Color, H&M nailpolish and last but not least two Isadoras which became my favorite mainstream brand over the course of this year. And these two work so spectacular together that I decided to wear them for todays End of the Year Party of my company.

Isadora Mulberry Wine is a blackened base filled with purple leaning red shimmer, like if you look into a bottle of old Bordeaux wine - and yes, it reminded me of Opi Midnight in Moscow too. Isadora Rocky Ruby is from their new holographic line (well it is a mix of normal glitter and holographic glitter). Rocky Ruby holds small red glitter, holographic rainbow micro glitter and bigger silver square glitters that also flash rainbow holo.

the above pictures are taken indoors in daylight, the below photo in artificial light

I applied two coats of Isadora Mulbery Wine, the formula is well pigmented though a tad thin. Still the polish went on effortlessly and was easy to control. Dry time is rather fast. I waited a couple of minutes before I slapped on one coat of Isadora Rocky Ruby. Now this is a perfect glitter: the formula was thin enough to spread the glitter nice and even on the nail, I just had to dab some glitter here and there on a few bald spots around the edges of the nail. The glitter lays nice and flat on the nail and no particles poke over the tips of the nails or clump in heaps. As to be expected with such glitters, it dries fast to a dull finish though absolutely smooth, one coat of my new favorite Top Coat Glisten & Glow HK Girl added the perfect amount of maximal shine.

And this is Isadora Mulberry Wine on its own - so dark and vampy though never looking black

Since I referred to Opi Midnight in Moscow at the beginning of this post, I didn't wanted to skip a comparison (pinkie and middle finger: Isadora Mulberry Wine, ring and index: Opi Midnight in Moscow):

OK as for the differences: Isadora Mulberry Wine has more shimmer, leans into purple and never looks black while the shimmer in Opi Midnight in Moscow operates more in the background, read: looks nearly black in most lights and is a dark brown leaning red. The biggest difference though is the formula. Isadora Mulberry Wine is miles ahead of Opi Midnight in Moscow which is sheer and thin with a tendency to act runny if too much polish travels on the brush. It is a no-brainer which of the two I prefer ;-).

Final thoughts: Yep, me and my vampies, I just love them and Mulberry Wine is perfectly fitting in. Rocky Ruby is a surprise - what a versatile and beautiful glitter, I already plan on what other colors I could layer it over, grey? Dark taupe?  Jezz - thank you from the bottom of my heart, you made me totally happy and unwrapping all those beauties made me squeal of joy repeatedly - Nell didn't approve - LOL!!!

In Switzerland Isadora is available with Douglas stores.

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

Saturday Skittelette - inspired by a card

 

By now you, my dear readers, might know that I do regular nailpolish swaps with my Blogger friend Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish. Not only does Jezz send me amazing polishes (at this time I cannot even name a favorite as I find them all that unique) but she also always sends a wonderful card along. Now I am a  very, very, VERY sloppy card writer myself. More often than not I am totally surprised that I need a Birthday card or any other for that matter and end up doing something ressembling a card myself. But I love to receive cards - and the card Jezz added to her package last time is just amazing.

 

From looking at it, I guess it is a sewed "painting" made of textiles??? Of course it decorates my fridge (which is totally plasterd with cards and other memorabilia b.t.w. - note to self: consider buying bigger fridge -LOL) and since I stare at it every morning while slurping coffee it was only natural that I started to think Skittelette - no?

 

So this is the inspiration:

 

... and this is my selection:

 

 

Ingredients (from left):

Bourjois Prepp'hibiscus, Sinful Colors Endless Blue, Isadora Diamond Crush 100

 

all of the above pictures are taken indoors in daylight, the below photo outside in the sun

Recipe:
Pinkie and middle: two coats of Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Ring: two coats of Isadora Diamond Crush 100
Index and thumb: three coats of Bourjois Prepp'hibiscus

A very simply mani but I loved the contrast and the that silver Sugar Crush from Isadora "ist der Hammer" as we say in German (knock out of your socks in English). Of course the Isadora came from Jezz - how could I do a Jezz-Skittelette and not using any of the polishes she sent me????

Finally I got to use Endless Blue again - would you believe that ever since I received it from Liesl (Liesl, I will be grateful for this FOREVER) it sits in the drawer that I fill with polishes I want to wear soon? It is one of my two absolute favorite blue nailpolishes. In case you wonder about the other one: Elevation Polish Pic de Sottlo.

Prepp'hibiscus has become one of those colors that I seem to almost always want to wear and I nearly have to turn my head with force to look at others!!! @natacha_wears_a_tutu - this one really, really rocks!!!!

For this Skittelette I have no buying information as I got all of the used polishes from very dear Blogger friends (I am such a lucky gal :-D). In Switzerland Isadora can be bought with Douglas (at least the one in Basel holds a huge range) and Bourjois with Manor (again this relates to Basel and might differ in other regions).

I look forward to reading your comments. Thanks for visiting!!!
Christine

¨

My NOTDs of the week

I felt like starting the week with an understated and mysterious A England polish - Love Is Enough is one of those polishes that you can't quite categorize - it is olive, grey, pale gold and I don't know what else. It has shimmer and it has glinting particles and just look:

I applied two coats of Love Is Enough over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. Love I Enough has the typical A England formula I came to love - easy and quickly spread and while you might have to wait a tad longer for it to dry (but it is totally in normal dry time, just not fast dry). It is selfleveling, evenly opaque - sigh - just polish-perfection!!!

My wonderful Blooger friend Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish and I have done a recent polish swap and she sent me some of those awesome Isadora Crush polishes - thank you my dear friend for having sent those beauties my way!!! This is Love Crush:

I applied two effortless coats of Love Crush over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. That's it - simple as that and super quick drying - the result is stunning!!!!

Did I tell you that I went a tad bonkers over Crows Toes One Crazy Mad Summer Collection? I have so far shown you Storms Never Last and Tiki Torch. I also wanted to wear at least one of them as full mani. So here comes Minion. Side note: I googled Minion and this is what Wikipedia said: Minion is a follower that serves his/her master relentlessly. Now there is an apt name for a polish - look:

I applied two coats of Minion over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. Minion's formula is amazing - just so easy and quick to apply without leaving patches, streaks or pools. While not overly pigmented there are enough color shifting particles and tiny glitters in it to make it sufficiently opaque at two coats. AND it dries fast - quite relevant for me when I decide to change my mani at something like 22:00 h!!! Oh and I should not forget - the wear is stunning, I had absolutely no tip wear after two days of crazy typing and printing tons and tons of documents for meeting preparations at the office which is fabulous - now tell me something about a Minion - LOL!!!

Jezz added a little treasure in the box she sent me: she poured some Different Dimension Black Dahlia into a small bottle for me to try - Jezz, you are so generous - thank you SOOOOOO much. I was drooling over this even while painting. Black Dahlia is a light charcoal soft linear holo interspersed with small magenta and turquoise glitters - let's see if I could capture it all:

I applied one coat of Different Dimension Black Dahlia over Color Club Muse-ical (a dark grey cream with red undertones and of which I forgot to take pictures by itself). It was so easy to apply and dries very fast to a nearly smooth finish - one coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer was all there was needed - and my nails remained shiny and smooth for as long as I had Black Dahlia on my nails!!!

I hope you liked my choices for the week as much as I did - I enjoyed each and every one of those four polishes - sigh - lovely!!!

I ordered A England Love Is Enough from Pshiiit Boutique and Crows Toes Minion from Llarowe.

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

Summary and final thoughts on my selection of textured polishes

This week was all about textured polishes and while meanwhile most of us are familiar with the Liquid Sands, Pixie Dusts, Sugar Crush, etc lines I thought I still give a summary of my observations and thoughts given that this trend is still new.

Obviously this trend has spread not only quickly but also widely. I was more than astonished to realize that starting with Opi not only major brands followed hot on Opis heal but also brands like Kiko, Isadora or Dance Legend have come up not only with copycats but totally unique own versions of textured polishes - HOAZA for this!!!

I have to admit that my themed week does not include any Zoya or China Glaze polishes - and still I could show a different brand every day - which proofs the speed at which other brands have picked up on the textured trend. Unfortunately I also have no new Nails Inc Leather Effect polishes to show as in my eyes they certainly are among the leaders of that trend despite their ever so slight venturing off from the "real" texture to the aptly named Leather Effect.

I find all the brands I have shown this week have mastered the challenge of doing the same but still coming up with something unique very well. Formula wise they are also quite close - with the exception of Kiko 634 and Opi Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! but then none of the two have glitters which leads me to believe that glitter might be the mortar in this kind of polish that sort of keeps the sauce together. On top of this Kiko 634 behaved like any "normal" pale pink polish - difficult and cheeky (read patchy and streaky).

Best formula of the pack: Depend and Isadora. But they lead only marginally with Kiko 644 close behind. I would put any glittery Opi Liquid Sand next to Depend and Isadora but since I haven't shown any of them this week....

Dance Legend Wine Stone had the thickest formula, Opi Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! the thinnest.

Kiko 634 and Opi Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! needed the longest drying time (maybe having no glitter matters also with dry-time?)

Dance Legend Wine Stone was the most difficult to apply - remember? if applied too thickly the polish swallows the texture and you are left with a blopp of polish (très ugly).

I hope you not only found this weeks posts entertaining but also informative with regard to the formula and quality of all those different textured polishes - thank you for staying with me throughout this week!!!

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

Isadora 764 Knock Out Pink

I am super exited to have a nailpolish swap with one of my IG friends (we go back to my earliest IG days) - she asked for some Isadora polishes and just two or three weeks ago our local Douglas store did a major stock-up of all Isadora products. Of course this was just the right excuse to take a dive into the wide range of Isadora products offered. But I was good - I only came home with one more Isadora polish - this being Knock Out Pink:

I applied two effortless coats over Zoya Anchor Base Coat and finished the look with Butter London Hardwear Top Coat. Isn't this a perfect pink? Well at least in my books it is, while super bright it is not neon.

Isadora is my latest love in nailpolish when it comes to bigger brands. I just love EVERYTHING about it. The brush, the application, the formula (not too thick or thin, not runny, easy to control, and so on and so on. The only downside - I find it quite pricey. The bottle holds 8 ml and cost me CHF 14.50.

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

Isadora Beetle Green

Those of you who saw my most recent Saturday Skittelette know that my friend Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish and I have done a recent nailpolish swap and of course I have to wear my new gems (I wore Isadora Beetle Green on Saturday evening for going out and I caught myself ogling my own nails repeatedly - LOL)

I applied two silky coats of Isadora Beetle Green over Essence XXL Nail Thickener and used A England The Shield Top Coat to finish the look.

And look how beautiful it looks in the sun:

This is my first ever Isadora polish and I love everything about it. I am now super exited to try the other twos I received in that mail :-)

On Saturday I went for a walk with a friend in a sort of natural park close where we live. Isn't it just beautiful?

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