(nearly) Black with Bling: KBShimmer Showgirl

KBShimmer Showgirl is another polish that I meant to try eons earlier - and here we are in the middle of June and I have it for the first time on my nails:

I applied one coat of KBShimmer Showgirl over one coat of Misa Trust Fund. This is what I like about a glitter: densely packed, a breeze to apply and you get an awesome sparkly result by slapping on just one coat. KBShimmer Showgirl has all of this and more. It is the high quality I came to expect of KBShimmer (ehem, I know, the bar is now raised high - but hey, you get used to those awesome KBShimmer glitters). However, the base is very sheer - it has a blackish purple tint and my educated guess would be that you would probably need three coats of Showgirl on its own to get a decent opacity.

Oh and of course I mattified Showgirl as well using Essie Matte About You:

Just the other day I read a post over at Lacquer Reverie that Melissa prefers her blackened glitters/shimmers to be layered over a charcoal base color - DANG - why did this never occur to me??? Well anyhow - what an excellent advice - for KBShimmer Showgirl I used Misa Trust Fund as base color - a highly pigmented one coater:

I got KBShimmer Showgirl from Harlow & Co.

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

Christine

Subtle Holiday manis: Misa Life Without Knowing

A neutral polish with a little something in it belongs as well into my assembly of subtle Holiday manis. I picked Misa Life without Knowing from their WanderLust Fall 2012 Collection.

Misa Life Without Knowing changes its colors under different lightning - while in the above photo the polish looks taupe in the below shot it has a grey/silvery tinge and when looking at the bottle you can even see some coppery shimmer.

I applied two smooth coats over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. So far all my Misa polishes have a wonderful formula. This is no exception. Consistency just right, amount of polish on the brush perfect, dry time very fast.

There are quite a few options for a neutral shade with a shimmer out there. I dug Zoya Jules (middle) and Catrice Steel of Hearts (right) to show you a comparison.

Pinkie: One coat of Zoya Jules over two coats of Misa Life Without Knowing

Ring: Three thin coats of Zoya Jules

Middle: Two coats of Misa Life Without Knowing

Index: Two coats of Catrice Steel my Heart

Zoya Jules is the most golden polish of the three. Layered over Misa Life Without Knowing it looks fabulous - thanks to its sheerness it can easily be used as layering polish as well.

Catrice Steel of Hearts was a dream to apply. Left to dry on its own it turns matte - an elegant every day mani. For the cause of the Holiday manis I finished it with Ciate Speed Coat and the sparkle lit up discretely.

I just realize that I should have included China Glaze Fast Track - oh bummer.....

What other polish would you include in this list?

I ordered Misa Life Without Knowing with Transdesign.

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

Misa Uptown Glamour

This is the third polish I bought from Misa's Winter 2012 High Society Collection.

Photo taken indoors with artificial light:

These are two coats of Misa Uptown Glamour over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. The formula on this one was excellent and easy to work with. 

I compared it with Opi Every Month is Octoberfest:

While you can see that these two polishes are definitely twins, the Misa seems to carry more shimmer. Now let's look how this translates to the nail.

Photo taken indoors in artificial light:

Pinkie and Middle Misa Uptown Glamour, Ring and Index Opi Every Month is Octoberfest

Much to my surprise the shimmer in the Opi Every Month is Octoberfest is more prominent than with Misa Uptown Glamour. Again one definitively does not need both and given the difference in the visibility of the shimmer, I opt for the Opi!! Still, if I would not have jotted down which polish on which finger, I could not tell them apart.

Final thoughts to my purchases of the Misa Winter 2012 High Society Collection - I love the colours and the quality of the polishes but since I have dupes for all of them I could have saved the bucks. On top of this I am a tad disappointed to find exact dupes of the two Opi's in a collection released within weeks of each other.

I ordered Misa Bourbon on the Rocks with Transdesign. I bought Opi Every Month is Octoberfest with Douglas.

How do you feel about those shimmery winter polishes?

I am looking forward to reading your comments!!!

Thanks for reading!!
Christine

Misa Bourbon on the Rocks

This is another polish from Misa Winter 2012 High Society Collection. It seems as if I am totally taken in by those shimmery dark colours lately.

Photo taken indoors in artificial light:

The formula is a bit thin and the brush tends to be overloaded with polish but this does not hinder an easy application and I had no issues with pooling or running polish. I wear 2 coats of Misa Bourbon on the Rocks over Essence XXL Nail Thickener.

It dawned on me that I bought a dupe though for Opi German-icure. 

Left: Misa Bourbon on the Rocks, right: Opi German-icure

They look different enough in the bottle - and when applied on the nails:

Pinkie and Middle Misa Bourbon on the Rocks, Ring and Index Opi German-icure. Photo taken indoors in artificial light:

For the sake of my life, I cannot detect a difference between the two of them, even formula wise they are totally identical. Definitely no need to own both!!! The only difference to me was price-wise. I paid approx USD 6.00 for the Misa (including the shipping) and CHF 24.00 for the Opi (equals approx USD 25.00.

I ordered Misa Bourbon on the Rocks with Transdesign. I bought Opi German-icure with Douglas.

Did it happen to you as well that you bought two totally identical polishes? 

Looking forward to reading your comments!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Christine

Misa Trust Fund

I love dark grey nail polish. So it is rather easy to imagine that I simply had to have Misa Trust Fund from their Winter 2012 High Society Collection.

Photo taken indoors in daylight: 

The polish dries darker than in bottle - as seen in my photo. The formula is sheer perfection. It can be opaque in one coat - out of habit I applied 2 though. The polish has the perfect consistency, self levelling and quick drying. It dries to a nice shine finish. I have to note that I absolutely always use Top Coat, I feel the mani unfinished if I skip it. I used China Glaze Ridge Filler as Base Coat and Ciate Speed Coat to top it off.

I dived into my stash to find some polishes to compare it with. My picks: Zoya Noot and Zoya Evvie:

From left to right: Zoya Noot, Misa Trust Fund, Zoya Evvie

They look pretty different in the bottles (at least to me) - now let's look at my nails:

Pinkie and Index: Zoya Evvie, Ring Misa Trust Fund, Middle Zoya Noot:

Ugh pretty hard to tell the difference.  Zoya Evvie is definitively the lightest of the bunch. Misa Trust Fund and Zoya Noot are VERY similar and you do not necessarily would need both. Formula wise Zoya Noot is the thinnest out of the three. Application was equally easy with all three of them. I wear 2 coats of each polish in the picture above. I used China Glaze Ridge Filler as Base Coat.

I ordered Misa Trust Fund with Transdesign. I purchase Zoya through Nailcareclub.

What is your favorite grey? Have you tried any of the new Misa Winter 2012 High Society Collection? What were your picks?

I look forward to reading your comments!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Christine

My NOTD's of the week

There are those weeks where my job overtakes my life completely - this was one of them. During such times I prefer more neutral manis that don't leave any marks on documents that I have to handle or give away small signs of wear such as tip-wear.

None of these showed whether chipping nor - much to my astonishment - tip wear.

The first part of the week I wore Opi Berlin There Done That from their Germany Collection:

I used 2 effortless coats of Opi Berlin There Done That over Essie Fill the Gap, finished off with Butter London Hardwear Topcoat. I wore this mani for three straight days and had no tip wear, chipping or dents!!!! B.t.w. this Berliner's lifespan ended with this photo ;-) !!!

Next up Misa Frozen in Time from their Wanderlust Collection. I have become a true fan of Misa polishes. They are a dream to apply, dry fast and wear particularly well on me. Frozen in Time is a purple leaning Periwinkle (?) blue with soft lilac shimmer. The picture taken below was taken in artificial light.

And then, on the very first day, I damaged the mani badly while fighting some stubborn cables at my desk - you should still see the dent in my middle finger. That was actually a proper bald spot!!! I managed to push and squeeze the polish to fill the bald spot and slapped on another layer of topcoat - and here you go:

This is 3 thin coats of Misa Frozen in Time over China Glaze Ridge Filler. I assure you 2 coats are enough to reach opacity but it was late, I was exhausted and wanted to prevent the shock of discover some bald spots the next day. I topped it with Essie Good to Go.

I bought the Opi at our local Douglas store. I purchased Misa Frozen in Time with Transdesign.

I was very happy with my selection of polishes for this week. I felt corporate with a tad edginess that brightened my days!! What do you choose if your mani needs to blend in and has to last for days? Have you chosen any of the Opi's Germany Collection or Misa's Wanderlust? I look forward to reading about your experiences in your comments!!

Thank you for reading!!
Christine